标题: 《Periodic Table Tellurium》作者： - Michael Swanwick【EPUB】 [打印本页] 作者: zaq 时间: 2013-8-22 09:58 标题: 《Periodic Table Tellurium》作者： - Michael Swanwick【EPUB】 Michael Swanwick's Periodic Table of Science Fiction 52 Te Tellurium 127.60 A Change of Seasons A tellurium is a variety of orrery. An orrery is, of course, one of those delightful mechanical devices with models of the Sun, Moon, and all the planets which, when cranked, demonstrates the relative speeds of their orbits. The tellurium is comprised of brass or wooden balls representing the Sun, Earth, and Moon with associated gears, arms, and pulleys, and is used to demonstrate the mechanics of eclipses and of the seasons. The single finest tellurium in existence was built by the New England machinist, astronomer, and misanthrope, Benjamin Dee, in 1816. So precisely constructed was it, in fact, that by the laws of sympathetic magic, a simple adjustment to the tellurium would change the seasons in the real world as well. It didn't take "Old Ben Dee" (so his neighbors called him, though he was only thirty-five) long to learn the secret of his device. Thirty-five eclipses in a single day convinced him of its efficacy. Then, desiring vengeance upon the world for unspecified slights, he cranked the tellurium around to winter, and tied down the handle. That was how 1816 came to be