In my story, malfunctioning orbital factories occasionally drop odd bits of equipment down upon the colonists living on the planet below. Rarely are these objects at all useful.
The colonists are barely surviving. They can't breathe the air or eat the local flora/fauna. They live in caves with very little technology. Their forefathers, however, that designed the orbital factories, lived in a world where everyone was biologically networked to one another, and were genetically adapted to the planet's harsh environment.
So: help me come up with the most recent object bestowed upon my poor colonists. It must be something that one person can carry, something electrical/mechanical, and something that, while technically impressive, does nothing to aid the colonists in their current predicament.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated!
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41,746 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 19 03
Um... an oscilloscope? It's a device which measures and gives a graphical representation of electrical signals. Not good for anything unless you are trying to develop and test a laser of some kind.
Or a toaster oven, microwave, or various pieces of kitchenware that you have to plug in.
How about a Nintendo system? That should be sweet. Or an isolated motherboard. Not good for anything without a full computer.
52,570 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 19 09
P.S. my wife suggested a can opener, which is simultaneously a genius idea, and a bit too good of a solution to my predicament.
44,343 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 19 18
These orbitals, are they in space? If so, you might want to consider that things burn up on re-entry (or just entry, as it were) into the atmosphere, so you might want to make your random item something fairly sturdy as not to be completely obliterated before it hits the ground...
52,570 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 19 23
54,839 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 20 33
Ted! Dude! Good to see you're back.
I've had something similar. If you assume they had gasoline at some point, but the tech to pump it can't pull what little is left in the ground, or the refineries are gone, you can drop all sorts of stuff. Drop complete farm machinery on them. Try a Corn Harvesting Combine. It'll just sit out and rust, of course.
As far as getting it down, drop it so the rotational momentum at orbital factory is the same as rotational momentum at the top of the atmosphere. No speed means no friction... Of course it still FELL... Nuts. It needs rockets or magnetic sails or something.
The other thing, has to do with interfaces to humans. Drop a box of hermetically sealed neuro transducers that are supposed to be implanted in the brain. If their tech isn't up to cranial surgery, or the bacteria have advanced beyond the anti-biotics, it's junk.
Good luck!
----------Dared into Nano in 2005, by someone who didn't write a word.
I'm all the better for it, save the body-count.
Yeah, Flint Red Hots a' gunna Pone Chris Baty!
52,570 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 20 43
I like the idea of some sort of neural network enhancement equipment. Totally useless, because the current colonists possess none of the bio-networking of their forefathers.
Oh, and I'm not at all worried about delivering equipment safely from orbit. We've been dropping astronauts from orbit back to Earth for years with no harm done. Designing an automated drop mechanism that manages the same level of safety is a non-issue (in fact, I'll probably just ignore it in my story. It just works).
Thanks for the suggestions!
39,437 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2009 - 21 43
A box. A small square box that is shiny and pretty and seems like it MUST MUST MUST have a greater purpose and open or do something. But really it is just sort of a really nice paper weight...literally.
And of course if later on you needed it to do something it could have just about anything pop out of it.
----------Does not read and follow label directions.
40,917 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 00 39
Anything that flashes with strange lights, or you press a button and it goes ding!
----------A toy for babies might be good. Very attention getting but functionally useless, unless you're three months old.
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I am determined.
Fifty thousand words is nothing to a writing genious like me. NOTHING!
But I've run out of coffee...
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35,351 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 22 09
Great ideas previous to mine, but I can't help but think a freakin cell phone and blue tooth attachment would be utterly useless for these people. It might even be a case of the things. Perhaps they chrome over when the battery is dead and they use them as mirrors.
41,277 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2009 - 22 34
I personally like the paper weight idea. I have a whole buch of beautiful useless objects that ultimately turn into paper weights. Are the orbital factories using the planet as a trash dump? Because in real life people always dump tires or broken stoves, refrigerators, burned couches, etc. I think it would be real funny if a tire came flying own from the 'heavens' so to speak.
----------Happy Nano'ing everyone. :)
45,253 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 09 01
Reminds me of The Gods Must be Crazy. It could be an empty vacuumed sealed container that makes an impressive hiss every time its opened
----------Ah, the patter of little feet around the house. There's nothing like having a midget for a butler. - W.C. Fields
9,200 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 09 46
A perfectly smooth sphere sin inches in diameter whose one abnormality is a large red button.
In an amazing desplay of technology when pressed it hums leviates up a foot for 13.5 seconds. Where upon it stops and gently falls.
Dozens of uses!
----------Or not