"At the Core"

"Long Shot at the Core" Copyright © 2008 by Aerospace Imagineering & Aldo Spadoni

In 2646 Beowulf Shaeffer (Bey) was on Jinx, where he was hired by a Puppeteer executive of General Products to pilot the Long Shot, an enormous starship equipped with an experimental Quantum II hyperdrive which moved it thousands of times faster than a normal hyperdrive. He was to fly it to the galactic core as a publicity stunt for this Puppeteer invention. After starting out, Bey quickly discovered the ship moved so fast that he kept having near-misses with stars whizzing past. He found this too stressful, and called his employer via hyperwave communicator to back out of the contract. But the hefty penalty clauses forced him to continue. Eventually he realized he could navigate much easier by moving into a sparsely populated gap between the galaxy's spiral arms, and was soon making good time. As he approached the galactic core, he found it glorious sight, ablaze with brilliant, multicolored lights. But a glaring blue-white patch grew in size and intensity as he approached. Alarmed at the increase in radiation, he called his employer again.

They determined there had been a chain reaction of supernovae in the densely packed stars (see core explosion). He continued on, but stopped well short of his goal, with radiation and heat at alarming levels even through his General Products hull. Calling the Puppeteer again, he announced "The galaxy is exploding." He explained a wave of radiation would reach Known Space in about 20,000 years, so lethal it would kill all known life forms. After arguing over their contract, the Puppeteer allowed him to return. When Bey landed again on Jinx he discovered the Puppeteers were gone; the Puppeteer migration had begun. But he got his pay. See also: autopilot, contracts; English; "FTL-SPACE"; groundcar; Hrodenu; hyperspace; hyperspace blind-spot; Institute of Knowledge; Kzinti; Kzinti Empire; Man-Kzin Wars; mass pointer; Puppeteer (individual); star; stock market crash; touch-sculpture; transfer booth

"The Ethics of Madness"

Ramscoop starship, by Adrian Mann. Copyright © 2005

Note: Dates as given in this story must be disregarded. See "Dating Notes for 'The Ethics of Madness' & A Gift from Earth". In the summary below, our suggestions for dates are given [followed by the original story dates in brackets]. In 2322 [2526], Skyhook Enterprises on Earth built the first safe ramscoop starship. The company was run by Douglas Hooker and partner Greg Loeffler. In 2353 [2557], Greg and his family emigrated to the colony of Plateau. Douglas, a shy and lonely man, was left friendless. As a potential paranoid, he took anti-psychotic drugs regularly. But in 2366 [2570], malfunction of his desk doc stopped the drug therapy. Doug went murderously insane, blaming Greg for his unhappiness, and took off for Plateau in another starship. UN agent Loughery investigated the unauthorized takeoff, and sent a warning to Plateau. Arriving at Plateau in 2379 [2583], Doug used his fusion drive to torch Greg's house. Greg escaped but his family was killed. Sonic hypnosis was used on Doug, forcing him to land. After nearly two years of psychotherapy, he was fully cured. Doug took off in his ship for the colony of Wunderland, wanting to distance himself from Greg.

But Greg chased in his own ramscoop ship, and used a laser to attack Doug's ship. Greg had gone insane and wanted revenge. Doug responded with his own laser until Greg's laser quit, but was forced to keep fleeing ahead of the deadly magnetic field of Greg's ship. (In an interlude, Loughery came to Plateau in 2386 [2590] and found the legal system bewildering.) The two ramscoop ships continued their chase at high relativistic speeds into the far distant future. Eventually Doug discovered his pursuer was dead&mdash the lifesystem of Greg's ship had been destroyed by laser fire. But Greg's ship on autopilot continued the chase. Finally the ships edged too close and Doug was killed. See also: alloplasty; autodoc; autokitchen; Belt; boosters; cigarettes; Fertility Board; Greg; Golden Age; Hahn, Dr. Doris; Hooker, Clarisse; Jinx; Jinxian; Jurgenson, Paul; Kansas City; lifespan and aging; Loeffler, Joanna; Loeffler, Marcia; Mark; Moscow Motors; Mount Lookitthat; organ banks; The Palace; pedwalk; plastiskin; Procyon A; psychistry; psychotherapy; ramrobot; slowboat; tape; Tau Ceti; Tom; UN; USSR; We Made It

"Flatlander"

"How to Save the World" by David Mattingly, Copyright © 1999

On a passenger flight from Jinx to Earth, Beowulf Shaeffer (Bey) befriended "Elephant", an imposing Flatlander. Reaching Earth, Bey realized he needed a guide when a pickpocket informed him stealing his wallet was legal. Visiting Elephant, who had volunteered to act as his guide, he discovered the Flatlander was actually the enormously wealthy Gregory Pelton. One of Elephant's friends, Sharrol Janss, turned out to be the pickpocket; she and Bey became lovers. Elephant was tired of offworlders thinking him a "silly Flatlander" and wanted an accomplishment which would impress them. At Bey's suggestion, he contacted the Outsiders to find the location of the most unusual planet in Known Space. After a few more days sightseeing, he and Bey left in the Slower Than Infinity (ST ) and met Outsider ship #14. The aliens suggested a planet orbiting the Fast Protosun, near the edge of Known Space. The protosun and its planet were moving at a high relativistic speed, far beyond that which the ST could easily match. The Outsiders offered to "tow" their ship to that velocity, but for a very high fee. However, Bey gave them a first-hand account of his trip to the galactic core [see "At the Core" (story summary)], and in return the Outsiders waived their towing fee. After traveling via hyperdrive to the location of the Fast Protosun, Bey and Elephant decided to survey the planet from orbit before landing. They started noticing odd things: There was an extremely high radiation level; the protosun shouldn't have been glowing, but was; the cold, airless planet was almost free of craters, and its crust was worn away.

Elephant dubbed the planet "Cannonball Express". Suddenly, the supposedly invulnerable General Products hull of the ST turned to dust! Saved by their spacesuits, Elephant wanted to land on the planet anyway but Bey thought it too dangerous and insisted they return home. Flying in hyperspace in a hull-less ship nearly drove them insane; the hyperspace blind-spot filled most of their vision. They were barely speaking to each other, since Elephant thought Bey a coward. Finally nearing Jinx, Elephant called General Products to report the failure of their hull. The Puppeteer representative was quite apologetic, and said the Puppeteers didn't think antimatter was to be found in the galaxy in such large quantities. He explained the planet Bey and Elephant had been investigating was composed of antimatter (see antimatter planet). Shocked at their narrow escape, Elephant admitted Bey had been right. See also: air rocket; body paints; Calcutta Base; contracts; core explosion; Cramer, Don; Crashlanding Port; deep radar; Dianna; freeways; galactic core; groundcar; helium II lifeforms; Hellflare tattoo; "joker"; Lazy Eight II; Lensman; lift belt; Los Angeles; mass pointer; Miller; pedwalk; reading screen; Santa Monica Freeway; stoneface; Taittineer Comtes de Champagne '59; tannin-secretion pills; Tzlotz Beer; Zoo of Earth Editorial Note: Continuity