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"There was a time when one old eccentric guy with a notebook could do something important to science. Now even the resources of a major university are often not enough."
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Emergency Lifeboat | ||
| A small craft used as a bail-out vehicle from a large space station or spacecraft. |
| Then, each grasping Clio by an arm, the two officers shoved mightily with their feet, and the three armored forms darted away toward their only hope of escape - an emergency lifeboat that could be launched through the shell of the great globe. To attempt to reach the Hyperion and to escape in one of her lifeboats would have been useless; they could not have forced the great gates of the main airlocks and no other exits existed. |
| Technovelgy from Triplanetary,
by E.E. 'Doc' Smith. Published by Not known in 1934 Additional resources -
|
There are other, earlier references in sf to a "lifeship" that serves this same purpose. In 1946, John MacDougal wrote about it in "Chaos, Coordinated"; there is an even earlier mention in 1940, from Harry Walton's "Moon of Exile".
Take a look at Larry Niven's crash web to protect yourself from deceleration trauma.
Compare to the escapecraft from The Ethical Equations (1945) by Murray Leinster, the
emergency space-boat from Revolt of the Star Men (1932) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the escape pod from Star Wars (1976) by George Lucas, the survival bubble from Footfall (1985) by Niven & Pournelle, the life tubes from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson and the life ship from The Invisible World by Ed Earl Repp.
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
