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"What we're doing pop culturally is like burning the rain forest. The biodiversity of pop culture is really, really in danger."
- William Gibson
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| Planet Buster | ||
| A bomb so powerful it could destroy a planet. |
This is the earliest reference I know about.
| "One of our largest space bombers was over the planet. The commander warned the Aldebarans that unless they agreed to surrender the diamonds at once, he would drop a planet buster - that’s a Class-A oxygen bomb. The Aldebaran’s return message, expressed in the crudest possible language, told the commander what he could do with the bomb.” |
| Technovelgy from Assignment to Aldebaran,
by Kendall Foster Crossen. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1953 Additional resources -
|
The reference to a "oxygen bomb" is a satiric reference to the hydrogen bomb.
I first encountered this term in Frank Herbert's quirky but excellent 1972 novel The Godmakers:
Marion Zimmer Bradley picked it up about five years after Crossen, in The Planet Savers (1958):
We'll take up a tight orbit. Out beyond us will be five transports full of I-A marines plus a Class IX Monitor with one planet-buster. You're calling the shots, God help you! First, we have to know if they've taken the Delphinus , and if so, where it is. Next, we want to know how warlike these goons are. Can we deal with them? Are they too bloodthirsty? What's their potential?
A simple heat-gun, to the Darkovan ethical code, is as reprehensible as a super-cobalt planetbuster.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Assignment to Aldebaran
More Ideas
and Technology by Kendall Foster Crossen
Tech news articles related to Assignment to Aldebaran
Tech news articles related to works by Kendall Foster Crossen
Planet Buster-related
news articles:
- Planet Buster Dead Star Vaporizes Mini-Planet
| Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade? |
| Man Builds 200 Foot Basement Firing Range |
| Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons |
| Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea |
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'...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...'
'The greatest problem of all was the elimination of the human element of braking together with its inevitable time lag.'
