Sifu Blackirish
SOC-14 1K
This tired old brain remembers, more or less, how OTU jump drives work. A modified power plant burns fuel rapidly, providing enertgy to capacitors and the lanthanum grid, facilitating entry into jumpspace.
Sounds like it is pretty easy when you look at a mature technology. Still, we must remember that things were not alway this smooth and error free. Ever wonder how things went for those people who were on the leading edge of FTL research?
Have a seat, friends...
from novel TERRAN EXODUS, chapter THINK TANK -- AND BEYOND
(2080, March 26)
A duty technician sat at her station. With what appeared to be endless patience she performed another search cycle.
Note the time. Primary and secondary frequencies adjusted, mass detectors cleared and aligned, hundreds of small phased array radar transceivers tuned and trimmed. Substantial effort for a minimal reward?
A single button on her console turned green. it was pressed immediately. One minute passed, then two. Gaining priority on scan access and interpolation earned a reward, for a screen which had been blank for over three weeks sprang into life.
"Mr. Franklin, I have a confirmed contact!"
"Do we have handshakes yet?"
"Protocol being initiated now. Ready for data transfer in ten seconds. Primary distribution to archives, copies now undergoing route analysis."
Incoming data packets routed to appropriate stations. Soon every console was active. In the engineering section, reports came in on nuclear power plant, MHD generator, capacitor storage network, G-space field grid. All systems were functioning within parameters.
Finally there was a successful return! This was the first response from six probes that had been launched last month.
Things were not so encouraging in the Life Sciences department. No telemetry at all was being received from the sealed cargo pod of white mice. A last minute addition, they were wedged into a robot maintenance and storage area. About two hours passed while an EVA crew retrieved their long absent probe and brought it to Think tank. A team from the recently reactivated laboratory six rushed into the docking bay to see for themselves what happened to the biological contents.
Incredible. Every mouse in the container had died, in obvious agony. From descriptions received, their bodies had been painfully distorted. Some of them had been turned inside out by some unknown force.
Sounds like it is pretty easy when you look at a mature technology. Still, we must remember that things were not alway this smooth and error free. Ever wonder how things went for those people who were on the leading edge of FTL research?
Have a seat, friends...
from novel TERRAN EXODUS, chapter THINK TANK -- AND BEYOND
(2080, March 26)
A duty technician sat at her station. With what appeared to be endless patience she performed another search cycle.
Note the time. Primary and secondary frequencies adjusted, mass detectors cleared and aligned, hundreds of small phased array radar transceivers tuned and trimmed. Substantial effort for a minimal reward?
A single button on her console turned green. it was pressed immediately. One minute passed, then two. Gaining priority on scan access and interpolation earned a reward, for a screen which had been blank for over three weeks sprang into life.
"Mr. Franklin, I have a confirmed contact!"
"Do we have handshakes yet?"
"Protocol being initiated now. Ready for data transfer in ten seconds. Primary distribution to archives, copies now undergoing route analysis."
Incoming data packets routed to appropriate stations. Soon every console was active. In the engineering section, reports came in on nuclear power plant, MHD generator, capacitor storage network, G-space field grid. All systems were functioning within parameters.
Finally there was a successful return! This was the first response from six probes that had been launched last month.
Things were not so encouraging in the Life Sciences department. No telemetry at all was being received from the sealed cargo pod of white mice. A last minute addition, they were wedged into a robot maintenance and storage area. About two hours passed while an EVA crew retrieved their long absent probe and brought it to Think tank. A team from the recently reactivated laboratory six rushed into the docking bay to see for themselves what happened to the biological contents.
Incredible. Every mouse in the container had died, in obvious agony. From descriptions received, their bodies had been painfully distorted. Some of them had been turned inside out by some unknown force.
