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"Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today -- but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all."
- Isaac Asimov
 |
| Planet-Busting Bomb | ||
| A munition with sufficient power to destroy an entire planet. |
This is a very early (maybe the first) fictional reference.
| Somebody had slipped when Marshall Wellington Smith selected Rigel IV for his planet-busting test. |
| From Testing,
by J.J. Ferrat. Published by Fantastic Universe in 1956 Additional resources -
|
In Frank Herbert's 1972 novel The Godmakers, Lewis Orne was sent to the planet Gienah to see if it was a safe planet for further development.
The term is not original with Ferrat; it was discussed briefly in "sf fact" articles as early as 1950.
Compare to the magnetic shell from The Great Stone of Shardis (1897) by Frank Stockton, the
atomic bomb from The World Set Free (1914) by HG Wells, the atomic shell from Buck Rogers: 2430 AD (1929) by Nowlan and Calkin, the roving bomb from Lost Rocket (1941) by Manly Wade Wellman, the
Wabbler from The Wabbler (1942) by Murray Leinster and the smart bullet from Runaway (1985) by Michael Crichton.
This one calls for one planet-buster bomb, buster. In five days. Unless you give them a white bill in the meantime. High Commissioner Bullone will have word of this planet by then. If Gienah still exists in five days, can you imagine the fun the politicians'll have with it? Oh Mamma! Orne, we want this planet cleared for contact or dead before then.
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'Chain of hotels that specialized in non-human service.'
'But then... not every bulldozer operator works on the Moon.'
'Griff found the white and pink map distracting and switched it off using his tongue mouse.'
'Jimmy Cardigan and Harlowe, staring through the darkside port, had their feet in the foot-loops...'
'But the rising sign, as it had been designed to do, held his eyes. A vast circle of scarlet stars came up into the greenish desert dusk.'
'A lightning pilot possibly could land that tin toy without power and still walk away from it provided he had the skill to play Skip-to-M’Lou in and out of the atmosphere...'
'It was you who betrayed me — you and your robot cat.'
'with its atomic engine as noiseless as a dancing sunbeam...'
