science

The Soft Weapon

The Soft Weapon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Soft Weapon rather than just read about it. In short: "The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was first published in the February 1967 issue of If.

Key takeaways

The Soft Weapon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Soft Weapon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Soft Weapon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was first published in the February 1967 issue of If. The story introduces the character of Nessus, a Puppeteer who later became one of the main characters of the novel Ringworld. The story is retold, from the point of view of Nessus, in Juggler of Worlds. "The Soft Weapon" has been included in the short story collections Neutron Star (1968) and Playgrounds of the Mind (1991).

Plot Nessus is returning from a diplomatic mission to the Outsiders, having purchased what is apparently a Thrint stasis box, on a passenger ship run by a human couple, Jason and Anne Marie Papandreou. They stop at Beta Lyrae to sight-see where they unexpectedly discover, by deep-radar, another stasis box. However, the box had been placed there as a trap by Kzinti pirates. The rogue Kzinti are using a dummy stasis box to lure ships that they detect to be in possession of stasis boxes. The Kzinti capture the crew and open the looted stasis box, which is revealed to be a Tnuctipun stasis box, not Thrintun. Stasis boxes (which are rare) often contain advanced technological products of immense military value. The Kzinti hope to use the contents of the box to develop weapons technology that will allow them to wage wars of conquest. The box contains a Tnuctipun weapon which is capable of morphing into several devices, none of which is deemed useful by the Kzinti as a war weapon. However, one setting, an energy absorber, causes a Kzinti restraint field to fail, allowing Jason and Nessus to escape with the weapon. While free, Jason manages to discover a hidden setting for a matter-to-energy conversion beam, which is far more powerful than anything possessed by either human or Kzinti. Although Nessus remains free, Jason and the weapon are recaptured by the Kzinti. The Kzinti, desperate to know how to access the hidden setting, threaten Jason's wife in an attempt to get him to divulge it, but he refuses. Her life is spared when the device, which is intelligent (and loyal to its long-extinct Tnuctipun masters), begins to speak. The Kzinti converse with the weapon, believing that they are getting knowledge of how to access the setting. However, the weapon, believing itself to have fallen into the possession of an enemy, tricks the Kzinti into activating a self-destruct mechanism. The Kzinti are killed, but the humans survive, in part thanks to technology used by the Kzinti to restrain them as prisoners, inadvertently protecting them from the blast and impact. Nessus then frees the humans and the three of them leave the planet.

Timeline note This story itself contains clues which set it prior to the short story "Flatlander", specifically the apparent naming of the planet on which events take place as "Cue Ball" by Anne Marie ("I dub thee 'Cue Ball'"). In Flatlander, Gregory "Elephant" Pelton attempts to name their new-found planet "Cue Ball", but Bey tells him that that name is already taken by a Beta Lyrae planet. In the official timeline, as well as Juggler of Worlds, however, this story is set after the events of Flatlander.

Adaptations Niven adapted the story and retitled it "The Slaver Weapon" for a 1973 episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. It was his second pitch for the show, after his original idea was rejected; the rejected idea later became Niven's novelette "The Borderland of Sol". "The Slaver Weapon" script was in turn adapted by Alan Dean Foster as a chapter of the book Star Trek Log Ten.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Soft Weapon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Soft Weapon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Soft Weapon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Soft Weapon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Soft Weapon

In research: The Soft Weapon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Soft Weapon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Soft Weapon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 English-language short stories, 1967 short stories, Fiction set around 61 Ursae Majoris, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Soft Weapon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study The Soft Weapon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Soft Weapon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Soft Weapon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Soft Weapon in simple terms?

"The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was first published in the February 1967 issue of If.

Why does The Soft Weapon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Soft Weapon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Soft Weapon.