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"[Science fiction is ] That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Saddle | ||
| A comfortable riding saddle - minus the horse. |
| They were closer now and it seemed to him that they were sitting in
invisible chairs that traveled very fast. He saw that they were humanoid, to a degree at least, and there were only three of them. They came in with a rush and stopped very suddenly a hundred feet or so from where he sat upon the steps. He didn't move or say a word -- there was nothing he could say. It was too ridiculous. They were, perhaps, a little smaller than himself, and black as the ace of spades, and they wore skin-tight shorts and vests that were somewhat oversize and both the shorts and vests were the blue of April skies. But that was not the worst of it.
 (From The Big Front Yard) They sat on saddles, with horns in front and stirrups and a sort of bedroll tied on the back, but they had no horses. The saddles floated in the air, with stirrups about three feet above the ground and the aliens sat easily in the saddles and stared at him and he stared back at them. Finally he got up and moved forward a step or two and when he did that the three swung from the saddles and moved forward, too, while the saddles hung there in the air, exactly as they'd left them. |
| Technovelgy from The Big Front Yard,
by Clifford Simak. Published by Astounding Science Fiction in 1959 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the flycycle from Larry Niven's 1970 novel Ringworld and the Hawking mat from Hyperion (1989) by Dan Simmons.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Big Front Yard
More Ideas
and Technology by Clifford Simak
Tech news articles related to The Big Front Yard
Tech news articles related to works by Clifford Simak
Saddle-related
news articles:
- Jet-Powered Hoverboard Works!
| Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon |
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
| Xiaomi Self-Driving Self-Balancing Scooter |
| AV-STEP To Permit Sale Of Vehicles Without Steering Wheels Or Pedals |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
