Science Fiction Trivia

[ffutures]

It's the CIA - the Celestial Intervention Agency …

Absolutely right - The nipper is all yours!

[Disembodied]

Okay … what strange cargo did the near-lightspeed, human-built, spaceship Cauchy tow behind it on its century-long flight? The 100-year flight is subjective ship time; due to time dilation, 1,500 years have passed on Earth when the Cauchy returns.

[phkb]

I’m guessing it probably wasn’t snacks.

[Disembodied]

Well, they probably had some snacks on board - Relativistic Crisps, etc. – but that's not the answer I'm looking for …

[Norby]

what strange cargo did the near-lightspeed, human-built, spaceship Cauchy tow behind it on its century-long flight?

A wormhole gate. Interesting story, thanks for motivating me to read through the extract when my free time is too short to read full books.

[Disembodied]

A wormhole gate.

Correct! Norby gets the blipper.

[Norby]

Then: who is Pirk?

[Cody]

For a moment I read that as Pirx - him I know.

[Norby]

Pirk, not Pirx, although there are some similarity between these characters.

[Norby]

There is a similar character in a popular SF series with almost the same name than Pirk. Guess who is him and I will give the next clue.

[Disembodied]

Captain Kirk?

[Norby]

Captain Kirk?

Exactly! The next clue is one word: parody.

[Cody]

<swoops in with a googled answer> Captain James Pirk, from the Star Wreck series?

[Norby]

Yes, in the Star Wreck - In The Pirkinning free full movie.
These guys made a very good comedy without any high budget, which is an outstanding achievement.

Over to Cody!

[Cody]

To which sci-fi series did The Royal Martian Orchestra make a contribution?