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"There's a tendency to think that maybe if we can just throw enough hardware at the AI problem, then evolution can take care of the rest. Certainly that's how God went about making us."
- Rudy Rucker
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| Space Tunnel | ||
| An enclosed gang plank extended between space ships. |
| “I’m Hal Bailey, owner of Mars. If that doesn’t convey anything try ‘Excellent Friend.’ ” “You’re — you’re him are you?” He heard her gasp. “Excuse me! I can explain this . . . Come on over.” She opened her ship’s outer lock. Hal lowered his space-tunnel into position, crossed into the girl’s control room.* The place was littered with spectrometers, charts, maps, sextants, and Martian desert drawings... She broke the magnetic contact holding the tunnel to Hal’s ship and it folded back in place. * Space Tunnel — A space “gang plank” entirely inclosed, extending from airlock to airlock of adjoining ships— folding up concertinawise when not in use. — Ed. |
| Technovelgy from The Man Who Bought Mars,
by Polton Cross. Published by Fantastic Adventures in 1941 Additional resources -
|
A similar idea is used in Solar Plexus (1941) by James Blish:
A tube! A flexible, airtight tube. Like those used for freight transfer in space. It connected the airlock of his ship with that of the stranger. Lights at the other end of it, within an open lock, gleamed yellowly. Incandescents! It was an old ship, all right.
Compare to the tubular space-gangway from The Star Roamers (1933) by Edmond Hamilton.
He grabbed for the inner door of the lock to slide it shut. But he stood rigid, still reaching for it vacantly, as he saw to his horror that the outer door was in motion, slowly inching open. He grabbed for a stanchion to brace himself against the rush of air into the vacuum—none came. What—?
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More Ideas
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Tech news articles related to The Man Who Bought Mars
Tech news articles related to works by Polton Cross
| Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars |
| Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris |
| Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand |
| Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space |
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'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
