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"We'd have most of what we predicted of the conquest of space, if we hadn't ignored parasite control."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Razorback | ||
| Autonomous motorcycle weapons platform. |
| A deep guttural roar rose over the other engines, and down each ramp rolled a riderless, black racing motorcycle with dozens of brushed steel blades running along their tops and sides like cooling fins. Neither bike had handlebars, but instead forward-mounted hydraulic assemblies of brushed steel, folded tightly. A cowling of black laminate armor enclosed the front. In place of a rider's saddle was a circular steel dome about a foot in diameter, its surface etched with mystical synbols. Nearly every ince of the bikes was covered in runes and glyphs and razor-sharp blades. They were as much fetish objects as machines.
The motorcycles rolled to a stop and twin hydraulic jacks slammed down onto the pavement like oversized kickstands or half formed legs. They thrust each bike nearly a foot off the ground, where they stood revving their 1800 cc engines deafeningly. Then twin robotic arms with gleaming three-foot sword blades unfolded from the forward hydraulic assemblies, lashing forth on gimabls, arcing smoothly with blinding spead as they ran through diagnostics like insects cleaning their antennae." Razorbacks are autonmous vehicles that can move between terror weapon and targeted assassination. Their primary armament are the two blades on the robot arms (which can swap out damaged blades like a fancy utility knife). They also have a blinding laser to disorient targets and make them easier prey. Finally, razorbacks have a battery powered 'stealth mode' that allows them to sneak up on targets. |
| Technovelgy from Daemon,
by Daniel Suarez. Published by Dutton in 2009 Additional resources -
|
Compare this wheeled device with the autonomous quadruped robot slamhound from William Gibson's 1986 novel Count Zero as well as the Terminator Salvation robot motorcycle.
Thanks to Trey Palmer for submitting this item.
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'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
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Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
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'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
