It's Raining Men: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"We're the ''Flying Elvises''! Utah chapter!"''

 

Simply put, people falling from the sky, or at least a great height, then landing safely, at least for them. This is accomplished in [[Real Life]] via parachutes or gliders, but in [[Speculative Fiction]] it can be done through [[Powered Armor]], [[Jet Pack]]s, [[Drop Pod|special pods]], or [[Applied Phlebotinum]] - or, if you're indestructible, a "hard drop" using only the ground to break your fall. Usually an airplane is involved, but balloons, cliffs, a [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]], a tall building, or even a [[Floating Continent|magic castle]] will do.

* The SF novel ''[[Footfall]]'' had a mass paratroop drop by invading aliens who looked like small two-trunked elephants.

* ''[[Honor Harrington|The Shadow of Saganami]]'' makes a big plot point out of a massed drop of [[Powered Armor|power-armored]] [[Space Marine|Royal Manticoran Marine Corps]] heavy company on a suspected terrorist hideout. They've dropped from the shuttle, though, not from the orbit, and used tethered countergravs, so it was actually very close to [[Real Life]] paradrop.

** The drop described here is actually treated in a realistic way. The paratroopers need to do an undetected HALO jump, so a stealth bomber is a perfect way to deliver them. The issues of oxygen and the cold are dealt with; the paratroopers are wraped in enough foam wrap to make them fill a bomb rack slot (make them thick enough for the bomb clamps) to protect them from the cold, and they are on supplemental oxygen at the HA part of the jump. Yes, rule of cool is a major factor, but it was treated realisticly.

* [[John Scalzi]]'s ''Old Man's War'' has the elite "Ghost Brigades" landing on an occupied planet through an orbital skydive. Scalzi described how their nanotech works to keep the heat from re-entry from reaching the cocooned trooper.