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"I did more research, and realized I almost would rather be a biologist than a writer, because there was incredible stuff going on!"
- Greg Bear
 |
| Plastex | ||
| A combination of plaster and latex, it allows houses to change shape for you. |
The psychotropic houses of Vermillion Sands were able to mirror the feelings of their owners. They could also change shape as required.
| It was a beautiful room all right, with opaque plastex walls and white fluo-glass ceiling, but something terrible had happened there. As it responded to me, the ceiling lifting slightly and the walls growing less opaque, reflecting my perspective-seeking eye, I noticed that curious mottled knots were forming, indicating where the room had been strained and healed faultily. Deep hidden rifts began to distort the sphere, ballooning out one of the alcoves like a bubble of overextended gum.
"Lively responses, aren't they, Mr. Talbot?" He put his hand on the wall behind us. The plastex swam and whirled like boiling toothpaste, then extruded itself into a small ledge. Stamers sat down on the lip, which quickly expanded to match the contours of his body, providing back and arm rests. |
| From The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista,
by J.G. Ballard. Published by Amazing Fact and Science Fiction in 1962 Additional resources -
|
The house trees of Jack Vance's 1964 novel The Houses of Iszm also tailored themselves to owners, if more slowly. Contrast plastex, which does what you want, to the Bambakias hotel of Bruce Sterling's 1998 novel Distraction, which actually tells you what to do, construction-wise.
I don't know if Ballard knowingly reused the word "plastex" or not. The word was trademarked in the 1930's by a toy company; it is used in reference to a bouncy kind of plastic.
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Gerry was dubious. She had seen abortive attempts at paralysis rays before.
Let your fingers - uh - your robot do the walking. And hopping.
