Oolite Bulletins

I imagine Generation Ship Crews are very scared of new things. Some ships cruise in the void for 30 generations long.

Also the Image of Pangloss looks to me like a generations ship of a race that was already quite advanced when they reached for the start. I can also imagine that there are some cramped models flying around that look like the ship in Alien.

Cmd. Cheyd wrote:

I'd imagine that Generation Ships wouldn't have docking slits - They were built at a time when they wouldn't expect to encounter smaller craft once they left orbit. If they had a docking slit while in orbit of Earth (or their planet of origin), that space would have been reclaimed during outbound operations to provide some other functionality. Leaving space dedicated to docking small craft that you never again expect to encounter - Nah, not likely.

What would they do if they reach their target? Land such a massive ship? I think they must have docks with some big passenger ferries aboard...

In one of the Oolite stories (IIRC from Drew) there's also a dock onboard the ship. They do even get a CM3 aboard, but their leaders do not like that the people learn about that.

Interesting questions could be:
1) The immune system: No protection against outworld dangers and probably dangers for the outworld aboard?
2) Do they have plants aboard which died out in their original habitat already?

Maybe some Mafia-boss would like to help such a ship reach it's target if they leave him their ship afterwards so he could have it flown away and used to grow illegal things

Screet

Just want to begin by saying this isn't MY artwork. Where it comes from is explained in the next paragraph.

Arthur C Clarke wrote a book decades ago called Rendezvous With Rama. The Rama is a cylindrical generational craft that enters the solar system and is explored by humans. As it's an alien technology, there are compatibility issues with technology... even the entrance hatch turned clockwise to UNlatch. The thing turns out to be uninhabited. I remember later stories where a second ship strays into our space, also uninhabited, but this time some people go along for the ride. It's a classic of sci fi and has inspired many writers, artists, and it would seem a few Ooliters!!!

arthur c clarke also prophesized that by the year 2000 we would have developed cyborgs

phonebook wrote:

arthur c clarke also prophesized that by the year 2000 we would have developed cyborgs

And he was correct. Pacemakers, implants of all sorts up to ones that can replace limbs, artificial eardrums even for people originally deaf from birth on are possible, some people live with wholly artificial hearts, there are cameras connectable to the retina which enable formerly blind people to see etc.

So it may have happened so slowly that no one noticed, but cyborgs really are already here as Clarke prophesied. Your own grandpa could be one if he has a pacemaker, i.e.



L

Lestradae wrote:

phonebook wrote:

arthur c clarke also prophesized that by the year 2000 we would have developed cyborgs

And he was correct. Pacemakers, implants of all sorts up to ones that can replace limbs, artificial eardrums even for people originally deaf from birth on are possible, some people live with wholly artificial hearts, there are cameras connectable to the retina which enable formerly blind people to see etc.

So it may have happened so slowly that no one noticed, but cyborgs really are already here as Clarke prophesied. Your own grandpa could be one if he has a pacemaker, i.e.



L

And lets not forget this nutter who has wired a part of his own nervous system directly into the university's Intranet...

Met him once, he sounds like Nigel Mansell and believes that "The Matrix" is a much better existence for humans than we have now.

he is not a cyborg! he is a free man!!!

Erm, a real-life cyborg is not some sort of SciFi Zombie, can still be a free man, have a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg



L

PS: And now in time-honoured tradition we really have derailed this thread. Perhaps an admin wants to shove this topic to outworld?

Perhaps the populace of the Generation Ships after 30 generations got bored and augmented themselves with technology - cy(BORG)s anybody...

(Steering back towards corrected course...)

Lestradae, trying to tell britishers that grew up on Dr Who that cyborgs aren't mad alien things from lala land will be an uphill struggle!

Another Doctor Who fan!

Well, then I will have to face the fact that previously unsuspected grandpas all over the western world are going to turn out as a sleeper army of mad alien things from lala land!

Perhaps that's how the generation ships came into existence (to re-steer the thread on course): They were discovered in the Oolite timeline and sent away in genships by Torchwood (which later renamed intself into INRA etc., but that's another story) so that they could do no more harm to earth!

I can see clearly now.

L

phonebook wrote:

Lestradae, trying to tell britishers that grew up on Dr Who that cyborgs aren't mad alien things from lala land will be an uphill struggle!

I would agree whole heartily with you there, then the legendary Tom Baker will come and deal with them, after which he will zip off and deal with the Dalek threat on some other world and time, man I love the shows, and Tom Baker will forever be my number one fav dcotor, no one comes close, apart from David Tennant, shame he was going from strength to strength, and yes Lestradae, Im another Doctor Who fan

Just to bring the thread a little back to where it started:

Yes, Generation Ships have a dock (at the time when they began their journey, the colonists must have got on board somehow, didn't they?). You can't miss it. It's the huge "hole" right under its "nose". (It really looks like a face with a nose and a HUGE mouth.)

And no, they are not dockable. As long as they are in flight, the population on the Generation Ship is in complete isolation from the outside world. No interference is wished for. And the dock probably wouldn't be compatible to modern technology, anyway.

However, as said before, I have been working on an OXP, the story of which evolves around a Generation Ship that is about to make landfall in its destination system. The only problem is: The main planet is of course inhabited by an indigenous race, and they are of course not entirely thrilled by the prospect of getting colonised from the human past (to make things worse, all neighbouring systems in reach are in fact inhabited by "Human Colonials"). So the player gets sucked into an epic conflict with extremely sensitive issues to be solved. At a certain point during the story he will have to try to make contact with the ever so slowly approaching Generation Ship, and find out what's going on inside its bulky hull. So he may try to dock with it, and see what happens...

And now enough of spoilers. First of all, have fun with Draco_Caeles' original OXP, of which I only revised the scripting part (with D_C's approval and to his excitement, by the way).

Ah Captain Cyborg, one of The Register's favourite running gags. As for the 'cyborgs aren't mad alien things from lala land', gentlepeople, I hope you can draw your own conclusions from this very small selection of articles...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/18 ... suspecies/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/06 ... ring_test/


PS: I strongly disagree with the unfair 'alien' stereotype...

PPS: What was this thread about again? Ah yes, generation ships...

they could be in cold storage like the golgafrinchams tho couldnt they