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"Poised between intransigent scepticism and uncritical credulity, it [science fiction] is par excellence the literature of the open mind."
- John Brunner
 |
| Communicator | ||
| A small, pendant-shaped device that works to communicate over large distances. |
| Km! Krrr! Km!
The tiny sound, peculiarly penetrating and insistent, was humming from the communicator hung by its thin chain about his neck. The Commander’s lean deliberate hands, drawing the little black disk from under his clothing, trembled slightly. “It’s Legion Intelligence,” he told Giles Habibula. “An emergency call.” Giles Habibula watched apprehensively as he touched the dial, whispered a code response, and lifted the little disk to his ear. The straining ears of the old Legionnaire failed to hear anything. And the face of Jay Kalam didn’t lose its grave, contained reserve. But his failure to breathe, and his frozen stiffness, betrayed enough. “You’ve had bad news, Jay,” whispered Giles Habibula, when at last the Commander lowered the disk and broke communication. “Aye, mortal bad!” |
| From One Against The Legion,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Astounding in 1939 Additional resources -
|
It has dials!
At last Jay Kalam lowered the instrument.
Compare to the Dirac transmitter from Cities in Flight (1957) by James Blish, the
comlink from Star Wars (1976) by George Lucas, the
communications disk from Exiles of the Moon (1931) by Schachner & Zagat, the
Ullran enunciator from Uller Uprising (1952) by H. Beam Piper, the
sleeve communicator from First Contact (1945) by Murray Leinster.
See also the audio relay (Robert Heinlein, 1951), the distrans (Frank Herbert, 1965) and the communications implant (Niven and Pournelle, 1981).
The Commander of the Legion found the small black disk of his communicator. His thin, trembling fingers turned the tiny dials, and tapped out a code signal. His thin lips whispered into it. Hal Samdu sat watching, his face rigid as a statue’s.
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