E.A. Wicklund's Blog, page 3

Unfinished Business

Photo by: Sarah Potter

Violet’s husband, George, hated her live-in sister’s parrot, Bobo. Violet hated the animal too, who cursed most vilely. George had sworn an oath to kill it someday.

Three years slipped by after George’s untimely death, but since then a falcon took up residence. Each afternoon she could see the shadow of it, a waiting sentinel. Violet often wondered if George had reincarnated. Silly perhaps, but she couldn’t help the persistent feeling.

One day, Bobo escaped the house. Mere seconds passed before the falcon swooped in and pinned down the squawking bird, violently yanking out colorful feathers.

Violet smiled, “Good boy, George.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/11/18/12067/

An Unreported Affect

Photo by: Dale Rogerson

As I stared at my own reflection in the window, I took pity on him. Of course, he didn’t reflect anything at all.

“It must be frustrating,” I said. “Stuck like that.”

“You have no idea,” said the cloud of vapor. “I cannot feed at all, yet I can still feel the hunger.”

At one time, the thing would have killed me, but it remained harmless while still sick. “It’s a shame no one knows how your kind are affected. How long are you stuck as vapor?”

“No one knows. It’s not like scientists are studying how COVID-19 affects vampires.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/11/11/11988/

Spaceship Shields in Science Fiction

The Necessity of Shields in Space

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In so many science fiction stories involving spaceships, they almost always include shields on the vessels. Even in a real world scenario they’re important to have. Outside the protective magnetosphere and atmosphere of our planet, cosmic rays lurk. If a spaceship’s crew is exposed to them long enough, more than a few weeks, they will sicken and die. And let’s face it, a trip to Mars is going to take more than a few weeks. Then there are those pesky micrometeorites. Depending on the speed of your ship and the speed of the meteorite, something the size of a sand grain can hit with the power of a bullet, or a howitzer shell. So, whether considering science fiction or real spaceships, it’s good to have shields.

Spaceship Shields in Science Fiction

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Often, in a scifi show, we hear a phrase like, “Shields at 42%!” I’ve been wondering about that and why it would work that way. Obviously, it adds dramatic tension, but would it really work that way when spaceships and their shields become a reality? I tend to think not. I’m not an engineer, so anyone who is out there can correct me, but I believe shields would either be working or not, operating at 100% or not at all. I understand that you could shift energy from one shield to the other in the trope, but why build in that capability? While in a battle, why not just run the whole thing at max capacity? Then you could focus on maneuvering and not bother with that detail. If your power plant could not run all shields at max, that would suggest you need a bigger power plant.

If we consider electronic components that we have now like the diode, for instance, they work at spec until they burn out and don’t work at all. Same for capacitors, resistors, etc. When the power supply on my computer died, I didn’t get a message saying, “Power at 42%, Captain.” It operated at its rated power level until something, perhaps a diode, stopped working and the power supply croaked. Shouldn’t shields operate similarly?

Plausible Spaceship Shields

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When I wrote, The Huralon Incident, I imagined shields that were directed by a number of emitters. The devices project a small shield each until they absorbed more energy from a weapon than they could handle, and burn out. That’s it. Either it’s working or it’s not. These emitters would cover a ship, so even when you lost one, only a small portion of total shield protection went down. In such a case the report wouldn’t be, “Shields at 90%, Captain,” because that wouldn’t be very informative. The report would be like, “Emitter down on the ventral port quarter, Captain.” This would work better because the Captain now knows not to present the ventral port quarter to the enemy’s weapons.

So, what do you think? Does the idea of shields, that when hit, decrease in strength by degree make sense or not? How would you imagine a shield working? Let me know in the comments.

If you’re interested in a different way to see how shields might work in the future, check out my book, The Huralon Incident. It’s a military space opera with detailed space battles, a superspy, nanites, humor, sociopolitical world-building, and plenty of descriptions of food. You can find it below:

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The Hard Life

Photo by: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

My interview with famed monster killer, Gepard Baptiste, proved quite bizarre. Often, he paused to shoot out the cafe window, killing slobbering beasts with too many mouths, tentacles, and bat wings.

“It’s a hard life,” said Baptiste, devouring a spoonful of expensive bluefin tuna ceviche.

“But the pay is good?”

“I accept nothing, save the odd snack,” he said, wiping the finest gooseliver foie gras from his mouth. “I must go. I am needed at Cafe DuMont. A most challenging location.”

“Are there many monsters there?”

He looked like a man facing death. “The leg of lamb is often under spiced.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/10/21/23-october-2020/

Author’s Notes:

Bluefin Tuna is one of the most expensive fish you can buy. “Bluefin tuna sashimi is a particular delicacy in Japan. For example, an Atlantic bluefin caught off eastern United States sold for $247,000 at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo in 2008.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_bluefin_tuna#Cuisine

Ceviche: a dish made with raw fish. I am not a fish lover, but I do like ceviche.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche

Foie Gras: A French delicacy. “foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras

The Strangest Case

FBI agents Dunbar and McKinney stood on the dock near the boat in question. The pizza deliveryman had long since fled his bicycle in terror. After the deliveryman’s outrageous claims, the two X-File cases agents had been dispatched .

Both of them stood watching as Piranha continued diving into the pizza box.

“This has got to be our strangest case ever,” said Dunbar.

“Why?” said McKinney. “Because piranha learned how to order pizza?”

“Nope.”

“Because they filled in the order form with no misspells?”

“Nope.”

“Then why?”

Dunbar rubbed his chin, “Isn’t it strange that piranha ordered the Vegetarian Special?”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/10/14/16-octobetr-2020/

The Workaround

Photo by: Dale Rogerson

Beside the door, a string of garlic hung.

An older woman answered the door. “Yes?”

“Good evening!” said Bill. “I’m Bill. This is Joseph. Can we interest you in home security?”

“It’s nighttime!”

“Never too late for security, madame. May we come in?”

The woman squinted. “Lots of vampires these days. You can enter if you chew on garlic first.”

“An excellent precaution, madame,” said Joseph. “Vampires are terribly allergic.” Both he and Bill chewed.

She allowed them in and went to start tea.

“Told you this would work,” whispered Bill.

“True,” said Joseph. “But we’ll need a lot more antihistamine.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/09/23/25-september-2020/

Necessary Things

Photo by: Roger Bultot

Randy sat beside a blanket with assorted objects he hoped to sell. The small business supported him pretty well through his homelessness. He’d been drug-free for five years, but now he wondered if those years eating magic mushrooms was coming back to haunt him.

“It’s simple,” said the child’s high-chair. “We’re aliens. Shape-shifters. Whenever a human touches us, we become whatever thing the person needs most.”

“So what happened?”

“A poor child’s parents couldn’t afford me.”

Randy turned to another alien. “And you?”

“My person had diabetes. Needed regular testing.”

“And what’s your story?” said Randy, turning to the penis pump.

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/09/16/autumn-house-cleaning/

The Obvious Faux-pas

Photo by: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Elaine loved shopping at Down Island Traders. Despite the rustic exterior, everyone in the “in-crowd” shopped there. As she entered, she stopped, shocked by what she saw. The woman sitting at a table with a latte obviously had antennae, and gills on her neck. Elaine just stared.

A salesgirl said, “Problem, miss?”

Elaine angrily gestured at the alien. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“I realize she’s an alien, miss, but we’re open-minded here. Aliens are welcome.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that.” Elaine waved dismissively. “I’m VERY open-minded.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Socks with sandals? Faux-pas! That has GOT to go.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/09/09/11-september-2020/

Author’s Notes:

Knowing nothing about fashion, I had to look this stuff up:

https://www.marieclaire.com.au/fashion-faux-pas

The Measure of an Alien

Photo by: Ted Strutz

The first known human-alien amalgamation occurred in Roanoke, VA in 1879.

The wealthy widow, Imelda Pitts, had been wooed by bachelors from across the county, desiring her mostly for her money. The men organized demonstrations of physical strength before her house. Others strutted about in their fine clothing. All failed.

A “curious stranger” arrived. A fellow of strange pallor and an unseemly count of limbs. He clearly exceeded all others in her gaining her favor.

When asked if she shunned her own kind because he possessed an “attribute of extraordinary measure,” she replied, “No, but the omelette he serves me in my boudoir is unsurpassed.”

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Written for the Friday Fictioneeers: https://rochellewisoff.com/2020/08/19/21-august-2020/

Do Walking Tanks Make Sense?

Courtesy of digg.com

I can recall back in the day when I watched “The Empire Strikes Back” in the theater. To this day, my favorite scene in the movie was the AT-ATs. I’d never before imagined a giant walking tank. My mouth fell open, my jaw held together by my delighted, smile muscles. I loved it. Still in my late teens at this point, I had already been studying military weaponry for many years. Somewhere between the appearance of that thrilling scene and the time I made it home, I began to ask questions. One in particular stuck there. “Would a walking tank that big really work?”

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Hollywood, and many other media sources, apparently never asked such questions. Next thing you know, giant walking tanks appear in other movies, in books, and manga. Other folks seemed to think they were cool too. And why not? Visually, I still think they are impressive. Show me a trailer for a movie with giant anthropomorphic tanks, or just giant walking tanks and you can be certain I will watch it. I mean if you haven’t seen the Transformers movies while stuffing popcorn in your face, then you’ve seriously missed out.

Modern Tank Design

So, will we see such giant walking tanks in the future. Most emphatically, no. Cinematically, they’re great, but from a military standpoint, they’re a terrible idea. Look at tanks from WW2 until now. They gotten heavier, faster, better armored, more destructive, and more survivable, but they’ve scarcely increased in height. Why? Because one of the best ways to survive a tank battle, is to not be seen, or at least present a small target. As the allies of WW2 battled their way through France and later Germany, they fought one of the greatest tank designs of the war, the Tiger tank. Did this armored behemoth charge out into the open, expecting to win the day through sheer intimidation? Sometimes, but not usually. Tiger crews found a nice little spot with lots of cover, trying very hard to not be seen. No tank yet has been impregnable, so crews knew they would most likely survive if they weren’t discovered until too late, and this worked very well for Tiger crews.

Another way to not be seen is by using revetments. These are trenches that a tank can drive into and back out of easily. It allows the tank to present its turret and main gun, but not the rest of the hull. This places the tank in an effective “hull down” position. It becomes a very difficult target to hit, if you even see it. So, as you can see it doesn’t matter at all if a tank carries huge swaths of armor. No matter how much you have, if can be seen, you can be killed. A huge walking tank stepping out into the open is an  invitation to get it explosively dismantled by scores of tank-killing missiles.

No Walking Tanks?

Big Dog: Boston Robotics

Not so fast. If you think your sixty-foot tall main battle tank will survive the even faster, even deadlier environments we can expect in the future, you’re kidding yourself. A low profile is the smartest move for tank design. Another problem is even the Star Wars AT-ATs kept getting tripped up. Try doing that with an M1A2 Abrams or a T-90. Not. But, if you built roughly man-sized walking tanks whose purpose was to be like a pack mule, now you have something interesting. Boston Robotics’s Big Dog is such an idea and I do believe that could work some day. Future designs intended for combat are also viable, so long as they are small, fast, and able to crouch and hide. Note, we come back to that ability to hide thing. It’s very important. A tank that isn’t seen is a tank that won’t get hit.

This is my take on walking tanks. What’s yours? Let me know in the comments.