Read Online Further: Beyond the Threshold by Chris Roberson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Chris Roberson
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“‘Infostructure’ is a general term for the communication and data networks of the Entelechy. Near-real-time communication across vast light-years is accomplished by relays positioned near thresholds on the inhabited worlds and habitats. Only ships traveling interstellar space are on a time lag, both due to the travel time of the light from the nearest infostructure relay and the relativistic effects of their speed.”
“Such as the mining ship that found my vessel, then?” I asked. “And that’s why their translated speech was so much less precise and accurate than the way you’re speaking now, or the Amazon and chimp”—the escort raised its beak momentarily, and I quickly corrected before it spoke—“or the way Zel’s and Maruti’s words were translated by that table object?”
“Their words were actually translated by the intelligence of the room itself, which communicated through elements in the central plinth, but yes, essentially correct. The Pethesilean mining vessel was a sailship. Propelled by the pressure upon their light-reflective sails of photons broadcast from laser arrays in orbit around stars, they are able to reach speeds approaching half the speed of light in one-point-six years. The sailship that found you was in the process of decelerating, after journeying to and from the cosmic string mines, and was still far enough out of communication range that it was operating at a lag. By the time their interlinks were updated with full Information Age English lexicon and grammar, you had been placed in a dormant state while your body recuperated.”
“And I take it sailships are the fastest thing going?”
“Yes. There are other methods of propulsion capable of creating greater accelerations in the short run, such as high-impulse fission drives, but they are unable to sustain those accelerations for more than brief periods. Faster-than-light travel is theoretically possible, whether through a hypothetical underspace or by manipulating the characteristics of the quantum vacuum, but in either case, the manufacture of a superluminal drive is equivalent to the entire energetic output of a developed world for more than a hundred years, and few have ever been willing to commit the necessary resources. The rare superluminal vessels that have actually been constructed, such as the Disocurene exploration vessel the Underspace Ship Phonix , or the ill-fated Endeavor , were invariably lost shortly after their initial launches, without a trace. Some theorize that in surpassing the speed of light, these vessels might violate causality, creating new universes branching off orthogonally from those in which their journeys began, with no way of returning. But no one knows for certain. All that is sure is that sailships are the only practical method for lengthy voyages.”
I let all that sink in for a moment. Perhaps I’d been wrong? Were there still frontiers in this far future world to be explored, directions in which humanity could still expand?
I was still mulling over the possibilities when the escort spoke again.
“Captain Stone, I thought it best to inform you that it is nearly local sunset on the planet Cronos, if you have any desire to accept the invitation of the Anachronists.”
“Ah, right. Those are the…” I waved my hands, trying to think of the correct word.
“Historical re-creationists.”
“Not quite what I was looking for,” I said with a thin smile, “but I suppose that will do.” I glanced around the wide, empty spaces of the diamond house, appointed in ridiculous luxury and comfort, and now that I’d been able to rest for a moment I found that I had no desire to stay put. “Well, I don’t suppose we have anything else on the agenda, do we?”
“Sir? I’m afraid that I wasn’t aware that we were operating on an agenda. If you would be willing to outline the particulars, I can—”
“Please,” I said, raising a hand apologetically, “consider it a figure of
“Such as the mining ship that found my vessel, then?” I asked. “And that’s why their translated speech was so much less precise and accurate than the way you’re speaking now, or the Amazon and chimp”—the escort raised its beak momentarily, and I quickly corrected before it spoke—“or the way Zel’s and Maruti’s words were translated by that table object?”
“Their words were actually translated by the intelligence of the room itself, which communicated through elements in the central plinth, but yes, essentially correct. The Pethesilean mining vessel was a sailship. Propelled by the pressure upon their light-reflective sails of photons broadcast from laser arrays in orbit around stars, they are able to reach speeds approaching half the speed of light in one-point-six years. The sailship that found you was in the process of decelerating, after journeying to and from the cosmic string mines, and was still far enough out of communication range that it was operating at a lag. By the time their interlinks were updated with full Information Age English lexicon and grammar, you had been placed in a dormant state while your body recuperated.”
“And I take it sailships are the fastest thing going?”
“Yes. There are other methods of propulsion capable of creating greater accelerations in the short run, such as high-impulse fission drives, but they are unable to sustain those accelerations for more than brief periods. Faster-than-light travel is theoretically possible, whether through a hypothetical underspace or by manipulating the characteristics of the quantum vacuum, but in either case, the manufacture of a superluminal drive is equivalent to the entire energetic output of a developed world for more than a hundred years, and few have ever been willing to commit the necessary resources. The rare superluminal vessels that have actually been constructed, such as the Disocurene exploration vessel the Underspace Ship Phonix , or the ill-fated Endeavor , were invariably lost shortly after their initial launches, without a trace. Some theorize that in surpassing the speed of light, these vessels might violate causality, creating new universes branching off orthogonally from those in which their journeys began, with no way of returning. But no one knows for certain. All that is sure is that sailships are the only practical method for lengthy voyages.”
I let all that sink in for a moment. Perhaps I’d been wrong? Were there still frontiers in this far future world to be explored, directions in which humanity could still expand?
I was still mulling over the possibilities when the escort spoke again.
“Captain Stone, I thought it best to inform you that it is nearly local sunset on the planet Cronos, if you have any desire to accept the invitation of the Anachronists.”
“Ah, right. Those are the…” I waved my hands, trying to think of the correct word.
“Historical re-creationists.”
“Not quite what I was looking for,” I said with a thin smile, “but I suppose that will do.” I glanced around the wide, empty spaces of the diamond house, appointed in ridiculous luxury and comfort, and now that I’d been able to rest for a moment I found that I had no desire to stay put. “Well, I don’t suppose we have anything else on the agenda, do we?”
“Sir? I’m afraid that I wasn’t aware that we were operating on an agenda. If you would be willing to outline the particulars, I can—”
“Please,” I said, raising a hand apologetically, “consider it a figure of
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