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"Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Battleroom | ||
| A large, null-gravity space used for battle tactics training. |
| They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side. Null gravity was frightening, disorienting; they soon found that things went better if they didn't use their feet at all. |
| Technovelgy from Ender's Game,
by Orson Scott Card. Published by Tor in 1985 Additional resources -
|
A much earlier description of interpersonal fighting in zero-gravity is given by Arthur C. Clarke in Islands in the Sky (1952):
The first problem, of course, is to catch your opponent, which isn't easy, because if he refuses to cooperate, he can shoot off in so many directions. But
even if he decides to play, there are further difficulties.
Any kind of boxing is almost impossible, since the first
blow would send you flying apart. So the only practicable form of combat is wrestling. It usually starts
with the two fighters floating in mid-air, as far as possible from any solid object. They grasp wrists, with
their arms fully extended; after that it's difficult to see
exactly what happens. The air is full of flying limbs
and slowly rotating bodies. By the rules of the game,
you've won if you can keep your opponent pinned
against any wall for a count of five. This is much more
difficult than it sounds, for he only has to give a good
heave to send both of you flying out into the room
again. Remember that, since there's no gravity, you
can't just sit on your victim until your weight tires
him out.
Compare to the observation room recreation space from The Power Planet (1930) by Murray Leinster and rocket polo from Ra for the Rajah (1938) by John Victor Peterson.
...he was always getting into
good-humored fights with the other boys, and a fight
under free-fall conditions is fascinating to watch,
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Ender's Game
More Ideas
and Technology by Orson Scott Card
Tech news articles related to Ender's Game
Tech news articles related to works by Orson Scott Card
Battleroom-related
news articles:
- Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
| 'Warrior Suit' Combat Exoskeleton Project Still Alive |
| Sea Drones Attack Russian Fleet |
| Slaughterbot AI KIller Quadcopter Drones |
| Russia Working On Military Exoskeletons |
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
