Tiona (a sequel to "Vaz") (39 page)

Tiona got up out of her seat and stepped over to Nolan’s side. After a moment she lowered herself into his lap. “You know how you kind of bared your soul last night in Galveston Harbor?”

Nolan nodded again.

“I didn’t know what to say. I’ve always been with bad boys. The kind that mothers don’t approve of. Talented drunks like Ronnie Winters and other hard-living, wild-eyed jerks and troublemakers.” She winked at Nolan, “Having a good looking, intelligent, nice guy who buys me lunches and says nice things, even expressing his admiration? I haven’t really known how to handle that. No experience, you see. But I’ve been filled with respect after the way you handled that little crisis with Sophie. It turns out you aren’t just a pretty face that buys me lunch…” Her eyes misted, “I’ve been thinking about you a lot,” she said with feeling.

She tilted her head and leaned in for a kiss.

After a minute she drew back and looked him in the eye again. “I
like
the way you kiss.” She sighed and rested her head comfortably in the crook of his neck, “I’d have to be
crazy
to let you get away.”

The End

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This is a comment on the “science” in this science fiction novel. I have always been partial to science fiction that posed a “what if” question. Not everything in the story has to be scientifically possible, but you suspend your disbelief regarding one or two things that aren’t thought to be possible. Then you ask,
what if
something (such as faster than light travel) were possible, how might that change our world?

This story poses several “what ifs?” First, you need to know that the “reactionless drive” a staple of science fiction—in which thrust is generated without expelling matter in accordance with Newton’s laws—is thought to be an impossibility that contravenes the known laws of physics. The presence of “dark matter” however,
is
the most widely accepted explanation for the “galactic rotation problem.” One of the most common hypotheses regarding dark matter is that it consists of WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles. By this theory untold billions of WIMPs are pouring through your body every second, but because they don’t interact with normal matter we are simply unaware of them. But,
what if
we did discover a means for interacting with dark matter? Especially if we could forcefully accelerate it, then we would have what would appear to us to be a “reactionless drive.” It wouldn’t actually be reactionless, it would act more like the prop on a boat or an airplane,
pushing or pulling
your spacecraft through the dark matter. Even more fascinating, several groups, including NASA, have tested devices that seem to generate a little thrust without expelling matter. These include the EmDrive by Roger Shawyer and the Cannae Drive by Guido Fetta. Despite the fact that they have been measured to generate small amounts of thrust, they have still been thought to be “pseudoscience” because they do not fit within the known laws of physics. But,
what if
they actually accelerate dark matter to produce their thrust?

The second “what if” is more of an amusing conjecture.
What if
the thrust generated by a reactionless dark matter propulsion system was subject to severe eddy currents at any sharp corners? That would mean that the system would necessarily be circular, and as “form follows function” the flying saucers of pulp fiction might turn out to be the best possible design for a craft based on such a thruster.

The third “what if” has to do with how such an apparently reactionless drive would change our world. It is a fact of physics that a rocket can barely go fast enough to explore the near reaches of our solar system (much less the stars) because it can’t carry enough fuel to expel sufficient quantities to reach adequate speeds. If we didn’t have to expel material to go places according to Newton’s laws, the solar system would suddenly be within reach and mining the asteroids for their incredible wealth would become a relatively simple engineering problem.

I would like to acknowledge the editing and advice of Nora Dahners, Gail Gilman, Elene Trull, Allen Dietz, Hamilton Elliott, Kat Lind, Kerry McIntyre, and Abiola Streete, each of whom significantly improved this story.