“Every eye was on him as he put the gaudy model rocket ship on top of the table and stepped back. It was made of stamped metal and seemed as incapable of flying as a can of ham—which it very much resembled. Neither wings, propellers, nor jets broke through the painted surface. It rested on three rubber wheels and coming out through the bottom was a double strand of thin insulated wire. This white wire ran across the top of the black table and terminated in a control box in the demonstrator's hand…”
Is any single toy able to change the world? Yes, if only its effect conflicts with all the laws of physics. A science fiction story by Harry Harrison, an American and Irish science fiction author, best known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and the novel “Make Room! Make Room!” (1966), the basis for the film “Soylent Green” (1973).