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"Science Fiction is speculative fiction in which the author takes as his first postulate the real world as we know it, including all established facts and natural laws."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Ultron Wire | ||
| Invisible metal makes the thinnest, strongest wire. |
| At our signal, Gibbons exhausted the air in the compartment, pumping it into the body of the ship, and as the little signal light flashed, Wilma threw open the hatch. Setting the ultron wire reel, I climbed through, and began to slide down gently. We all had our belts on, of course, adjusted to a weight balance of but a few ounces. And the five-mile reel of ultron wire that was to be our guide was of gossamer fineness, though, anyway, I believe it would have lifted the full weight of the five of us, so strong and tough was this invisible metal. As an extra precaution, since the wire was of the purest metal, and therefore totally invisible, even in daylight, we all had our belts hooked on small rings that slid down the wire. |
| Technovelgy from Armageddon: 2419 A.D.,
by Philip Frances Nowlan. Published by Amazing Stories in 1928 Additional resources -
|
It could also conduct a signal and current.
As soon as Gibbons had our word, he extinguished the knob light, and
the knob, as well as the wire, became totally invisible. At our
ultrophoned word, he would light it again...
Compare to shadow square wire from Ringworld (1970), by Larry Niven.
We came out in the open without any further mishap and I instructed
Gibbons in the ship to light the knob on the end of the ultron wire.
It flashed dully a few feet away from us. Just how he had maneuvered
the ship to keep our end of the line in position, without its swinging
in a tremendous arc, I have never been able to understand...
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'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'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...'
