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2015-06-30 -Short Attention Span Theater-

The US Navy is testing a submarine-hunting drone ship

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Posted by gorb 2015-06-30 15:21|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Are they going to call it "itself"

Story by A.E. van Voght, Reader's Digest version:

Itself, king of the Philippine Deep--that awesome canyon where the sea goes down six miles--woke from his recharge period and looked around suspiciously.

His Alter Ego said, "Well, how is it with Itself today?

His Alter Ego was a booster, a goader, a stimulant to action, and, in his limited way, a companion.

His was almost perfect perception. Clearly and unmistakably, Itself made out the intruder in the far distance of that twisting ravine. A ship! Anchored to rock at the very edge of the canyon.

The Alter Ego goaded. "You're not going to let somebody invade your territory, are you?"

Instantly, Itself was furious. He activated the jet mechanism in the underslung belly of his almost solid metal body. A nuclear reactor immediately heated the plates of the explosion chamber. The sea water which flowed through the chamber burst into hissing clouds of steam, and he jetted forward like a missile.

Arriving at the ship, Itself attacked the nearest of the four front anchor lines with the nuclear-powered heat beam in his head. When he had severed it, he turned to the second cable, and burned through it. Then he moved for the third cable.

But the startled beings aboard the alien ship had spotted the twenty-foot monster in the black waters below.

Posted by Chuckles Shatle5927 2015-06-30 20:45|| 2015-06-30 20:45|| Front Page Top

#2 The Wabbler, Murray Leinster, 1942:

Splash! The Wabbler plunged into the water with a flare of luminescence and a thirty-foot spout of spume and spray rising where it struck... It dived swiftly for twenty feet... Then its falling checked. It swung about, and its writhing tail settled down below it... and then slowly, it settled downward. Its ten-foot tail seemed to waver a little, as if groping.

Then it made small sounds from inside itself. More bubbles came from the round place like a mouth. It settled one foot, two feet, three...

The Wabbler leaned infinitesimally toward the shore. Presently its flexible tail ceased to be curved where it lay upon the ooze. It straightened out. Then the Wabbler moved. Shoreward...

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2015-06-30 21:37|| 2015-06-30 21:37|| Front Page Top

#3 I did not expect this. :-)

Posted by gorb 2015-06-30 21:57|| 2015-06-30 21:57|| Front Page Top

#4 The horseshoe crab
Of course you grab.
It's cute! Bad luck
That you get stuck.

Posted by Shuting Gurly-Brown7975 2015-06-30 23:24|| 2015-06-30 23:24|| Front Page Top

23:54 Nguard
23:24 Shuting Gurly-Brown7975
22:11 JosephMendiola
21:58 JosephMendiola
21:57 gorb
21:39 Frank G
21:37 Anguper Hupomosing9418
21:37 JosephMendiola
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21:31 JosephMendiola
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20:45 Chuckles Shatle5927
20:08 frozen al
19:57 Besoeker
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19:35 JosephMendiola
19:16 European Conservative
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