ALL NOVEL Misfits
Einstein Limit
The Einstein Limit (or E-Limit) is the distance from a gravity well (usually a star but actually any large mass) at which super-luminal speeds affect time and mass dilation as per Einstein’s ancient physics model. Because the effect of gravity is equal to the inverse square of the distance from the object, the actual E-Limit from any given body varies based on the actual mass of the object. Because attempting to enter FTL within the E-Limit would require effectively infinite energy or zero mass, it is simply not possible to enter an FTL envelope within this limit. Also, because of the inverse square law, this limit is sometimes referred to as “the cliff” as the actual amount of energy required to accelerate a non zero mass to greater than light speed falls off very rapidly outside of this boundary. Because time-dilation is a function of gravimetric effects within a gravity well, Guild Ships never attempt FTL travel within the established E-Limit of any given star system. Generally the E-Limit of any star is calculated in advance and most ships use the same distance from the primary star as the “e-limit” number. In practice, the actual energy available to the ship and the mass of the ship will change the actual distance required but commercial ships normally use the reference e-limit and do not re-calculate this distance for each combination of energy and mass.
Excerpted With Permission
Data Trader’s Handbook
Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild
Once up on the bridge, Leo was able to restore all the consoles to working order. After that, he didn’t have much to do. His experience with handling large ships was exactly zero.
“Ramona, can you get on the astrogator’s station there?”
Ramona moved to the station indicated. All the consoles were functionally identical, but the astrogator’s station had a larger holographic display. “OK, astrogation is up. Where to?”
Ollu turned around. “Leo?”
“Uhhh… Not back to UI, that’s for sure.” Both Ramona and Ollu nodded. “Well, Reggie is headed to Lysium. I suggest we pick a destination off that path.”
“OK. How about Cornevia or Illgo?”
Leo briefly consulted his tablet. “Let’s go with Cornevia. Slightly more data transfer traffic there. We’ll pick up some free guilders.”
“Right. Cornevia.”
Ramona was able to manipulate the astrogation controls easily. Actually operating a starship wasn’t hard. The training was all about what to do if something went wrong. With a crew of three, they had no hope of actually fixing anything that went seriously wrong, but this was a trader vessel and system failures were unlikely. “Course laid in by the computer.”
A warning light began to flash on Ollu’s console. “Yep, here comes a cutter.” Ollu reached down to the manual flight controls. “Turning away from programmed course.”
“What? Why?”
“Do you want Gunny to know where we’re headed?”
“Well, no. But aren’t we going to get lost that way?”
“Come on Leo, this isn’t my first rodeo. Fifteen seconds to FTL.”
Ramona was now watching the external sensors. “They’re not giving up. Ten klicks.”
Ollu reached down and twisted a control on her console. The starscape outside began to spin. “Rotating the ship.”
“That will mess up their docking solution!”
“Five klicks.”
“Here they come.”
“One klick.”
Leo looked nervously from Ramona to Ollu. They both looked calmer than he felt. Well, that’s not hard. He tried to calm himself. There was nothing he could do either way.
“One hundred meters. They are trying to match our spin. It’s not going well.” Leo felt more than heard a muted thud. “Failed lock on.” Leo just stared at Ramona. That was the most blasé description of a crash that he had ever heard.
“Five seconds. Four. Three. Prepare for transition.” The transition to FTL, when it came, was anticlimactic. One moment they were in normal space, the next they had transitioned into FTL drive. After only five minutes, they dropped out of FTL again. “Resuming programmed course.” Again, the FTL drive engaged and they left normal space.
“Do you think they will follow?”
“Doubtful. That cutter didn’t look good. Most likely the Reggie will need to pick her up. Also, it’s very hard to calculate the exact vector and speed of an FTL ship.”
Ramona looked over from her place at the astrogation console. “I’ve done it.”
Ollu smiled. “So have I, kiddo. But never twice in a row. How about you?”
Ramona laughed. “No. It’s mostly luck. Even if they saw us drop out, the odds are miniscule that they could follow a second jump on a different trajectory.”
Leo looked from one woman to the other. “So we’re clear?”
“Yeah, we’re clear.” Ollu looked down at her controls. “Except for one major problem.”
Leo sighed. “Now what?”
“Our ship doesn’t have a name.”
“What?”
“Our ship. This thing you are sitting in. It doesn’t have a name. That’s not OK.”
Ramona laughed. “Yeah, that’s very bad juju right there.”
Leo just looked at both of them. “I just assumed we’d pull the name from the records and use that.” Unlike movies Leo had watched about ancient sea going ships, spaceships didn’t have names painted on them. There is no point in putting lettering on a hull that nobody would ever see.
“No Leo, that doesn’t make any sense. We cannot join ship’s company without the permission of the existing master trader. We need to form a new ship’s company. That means a new ship.”
“Hmmm. OK. Makes sense. What do we call her? The Channah?”
Ollu just make a nasty face at Leo. “Something less pretentious than naming after one of us, I think.”
“The Theodore Onassis?”
“Oooh. Good choice. I don’t think there is a Theo active right now.”
Ramona looked confused. “Who is Theodore Onassis?”
“He was one of the founders of the Guild. Way back when the guild first started as a data transport union. Sorta like how the spacer guild started.”
“It was a rough time back then. Trader vessels used to get stopped by pirates.”
Ramona was shocked. “Pirates? There is no such thing as space pirates!??”
Leo could remember the lessons from grade school. “Well, not anymore. Back then there were some conflicts between polities and they licensed what they called ‘privateers’ to steal IP from their rivals. That was a big part of why the union started. Later, they changed the name to the Data Trader’s Guild.”
Ramona was pleased with the story. “I like that. Sounds like a rebel. We’re a bunch of misfits, we probably would have fit in well on his crew.”
Leo was offended. “Misfits?”
“Yeah, misfits.” She pointed at Ollu. “A ship handler who owns a trader ship.” She pointed at herself. “A dirtyfoot from a banned system.” She finally pointed at Leo. “And a failed Journeyman who abandoned his shipmates and defied his master trader.” Leo began to object. “Oh yeah, don’t forget about your checkered past.”
Ollu laughed. “See? Traders talk. You just have to listen.”
Finally, Leo shrugged. “I like the name. We’ll call her the Theo for short.”
“Sounds good.”
Leo was feeling hungry. “They got anything to eat on this bucket?”
“I’m sure the replicators are working. We are full on raw materials. Print out what you want.”
However, when Leo got to the nearest dining hall, he found to his dismay that their download had been incomplete. None of the public domain food templates had come down. They had the ability to make food, but they didn’t have any recipes for the system.
“Anyone know how to base program a food replicator?”
“Ummmm. No.”
“Well, that’s depressing. What do we eat?”
Ollu shrugged. “There should be emergency supplies in the shuttle.”
“Doesn’t it have a food replicator like the cutters do?”
“No, it’s only for short hops. No food or anything like that. But there should be thirty days food for a crew of four in the emergency locker.”
“Yummy. Shelf stable ration bars.”
“It will keep us alive.”
“There is that.”