Anne McCaffrey
76 Quotations from Anne McCaffrey
| airlock n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i.20 She must put on the suit because the airlock had no independent oxygen or cooling units. |
| alien adj. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i. 3 Helva scooted around in her shell…studying her lessons in trajectory, propulsion techniques, computation, logistics, mental hygiene, basic alien psychology, philology. |
| android n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) v.175 He’s an android, complete with metal brainworks, programmed in a rarified atmosphere. |
| automatics n. | 1990 Dragonsdawn v. 121 The space ships were now on automatic in their stable orbits. Not much fuel was required for the occasional adjustments but to deprive the automatics of that little would be disastrous at some future time when the uncorrected orbits decayed and the ships plunged as burning meteorites on to Pern’s surface. |
| avian n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 283 They were jealous of their position as the only sentient avians in the FSP. |
| avian adj. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 353 We've seen avian nests but they're always near water, preferably large lakes or rivers. |
| cold sleep n. | 1990 Sassinak (1991) 88 Sassinak couldn’t imagine anyone wanting it. To be stuck on one planet, or shipped from one to another by coldsleep cabinet? Horrible. |
| cold sleep v. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 13 The escape capsule in which he'd cold-slept had had another minor malfunction that left him staring drugged and half conscious through the port glass at open space for two days before the cryogenic process had kicked in. |
| commlink n. | 1990 Sassinak (1991) 171 What’s your cleanest com link? |
| construct n. | 1990 Pegasus in Flight (1991) xiii. 215 The screen showed the School Room and a pleasant-faced woman seated at the desk. Tirla knew that the Teacher was a construct, devised to reproduce the old teacher-pupil confrontation, but she had always liked the look of Teacher; someone a person could trust, who would not laugh at questions or honest mistakes, who was there to help one learn. |
| credit n. | 1982 Crystal Singer 227 Those black crystals brought you a total of twenty-three thousand credits. |
| dirtsider n. | 1992 Ship Who Searched i. 2 He decided to get married, raise a brood of his own, and settle down as a dirtsider. |
| Earth-type adj. 2 | 2006 Changelings iii. 33 Marmie says we’re not out of the woods so easily...especially since our population is mainly composed of other i.p.’s—inconvenient people. As an Earth-type planet, we are still supposed to accommodate i.p.’s. |
| empath n. | 1973 in Analog Science Fiction/Fact July 24/2 We are both agreed that she is a broadcasting empath? |
| empathist n. | 1973 Bridle for Pegasus in Analog July 34/2 ‘Yes, Sally Iselin had heard Amalda two nights before and wanted me to confirm her suspicion that Amalda was a high-gain empathist. What scared Amalda off that stage? And sent both of you into hiding?’ There was nothing helpful in Vaden’s mind except a repetition of what Daffyd and Sally had felt in Amalda’s projection. Instead, Vaden’s thoughts became despairing. |
| escape pod n. | 1991 Generation Warriors 101 Thinking of Sassinak reminded him again of her experience in the escape pod. |
| extraterrestrial adj. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i.3 Helva’s civilization was not without busy, do-good associations, exploring possible inhumanities to terrestrial as well as extraterrestrial citizens. |
| flitter n. | 1982 Crystal Singer 91 The cost of the flitter craft used by Crystal Singers in the ranges was staggering; the sonic cutting gear that had to be tuned to the user was also expensive and a variety of other items whose purpose was not yet known to her were basic Singer’s tools. |
| generation ship n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 258 It was the oldest of the original EEC generation ships still in space. |
| groundcar n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) iii. 54 A ground car zipped out from the direction of the massive Control and Barracks complex. |
| groundcar n. | 1990 Sassinak (1991) 149 Trailing a ship through FTL space was, Sassinak thought, like following a groundcar through thick forest at night without using headlights. |
| groundcar n. | 1990 Sassinak 141 Lieutenant Commander Huron, I'm sure you wouldn’t listen to idle gossip…any more than I would listen to gossip about you and your passion for groundcar racing. |
| hell planet n. | 1993 City Who Fought (1994) 326 Pounding feet came closer: Joseph’s heavier tread, and the lighter, faster sound of the folk the hell-planet bred. |
| holovision n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 189 Flatscreen pictures don’t have enough life in them… I prefer holovision every time. |
| intergalactically adv. | 1997 Acorna (1998) 240 There hadn’t been time to procure the kind of recording equipment an intergalactically known vid-artist would expect to use. |
| jump n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging. |
| lightspeed n. 1 | 1991 Generation Warriors 331 The more massive yacht, with its limited drive system, could not possibly outmaneuver a Fleet shuttle as long as it stayed below lightspeed. |
| nearside n. | 2000 Pegasus in Space 260 Installing a telescope on the nearside wasn’t very smart but the early bureaucracy made some pretty big errors here that we are still trying to correct. |
| out-system adj. | 1959 Lady in the Tower in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Apr. 66/1 By the time Jupiter’s big bulk had move around to blanket out-System traffic, Callisto’s day was over. |
| outworld adj. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) iv. 95 Among his many grievances with the galaxy at large, the extortionate price of repairs and maintenance made by outworld stations ranked high. |
| planet-bound adj. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) iii.81 She waited, alert, lest the instability of the spaceport field became too critical for her to remain planetbound. |
| planetfall n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) v. 180 As the TH-834 had had planetfalls on Durrell, Tania Borealis’ fourth planet before, the spaceport was familiar with Teron. |
| planetside adv. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 7 During her remaining days planetside, she had turned over her laboratory work to a co-worker. |
| plasteel n. | 1984 Survivors: Dinosaur Planet II 41 Even a heavyworlder would have had to grunt to bash the sturdy plasteel frame and body skin. |
| plasteel n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 95 I knew those struts were faulty. Trust Plasteel Corporation, the crew boss told us. |
| precog n. 1 | 1969 in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Feb. 12/1 I'll bear down heavily on the scientific corroboration of authentic foresights…the use of computers to correlate details and estimate reliability of data, the fact that sometimes three and four pre-cogs come up with the same incident, seen from different angles. |
| precog v. | 1991 Pegasus In Flight 317 Sascha’s pre-cogged it. To his intense astonishment. |
| scout ship n. | 1993 City Who Fought iv. 71 The brain/brawn scout ship is too claustrophobic and limited. I like dealing with a lot of people. |
| sentience n. 1 | 1969 Dramatic Mission in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact June 64/2 She knew nothing of these Beta Corviki, but it was a convention among all the sophisticated societies she had encountered that sentience was not permitted to waste itself. Kira Falernova had found it excessively difficult to commit suicide. |
| shapechange n. | 1990 Sassinak (1990) 208 She nodded to Gelory, who instantly attacked, a move so fast she was sure it must have been half shapechange. Something that felt almost boneless at first stiffened into a leg over which she was flipped—but she coiled in midair, managed to hang onto a wrist, and flipped Gelory in her turn. But this was the only change that Gelory pulled on her for the rest of the session. |
| shapechange v. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 221 Lunzie lay back, trying to involve herself in the ratiocinations of Toli Alopa, a Weft detective who could shapechange to follow a suspect without fear of being spotted. |
| shapechanging adj. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 218 The receptionist, who Lunzie suspected was a shapechanging Weft because of the utter perfection of her human form, impassively checked Lunzie’s credit code. |
| shapeshift v. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 55 He’s so young, he doesn’t know yet that it’s considered bad manners by his people to shape-shift in public. |
| shuttlecraft n. | 1991 Pegasus in Flight (1992) 154 ‘Every boy in this generation understands shuttle craft,’ Don remarked, but his expression was no less bemused than theirs. |
| skimmer n. | 1974 Prelude to a Crystal Song in R. Elwood Continuum 1 (1977) 112 He ordered a private skimmer to be ready within the hour. |
| slideway n. | 1991 Generation Warriors 145 Little vehicular traffic: in fact, little sign of anyone else on the streets. Lunzie presumed that most people used the underground walkways and slideways she and Zebara had used their two previous meetings. |
| slideway n. | 1991 Generation Warriors (1992) 205 His shoulders twitched, but he moved across the slideway traffic that way. |
| slideway n. | 1991 Generation Warriors (1992) 145 Lunzie presumed that most people used the underground walkways and slideways she and Zebara had used their previous two meetings. |
| Sol n. 1 | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 167 Partly because of the Admiral’s influence, but also because it is convenient to our mission, we’re going to Alpha Centauri, then toward Sol. |
| space v. 2 | 1990 Sassinak (1991) 242 In the end they'd won—though they'd had to space most of the trader’s original crew—and she had brought the ship in whole. |
| space-going adj. | 1992 Ship Who Searched i. 2 That had given him a window of opportunity for a little shore leave, in a base-town that catered to some fairly heavy space-going traffic, and he had taken it. |
| spacehand n. | 2009 Catalyst xii. 113 ‘There was—a note,’ she said. ‘And Carlton—Jubal’s father—is an old spacehand. This is where he would come. It took me awhile to catch a ride with one of the neighbors who was coming here. I need them to search the station and find my boy. If he didn’t get on board the ship with the cat, he could still be here.’ |
| space navigator n. | 1997 Acorna (2001) 380 That, she considered, was the price she paid for the money that had put her through nav training…. She couldn’t actually work as a space navigator; that would be beneath her family’s status. |
| spaceport n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i. 18 I'm here to take you to the spaceport at Rosary. |
| space suit n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i. 20 Jennan broke out spacesuits to the three who would have to remain with him in the airlock. |
| space tan n. | 1985 Killashandra 40 He had a pleasant voice, his ship-suit was well cut to a tall lean frame, his features were regular but without a distinguishing imperfection; his medium length dark hair complimented a space tan. |
| spacewoman n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) iii. 62 Shoulder-length hair was the common fashion among spacewomen. |
| speculative fiction n. 1 | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) vi. 249 In writing speculative fiction, I feel I have not failed the auspices of my natal day. |
| star system n. | 1969 Partnered Ship in Ship Who Sang (1970) 232 Despite every shortcoming, Central Worlds at least worked for the good of the total Federation, not for the aggrandizement of one isolated star system, or a mercenary monopoly. |
| sublight n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging. |
| sublight adj. | 1969 in Galaxy Magazine Mar. 102/2 A sublight message?… Now what? |
| sublight adv. | 1991 Generation Warriors 153 That’s how emergency calls went out: sublight to the transfer point, which launched the pod, and the pod carried only a standard message, plus its originating transfer code. |
| telempath n. | 1974 Apple in Science Fiction Monthly June 8/1 Who had been dim-witted enough to let the telempath out of this shielded room at a time like this? The moron was the most sensitive barometer to emotion Daffyd had ever encountered. |
| telepath v. | 2001 Skies of Pern IV. 366 The white one leads the way, but why is it that they do not use telekinesis if they can telepath and teleport? |
| Terran n. 2 | 2001 Acorna’s Search (2002) 180 You speak Terran, I speak Terran, we should be able to come up with some kind of understanding. |
| tight-beam n. | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) ii. 32 I need to use your tight beam. |
| tight-beam v. | 1969 Ship Who Disappeared in World of If Mar. 52/1 It was offensive of Teron to tight-beam back to Central Worlds. |
| time storm n. | 1994 Girl Who Heard Dragons (1995) 167 The time storm shifted and that resettlement was enough to rouse Chloe, attuned as she was to the distortion phenomenon. |
| tractor field n. | 1991 Sassinak 179 She nodded to Arly, who poured all remaining power to their tractor field. |
| tri-D n. | 1982 Crystal Singer 85 Her quarters were as good as the guest facility in the Shankill Base, nothing gaudy but certainly substantial: bed, table, chairs, writing surface, tri-d screen, the customary audio-visual terminals. |
| tri-v n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 35 Have I got a tri-vid team waiting to talk to me, too? |
| Venusian n. 1 | 1970 Ship who Sang (1991) i. 6 She had…enjoyed a music appreciation course that had included…the curious rhythmic progressions of the Venusians, Capellan visual chromatics, the sonic concerti of the Altairians and Reticulan croons. |
| vibroblade n. | 1991 Pegasus in Flight (1992) 178 She got out the vibro-blade…and sheered [sic] off two screws. |
| vidscreen n. | 1990 Sassinak (1991) 171 His face in the vidscreen already looked different, the face of a fellow captain. |
| warp n. | 1990 Death of Sleep (1992) 300 The ship was capable of running on its own power indefinitely in sublight, or making a single warp jump between short sprints before recharging. |
| xenobiological adj. | 1993 Chronicles of Pern: First Fall 228 How will you ever increase your understanding of xenobiological forms unless you examine closely whatever samples come your way? |