Science Fiction Trivia

[Disembodied]

Yes, sorry, Orac is out … also, he's not a ship's computer: he's just a computer on a ship.

[spud42]

yep realised that after i reread the other post. forgot about Zen...lol

[Astrobe]

Shirka/Shiruka, the Odyssey's main computer, in the Ulysses 31 TV animated series.

[Disembodied]

Shirka/Shiruka will do it! Other alternatives could be Lucy, the computer of the ship of the same name from Killjoys; Eddie, the ship's computer in the Heart of Gold from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide …; or Xoanon, the (insane) ship's computer from the Doctor Who episode "The Face of Evil".

Over to Astrobe for the next question!

[Astrobe]

Oh, crap. I don't have the vast sci-fi culture you guys have. My main input is animes, and even then that's not really my main focus. Anyway, here is a question about a series I actually didn't like (because of its main character; the plot is ok-ish I guess) but which is quite popular:

In which anime/manga can you see a microwave and a mobile phone used to send emails in the past?

[ffutures]

In which anime/manga can you see a microwave and a mobile phone used to send emails in the past?

Given that "the past" for your message began on Wed May 22, 2019 at 6:27.59 pm , we may need a little bit more information.

[Astrobe]

Ah, never mind. My fears that this question could be too difficult have come true. The answer was Steins;Gate.

I'll give another, more fun question instead: give me five fictional cities that are not on Earth but nevertheless real planets; that is, either known solar system planets (Pluto is ok), or on planets orbiting a real star that has been confirmed to have exoplanets (like Proxima Centauri).

[Grindalf]

Utopia Colony-Mars-Star Trek

[ffutures]

Erotia, American settlement on Venus in Parasite Planet by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Several other cities on solar system worlds in Weinbaum's stories, but I'm assuming the usual "one per author / canon" rule.

Hong Kong Luna, city on the moon in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.

Port Lowell, city on Mars in The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke

Unnamed alien city on Mars in The World of the War God by George Griffith (1900) - the human visitors never learn their language well enough to get details like the city's name, since they spend most of their time killing the Martians who have dared to look lustfully at the hero's wife.

[Astrobe]

I'll have to reject The Moon is a Harsh Mistress because the moon isn't a planet. One more to go. Mars is an easy target, so I want a city on an exoplanet for the last one!

[Disembodied]

Then how about the nameless cities discovered on Kapteyn b, "an exoplanet that orbits within the habitable zone of the red subdwarf Kapteyn's star, located approximately 12.8 light-years from Earth", which is believed to be around 11 billion years old?

"Cities cover almost the entire surface of that world […] Cities as mute as sphinxes" - from Alastair Reynold's short story "Sad Kapteyn".

[Astrobe]

Nice find, but not a very satisfying answer for several reasons... I'll wait a little more for other proposals.

[Astrobe]

I'd be surprised if Proxima Centauri was entirely left alone by sci-fi authors. The existence of a planet has been confimed in 2016.

[Commander_X]

Capital Eos of planet Aurora orbiting the star Tau Ceti in The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov?

[Astrobe]

As expected from the man who brought light to cities!

Your turn, Commander_X.