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"I went back to science fiction to try a few experiments …and my first experiment was a disaster…"
- Alfred Bester
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| Planetary Globe | ||
| A craftsman's model of a planet. |
| He took the globe down and set it on the table before him. It had been begun in the early days of the voyage, seven subjective years past in time and one hundred and ninety light years back in space, to compensate the first bitter pain of loss. It was made of green chromastite, with the refraction planes of the mineral subtly altered to simulate the varying depths of the sea. An overlay of rich, brown jade had been partially carved into a relief of continents and islands. It was to have been his masterpiece - a tiny model of Eiollyra.
He turned the globe slowly in his hands. The north continent was still blank and the poles wanted frosting. There was a lot of work to be done - delicate, painstaking carving with an energy needle - before it would be a perfect replica of the real world, the first world, the world whose warming sun, the astrophysicists said, would explode into a nova.. The First Commander slowly set up the magnifier and arranged the three-dimensional patterns. He pulled a transparent shield over his eyes and began to carve a tiny mountain chain... |
| Technovelgy from Star of Wonder,
by Julian May. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1953 Additional resources -
|
Most science fiction fans recall the imperial handicraft globe of Arrakis from Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert.
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| Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say? |
| Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail |
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| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
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'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'
