message 0611

• What kind of drive do Cherryh's spaceships have?

;Subject: cherryhlist
;Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 18:02:34 +0100 (MET)
;From: Onno Meyer <Onno.Meyer@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de>

> 	Don't be modest Onno, you disagree with nearly everyone on
> everything :-) ! The "Encyclopedia" should just be what Cherryh says
> on different topics. The only disagreement is on direct interpretation.
> The "Supplement" has a much larger scope for disagreement. The only
> working solution I would suggest is that every submission must try to
> maintain consistancy with any existing articles.
> 			Jo

I answered to that this morning, but now I have the quotes:

Obviously, there are three means of starship propulsion. 
In a compendium, this would be supported by quotes.
1) The FTL-Jump using the jumpdrive vanes.
2) The "dump" and "boost" of realspace velocity using the jumpdrive
   or a subset of the jumpdrive. This is instantaneous.
3) A "rocket-like" engine that propells ships causing acceleration
   stresses for the crew. Engine 3) could play games with gravity
   to allow systemwide operations, but the only evidence I can think
   of are total accelerations that could be explained with drive 2).

Now, take the riderships. Obviously, they have 3), obviously, they 
don't have 1). The problem is wether they have 2) or not.

Pro:

"Tibet's rider was still heading in behind the wave of the original
message, ... That rider was some minutes behind Tibet's message,
insurance." DS 258/259 That rider obviously moves at a significant
percentage of lightspeed. It can't do that on drive 3) alone.

"Atlantic and Pacific made their lonely patrol with all the riders in
the Fleet, ..." DS319 A rider can reach the system fringes without 
carrier. Again, that can't be done on 3) alone.

"Pulse of the main engines. ... Second pulse, high-g RO, intermittent
accel ..." HB325 "Pulse" is used to describe drive 2), the rider makes
two pulses and then a RO.

IMHO, these qoutes prove that riders have drive 2).

Contra:

"Just the flat saucer shape. Manta shape, the blue-skyers called it."
HB52 No vanes on a rider. Drive 2) uses the vanes.

"... trusting that realspace ships, launched like missiles, with more
firepower than ability to maneuver at v,..." HB52 A rider has less 
maneuverabilitiy than drive 2) would give.

"Pulse of the main engines. ... Second pulse, high-g RO, intermittent
accel ..." HB325 Drive 2) doesn't produce high-g. The rider engine
makes two short, high-g bursts.

IMHO, these qoutes prove that riders have no drive 2).

Can anybody tell me where the flaw is?

Onno Meyer