Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"In my mind I have gone all over the universe, which may make it less important for me to make piddling little trips... I did enjoy seeing Stonehenge. It looked exactly the way I thought it would look."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Metal Worms | ||
| Huge wriggling metal war engines. |
It landed; apparently from the moon...
But that's not all.
Curiosity thereupon gave valor enough to a few people who dared to approach the monster from the moon. Tapping proved it to be hollow and it was found to be constructed of a steel-like metal, corrugated, and reenforced with thick ribs of the same metal, at twenty feet junctures on its exterior. Three circular openings like three enormous trap-doors, each of them fully fifteen feet in diameter, took up almost the entire surface of its nose and gave it the horrid, dragonlike appearance that it embodied. In height it measured fifty-two feet.
| Within three hours of its landing on earth, ten long, slender, worm-like tubes, each of them in the neighborhood of one hundred feet in length and ten or twelve feet high, had emerged from the three circular trap-doors at the head-end of the lunar torpedo. They seemed of the same metal as the torpedo itself, and had no discernible openings, and differed very little from it in shape ; instead of being rigid as was the parent ship, these metal worms were flexible, almost snake-like in their structure. They seemed to be made of a long series of narrow hoop-like segments and tapered down to a tail. They traveled with curving snakish motions with great rapidity and employed a terrific crushing power in the manner of the boa-constrictor or the giant python. Armed citizens and the police of the vicinity found them to be bullet-proof. Cartridge and buckshot alike glanced like so many dried peas off a stone wall off their convex metal sides...
 (Metal Worms from 'Vandals from the Moon' by Marius) An oncoming Southern Pacific freight train headed for the Los Angeles yards, however, spurred one of the flexible metal monsters into immediate action to display its prowess. One second after the screeching locomotive had been sighted by the nearest one of the Lunite warmachines, this ironclad worm turned its head toward the tracks and with a queer wriggling movement soon reached a nearby iron railroad bridge. Wrapping itself twice or three times around a number of steel girders, it tore the structure in a moment from its strong foundation of concrete blocks, twisting the thick steel as if it were wire. The locomotive engineer put on the brakes a moment too late and twisted steel and shattered wood piled up into a colossal funeral pyre for its dead crew. |
| Technovelgy from Vandals from the Moon,
by - Marius. Published by Amazing Stories in 1928 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the robot snake from Bait for the Tiger (1952) by Lee Chaytor, the robot earthworm from War with the Robots (1962) by Harry Harrison, the mechanical cobra from Lord of Light (1967) by Roger Zelazny, the digger worm from With Friends Like These (1985) by Connie Willis and the robot snake spy from Mariposa (2009) by Greg Bear.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Vandals from the Moon
More Ideas
and Technology by - Marius
Tech news articles related to Vandals from the Moon
Tech news articles related to works by - Marius
| GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car |
| 'Autonomous' Waymo Improves Driving With Remote Human Operators |
| Heinlein’s Controlway - Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor In Michigan |
| CyberCab - Tesla Renames The Robotaxi |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
