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"[Science fiction] is the one literary medium left in which we have a free hand. We can do any damn thing we please."
- Alfred Bester
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| Supralight Drive | ||
| A propulsion system that allows a spacecraft to travel faster than light. |
Also known as FTL (faster than light) travel.
| "I know, I know it looks like two, maybe three destroyers. Somebody certainly dislikes our passengers. Try to hold them off somehow until I can finish the programming for the supralight jump..." "How long before you can make the jump?" Kenobi inquired easily, apparently unconcerned that at any second they all might cease to exist. "We're still within the gravitational influence of Tattooine, came the cool response. "It will be a few minutes yet before the navigation computer can compensate and effect an accurate jump." |
| From Star Wars,
by George Lucas. Published by Del Rey in 1976 Additional resources -
|
I'm not sure who invented the idea of FTL travel; Arthur C. Clarke used the concept in 1932 in his first novel Against the Fall of Night. The idea was discussed by Albert Einstein in association with relativity theory; according to the general theory, FTL travel is not possible. No experiments have been done in which an object is shown to travel faster than light.
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'I filled your bullet hole with flesh putty and the lattice.'
'... it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.'
'From the tower's huge octagonal base radiate wide silvery strips...'
'It was about five feet long... a black bullet head and red camera eyes.'
'The Law Society has strict rules on the use of pseudo-intelligent software...'
