Which Space - Part 1
21 Aug 2018Andrew Linton
My thumb hovers over the hyperspace jump control. I'm hesitating.
When did I get to be so indecisive?
A review of recent events may make that clear.
Until last week I was running trading missions throughout the Colonia region. I'd thought about joining the Colonia Hydroponics community goal, but to be honest the repetitive strain of trying to yaw a Type 9 Heavy was nagging at me to change roles for a spell, to give my wrist a chance to recover. Besides, I have a blueprint for a Guardian FSD Booster and I wanted to see what it was like to have a sixty-six lightyear jump range.
I was shipping a 4A fuel scoop from Jameson Memorial, because I also wanted to try the Diamondback Explorer as a change from my Asp, and when the scoop arrived I went ahead and configured the DBX.
But, where to go? First off, I fancied returning to the Festival Grounds, remembering my time in the Land of Giants expedition. I felt sure there would be many more interesting discoveries to make in that region. When I tried to add a bookmark, I found that I had reached my bookmark quota.
That's annoying.
I scanned the list wondering which bookmarks I could delete and was reminded that, on return from the Minerva Centaurus Expedition, I had saved a cluster of places that I'd promised myself I'd come back to. You know how it is when you've been out on a long journey; towards the end you just want to be home and you start yearning for the comfort of a starport: the chance to stretch your legs, meet people, and of course claim the payout for your discoveries.
That was it, then; the choice was made, however prosaic; I would venture out into the black with the primary objective of deleting bookmarks.
The target area was about 10,000 lightyears from Colonia, so I estimated I would need to make something over 150 jumps.
I was over halfway there when I jumped into a quinary system: five large, bright stars all close together. I popped a heat sink when the heat reached 85% and thought no more about it. This was routine procedure. I moved away and scooped fuel from the furthest star where it was cooler.
I lined up for the next jump and hit the button to charge the frame shift drive.
What?
I'm pretty sure this only happens when you're trading and you plot a route before filling the cargo bay, and you're too massive to make the jump. The standard workaround for this is to re-plot the route. I did this and noticed that the next jump was only fifty-five lightyears. That was the range for this ship before installing the Guardian booster.
I checked the modules panel and saw straightaway that the Guardian booster was offline. I'd lost the extra 9.25 lightyears that the 4H booster provides.
Had I fried the booster jumping into the system? I don't know; it was still showing as 100% healthy.
I brought the booster back online and plotted the route again. All seemed fine with a jump of sixty-four lightyears to the next system.
Then the doubts started creeping in. We don't really know how reliable this Guardian technology is; it's ancient stuff, but new to us. What if I've weakened the booster in some way? What if it fails again but in mid-hyperspace-jump? What would happen then?
Sure, you have to be bold and adventurous to travel far from home in a tiny ship that's as fragile as tissue paper when ranged against the forces of nature: the ravenous black holes, the brutal hardness of neutron stars, the searing heat of every stellar corona you pass through when refuelling. Not to mention the myriad components making up your ship that might fail catastrophically.
Yes, you have to be courageous, but you don't have to be stupid. You seek to mitigate risks by recognising them and planning to handle them. Take me; when I got serious about exploration I opted for the Sirius Corporation's Space Preparedness Package, which is targeted at potential medical emergencies. They took out my appendix; they removed all of my teeth and replaced them with titanium implants; I already have a bionic eye, so that's covered; they worked up a full genetic profile which was used to prepare a medical kit to handle any ailments to which I might be more susceptible.
But this business with the Guardian booster is different. It's in the category of Unkown Unknowns. It's a risk I can't quantify, other than in a binary way: it will work or it will fail. What happens if it fails mid-jump? Nobody knows.
So, here I am, with my thumb now resting on the jump activation control, slowly increasing the pressure. After all, you only have to die once.
While the frame shift drive charges there's still a chance to back out. Then the countdown starts and I'm committed...
Part 2