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"Science fiction operates a little bit like science itself, in principle. You've got thousands of people exploring ideas, putting forth their own hypotheses. Most of them are dead wrong; a few stand the test of time; everything looks kind of quaint in hind"
- Peter Watts
 |
| Paralysis Bomb | ||
| A device like a hand grenade that released paralyzing radiation. |
Heinlein also calls them "parabombs."
| "At the middle of the watch exactly on the bell you will enter the Palace by the door where you
received this. Forty paces inside, take the stair on your left; climb two flights. Proceed north fifty paces.
The lighted doorway on your right leads to the Virgins' quarters, there will be a guard at this door. He
will not resist you but you must use a paralysis bomb on him to give him an alibi. The cell you seek is at
the far end of the central east & west corridor of the quarters. There will be a light over the door and a Virgin on guard. She is not one of us. You must disable her completely but you are forbidden to injure or kill her..."
Twenty-five feet away the guard and the doorway. He was supposed to be one of us but I took no chances. I slipped a bomb from my belt, set it by touch to minimum intensity, pulled the primer and counted off five seconds to allow for point blank range. Then I threw it and ducked back into the jog to protect myself from the rays. I waited another five seconds and stuck my head around. The guard was slumped down on the floor... |
| From If This Goes On...,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1940 Additional resources -
|
The same technovelgy was used in Methuselah's Children, a story written the same year.
"The legate--"began one. He got no further; a paralysis bomb tinkled and popped at his feet. He
looked surprised as the radiations wiped all expression from his face; his mate fell across him.
Lazarus waited behind a shoulder of the arch, counted seconds up to fifteen: "Number one jet fire!
Number two jet fire! Number three jet fire!"-added a couple to be sure the paralyzing effect had died
away. He had cut it finer than he liked. He had not ducked quite fast enough and his left foot tingled
from exposure.
He then checked. The two were unconscious, no one else was in sight.
Lazarus stopped in the archway giving into the transbelt tunnel and waited for them. "What's the trouble?' he asked easily as they came up.
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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.
