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No one has ever accused me of being a
mechanic (nor will they) but when writing a science fiction story that takes
place in a ship in outer space, like Han Solo, I kind have to be familiar with
everything. It's not like when the ship breaks down they can take it to the
nearest Pep Boys Star Ship Center, or can they?
Hmmm...that's a story for a different time.
Back to my point, for my science fiction
novels 'Cold Warriors' and 'Ice and Peace' the carrier in which the majority of
the story took place had to be, for the most part, self contained. Right down to changing the oil in an engine
in case it went down.
Now that I look back on it, creating the
self contained world in which the crew lived in was the easy part. The hard part was making it believable. Case in point, space travel.
When ever anyone asks about my science
fiction books the first thing that inevitably comes up is how the characters
travel through space. And I always
answer the same way-- 'No they do not use Warp Speed.' Why?
Because I just don't have enough money to go through a long drawn out
court battle with Paramount Pictures over intellectual copy right for the use
of the term. So I tend to opt out of its
use.
Then what do I use? Well for long distance travel, the option
that works best for me in the SFR genre is worm hole technology or some
variation of it. But what about when
they are just driving along trying to get from planet A to planet B? That's easy, a standard nuclear based engine
will do. This presents another problem. When traveling in space, unlike on Earth
where we have seat belts, inertia can be a cause for concern if and when the
ship stops. (Yes, I think about these
things!)
Of course when I started writing the
series, the only thing I knew about Classical Mechanics was that it had nothing
to do with fixing my car and about inertia was that it something to do with a
few PBS specials I'd seen. So I started
my research and set about learning how to stop a ship in space.
I came upon Sir Isaac Newton and his Laws
of Motion. In particular his first law
which states, “Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change
in its state of motion, including changes to its speed and direction. It is the
tendency of objects to keep moving in a straight line at constant velocity. The
principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics
that are used to describe the motion of objects and how they are affected by
applied forces.” (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertia).
In other words, inertia refers to objects
ability to stay in rest or motion until something else acts upon it. And that
means a lot in space where there is no air resistance, gravity or a whole bunch
of friction to slow something down. By the way, I also touch upon the Third Law
of Motion as well in a tongue and cheek style.
In the case of my space ship, the problem
lay not in the ship stopping but the people.
Because of a mechanical failure, the commanding officer on the ship had
cause for concern when applying the so called 'breaks' when they got to
port.
Why? You see it's because of inertia. The
people were inside the ship, therefore they were traveling at the same velocity
as the ship. So when it stopped, they needed to stop 'moving' too. But the equipment that did this was
broken. Can you hear my evil laugh? I had so much fun writing this scene! Here is it is from 'Ice and Peace'..
***
Keegan did not allow himself to finish the
thought.
“Boatswain’s Mate,” he called out as he
stared at his coffee cup on the stand next to him. The liquid inside tilted
instead of being level.
“Aye, Captain?”
“I’d like the status of—” The ship
shuddered before he could finish the words. It did it again then groaned loudly
from its bowels. “What the hell was that?”
Dumbfounded, the officer of the deck stared
at him, wide-eyed.
“Sir,” she said, “I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
Stunned, she stood still.
Keegan frowned and barked, “Move it!”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, before scurrying
out of the room.
He could only imagine what challenges he’d
face on his first day back in command...
****
The air inside of Engine Room One on the
Blanchard was musty and filled with the stench of lubricant. The loud clanking
of a broken pump sounded through the room as various personnel did their best
to shut it down, along with the engine it served, before it was too late.
“Sir,” one of the engineers called out,
while approaching Keegan.
Her soot-stained face and jacket gave
evidence to the battle she was having with the machine.
“It’s Inertial Dampener Number One. It’s
gone. Apparently, the lubricator pump failed, and it locked up on us and blew,”
she explained over the din.
Keegan’s swayed ever so slightly to the
side as the damaged system began to affect the ship.
“Lieutenant, we’re traveling at 2C through
free space.” He paused and braced himself against the side of a hatch. “How
could something like this happen?”
The engineer blinked at him. “Sir. I’ll
find out.”
“Well, how are we going to stop?” he asked,
raising his voice in order to be heard.
“I don’t follow, sir,” she responded in an
even tone.
“Let me rephrase. Lieutenant, at the speed
we’re going, when we finally put on the brakes, we’ll be experiencing Newton’s
Third Law in living color. So what’s going to keep us from being spots on the
forward walls?”
In order to work in this area, everyone had
to know physics better than Einstein. So if she had any bright ideas, he was
ready to hear them.
“Sir, we lost only one dampener. We should
be fine with the other three. Therefore, we have enough stability to make it to
port where I can get the parts I need to make the repairs.”
“All right,” he said checking his watch.
“We’ll be at Eckhardt in ten minutes. Fix what you can, and I’ll get you to
port.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Carry on.”
“And, sir?”
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Steer us a clear path until we get them
all back online. We can’t afford a bumpy ride.”
“I’ll do my job. You just watch those other
three. And tell everybody to hold on.”
Keegan watched the engineer head back to
her station. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. A dampener blowing
was one thing, but getting the new crew to ensure a smooth ride was another.
***
So there you have it. All that research for one and a quarter's
scene! I like to think that it added a
little gravity to the situation. If not,
it certainly added another layer tension for the commanding officer to deal
with. As for me, my days as a mechanic
are over. But hopefully with these tips,
yours are just beginning.
Ice and Peace and it's prequel Cold
Warriors are available in ebook format and in print.
To purchase you can buy it at Barnes
and Noble or at
Bio
Clare Dargin is an author of Science
Fiction and Romance and has been writing stories all of her life before being
published in 2007. She’s a great fan of the two genres and loves promoting
them.
An educator by profession, she possesses
a Bachelor’s Degree in English from a major mid-western university. She
presently resides in the Midwest and she hopes to expand her writings to
include non-fiction, historical romance, and contemporary novels.
You can find her on the web at-
