Watery World, or Watery Grave

Based on Triplanetary.by Doc E.E. Smith, 1934.

Romana 09/13/2011

You are borne to the watery world of Nevia became a catch phrase of epic science fiction, by Doc E.E. Smith, long before cinematic humans went on otherwise to boldly split infinitives. None of Doc’s ideas were exactly new, but he did combine current extrapolations into one story. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, many a nerdy kid, mostly boys, would spend their free time lost in such stories.

The inertialess drive, an early version of an improbability drive, was a fantastic invention that allowed spaceships to travel long distances very quickly, unburdened by any restrictions now imposed by advanced physics. As the first of the Lensman series, it ushered in an age when beings could simply think each other to death. Imagine the grunting.

Nevians were a quasi-amphibious species of alien pirates, battling Earth in the ocean of space for control of the element iron. It was not such a great plot device in retrospect, considering the abundance of cheap iron. Don’t hold your breath for the movie version; it was scuttled and then sunk.