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"Every scientist worth his salt that I know of has read science fiction."
- Greg Bear
 |
| Manufactured Planet | ||
| Is that a moon - or a space station? |
| Our first vague impression was corroborated; the object was a vast sphere of perhaps a thousand feet in diameter and of a dark, greenish metal. It was encircled by criss-crossing and massive bands of the same material. There were no other distinguishing features...
...what was our astonishment to find ourselves close to and moving steadily toward the green sphere, and a great door in its side yawning to receive us! |
| Technovelgy from The Heritage of the Earth,
by Harley S. Aldinger. Published by Amazing Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
This iconic picture should be familiar, at least in outline:
(We were pulled inside!)
The reader might be reminded of the Death Star pulling in the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars.
The author does not describe the means by which the craft is drawing others in side, saying only "we were drawn forward by a force not our own..."
Elsewhere in the story, the sphere is described as "the little manufactured planet, swinging through space, bearing its precious burden, the Heritage of Earth."
Compare to the battle sphere from The Space Rover (1932) by Edwin K. Sloat and the Transparent Spherical Ship from Schachner and Zagat's 1931 novel The Emperor of the Stars.
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and Technology from The Heritage of the Earth
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'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
