Alien tech which turns a force by 90 degrees..

[B_Morrison]

I am trying to remember a piece of alien technology that turns a force by 90 degrees, i.e. a kind of hammer that when hitting something the force is directed 90 degrees to the path of the hammer. I was thinking The Mote in God's Eye, but a trawl through the book came up empty. Any ideas?

 

[PaulMmn]

There was a short story with a similar gimmick-- two scientists, rivals for prestige, were constantly trying to outdo each other. One invents a force ray that turns momentum 90 degrees. They end up playing a game of pool with the ray beaming down on the table. The scientist who didn't invent the ray lines up a shot, and just barely edges the ball into the beam. It takes off at 90 degrees at high velocity, and kills the other scientist.

Another possibility-- I think there was a similar force in the series of stories in "The Complete Venus Equilateral." It seems the Martians had invented it, and some Earthly scientists came across the remnants of the devices and was able to re-create the technology.

 

[tachyon]

I was browsing book reviews and saw a reference that made me think of this post. In the story "What Makes Us Human" by Stephen R Donaldson (which is set in Fred Saberhagen's Berserker universe) there's a technology called a c-vector field which turns forces "at right angles to the speed of light."