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"Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything. We can't talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Light-Sword | ||
| A laser tuned for use as a cutting tool. |
Conflict arises on the Ringworld, and Louis Wu has need for training received earlier in his 200 year long life.
| Light-swords, laser weapons, had een used on all the worlds. Louis's training was a century old, and the war he had trained for hadn't happened after all. But the rules were too simple to forget.
The slower the swing, the deeper the cut. |
| From Ringworld,
by Larry Niven. Published by Ballantine in 1970 Additional resources -
|
More rules for fighting with a light-sword may be found in the book.
This is a similar concept to the lightsaber of Star Wars fame; the earliest reference to something like this that I can find is the force-field penknife by Isaac Asimov.
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These drones can provide situational awareness beyond visual line-of-sight capability.
'It resembled conventional human-operated transportation vehicles, but with one exception -- there was no driver's cabin.'
'Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes... On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom...'
'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.'
'The Dwoskin Morality Rating-Computer could 'spot the slightest tendency to deviation' from the social norm...'
'At least there was no mandatory Whuffie check on the monorail platform...'
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
