Some Thoughts About Science Fiction.

This really is your final warning - this page does reveal plot details from books, films and/or TV programs. If you do not want to learn such details, please return to the Introduction or the Links page. Otherwise, you scroll forward at your own risk.

I've already mentioned Science Fiction in the Introduction, and touched on a couple of points that I consider relevant:

1. I prefer the term sf to sci-fi.

Why? Well, for one thing there's less typing to do! For another, it's a true abbreviation - sci-fi might look like the first syllables of science and fiction, it's usually pronounced with a long "i" in both syllables - sigh-figh, and the word figh-tion doesn't appear in any dictionary [1]. The alternative would be see-ance fiction, which has intriguing possibilities for literary works about spiritualism, but that's another story. Call me pedantic if you will, but that's what I think!

2. I'm primarily interested in sf in its written form.

That's not to say that I don't watch, and indeed enjoy, the odd film and TV programme [2], and have also attended a number of media-based [3] conventions in various capacities, from ordinary attendee to steward to tech crew. So, I don't think I'm a snob.

I first discovered science fiction as a small boy when I joined the local library. Quite what the first book I ever read was, I don't remember, but the among the first were books in a series by Hugh Walters, describing the activities of a United Nations space exploration agency. By and large, these stories stayed within the realms of the technically feasible . The ships were powered by rockets of one kind or another, and took suitably long times to reach their destinations. For the earlier journeys, Hohmann transfers were the order of the day [4]. For the later journies, to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, higher speeds were required (although the transit time was still several months to a couple of years) with the crews in cryogenic suspension - and communications time lags solved by telepathy between a pair of identical twins, one of whom went on the mission while the other stayed on Earth. [6]

Two or three years later I read A Fall of Moondust, by Arthur C. Clarke. This book tells the story of the accident that befalls the "dust cruiser" Selene, which is used to take parties of (presumably, very rich) tourists on pleasure cruises of the Lunar surface.

Central to the story is the concept of a "sea of dust", which followed on from a very popular theory of the fifties and sixties. According to the theory, a meteor impact on the Moon would pulverise both the meteor and the Lunar surface, throwing up large quantities of fine dust. This dust would then fall back to which immediately fell back to the surface. Over millions of years, the theory maintained, the Moon would have acquired a thick covering of very fine dust, which would behave much like a liquid. As a result, any astronaut who stepped onto the Moon would immediately sink into the dust, never to be seen again.

Arthur C Clarke took as his assumption that most of the Moon was not, in fact, covered by dust. However, a relatively thick layer had accumulated in one particular low-lying area, effectively creating a "lake" or "sea" of dust. As the dust behaved like a liquid, it was possible to build a vessel that would float on the dust in the same way thar a boat floats on water. Hence, the Selene, a pleasure cruiser of the Moon. The accident which leaves the Selene stranded necessitates a complex rescue operation, with time steadily running out for those on board.

Notes:

Except, that is, for the one written in the nineteenth century by a Portuguese who spotted a niche in the market for a Portuguese-English dictionary. He himself would find it an especially useful publication, since he spoke not one word of English. Fortunately (or so it seemed), he had a working knowledge of French, and also had access to both a Portuguese-French and a French-English dictionary. Which is why his dictionary, "English as She is Spoke", included a helpful section on "Well known phrases and idiotisms" and his postillion was, no doubt, stuck by lighting. [Back to main text]
An honourable mention here to Babylon 5, whose makers have remembered the golden rule of drama. Plot and character are what count - special effects aren't the cake, they're the icing on the cake.[Back to main text]
I.e., film, television, and radio. [Back to main text]
A Hohmann transfer is essentially a highly elliptical orbit, which at its closest approach to the Sun just touches the orbit of one planet, (say, Earth) and its furthest at the orbit of some other planet (for example Mars). It's the route between the two planets which involves the least delta-v [5] which, in turn, means the least fuel. (Assuming, that is, that all your acceleration comes from burning fuel. If you can arrange a flight path which makes one or more approaches to other planets, it's possible to gain a good deal of your acceleration from the gravitational attraction and angular momentum of those planets.) Using a Hohmann transfer means that you have to time your flight so that when your flight path touches the orbit of the planet you're going to, the planet is actually there and not a few million miles further along its orbit. [Back to main text]
Delta-v is a a technical term which measures how much effort it takes to get from one planet to another (or, indeed, between any two astonomical bodies). How much do you need to speed up (relative to that body) when you leave the first? How much do you need to slow down to enter orbit around, or land on, the second? Add up all the numbers, and that's the delta-v.

Example: Suppose you want to travel between two moons of Jupiter. Your flight involves speeding up by 1000 metres per second when you leave the first moon. You arrive at the second moon with a speed, relative to the second moon, of 500 metres per second, which you have to lose in order to land on the moon. Your delta-v is therefore 1500 metres per second (and, yes, I have ignored any additional speed changes required to overcome the gravity of the moons!) [Back to Note 4] [Back to main text]
Telepathy, of course, being instantaneous. To anyone who says that instantaneous telepathy is unrealistic - only when someone actually proves the existence of telepathy can we start to say how it does or doesn't work. Until then, the author of a work of fiction is entitled to ascribe to telepathy whatever attributes are necessary to advance the plot. [Back to main text]