Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[Jo Zebedee]

That's what I thought, and then an early read through comment said they wouldn't know the time passing in space, and I just wondered was I missing something...

*a science degree, for instance. Would have been much much more useful...

 

[Glitch]

Maybe your reader was thinking about time dilation. That old adage of time slows down as you approach the speed of light.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Time_dilation_and_space_flight

 

[Jo Zebedee]

But, if they wanted a means of tracking time in the real world, to keep a sense of how long they'd been in space, could they use a clock to do it?

 

[Abernovo]

springs, I think the comment about time in space may be something to do with Lorentz factors - how time relative, relative to a passenger of a vessel travelling at significant fractions of the Speed of Light, appears to pass more slowly than to an outside observer.

Lorentz factors are well-known and shipboard clocks could theoretically be adjusted to show 'real time' passed as well as time passed on board. Or you could have banks of clocks, showing time in different zones.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Perfect, thank you. (These sort of things make me feel like lying down in a darkened room, return to my romance thread and write a nice tale based in a little seaside town in Ireland.)

 

[Interference]

Undoubtedly, ship's local time will be adjusted for any dilation effects

 

[Vertigo]

Actually Inter I think that would depend on how large the effects are. If you were travelling at say .9 speed of light then time outside the ship would be passing over twice the rate of the ship time. In this case I think you would have an atomic clock on the ship giving you the ship time and you would also display the outside universe time but this would be calculated as there would be no way to measure it.

 

[Hex]

Any clever ideas about what the batteries might be... er...made of? Just, being the type to be impressed by long-sounding, scientificy names I was wondering if the installer guy might say something like: 'We'll just plug in the triple plutonium zapmaster battery" (or something).

 

[Abernovo]

Do you need it to be specific, Hex? I remember Heinlein got round the power source problem by citing that the batteries (which was what they basically were (Shiptons? I can't remember offhand)) were a closely guarded secret as to their production. They were named after the inventor, I think.

Sorry if that's no help.

 

[Vertigo]

I think I would go with Abernovo's suggestion of naming them after an imaginary inventor. The problem is that batteries have traditionally always been named after the materials used; lead acid, nickel metal hydride, lithium-ion etc. The problem is that any other material you choose might be utterly ridiculous to anyone who knows their battery technology (which I certainly don't).

 

[Glitch]

You could make up a material, battery or otherwise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science_in_science_fiction

Alternatively, capacitors can store a charge for a short period. Some high energy consuming applications employ capacitors to build up enough power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_capacitors

 

[Pyan]

Shiptons? I can't remember offhand

Close - they were Shipstones, and were in the novel Friday.

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1381

Incidentally, that site is extremely useful for all sorts of SF techy stuff:

Technovelgy

'Explore the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)'

 

[Ursa major]

Any clever ideas about what the batteries might be... er...made of? Just, being the type to be impressed by long-sounding, scientificy names I was wondering if the installer guy might say something like: 'We'll just plug in the triple plutonium zapmaster battery" (or something).

Doesn't it all rather depend on what this:

sufficiently powerful to hold open a gateway to another dimension/parallel universe

means in practice.

Without giving away too many spoilers, the Laundry series, by Charles Stross, revolves around mathematical equations, in an SF environment, having the same effect as magical incantations in a Fantasy one. As far as I recall, the power required isn't that high (although there are some rather nasty side issues), as the equations act more like a key or switch than the mechanism that does the opening and holding open (which is inherent in the multiverse). In which case, an AA battery may suffice.

 

[Hex]

Excellent. I can cope with the science (fiction) surrounding a AA battery.

Thanks, all

 

[r_j_dando]

Thanks to those who replied! Am looking into crib as a possible option (which is helped by the fact that I used to play it fairly regularly so understand it!)...will probably end up being one of those scenes that I need to get authenticated by someone who knows the time period well, but for now I think I'll just write the damn thing - it's the opening scene for the novel, so everything stalled while I tried to research it...

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Is it actually set in our history?

If it's set in an alternate history, then pub games could be anything from darts to gladiatorial fights-to-the-death.* As long as you can let the reader see why this particular game is played then and there.

*Gladiatorial fights-to-the-death are popular in all pubs in all alternate histories where the Roman Empire never fell. They are also common in post-apocalyptic alternate future-histories.

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

What's the proper punctuation to use when a character picks up something and reads it both aloud and in their head? Double quotation marks, single, italics? Currently I'm using double quotation marks in normal dialogue and italics for thoughts.

Great prices on spotted elephants, he read.

'Great prices on spotted elephants', he read.

"Great prices on spotted elephants", he read.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Personally I'd go with the double quotes because the character is quoting the written material. But that's my personal taste, not an official answer.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

See, I liked the second cos it wasn't actually dialogue. You might have to count the votes, later, and hope it's not as close as the 75 word challenge....

 

[David Evil Overlord]

"Great prices on spotted elephants" could be the next writing challenge.