R.B. Thurman's Blog, page 6

The Places…

Where will we go on this adventure?  Start here and find out!

The Characters…

Meet some of the characters in The Silent Invader. For best results, start here.

Me of the Month – Sadly, every month.

Allow me to temporarily remove a small section of hardened armor, and share a small portion of who I am with you.  A small portion. Very small.

No, not that much.  Maybe a fingernail.  Still on my hand, I’ll be nice.  You can start here.  No touchy-feely stuff, that’s just too much.  Ok, I’m putting my gauntlet and gloves back on.

Prologue – The Silent Invader

The Tessla was already laid waste by a silent invader, now moving away in the direction from which it had come.

The Silent Invader (Part Two)

How do you confront something, when you’re not sure who (or what) it is?

Very Carefully. Or not very carefully.

The confrontation with The Silent Invader something that is not at the forefront of the story.  In fact, it may not at times seem to be the story.  But, that’s what happens when you focus too close to things.

When I wrote the book, and as I’ve mentioned with characters like Becky and others, everyone has a story.  Why they’ve crossed paths with the others, and why these have gathered for this adventure.

This includes The Silent Invader.  They (I’m going to at times use an indefinite article, like ‘they,’ ‘it,’ or maybe ‘he/she,’ for The Silent Invader. It’ll be Italicized, with a capital letter for clarity.  But it’s not meant to define The Silent Invader as singular, or not define it as a group) have a story, one that I didn’t have time to touch on in this book, but will get into more in the next.  That doesn’t mean you won’t learn anything about Them in this one.

I mentioned in a past blog that I also wasn’t planning a series when I wrote this book.  That was very much true.  I was intending to write a single volume.  But, I realized that completing the story I had in mind in a single book was going to take north of 400k words. Based on the word count of this book, that would be a roughly 1100 page book.  A decision needed to be made:

-Write a single compendium, in all its exhaustive glory, and drop that on the reading public. Or …

-Complete the ‘series’ in several parts, each with a clear objective of its own.

The problem was It was a portion of what would be covered in each book, though It would not always draw the immediate attention of the other characters with its actions.

And while this book covers less than 3 weeks, the ‘entire’ story would actually span years, touching certain epochs in time.

For my own sanity (sorry), I decided to apportion the original novel. As a result, there is closure, but not finality.  This is not to diminish the threat faced in the novel. Rather it recognizes the danger in each epoch for the characters, along with how each epoch changes the views and conduct of the characters. Considering what they face in this book, it makes you wonder how they will react to any other ‘threat’ that may arise.  Will they run at it, ready to face it down?  Will they stand to the side, and watch others instead?  Will they choose to depart, possibly even running from the danger?  And just think It is still in each of these books!

It becomes important, then to start at the beginning.  The Silent Invader can seem like merely a momentary threat in this series, but realize that this book will neither be an exhaustive history of It. And despite its importance to the story It will also choose not to make itself known openly for yours (or anyone else’s) benefit.

That alone should tell you a lot about The Silent Invader.

Thanks for reading!  Please like and share! This week (week of May 15, 2018), I will be reposting links to some of my recent blogs on the novel (and me, unfortunately) so that everyone can get up to speed. This Thursday (5/17/2018) I will post chapter 5 here. Your comments are welcome below! Also, sign up now to receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.

The Silent Invader. (Part one)

I’ve written the past few months about many of the main characters, the world they live in, what has changed on Earth, even (my) circumstances in developing the book. But I haven’t written much about the Silent Invader.  There’s a simple reason.

Telling you about the Silent Invader makes no sense outside the context of the book, even then I wouldn’t say whether this is definitive. What I do share needs a frame of reference and the book provides some of that.  But, more than anything, speaking at length about the Silent Invader would mean talking over the characters, and their interactions with the Silent Invader.

There are three things that you can be assured of regarding the Silent Invader:

-I know who the Silent Invader is (and yes, some characters also do)

-The Silent Invader is in the book (you’re probably wondering why I would say that…)

-The Characters will confront the Silent Invader.

Let’s consider each point I want to make.

The Silent Invader is known

When I talk about items in the book, I prefer to quote the characters or find the portion of the narrative that touches on the matter. One of the problems with talking about the Silent Invader is who I would use to explain who–or even, what–the Silent Invader is. While I know, I would still prefer the characters make the explanation.  But there is a problem.

There are only 2 characters in this portion of the series who know who (or what) the Silent Invader is. And, by quoting either of them, you may miss what others are saying about it. Or even what they’re not saying about it

While my goal isn’t to sow misinformation regarding the Silent Invader in the book, I did want to show that knowing for certain what the Silent Invader is could be difficult.  At one point in the story, various entities are referred to as the Silent Invader, and there is evidence presented to make their case.  Only one of these can be correct, though.  By the end of the book, You must decide for yourself if you agree with the characters (or even which characters) on who they define as the Silent Invader.

The Silent Invader is in the book

This seems obvious, but is it?  It was certainly possible to write this entire book, and the Silent Invader never appear, or never directly engage the main characters.

From a literary standpoint, I reference a series of Batman comics from the late 20th century known by the heading “Knighfall.”  In these, Batman was facing various foes, coming in successive waves and without let up.

And while the story might be the fact that he’s basically going out every night and facing down a major villain, what was interesting was the detective side of the story for me.  Batman was getting worn down facing all these people, and it was showing even to others around him.  But Batman also saw there was more there: someone else behind them all. The thing I found interesting about Knightfall is Knightfall doesn’t start with the first issue with “Knightfall” on it.  It started (at least) 12-18 months before, and crossed most of the Batman comics that I read (mostly Batman and Detective Comics, but sometimes Shadow of the Bat.  I also liked Robin, but it was still a limited series then). Then, after several months, Bane makes his introduction in, of all places, the home of Bruce Wayne.  It was an exceptional plot development since it showed that Bane was as much a detective as Batman, following the clues and drawing conclusions.

While there were several people Batman faced along the way that he could conclude was Bane, as this blogger states, it was only 6 months prior to this issue that we even knew who Bane was! (Unless you read “Vengence of Bane.” To this day I’ve never read it).

The point is that Bane was a character taking action in the comic, just not visible in each issue.  His lack of visibility didn’t make it impossible to see his influence; if anything, it made it more interesting.  Consider that for a long time prior to “Knightfall,” Batman was the only one saying there was someone else directing these rogues.  Everyone around him merely assumed he was succumbing to fatigue.

Like Bane, the Silent Invader is active in the story, though unlike Bane, the Silent Invader is in the story from the beginning.

Of course, this also means that I identify the Silent Invader. This is through the characters’ encounter with the Silent Invader. I was planning to address the final point this week. However, I ran out time to finish my research on the matter (don’t remember what page everything is on). Till then, please leave your comments below.

Thanks for reading!  Please like and share! You can follow on Facebook, Tumblr, and read excerpts from The Silent Invader @RB_Thurman (and follow!), in addition to the chapters I add here. If you prefer, you can also read my posts on Goodreads (I do a few book giveaways there, so you may want to check it out for that).  Your comments are welcome below.  Also, sign up on my contact page, and receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.

Me of the Month: May 2018.

Feel … The … Burn …

I wanted to believe I was going to become quite the buff guy when I bought this thing.  Mindlessly ripped, sinewy muscles bursting out of every shirt I owned… Really …

I gotta stop.  I can’t even fake that. No, I never had such delusions of grandeur. But, let’s start at the beginning.

I’ve never felt that I’ve been at a ‘healthy’ weight. Not because I’m self-conscious, or dwell at length about my appearance, or because I have an unhealthy view of myself. No, it’s all because the medical field has determined that a person my height and weight is ‘obsessed.’

I’m sorry, I meant ‘obese.’  Wow, that really changes that sentence!

I’m fat.

 

I can’t say that I’ve had cause for concern regarding this, but I don’t want you to think I’ve not made attempts to remedy the matter.  The issue, though, is every time I’ve neared my ideal weight, it has coincided with a significant health event.  Like being my ideal weight actually triggered health problems.  I don’t believe that, but the coincidences are enough to question making an effort to lose a lot of weight.

Before I start, I want to remind everyone that I’m not a medical professional.  There’s only one type of pipes I work on.  Secondly, I also don’t want you to think this is a recommended medical treatment approach of any kind.  If anything, you should panic and go buy kale and stop cooking with Crisco.  If that’s still a thing.  Let me look that up…, Yup it is.  I miss my shortening.

The first time I was near my ideal weight was prior to the turn of this century.  It was shortly after I had set my book aside and needed a break.  So I took a vacation.  The first one that didn’t include ‘family’ as part of the designation. A friend and I decided to trek out to Colorado.  We went on a grand (touristy) tour of the state.  Well, not really.  It was more like we visited a few people we knew, stopped in Estes Park (off-season) and wandered around, toured the Budweiser brewery (to see the Clydesdales. What else is there?), and visited an outlet mall to look at (still!) overpriced stuff.

It was fun.

About three months later I was in the hospital and was diagnosed a Type-I Diabetic. Because clearly, these two events are inter-related.  The moral of this story is to never have fun, or you’ll be diagnosed with a life-altering health condition.

In case you’re wondering: no, I had no family history of this, til just before. Literally months. Not sure even 6 months.

Of course, while I walked into the hospital only 10 pounds under my ideal weight, I was so emaciated at that point I needed fluids pumped into me for three days before I could make use of the bathroom. And I got another week-long ‘vacation’ (also without the ‘family’), all-expense paid, meals included, in a highly rated facility purpose-built to make you look forward to going to work and never wanting to not stop working for any reason, real or imagined.

After that hospital stay, I decided I would try to start working out.  Go to the gym…, wait, why go to the gym, when I could have the gym at home!

Behold…

[image error]

Well, I couldn’t afford the XTL, But I couldn’t find a picture of the one I had. And, I still changed the configuration, added and subtracted stuff… Yeah, I bought a Bowflex.

I blame the infomercial I saw one of the last times I watched infomercial TV (the 20th century). By this time, I didn’t own one, so I was actually doing my research on AltaVista.com. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.  Everyone was using it then. It was awesome.  Good times, good times.

I started using it.  And I decided to make it a wholesale, lifestyle change.  No more desk jobs! I’m moving on to a physically demanding job! I’m going to be…

An Electrician! (A Plumber.)

I already have some practical training with my Novell Certifications (Those are still a thing, right?), building cabling and assembling network systems (plumbing).

And, construction (plumbing work) is on a tear right now!  I mean, it’s a new century! Everyone is building stuff, like buildings and airplanes (with plumbing)!  What could possibly go wrong with making a career change like this, right now?

So, well after that event, I applied to the electrical (plumbing) apprenticeship, because there is NO WAY I’M PAYING FOR ANY OF THIS! (I’m broke). I decided, just to cover all the bases, I would apply to both electrical and plumbing apprenticeships (plumb–wait, what?).

If you’ve read my profile, you would see that I was accepted to the plumbing apprenticeship. Once I started, I was well on my way to getting the physical activity I needed.

Construction is hard work, and demanding (Doing the work can be, too). And while I can’t say I ate like an athlete, I was in better shape than I was when I sat behind a desk.

Till I saw a doctor.

The problem people would likely have with seeing doctors is that most see them after some dramatic change in health.  They ‘gained/lost too much,’ or ‘What’s that bump? No, not that bump, the bump on that bump?’

I didn’t have this problem (at that time).  I regularly saw one (Diabetic–insulin-dependent). So, it was more like getting a quarterly review from your boss, than wondering if you’re about to die an ignominious death.

When I had these weird health symptoms pop up, I thought Hmm, that’s weird. So I told my doctor.

I would point out that at this time, I probably appeared to be in my best health.  I was active, only a few pounds over my ideal weight (and this is likely due to lifting weights …er, using a Bowflex), so finding out I have a thyroid issue wasn’t exactly stellar news. Now, after a 33 percent increase in mass, I’ve decided ‘being healthy’ is killing me.  If you are looking for me to offer any insights on avoiding health conditions that are often hereditary or difficult to diagnose, sorry, I’m not your man.

If you would like some iffy food advice or even some questionable recommendations, I suggest Crisco.  The blue can.  That stuff is awesome.

Next week, we’ll start a series on the subject of my novel.  It’s not Richard.  Not his friends or his wife.  Look at that title on the book, and you’ll understand.

Thanks for reading!  Please like and share! You can follow on Facebook, Tumblr, and please feel free to read excerpts from The Silent Invader @RB_Thurman (and follow!), in addition to the chapters I add here. If you prefer, you can also read my posts on Goodreads (I do a few book giveaways there, so you may want to check it out for that).  Your comments are welcome below.  Also, sign up on my contact page, and receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.

Me of the month – May 2018.

Feel … The … Burn …

I wanted to believe I was going to become quite the buff guy when I bought this thing.  Mindlessly ripped, sinewy muscles bursting out of every shirt I owned… Really …

I gotta stop.  I can’t even fake that. No, I never had such delusions of grandeur. But, let’s start at the beginning.

I’ve never felt that I’ve been at a ‘healthy’ weight. Not because I’m self-conscious, or dwell at length about my appearance, or because I have an unhealthy view of myself. No, it’s all because the medical field has determined that a person my height and weight is ‘obsessed.’

I’m sorry, I meant ‘obese.’  Wow, that really changes that sentence!

I’m fat.

 

I can’t say that I’ve had cause for concern regarding this, but I don’t want you to think I’ve not made attempts to remedy the matter.  The issue, though, is every time I’ve neared my ideal weight, it has coincided with a significant health event.  Like being my ideal weight actually triggered health problems.  I don’t believe that, but the coincidences are enough to question making an effort to lose a lot of weight.

Before I start, I want to remind everyone that I’m not a medical professional.  There’s only one type of pipes I work on.  Secondly, I also don’t want you to think this is a recommended medical treatment approach of any kind.  If anything, you should panic and go buy kale and stop cooking with Crisco.  If that’s still a thing.  Let me look that up…, Yup it is.  I miss my shortening.

The first time I was near my ideal weight was prior to the turn of this century.  It was shortly after I had set my book aside and needed a break.  So I took a vacation.  The first one that didn’t include ‘family’ as part of the designation. A friend and I decided to trek out to Colorado.  We went on a grand (touristy) tour of the state.  Well, not really.  It was more like we visited a few people we knew, stopped in Estes Park (off-season) and wandered around, toured the Budweiser brewery (to see the Clydesdales. What else is there?), and visited an outlet mall to look at (still!) overpriced stuff.

It was fun.

About three months later I was in the hospital and was diagnosed a Type-I Diabetic. Because clearly, these two events are inter-related.  The moral of this story is to never have fun, or you’ll be diagnosed with a life-altering health condition.

In case you’re wondering: no, I had no family history of this, til just before. Literally months. Not sure even 6 months.

Of course, while I walked into the hospital only 10 pounds under my ideal weight, I was so emaciated at that point I needed fluids pumped into me for three days before I could make use of the bathroom. And I got another week-long ‘vacation’ (also without the ‘family’), all-expense paid, meals included, in a highly rated facility purpose-built to make you look forward to going to work and never wanting to not stop working for any reason, real or imagined.

After that hospital stay, I decided I would try to start working out.  Go to the gym…, wait, why go to the gym, when I could have the gym at home!

Behold…

[image error]

Well, I couldn’t afford the XTL, But I couldn’t find a picture of the one I had. And, I still changed the configuration, added and subtracted stuff… Yeah, I bought a Bowflex.

I blame the infomercial I saw one of the last times I watched infomercial TV (the 20th century). By this time, I didn’t own one, so I was actually doing my research on AltaVista.com. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.  Everyone was using it then. It was awesome.  Good times, good times.

I started using it.  And I decided to make it a wholesale, lifestyle change.  No more desk jobs! I’m moving on to a physically demanding job! I’m going to be…

An Electrician! (A Plumber.)

I already have some practical training with my Novell Certifications (Those are still a thing, right?), building cabling and assembling network systems (plumbing).

And, construction (plumbing work) is on a tear right now!  I mean, it’s a new century! Everyone is building stuff, like buildings and airplanes (with plumbing)!  What could possibly go wrong with making a career change like this, right now?

So, well after that event, I applied to the electrical (plumbing) apprenticeship, because there is NO WAY I’M PAYING FOR ANY OF THIS! (I’m broke). I decided, just to cover all the bases, I would apply to both electrical and plumbing apprenticeships (plumb–wait, what?).

If you’ve read my profile, you would see that I was accepted to the plumbing apprenticeship. Once I started, I was well on my way to getting the physical activity I needed.

Construction is hard work, and demanding (Doing the work can be, too). And while I can’t say I ate like an athlete, I was in better shape than I was when I sat behind a desk.

Till I saw a doctor.

The problem people would likely have with seeing doctors is that most see them after some dramatic change in health.  They ‘gained/lost too much,’ or ‘What’s that bump? No, not that bump, the bump on that bump?’

I didn’t have this problem (at that time).  I regularly saw one (Diabetic–insulin-dependent). So, it was more like getting a quarterly review from your boss, than wondering if you’re about to die an ignominious death.

When I had these weird health symptoms pop up, I thought Hmm, that’s weird. So I told my doctor.

I would point out that at this time, I probably appeared to be in my best health.  I was active, only a few pounds over my ideal weight (and this is likely due to lifting weights …er, using a Bowflex), so finding out I have a thyroid issue wasn’t exactly stellar news. Now, after a 33 percent increase in mass, I’ve decided ‘being healthy’ is killing me.  If you are looking for me to offer any insights on avoiding health conditions that are often hereditary or difficult to diagnose, sorry, I’m not your man.

If you would like some iffy food advice or even some questionable recommendations, I suggest Crisco.  The blue can.  That stuff is awesome.

Next week, we’ll start a series on the subject of my novel.  It’s not Richard.  Not his friends or his wife.  Look at that title on the book, and you’ll understand.

Thanks for reading!  Please like and share! You can follow on Facebook, Tumblr, and please feel free to read excerpts from The Silent Invader @RB_Thurman (and follow!), in addition to the chapters I add here. If you prefer, you can also read my posts on Goodreads (I do a few book giveaways there, so you may want to check it out for that).  Your comments are welcome below.  Also, sign up on my contact page, and receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.

Travel. Space Travel. (Part Three)

In space, it has to be done.  Somehow.  And while there are many methods of ‘travel,’ let’s focus on a detail … Wait,… ARRRRRRRRRGH! I said this twice before! It’s the same post all over again!

The Fold Drive?

Yes, let’s talk about the fold drive. As I pointed to in a previous blog, space is massive.  The last blog emphasized that stuff can be missed if you’re trying to focus on only traveling far.  However, traveling far may be at times necessary, or the time involved using conventional methods would be limiting.

As much as it is interesting to explore locally, sometimes you need to leave the area for something needed.  Richard, in fact, leaves the bounds of the empire more than once in this book. Once was when he went to meet Joe and Maice since the earth is not part of their empire.

This book, in time covered, is only about 3 weeks, including a couple days of exclusively travel where nothing appears to happen, such as between Earth and Feldspar (between Chapters 3 and 4).  So, what is happening when the book doesn’t relate the events of the day?

Here is an indication:

Richard starts humming a rather bland tune. After several seconds, the humming begins to grate on the nerves of Joe. “Are you bored?” he asks, trying to end his torture.
Richard stops humming, to Joe’s relief. “No, not really. Why?”
“You only do things like that when you are bored out of your mind! I know you hate quiet, but one can only take so much excitement at a time!” Joe stops. “I’m starting to realize why you hate being awake in transit, because you have to deal with the passage of time.”

Joe & Richard

Richard ‘hates being awake in transit.’  I think this is where you recognize that if you’re traveling for several hours, or even several days, and you are limited in what you can do to pass the time, sleeping is one thing that can help this along.  As the expression implies, there is some form of hibernation employed for lengthy trips, likely through known spaces.  Seriously, would you like your pilot sleeping through a flight he’s never taken before? (Don’t answer that.  I forget planes can’t fly themselves, or at least take-off and land themselves.  Forget I asked).

Sleeping or, with the description given, hibernation may allow the time to pass quickly for our characters (and also save a lot of time explaining why there are less lengthy scenes in some chapters). It doesn’t change that they may need to get somewhere ASAP, and faster than light drives won’t cut it.

The Fold Drive

In the book, Joe pioneers the Mass Displacement Drive and begins its development with the company he is employed with at the beginning of the story.  While this drive does allow for travel to distant points, it faces an unexpected obstacle to its use:

 

Joe lets out a sigh. “It will be, once I find something that can power it. Conventional power sources just aren’t concentrated enough, since it discharges the energy for the conventional trip instantly. The amount of conventional fuel needed to power it for more than five or ten seconds would fill this hangar, assuming we could get it into the thing fast enough.”

When I wrote this way back when I’m not sure I weighed the complexity of the problem I presented for Joe.  The magnitude the solution would need to have.  Because I’m basically saying this thing won’t work unless it’s hyper-efficient at expending fuel.

Even if it were slightly more efficient, the ship wouldn’t be able to travel much further than it could conventionally.  To be clear, I do not want to say they would want to just appear somewhere and see what’s there.  I’m merely pointing out that the tech would be faster, within a limited range.

Of course, this book would only reflect a need to do just that: quickly travel a short distance. But the solution proves to be more valuable than that.  While it can appear there are limitations on the range of these ships, Richard makes a statement that clarifies concerns about limits to travel, even with faster than light drives:

“Joe, we will not need to refuel our ship for another seventeen months.”

If you remember my math from last week, even at cruising speed this could translate into thousands of light-years that could be traveled just with the ‘fuel’ this ship possesses.  But, as was seen in Joe’s comment, the problem is how fast it burns through it, rather than the amount.

When I wrote this, I couldn’t say I was familiar with the nature of the operation of capacitors, since this is an obvious solution to the problem. I think though even with the capabilities of even more efficient capacitors today, the issue isn’t their ability to discharge the energy, it will be charging them for the surge.  Someday I’ll try to put a pencil to what I imagine the energy expended for a couple of the trips taken. For now, when we consider the energy needed to just leave Earth, and possibly multiply that millions of times, and then discharge that energy in a single moment of time (we’re talking seconds at best), you realize that overcoming this is not for the faint-hearted.

And yet, not only does Joe accomplish this, he is able to replicate the process in short order.  While the fold drive is the primary beneficiary of this new power source, Richard makes clear that it benefits everything:

… Joe is preparing to transplant his power plant to the Maelstrom, doing a complete systems analysis first in order to find which systems will support the additional power output and which ones will not. He is being quite thorough, so if everything will support it, we may have a chance to upgrade the power plant on the Maelstrom.

While the fuel burn of the fold drive may seem a limiter to its use, Joe innovates to make it useful anyway.  But, like anything, there are always trades that must be made.

Rather than belabor this, we’ll discuss what some of those tradeoffs were at a later time.  For now, I must mentally prepare to ‘share “things”‘ with you.  I still need to write my post about me for next month, because that’s how much I love writing about myself.

Thanks for visiting!  If you enjoyed this post, please like and share! You can follow on Facebook, Tumblr, and please feel free to read excerpts from The Silent Invader @RB_Thurman (and follow!), in addition to the chapters I add here. If you prefer, you can also read my posts on Goodreads (I do a few book giveaways there, so you may want to check it out for that).  Your comments are welcome below.  Also, sign up on my contact page, and receive notifications for when the next blog arrives.

Travel. Space Travel. (Part Two)

In space, it has to be done.  Somehow.  And while there are many methods of ‘travel,’ let’s focus on a detail often overlooked in space travel. But … I’ve already said that …

Excuse Me?

Never mind. Let’s try to focus here.  When I wrote the book, I did have in mind the distances being traveled.  Many of these distances are undefined in the text of the novel.  Though, I will show that they are not unknowable.

For example, Richard makes a trip from Earth to Feldspar.  Based on the dates given, Chapter 2 starts on Stardate 78.06-03, and Chapter 3 is Stardate 78.06-04.  Before we get too carried away, this should help with understanding the date conventions:

Captain’s Signature Log
Thirty-fourth year of King Mordecai A. Tyberius, the sixth month, the second day of the month.
Or …
Stardate 2178.06-02 (according to the Terran trade calendar, which most worlds at least know)

Richard (Log Entry)

Richard doesn’t Identify the names of the months, like many people on earth.  Not everyone knows the 6th month as ‘June’ in the English translation of the Gregorian calendar. And in the United States, the date convention is Month/Day/Year. Many places use Day/Month/Year.  In the book, Year/Month/Day was used.

While it could be assumed about 24 hours has gone by between entries, one thing you’ll notice in this section of the book is the lack of references to time, such as time of day and hour of the day.  So while I do know how long they traveled and the likely time of day they arrived, I didn’t put it in the book.  Looking at it broadly, what is to say that it is 8:00 am when you arrive (according to your circadian rhythm), though local time is 6:00 pm?  My view at the time was, why would it matter if you don’t have a sunrise/sunset to regulate your view of time?

How do we figure the distances, then?  Well, if we speak broadly, we know these two days would total 48 hours, and while it would be silly to think Richard would make an entry one minute into a new day, then make the next entry one minute prior to the end of the next, we can still use this to get some idea of the distance.  Since in the Prologue a cruising speed of 1.5 Kliks was given, we will use this as our average speed. Therefore:

1.5 Kliks x 24 hours = 36 light years traveling at the minimum, or …

1.5 Kliks x 48 hours = 72 light years traveled at the maximum.

So 36 to 72 lightyears to Feldspar.  So, anything in that range as possible systems in the real world?

The “Neighborhood”

Before I answer that, I want to offer a little perspective on my thought process.  Consider:  Where you live, how many towns/cities/boroughs/villages within 60 miles/100 kilometers have you visited? I decided to do some investigation using myself as an example.  One tool I used listed the ‘cities of significance’ near me.  Basically, they were places above a certain population threshold, likely 5k-10k (any higher and my town might not show up!). There were less than 10 listed (I live in a small American state), and I have been to all of them. But, I figured there were more incorporated towns than these, so I used another tool to determine how many in totality there were.

The number was closer to 150.  I knew I haven’t been to most, but I did see I’ve been to a lot more than I thought, some I had been to multiple times even recently.  It wasn’t like I was just going there to see if there was anything to see, or just for this blog.  There was a need fulfilled by my visit to that location, or I visited someone I wanted to see. None of these places visited, though, were larger than the town I lived in.

The point of this exercise is to illustrate there is often more attention on a major population center as the anchor for an entire nation or even a region. Like Beijing, London, or even Warsaw or Oslo. To focus on this city as the defining city of that given nation.  And there is no variation beyond that population magnet.

There is, of course.  Even where I live, most of the towns surrounding have a distinct personality and flavor.  So to define the region by where I live, by this city (it is the largest city in the area) seems silly.  But worse, to assume that just because something is close to this city, it can’t be as good or as different as something further away might be a grave error also.

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I bring this up because many novels view travel in space this way.  ‘Why try to stay in this corner of space, when I could leave this galactic cluster for a more interesting one?’   Because, nobody is in this corner of space, or they would’ve visited by now, one would think.

Considering our example, Feldspar and Earth appear to be not only the most significant populations in the region, but they may also seem to be the only ones, perhaps even the only stars in the area.  However, within 50 light-years of earth, there are at least 1400 stars. This chart only shows 133 of the brightest.

Even with this generous chart, we can easily find ourselves in the trap of flying past things of interest just because of an unusually bright, shiny object set before us. I want to use the galaxy, and the universe entirely in my novels.  But, I don’t want to assume everything must be impossibly far to be interesting. I haven’t tried to estimate the radius Richard travels in the book, but I’m sure it is less than 1000 light-years (or, as Part 1 showed, 6 quadrillion miles).  Looking at this chart only showing a 50 light-year radius, you can see that will encompass a large volume of space.  Remeber, Richard will be traveling in 3 dimensions. He could fly for a week in a grand circuit and never be more than 100 lightyears from his home, or even Earth.  Yet he could travel a thousand light years and never cross his paths.  All it would take is time.

There is, of course, the toll gateways.  These obviously negate travel times.  And while it would seem I could use them more exhaustively, I think this story makes clear this system has limitations.

Here is one, just mentioned as an aside:

As a final gesture, my grandfather commissioned a gate for Earth, which would allow them to travel to Alexandria, or other worlds of their choosing.

Here, Richard is describing a toll gateway in the Sol system.  It can be implied that ‘commissioning’ something may be a more involved matter than this sentence elaborates.  But it also points to a fundamental flaw – you can only travel between gates. So if there is no gate, you likely can’t go there.  With this technology though, it has the advantage of allowing transit between two points not only quickly, but also allows a ship to not need a ‘light drive’ for interstellar transit.

The other method of extra fast travel is the Mass Displacement, or fold drive.  Next week, we’ll touch on some basic principles to its function.

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