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"I just can't be politic. I never learned how to do that and I don't like doing that. I think it's false."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Atom-Shifter | ||
| A device that 'softens' matter, making it possible for a person to pass through. |
| He took one hand from the Martian's head, found the atom-shifter slackly caught in a turn of a tentacle. He wrenched it away. He flung a beam against the wall facing the corridor. He waited a moment for the softening process to be complete.
Letting go of his prisoner, he sprang forward. Once more he passed freely through the rayed area. With him went the ray mechanism itself, and behind him stayed the spy he had caught. |
| From The Worlds of Tomorrow,
by Manly Wade Wellman. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1940 Additional resources -
|
Here's how it worked:
An atom-shifting beam, focused at a point, would temporarily change the speed and path of atoms until the hard became soft, the opaque transparent.
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
