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"I was driving a dynamite truck when I was 14 years old in North Carolina."
- Harlan Ellison
 |
| Aether Cannon | ||
| A hand-held energy weapon. |
| Bane nodded slowly, letting his steady gaze rest on the soldier long enough to unnerve him. The faint sound of aether cannon discharge came from inside the warehouse. He raised his right arm, where the blunt stub of his own cannon projected from beneath the specially adapted sleeve of his coat. ... It was one of the Taken. A boy-child, perhaps ten years old, with long blond hair down to its shoulders and wearing a simple blue smock. Its feet were bare. It gazed innocently at them from a distance of a few dozen feet. ... Bane raised his cannon. "Get out of my city," he told it, and fired. The Taken dodged the first blast, its expression of fresh-faced youth dissolving into snarling animal hatred as it attacked. It ran at them with teeth bared, fingers held out before it like claws, screeching. The soldier panicked, squeezing off a shot too early. The Taken leaped over the path of the soldier's bolt and landed on him, hands clamped around his bald head. The soldier dropped without a sound. The mere touch of a Taken meant death. Bane didn't miss a second time. He caught the Taken full in the chest as it bunched to spring, and it crumpled. |
| Technovelgy from Storm Thief,
by Chris Wooding. Published by Scholastic in 2006 Additional resources -
|
Here's another excerpt that displays the nature of the weapon:
Compare to the power gun from David Drake's 1979 novel Hammer's Slammers and the
Standish from 'Doc' Smith's 1934 novel Triplanetary. Also, check out what is probably the first use of the word "blaster" from the 1925 story When the Green Star Waned by Nictzin Dyalhis.
Thanks to Connor Lawrence for writing in with this item.
The cannons spat squealing globs of burning green energy, a moist slither of pure aether that fizzed and spat as it cut through the air.
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Additional
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and Technology from Storm Thief
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and Technology by Chris Wooding
Tech news articles related to Storm Thief
Tech news articles related to works by Chris Wooding
| Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier? |
| Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran? |
| We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces |
| Bullet Steers Itself! The Advanced Low-Cost Munitions Ordnance ALaMO |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
