Monday is here! Had a quiet weekend. Was a bit under the weather Saturday, so while I was sitting around taking care of myself I FINALLY finished the first draft of the novel. Done! Well, now the real work begins. Edit edit edit.
Then Sunday we went for a small hike. Good quiet sweet times.
I think everyone else was at San Diego Comic Con. Huh. That would explain why it’s been so quiet.
I’d suggest they flip the bird and go back. They may not have enough fuel to decelerate when they get to Earth, but they have enough to get there in reasonable time. Then Earth can send a tugboat for them. Assuming Earth cares to.
I’m sorry guys, but you are cast into a comic with no happy endings to any one of you ;]
Coyoty: they’ve already flipped the bird, and they’re de-accelerating as fast as they can already. They should stop de-accelerating and instead accelerate sideways, so as to miss the aliens completely. Getting home will be a different problem. 🙂
Frankly, when the news of their disaster came out, I’m sure there was plenty “flipping the bird” but it didn’t really help anything except serve as a slight catharsis for the crew members. The captain didn’t enjoy being the target though.
That’s right, I forgot how the flipping worked. All turning around again would do is send them to the aliens faster. But then they would shoot beyond the aliens because they wouldn’t be slowing down to meet them. Unless the aliens sent out a tug to catch them.
If they go back to Earth without enough fuel to maneuver and enough power to broadcast widely, they’ll be tossed into the sun and hushed up. They are expendable. They are meant to die as heroes for the media.
Is this in the same universe as SpaceTrawler?
Okay, pfudd, you almost broke my cable that suspends my disbelief, so I came up with a few ropes to help out:
1. Space is really big. Even if they did accelerate to miss the aliens, they’d run out of fuel, power, food, expected component lifetime, or other considerations before they might *happen* to hit a star that *may* have planets that *could* be habitable. Whereupon they’d have to land (the ship doesn’t look too atmosphere-worthy, let’s be frank) and establish a new civilization with very little chance of ever seeing Earth again.
2. Suppose they went back to Earth. We’ve established the ship just doesn’t have enough fuel to deccelerate twice, and they’re expendable. Note Scrod’s comment.
3. Perhaps they can’t accelerate sideways anyway, because they’re too close to the alien planet for it to make enough of a difference in their trajectory.
…and also some more scissors:
1. Everything in space is moving. So even if they did accelerate towards the aliens, it means that they’d arrive at the location the planet is going to be before the planet gets there, therefore missing the planet. Any acceleration in any direction is likely to move them away from the planet to some degree.
2. Uncertain death is better than certain death. Though maybe the crew isn’t of the right psychology to think so.
3. What if the new translation is wrong, and Gordon is a plant to convince them to scrap the mission?
Well, though probably thoroughly pissed off, I think I would still want to meet those aliens. Sure, they threathened to kill any human they meet, but I think it would beat dying in deep space. And who knows they might not be able to resist my charmes 😉 .
Dying in deep space for me. I’d rather not start a war that could result in the extinction of my species. Sides, you could live longer dying in the middle of nowhere.
Or not.
KN03, I view that like Mark Twain’s comments about health care. Something to the effect of you can live longer if you stop smoking, exercise more, and eat less; but if that’s the case why would you want to live longer?
So far this seems like a pointless exercise in story telling. Though if it is only about the crew it is still running out of story. So I am puzzled and wait to see what else will happen.
From what we have been told, to interfere now in the transit is suicide. So they just need to see what the aliens will do if anything to them. Depending upon their psychology and technical development.
I am interested in what the aliens will look like. How similar and different they will be. If they even will be intelligible to us or us to them.
My money is on the aliens bluffing.
I’m betting 100 on “They miraculously survive and make it to the aliens and reach a peaceful agreement HAPPY ENDING” and 50 on “They’re dead in 5 more updates, story over, gg”
Seems stupid to bet both sides but the way this story was written, anything could happen at this point.
Has anybody suggested jettisoning mass yet? They may be low on delta V, but all you need to bring that up is reduce the payload. Granted, if they lost one-third of their remaining fuel, that means removing one-third of the ship.
Jettison to lighten ship could be a problem too. That overboard jetsam will go screaming on ahead of them, arriving early, and could be interpreted as projectiles, heralding an invasion. How do you tell if a clothes hamper from aliens isn’t a bomb heading toward you? I’d vote for putting together a message, in the clear, that ‘They sent us to see if you meant it, and don’t believe all the crime dramas you’ve been receiving. We’re really quite nice once you get to know us, you see!’ (That delivered in an Arthur Dent Brit accent.)
If fuel is still a problem, and they HAVE to lighten ship, maybe they could spin-up to jettison, so at least the jetsam would disperse in a cone, rather than along their trajectory. Overthinking it, I know. Time to do something else…