Reality Check 2

darkstripe
2019-02-06 01:02:45 
Would they kill him even if he didn't have a Red Shirt?
McThag
2019-02-06 02:19:12 
All shirts are red if they're moving away from you fast enough.
Brinbrin
2019-02-06 07:57:47 
Good one, McThag. Indeed, I've always wandered what could be an encounter in space between two ships, but yes, most of what we can watch in sci-fi movies is crap. Even if the two aliens are not *that* different, caution at each step is better than bold inconsiderate moves. BTW, if I can recall, the species of this universe have been engineered by humans. A human ship wreck, with a body has even been recovered, so there may be a contact with humans (if mankind has survived) in the future.
goblu
2019-02-06 11:38:56 
First contact, always an interesting read. What would be the standard distance/angle to from the target for a warning shot in Albedo? And how would you do it in a way that gives minimal information about your weaponry to the alien? I really like the look of that human ship, too. Nice bubble bridge.
stevegallacci
2019-02-06 12:04:44 
Use a gun rather than a beam so it can be more easily detected.
Brinbrin
2019-02-06 14:21:28 
In the vastness of space, not so sure. A warning volley of shells still may difficult to trace on a radar (at least with current techs). Energy beams... As there are still no such things (except laser and plasma), it's no easy to assume their signatures. I guess a laser supplied by the discharge of a giant capacitor has a radio signature, but the enemy has to use this kind of tech to be aware of the firing.
luisedgarf
2019-02-06 14:32:33 
I read somewhere the reason of this short story is because Shanda Fantasy Arts tried to do a continuation of Albedo without either your permission or you on board, when humans were included and the reason you wrote was as a response of that, is that true?
stevegallacci
2019-02-06 14:43:29 
What?? No! I was getting fan mail with gwad awful stories. My time with SFA stopped because my wife was diagnosed with cancer. I had what would have been the third issue about half done at that time. There was never any discussion of them doing anything more with the title.
icekatze
2019-02-06 15:50:18 
When someone has to operate in the time frame of a 20 to 40 minute TV show, I suppose it is understandable to set a certain pace. But when operating at time frames of even reasonably fantastic fusion torch drives, spending hours, days, or even weeks shaking hands isn't at all unreasonable. Although, I would think that if a human ship didn't already have the capability of interfacing with a ship's onboard AI, it would strongly suggest that said human ship is not operated by their creators, but a different group altogether.
Brinbrin
2019-02-06 18:24:23 
Even in a short TV show, you can stretch a timeline. In The Last Push (2012), the 1.30 h movie stretch over 3 years.
stevegallacci
2019-02-06 18:53:15 
Brinbrin- in the inky depths of space, very high relative velocity objects need very fast scan radars, and even current tech can track things like supersonic missiles and incoming artillery, so ship's gun fire shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, various beam weapons are not visible in space and might not have much source signature (and one might not want to show off source signatures) Guns are pretty obvious and the lower end of defense/offensive potential.
ErmaFeldmanJIDF
2019-02-06 22:51:21 
Mr. Gallacci, I was wondering if you were going to post Birthright here as well. I see it was posted on Radio Comix' site, but hasn't been updated for quite some time. In any event, thanks for posting this stuff, it really takes me back!
stevegallacci
2019-02-09 04:34:27 
I need to finish my uploads to Radio
ErmaFeldmanJIDF
2019-02-09 22:03:47 
Gotcha, thanks for the response.