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"The trouble with too much genre SF is that it's so obviously the product of the conscious mind."
- William Gibson
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| Belter | ||
| A person who was born and raised in the asteroid belt around Sol. |
As far as I know, Niven coined this handy term. However, the idea of having a word for the people who colonize and work among the asteroids is older (see below).
| Every compartment in the personnel ring opened into the narrow doughnut-shaped hall which ran around the ring's forward rim. Steve pushed himself into the hall, jockeyed to contact the floor, and pushed. From there it was easy going. The floor curved up to meet him, and he proceeded down the hall like a swimming frog. Of the twelve men and women on the Angels's Pencil, Steve was the best at this; for Steve was a Belter, and the others were all flatlands, Earthborn. |
| Technovelgy from The Warriors,
by Larry Niven. Published by Worlds of If in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Here's another insight offered into Belter behavior:
"Sometimes it's almost eerie. You don't move for minutes at a time."
Compare to asterite from Collission Orbit (1942) by Jack Williamson.
"You noticed a habit of mine once. I never make gestures. All Belters have that trait. It's because on a small mining ship you could hit something waving your arms around. Something like the airlock button."
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"The robot solemnly hit a ball against the wall, picked it up and teed it, hit it again, over and again...'
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
