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"None of us, no matter what continent or island or ice cap, asked to be born in the first place, and that even somebody as old as I am, which is 80, only just got here."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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| Jumpdoor | ||
| The entrance to an energy passage providing instantaneous transportation between points across the galaxy. |
How might it be possible to move from one place to another, without traversing the space in between? Frank Herbert takes a shot at it in Whipping Star:
| The jumpdoor began to hum with its aura of terrifying energies. The door's vortal tube snapped open. McKie tensed himself for the syrupy resistance to jumpdoor passage, stepped through the tube. It was like swimming in air became molasses - perfectly normal-appearing air. But molasses. McKie found himself in a rather ordinary office.. |
| Technovelgy from Whipping Star,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Galaxy Publishing in 1969 Additional resources -
|
Jumpdoors can be dangerous; just make sure you're all the way through when they close.
The phrase “jump door” refers to the door opened in the side of an airplane for people to jump out. I remember Robert Heinlein using it in The Puppet Masters:
Two hours later we were coming in on our target and the jump door was open. Dad and I were last in line, after the kids who would do the real work. My hands were sweaty with the old curtain-going-up tension. I was scared as hell—I never did like to jump.
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| Eviation Alice Electric Plane First Flight |
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'Bill blinked at his own face under the plumed helmet...'
'...a robot detector circuit closed, activating a bell."
'Alex did not find it surprising that people... were electronically minting their own cash.'
'I had determined that my first attempt should be a visit to Mars.'
To follow the user like a pet while carrying their cargo!
'Deveet unhooked his catch and laid it on the bank beside him. It was a metal fish.'
'...waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
'Seen close it was not completely flexible, but made instead of pivoted and smoothly finished segments.'
