A spaceship on hyperdrive makes many instantaneous jumps from point to point in space without traversing the spaces between the points. Thus, it is not bound by the light-speed limitation on masses moving through space. Although the points between which the ship jumps are close to each other, it makes many such jumps per microsecond.
In Anderson's World Without Stars, a spaceship makes an instantaneous jump between points widely separated in space but must then make a time-consuming journey to the next point from which it is possible to jump. Before jumping, the ship must adjust its relative velocity to coincide with that of the matter in the region of space to which it jumps, e.g., in another galaxy.
In Anderson's Time Patrol series, a temporal vehicle makes a subjectively instantaneous jump from one set of spatiotemporal coordinates to another. A time traveler who arrives from a potential future and prevents, e.g., his own birth is like an uncaused quantum event on a macroscopic scale.
In Anderson's Harvest of Stars Tetralogy and Genesis, quantum mechanics do not allow any of these spatial or spatiotemporal jumps.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And we do see Anderson speculating one last time about a possible FTL drive in the posthumously published FOR LOVE AND GLORY. And not all scientists, even now, totally dismiss the possibility of FTL being possible.
Sean
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