Titan 5 - Over a Torrent Sea (38 page)

The concept of an ocean planet as depicted herein was proposed in 2003 by Marc J. Kuchner and Alain Léger (independently), with Léger coining the name. I am indebted to their papers on the subject: Kuchner, “Volatile-Rich Earth-Mass Planets in the Habitable Zone” (
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Vol. 596, 10 Oct. 2003, pp. L105–L108) and Léger et al., “A New Family of Planets?
Ocean Planets” (
Icarus
Vol. 169 Iss. 2, June 2004, pp. 499–504), for providing the basic information I needed to create Droplet. For more detailed calculations of Droplet’s size and internal structure, I relied on Christophe Sotin et al., “Mass-radius curve for extrasolar Earth-like planets and Ocean planets” (
Icarus
Vol. 191 Iss. 1, 1 Nov. 2007, pp. 337–351). More details were provided by “Ocean planets…soon” on the Crowlspace.com blog, February 4, 2007. Hal Clement’s novel
Noise
provided useful information on the meteorology of a world without land masses. Martin Chaplin’s
Water Structure and Science
webpage at www. lsbu.ac.uk/water/was helpful for determining the behavior of water and ice under extreme pressure. The University of Rhode Island’s
Discovery of Sound in the Sea
page at www.dosits.org/helped fill in details about the deep sound (or SOFAR) channel. For the effect of extreme pressure on biology, I am indebted to Anurag Sharma et al., “Microbial Activity at Gigapascal Pressures” (
Science
22, Vol. 295 No. 5559, Feb. 2002, pp. 1514–1516) and Christoph Hartmann and Antonio Delgado, “Numerical Simulation of the Mechanics of a Yeast Cell under High Hydrostatic Pressure” (
Journal of Biomechanics
Vol. 37 Iss. 7, July 2004, pp. 977–87). Aspects of Cethente’s biology were suggested by Jean Schneider, “A Model for a Non-chemical Form of Life: Crystalline Physiology” (
Origins of Life
Vol. 8 Iss. 1, April 1977, pp. 33–38).

This book is dedicated to and informed by the memory of my cat Natasha, who passed away on June 20, 2008, at the age of 17. I’ve lived with many cats over the years, but she was very special to me, one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. She is deeply missed.

C
hristopher L. Bennett is the author of two previous works of
Titan
fiction, the novel
Star Trek: Titan: Orion’s Hounds
and the short story “Empathy” in the
Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows
anthology. He has also authored such critically acclaimed novels as
Star Trek: Ex Machina
,
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Buried Age
, and
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Greater Than the Sum
, as well as the alternate
Voyager
tale
Places of Exile
in
Myriad Universes: Infinity’s Prism
. Shorter works include
Star Trek: SCE #29: Aftermath
and
Star Trek: Mere Anarchy: The Darkness Drops Again
, as well as short stories in the anniversary anthologies
Constellations
(original series),
The Sky’s the Limit
(TNG),
Prophecy and Change
(DS9), and
Distant Shores
(VGR). Beyond
Star Trek
, he has penned the novels
X-Men: Watchers on the Walls
and
Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder
, and is also developing original science fiction novel concepts. More information, original fiction, and novel annotations can be found at http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/.