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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle
 |
| Air-Blanket | ||
| A dome-less protective air shield. |
Who needs a dome when your blanket of air stays put?`
| For in Hollywood on the Moon there is no place for the weakling. It is run through a combination of power, graft, and efficiency, but there is no room for incompetents. The city of terraces and towers and wide streets was the most healthful in the Solar System because of the artificial atmosphere, germ-free and automatically purified, kept on the Moon by an electro-magnetic gravity field created by gigantic machines in the caverns beneath the surface. The air-blanket shields Hollywood on the Moon from the blazing rays, of the Sun, protects it from the chill of frigid space, aided by huge plates that broadcast radiant heat. It is the dream of every girl's life to drive along Lunar Boulevard and dance at the Silver Spacesuit. A dream one girl in a hundred thousand ever realizes. |
| Technovelgy from Hollywood on the Moon,
by Henry Kuttner. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
There is one particular problem with the air-blanket, particularly if implemented on an asteroid with very low gravity:
Compare to the old-fashioned way, the moon dome from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings.
Despite the mass of Ganymede, the gravity was less than terrestrial, and he made a great bound that brought him almost above the asteroid's close-lying air blanket. He held his breath, feeling an icy chill strike him...
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
