(i) A faster than light (FTL) drive. (Much sf.)
(ii) Suspended animation. (See below.)
(iii) Time dilation. (Poul Anderson's Tau Zero.)
(iv) Time travel in an STL ship. (Anderson's There Will Be Time.)
(v) A generation ship. (Anderson's "The Troublemakers.")
(vi) Longevity. (Anderson's The Boat Of A Million Years and World Without Stars.)
(vii) A Tipler cylinder. (Anderson's The Avatar.)
With (v), individuals do not survive.
James Blish's Okies and the characters in Poul Anderson's World Without Stars have both (i) and (vi).
I mention all this because a remark by Flandry on p. 145 shows that the Technic History has not only (i) but also (ii) although you wouldn't think it.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yet ANOTHER detail I never thought before of taking notice of! I looked up that bit of Chapter 14 of ENSIGN FLANDRY: "If we had suspended animation equipment--But we don't. This is no warcraft, not even an exploratory vessel." That led me to thinking there times when Navy ships or exploratory vessels would find it useful to have suspended animation equipment. Perhaps for seriously wounded or sick persons these ships did not have the means of treating? Or for really LONG journeys where despite FTL, it might make sense for the crews, possibly taking turns by rotation, to go into suspended animation?
As so often happens, Anderson's words inspires reflections and speculations!
Ad astra! Sean
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