Tuesday August 16, 2005
Book 7: Emperor Pius Dei — Part I: Big Schlock, Little Schlock, What Begins With Schlock?
Note: Interstellar travel in the age of the Teraport works like this:
  1. Launch.
  2. Point yourself at the nearest non-interdicted space, and fly as fast as local traffic, commerce enforcement agencies, and your own drives will allow. This may be anywhere from 2 light-minutes to 10 light hours away, depending on how much teraport interdiction is in place.
  3. Teraport from the non-interdicted space you just entered into whatever non-interdicted space is closest to your destination. This will take a matter of a few seconds, regardless of how many thousands of light years lie between the two points.
  4. Fly as fast as local traffic, commerce enforcement, and your own drives will allow. Again, you might be a few light-minutes away from your destination, or you might be billions of kilometers out.
Our heroes have chartered a Starcraft Ghost X360 executive jet. It lacks the extreme acceleration a good warship has, but it could get you from Earth to Mars in less time than it takes to commute from Irvine to downtown Los Angeles.

Transcript

Charter Pilot: Howdy folks! I'll be your pilot for this charter flight to Ystre. Welcome aboard!
Charter Pilot: Our travel time will be ten hours and twenty minutes, so make yourselves comfortable.
Elf: You heard the man. Weapons out. I want 'em field stripped and clean enough for surgery before anybody takes a nap.
Charter Pilot: Did I say ten hours? If I redline the drive, I bet I can get us there in eight.