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"Evolutionary success ... is going to absolutely require mobility on, at a minimum, an interplanetary scale. We either go or we die out."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Beanstalk | ||
| Clever name for the space elevator. |
| As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed me through the door leading to Customs, Health and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed him.
I have never liked riding the Beanstalk. My distaste was full-blown even before the disaster to the Quito Skyhook. A cable that goes up into the sky with nothing to hold it up smells too much of magic. But the only other way to reach Ell-Five takes too long and costs too much; my orders and expense acount did not cover it. |
| From Friday,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Not Known in 1982 Additional resources -
|
Readers will recognize the idea of a space elevator or orbital tower, popularized by Arthur C. Clarke in his excellent 1978 novel The Fountains of Paradise. The basic idea was first proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1895 (after seeing the Eiffel Tower).
Thanks to Nebula Nox for pointing out this item.
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How long ago did Robert Heinlein write about skiing on dry alien worlds?
'There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.'
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'
'Everything was ready, awaiting the Overlords' pleasure...'
'Five hundred billion gallons worth of Antarctic iceberg had been towed into Santa Monica Bay.'
'...he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports...'
'He realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it...'
'To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost every town and village...'
