Book in which the “mountain” in the distance was a hole in the flat worldDid the “Lying Bastard” create the Fist of God?Novel where a man is paid to travel to a planet inside a metallic sphereA TV-series about a Space-Opera and a Captain floating in spaceShort story where rain only on one side of the house gives away fake world?What book has tall transparent cylindrical column-shaped aliens defending massive mega-structures?Early 90s story of kids shot into space in “pod” as trial by ordealKids raised in Potemkin-village environments, escape and make contactOld short story about ancient Martians stranded on earthShort story from many years ago: the ancient, brilliant, cruel race was EarthlingsScience fiction novel where inhabitants of the planet become floating spheresHelp identify book about a post apocalyptic world, children waking up from stasisBook where wolf like aliens attack a human spaceship and leave them stranded on their home world where gravity is twice as strong as Earth's
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Book in which the “mountain” in the distance was a hole in the flat world
Did the “Lying Bastard” create the Fist of God?Novel where a man is paid to travel to a planet inside a metallic sphereA TV-series about a Space-Opera and a Captain floating in spaceShort story where rain only on one side of the house gives away fake world?What book has tall transparent cylindrical column-shaped aliens defending massive mega-structures?Early 90s story of kids shot into space in “pod” as trial by ordealKids raised in Potemkin-village environments, escape and make contactOld short story about ancient Martians stranded on earthShort story from many years ago: the ancient, brilliant, cruel race was EarthlingsScience fiction novel where inhabitants of the planet become floating spheresHelp identify book about a post apocalyptic world, children waking up from stasisBook where wolf like aliens attack a human spaceship and leave them stranded on their home world where gravity is twice as strong as Earth's
.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;
Science fiction novel or short story. Characters were lost or crashed or something on a new-to-them world and were making for a mountain they could see in the distance. But when they reached the mountain, it turned out to be a hole blasted by an asteroid through the "world" they were on, which turned out to be some kind of flat fake habitat floating in space.
story-identification books
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
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add a comment |
Science fiction novel or short story. Characters were lost or crashed or something on a new-to-them world and were making for a mountain they could see in the distance. But when they reached the mountain, it turned out to be a hole blasted by an asteroid through the "world" they were on, which turned out to be some kind of flat fake habitat floating in space.
story-identification books
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
30
This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32
add a comment |
Science fiction novel or short story. Characters were lost or crashed or something on a new-to-them world and were making for a mountain they could see in the distance. But when they reached the mountain, it turned out to be a hole blasted by an asteroid through the "world" they were on, which turned out to be some kind of flat fake habitat floating in space.
story-identification books
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
Science fiction novel or short story. Characters were lost or crashed or something on a new-to-them world and were making for a mountain they could see in the distance. But when they reached the mountain, it turned out to be a hole blasted by an asteroid through the "world" they were on, which turned out to be some kind of flat fake habitat floating in space.
story-identification books
story-identification books
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
edited Jul 23 at 16:20
DavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
asked Jul 21 at 12:52
SproutSprout
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
3362 silver badges3 bronze badges
30
This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32
add a comment |
30
This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32
30
30
This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
This is almost definitely Ringworld by Larry Niven.
The mountain in question appears strange to Louis and company because it's so big, and it's located in the middle of the ring, while most of the mountains are part of the ringwall.
"That's the biggest tanj mountain I ever saw in my life."
"Louis!"
He had spoken too softly. "A mountain!" he bellowed. "Wait'll you see it! The Ringworld engineers must have wanted to put one big mountain in the world, one mountain too big to use. Too big to grow coffee on, or trees, too big even for skiing. It's magnificent!"
It was magnificent. One mountain, roughly conical, all alone, forming no part of a chain. It had the look of a volcano, a mock-volcano, for beneath the Ringworld there was no magma to form volcanos. Its base was lost in mist. Its higher slopes showed clear through what must be thinning air, and its peak had a shiny look of snow: dirty snow, not bright enough to be clean snow. Perhaps permafrost.
There was a crystal clarity to the edges of the peak. Could it thrust clear out of the atmosphere? A real mountain that size would collapse of its own weight; but this mountain would be a mere shell of ring foundation material.
Louis realizes that what Fist-of-God (what the natives call the mountain) is, but refuses to say so aloud because he doesn't risk appearing foolish until the moment they reach the top.
"Remember the night you explored a giant map of the Ringworld? You couldn't find Fist-of-God. Why not?"
The kzin didn't answer.
"It wasn't there, that's why not. It wasn't there when the map was made."
[...]
"Louis, just what do you expect to find in Fist-of-God crater?"
"Stars," said Louis Wa.
The kzin was tense too. "Do not mock me! In all honor---"
---And they were through. There wasn't any pass. There was only a broken eggshell of Ringworld foundation material, stretched by terrific stresses to a few feet of thickness; and beyond that, the crater in Fist-of-God Mountain.
They were falling. And the crater was full of stars.
There appears to be a bit of confusion as to the structure; in brief Ringworld is a megastructure approximately 300 million km (300 Gm) in diameter (950 million km in circumference) and about 1.6 million km (1.6 Gm) in width. It is relatively thin, on the order of 10s of km thick, and rotates about its central star to produce around 1g of pseudogravity. Millennia before the story, a moon-sized interstellar rogue planetoid struck the outward-facing side of the ring at speed.
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
|
show 13 more comments
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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oldest
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votes
This is almost definitely Ringworld by Larry Niven.
The mountain in question appears strange to Louis and company because it's so big, and it's located in the middle of the ring, while most of the mountains are part of the ringwall.
"That's the biggest tanj mountain I ever saw in my life."
"Louis!"
He had spoken too softly. "A mountain!" he bellowed. "Wait'll you see it! The Ringworld engineers must have wanted to put one big mountain in the world, one mountain too big to use. Too big to grow coffee on, or trees, too big even for skiing. It's magnificent!"
It was magnificent. One mountain, roughly conical, all alone, forming no part of a chain. It had the look of a volcano, a mock-volcano, for beneath the Ringworld there was no magma to form volcanos. Its base was lost in mist. Its higher slopes showed clear through what must be thinning air, and its peak had a shiny look of snow: dirty snow, not bright enough to be clean snow. Perhaps permafrost.
There was a crystal clarity to the edges of the peak. Could it thrust clear out of the atmosphere? A real mountain that size would collapse of its own weight; but this mountain would be a mere shell of ring foundation material.
Louis realizes that what Fist-of-God (what the natives call the mountain) is, but refuses to say so aloud because he doesn't risk appearing foolish until the moment they reach the top.
"Remember the night you explored a giant map of the Ringworld? You couldn't find Fist-of-God. Why not?"
The kzin didn't answer.
"It wasn't there, that's why not. It wasn't there when the map was made."
[...]
"Louis, just what do you expect to find in Fist-of-God crater?"
"Stars," said Louis Wa.
The kzin was tense too. "Do not mock me! In all honor---"
---And they were through. There wasn't any pass. There was only a broken eggshell of Ringworld foundation material, stretched by terrific stresses to a few feet of thickness; and beyond that, the crater in Fist-of-God Mountain.
They were falling. And the crater was full of stars.
There appears to be a bit of confusion as to the structure; in brief Ringworld is a megastructure approximately 300 million km (300 Gm) in diameter (950 million km in circumference) and about 1.6 million km (1.6 Gm) in width. It is relatively thin, on the order of 10s of km thick, and rotates about its central star to produce around 1g of pseudogravity. Millennia before the story, a moon-sized interstellar rogue planetoid struck the outward-facing side of the ring at speed.
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
|
show 13 more comments
This is almost definitely Ringworld by Larry Niven.
The mountain in question appears strange to Louis and company because it's so big, and it's located in the middle of the ring, while most of the mountains are part of the ringwall.
"That's the biggest tanj mountain I ever saw in my life."
"Louis!"
He had spoken too softly. "A mountain!" he bellowed. "Wait'll you see it! The Ringworld engineers must have wanted to put one big mountain in the world, one mountain too big to use. Too big to grow coffee on, or trees, too big even for skiing. It's magnificent!"
It was magnificent. One mountain, roughly conical, all alone, forming no part of a chain. It had the look of a volcano, a mock-volcano, for beneath the Ringworld there was no magma to form volcanos. Its base was lost in mist. Its higher slopes showed clear through what must be thinning air, and its peak had a shiny look of snow: dirty snow, not bright enough to be clean snow. Perhaps permafrost.
There was a crystal clarity to the edges of the peak. Could it thrust clear out of the atmosphere? A real mountain that size would collapse of its own weight; but this mountain would be a mere shell of ring foundation material.
Louis realizes that what Fist-of-God (what the natives call the mountain) is, but refuses to say so aloud because he doesn't risk appearing foolish until the moment they reach the top.
"Remember the night you explored a giant map of the Ringworld? You couldn't find Fist-of-God. Why not?"
The kzin didn't answer.
"It wasn't there, that's why not. It wasn't there when the map was made."
[...]
"Louis, just what do you expect to find in Fist-of-God crater?"
"Stars," said Louis Wa.
The kzin was tense too. "Do not mock me! In all honor---"
---And they were through. There wasn't any pass. There was only a broken eggshell of Ringworld foundation material, stretched by terrific stresses to a few feet of thickness; and beyond that, the crater in Fist-of-God Mountain.
They were falling. And the crater was full of stars.
There appears to be a bit of confusion as to the structure; in brief Ringworld is a megastructure approximately 300 million km (300 Gm) in diameter (950 million km in circumference) and about 1.6 million km (1.6 Gm) in width. It is relatively thin, on the order of 10s of km thick, and rotates about its central star to produce around 1g of pseudogravity. Millennia before the story, a moon-sized interstellar rogue planetoid struck the outward-facing side of the ring at speed.
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
|
show 13 more comments
This is almost definitely Ringworld by Larry Niven.
The mountain in question appears strange to Louis and company because it's so big, and it's located in the middle of the ring, while most of the mountains are part of the ringwall.
"That's the biggest tanj mountain I ever saw in my life."
"Louis!"
He had spoken too softly. "A mountain!" he bellowed. "Wait'll you see it! The Ringworld engineers must have wanted to put one big mountain in the world, one mountain too big to use. Too big to grow coffee on, or trees, too big even for skiing. It's magnificent!"
It was magnificent. One mountain, roughly conical, all alone, forming no part of a chain. It had the look of a volcano, a mock-volcano, for beneath the Ringworld there was no magma to form volcanos. Its base was lost in mist. Its higher slopes showed clear through what must be thinning air, and its peak had a shiny look of snow: dirty snow, not bright enough to be clean snow. Perhaps permafrost.
There was a crystal clarity to the edges of the peak. Could it thrust clear out of the atmosphere? A real mountain that size would collapse of its own weight; but this mountain would be a mere shell of ring foundation material.
Louis realizes that what Fist-of-God (what the natives call the mountain) is, but refuses to say so aloud because he doesn't risk appearing foolish until the moment they reach the top.
"Remember the night you explored a giant map of the Ringworld? You couldn't find Fist-of-God. Why not?"
The kzin didn't answer.
"It wasn't there, that's why not. It wasn't there when the map was made."
[...]
"Louis, just what do you expect to find in Fist-of-God crater?"
"Stars," said Louis Wa.
The kzin was tense too. "Do not mock me! In all honor---"
---And they were through. There wasn't any pass. There was only a broken eggshell of Ringworld foundation material, stretched by terrific stresses to a few feet of thickness; and beyond that, the crater in Fist-of-God Mountain.
They were falling. And the crater was full of stars.
There appears to be a bit of confusion as to the structure; in brief Ringworld is a megastructure approximately 300 million km (300 Gm) in diameter (950 million km in circumference) and about 1.6 million km (1.6 Gm) in width. It is relatively thin, on the order of 10s of km thick, and rotates about its central star to produce around 1g of pseudogravity. Millennia before the story, a moon-sized interstellar rogue planetoid struck the outward-facing side of the ring at speed.
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
This is almost definitely Ringworld by Larry Niven.
The mountain in question appears strange to Louis and company because it's so big, and it's located in the middle of the ring, while most of the mountains are part of the ringwall.
"That's the biggest tanj mountain I ever saw in my life."
"Louis!"
He had spoken too softly. "A mountain!" he bellowed. "Wait'll you see it! The Ringworld engineers must have wanted to put one big mountain in the world, one mountain too big to use. Too big to grow coffee on, or trees, too big even for skiing. It's magnificent!"
It was magnificent. One mountain, roughly conical, all alone, forming no part of a chain. It had the look of a volcano, a mock-volcano, for beneath the Ringworld there was no magma to form volcanos. Its base was lost in mist. Its higher slopes showed clear through what must be thinning air, and its peak had a shiny look of snow: dirty snow, not bright enough to be clean snow. Perhaps permafrost.
There was a crystal clarity to the edges of the peak. Could it thrust clear out of the atmosphere? A real mountain that size would collapse of its own weight; but this mountain would be a mere shell of ring foundation material.
Louis realizes that what Fist-of-God (what the natives call the mountain) is, but refuses to say so aloud because he doesn't risk appearing foolish until the moment they reach the top.
"Remember the night you explored a giant map of the Ringworld? You couldn't find Fist-of-God. Why not?"
The kzin didn't answer.
"It wasn't there, that's why not. It wasn't there when the map was made."
[...]
"Louis, just what do you expect to find in Fist-of-God crater?"
"Stars," said Louis Wa.
The kzin was tense too. "Do not mock me! In all honor---"
---And they were through. There wasn't any pass. There was only a broken eggshell of Ringworld foundation material, stretched by terrific stresses to a few feet of thickness; and beyond that, the crater in Fist-of-God Mountain.
They were falling. And the crater was full of stars.
There appears to be a bit of confusion as to the structure; in brief Ringworld is a megastructure approximately 300 million km (300 Gm) in diameter (950 million km in circumference) and about 1.6 million km (1.6 Gm) in width. It is relatively thin, on the order of 10s of km thick, and rotates about its central star to produce around 1g of pseudogravity. Millennia before the story, a moon-sized interstellar rogue planetoid struck the outward-facing side of the ring at speed.
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
edited Jul 23 at 1:00
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
answered Jul 21 at 13:12
DavidWDavidW
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
11.1k4 gold badges49 silver badges94 bronze badges
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
|
show 13 more comments
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
8
8
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
That is IT! Thank you. I felt sheepish asking, because I knew it was going to be a novel very familiar to readers of Science Fiction, but it was completely escaping me. And now I am excited to re-read it! Thanks again!
– Sprout
Jul 21 at 14:08
19
19
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
@Sprout No need to feel embarrassed; we've all forgotten things. Since this is correct you should click on the checkmark in the upper-left corner of the answer, just under the voting arrows; this will indicate to future searchers that the answer is correct.
– DavidW
Jul 21 at 14:15
12
12
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
@TeleportingGoat - It's a hole way at the top. Picture poking a hole through a plastic garbage bag - it stretches and stretches and finally pops through at the top. Fist-of-God is exactly that - a massive piece of space debris hitting the underside of the Ringworld, stretching the material upward, and finally piercing through above the height of the walls, so the atmosphere doesn't leak out.
– VBartilucci
Jul 22 at 13:45
4
4
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
@VBartilucci Ah, so it actually is a mountain, just an unintended one. From what was written above I (and apparently others) took it to mean it was just a big hole in the ground.
– Eborbob
Jul 22 at 13:51
3
3
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
@Draco18s It is that way, because the defence systems protect against things falling onto the inside edge of the ringworld. A moon+ sized planetoid hitting the bottom was highly unlikely, and not handled by the "automated" defences.
– Yakk
Jul 23 at 14:17
|
show 13 more comments
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This happens in Ringworld. The mountain, “Fist of God” extends beyond the atmosphere. It plays a key role in the visitors’ escape
– James McLeod
Jul 21 at 12:55
existing hub for duplicates at scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/94578/…
– Otis
Jul 24 at 4:32