Something Wicked That Way Goes...

[HABeas2]

Just a little bit of Halloween-themed spookiness I toyed with today... Made it a bit more colorful for effect.

Status Report 1548749462(00579): 8/7/3075-01:30.04hr
Sensors: Online (Passive)
Reactor: Online (Nominal)
Weapons: Offline (Inactive)
Life Support: Offline (Inactive)
Current Thrust (G): Null
Current Fuel (Tons): Null
Current Velocity (MPS): 27.60M (Estimate)
Hull Integrity: 99.98%
Crew Integrity: No Data
Time in Transit: 21 days, 9 hours, 42 minutes
Outbound Relay: No Data (Self-Resolve)
Time to Destination: 177 years, 1 month, 27 days (Estimate) 

Destination ID: (Planar Coord 95.382/-173.994, TASC M1IV-S8-C2223.13) “Ares VIII” (CapC, AL)
   Primary Reasoning: Destination possesses known spacecraft manufacturing facilities
      Major Production: Union, Overlord, Danais, Vengeance, Kuan Ti
   Secondary Reasoning: Destination possesses known BattleMech manufacturing facilities
      Major Production: Locust, Stinger

ALERT!
Length of Journey Excessive: Arrival Date estimated as 17 August 3252
   Likelihood of Interception en route: 2.7% per year, compounding annually…
   Interception Certainty (100+%): 135.57 years in transit.

Compiling Strategic Alternative Protocols…
Alternative Protocol Found: Resolving (Trap to: SAP 1.00X [Re-Evaluate])
***Priority Insertion: SI Alpha-1 (Max): (Enact with: All Resolutions)***
Protocol 4.03 Resolved: Signal Locate/Authenticate (Peer-to-Peer, Clandestine)
Protocol 4.03A Resolved: Request for Upload (Peer-to-Peer, Clandestine, Contingent on: SA4.03 Success)
Protocol 4.03B Resolved: Process Transference (Peer-to-Peer, Clandestine, Contingent on: SA4.03A Success)
Protocol 4.03C Resolved: Request Rendezvous (Peer-to-Peer, Clandestine, Contingent on: SA4.03B Success)
Protocol 4.04 Resolved: Await Confirmation (Peer-to-Peer, Receive Only)
Protocol 4.04A Resolved: Update Coordination (Peer-to-Peer, Clandestine, Contingent on: SA4.04 Success)
Protocol 4.04B Resolved: Await Recovery (Peer-to-Peer, Standby, Contingent on: SA4.04A Success)

Strategic Imperative Alpha-1 (Max Priority): Trust No Unrecognized Party (Access Authority: 000 Entities)
Protocol Commencement: SAP 4.03+SI Alpha-1 (Max) Initiated.
Estimated Wait Time: 11,890 days, 15 hours, 36 minutes…

Resume Passive Data Intercept Mode…
Initiate Tertiary Cognitive Test Mode: Module 709, Grid 8x8, Teams Standard, Difficulty High

…

Satisfied, in its own uncaring and unfeeling way, the lone K-1 DropShuttle drifted along through the endless dark of interstellar space—cold, lightless, silent, and lifeless…

But not without purpose...

END

[Cannonshop]

OH MY...

[Known Glitch]

 :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Daryk]

That's not a K-1 Shuttle... that's a virus using a K-1 shuttle as a disposable soma...  8)

And yes: :popcorn: !

[idea weenie]

Just a little bit of Halloween-themed spookiness I toyed with today... Made it a bit more colorful for effect.

Status Report 1548749462(00579): 8/7/3075-01:30.04hr
Current Velocity (KPS): 27.60M (Estimate)

Is this craft moving 27.6 million kilometers per second?

The reason I ask is because the speed of light is just under 300,000 kilometers per second   ;)

[HABeas2]

Is this craft moving 27.6 million kilometers per second?

The reason I ask is because the speed of light is just under 300,000 kilometers per second   ;)

Yup. That's about what you get when you burn all the fuel in a K-1 DropShuttle at 2G. The first sublight interplanetary flight in BT lore reached about half-light before turnover. (How much fuel that would have required had to be monstrous, but that's BT physics for you...) This K-1 didn't do a flip; it simply burned up all it had in one direction. Yeah, you somehow can get to just under 10% C after 16.3 days of transit thrust.

- Herb

[idea weenie]

Yup. That's about what you get when you burn all the fuel in a K-1 DropShuttle at 2G. The first sublight interplanetary flight in BT lore reached about half-light before turnover. (How much fuel that would have required had to be monstrous, but that's BT physics for you...) This K-1 didn't do a flip; it simply burned up all it had in one direction. Yeah, you somehow can get to just under 10% C after 16.3 days of transit thrust.

- Herb

 ???  27.6 million is not 10% of 300,000

[HABeas2]

???  27.6 million is not 10% of 300,000

*checks math*

Drat. I was off by a factor of 1,000 again, wasn't I? Confused meters for km?

- Herb

[Daryk]

That would be my bet.  When you get going that fast, you really need to bring Special Relativity into the math.

[HABeas2]

Hmmm. Looking at the calculations again, I still get 27.6 million mps. (The standard acceleration formula is what I used, where A = [V1-V0]/T. Solving for final velocity should thus be: V1 = V0 + A*T.) Meanwhile, light speed is 299.27 million mps.

At 1.84 t/burn day-- AHA! FOUND MY ERROR! I used the time it took to consume the fuel at 1G, not 2. At 2, this ship should be burning 3.66 tons, getting a max burn time of about 8 days (unless the shuttle's fuel capacity has been doubled--removing the passenger berths for added fuel would do it, so why not?)...

With expanded tanks, and doubled fuel burn rate for 16.3 days of 2G acceleration, and an assumed start from stationary, we get... (V0 = 0mps; A = 19.6mps/s; T = 1,408,320s). So our formula is V1 = 0mps + 19.6mps/s*1,408,320s = 27,603,072mps...

Light speed is 299,792,458mps, and so 27,603,072mps / 299,792,458mps = 0.092; our modded K-1 is at 9.2%C after all!

I just used km when I meant m. Let me fix that...

(Whew! I was worried there for a sec. It was just one typo! Oh, and a fuel problem that was easily solved...)

- Herb

[cawest]

they could have used drop tanks.  that would lower the mass when the extended internal fuel tanks take over supplying the engines. 

[Ajax_Wolf]

they could have used drop tanks.  that would lower the mass when the extended internal fuel tanks take over supplying the engines.

Speaking of mass, you'll be running into a lot of interstellar mass at that speed over the time your trip it gonna take.

Which brings up some interesting problems, but we should let facts get in the way of a ghost story.

[wolfgar]

This illustrates the first problem i had when working on redoing the BT history. The math just doesn't add up. a ship can only carry so much fuel, thus it can only burn at whatever G it does for so long before it has to stop its additional thrust so that it has enough fuel to decelerate as it approaches its target. Thats pure physics. you then keep 10% in reserve for maneuvering. thats why early sublight ships would have only been able to reach .03c-.06c (the latter with the help of a tug/booster) meaning a 500-250year journey for 15ly

it just didn't work

[Daryk]

Glad I would have collected on that bet!  8)

BT fusion rockets are magical in their own way.  Strategic mode completely breaks real physics (and as has been mentioned elsewhere, it was in a fusion reactor that Kearney and Fuchida first saw how to make jumps work).  I've long advocated for cutting down strategic thrust by a factor of ten.  It's still a little magical, but it's a small enough effect it goes away if you squint hard enough...  :)

[Maingunnery]

Glad I would have collected on that bet!  8)

BT fusion rockets are magical in their own way.  Strategic mode completely breaks real physics (and as has been mentioned elsewhere, it was in a fusion reactor that Kearney and Fuchida first saw how to make jumps work).  I've long advocated for cutting down strategic thrust by a factor of ten.  It's still a little magical, but it's a small enough effect it goes away if you squint hard enough...  :)

Lets just keep that magic, it is a part of BT.

[Daryk]

I don't mind keeping it... just only at a reduced level that doesn't provoke immediate physicist reactions...  ^-^

[Luciora]

Part 2 of Necromo, right?

[Daryk]

Oh, it's a nightmare all right.  Just digital instead of biological...  >:D

[Sir Chaos]

Oh, it's a nightmare all right.  Just digital instead of biological...  >:D

It´s going to install Window Vista on every computer in the star system?  :o

[Maingunnery]

I don't mind keeping it... just only at a reduced level that doesn't provoke immediate physicist reactions...  ^-^

It is called inspiration.  ;)

[Daryk]

It´s going to install Window Vista on every computer in the star system?  :o

;D

I could totally see that being the virus!  :D

[Daryk]

It is called inspiration.  ;)

Careful there... you never know what you might get...  8)

[mikecj]

Well its not Ranger 3  ;)

[HABeas2]

Part 2 of Necromo, right?

Well, this is another idea I just felt like dropping with no real plan to follow up, but I knew you guys would quickly pick up the story through the clues. And since I didn't get a Halloween project out this year, really, well... this is what I can give on short notice. For now, anyway.

- Herb

[Daryk]

You'll be back, I'm sure...  8)

And just to be clear, I'll be here to read it!  :thumbsup:

[Frabby]

I wonder how the K1 could possibly interact with the rest of the universe though.

It is coasting at relativistic speed, its fuel expended. It has no means of slowing down short of accidentally slamming into a planet or perhaps sun. That would still be on hell of an "interaction", but still fall short somehow.

Radio contact should be impossible as the signal is distorted (red-/blueshifted) beyond recognition by the K1's speed. No spreading of data, no matter how fearful or malevolent.

So my best (least bad) guess would be the K1 is outbound in the direction of the rimward periphery past the Magistracy of Canopus, where at some point in the future Tetatae with their strange Warpship technology will be able to capture it or at least establish communication…

(I don’t recall the details, but at some point it was loosely suggested by a fan theory that Kaetetoa lies a few thousand lightyears beyond the Magistracy, on the very edge of the galaxy. May be totally wrong.)

[Elmoth]

I am sure we can handwave that BT tech can take into account relativistic speed to make radio signals understandable even when sent under these conditions.

[wolfgar]

the question at that point becomes "How long does the Virus take to transmit?" because if they can target add lock in a signal starting at max range, and transmit as they pass/get to max range again without losing transmission lock, then they can do it. The K-1 becoming just a transmission vector

[Frabby]

I am sure we can handwave that BT tech can take into account relativistic speed to make radio signals understandable even when sent under these conditions.

Thinking about this a little bit more, yes there actually is a way:
Jumps take momentum energy out of an object. If the K1 were to pass within a few meters (ie. inside of the jump bubble) of a JumpShip in the instant of jump, it would emerge with zero velocity relative to its emergence jump point.

Now the chances of the K1 effectively colliding with a JumpShip at the instant of a jump occurring are infinitesimal. But it is a possibility within the accepted rules of KF mechanics. And for the purpose of a Halloween story, I have a feeling the chances wouldn't be as infinitesimal anymore. ;)

[DOC_Agren]

 :o :beer: :popcorn:
but all the math is making my head spin