Martin, George - FTA v1.0.htm

Hyperspace exists. Of thatthere can be no doubt. We have proved it mathematically. While we cannot knowthe laws of hyperspace as yet, we can be certain that they are not the laws ofnormal space. In hyperspace, there is no reason to suppose that the limitingvelocity of light will apply. So all that remains is to find a means of movingfrom normal space to hyperspace, and back again. Give me the funds to find ahyperdrive, and I will give you the stars!

Dr. Frederik D. Canferelli,founder of the FTL Foundation, addressing the Committee on TechnologicalAssessment, World Senate, Geneva,

May 21, 2016

EVERYONE KNOWS AN ANT CAN'T MOVE ARUBBER TREE PLANT Motto of the FTL Foundation

Kinery entered in a rush, a thickfile bulging under his arm. He was an aggressive young man, with short blondhair and a spike beard and a no-nonsense manner. He showed no deference.

Jerome Schechter, the deputydirector of the FTL Foundation, watched through tired eyes while Kinery satdown without invitation, and slammed his file onto Schechter's cluttered desk.

"Morning, Schechter,"Kinery said curtly. "I'm glad I finally broke through your palace guard.You're a very difficult man to get to see, you know that?"

Schechter nodded. "And you'revery persistent," he said. The deputy director was a large man, layered infat, with heavy eyebrows and a shock of thick gray hair.

"One has to be persistent indealing with you people. Schechter,

I'm not going to waste words. I'vebeen getting a runaround from FTL, and I want to know why."

"A runaround?" Schechtersmiled. "I don't know what you mean."

"Let's not play games. Youand I both know that I'm one of the best damn physicists to come along in manyyears. You've seen my papers on hyperspace, if you keep up with your specialtyat all. You should know that my approach is valid. I've given the field itsbiggest kick in the pants since Lopez. And he was thirty years ago. I'm on thetrack of a hyperdrive engine, Schechter. Everybody who knows anything knowsthat.

"But I need funding. Myuniversity can't meet the costs of the equipment I need. So I came to the FTLFoundation. Damn it, Schechter, you people should have been overjoyed to get myapplication. Instead, I get a year's worth of stalling, then a turndown. And Ican't even get an explanation out of anyone. You're always in conference, yourassistants hand me doubletalk, and Lopez seems to be on a permanentvacation."

Kinery folded his arms and satback in his seat stiffly. Schechter played with a paperweight, and sighed."You're angry, Mr. Kinery," he said. "It never pays to getangry."

Kinery leaned forward again."I have a right to be angry. The FTL Foundation was set up for theexpress purpose of finding a hyperspace drive. I am about to do just that. Yetyou won't even give me a hearing, let alone money."

Schechter sighed again."You're working under several misapprehensions. To begin with, the FTLFoundation was created to research a method of faster-than-light travel. A stardrive, let us say. Hyperspace is only one avenue toward that end. Right now,we're pursuing other avenues that look more promising. We ..."

"I know all about those otheravenues," Kinery interrupted. "Dead ends, all of them. You're wastingthe taxpayers' money. And my God, some of things you're funding! Allison andhis teleportation experiments. Claudia Daniels with her nonsense about anesper-engine. And Chung's time-stasis hypothesis! How much are you giving him?If you ask me, the FTL Foundation's been mismanaged ever since Canferellidied. The only one who was going in the right direction at all was Lopez, andyou loons took him out of the field and made him an administrator."

Schechter looked up and studiedhis guest. Kinery's face was a trifle flushed, and his lips were pressedtightly together. "I understand you've been to see Senator Markham,"the deputy director said. "Do you intend to bring these charges to hisattention?"

"Yes," Kinery saidsharply. "Unless I get some answers. And I guarantee you that if thoseanswers don't satisfy me, I'm going to see to it that the Senate TechnologyCommittee takes a good long look at the FTL Foundation."

Schechter nodded. "Verywell," he said. "I'll give you your answers. Kinery, do you have anyidea how crowded Earth is right now?"

Kinery snorted. "Of course,I"

"No," Schechter said."Don't brush it off. Think about it. It's important. We don't have any roomleft, Kinery. Not here, not anywhere on Earth. And the colonies on Mars andLuna and Callisto are jokes, we both know that. Man's in a dead end. We needthe stars for racial survival. The FTL Foundation is the hope of mankind, andthanks to Canferelli, the public sees the Foundation only in terms ofhyperspace."

Kinery was not appeased."Schechter, I've gotten enough bull from your staff during the past year.I don't need any from you."

Schechter just smiled. Then herose and walked to the window, to look out on the sky-crowding towers of themegalopolis around them. "Kinery," he said without turning, "didyou ever wonder why Lopez has not funded a hyperspace research project since hebecame director? After all, it was his field."

"I ...", Kinery began.

Schechter cut him off. "Nevermind," he said. "It isn't important. We fund the crackpot theoriesthat we fund because they're better than nothing. Hyperspace is the dead end,Kinery. We keep the myth alive for the public, but we know better."

Kinery grimaced. "Oh, comenow, Schechter. Take a look at my papers. You give me the funding and I'll giveyou a hyperspace engine within two years."

Schechter turned to face him."I'm sure you would," he said, in a voice infinitely weary. "Youknow, Canferelli once said there was no reason why the limiting velocity oflight should apply in hyperspace. He was right. It doesn't.

"I'm sorry, Kinery. Really Iam. But Lopez gave us a hyperdrive thirty years ago. That's when we discoveredthat the limiting velocity in hyperspace is not the speed of light.

"It's slower, Kinery. It's slower."

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