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"The germinal societies like Singapore and communist Hong Kong may give us a mutant capitalism that is both virulent and efficient. This is a significant cultural danger."
- Gregory Benford

Inertia Tank  
  A device that protected its delicate contents by cushioning.  

When flying back from the Moon, Brand Fanshaw needed every possible advantage to land safely. Just in case - he was in his inertia tank.

The tank... was cylindrical. It's walls were light-weight, triple-layered steel, fitted with vacuum compartments to keep heat out, and braced every which way in their internal structure, to make them as strong as possible.

There was gelatin in the tank; stiff, clear gelatin... the principle of the tank wasn't complicated. It surrounded whatever it was meant to protect with a soft, flexible, shock-absorbing semifluid cushion.

Technovelgy from Masson's Secret, by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1939
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