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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
 |
| Stunner | ||
| A non-lethal weapon; typically used like a firearm but only renders its victim unconscious. |
| Armament, every first-class operative owns a hand-gun and shells. Most of them carry illegal personal electric stunners. |
| Technovelgy from Fire-Power,
by S.D. Gottesman. Published by Cosmic Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
Many readers probably recall this word used by Frank Herbert in Dune:
Larry Niven adds one to his copseye surveillance device from Cloak of Anarchy:
The phrase "stun gun" as also used, as by William L Bade in Lost Ulysses (1949):
Compare to the Leyden Ball from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1875) by Jules Verne and the electric rifle from Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911) by Victor Appleton.
In the flashing instant Hawat had time to see they were Sardaukar, hard faces set in battle frenzy, that they were unshielded and each carried a knife in one hand, a stunner in the other.
For the first time ever, I looked into a copseye.
It was impressively simple. I picked out the stunner by its parabolic reflector, the cameras, and a toroidal coil that had to be part of the floater device.
A creeping agony of exhaustion lay upon his limbs* He sank into the chair behind his own desk and slumped forward. He'd have to sleep off this stun-gun hangover.
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'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.'
