Re: "The door dilated" moments

Mike Schilling wrote:
One of the most famous clauses [1] in all of RAH's work is "The door dilated.", from _Beyond This Horizon. What it's famous for is the amount of implicit exposition packed into that seven-letters of verb.

I was reading WJW's _Ambassador of Progress_ a few minutes ago. It's early in the book. So far, we've met two women whom a spaceship has dropped off on a backward planet. We know that they're there to do a job (the title hints at that too), but we don't know much about them. In particular, we have no idea how technologically advanced they might be other than having spaceflight. Then, the women's paths diverge, and this gem describes the one we follow:

"Fiona thought her inner clothing and hood to a bright red color in hopes of cheering herself."

1. The full sentence is: It came promptly; the door dilated and a voice inside said, "Come in, Felix."



There's a thought-provoking one in Harry Harrison's "Deathworld" where there's a throwaway comment on how the Deathworld women are the only beautiful ones he's ever seen. Everyone else is all gray and prematurely aged.
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