Operation InterstellarSmith, George O. (George Oliver)
Science
Operation Interstellar
Smith, George O. (George Oliver)
Interstellar communication -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
"'... Two spacecraft were dispatched from Pluto and proceeded outward
for approximately one light hour as established by the timing wave from
Pluto. The Z-wave was tested and found available ...' here follows
a couple of columns of figures regarding signal strength and so on.
'... At one hundred light hours, the same test was made and found
successful....' At this point, gentlemen, remember that they used the
timing wave from Pluto to establish their distance, which established
radio communications.
"Now, remember the techniques employed in such tactics. It is not
necessary for the spacecraft to wait a hundred hours for the arrival
of the wave. The wave is sent forth a hundred hours before the ship
gets there so that no waiting time will be necessary. In fact, they
tried it at one thousand light hours, since that was the distance
previously established by the timing wave from Pluto. Again it worked
successfully. The timing wave had been started about twelve hundred
hours before, and as usual, it was so-coded that at any point along the
line, the ship could stop, listen in, and mark the time. It was, sort
of, like a rope with a series of knots in it.
"Having made this approximation, the ships went into deep space, about
three light years distant from Sol where they were not closer than
three light years from any star. At this distance, the radio signal
from Pluto had not arrived, and they had no idea of waiting for three
years for it since they did not conceive of Grayson's Principle. But
they communicated with one another.
"One light hour, waiting for the timing wave, and it was shown
successful. I read again:
"'At ten light hours, there was no success. Our technical officer then
spent many hours checking his equipment while the navigating officer
used the scooter to run back and forth with Spacecraft BurAst 7,331 to
ascertain whether the Z-wave gear was in operation. The arrival of
the timing wave distracted his attention for a period of about five
minutes during which he established the separation between the two
ships. Upon returning to the Z-wave equipment and completing his many
investigations as to sensitivity and function, he was satisfied that it
was in operating shape. At this point it was tried again, and twenty
minutes of two-way conversation ensued, proving that the Z-wave was
operative at a distance of at least one hundred and seven point three
eight light hours, as established by the timing wave. Second Technical
Sergeant Frankford Brown was reprimanded for removing the Z-wave gear
from the rack and panel and placing it on the test-bench and thus
wasting many hours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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