Coolest Invention

[Justin Attas]

Scifi writers, what's the coolest thing you ever invented for of your stories? For me, it's got to be a bone-based Augment in my ebook, Strand. Biological Augments play a huge part in the series, but this one has to be my favorite. General Phinneas Bragg "Boneblade" has a growth/reinforcement Augment in his spine that allows him to manipulate his skeleton at will.

What about you guys?

[MzSnowleopard]

Mind isn't tech it's genetic inheritance with stable kinetic abilities.... in other words, where DC / Marvel a child could develop any type of ability, in my world there are those with stable lines. Some families have records ( journals / diaries ) that go back 5 or 6 generations depicting the inherited ability / abilities. Before this it's merely rumors / speculations.

[hvysmker]

One thing that comes to mind is a MC coming across an ancient spell on page 26,567 of a Google search. It's an incantation for free electricity. He tries it out, finding that, by slightly altering the words, he can control it.

Seeing a pretty neighbor that often snubs him, he shocks her by shooting a controlled beam from a fingertip.

He then uses the spell on thousands of normal electrical devices, controlled as to, voltage, amperage, and wattage, selling free electricity to the public, incidentally putting power companies out of business. Soon electrical transportation takes over. Buy an electrical car and never pay another cent for fuel. Start a factory with one of his outlets and laugh at electric bills.

Finally:

A huge Demon walked through fiery chambers toward his Master’s lair. He opened a normal appearing door at the other end of the vastly-overheated chamber.

Master Satan was found sitting on an asbestos sofa watching his favorite show, “The Simpsons,” on television. It had been fifty years since Harry retired to a country in the Far East with his 100 million dollars.

When the show was over -- nobody interrupted the Master while it was on -- the aide approached Satan. “You wanted me, sir?”

Satan grinned and told him, “Yes, Beezle. I think it's time to turn off that huge generator in the basement.”

[Joker]

So my project is a sci/fi fantasy blend, and the main character is a mage. In an earlier draft I came up with something I called a "cauldron" - basically it's a chemical synthesizer built into the back of her van that can blend potions if the proper ingredients are placed in vials, slotted in and mixed.

[RaulTuga]

For me, in a WIP story, is an armour made from an alien liquid, which is controlled by its wearer (inside an armature which provides teh skeleton where the liquid can "latch" on) into any shapes he/she can create. The wearer is covered from head to toe in this liquid, which can harden on high-speed impacts, and the earer usually engages in close combat, using the liquid to form spears, blades, all sorts of things made to hurt others. It can also be used to capture others, enveloping the liquid around the person, or even killing himher by enveloping the liquid around the person's head.
The only downside: there's a finite amount of liquid to be worn, so if you shoot a certain quantity in one direction, the liquid gets drawn from the rest of the body, exposing the armature and its wearer... Which can be incovenient, as the wearer has to be naked to make contact with the liquid... Since it needs another biological entity to be active.

[Smooth Jazz and 45 ACP]

This is not necessarily a technological invention, but I'm very pleased with how my collaborators and I have explained away the psionics (a must-have trope for any post-apocalyptic scifi setting) in our universe. It's kinda hard to explain without writing an essay, but essentially, we've tied consciousness with a unique plane of existence (the "cognitosphere", the likely source of sentience). The mass deaths associated with the apocalyptic event has essentially damaged Earth's cognitosphere and allowed the creation of all sorts of nasty things. Espers capable of the usual telepathy, foresight, etc are among them (after all, these abilities are intrinsically tied with consciousness and "sentience"). It's also how AI exists in this universe, using an artificial "interface" with the cognitosphere to give machines self-awareness. I'm not a fantasy guy at all and tend to abide by Clarke's Third Law, so there has been some IC speculation that the cognitosphere is an artificial creation, maybe from an eons-dead precursor civilization.

I'm not necessarily a Kojima fan, but I think this sounds a lot like him in a good way.

[Benjamin Button]

Cameras throughout a city for a guy to give them faith they were being watched over. But the watcher is full of flaws.

[bdcharles]

Cameras throughout a city for a guy to give them faith they were being watched over. But the watcher is full of flaws.

Could never happen (glances at CCTV cameras bristling from every lamppost), could it?