No Moving Parts by Murray F. Yaco

"No Moving Parts" by Murray F. Yaco is a science fiction story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative revolves around the themes of technology and the complexities that arise from its "perfect" design, particularly as experienced by the characters involved in a peculiar predicament aboard a malfunctioning spaceship. The story showcases the challenges associated with a technology that has become so advanced that even the simplest moving parts have become a mystery. The plot centers on Hansen, an attendant at a remote communications relay station who finds himself managing an emergency involving the spaceship Euclid Queen. The ship, carrying a vital passenger, His Exalted Excellency R'thagna Bar, is unable to open its door due to a malfunction in a complex mechanism. Throughout the story, Hansen interacts with various characters, including Captain Fromer, the ship's navigator, and engineers Bullard and Quemos, who struggle to fix the door. Enter Candle, a resourceful "Gypsy" trouble-shooter, who ultimately devises a method to solve the situation using a battering ram of ice, exposing the flaws and absurdities in the over-engineered systems of their time. The story humorously critiques the reliance on complex technology and the unpredictability of seemingly perfect machines. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Yaco, Murray F.
Illustrator Grayam
Title No Moving Parts
Series Title Produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960.
Credits Produced by Greg Weeks, Andrew Wainwright and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net
Reading Level Reading ease score: 76.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.
Language English
LoC Class PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature
Subject Science fiction
Subject Short stories
Subject Space ships -- Fiction
Category Text
eBook-No. 25078
Release Date
Last Update Jan 3, 2021
Copyright Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 297 downloads in the last 30 days.

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