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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle
 |
| Tractor Boots | ||
| Space suit footgear that has atom-driven caterpillar treads. |
| HIS EQUIPMENT consisted chiefly of a highly developed space armor. The thing was massive. Each foot was a miniature atom-powered tractor. A man within the suit could withdraw his arms from the sleeves of the intricate, versatile thing, and reach the food supplies contained in pockets arranged all around the spacious interior. There were air-purifiers, of course, and water generators. The leg joints of the armor could be locked so that a man could sleep — if he could sleep in an erect position — while the little tractors on his boots carried him on and on.
 (Tractor Boots from 'Magician of Dream Valley' cover by Raymond Z. Gallun) |
| Technovelgy from Magician of Dream Valley,
by Raymond Z. Gallun. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1938 Additional resources -
|
Here are some additional mentions of tractor boots in the story:
Tense with nerve strain. Jack hurried as much as he could. Once on the valley floor, he set his tractor boots to top speed. Thus he rushed forward...
Long-time readers will no doubt recall the tele-motor-coasters from Hugo Gernsback's 1911 classic Ralph 124c 41+.
Jack began to climb down the rugged slope toward the bottom of Dream Valley. His armor was massive, but the low Lunar gravity gave it little weight, and his tractor boots, though clumsy, were equipped with sharp lugs that gripped well the pumicelike rock...
(Tractor Boots from 'Magician of Dream Valley' by Raymond Z. Gallun)
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'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
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'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
