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"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
- Robert Heinlein
 |
| Palm Key-Plate | ||
| A plate that accepts palms that have been verified. |
As far as I know, the first reference to the idea of a palm recognition device.
| I put my palm on the key-plate. It tingled for a brief, moment and then the shining doors slid back. J rolled through, stopping just inside the launching court at Judson's startled yelp.
"Well, come on," I said. He stood just inside the doors, straining mightily against nothing at ail. "Wh— wh— ?" .His arms were spread and his feet slipped as if he were trying to force his way through a steel wall. Actually he was working on something a good deal stronger than that. "That's the answer to why uncertified people don't go Out," I told him. "The plate outside scanned the whorls and lines of my hand. The door opened and that Gillis-Menton field you're muscling passed me through. It'll pass anyone who's certified, too, but no one else. Now stop pushing or you'll suddenly fall on your face." I stepped to the left bulkhead and palmed the plate there, then beckoned to Judson. He approached the invisible barrier timidly. It wasn't there. He came all the way through, and I took my hand off the scanner. "That second plate," I explained, "works for me and certified people only. There's no way for an uncertified person to get into the launching court unless I bring him in personally. |
| Technovelgy from The Stars are The Styx,
by Theodore Sturgeon. Published by Galaxy SF in 1950 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the the palm plate from The Mechanical Monarch, a 1958 novel by E.C. Tubb. and the palm lock from Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert.
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'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
