Jump Ships

I opened the first Jack Mack novel, ‘Among the Many Stars,’ with Jack McFee making jumps from system to system in a highly modified McFee W-4A. This was a very small vessel to be fitted with a jump drive and a great many compromises had to be made to jam in both the drive element and an array of surveillance equipment.

The W-4, in any of its iterations, was never intended to be a jump ship. Jack’s machine may well have been the only one ever converted! Nor was the earlier W-2B from which it, in part, derived. The W-2C was another matter, a bit larger vessel which was designed with an eye to possible jump drive installation.

Not that most were. W-2Cs mostly served as medium fighters and the mass of a jump element would have seriously impacted their performance. A handful were equipped, however, some serving as jump-couriers and some as trainers. A number of early C-types, fitted with the relatively low-performance Riley-Thule twelve-tube engine, served as the core of the jump school operated from Fundy Station.

I mentioned jump-couriers. This was the most common use of lighter machines fitted with jump drives—to be relatively quick couriers from system to system. Most were a good bit larger than the W-2C. Among McFee machines that would include W-6s and W-9s, both multi-engine types. We have Jack being conveyed home from Oz Station in a W-9 in ‘Among.’ These machines were rarely used in combat with jump drives. Again, the extra mass involved would have seriously impaired their effectiveness. Most jump ships were quite large.

Jack’s Nativ spy ship is another matter. It is not particularly large and certainly doesn’t have a lot of power. Performance-wise, it is the proverbial dog. But its role is to jump into systems to conduct long-range surveillance patrols. It is most certainly unsuited to any sort of combat.

The bulk of combat vessels that were fitted with jump drives were carriers, with complements of smaller, non-jumping machines. This was generally the most effective approach. Larger cruisers were also fitted out to jump, being too heavy for use with carriers, for the most part. There was always some compromise in performance with the mass of a jump element but that was less noticeable with larger ships.

I will drop Jack into a new jump ship for the next Jack Mack novel, essentially a customized civil ship suited for a post-war spy. And his AI buddy ‘M’ is likely to be moved from the Nativ to accompany him on his missions.

Thrust Tubes

The ‘thrust tube’ has been the primary form of engine used in space craft in my Jack Mack novels. I have gone into very little detail of how they work, nor is it necessary to know. A bit of information is dropped here and there, such as that their workings are related to the super-heavy element technology used in many roles, or that their fuel is ‘inert,’ and that there are gravity fields involved. I am unlikely to go into any of it much deeper, but may drop the occasional detail. That’s how we make it more real.

By making my lead character a bit of a technophobe, I have an excuse not to say too much, anyway. I did mention that ion drives were still used by freighters that did not require a more sophisticated—and costly—propulsion system.

The simplest form of thrust tube is the steady-tube, commonly referred to as an onoff. In other words, it is either on, delivering full power, or off. This certainly can work but is far from ideal for most craft. Onoffs are most typically used for large freighters, typically with an array of tubes that can be sequentially switched. They are also used for small-scale propulsion at times, hand-held devices, probes, couriers, even torpedoes.

If the steady tube is switched on and off rapidly it becomes, in essence, a pulse-tube. A truly practical pulse-tube was a goal that had only been achieved shortly before the period when the Jack Mack stories are set. More on that, but first, the variable-tube, or varitube.

The varitube was the go-to drive for most craft for some some centuries. It allowed power to be increased or decreased smoothly, by varying fuel supply (using the term ‘fuel’ very loosely here). This was not as efficient as an onoff, nor did it allow the same power to be generated. However, it was the best choice available. Varitubes continued to be used in many roles, especially civil craft, air cars, and so on. They were also favored by some for maneuvering tubes in craft with pulse-tube main drives.

Why for maneuvering tubes? Because these were often a single tube, and prone to the vibration problems that had hindered pulse-tube development. The best solution for some time was to attempt to synchronize multiple-tube engines to cancel out the vibrations. Some large ships used big arrays of small pulse-tubes that allowed random firing to even things out. These solutions worked, in their fashion, but were not suited to a typical small craft.

So along came Davi Jager, an engineer and inventor in the Corvan sphere, who developed a new pulse-tube design, capable of operating nearly as smoothly as a varitube. Its operation was more efficient; simply increasing the speed of its on-off cycle allowed it to work at its ideal fuel ratio at all times. In conjunction with the Nativ company, Jager founded Corvanaut, and his design—and those based on it—soon spread through human space. With small improvements, to be sure, but his was the big step forward.

Multi-tube engines still tended to be favored for dampening vibration, but the new pulse-tubes were quite usable in single and double tube engines. We have the Riley engines built by the McFee Concern using this technology. Indeed, pretty much every military ship mentioned in the novels has pulse-tubes. Those I might explore some other time.

None of this is the sort of thing I’m likely to explain in any detail in the books. An occasional hint is enough. But I might drop in a bit of this world building here, now and again. I might even explain why one can safely stand behind a thrust tube. 😉

A Map of Scotia

Here is a somewhat simple physical map of Jack McFee’s home world, Scotia. Scotia is the only planet I’ve described in any detail in the two Jack Mack novels (Among the Many Worlds, Jumping Jack). I may work up some other view of the planet eventually (or other worlds, if and when he visits them).

 

This particular map was generated in a map-making program though I prefer to draw my maps, whether with pen or a graphic programs.

Plausible

I do not write ‘hard’ science fiction but I attempt to write plausible science fiction. That works best if I remain somewhat vague on details; that is, the more we attempt to explain things, the more likely we are to be wrong!

When Jack McFee claims his sidearm is constructed of a ‘carbon-beryllium matrix,’ it is a meaningless statement of itself. I give no further explanation as to what that entails but Jack does make an offhand assertion that it is difficult-to-impossible for sensors to pick up. All that is plausible if I don’t go further and attempt pseudo-scientific explanations.

Similarly with the various ships’ drives: I name some that are known today (such as ion drives) but only in passing as propulsion units no longer in wide use or only for specialized applications. But I do not explain at all the ‘thrust tubes’ that power most craft (including air-cars). Even while pointing out they come in more than one version, pulse-tubes and so on, and attempting to give a very rudimentary idea of what the differences are. I will probably never give any sort of details on the science behind the thrust tube, though there is information in my notes that may fill out my readers’ understanding in future books (as much of the technology I allude to in the novels, it is based on the use of ultra-heavy elements). They do not really need to know more, of course, but most SF readers like a little detail in their world-building.

Nor do I give any explanation of jump-drives, other than some quantum cliches and the suggestion that my folk of the future don’t completely understand the mechanisms themselves. At least, there does seem to be science involved, though the human mind also plays a part (though it’s not teleportation purely by thought, as in ‘Alienese’).

The best way to make science fiction—or any fiction, for that matter—plausible is to be consistent. Have reasonably clear-cut rules and stick to them. That I do attempt. I do fairly fully-realized world-building, both before and as I write, and if things do not fit, I will probably change the story before the rules. Definitely if the rules have already been stated in a previous book in a series.

As far as hard science-fiction goes, I’m doubting I’ll ever write any, under this name or another. I’m no scientist, though knowledgeable enough—at least about things that interest me.

(reblogged from the older site)

FTL

Anyone who has dipped into one of my books would be aware I do not write ‘hard’ science fiction. Which is not to say I write science fantasy—I do attempt to drop in somewhat believable technology and even explain it (after a fashion). This brings us to the question of faster than light (FTL) travel. Einsteinian physics assures us this is impossible and hard SF writers tended to work with that for a long time. Not all of them, to be sure; some ingenious workarounds were created.

I didn’t bother with much in the way of explanations in ‘Alienese.’ I simply posited a race of aliens who could jump anywhere in the universe by thinking of it. Other, not so gifted races could ‘follow’ them once they opened a way. That whole gift of teleportation is pretty much the concept around which the plot is constructed.

But I went with a ‘jump drive’ concept for my Jack Mack novels (‘Among the Many Worlds’ and ‘Jumping Jack’). This also required a certain amount of brain power, whether human or that of an advanced artificial intelligence. That latter is a fairly recent development; until recently, trained operators were necessary to ‘aim’ a jump drive.

The drive operates via an element of super-massive material, which brings with it a number of technical problems. Most notably, its gravity field—which is more or less what makes the drive work—can crumple a ship in which it is installed, if it is too large. Thus, there is an upward limit for how big jump ships can be. The mass (although they are typically a tiny filament) definitely has an effect on acceleration and deceleration. One doesn’t install a jump drive in a small fighting craft. It would make it much too slow for combat (but Jack pilots one modified so for a reconnaissance mission in ‘Among’).

Now do I get into all the ‘scientific’ explanations of how it works? Definitely not. There is an entire technology range built around ultra-massive elements in the Jack Mack books. They are essential to making just about everything work, and the mining and trading of them is a big factor in holding the many worlds together. I could see a much more insular society otherwise.

And one with less conflict. Several recent technological advances (such as the AI-controlled jump drives I mentioned) have led to the war in the first two books. In warfare, too, the peculiarities of the jump drive lead to certain tactics. For one thing, it is impossible to control where in a system one will land in a jump. A fleet is likely to be scattered throughout a system’s space, some closer to the sun, some further out, and likely enough to be on opposite sides of it. So we have small-scale raids, mostly, rather than invasions. Shipping is targeted, not planets.

It can also be mentioned that jumps become increasingly dangerous with distance, so most are from one neighboring system to another. The need to hop from system to system has its effects on military tactics. I do get into that in the books—and will undoubtedly continue to expand on jump drives and the rest of the technology in future novels. But faster than light travel is possible in them; that’s the central point from which all the rest comes.

(reposted from the older site)

 

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