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"The first thing that's wrong with being a science-fiction writer today is that the present has caught up with the future and surpassed it."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Shock-Absorbing Seats | ||
| Perfect for the many gravities of acceleration upon take-off. |
Early use of the phrase.
| They passed inside and the stern-door closed and whirred as Hartley spun it carefully shut. Climbing the light metal ladders inside the upreared craft the four men gained the pilot-house, where Calden took his accustomed seat at the controls. Strapped into their shock-absorbing seats, the four men looked down over the station and its swarming throngs, a busy scene in the morning sunlight. |
| Technovelgy from Evans of the Earth-Guard,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Air Wonder Stories in 1930 Additional resources -
|
Why would you need shock-absorbing seats? Consider this:
Compare to the water-springs from From the Earth to the Moon (1867) by Jules Verne.
The lights on the starter’s tower had flashed from yellow to
green, and then to red. Calden was watching them imperturbably, his hands resting on the main firing-levers, while
Evans, as always at the moment of starting, involuntarily drew
a deep preparatory breath. Then the lights flashed suddenly
pure white, Calden’s hands depressed the levers with a single
motion, and, as a thunderous blast of sound broke from the
great rocket’s stern beneath them, they were pressed with
immeasurable force into their seats.
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Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
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