# Pick one handheld sf/fantasy item as your very own. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2008, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466 "2008-09-20T19:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/81 "2008-09-23T19:08:26Z")
I still want Spider Jerusalem’s Bowel Disrupter. Or a phaser. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/82 "2008-09-23T19:23:15Z")
The Star Trek phaser with the stun setting was my first thought - the ultimate self defense device. However, I would use up the battery too fast. From my D&D days, the Rod (or Staff?) of Many Things. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/83 "2008-09-23T20:17:47Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I’ll take a Bag of Holding. Silly, but just think of how much easier grocery shopping would be. I can’t decide between the Bag of Holding and a portable hole. Or . . . is there a book that swallows other books, so that you can store your whole library in it. I’d have a lot more space if I had one of those. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/84 "2008-09-23T20:30:43Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I can’t decide between the Bag of Holding and a portable hole. Or . . . is there a book that swallows other books, so that you can store your whole library in it. I’d have a lot more space if I had one of those. In one of Patricia Briggs’s series she has items (though I can’t remember what they look like) that create a sort of projection of ancient buildings, including libraries. People can go into the projections and read books there. I thought that was neat. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/85 "2008-09-23T20:56:59Z")
One sonic screwdriver, please. With remote TARDIS activation capability. Allons-y! ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/86 "2008-09-23T20:59:09Z")
I’m a little scared that my first impulse was to request **Stormbringer!** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/87 "2008-09-23T21:02:02Z")
I’m tempted to say the Command Crown from Larry Niven’s _World of Ptavvs,_ which allows the wearer to dominate and control all the sentient inhabitants of an entire planet – except, it’s designed to enhance a Thrint/Slaver’s natural projective-telepathic Power and probably would do nothing for a human. Is there any equivalent SF/Fantasy device that would? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/88 "2008-09-23T21:03:48Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I can’t decide between the Bag of Holding and a portable hole. Or . . . is there a book that swallows other books, so that you can store your whole library in it. I’d have a lot more space if I had one of those. Sure, it’s called a Kindle. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/89 "2008-09-23T21:15:43Z")
I can’t imagine why anyone would pick a Bag of Holding. A Heward’s Handy Haversack would be so much more convenient. Myself, though, I’m going to go with the Hourglass, from Piers Anthony’s _Bearing an Hourglass_ and other Incarnations books. Yeah, I can stop time. I can also control my flow through it, or anyone else’s, forward or backward; travel anywhere I want at any speed I want; reveal or hide knowledge of the future… I should probably wait a bit before getting it, though. I’m not sure I want to be unborn in another 31 years. If we’re talking something of less than artifact level, though, an Immovable Rod would be awfully cool. Two would be even cooler, of course, but you can’t have everything. Quoth **Left Hand of Dorkness** : > [@](#): > > Failing that, I’ll go for Jane, from Speaker for the Dead: I want my very own brilliant AI to keep track of where I put my goddam keys. Doesn’t work. It’s just the interface which is hand-held (or skull-implanted); Jane herself spans all the thousands of parsecs of human space. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/90 "2008-09-23T21:23:48Z")
The key from the Sci Fi mini-series “The Lost Room” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/91 "2008-09-23T21:32:25Z")
From Asimov’s “The Last Question”: An AC Contact. Like a palmtop with an Internet connection, only better: It puts you in touch with a universal AI that can instantly access all the accumulated body of human knowledge and answer any question. **Any** question, if you wait a while, though some answers take longer than others. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/92 "2008-09-23T21:35:20Z")
I thought of another one, aside from Harry Potter’s wand: a cyberdeck/commlink from _Shadowrun_. I’d need the implanted datajack to get the full immersive VR experience, but I’d be willing to make the sacrifice. I spend more time in virtual worlds these days than the real one anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/93 "2008-09-23T21:40:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Myself, though, I’m going to go with the Hourglass, from Piers Anthony’s _Bearing an Hourglass_ and other Incarnations books. Yeah, I can stop time. I can also control my flow through it, or anyone else’s, forward or backward; travel anywhere I want at any speed I want; reveal or hide knowledge of the future… I should probably wait a bit before getting it, though. I’m not sure I want to be unborn in another 31 years. That device sadly comes with a crapload of responsibility. From the Incarnations series, I would choose Sning. Bloody useful little thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/94 "2008-09-23T21:46:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t imagine why anyone would pick a Bag of Holding. A Heward’s Handy Haversack would be so much more convenient. > > Myself, though, I’m going to go with the Hourglass, from Piers Anthony’s _Bearing an Hourglass_ and other Incarnations books. Yeah, I can stop time. I can also control my flow through it, or anyone else’s, forward or backward; travel anywhere I want at any speed I want; reveal or hide knowledge of the future… I should probably wait a bit before getting it, though. I’m not sure I want to be unborn in another 31 years. Somehow I doubt the Hourglass would work in a world without the Incarnations setup, and if you were appointed the Incarnation of Time, you’d be at the point where you were fated to die anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/95 "2008-09-23T22:11:20Z")
A Godseed from the Orion’s Arm sci-fi webfiction universe. Just activate, and it will transform me into superhuman entity. _Hopefully_; it’s risky. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/96 "2008-09-23T22:17:06Z")
How about an Orb from _Sleeper?_ Not sure what it does, but everybody seems to like it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/97 "2008-09-23T23:43:08Z")
Barry the Time Sprout. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/98 "2008-09-24T02:08:05Z")
[The Soft Weapon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soft_Weapon) was my first thought. I’d like one of the PDAs from **The Mote In God’s Eye** , but my Palm pilot is close enough to that _right now_ ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466/99 "2008-09-25T06:31:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Sure, it’s called a Kindle. Would the Kindle clear my bookshelves for free? And I like the feel of books. Comes close though, I suspect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-one-handheld-sf-fantasy-item-as-your-very-own/464466.md?page=4)