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"I took the Minnesota multiphasic profile test once, and I tested out as paranoid, cyclothymic, neurotic, and schizophrenic. But I also tested out as an incorrigible liar!"
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Project X | ||
| A device that produces sound rays that are intolerable to living things. |
| "Project X" Dr. Ferris was saying, "was devoted to some special research in the field of sound. The science of sound has astonishing aspects, which laymen would scarcely suspect..."
Some fifty feet away from the farmhouse, Dr. Stadler saw a structure, obviously new and of no possible purpose whatever: it looked like a few spans of steel trestle, rising into empty space, supporting nothing, leading nowhere... "...And it was discovered" said Dr. Ferris, "that there are certain frequencies of sound vibration which no structure, organic or inorganic, can withstand..." "...The sound ray is controlled by a panel inside the giant underground laboratory," said Dr. Ferris, pointing at the building on the knoll. "That panel is known to us affectionately as the 'Xylophone' - because one must be darn careful to strike the right keys, or, rather, to pull the right levers..." "...The sound ray is invisible, inaudible and fully controllable in respect to target, direction and range. It's first public test, which you are about to witness, has been set to cover a small sector, a mere two miles, in perfect safety, with all space cleared for twenty miles beyond. The present generating equipment is capable of producing rays to cover - through the outlets which you may observe under the dome - the entire countryside within a radius of a hundred miles... This is only a modest beginning." |
| Technovelgy from Atlas Shrugged,
by Ayn Rand. Published by Random House in 1957 Additional resources -
|
Thanks to Moira for suggesting this item.
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Project X-related
news articles:
- Mosquito Device - Project X For Kids?
| Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait |
| Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade |
| Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones |
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
