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"The trouble with too much genre SF is that it's so obviously the product of the conscious mind."
- William Gibson
 |
| Artificially Pulsating Star | ||
| A star that has been modified to pulsate with a message to the entire universe. |
| Brains flashed out his lighted message across the
moving tape. The electronic genius had done its job, not only cracking the code of the pulsating star, but
ferreting out the language behind it, and then translating those words into our language.
Darby's face held pride. And perhaps the hum of the machine, too, was triumphant at its nameless feat. And at last the answer was there, before their eyes, the message from M-81. "Warning to all galaxies. Danger awaits to strike you, as it has struck us. But before we were wiped out, we sent this message. "We caused one star to fluctuate like a variable, by means of subatomic force-fields that serve as curtains around the star. We installed the controlling unit on a planet of that star, set to continue flashing its signals long after we were gone. "A synchronized tape message automatically controls the unit, making the star flash bright and dim according to a universal code built from pure mathematical fundamentals. Intelligent beings with astronomical science would note the variable star that obeyed no known laws, and soon realize that it conveyed a warning. " |
| Technovelgy from The Cosmic Blinker,
by Eando Binder. Published by Science Fiction Plus in 1953 Additional resources -
|
Compare with the slightly earlier the space beacon from Troubled Star (1952) by George O. Smith and the hyperspace beacon from The Repairman (1959) by Harry Harrison.
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| 'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...' |
| Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket |
| ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry |
| The United States Space Academy Is Official |
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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...'
