I have been wondering for a very long time (a year or more - that's long in weblog time) where the concept of 'ansible' came from. I read it first in Orson Scott Card and then in Ursula K LeGuin. I've been meaning to google it. Badda bing. And, wonder of wonders, it's an entry in a recent link, the Wikipedia. Answer: Le Guin made it up, and Card used it. It produces such a cool dynamic when combined with travel limited by light-speed, still allowing contemporaneous communication. That is all.