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"Writing about the future, I have a vested interest in there being a future for me to write about."
- John Brunner
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| Mechanical Mole | ||
| A self-contained device for digging large tunnels. |
In Oath of Fealty, the same company that operates the Todos Santos Independency, a single structure that houses 250,000 people, is also building a subway under Los Angeles. The use of the device is elaborately explored, in, shall we say, unusual circumstances.
| The vehicle Tony Rand was driving was longer than four Cadillacs, and shaped roughly like a .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Thick hoses in various colors, some as thick as Tony's torso, trailed away down the tunnel and out of sight. The visibility ahead was poor. The top speed was contemptible. The mileage would have horrified a Cadillac owner. The best you could say for the Mole was that, unlike your ordinary automobile, it could drive through rock. |
| Technovelgy from Oath of Fealty,
by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven). Published by Timescape in 1981 Additional resources -
|
I don't want to spoil the surprise of how this device is used in the novel; let's just say it's the slowest getaway car in history.
Compare to the mechanical earthworm from Death Dives Deep by Paul Ernst (1936) and the automatic shell from The Great Stone of Sardis (1897) by Frank Stockton.
For comic book look at a mole machine, read about Cave Carson: Adventures Inside Earth.
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Tech news articles related to Oath of Fealty
Tech news articles related to works by Jerry Pournelle (w/L. Niven)
Mechanical Mole-related
news articles:
- Tunnel Boring Machine B6 For Sale
| BeamBike Solar Power Canopy For Electric Bikes |
| REALLY Remote Control Excavators |
| Your Solar Electric Paint Is Ready, Larry Niven |
| How Long Till We Have These Tattoos? |
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'... the expressionless face before me was therefore that of the golem-wrestler, Rolem, a creature that could be set for five times the strength of a human being.'
'Waldo put his arms into the primary pair before him; all three pairs, including the secondary pair mounted before the machine, came to life.'
'... the glittering little rocket bolted to the black iron behind him.'
'The slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector...'
'The operation that had transformed half his body... had located the control switchboard in his teeth.'
