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"I was involved in a cloning project. .. to send me into outer space along with a lot of other people. Not the whole me - just a hair from my head, while I still had some. I would thus pop up in another galaxy in the distant future."
- Arthur C. Clarke
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| Radiant Shield | ||
| A device that would effectively prevent an implanted radiant from being detected or read. |
The radiant is a chip or device that is injected into the shoulder; it provides position and information to anyone equipped with the proper viewer.
Unless, of course, you make use of available countermeasures. Aile Farr did so, when necessary.
| Everywhere that Farr went, the radiant in his right shoulder sent up a signal. On the viewer screen, Farr was as surreptitious as a lighthouse.
He went to the stereo-screen and called Kirdy... "How can I shield it?" "Stay where you are, I'll send a man down with a shield." The messenger presently arrived. Farr went into the men's room and wrapped a pad of woven metal around his shoulder and chest. "Now," said Farr grimly. "Now we'll see." |
| Technovelgy from The Houses of Iszm,
by Jack Vance. Published by Better Publications in 1954 Additional resources -
|
Vance's "radiant" is essentially an RFID chip, a small electronic device with a bit of memory to carry information and an antenna to transmit that information to a suitable reader.
RFID chips can be blocked or shielded with metal foil; a tightly woven mesh of metal should also work. This kind of "passive" shield is more reliable than a transmitter that jams the chip's return signal.
Compare to the life-shield blanket from Heretics of Dune (1984) by Frank Herbert,
the
life detector shield from Cease Fire (1958) by Frank Herbert, the
protective shield from Triplanetary (1934) by 'Doc' Smith and the
personal force-shield from Foundation (1951) by Isaac Asimov and the geofractor shield from One Against the Legion (1939) by Jack Williamson.
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'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'
