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"Science and science fiction, how do you even distinguish the two?"
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Surta | ||
| A base material for synthetic food. |
| They were queer-looking specimens, these gentle, willing allies of the Earthmen. Their home planet is a place of ever-clouded skies and constant torrential rains. And so the Venusians were amphibians, web-footed, fish-faced, their skin a green covering of horny scales that shed water and turned the sharp thorns of their native jungles. When intrepid explorers discovered in the mazes of Mercury's spongy interior the surta that was so badly needed as a base material for synthetic food to supply Earth's famine-threatened population, it was to these loyal and amiable beings that ITA's engineers turned for workers who could endure the stifling heat of the underground workings. |
| Technovelgy from The Great Dome of Mercury,
by Leo Zagat. Published by Astounding Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the crop algae from Cities in Flight (1957) by James Blish, the food factory from Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1980) by Frederik Pohl, and protine from Solar Lottery (1955) by Philip K. Dick.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Great Dome of Mercury
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Tech news articles related to The Great Dome of Mercury
Tech news articles related to works by Leo Zagat
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| Microbial Protein Production More Efficient Than Crops |
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'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
