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"...science fiction is sort of like a sociological genome. It's a huge range of possible futures, most of them useless; some vital. You never really know in advance."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Battle Tank Display | ||
| Three-dimensional display showing tactical information for space battles. |
| He glanced into the auxiliary battle tank, a three-dimensional chart in which color-coded points of light moved, showing each city, the nearby sun, and the Acolyte vessels, not to scale, but in their relative positions. The tank was camouflaged as a desk and could be seen into only from behind; hence it was out of sight of any eye but Amalfi's. In it the Acolyte force showed itself to consist of one trader's ship and four police craft... |
| From Cities in Flight,
by James Blish. Published by Avon in 1957 Additional resources -
|
Robert Heinlein used similar terminology - see his stereo tank from his 1961 classic Stranger in a Strange Land.
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Sumomo will get those office workers into good shape!
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'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.'
'It's picking up diphenyl compounds and tetrahydrocarbons...'
'MacIntyre bent down without a word and picked up the wide skis necessary to negotiate the powdery ash.'
