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"Concepts of religion may now be goals of science and engineering."
- Bart Kosko
 |
| Ether Boat | ||
| A space craft. |
The "ether" referred to here is not a soporific gas, but rather the theorized transmission medium of light and gravity in the absence of all matter - the emptiness of space.
| In the dim interior of an ether boat, two men labored over a pile of rock lumps. They were dressed warmly in sweaters and thick skin-tight trousers. The inner sections of an ether boat were hard to keep warm, especially when the vacuum locks to the outside were used frequently. Every time the lock was opened and the air rushed out, the new air that filled the space when the outer door closed absorbed the intense frigidity of the bare metal wall of the lock chamber. Then, when the inner door to the boat proper was Opened, this frosted air swept in and quickly lowered the average temperature. It was all the electric heaters could do to keep the heat up to just past the freezing point of water. |
| From Murder on the Asteroid,
by Eando Binder. Published by Wonder Stories in 1933 Additional resources -
|
More details:
With a mighty rumble the rear tubes blasted
their song Of power and in a graceful arc the little blunt-nosed, cylindrical ether boat left its roosting
place. Once safely away from the asteroid, Timothy
reset the keyboard for a straight course...
He climbed the short ladder to the pilot room which
was a little one man cell whose roof was glass almost
as tough and strong as steel. He seated himself in
the pilot seat and gazed around with bleary eyes.
From this position the pilot commanded the entire
view on all sides and also upward...
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'I filled your bullet hole with flesh putty and the lattice.'
'... it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.'
'From the tower's huge octagonal base radiate wide silvery strips...'
'It was about five feet long... a black bullet head and red camera eyes.'
'The Law Society has strict rules on the use of pseudo-intelligent software...'
