From: jfoster@k... (Jim 'Jiji' Foster)
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 00:50:17 -0500
Subject: In space, no one can hear you explode messily (Was SV: Li Han?)
> At 15:52 5/5/98, John Leary wrote: > I for one, presume that some sort of rescue ships exist. A few thoughts: 1) These rescue ships would probably only exist in built-up (Class 1 or 2 shipyard) systems, I would think. Otherwise, it'll just be the surviving fleet doing it's own cleanup work. I guess I've always thought of the FT Universe in terms of the colonization of the Americas in the 1500-1600s, hence specilized support services won't exist outside big trading ports and/or military bases. The smaller colonies might have volunteers available, and they may get good at rescuing people... but probably aren't going to have the facilities to track down, recover and treat survivors of major fleet engagements. 2) To quote The Guide: Space is big. Even within a single star system, there's a mind-bogglingly huge area to search for survivors. And unless there are enough established rescue bases able to reach anywhere within the system in short order, it may well be days or even weeks before the nearest ship could approach a battle site. If some poor slob is ejected from a wreck (and assuming his suit survives intact), even with only a few m/s of velocity, he could be a *long* ways away from the original wreck by the time anyone can get to the area. And, he's probably not on a planned course, just a random vector... meaning no one has any idea where to look for him. Hope those suit radio batteries hold out... 3) Assuming some sort of lifepod mechanism with a couple of weeks' life support and a homing beacon, survival possibility goes way up, especially if one has enough thrust to head towards a colony or base (assuming you've got the fuel to get to its orbit) Still, how many of these are likely to be on a ship? Something with those kind of capabilites is essetially a ship's boat or gig, and it's unlikely that there will be enough capacity for anything like the entire crew. 4) The again, who knows? Anything's possible, I suppose....