Coya, visiting van Rijn's stateroom, can sit on:
an extra lounger;
a desk chair;
an emperor-size bed;
a sofa between liquor-cabinet and bookshelf;
the deck -
- and she can consume:
beer;
gin;
whisky;
cognac;
vodka;
arrack;
slumthunder;
maryjane;
ops;
galt;
Xanadu radium;
a soft drink;
coffee.
Will technology ever enable a man like van Rijn to carry such luxuries with him between stars faster than light?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Even merely reading ABOUT Nicholas van Rijn makes me smile! Because I like Old NIck!
And I certainly hope we achieve the technology needed to enable us to carry along all our favorite indulgences in interstellar journeys! I hope a FTL drive is invented soon!
Sean
If FTL is possible there's no reason why not. Whether it's possible we can't say; there seem to be a number of theoretical possibilities, but physics is a long way from the Theory of Everything.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
Yes, granted a FTL drive, there is no reason why interstellar space travelers can't live as comfortably as Old Nick! Or as Dominic Flandry did in his personal space ship, the "Hooligan."
Heck, I would be glad to have something like the gyrogravitics of Pou Anderson's TALES OF THE FLYING MOUNTAINS. That would truly open up the Solar System for settling and developing and offer a STL means of reaching the stars.
Sean
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