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"The planet's immune system is doing everything it can. The planet's immune system is doing everything it can."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Geodesic Inflexors | ||
| Propulsion provided not by pushing against matter, but against spacetime. |
| The cage swept them upward,
through the levels of the ship. Haldane glimpsed a dark hold, the trim
polished cases of the geodesic inflexors, close-packed rows of power-tubes,
a spotless galley...
The bellow of the launching rockets stopped, and that crushing pressure ceased. For an instant the Starbrand hung free, and Haldane felt a sudden illness in his middle. Then the inflexors hummed, replacing the launching rockets with their powerful drive. The steady thrust of acceleration restored his physical comfort, but mental unease still tortured him... Abruptly the room spun, and fell with them... A smothering silence filled the ship. The hum of the inflexors had stopped. |
| Technovelgy from Star of Dreams,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Comet in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Compare to these propulsion systems: Light Pressure Propulsion (1867), apergy (1880), Beam-Powered Propulsion (1931), Granton motor (1933), Vibration-Propelled Cruiser (1928), geodynes (1936), ion drive (1947), Planetary Propulsion-Blasts (1934), stardrive (1953), solar sail (light sail) (1962), Lyle drive (1961), laser cannon (1966), Bussard ramjet (1976), asymptotic drive (1976), Interstellar Laser Propulsion System (1985).
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'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
