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"I don't have an e-mail address. As much as I admire the Internet I suffer literally agoraphobia, which in it's original sense means a fear of the marketplace. I do not want to receive three hundred e-mail messages per week from strangers…"
- William Gibson
 |
| Construct | ||
| An artificial being, a pastiche of living and robotic pieces. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of this expression in science fiction.
| There was a sharp click! a whirring and clattering, a stir of
massive forms all across the gloomy chamber. Magnan yipped and leaped back as a construct the size of
a fork-lift stirred into motion,
turned, creaking, and surveyed
him with a pair of what were indisputably glowing amber eyes.
"We're surrounded," Magna chirped faintly. "And they told us the planet was uninhabited'!" "It is," Retief said, as more giant shapes moved forward, accompanied by the squeak of unlubricated metal.
 (Construct from 'Retief, the Long-Awaited Master' by Keith Laumer) "Then what are these?" Magnan came back sharply. "Oversized spooks?" "Close, but not kewpie doll," Retief said. "This. is the city garage, and these are maintenance robots." "R-r-robots?" "Our coming in must have triggered them to come to alert status." They moved along the row of giant machines, each equipped with a variety of limbs, organs, and sensors. |
| Technovelgy from Retief, the Long-Awaited Master,
by Keith Laumer. Published by Worlds of IF in 1969 Additional resources -
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
