"
The latter usage directly fits and the meaning seems clear.
In order for the Marathon to have had a first or earliest voyage, it seems
that it would have needed to have experienced at least TWO voyages (whether
or not Tau Ceti or Earth was always a destination). This would mean that
the vessel was faster than commonly understood (although still sublight) and
that one or more missions was possibly classified.
Perhaps the manipulation of the Marathon's historical files included
covering up multiple voyages, which may have helped lead observers of the
timeline to conclude that a launch from Sol on a certain date AND a Tau Ceti
arrival on another date refer to the SAME voyage, which might not be the
case.
Why would an AI as intelligent as Durandal mention "Marathon's Maiden
voyage", sarcasm or none, if the Marathon only completed a single voyage?
Dispatcher
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 08:55:52 PDT [Show full headers]
To: madmacs@excite.com
From: "Hamish Sinclair" <hsinclir@tcd.ie> [Add to Address Book]
Subject: Re: The Marathon's "Maiden Voyage."
--snip--
I think most people's interpretation of "maiden" voyage is the very
first voyage. For example the Titanic sank on it's "maiden" voyage.
That was its first trip across the Atlantic.
Cheers
Hamish
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 11:10:06 PDT [Show full headers]
From: madmacs@excite.com
To: "Hamish Sinclair" <hsinclir@tcd.ie> [Add to Address Book]
Subject: 'Raising' the Titanic and looking to the stars.
--snip--
I was certain that you or someone else would "raise the Titanic", so to
speak. :-) Of course the difference here is that the Marathon is understood
(so far) to have launched on a one-way voyage; thus no subsequent voyages
have been mentioned. "Maiden" really does not fit a craft which is expected
to be "retired" after arriving at its destination. Further, as far as I
know, nobody has ever referred to the throwaway Mercury, Gemini and Apollo
craft (individually or collectively) as flying a maiden voyage; whereas the
first flights of the production-phase space Shuttles have been designated as
maiden flights.
On the other hand, it makes sense to say that the Titanic sank on its maiden
voyage since it was expected to serve Her Majesty for many voyages and years
to come.
I'm certain that this premise (pertaining to the Marathon) is unlikely, yet
I am not convinced that the idea is completely wrong either. I see this as
a possibility just waiting to be capitalized on at some point. :-)
As you know, Tau Ceti is about 11.5 LY from Sol. There is a binary red
dwarf star system along the way to Tau Ceti and roughly two-thirds of the
way there. These are the known components:
Luyten 726-8A UV Cet A 8.4 12.52 (var.) 15.5 M5.6Vc
Luyten 726-8B UV Cet B 8.4 13.02 (var.) 16.0 M5.6Vc
I prefer to refer to them as UV Ceti A & B, or just UV Ceti. Off hand, I
don't recall the GRC data, but you can find Tau Ceti and "L726" on this
rotatable field:
http://www.geocities.com/a_thompson.geo/model/star17.html
A chart with relative colors is here:
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/starcolor/
One may then suggest the possibility that the Marathon stopped to examine
planetary bodies within that system, prior to moving on to Tau Ceti, thus
Durandal could have had this in mind when using the word "maiden" in the
terminal message.
Regards,
Dispatcher
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 11:45:48 PDT [Show full headers]
From: madmacs@excite.com
To: hsinclir@tcd.ie [Add to Address Book]
Subject: ...and a binary pair of messages. :-)
Hi again, Hamish.
I have wanted to discuss this next item before, but felt it a bit far
fetched. Yet since I am entertaining the idea of a UV Ceti stopover for the
Marathon, it seems almost plausible now.
The Bungie "error" of Leela's lightspeed message to earth taking nearly a
hundred years to get there (as opposed to over 11 years) may have an
explanation after all. The transmitter dish the player must align on "G4
Sunbathing" is clearly directional. Yet it seems possible now that the dish
was aimed at UV Ceti, where the Marathon would have left behind something or
someone in order to study that system and to allow the reception and
retransmission of signals. At the least, a relay station. Yet what if, for
unkown reasons, the signal was received and then delayed by about 81
years or so before being transmitted to Earth?
This suggests that things are not as they seem, either at UV Ceti or with
Leela or both.
What a yarn!
Dispatcher
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 17:33:24 PDT [Show full headers]
From: madmacs@excite.com
To: hsinclir@tcd.ie [Add to Address Book]
Subject: Trivial data on stars in Cetus, inc. local years.
I'm on a roll, Hamish.
Here is some data you might enjoy about Tau and UV Ceti.
Tau Ceti:
http://www.stellar-database.com/Scripts/search_star.exe?Name=tau+ceti
Comfort Zone: 0.681 A.U.s
Orbital period in CZ: 227.931 days
The comfort zone is just as it seems; the orbit which would make a world
habitable on its surface (and life as we know it more likely). Water would
exist in an available form, as it does on Earth. Note that a YEAR at Tau
Ceti lasts only 228 earth days.
UV Ceti
http://www.stellar-database.com/Scripts/search_star.exe?Name=uv+ceti
Component A:
Proper names: BL Ceti
Catalog numbers:
Luyten Half-Second (LHS) 9
Comfort Zone: 0.00749 A.U.s
Orbital period in CZ: 16.4112 hours
Component B:
Proper names: UV Ceti, Luyten's Flare Star
Catalog numbers:
Luyten Half-Second (LHS) 10
Variable type: UV Ceti flare star (eruptive variable)
Comfort Zone: 0.00706 A.U.s
Orbital period in CZ: 16.4334 hours
As you see, a "year" in earth time is just over 16 HOURS. Even an orbit
about the pair would only amount to hours or mere earth days. As to the
variable nature of the second component:
http://www.stellar-database.com/flare.html
It is not likely that life as we know it (past or present) would be found
there. Yet the Marathon could shield everyone and everything within it from
the X-ray flares. A well built station could have been set up in or on a
rocky world. At the very least, a relay probe could have been placed in
star orbit at a distance sufficient to protect it from the flares. Yet from
a story perspective, it would be more fun to have left a station (or found
one perhaps) on a rocky world. :-)
Enjoy!
Dispatcher
PS-Some of the above links might need to be copied and pasted rather than hotlinked by clicking. Ceti years are based on worlds that would orbit in the comfort zone of each star. As for a plot: looks like room for the Cole Protocol in there somewhere. Have at it, everyone!
