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"...in fifty years, do you believe that people will be recognizably human?"
- Greg Bear
 |
| Ten Million Mile Searchlight | ||
| You need to see where you're going. |
One of the many precursors to the idea of laser light.
| Even to the last moment when she settled into her dock upon Inferno, the Planetaria was controlled by the force originally set in motion. And, though the dock was still invisible, Inferno, with her lava rocks and salt seas, was unfolding momentarily.
Donald shuddered with horror as he saw that hideous coast, studded with crater-pits, in the light of the ten million mile searchlight at the Planetaria’s nose. That concentration of a searchlight into a single beam that suffered no absorption outside the limits of atmosphere had been one of the innumerable discoveries that had made interplanetary travel possible. |
| Technovelgy from Revolt on Inferno,
by Victor Rousseau. Published by Miracle Science and Fantasy Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
This is also a precursor to the idea of a long-range sensor scan. Fans of Star Trek: TOS have been eagerly awaiting long range sensor scans that can detect the components of an atmosphere without needing to send crew members in red shirts to gather samples.
(Spock long range sensor scan)
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
