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 [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl

Bulerite  
  A building material, too good to be true, with hidden properties.  

Richard ran a hand through his hair. “The Bulero Complex outside Chicago is falling apart. All three tiers are—well, glowing strangely, as if burning inside.”

“The whole three-thousand-foot pyramid?” Sam asked, trying to imagine the event.

“Yes. There are a lot of electromagnetic phenomena. There’s smoke. Everyone has been evacuated.” Richard took an unsteady step forward.

“It must be on the evening news,” Sam said, looking around for the remote control.

“No! Listen—we don’t have time. It’s the bulerite—it’s unstable. When our two ore haulers were destroyed in space…we found the same kind of ash in Jack’s yacht and around his disintegrated coffin. When they refloated what was left of the yacht, the bulerite statuettes of Prometheus were gone, together with all the bulerite on the vessel.”

Sam saw fear in Richard’s tired eyes, as if something of Jack had taken possession of him.

Jack killed himself, Sam thought, feeling a guilty satisfaction.

“Earth-moon,” Richard said softly, “it’s all built up with bulerite. All our major cities and hundreds of lesser ones, sea-bed communities, the magma and geothermal taps—patients walking around with bulerite hearts and bones.” He looked at Sam with despair. “Even if we could take it all apart by tearing it loose at the adherence joints, which we don’t know how to do easily, what could we do with the stuff? It would take years to ferry it off-planet.”

Technovelgy from Macrolife, by George Zebrowski.
Published by Harper and Row in 1979
Additional resources -

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Macrolife
  More Ideas and Technology by George Zebrowski
  Tech news articles related to Macrolife
  Tech news articles related to works by George Zebrowski

Bulerite-related news articles:
  - SUCHO Saving Ukraine's Libraries Digitally

Articles related to Material
Omniphobic Liquid-like Surfaces And de Camp's Telelubricator (1940)
MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make
Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
MIT Self-Assembling Reprogrammable Materials

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.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'

Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'

Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'

Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'

'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'

NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?

Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'

Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'

Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'

Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.