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"...the space defense initiative drove the USSR bankrupt, and it originated at my house in Tarzana."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Tiny Robot Planes | ||
| A swarm of very small independently maneuverable unmanned aerial vehicles. |
This is a very early reference to the idea of a swarm of UAVs.
| “There come bomb-planes!” Merky exclaimed. “Right out of sun!”
Amber and Barnes looked up. There was a small black speck just beyond the sun’s disc. The speck became a smudge, then expanded to a small cloud. It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes, each one so packed with detonite that it was little more than a power-driven bomb. |
| Technovelgy from Blood on the Sun,
by Hal K. Wells. Published by Startling Stories in 1942 Additional resources -
|
There was a defense against this menace!
Every plane those beams touched exploded. The firmament seemed a solid mass of rippling flame and crashing detonations. The beams thrust with the fluid swiftness and accuracy of giant rapiers, but there were too few Ancients to hope to get every robot-bomb.
Either the Ancients were late in detecting the menace flashing toward them out of the fiery glare of the sun, or their weapons were designed for close range defense only. The first of the rocketing robot planes were within a few thousand feet of the crater’s floor when pale beams lanced skyward.
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| Robots Repair And Modify Themselves |
| Robot Janitors Get To Work |
| Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves |
| Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons |
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'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
This is nothing new for science fiction fans!
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'
