Iain M. Banks’s short story "Cleaning Up", published in The State of the Art. Alien "Gifts" start popping into existence on Earth - except they're mildly/wildly malfunctioning rejects being dumped by a passing factory ship. Contains the line "First person singular obtaining colloquial orgasm within a Caledonian sandwich" (the alien translation devices aren't very good, either).
That's one, and a very good one - have a meaningless bonus point!
Star Wars - A New Hope (original film) there are two instances of Rubbish interaction. First: After the somewhat rescue of Princess Leia from a prison cell on the Deathstar the Heroes end up almost squished in a Rubbish compactor. Second: When the Heroes do actually make it off the Deathstar they do so by hiding the Millennium Falcon amongst the Rubbish dump that precedes a Hyperspace Jump. As we all know the entire escape was completely Rubbish as Vader allowed them escape in order to follow them to the Rebel Base. Oh so tricky that Vader can be.
OK, the trash compactor and junk dump (which is actually in The Empire Strikes Back if memory serves correctly) certainly qualify. No MBP though because it's pretty low-hanging fruit...
Three to go, and no more from Banks or the Star Wars universe.
There's an Asimov short story I read many years ago, called "Strikebreaker".
A human colony on a small and distant planet operates on a caste system. All waste disposal is handled by a single family, who are treated as untouchables. The family has gone on strike in an attempt to end their ostracisation, and the colony is in danger of dying out through mounting disease and pollution. Despite the gravity of the situation, the other colonists remain inflexible - they won't give in to the strikers' demands, and won't deign to do the work themselves.
A visitor to the planet offers to clear up the worst of the problem, and saves the colony. Only to find that he too is now untouchable, and he has to leave.
There's an Asimov short story I read many years ago, called "Strikebreaker".
A human colony on a small and distant planet operates on a caste system. All waste disposal is handled by a single family, who are treated as untouchables. The family has gone on strike in an attempt to end their ostracisation, and the colony is in danger of dying out through mounting disease and pollution. Despite the gravity of the situation, the other colonists remain inflexible - they won't give in to the strikers' demands, and won't deign to do the work themselves.
A visitor to the planet offers to clear up the worst of the problem, and saves the colony. Only to find that he too is now untouchable, and he has to leave.
That's a very good example, and a story I read many years ago but had quite forgotten. That's a good answer, and definitely gets you a Meaningless Bonus Point for obscurity if nothing else... As I recall it, the main character is a sociologist and this ostracism ruins his research project. Also I think that Asimov's introduction to this story said that the magazine publication had the title "Male Strikebreaker," which he eventually decided must have been a desperate attempt to make the story seem sexy and attract more readers, despite any hint of this in the story.
One to go, and no more Asimov please!
Later - Wikipedia has a good summary including the title thing
It occurs to me that there were at least two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager that featured Malon ships. These were toxic waste disposal vessels, and the Malons were dumping their waste anywhere except in the vicinity of their home system. One episode featured a character who had spent too long in the presence of their harmful payload, and had mutated. He was now intent on destroying the ship, and thereby destroying or polluting anything else within a very large radius.
It occurs to me that there were at least two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager that featured Malon ships. These were toxic waste disposal vessels, and the Malons were dumping their waste anywhere except in the vicinity of their home system. One episode featured a character who had spent too long in the presence of their harmful payload, and had mutated. He was now intent on destroying the ship, and thereby destroying or polluting anything else within a very large radius.
OK, looks like we have our fifth answer and a winner - while they're not the driving force of the series, this industry is the main impact the Malon have on the show, and it's very important in the episodes in which they appear. Looks like there were four of them, not two, though I think one is a minor appearance on the Holodeck.
This question is inspired by my Roomba vacuum cleaner, which sometimes reminds me of a fictional robotic device I read about in the 1960s.
I encountered the device in one of those comic book annuals that come out around Christmas. The book was based on a popular SF television series. However, the device doesn't actually feature in the original series. It is unique to two short stories in the book.
What was the device's seven letter name?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I'll fill in one letter and add a clue for each day that goes by without a correct answer.
This question is inspired by my Roomba vacuum cleaner, which sometimes reminds me of a fictional robotic device I read about in the 1960s.
I encountered the device in one of those comic book annuals that come out around Christmas. The book was based on a popular SF television series. However, the device doesn't actually feature in the original series. It is unique to two short stories in the book.
What was the device's seven letter name?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I'll fill in one letter and add a clue for each day that goes by without a correct answer.
What was the device's seven letter name?
_ _ R _ _ _ _
It would have been either a "pet" or a domestic service device on its home planet of Skaro, but it first appears in a story set elsewhere, where it has been programmed to finish the construction of six "interferer beam" weapons, after its owners abandoned the outpost when their presence was discovered by humans.
(Getting slightly worried this one is more obscure than I'd intended.)
However, it won't have helped that I put the letter R in the wrong place. Here are two more letters as penance.
_ R B _ T _ _
The book it appeared in was "The Dalek World", published in 1965.
Unlike my Roomba, it is a very versatile device. It can understand human speech, and play board games. It can receive images shown at local cinemas and replay them locally. Its sonic diffuser beams allowed for simple cleaning tasks. Anti-grav propulsors meant it could operate as a high-speed vehicle. It could travel underwater. And it could burn through metal.
The first of the stories is "The Log of the Gypsy Joe", about a deep space mission to the planet Esmera. Captain Rod Marlow obtains the device there, and on his return to Earth in the second story, he gives it to his son Roger as a birthday present. Given the nature of its original owners, it has had its earlier programming removed so it no longer presents a danger to human society.
If anyone here had read the story back in the day, I think these details would have been enough to jog memories, so I think we can probably conclude this is more obscure than I'd anticipated. There's no shame in resorting to Google on this one.
Well done - Orbitus it is. And that's the very picture I intended to post when the right answer came up. After reading that story there was nothing I wanted more than an Orbitus of my own. So far, the Roomba is the nearest I've come.
So, the chalice goes straight back to the guy in Galasphere 347.
Another clue - one of the alternate endings envisaged by the scriptwriters included a motorcade (and I think ticker tape parade) with alien pyramids as the honoured guests. Meaningless bonus point if you can tell me where I got this information!
