[UA] The Metal Eaters (was Steampunk)

[Greg Stolze]

>Addmittedly, that isn't necessarily dangerous, but give in two weeks and it
>will have depleted the entire junkyard, three weeks the city, and four weeks
>from then everything made of metal in the country will have become a lunch
>box (the only restrictor on that is the issue is how fast they move).  Every
>week the number multiplies by over 4000.  That's a lot of bugs...

See, in the scientific nightmare version of this, they're nanotech --
microscopic critters you can't really harm.  Depending on the scenario you
want they attack (1) metal, (2) plastic or (3) organic material.

The slow progression of the lunchbox bugs is one point in the humans'
favor.  Another is that you can smash them and make them stop working
(though they're then fodder for other boxes).  Hm... you could turn this
into some kind of Night of the Living Lunchboxes scenario where the climax
is just "How do you smash all the little fuckers in time?"  The end is, of
course, when they think they've won and they hear one last, peculiar metal
scuttle.  Their imaginations?  Or did one escape...?

-G.

Is there anything more irritating than an elaborate gesture of contempt
from someone who's smart, but who thinks he (or she) is a genius?



_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua