Science Fiction Trivia

[Cody]

I thought that'd go fast - it is indeed the Undersea Trilogy by Pohl (and Williamson). The dipper is winging its way to you!


As an aside, here's a pic of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa) - slowly growing:



For bonus points: in which direction is the camera looking?

[Smivs]

Roughly south-east? from Pulau Sertung?

[Cody]

Nope! The clue is in the picture - and in the prize!



Disclaimer: not having taken the pic, I cannot be 100% sure - but I think I worked it out.

[Smivs]

Ha, I thought I'd worked it out!
To the left is Krakatau Kecil, and to the right is Krakatoa itself. Late afternoon as stars are just visible, so near sunset, and the shadows are pointing more or less East.

[Cody]

<chortles> How about at night, with a full moon?

[Disembodied]

There's the Plough visible above the volcano, upside down - but the two stars which point to the North Star should still work, and they're pointing straight at the volcano … so north?

[Cody]

Aye, the Big Dipper with Polaris behind Anak Krakatau - due north.
It's a beautifully-posed photo - been in my gallery for years.

[Smivs]

<chortles> How about at night, with a full moon?

Too bright, surely. The clouds would not be that well lit, would they? And if it is, that's very sneaky!

Edited to add:- That's very sneaky!

[Cody]

<grins> Fishing boats with their 'attractor' lights hanging over the side - almost certainly night - and the shadows under the tree.

Yes, very sneaky! The pic I have in my gallery has more subtle lighting, Smivs.

[Malacandra]

Okay, who whispered "With such a weapon I could boil the Earth to vapour", and who (having understood the rather bestial language he was whispering in) curtly told him to "Shut up"?

(This book was the first sequel to one of the all-time classics of space fiction, and dates from the early 1980s.)

[ffutures]

Without checking, Ringworld Engineers? Speaker to Animals talking to Louis Wu?

[Malacandra]

Without checking, Ringworld Engineers? Speaker to Animals talking to Louis Wu?

Close enough. You would get killed for calling him Speaker-to-Animals by then -- he had a name. The phrase above was, as you'll remember, Chmee's reaction to seeing the solar-flare-laser firing. A nice underpowered weapon if ever there was one.

[ffutures]

Without checking, Ringworld Engineers? Speaker to Animals talking to Louis Wu?

Close enough. You would get killed for calling him Speaker-to-Animals by then -- he had a name. The phrase above was, as you'll remember, Chmee's reaction to seeing the solar-flare-laser firing. A nice underpowered weapon if ever there was one.

Oh, I always had a soft spot for the Lensman version, the Sunbeam, which basically used a few thousand robotic space stations to turn the entire solar system into a vacuum tube and focus most of the output of the sun onto one target. Planets melted pretty quickly...

OK, if it's my turn again, let's go for something easy... According to H.G. Wells, how many Martian tripods did the Thunder Child destroy before it was sunk?

[spud42]

3 i think is the answer. we it attacked 3 ..

[Malacandra]

Two. One with gunfire and one by ramming. The ramming part was aided by the Thunder Child blowing up at the same time.

This brought humanity's total to three since one had earlier been destroyed by artillery in a land engagement, after which the Martians never got within line of sight of a cannon again.

(A steamship called Thunder Child also makes an appearance in Claymore Mine, for a variety of excellent reasons.)