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"...being predictive, being right about the future, is not the point of any given story or novel. The point is about exploring as wide a range of possibilities as possible."
- Peter Watts
 |
| Peace Dove (Metal Bird) | ||
| Robotic winged guardians. |
The ironically-named Peace Doves keep the peace, all right.
| She turned her head and looked
at him calmly. On her wet, white
shoulders were perched a pair of -
birds? No. They were shaped like
birds, like doves, but they were
made of metal; their feathers were
fine silver scales; their eyes were
red-lit jewels. The metal things
moved restlessly, as the little eyes
poked hotly at Ryeland and Oporto.
They cooed soft threats, and the
rustle of their wings was like thin
whispering bells.
...she stopped singing in the middle of a note and said, quite softly: "Guards." There must have been a microphone to pick up her words, for there was a sudden commotion outside. But more than that, she had defenders nearer still. The doves on her shoulders leaped into the air and flung themselves at the prostrate little man. Sharp beaks tore, wingtips like knives beat at him. The door opened and four tall women in the blue of the Planner's guard raced in...
 ("The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson)
The doves, which had been describing precise circles in the air,
shook themselves and returned to
the girl's shoulders. Their hot small
eyes never left Ryeland, but after
a moment they began to coo again.
 (The Peace Doves of "The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson)
Ryeland swore angrily. The Peace
Doves squawked and rose into the
air, circling around him. He paused,
searched around, found a length of
heavy chain just outside the cage
door. Heaven knew what it had
been used for - though the stains
on it. suggested one possibility. He
caught it up and dove into the cage
after the girl.
 (Peace Doves defend! from "The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson) |
| Technovelgy from The Reefs of Space,
by Jack Williamson (w/F. Pohl). Published by If: Worlds of Science Fiction in 1963 Additional resources -
|
Here's another view of the birds:
(The silvery metal birds of "The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson)
(Peace Dove detail from "The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson)
(Peace Dove detail from "The Reefs of Space" by Pohl and Williamson)
Compare to the artificial bird from The Artificial Bird (1929) by Karel Capek, the robot bird from Invader on My Back, by Philip E. High, published by Ace Books in 1968, the tracer birds from Roger Zelazny's Changeling (1980) and little bird from Darwin's Children (2003) by Greg Bear.
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and Technology from The Reefs of Space
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and Technology by Jack Williamson (w/F. Pohl)
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Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson (w/F. Pohl)
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'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
