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"…we store information differently, reading a science fiction story, to make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany
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| Metal Solvent Ray Thrower | ||
| Acts like a flame thrower in space. |
He has an unexpected use for this device.
| Here was something: A metal solvent ray thrower, big and powerful enough for his purposes. It was as large as a small cannon, but easy to handle without the gravity pull that the ship once had...
Away he soared into the starry blackness, floating outward like a kite. He traveled for many yards, until he came to the end of the cable with ever so gentle a jerk... He pointed the ray thrower in the direction that the wreck was traveling in and touched the trigger switch. Fire gushed into the dark, fire full of destructive power - and motive power. Like a rocket, the thrower recoiled and hurled backward.
|
| From Lost Rocket,
by Manly Wade Wellman. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the reaction pistol from Gordon A. Giles Diamond Planetoid (1937).
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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.
