|
Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The trick is not becoming a writer. The trick is staying a writer. Day after month after year after story after book."
- Harlan Ellison
|
|
|
Lunar Tunnel (Human Pendulum) |
|
|
A tunnel through the center of the moon, and the man who fell through it. |
|
An interesting dilemma, one that is often addressed in first-year physics classes; what would be the experience of someone who falls into a hole... that goes all the way through a planet?
“What do you suppose made that smooth-walled crater?” Lewis queried of his friend. “Of course the moon is porous and the task was small compared with one on earth of similar proportions, but why do you suppose the walls were so smoothly laid ?”
('Captive of the Crater' by DD Sharp)
“I’ve thought of that,” Pike answered, “and we found something that reveals a good deal. Beyond the shaft on the depressed side is quite a large city still protruding through the fall of meteorites and ash. While waiting for you we found some machinery, ancient to be sure, but still in a fair state of preservation. Of course there will never be any more decay to anything on the moon’s surface, but this machinery evidently dated back to a time when there was water in the depression. There is a much deeper sink beginning less than a mile from the city. It is my idea that when all the water from the great depression was finally drained into the shaft and pumped from the other end, a city sprang up here to use and pump the water from the lowest basin.
“You see, Lewis, my idea is that they dug this shaft from the crater on the earth side of the moon to tap the great lunar sea on the other side, which was probably fresh water. They must have sacrificed thousands of lives, when the final excavation was made, for the water would naturally rush to the far side of the shaft to seek a level with the water in the great depression. At first that was probably high enough to put the water quite near the surface on the other side of the moon. This condition no doubt existed for many thousand years.”
“You’ve got a great imagination. Pike,” Lewis said with a tolerant chuckle, “but how do you account for the smooth walls ? The moon is porous and water falling over the walls could hardly have filled them top to bottom with solid rock.”
“Proving my point,” Pike insisted, “That wall is masonry. The moon creatures probably knew that if they did not wall in the shaft the water would be wasted in the giant caverns of the interior." |
Technovelgy from Captive of the Crater,
by D.D. Sharp.
Published by Wonder Stories in 1933
Additional resources -
|
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Captive of the Crater
More Ideas
and Technology by D.D. Sharp
Tech news articles related to Captive of the Crater
Tech news articles related to works by D.D. Sharp
Articles related to Space Tech
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
|
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
More SF in the
News
More Beyond Technovelgy
|
|