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"I've been very obsessive about writing science fiction for far too many years. Anyone with an ounce of sense would have given up years ago."
- Charles Stross
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| Para-Beam | ||
| A beam of energy that paralyzes the victim. |
In the controlled future of the novel, terrifying metamen using para-beams pursue enemies of the state.
| Curt skidded to a halt, staring wildly at the advancing figure of the metaman, and darted to one side.
Blue fire streamed through the air where he had stood a moment before. It swung, lifted and Curt felt his legs go numb and almost lifeless as the blue ray stabbed past him, missing him by a fraction. ...Again the blue ray sent coldness through him, slowing his reflexes and chilling his blood with the touch of paralysis and he sobbed with pain as he forced his sluggish muscles to carry his sagging weight... Then blue fire seared him with a freezing cold and he fell into a bottomless pit of overwhelming darkness. |
| Technovelgy from The Mechanical Monarch,
by E.C. Tubb. Published by Ace Books in 1958 Additional resources -
|
Para-beams had originally been designed as non-lethal weapons, but in time they had evolved into something else.
The para-beam can cripple a man, bring him down and render him helpless, but it's a dangerous thing to use...
Compare to the paralysis ray from Arthur Barnes' Satellite Five (1938).
"...we had to give you artificial respiration, massage the heart, keep your blood circulating and make sure your brain cells didn't deteriorate...
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Mechanical Monarch
More Ideas
and Technology by E.C. Tubb
Tech news articles related to The Mechanical Monarch
Tech news articles related to works by E.C. Tubb
Para-Beam-related
news articles:
- Paralysis Beam From Peak Beam Systems
| MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech |
| Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville |
| US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger |
| Terraformer Industries Make Methane |
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'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
