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"How do you define fool?"
"I don't attempt it. I wait for demonstrations. They inevitably surpass my imagination."
- CJ Cherryh, Invader
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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
Did they warp back to Earth, or use standard propulsion? Being that far away, you wouldn't think they'd be able to "catch up" with Earth as it orbited the sun using standard thrust. They also had to beat the Vulcans back who were traveling through the outer reaches of the system, presumably.
Also, how did they land? Did the Phoenix have some kind of parachute sytem? They must been able to target their landing pretty good to be able to get back to the camp before the Vulcans landed. Splash down would be out fo the question. They would've had to have been able to land on the ground.
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"The sons of the Prophet were valiant and bold,
And quite unacustomed to fear.
But, of all, the most reckless, or so I am told,
Was Abdulah Boul Boul Ameer."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
In a day, LaForge got the E-E back to flying condition - not impossible, I guess, if he only had to patch the coolant tubes. The nav deflector might not have been needed on such a short trip (from Earth orbit through time to Earth orbit again).
And in a day, Cochrane probably made a sublight journey of the kind that would have taken an Apollo capsule some two weeks - the minimum warp time is about ten seconds, as per dialogue, so the minimum distance traveled would be about ten lightseconds, or 6+ times the Earth-Moon distance. But tenfold sublight performance over Apollo is peanuts: we already saw that Cochrane's liftoff booster was at least that much better than current rockets.
Precision landing using the forward capsule and a steerable parachute doesn't appear impossible, either. Such technology is becoming available in this decade already, in the real world which appears to drag behind the Trek world by two or three decades.
And the E-E crew could have given covert aid, tractor beams or shuttlebay rides or whatnot, to return the delayed flight to original schedule...
Timo Saloniemi
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 8.32 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with seven eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
***
Card-Carrying Member of the Flare APAO
***
"I think this reason why girls don't do well on multiple choice tests goes all the way back to the Bible, all the way back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. God said, 'All right, Eve, multiple choice or multiple orgasms, what's it going to be?' We all know what was chosen" - Rush Limbaugh, Feb. 23, 1994.
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"Fuck L Ron Hubbard and fuck all his clones.
Fuck all those gun-toting
hip gangster wannabes."
-Tool, Ænima
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Titan Fleet Yards - Harry Doddema's Star Trek Site
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Phasers
Or comedic if you ripped a hole into a parallel world where all celestial objects were shaped as the heads of Sesame Street characters.
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"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism."
-Eleanor Arroway, "Contact" by Carl Sagan
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"And as it is, it is cheaper than drinking."
-DT on arguing with Omega, April 30
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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
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You know, you really should keep a personal log. Why bore others needlessly?
The Gigantic Collection of Star Trek Minutiae
I trust Cochrane left his drive stage in orbit and then sold it to somebody who could afford to bring it down using a big shuttle-type space vehicle. He could also have refitted the drive section for another flight, though - perhaps by installing a bigger pod and a meteoroid shield, plus some extra fuel tanks, thereby creating the ship we see in the original Chronology. (I doubt he risked another hop during his initial test flight, though. If the rocket engines of his ship were as good as those of his liftoff booster, he could have been back home at safe sublight in no time flat.)
Perhaps the Smithsonian has an orbital annex in Picard's time, with weightless old space artifacts floating around in a pressurized bubble for the visitors to touch?
Timo Saloniemi
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Phasers
Alternatives:
Fusion drive. Tad hot for bystanders, but it allows him PLENTY of fuel reserve for a jet landing.
Antimatter Drive. We already assume he has antimatter containment for warp drive. Fine - he allows a small stream of antimatter particles to flow into the rocket nozzle bell - where it meets a spray of water. Zoom. Doesn't pollute - and he can land on his jets. (Assuming landing jacks).
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Faster than light - no left or right.
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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
What are you using as the basis of your calculation? Angle of Earth-Moon in window? Timing of flight?
(Note to others on this BBS: This is the POLITE way to inquire a person regarding an opinion stated as fact, but unsupported by published or referred-to evidence in the message.)
I hate to lecture one or two of you on etiquette - but apparently your mothers never got around to it.)
(Note to Darkstar: It is a tradition on this BBS to present opinion AS opinion, unless you can give canon-grade evidence to support it as factual in the Star Trek ficton. Failure to do so often leads to challenges of a friendly [I would hope] nature.)
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Faster than light - no left or right.