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"Tokyo homeless people reiterate the whole nature of living in Tokyo in cardboard boxes, they're only slightly smaller than Tokyo apartments, and they have almost as many consumer goods. It's a nightmare of boxes within boxes."
- William Gibson
 |
| Twing | ||
| Used in the hold of spaceships to keep articles all together, and to prevent them from floating around in free fall, or falling during periods of acceleration. |
NASA worked hard on the problem of what to do with loose items in space ships. They float around when you are in free fall, and they might hurt someone (or damage something else) while you are accelerating.
The answer? Twing! It's kind of like a string netting that keeps everything in its place, but can easily be released for access.
| Twing was tough, but not invulnerable...Phssthpok applied the softener key to the twing. Thump - and a foot of crude glass rod slammed through the twing. |
| From Protector,
by Larry Niven. Published by Del Rey in 1973 Additional resources -
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