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"The SF approach: an awareness that things could have been different, that this is one of many possible worlds, that if you came to this world from some other planet, this would be a science fiction world."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Breathing Balloon | ||
| Like a helmet, but rather than being solid it can pass some gases. |
| When next he left the extension cage, carrying the flight stick, Svetz was wearing another spin-off from the interstellar-exploration industries. It was a balloon, and he wore it over his head. It was also a selectively permeable membrane, intended to pass certain gasses in and others out, to make a breathing-air mixture inside.
It was nearly invisible except at the rim. There, where light was refracted most severely, the balloon showed as a narrow golden circle enclosing Svetz’s head. The effect was not unlike a halo as shown in medieval paintings. But Svetz didn’t know about medieval paintings... The horse screamed as it went into free fall. The horn, intended for Svetz s navel, ripped past his ear and tore his breathing balloon wide open. |
| Technovelgy from Get a Horse!,
by Larry Niven. Published by Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1969 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the microscreen from Bolden's Pets (1955) by F.L. Wallace.
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'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
