Photo by: Sandra Crook
Professor Vogel gestured at the prototype. “This is it.”
“It looks like an hourglass, honestly,” said Mayor Potts. “Well, what does it do?”
It’s a hyperspace drive,” beamed Vogel.
“But hyperspace drives are massive, room-filling things.”
“Not this!” exclaimed Vogel. “This only takes you a few hundred yards at a time, at a frequency of 38KHz. It’s like stitching through the fabric of space. I made it to Beta Hydri in days!”
“But what caused…?”
“Ah yeah,” sighed Vogel, looking at the line of large holes leading through the city and across farmland. “I need to work on the landing.”
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Author’s notes:
Beta Hydri is a star 24.4 light years away: http://www.solstation.com/stars/bethydri.htm
I didn’t check the numbers so the math is probably in inaccurate. Still, traveling 300 yards 38 Thousand times per second will get you places in a hurry!
Written for the Friday Fictioneers. Look here for the original prompt and links to many other stories: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/02/17/19-february-2016/
EagleAye
Momus News 
The landing wasn’t a PATCH on Armstrong’s though they were cut from the same cloth!
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Hehe. Oh well. Any landing you can walk away from is a good one. 😉 😀
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I trust he was wearing a helmet and metal caped boots. That’s a dangerous speed to be at. I think the mayor is totally underwhelmed.
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Here’s what’s weird about it. The spaceship didn’t actually have any velocity. Its velocity in space-time was zero. However the many hyperspace jumps only made it “appear” to be moving. The holes were made because the spaceship re-appeared in space-time just above ground, thus obliterating the earth in that location. He didn’t actually need a helmet (though he wore one anyway). Freaky stuff, eh?
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LOL Yes, yes, again…without the “Ooops” this time 🙂 I always love your Author’s notes and links!
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Yeah, a landing without decimating cities could be a strong selling point. 😉 Glad you enjoyed the Author’s Notes. I love including them. Thanks so much, Lyn! 🙂
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Can I collect damages from hyperdrive recklessness? 🙂
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Hehe I expect so. That thing will be worth Trillions, so expect a fat payoff. 😉
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Hm, seems like there are still some kinks to be worked out of his prototype!
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Yep. Things could be worse, though. At least the ship’s fusion bottle didn’t break and obliterate the city and countryside. He’ll get it figured out. This is the easy part.
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The professor will need to improve the frequency or the distance of the jumps, because my math tells me that he’ll only travel at about 3.4% of light speed.
Which is still pretty useful if you need to get to work during the rush hour.
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Okay, you force me to run the numbers. Yeah, that distance will have to improve. I needed the holes to be close together for an amusing visual. Going forward, Even at 30Km per jump, the relative speed works out to 3.4c. At that rate it would still take 7 years to get 24.4 lightyears to Beta Hydri. Yep. That frequency needs to improve. Good eye!
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If you increase the frequency by the factor of 100,000, the trip would take about 2 days.
Also, it’s possible that the jumps become longer where the gravitational field is weaker.
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I originally envisioned 38MegaHertz. I didn’t want to be greedy. I should have gone with my first instinct. And yeah, between star systems it would make sense that individual jumps are longer. Closer to a gravity well, you’d need finer control anyway so smaller jumps would make sense.
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My head’s spinning… Beta Hydri can wait… 😉
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Hehe. I don’t think there’s any habitable planets there. So don’t worry, you aren’t missing anything. 😉 Thanks Carolyn! 🙂
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Dear Eric,
Math Shmath. I was entertained. Bummer of a landing though. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That’s the whole idea-er. As long as you smiled, I’m happy. Thanks so much, Rochelle! 🙂
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I have to agree with Rochelle.
No really, I do or she beats me with a slightly used haggis.
The story is fun, the maths (with an ‘s’) irrelevant.
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Hehe. Thanks for the positive vote, CE. At least after Rochelle beats you, you’ve got a “tenderized” meal ready to go. 😉
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HaHa… love the ending! Work on the landing..haha…. I’ve always said, any landing you walk away from is good…. LOL!
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Hehe. That’s what I always learned. It makes sense. Glad the finish worked for you. Laughs are what I’m aiming for. Thanks so much! 🙂
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Funny – at least he landed in one piece each time!
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Exactly right. If you can walk away from it, it’s a good landing. 😉 Glad you had fun. Thanks kindly! 🙂
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I loved your little tale!
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Thanks so much! ?I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Even if it’s a bit slow for Beta Hydri (I wouldn’t know) it still would come in handy to travel within the solar system. Mars, here we come. Pluto, watch out… Fun story.
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Hilarious, Eric. That reminds me of Indiana Jones when his dad says be didn’t know Indiana could fly and Indy says, “Fly yes, land no”. Well done. 😀 — Suzanne
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Haha! Yes, that was a great scene. When you come down to it, landing can be a whole lot trickier than the flying part. It may be the most essential part of flying. 😉 Glad you got a laugh. Thanks much, Suzanne! 🙂
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625449600 m/sec. 2.086+ C (lights). Einstein says you can’t go that fast.
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Yep. That’s the beauty of it. As far as we know you simply cannot go faster than light. So you have to go “around” it. With this system, the ship actually has zero velocity in relation to normal space. So it isn’t violating the speed of light. It’s making hyperspace jumps that give it an “apparent” speed that is faster than light. Crazy stuff, eh?
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Yuck, think I got yards/minute (bizarre way to measure anything) instead of per sec, Never mind.
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He should call the prototype, the albatross.
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Ha! No kidding. They aren’t any better at landings. 😀
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Fascinating story… love the ending, gave me quite a chuckle 🙂
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Nice! Chuckles are my goal. Glad to hear it, and thanks! 🙂
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My pleasure, dear 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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