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"[Science fiction is ] That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Kzinti Lesson - Propulsion As Weapon | ||
| The power of a craft's means of propulsion repurposed as an offensive weapon. |
This is also known as the Kzinti Lesson, as described by Larry Niven:
This is often used as a canonical example because the human beings were trained to be nonviolent; they were incapable of using weapons to harm others. Except for one crew member...
"A reaction drive's efficiency as a weapon is in direct proportion to its efficiency as a drive."
| The Captain hurried, knowing that the Telepath couldn't stand this for long. “How do they power their ship?”
“It's a light-pressure drive powered by incomplete hydrogen fusion. They use an electromagnetic ramscoop to get their own hydrogen from space.” “Clever… Can they get away from us?” “No. Their drive is on idle, ready to go, but it won't help them. It's pitifully weak.” “What kind of weapons do they have?” The Telepath remained silent for a long time... “None at all, sir.” The Kzin's voice became clearer; his hypnotic relaxation was broken by muscle twitches. He twisted as if in a nightmare. “Nothing aboard ship, not even a knife or a club. Wait, they've got cooking knives. But that's all they use them for. They don't fight.” ...
A twist of a large white knob turned the drive on full, and he slipped into the pilot seat before the gentle light pressure could build up.
...
The other ship began to turn away from its tormentor. Its drive end glowed red.
... Someone had steered the ships much closer together. The Kzinti ship was a huge red sphere with ugly projections scattered at seeming random over the hull. The beam had sliced it into two unequal halves, sliced it like an ax through an egg. Steve watched, unable to turn aside, as the big half rotated to show its honeycombed interior. |
| Technovelgy from The Warriors,
by Larry Niven. Published by Worlds of If in 1966 Additional resources -
|
The Warriors was published in 1966, so there are surely earlier examples in science fiction. For example, the Sardaukar used the attitudinal jets on a troop carrier as flame-throwers in Frank Herbert's Dune, published in 1964.
In The Dragon Masters, Jack Vance describes an advanced propulsion system built in secret by the sacerdotes; the protagonist forces them to use it as a weapon to defend themeseves.
The repellor rays from Armageddon 2419 AD by Philip Frances Nowlan are sometimes cited, but the story distinguishes disintegration rays.
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'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
'This was their world, their planet — this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
