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"There was a time when one old eccentric guy with a notebook could do something important to science. Now even the resources of a major university are often not enough."
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Space-Contraction Drive | ||
| Slip through endless interstellar space by making the distance smaller. |
Yet another clever reference to the idea of improving space travel by traversing less of it.
| “Half the Twelfth Sector Fleet,” muttered Kel Aran. “Six hundred cruisers — after us!” He called Jeron Roc from his bunk. They held a swift consultation. Technical terms were confusing to me. But I understood that the space-contraction drive of the Barihorn gave our craft the advantage in maneuverability; and that the newer cosmical repulsion drive of the Admiral’s cruisers, while it left them a little clumsier about getting under way, gave them by far the greater ultimate speed. “We can keep ahead for a time,” the Saturnian admitted apprehensively. “But in the end they can run us down." |
| Technovelgy from After World's End,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Marvel Science Stories in 1939 Additional resources -
|
Compare to Lyle drive from Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) by Robert Heinlein, the ion drive from Equalizer (1947) by Jack Williamson, the asymptotic drive from Imperial Earth (1976) by Arthur C. Clarke and the gravity drive from Star Ship (1950) by Poul Anderson. See also jump point from Bill for Delivery (1964) by Christopher Anvil, collapsar jump from The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman, hyperspace jump from Foundation(1951) by Isaac Asimov, planoforming from The Game of Rat and Dragon (1953) by Cordwainer Smith, jumpdoor from Whipping Star (1969) by Frank Herbert.
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
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The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
