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"The wealth of the universe is all over your head. We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth..."
- Larry Niven
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| Golden Lights | ||
| Another unusual use of the suspensor field; lights are suspended in it. |
Another aspect of the Baron Harkonnen's multimedia center and conference room (no windows for better security) was an area artfully lighted using just the bulbs themselves suspended in air.
| Light glowed in the room from golden balls hanging in mobile suspensor fields. |
| Technovelgy from Dune,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Putnam in 1965 Additional resources -
|
Another interesting detail is the idea that the suspensor fields are mobile, that is, adjustable. The lights could be moved, not just turned or brightened and dimmed.
Inevitably, some elements of any science fiction writer's work reflect the time in which they were written. This technovelgy item reminds me very strongly of track lighting, which was introduced in the early 1960's.
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'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
'The area affected was five hundred kilometres across, and perfectly circular.'
'Hasan always pitched a Gauzy - a one-molecule-layer tent, opaque, feather-light, and very tough.'
