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"I believe in limited government, and the 20th century has been the century of government. The data is uniform. The government has failed at every single task it has set out to do, with the exception of waging war."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Life Wand | ||
| Shoots a powerful ray of energy. |
| I could see nothing but the Martian. I did not see the human standing behind him, nor did I notice the life wand the Martian cradled in his pseudolimb.
Then the Martian flowed inside, the man with him stepped in behind him, and the door relaxed. The Martian squeaked, "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Going somewhere?” I was frozen, dazed, by acute xenophobia. Dak was handicapped by disarranged clothing. But little Jock Dubois acted with a simple heroism that made him my beloved brother even as he died — he flung himself at that life wand. Right at it — he made no attempt to evade it. He must have been dead, a hole burned through his belly you could poke a fist through, before he hit the floor. But he hung on and the pseudolimb stretched like taffy — then snapped, broken off a few inches from the monster’s neck, and poor Jock still had the life wand cradled in his dead arms.
 (Lifewand from 'Double Star' by Robert Heinlein) |
| Technovelgy from Double Star,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Doubleday in 1956 Additional resources -
|
In this vignette, Smyth (as Bonforte) is being adopted into a Martian family:
l got through without stumbling. The Martian language is terribly difficult for the human throat at best and it was made no easier by the presence at my elbow throughout the ceremonies of a dozen adult Martians, each clutching a life-wand in his psuedolimbs... and I knew only too well that it took only a tiny pressure on a lifewand to give me eternal quietus.
Apparently I made no important mistakes; l lived through it. At last I was allowed to leave — a Martian citizen now myself, with thousands of Martian brothers and cousins, a Martian name of my own, and a Martian life-wand in my band, badge of my adult Martian status. Penny was waiting for me outside the gates of the nest.
The details of my adoption into a Martian family are as secret as the ritual of a lodge initiation...
(Lifewand from 'Double Star' by Robert Heinlein)
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
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'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
