"Colin Kapp - The Imagination Trap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kapp Colin)

intentions divined aright, that maynтАЩt be a very long-term prospect.тАЭ
Porter turned with a smile from the drafting machine. тАЬI take it that you have just
concluded an interview with Diepenstrom. He tends to induce that depressive attitude in
interviews. Anyway, glad to have you join the team, Eric. On the type of project weтАЩre
planning weтАЩre going to need all the expertise we can get.тАЭ
тАЬEven in psychology?тАЭ
тАЬEspecially in psychologyтАФand your own understanding of the irrational. Eric, weтАЩre going
into a complex which doesnтАЩt begin until a point way beyond where our physics endsтАФout
into a region from which nothing vaguely rational has ever been recovered. What happens to
things out in deep-Tau is completely beyond our experience. ThatтАЩs why I feel a sight happier
to know youтАЩre going to be alongside.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩm with you, Paul . . . although just now IтАЩm damned if I can think of a convincing reason
why. WhatтАЩs the big attraction about going into deep-Tau anyway?тАЭ
тАЬBecause itтАЩs there, I guess. Man isnтАЩt built to live happily on the edge of the unknown. And
if weтАЩre ever to get to the stars, then deep-Tau is the only possible route.тАЭ
тАЬNot spaceflight?тАЭ
Porter was slightly amused. тАЬHardly. Unless there are some very radical changes in our
concept of normal physics, we donтАЩt have either the engines or the power sources necessary
to make such a journey in manтАЩs lifetime. And we probably never will have. Mass-energy
relationships alone rule that out quite firmly.тАЭ
тАЬYouтАЩve just shattered my dream of the space age,тАЭ said Brevis.
тАЬExcept for a ruinously expensive exploration of the Solar system, it never was more than
a dream,тАЭ said Porter.
тАЬBut doesnтАЩt that apply to deep-Tau travel also?тАЭ
тАЬNot completely. In Tau-space there are no gravitational gradients to overcome, and
mass-energy relationships and some aspects of Relativity donтАЩt hold strictly true. DonтАЩt ask me
to show you the maths, because weтАЩre still trying to understand it ourselves, but Tau-space
provides us with a potential medium in which we can circumvent a lot of the physical
absolutes which make conventional interstellar spaceflight an impossibility. Even the speed
of light is no longer a limiting velocity.тАЭ
тАЬBut arenтАЩt the power requirements still prohibitive?тАЭ
тАЬTheyтАЩre high, but they donтАЩt climb to infinity or anything like. Even today itтАЩs theoretically
possible to build a ship which could make a thirty-two light year round trip through deep-Tau
to Altair and back under its own power.тАЭ
тАЬPhew! I begin to see the attraction.тАЭ
тАЬPrecisely,тАЭ said Porter. тАЬIf we canтАЩt reach the stars via Tau-space then itтАЩs doubtful if we
shall ever reach them. But standing in our way is a set of problems so imponderable that we
donтАЩt know how to begin to start to solve them.тАЭ
тАЬHow much do we know about these problems?тАЭ
тАЬLamentably little. Apart from the monstrosities in the vaults which came back on
automatic-recall vectors, all our information is limited to transmitted verbal and telemetered
material gathered during the first few hours of a probe vector runтАФthat is to say, before the
vessels achieved the speed of light.тАЭ
тАЬSo the speed of light is a limiting velocity?тАЭ
тАЬNot in the usual sense. Neither is it a failure of communication due to D├╢ppler effect.
This is something truly frightening in its implications.тАЭ
тАЬGo on!тАЭ Brevis said, noting the look in PorterтАЩs eyes.
 тАЬWhen the probe vessel reaches the velocity of light our receiver here at Tau Research
breaks down. The probe continues to transmit, but we canтАЩt receive its signals.тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt understand,тАЭ said Brevis.