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"did I had an extremely expensive wife - she would see a new car that she liked and just buy it... under California law I was bound to buy her debts. I think I turned out 16 novels in five years."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Tubular Field of Force | ||
| Can pull an object through space. |
This is Williamson's version of a tractor beam.
| "...Before we had time to repeat the signal, the Invincible was caught by some tremendous, unseen force. The geodynes were helpless against it. Like a pebble on a string, we were drawn toward that hostile craft."
"Can you conceive of an invisible field of energy, Bob - a tubular field of force, a mathematician might call it - strong enough to drag the Invincible against her fighting geodynes, five thousand miles in five minutes? That's what happened." |
| Technovelgy from The Cometeers,
by Jack Williamson. Published by Street and Smith in 1936 Additional resources -
|
The earliest reference to what most sf fans call a tractor beam is the attractive ray from a 1928 novel by Edmund Hamilton. The phrase "Tractor beam" was originated by E.E. "Doc" Smith in 1931.
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and Technology from The Cometeers
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Tech news articles related to The Cometeers
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Williamson
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| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
'There were cubic miles of it, and it glistened like a silvery Christmas tree...'
'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...'
"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
