Jack Birnam, twenty four years old (seventeen Terrestrial), hikes alone in the Andromeda Range which the Ythrians call the Weathermother:
"In case of serious difficulty, he need merely send a distress signal by his pocket transceiver. Homing on it, an aircar from the nearest rescue station should reach him in minutes." (p. 423)
The transceiver is a "...flat object..." (p. 424) that does more than transmit distress signals. It beeps on receipt of "...a general broadcast on the emergency band." (ibid.) Then, having flipped a switch for two-way, Jack converses with Ivar Holm at Andromeda Rescue Station Four. So there are mobile phones in this period of the Technic History. We keep getting mixed messages on this issue.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteIt was with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's characters using "pocket computers" in THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE that I first recall the consistent use of what we now call "iphones" in an SF story. And that was way back in 1975!
Ad astra! Sean