message 0129

• Time compression for warship crews, example Yeager

>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant@maths.tcd.ie>
>Subject: cherryhlist
>Date: Wed, 12 May 93 10:01:23 BST

> >From: Onno Meyer <Onno.Meyer@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de>
 
 [on time compression on board ships]

> If I counted right, 10 days pass for the year on Thule, unless there are     
> some days that simply are not mentioned. There is a line about how strange
> the additional technicans assigned to Bets shift seem, and that after 
> only one week on a new ship. Everything should have been strange.
> Further more, Bet claims 20 years of experience on AFRICA, and the ship
> was build around 2320 (the time of _Hellburner_) and she left the
> ship in 2352 (on Pell). This would indicate a time compression of
> 1,5:1 and not of 30:1 as in _Rimrunner_.

	Bet didn't join the _Africa_ in 2320, though. She was pressganged
much later in the War, along with lots of other youngsters. Can anyone
remember if a date is given for this? I think it would bring the time
compression ratio up sharply. And how is Bet calculating that 20 years? If
she's counting subjective time, she'd never get off the _Africa_ by 2352,
(assuming she is taken around 2335-40). A warship would simply jump too often
with each jump being 'really' 3-4 months. Her 20 years would last at least an
objective century. She must be counting 20 'real' years, which would knock the
date of her 'volunteering' back to 2332. This date, however, may be a little
too early for the Fleet to need such tactics (only 12 years after _Hellburners_
-- would the EC still have been supportive at this time?). Another option, of
course, is that warships jump 'faster' than normal ships, with less time
lost. This would allow her a longer subjective time on board. Or perhaps the
numbers just don't add up -- Bet 'appears' to be using a subjective timescale
(she's 37, looks 37, claims 20 years experience, and was taken at 16), but
such a timescale just doesn't fit into 'real' time, and would actaully extend
far past the entire duration of the War. 

			Lesley