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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
 |
| 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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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
