Google Books: 14 results.
*Atmospherics; radio noise.
*Fixed or held in place, on the ground, etc., freq. in contrast to something that can move; stationary, not mobile.
*Pertaining to forces in equilibrium, or to bodies at rest: opposed to dynamic.
(OED Online)
The word “static” is defined in Lucifer’s Hammer as interference during radio communication. Static in the story begins as an alarm. A disruption. The sound of – wait for it – IMPENDING DOOM! Speakers “scream” when the comet hits. “The Hammer has fallen,” says Dan Forrester on the page where the word makes its first appearance. What was once just speculation and fear is now tangible … er, audible … through static. Eileen’s portable radio is described as “undamaged,” an ironic detail that speaks to the idea that traditional means of communication have drowned with the tidal waves.
For its listeners, the sound confirms (and confuses) the comet’s arrival, adding to the atmosphere of chaos, the tension of an uncertain future. Having retreated into the valley, Senator Jellison with all his functioning devices, asks through the static: “Was the damned thing going to hit or not?” My favorite appearance of the word occurs when Eileen isn’t certain if she hears “Hammerfall!” through her radio’s static or if it’s all in her head – a nod to the word’s use in describing the movement and ambition of the mind. I enjoy the idea of “static in the head” introduced early on in the disaster. Who lets the noise overwhelm them? Who fights the noise off?
“No matter. There was no useful information. Or rather, there was, in that fact itself,” says the narrator. Static a fact in itself? Static is a dull, repetitive sound but this neutrality (non-noise?) is in itself valuable. A message has been sent. When we hear static in the story, it’s a brief sound; the radio device is shut off right away, heard long enough to remind its listener OK, I’m alone. I answer to myself. Now what? As its listeners adapt to Life After Hammerfall, static becomes a buzz, a quick update from a handheld radio. Static: a fact of new life.
When the noise you hear is limited to the people standing in front of you, the world shrinks. Static, while featured in grim and frustrating situations, is a lead-in to characters taking action in response to certain isolation. Rejecting static’s other definition, bodies following Hammerfall are seldom stationary or at rest. I predict that the sound fades as the characters adapt and rebuild. According to Google Books, its last appearance is on pg. 550: “Tim whispered rapidly: the radio gave mostly static, but it worked.”