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Subject: TML Bundle #171: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2138  11-Feb-91 gt4534b@prism.gat 100 diameter rule << carlf@agora.rain.com wri
2139  11-Feb-91 C450160@UMCVMB.MI HELP ME... I WANT FILES << Dear fellow travel
2140  12-Feb-91 True Friends Chan jumping near gravity sources << pardon me whi
2141  09-Feb-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Voyage of the Gamla Bettan [fiction] << Long 
2142  12-Feb-91 al646@cleveland.F Jump Distances and Psionics << I have been re
2143  12-Feb-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi 100 Diameters....I think....*BOOOOOOOOM* << M
2144  12-Feb-91 Mark F. Cook      New MT software on Sunbane << I've just added
2145  13-Feb-91 bonnevil@acc.stol Re: Jump Distances and Psionics << I agree th
2146  13-Feb-91 Dan Corrin        Jumping near gravity sources. << In regards t
2147  13-Feb-91 Dan Corrin        Jump collisions and velocities << T.L. Hayes 



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2138
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 91 15:48:58 -0500
From: gt4534b@prism.gatech.edu (JARRIO,MARTIN MICHAEL)
Subject: 100 diameter rule





carlf@agora.rain.com writes:



>But who's to say the gravitons behave similar to quantum mechanics? It may
>be that the "size" of the graviton is dependent on the size of the "radiating"
>body.  Then the explanation for the 100 diameter rule could read something
>like this...



  (details deleted)



   The problem with your argument is that greater mass NECCESSARILY implies
greater flux (i.e. density) of gravitons in the vicinity of that mass. Thus
more massive bodies will always require greater distances to safe jump points
(all other things being equal...). The idea that the SIZE of the body matters
is rubbish. (It can be demostrated that a spherical mass distribution can be
treated as a point mass located at the center of the distribution, as long as
you remain outside the radius of the object.) Only mass, and the distance from
that mass, are of concern. That's why, as a physicist, I have always disliked
the idea of travelling "X" diameters to the jump point.



    With this in mind (a solar system composed entirely of effective point
masses), the problem is to develop a suitable mearure for the degree of local
space-time curvature due to gravitational influnces. Clearly, stars will have a
large influence ( with mass scales about 1E+5 to 1E+7 times larger than planet
a large influence (their mass scale is about 1E+5 to 1E+7 times larger than
planetary scales). In order to minimize their affect, curvature should fall
off very rapidly with distance. As an earlier article pointed out, a 1/r**2
fall-off (obtained by measuring gravitational FORCE) has some setbacks. It is
obvious that a 1/r fall-off (the result of measuring gravitational POTENTIAL)
would be even worse. Perhaps by defining a gravitational "CURVATURE" which
falls off as 1/R**3, we can get better results.



    What would such a fall-off do? It just might solve our problems. Look:
Mass is given by Density*(Radius**3). Thus a curvature like Mass/(Distance**3)
would be the same as:



       Curvature = Density/(RELATIVE Distance)**3

where relative distance is really just the number of DIAMETERS away.Sum this
expression over all bodies in the system (in practice, we need sum only over
stars and the planet or gas giant involved) to find the total curvature. If 
this sum is less than a critical value, jump is possible. If we ignore the 
affect of stars (say we are sufficiently far away) ,we can invert the equation
above to get the jump distance:



       N = (density/curvature constant)**0.333



This actually explains the 100 diameter rule: because curvature falls off as 
1/R**3, we can calculate jump distance as a constant distance relative to the
planetary diameter (although the diameter really  HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT)!
However, there is a small correction due to the density of the planet, but that
is no great problem.





For example consider a jump from Terra. (Density=1.00, Diam.=12,740 km).
Suppose than it exactly 100 diameters to the jump point (travelling straight
away from Terra and Sol). This implies a critical curvature constant (CCC)
of 1.2E-6 (Sol has density about .25 Terran, and 1 AU is about 108 solar
diameters). Or for a "10 diameter" jump, the CCC is 1E-3. For simplicity,
say the two CCC's are 1E-6 and 1E-3, respectively. Then risky jump is still
at 10 diameters (127,400 km), while safe jump is at 108 Terran diameters
(1,375,920 km). Note the coincidence: safe jump is 108 Terran diameters away
from Terra, and 108 SOLAR diameters from Sol. This is a true coincidence,
but I LIKE IT. Cosmic Synergy and Synchronicity and Fabulous Portents of the
Unknown....

    Any way the only trick left is to find out how far one must go in a 
given direction away from the planet in order to get curvature below the 
critical level. It will, of course vary with direction, if you want to pick
nits with me. There's two options: get a computer whiz to come up with a code
(I ALMOST did), or do what I did--stick with the 10/100 diameter rule ( you
can use the (density)**0.333 effect if you like), because otherwise you can
get bogged down in overly technical scientific mumbo-jumbo (like I do at the
office), rather than enjoy the role-playing (which I do in my SPARE time).

Any way. I've vomited my two cents worth. That's why nobody likes us
physicists--we overkill science.


                         Marty Jarrio (Physicist at large)
                        " Ray, get that tranquilizer gun..he's a vicious one"


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2139
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 91 19:53:27 CST
From: C450160@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU
Subject: HELP ME... I WANT FILES



Dear fellow travellers,
  Here I am at the TAS and I seem to have lost my membership card... Seriously,
I'm having BIG problems getting any of the archive packages at sunbane.engrg.
uwo.ca. I can get into the system and get any file I want BUT... I work on an I

BM CMS system and these files have been compressed using a compression routine
for a UNIX based system. Now before anyone flames me, I have been looking for a
way around this problem for two weeks. I'm no wizard, but I'm no rookie either.
I am asking you, my fellow travellers of this trouble universe, to aid me in
aquiring a program to use so that I may get the files to a CMS system, then dow
nload them to either a Mac or an IBM type machine.
   I am throwing myself at your mercy. Please help this poor soul.


Michael T. Finn                    aka Anton Pavelchek
c450160@umcvmb.missouri.edu        Capt. A2 far trader Star Vixen

"Captain, this economy computer just doesn't cut it!"
"Shut up and hand me those fire control punch cards..."


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2140
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 10:45:26 EST
From: True Friends Change Your Life  12-Feb-1991 1014 <baranski@meridn.enet.dec.COM>
Subject: jumping near gravity sources



pardon me while I reiterate...



If I understand the situation correctly, Traveller's 100 diameter distance from
a planet necessary for a safe jump, doesn't match the assumption that jumps
need to take place in a near zero gravity, below some threshold according to
the 1/r^2 attenuation of gravity as you move away from a gravity source.

First, the diameter of the planet doesn't matter, it's the total mass of the
planet, and the distance from the center of the gravity.

Second, the 1/r^2 attenuation comes up with a distance well under 100 diameters
for most planets, yet the threshold 1/r^2 attenuation of a star's gravity ends
up typically being well past the orbit of habitable planets.


So, someone proposes using a 1/r^3 attenuation for gravitic curvature?
Interesting, in BattleTech, the jump points are typically above the poles of
the star.



What about the points between the star and the planet where their gravity
cancels each other?  Would that be a viable jump point?



Jim Baranski
Norwich CT



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2141
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Voyage of the Gamla Bettan [fiction]
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 91 20:33:33 MET



  Long in the making and even longer in the promise of making, finally here it
is. A somewhat novelized version of my current Traveller campaign. The campaign
started in 87 and still is going strong (although only one of the original 
characters still is alive). We only had the Traveller Book way back then
when we started and the most fearsome marines were armed with autorifles, but
I've tried to make it somewhat up to date and resolve any conflicts with 
the official Traveller universe.



   If you like it, let me know, and if you dislike it, let me know what you
dislike. I am fairly certain that I'll be able to keep them comming with
some sort of regularity.



===============================================================================

Copyright (C) 1990,1991 Bertil K K Jonell, All Rights Reserved, Permission is 
hereby granted to the TML to distribute and store this document on the TML and 
associated ftp-sites and to the Members of the TML to store it if they should
find it interesting enough:)



Written and Directed by: Bertil K K Jonell
Corrected by: Olof Dahlberg, Tomas Eriksson and Reine Hansson
Starring: Olof Dahlberg, Tomas Eriksson, D J Fredrik Granholm, Mikael Rubin and
	  Henrik Sjo"strand.

Rating: R (People get shot, and when they do they use harsh language, although
	   nobody has ever mentioned the word "Belgium".. Except me, that is..)

Ships and Vehicles provided by the IISS, the IMC and the Roupian Army.



                 Voyage of the "Gamla Bettan" part One

                                Prologue:

Time: 023-1114  2340 hours Local

Location: Roup/Regina/Spinward Marches



Excerpt from Library Data: Roup/Regina (0407 C77A9A9-6): TAS Amber Zone. 
Waterworld situated on the express boat route from Regina to Efate. Its 
population of 3.4 billions is concentrated on the peaks of a few underwater 
mountains, the only dry land on the world. Real food (as opposed to the local 
fish and plankton concentrates) is highly prized by the population.



   The closed snowjeep plowed through the deep drifts and its headlights 
illuminated the descending snow-flakes. It's tracks spread a cloud-like 
mass of snow in a wide arc when the vehicle skidded around a corner and 
briefly visited the sidewalk, narrowly missing a pedestrian.
   "Don't worry about the civvies, trooper. We *do* have over-population here 
on Roup." Major Schmallhaussen said dryly. "But try to avoid that signpost over 
there, it might damage our sneep."
   With a lurch to the left the sneep avoided the obstacle. The driver pulled 
hard on the wheel as the vehicle almost lost its purchase in the deep snow. 
After a brief look to make sure that they were driving in the right direction, 
Major Schmallhaussen turned around to face those in the backseat.
   "Do you know which pad those hooligans are using, Mr Troop?" he asked a 
person dressed in thin but warm-looking parka, obviously an off-world item.
   "Pad fourteen or forty, I think." James P Troop answered, "It was hard to 
hear, the wind drowned out the sounds."
   "There are only 35 pads on the port, Major" the other person in the back 
interjected.
   "I know that, Corporal." Schmallhaussen cut him off. "There is no need for 
you to repeat truisms all the time".
   The sneep braked to a stop in the well-illuminated space in front of the 
marine guardpost at the starport gates. The guard came out of the building and 
the driver opened the side window. When the marine saw the military markings 
on the sneep and that the people inside were armed she said something into her 
headset and unslung her gauss before continuing.
   "I want to see some army ID's on you guys and your permits..."
   The Major pushed his ID out through the window before she could finish the 
sentence. "My name is Major Schmallhaussen, I'm from the State Security and 
this is an emergency! A number of criminal hooligans are preparing to smuggle 
in a large consignment of illegal foodstuffs from a ship in this starport,
thereby undermining our society and the faith in our Great Leader and seriously
threatening the Roupian Way of Life. I demand that you open the gates at once!"
the marine cringed when she heard Schmallhaussens political monologue.
   "Well, Mr Propaganda, this port is Extraterritorial. You have no 
jurisdiction here."
   "As I said, this is an emergency. Those criminals might be unloading even as
we speak. And this man" he indicated Troop "is the only one that will recognize
them. Now, will you open the gate?"
   "Hang on a sec, I got to check with the Lieutenant about this." She turned 
away and began to speak into the headset. After a few long seconds the gate 
began to open. The marine pulled an small object out of a pocket of her CES, 
pressed a button and gave it to Schmallhaussen. "This is a marine communicator. 
I've preset it to the guard tactical frequency. All you have to do is press the
big button on the side and speak."
   "We *do* have radios on Roup, you know" Schmallhaussen interjected. The 
marine pretended not to notice and continued "When you have found the ship, 
observe and call on the guards, No shooting, No arrests, No anything, just call
the Starport guards."
   "Of course, we don't want an diplomatic incident, do we?" Schmallhaussen 
answered ironically. he indicated to the driver to start. "Put the pedal to the
metal now, trooper. Follow the signs to Pad 14"
   The tracks spun and the sneep rapidly accelerated away, leaving the marine 
in a cloud of snow.
   The starport covered a large area and lacked illumination. Because of the 
almost complete lack of dry land on Roup it had been placed on Roups southern 
icecap. Now it was summer on the northern hemisphere, so the weather at 
Antarctica Starport was at its worst. But the placement had one big advantage. 
It made it very easy for the dictator of Roup and his security forces to 
control access to the starport.
  A few minutes later the sneep had found its way to Pad 14 and Schmallhaussen, 
Moeller and the Corporal disembarked. Troop looked up at the hull of the 
starship that loomed above them and read the name out loud "Free Trader 'Jason'
from Regina. Yes, that was the name they mentioned."
   Schmallhaussen instructed the driver "Drive to the barracks, get the guards 
and take them here. We don't know if the criminals have means to detect 
transmissions so I won't use the communicator"
   The driver saluted and drove off. The sound of the engine faded quickly 
and soon only the wind could be heard. On the neighbouring pads the ships 
stood dark and silent, their crews undoubtedly sleeping. "Either in their warm 
staterooms or in the equally warm hotel rooms in Startown" the corporal 
thought. The major's voice pulled him back to reality. "Lets take a look at 
that ship", Schmallhaussen said, flipped off the safety from his SMG and began 
to advance towards the ship. "Follow me."
   They hadn't walked more than ten meters when Moller, who was in the rear, saw
something move behind the far landing-gear. He took a small penlight out of his
pocket and flashed it briefly two times towards the movements.
   From behind the landing-gear came a shot that hit number two, the corporal, 
who crumpled without a sound. The sound of the carbine was muffled by the wind 
and the snow. "Good shot Preben!" Troop said into a commdot that was hidden 
beneath his collar "For a scout, that is!". "The shot was easy enough" Preben 
Moeller answered. "The hard part was to locate number two. This snow plays hell 
with the IR! Perhaps I should've put a round in each of you, just to be sure."
   Schmallhaussen bent down and searched for the corporals pulse. "Don't worry"
Troop told him as he took the corporal's SMG, "Preben used a tranq round."
   "I think he'll keep warm enough until the guards get here" said 
Schmallhaussen and held up the communicator, smiling. "This was a bonus. 
Why don't we use it?"
   While Preben Moeller and Troop fired shots and salvoes into the air in the 
background, Schmallhaussen yelled into the communicator about an ambush and 
demanded immediate reinforcements. He finished the transmission by placing the 
communicator in the snow and firing a burst from his SMG into it. They then 
proceeded to make footprints all around the ship and finally Schmallhaussen 
poured out blood from a bag he had nicked in the battalion hospital earlier 
in the evening.
   "Lets get out of here" Moeller said and pointed towards his air/raft "The 
marines will be here any minute now."
   "I'm already here!" Troop said, grinning.
   "Yeah, But you're retired! By the way, not even a kid would be frightened 
by your stupid face."
   Troop snorted and added proudly "Once a Marine, always a Marine!" as he 
borded Moellers IISS-issue air/raft. "At last, a *real* vehicle. Not some 
stone-age 'sheep'".
   "Sneep" Schmallhaussen corrected. "We call them sneeps. It's short for 
snow jeep"
   "Well whatever, You ain't gonna believe me Moeller, but that contraption
ran on tracks, *tracks*. And it was powered by real bloody *combustion engine*,
you know, the ones that burn good booze and spews smoke all around. Might as 
well have been a sled pulled by grazing herbivores. If we had those things in 
the IMC we'd still be the Sylean Marine Corps, I tell you..."
   After a short flight at the lowest possible altitude and a long monologue 
from Troop at his best, in a loud voice, the three accomplices reached 
Moeller's ship.
   "Here she is: Gamla Bettan, The best scout ship behind the claw!" Preben 
said proudly.
   "It's certainly the oldest..." Troop blurted forth.
   "All it needs is some paint. Hurry up and get inside, The countdown is 
proceeding and Tower will call any minute now."
   Even in the airlock Schmallhaussen thought he smelled something, and when 
the cycle was finished and the inner iris opened the suspicion went to 
certainty. From the ships interior came a smell as from well used barracks, not
ventilated for weeks. "Phew! Smells like boot camp." Schmallhaussen turned 
towards Troop, "Is this because of the corps or a corpse?"
   "Verrrrry funny, dustkicker" Troop answered sourly.
   "We would be glad to have any dust to kick on Roup."
   "It's the air-regenerators" Preben called from the bridge."They are of the 
same type as the ones they use in the standard Type S." He turned his attention
to the controls. An irritated voice boomed forth from the commo panel.
   "Tower calling Gamla Bettan, Answer me, you deadhead's!"
   "Eh, Umm, Gamla Bettan here."
   "That's better, Where the hell have you been? We've been trying to call you 
for at least ten minutes."
   "We had some, ehh, problems with the, ehh, powerplant, but it is fixed now."
   "You're sure it keeps together until orbit at least? Fishing ships out of 
the 'eitch to oh' is a bloody nuisance."
   "Don't worry, It'll work"
   "Well then, where were I... Oh yeah, You are clear to start at 0005 hours 
local, that's in zero three minutes, The airspace is clear and the weather's on
your computer. When you have lift-off follow ascent-path nine, red marker, to 
low orbit at 140 clicks. You are logged for three complete orbits."
   "Can't you cut that a bit? I've got a date on Feri."
   "Oh, you do eh, nudge, nudge, Ok then, the system is quiet tonight, scratch 
the orbit, go directly to Onehundred Dee, Do not, I repeat, do not pass 'GO'"
   "Thanks Tower, Over 'n Out from Gamla Bettan."

   Back at the "Jason" the marines had found the tranqed corporal and the signs
of the "battle". They made a quick search of the area which turned up nothing 
so they turned their attention to the ship.
   After hailing it (to no avail since the crew was sleeping off the effects of
an evening in startown provided by a certain ex-marine by the name of Mr Troop) 
Lieutenant Gargishiid took the decision to blow the hatch.
   "Lieutenant! The ship is empty, sir!" sergeant Fulimara reported as he came 
out of the destroyed airlock, "there's neither contraband nor weapons in there,
and no trace of that major."
   The iridescent radiance of hot thruster-plates that pierced the thin blanket 
of falling snow answered the liutenant's unspoken question. As the glow 
accelerated upwards and disappeared into the low clouds he began yelling in 
the communicator "Tower! Tower! Gargishiid here! Stop that ship, I repeat, 
stop that ship! They have the major and the contraband on board!"
   He jumped into the air/raft and took off towards the tower.
   In the common room of the Gamla Bettan Schmallhaussen was searching for a 
refrigerator to raid.
   "By the way, I don't think I have introduced myself." He extended one hand, 
while the other was occupied opening various cupboards, hatches and lockers 
"Major Werner Schmallhaussen, State Security. Or perhaps I should say, Ex-State 
Security"
   "Force Commander James P Troop, Imperial Marine Corps". They shook hands 
"How are you related to Moeller?"
   "He's my cousin. My mother's sister managed to get off Roup, but had a few, 
ehh, misadventures, and ended up in the slums of Efate." Schmallhaussen finally 
found a fridge, or something that he suspected served the same purpose. "Yummy,
*Real* food!" He began to rifle through it. "Hey, what's this? Plankton Beef? 
Crustacean Candy?? Seaweed Bread??? That's not food, that's from Roup!"
   "Yeah, we had to stock new grub 'cause the old load was beginning to smell.
How much time to jump, Preben? I don't wanna get caught red-handed with a 
deserter onboard!" he yelled at the bridge.
   "I'm not a deserter..." Werner began to protest. Moeller interrupted 
"We've got 400 seconds more in the atmosphere. Then it'll take, lets see... 
4 hours 9 minutes and 26 seconds to Onehundred Dee, Fast enough?"
   "What? Have we started? I didn't notice anything." a perplexed Werner asked,
began looking for a window and continued "As I was going to say, I'm not a 
deserter."
   "Riight" Troop grinned.
   "No really! I'll finish my last term of service today at 2400" he looked at 
his watch and smiled "Correction, I finished it ten minutes ago. But then, 
however, there was this little matter with a forced-reenlistment bill from 
Supreme HQ that's waiting in the mail, and there's no way I could have gotten 
an emigrant visa until after I had got that letter from SHQ. By the way, aren't 
there any windows on this thing?"
   "The only big one 's on the bridge. How did you know you were going to get 
the letter? Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Troop almost fell over 
laughing when he saw that Werners fiddling with the controls of the iris to the
bridge only managed sealing it harder. "Press that other button. NOOOO! NOT 
THE RED ONE!!!" he practically jumped the few meters to the fore bulkhead and 
forcibly prevented Schmallhaussen from pressing the "Emergency Blow" button for
the iris valve.
   "OK, Schmallhaussen, listen very carefully now, cause I shall say this only 
once: Until Preben or I have thaught you all you need to know about the ship,
Don't...Touch...Anything! This" he indicated the valve "is called an iris valve.
Unless it opens by itself you open it by pressing this green button. Any 
questions?"
   "Yes, what are all the other buttons for?"
   "They're advanced options for expert users, don't touch them!"
With Werner in tow, Troop entered the bridge where Preben was engaged in an 
agitated discussion with Traffic Control. Werner immediately went to the main 
viewport and placed himself in front of Moeller.
   "No we are *not* going to turn around just because you have had some 
immense foul-up at the port." He held a hand over the mike and asked 
Schmallhaussen "Werner, do you mind? I'd like to see were I am flying."
   "Oh, sorry"
   "According to paragraph forty-two in the Imperial..." Preben cut them short 
with "I know what that paragraph says, but it seems that you don't."
   "It says that *you* should land *here* *now* or we'll punch holes in your 
ship big enough to drive an AFV through!" another voice at Traffic Control 
shouted. It was Lieutenant Gargishiid who came bursting through the door 
followed by a blast of Roupian arctic weather.
   "Read that paragraph again guys. It clearly states that it is only 
applicable to civilian ships and this isn't a civilian ship. This is a ship of 
the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service, and if you start punching holes in 
Imperial ships, there will rain marines out of the sky!"
   "Riiight ON!" Troop yelled.
   "You are under suspicion for one or two cases of kidnapping and murder. Both
are high justice crimes. I'll give you one chance of turning back, If you 
haven't complied within one minute we will give you what we have of surface-to-
space missiles!"
   "He sounds pissed," Werner said, "High justice crimes! Wasn't there any 
other way of getting me off Roup? Whose damn idea was this anyway?"
   "His!" Preben and Troop exclaimed in unison, pointing on each other.
   "No way Preben! It was your idea to use a false smuggling to lure him to the
starport!" Troop complained.
   "But it was your idea to mask it as a kidnapping! Any moron could have 
guessed that they wouldn't like a kidnapping! Just like that marine landing on 
Grevgh, Major fiasco from top to bottom!"
   "Eh, guys? One of the screens say 'Missile Alert'" Schmallhaussen said. Even
if this was his first time on a spaceship he was sure that that meant trouble.
   "Who's ops do you call a fiasco? It was a perfectly executed vertical 
envelopment from orbit. Who would have guessed that the enemy had left six
months ago?"
   "LOOK AT THE BLOODY SCREENS!!!!" Werner yelled.
   "Shuddup, Werner, we are having an discussion!" Troop said.
   "What? What about them?" Werner cast a glance on the main screens "That's 
just a missile alert.....MISSILE ALERT???" He threw the ship into a sharp roll 
and dive and Werner, who had been looking out the window, suddenly turned very 
green.
   "What kind of antiship missiles do you have on Roup?" Troop asked worriedly.
   "Blurrp" Schmallhaussen answered as he tried to reconcile what his eyes told
him with what the rest of his senses said. "Big ones," he struggled with his 
stomach, "20 meters long passive radar homing missiles with proximity fusing 
and a 200kt warhead! Brand new stuff, we bought them just after the 5th FW."
   Preben swore silently and pushed Gamla Bettan even lower, down into the 
surface fog. "We have to get below the port's radar horizon, then they can't 
paint us with the designators." He pulled up suddenly when a big freighter 
appeared out of a fogbank. They heard the 'clang' as Gamla Bettan struck a 
piece of rigging.
   "That was CLOSE!" Troop breathed.
   "Tell me about it! Where is that bloody missile?"
   Troop looked at the screens "Still after us, but too high, and we are losing
their signal."
   "I think they are designed to blow if they lose their signal..."
   "Preben! It's diving! Break Left!!"
   As the LSP Thunderstrike came hurtling down, Preben made a 90 degree turn 
and pushed the thrusterplates overload-meters way up into the red area. The 
missile did not change course to follow them. When it discovered that the 
target was gone, it triggered the warhead and disappeared in an expanding 
fireball of plasma while still high above the ocean.
   On Gamla Bettan even five centimeters of superdense hull didn't mute the 
sound of the explosion. Simultaneously, several status lights switched from 
green to red. Moeller fought with the controls and gradually most of the lights
began to revert to green.
   "No major damage, thank our lucky stars, and the starport is below the 
horizon now. Phew! That was a close one!" Preben let out a sigh as he let the 
ship continue forward in a slight climb. "I don't think we should go to Feri, 
though. Anybody got anything against jumping to Whanga, scooping, and continuing
to Efate? We got to get to Pixie before 070 to meet Miandwhypt and this way 
we'll get three weeks on Efate to install new air-regenerators."
   Troop and Werner didn't have any objections.
   "Do you think they'll put out a 'wanted' on us, Troop?" Werner asked as they
left the atmosphere.
   "That depends. If they suspect that this isn't a kidnapping or murder, just 
a set-up to get you off Roup, and especially if they blasted their way into 
that innocent trader, they will try to put a lid on it and "forget" it very 
fast." He grinned. "After all, that's standard marine procedure for situations 
like this!"





                              Intermission:

Time: 041-1114  0750 hours Local
Location: At the 100 diameter line above Efate/Regina/Spinward Marches



   Despite various warning lights throughout the trip, Gamla Bettan exited 
jumpspace in no worse condition than usual, and at the intended place. 
Everyone was gathered on the bridge, even Schmallhaussen who had spent the 
entire jump-time in bed.
   "I can see Efate!" Troop said when he found the small, blue-gray, orb 
contrasted against the black background.
   "3 hours 50 minutes and we will get comparatively fresh air again"
   "That's not important, Moeller, What's important is that in just four hours 
we can buy every weapon we can dream about" Troop said starry-eyed.
   "No," Schmallhaussen corrected them, "Most important is that we in four 
hours will get...*Real* food!"

===============================================================================

- - -bertil-

- - -- 

>From the foolfile:
"The Baltic states are not occupied"  -  Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2142
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 12:51:49 -0500
From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)
Subject: Jump Distances and Psionics

I have been reading with some interest the discussion on 10/100 diameter
jump limits.  I continue to jingle my 2 cents but I'm not ready to toss them
into this...yet. :-)  On a related topic, however, has anyone considered
what would happen if a ship were heading out toward a safe jump point and 
suddenly another ship "appeared" (ie dropped out of jump) right in front of
it?  Certainly neither ship could stop nor maneuver in time to avoid the
impending collision.  It seems that there should be designated travel lanes
for outbound and incomming vessels as well as intra-system travel lanes for
boats doing interplanetary travelling.  The outbound lane would naturally
end at a jump zone (at a safe jump distance whatever that may be) and the
incomming lane would start at a safe jump exiting point.  All ships would
then be guided and controlled by the Space Traffic Controllers who would
have regions of control within the system (and no doubt a union).  Then for
most planets (those with Starports of types C or better at least) the Ref
could simply use the 100 diameter travel time as a lower bound on the time
to travel to the safe jump point.  (Ref: "Following the instructions given
you by the Regina Space Traffic Controllers you reach the safe jumping
point in 22 hours and 15 minutes.  You a 15th in line for jump." ;-) )
This doesn't solve the 10/100 problem because not all planets will have
controllers and if you are running for your life from the local authorities
(or some one else) you're unlikely to wait for permission to jump out system
let alone worry about reaching a safe jump point (Imperium Marine Force
Commander: "Add the following moving violations to the list of charges...")

Now on a totally different topic - Psionics.  Impromptu survey:

1) How many people use Psionics in their games?


2) Do you use standard Psionics or some modification (includes added or
   deleted skills or a different system altogether)

3) Is there any interest in some additional Psi skills?  I have some that
   I have been using and (so far) they haven't disrupted the game (read
   unbalanced) or dominated it.  They use standard MT Psi system (task
   rolls etc).  If anyone is interested in seeing them let me know.

4) Do any of you have any additional Psi skills that you could post or send
   to me?  Standard MT Psi system only please.  Also let me know if these
   have been "play tested".

Later


TLH

- - --
T.L.Hayes                  |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu
MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |              - or -
Lexington, MA              |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2143
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 13:13 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: 100 Diameters....I think....*BOOOOOOOOM*


Martin's bit of technospeak is a nifty way to slap a bandaid
justification on why jump drives follow the 100-diameter rule;
I'm going to plug in some other numbers and work out if the
"coincidence" carries to other possible situations. Martin, have
you worked out the math for jumping away from, say, Jupiter? Or
Pluto? What about nearby moons of significant size?



Personally, though, I think I'm going to mess with the 1/r**2
critical point a bit and see if I can come up with something
reasonable for TDR....

metlay

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2144
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: New MT software on Sunbane
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 16:26:24 PST



I've just added 2 software packages to the traveller archive on Sunbane
(and updated a 3rd one), which should help ease the load on you busy
MT referees.

First, there's a C program called 'tnc' (for 'trade-n-commerce') which
automates the tedious trade & commerce drugery of randomly generating
freight, cargo, and passenger lists for your merchant players.  The
program is interactive and requires that you know the UWP for your
source and destination star systems, along with skill levels {Admin,
Streetwise, Broker, Liaison, & Steward} used by your players to modify
the results.  The program, along with documentation and a Makefile,
are in ~ftp/pub/traveller/software/trade.tar.

The second program is called namegen, and generates random words/names,
based on patterns formed by the contents of a template file.  If you
want a list of vaguely oriental-sounding names, just give a list from
your telephone book to namegen and it will crank out permutations based
on that list.  The source, along with documentation, a Makefile, and
an ~1200-line names template file, are in ~ftp/pub/traveller/software/
namegen.tar.



The third program is an updated version of the X-windows base subsector
viewer program, 'ssv'.  This new version allows you to include political
borders in the datafiles, so that they don't have to be re-rendered by
hand each time you regenerate a subsector.  As a result, a '-p' parameter
has also been added, so that a printer file can be produced directly
without the subsector actually being displayed in a window.  The new
copy is located in ~ftp/pub/traveller/software/ssv.c.



Have fun with these things and please let me know about any defects
you find.  I can't fix 'em if I don't know about 'em! :-)


Later,



        - Mark F. Cook (TDR Archivist)


USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330


INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2145
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 91 12:48:39 -0600
From: bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu
Subject: Re: Jump Distances and Psionics





I agree that an Insystem Traffic Control organization would be a vital
necessity for a busy system, especially in two critically dangerous
areas -- everything within the approaches to the main world in the
system, and at the system's primary gas giant.  The chance of hitting
a ship leaving jump as one approaches a jump point is pretty small,
especially in low-traffic systems.  Space is big; I leave it to the
math people to figure out the area of a 100-diameter sphere about a
typical planet, and compare that to the area of a typical starship.
But near a gas giant, you have many ships swooping around at high speed,
who don't know much about the weather down there and are flying nearly
blind as they try to refuel.  Near a main world, traffic would be even
worse; communications sats, weather sats, power sats, restricted orbits
for military use, shuttles, stations, other ships landing and lifting,
suborbital or low orbital surface-to-surface flights, debris from
centuries of space travel, and so on.



Some low tech or remote planets wouldn't need much at all, though.  When
one ship visits a week and you don't have aircraft yet, the sky should
be pretty clear.



You'd still want approach/departure routes to the jump points in 
controlled systems, so that the risk of collision would be reduced.
But once the ship crosses a certain point, it should be more or less
free to file whatever flight plan works best.  Besides, it lets the
government know where it should put its patrol cruisers so that it
can check out incoming ships for customs violations....



By the way, I do use psionics, but very sparingly.  It's more impressive
that way, and gives the game more of a high-tech feel when its not
overdone.  Having it can be useful for little surprises like Zhodani
commandoes teleporting onto the bridge.

- - --Steve

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2146
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 91 16:52:10 EST
From: Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca>
Subject: Jumping near gravity sources.



In regards to the 100 diameter jump guide that I brought up:


First of all I will clarify the situation again.



	1) The whole point of the discussion is not to compe up with a
	   rationaliztion for the rules, rather to figure out an accurate
	   way to caluclate jump distance, so one can use it in unusual
	   circumstances. (eg. Jump distance from an unusually dense world,
	   gas giant, neutron star, or even a Battleship?)

	   

	2) The diameter is a approximation of the mass assuming that
	   all worlds have the same density. The small ones, usually
	   without an iron-nickel core are less dense however.

	   

	3) using 1/r^2 for a large planet (size 8-9, std. density), the
	   attraction of gravity at "100 diameters", is 1/20th the
	   gravity felt by the sun at 1 AU.

	   

The first suggestion proposed by Marty Jarrio, that we use a 1/r^3 method
is reasonable but is handwaving as "according to modern knowledge" gravity
follows a 1/r^2 method.



Calculating the gravity felt by the craft by summing gavity vectors of
significant bodies as Jim Baranski mentioned, has a nice appeal.


First, there will always be points regardless of the masses involved that
the net effect of gravity is less than a certain threshold, by adjusting
the threshold accoringly, we should be able to arrive at a value that will
make safe jumps best at around 100 diameters of the planet.



Second, There will be points, especially in a system with a large moon,
where a jump can be safely made much much closer to the planet, than 100
diameters. These would be small (perhaps even smaller than some ships),
and uncertain to use, which would limit their use. Ships could only use
these on an outbound leg as they would effectively be "islands" of
acceptable gravity level.



Third, in a talk given by Mark Miller, he always intended there to be a
limited (but large) number of points that a ship could jump from/to,
otherwise piracy couldn't exist (qv my other article in this digest).



The only bad part is that the points of low attraction between a habitable
planet and the sun, may also be "islands". Due to the fact that an incoming
ship precipitates out of jump space when it gets to "100 diameters" this
might make leaving quicker than arriving.


				-Dan Corrin


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2147
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 91 17:20:56 EST
From: Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca>
Subject: Jump collisions and velocities

T.L. Hayes brings up another point with jump procedures, one that leads to a
point that I was going to bring up after the 100 diameter limit got worked on
for a while.

> what would happen if a ship were heading out toward a safe jump point and 
> suddenly another ship "appeared" (ie dropped out of jump) right in front of
> it?  Certainly neither ship could stop nor maneuver in time to avoid the
> impending collision.  It seems that there should be designated travel lanes
> for outbound and incomming vessels as well as intra-system travel lanes for
> boats doing interplanetary travelling.


1) Travel zones would be a haven for pirates (assuming no overpowering
   military force in the system - but pirates assume that anyway :-)

   

2) All ships are supposed to jump from "rest". Ie. you accelerate half way
   to the jump point, and deccelerate the other half, so your ship is at
   "rest" w.r.t. the system you are in. In the case sited above the ship
   popping out would have a near zero velocity, and the one approaching
   near zeo. This should be an easy collision to avoid. A meteor, space
   junk, or comet however...

3) The chance of this happening would be close to zero. Considering the
   number of jump points available, and the sizes of the ships. Rember also
   that the ship would appear no closer than "100 diameters" of the outbound
   ship whatever distance that works out to...

Not all jump points are equal! Consider your ship with a zero velocity
w.r.t. the star coming out of jump. If you are travelling to a planet,
your would want to be conveniantly situated. ie. If you come out "100
diameters" behind the planet in its orbit, your would first have to accerate
up to its orbital velocity, and then try to close in the 100 diameters.
You would want to come out ahead of the planet in its orbit, thus the planet
will do most of the work by moving towards you at a good velocity.
This is not reflected in the travel times, however. (Unless you use the
pilot/navigator performance enhancement rules from the starship oerator's
guide). Even then I'd have to check the math.



This next part is based on poor knowledge, but presumably, one would want to
travel retrograde (behind the planet in its orbit) in order to get to safe
jump distance quickly. Thus one would have all the arrivals on one side of the
planet, and the departures on the other, therefore "space lanes" of a sort,
and no collisions.



Now for the can of worms...(all references paraphrased)



The rules state that a ship entering jump space with a velocity, will retain
that velocity when exiting jump space. This is why all ships slow to zero
speed...

For stars with large proper motions jumpspace negates the effect.
Right! Which is it? Are velocities preserved, or are they not? If you assume
that they are normalized w.r.t. each sun, as I have done in the past, then
why, considering that you are moving to a point where gravity and thus
the effects of the sun are inconsequential on jumping, are they normalized?





I'm sorry if I bother some people with these types of questions, but they
are not just looking for scientific explanations of game effects. They
are contridictions in the rules that should be explained in a semi-rational
manner. (actually people bothered by these questions probably won't have
read this far anyways).



				-Dan Corrin



Dan Corrin, System Manager, Mechanical Engineering, UWO, London, Ontario
TML/CZ FTP site coordinator:     dan@engrg.uwo.ca.        (519) 661-3834


------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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------------------------------------------------------------


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From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #172: Table of Contents


-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2148  14-Feb-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Re: Lagrange-jumps, Velocities and 1/r^3 << D
2149  14-Feb-91 Adrian Hurt       Re: Jump distances and psionics << bonnevil@a
2150  14-Feb-91 Robert Crawford    << As for collisions while coming out of jum
2151  14-Feb-91 James T Perkins   Minor mail problems << Due to alt.desert_stor
2152  14-Feb-91 "Nick Christenson 100 diameter stuff. << There's been a lot of 
2153  15-Feb-91 Iain Fogg         Sensors in space << Since the current topic o
2154  18-Feb-91 grue@batserver.cs Re: sensors in space << hiya, Sorry about the
2155  18-Feb-91 grue@batserver.cs Starship loans... << hiya, I've just found an
2156  19-Feb-91 richard@oresoft.C PBEM Turn 10.6 (finally) << PBEM Turn 10.6 **
2157  19-Feb-91 geovision!achille Border Worlds << I have a question for anyone
2158  21-Feb-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi The Border Worlds << ...are an Imperially-ali
2159  21-Feb-91 za057@zeus.unomah Digest Group's software << Did Digest Group e


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2148
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Re: Lagrange-jumps, Velocities and 1/r^3
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 7:52:35 MET


Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca> writes:

> Second, There will be points, especially in a system with a large moon,
> where a jump can be safely made much much closer to the planet, than 100
> diameters. These would be small (perhaps even smaller than some ships),
> and uncertain to use, which would limit their use. Ships could only use
> these on an outbound leg as they would effectively be "islands" of
> acceptable gravity level.

  [..]

> The only bad part is that the points of low attraction between a habitable
> planet and the sun, may also be "islands". Due to the fact that an incoming
> ship precipitates out of jump space when it gets to "100 diameters" this
> might make leaving quicker than arriving.



  I agree with the second paragraph. There are numerous references that no 
matter how bad one misjumps, one cannot appear inside the 100 diameter sphere. 
Since it is possible to enter jump within this sphere, travel in jumpspace to 
another system or planet and appear at their 100 diameter sphere, I interpret 
this as meaning that when a ship cross the limit from the outside and in it will
be thrown out of jump.

  That would be a nasty surprise for anyone who tries to use the Lagrange points
for jumping. They reappear again just outside the same Lagrange point.



  One might argue that the ship should be immune to how normal space looks in a
line from jump entry to jump exit, and I agree with that, but ships are
obvioulsy affected by large bodies when they are "close to normal space" and 
about to exit jump, the same should be true if they've just entered jumpspace.



  A problem with using Lagrange points and basing the 100 diameters on local
gravitation is that it opens the possibility of jumping from a antigrav area
on the surface. (Hmm, and if one mounts the jumpnet and jumpdrive on the 
outside of the ship, and leave them behind, one has got the jump equivalent
of a massdriver for transport purposes. Imagine the savings if one transported
ore between two systems using just *one* jumpdrive but several hundred 
unmanned hulls and with a launch rate of one per 5 minutes or something:)

 

> Third, in a talk given by Mark Miller, he always intended there to be a
> limited (but large) number of points that a ship could jump from/to,
> otherwise piracy couldn't exist (qv my other article in this digest).



  There were an article by him in JTAS about this. Jumpdrives got very limited.
essentially, for each jump-number you could jump to the 100d of the largest mass
in the system. So to jump directly to Earth, you'd need jump-6.

  I don't imagine the system ever became a hit. Not only did it take lots of 
time for the characters to get to the main world if they had a standard ship
like a A or an S, but it required that you knew exactly how the system looked.



  It would also put a crimp on the very popular "jump to the middle of nothing"
to refuel or mothball a ship or whatever unless you happened to know the 
location of a suitable cometary nucleus above some minimum size.



> This next part is based on poor knowledge, but presumably, one would want to
> travel retrograde (behind the planet in its orbit) in order to get to safe
> jump distance quickly.

  I don't think so, When you start to accelerate from the planet you already
have the velocity vector of the planet, so it won't make any difference if you 
accelerate ahead of it or retrograde.

  This is assuming that you have a drive that accelerate using normal physics.
If you use thrusters all bets are off:)

  [on vector preservation in jump]

> that they are normalized w.r.t. each sun, as I have done in the past, then
> why, considering that you are moving to a point where gravity and thus
> the effects of the sun are inconsequential on jumping, are they normalized?

  Perhaps the solution to this and the 100diameter problem is that it isn't 
gravitation that is the deciding factor, and that the unknown deciding factor
(that most physicists ascribe to the properties of jumpspace) decrease with 
1/r^3, and that velocities *are* normalized by the gravitation of the local
star (which decrease with 1/r^2)

> 				-Dan Corrin

- - -bertil-

- - -- 

>From the foolfile:

"The Baltic states are not occupied"  -  Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2149
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Jump distances and psionics
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 10:05:02 GMT



bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu writes:

> 

> You'd still want approach/departure routes to the jump points in 
> controlled systems, so that the risk of collision would be reduced.



On the other hand, channeling the traffic into a few specified regions means
the density of ships increases drastically in those regions.  Most of the
system could be left without specified routes.  Space Traffic Control would
either do nothing, relying on ships' sensors and pilots to avoid collisions,
or at most keep a watch out, and warn any pilot whose ship was approaching
another ship, a restricted area, or any other source of danger.  The main
places where things would really need to be regulated would be the regions
in which traffic got denser anyway, i.e. near the starport and perhaps near
the gas giant.  (Although a gas giant is after all a planet, and a pretty big
one at that - unless there are 10^(my bank balance) ships all trying to compete
for refuelling, there should be little risk of collision there.)  Near the
starport, ships would be ordered into parking orbits until the approach to the
starport was clear.  Many ships simply wouldn't bother landing, and simply use
either their own small craft or shuttles provided by the starport.


- - -- 

 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott



 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs

 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2150
From: Robert Crawford <betel%buhub.bradley.edu@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: 
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 9:10:44 CST


	As for collisions while coming out of jump, I've always
thought of it more along the lines of the ships accelerating
(pre-jump) to match the velocity of the target star, then jumping,
then maneuvering to match with the target planet. Since the ship
maintains its velocity, this will bring out nearly stationary with
respect to the system it jumps to.



>This next part is based on poor knowledge, but presumably, one would want to
>travel retrograde (behind the planet in its orbit) in order to get to safe
>jump distance quickly. Thus one would have all the arrivals on one side of the
>planet, and the departures on the other, therefore "space lanes" of a sort,
>and no collisions.



	I like this system. However, just how accurate are jump drives
supposed to be? Again, my assumption is that they can get you near the
system you're aiming for, and, for good astrogators, relatively near
the planet.



>I'm sorry if I bother some people with these types of questions, but they
>are not just looking for scientific explanations of game effects. They
>are contridictions in the rules that should be explained in a semi-rational
>manner. (actually people bothered by these questions probably won't have
>read this far anyways).



	I'm curious too! Besides, when my campaign gets going, it's
going to have an engineer and a physicist playing in it... If I don't
think of some explanations for these things, they'll run away with
them!



Rob Crawford

betel@buhub.bradley.edu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2151

Subject: Minor mail problems

Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 10:14:39 PST

From: James T Perkins <jamesp@metolius.WR>





Due to alt.desert_storm newsgroup traffic, our site mail/news feed
("wrgate") has been overflowing its mail/news spool.  This causes it to
occasionally drop mail into the bitbucket without a trace.  If you have
sent mail to the TML or me in the last few days, and after a couple days
you see no record of it, please resend it.

James

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Traveller Mailing List Administrator	     James T Perkins @ Tektronix, Inc
traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com	     Beaverton, Oregon, USA
uunet!metolius.wr.tek.com!traveller-request  "Load Auto/Evade, Beowulf!"

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2152
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 91 11:51:05 MST
From: "Nick Christenson, University of Arizona"
Subject: 100 diameter stuff.

There's been a lot of talk about this topic, most of the good stuff
has already been said so hopefully this will be a (final) summary.



My background is that I *am* a theoretical physicist (in training)
specializing in astrophysics.  That's just for the record.



Okay, first, unless the quantization on the gravity field is important
(assume it's not) the *strength* of the field should *not* influence
the motion of anything inside the star ship, including the jump drive.
Any object in free fall in a uniform field will not detect the fact
that they are in said field.  If the field is *not* uniform, then,
in the case of gravity, you will feel what we call tidal forces, which
as was pointed out, fall off as the cube of the distance.  Therefore
the person who pointed out that this was the origin of the 100 
diameter rule was exactly right for the best physical reasons I can
think of (thus minimizing the size of the Physics Nullifier Box needed.)
The 100 diameter rule will be subject to modifications due to density
of the object and length of the starship, but I don't think it will
play to large a role.  I'll do the math if anyone really wants to know.

A new point, just because you jump from 100 diameters away from the 
nearest celestial body doesn't mean that you automatically arrive
that close to your destination, it only provides a lower bound.
How do you know where the body is that you want to get close to from
the next system?  If the system is well known, sure the library 
computer could keep an ephemeris for all the planetary information
and calculate it, but that could be a lot of worlds.  It assumes you
know what *direction* you're heading in from *exactly* or you don't
know where your coordinate axes for the planetary reference frame
will be.  My opinion is that it would be difficult to keep track
of this at best, and the consequences aren't too horriffic.

If one is jumping into Sol system and they don't know where all the
celestial bodies are, I'd just jump into the region between, say,
Earth and Mars orbit.  Or perpendicular to the plane of the system
(if that is known.)  And then accelerate to the planet.  Even at
only 1 g that won't take more than a couple of days, tops.  The
chance of actually hitting something in there is negligible.  Note
that if you aren't showing up in system at 100 diameters, that gives
the pirates (in a fast ship) much more time to match vectors and do
pirate things.  

Finally, the chance of hitting something 100 diameters away from Earth is
basically insignificant even if there are 1000 ships arriving on this
edge each day.  Finally, I see no reason to not be accelerating when
you jump.  So one should be able to make it to jump point that much
faster.

On a related note, assume the jump drive does not violate any 
conservation principles (except information density.)  Then one
ought to reenter jump space with the same momentum and energy as
when one leaves (when you're in jump space this gets transfered to
the vacuum zero point energy or some other magical hand waving
concept.)  This can cause interesting situations when jumping
to a star that has a high proper motion relative to the origin.
In that case, you may *want* to accumulate a lot of momentum
(relative to the center of the galaxy) before jumping so that
one doesn't have to accelerate half way to the planet, if you
see what I mean.  

Enjoy,
Nick Christenson

npc@electron.physics.arizona.edu

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2153
Subject: Sensors in space
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 91 12:33:46 X
From: Iain Fogg <iain@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au>

Since the current topic of discussion is about distances in space (in
particular, the 100 diameter limit), I's like to pose another related
question: How do you handle sensors in space?

In combat, a sensor ops roll has a difficulty profile according to
whatever sensor array you happen to be using, modified by Sensor Ops
skill or computer model and range. The range DM is -1 per square (or
25000 km). That means that even with a Simple sensor ops task and a
model 9 computer, anything beyond 450000 km is invisible. Here's how I
arrived at that number:


	 Best dice roll:  12
	 Computer model: + 9
	 -------------------
			  21
	Number required: - 3
	 -------------------
	  Maximum range:  18 x 25000 = 450000 km
	   (in squares)

That seems totally unreasonable to me, especially when some of the
sensor packages have a Interstellar range.

Notice that any planet size 5+ can't even detect ships out to its 100
diameter radius (without the help of navigation satellites, etc). That
seems really bizarre.

I don't _think_ I've missed anything entirely obvious, have I?

- - - Iain.

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2154
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 91 12:14:21 GMT
From: grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au
Subject: Re: sensors in space



hiya,

	Sorry about the previous message, it escaped be accident and
the configuration we suffer under here, doesn't allow us to stop wayward
messages (anymore).



[That's okay Paul - I fixed it before it got out to the list at large --
James]



Back to the topic itself...



>	 Best dice roll:  12
>	 Computer model: + 9
>	 -------------------
>			  21
>	Number required: - 3
>	 -------------------
>	  Maximum range:  18 x 25000 = 450000 km
>	   (in squares)
>
>That seems totally unreasonable to me, especially when some of the
>sensor packages have a Interstellar range.



After some thought about this problem, I've come up with a possible solution...
The tasks given in the space combat section of the ref's guide are for COMBAT
only.  They represent getting a useful fix on the target.  At the range of
18 squares = 450000000 m = 4.5 * 10^8, it will take 1.5 seconds for light
to travel the distance (c = 3 * 10^8 approx).  So for a passive sensor, you
wait 1.5 seconds to detect something and and least 1.5 for your response to
get back (for lasers it is 1.5, for most other things it will be longer).
This is a totaly round trip time of 3+ seconds!!  In a combat situation this
is a VERY long time and the target will have maneuvered somewhat before your
response hits it.  For an active sensor things are even worse and the figures
come out at about 3 seconds to detect and 1.5 (min) response.  I agree that
a range of 18 is a bit long even for space combat, but going down to a range
of 6 squares, you still have one second response time (which is still quite
large).



Basically, I'd say that the tasks given in the refs guide are for combat
purposes only and that they represent the getting of useful information.
For non-combat sensor scans, a new suite of tasks will have to be devised
which work out to a much longer range.  I haven't defined any such tasks
(yet :-), but I'd be interested in the TML's comments about the idea.





>Notice that any planet size 5+ can't even detect ships out to its 100
>diameter radius (without the help of navigation satellites, etc). That
>seems really bizarre.



This would have to be repaired, a ship that comes out of jump with its
transponder blasting away would have to be detected (it might take a while
for the detection to occur, but it would be known to be present).



			Pauli

seeya

Paul Dale               | Internet/CSnet:            grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au
Dept of Computer Science| Bitnet:       grue%batserver.cs.uq.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Uni of Qld              | JANET:           grue%batserver.cs.uq.oz.au@uk.ac.ukc
Australia, 4072         | EAN:                          grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz
                        | UUCP:           uunet!munnari!batserver.cs.uq.oz!grue
f4e6g4Qh4++             | JUNET:                     grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2155
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 91 12:28:26 GMT
From: grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au
Subject: Starship loans...


hiya,

	I've just found an interesting quirk in the starship/trading
rules in MT.

	A Free Trader costs MCr36.915 (from the Imperial Encyclopedia p81).
	The purchase a starship (same source p89), you put down 20% of
the purchase price (MCr7.383) leaving you with 80% to pay off (MCr29.532)
You pay MCr36.915 / 240 per month = Cr153812.5  You pay this for 480 months,
this is an interest rate of 5.57% per year.  To me this seems a little low.
I'd rate a starship as a high risk investment (piracy, skipping repayments,
bad luck) and it would be quite a large investment.  I don't know what the
interest rates for such investments in the USA are but here in Aust, they are
much much higher than 5.57% (but we do have excessively high interest rates ;-)

	Either the Imperium's banks are a little on the stupid side, or they
get some kind of Imperial subsidy for financing free traders.  No bank would
underwrite a loan on the conditions above (unless the person wanting the loan
could guarantee it in some way or they were a well known buisness-person).

	Comments anyone?

			Pauli

seeya

Paul Dale               | Internet/CSnet:            grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au
Dept of Computer Science| Bitnet:       grue%batserver.cs.uq.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Uni of Qld              | JANET:           grue%batserver.cs.uq.oz.au@uk.ac.ukc
Australia, 4072         | EAN:                          grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz
                        | UUCP:           uunet!munnari!batserver.cs.uq.oz!grue
f4e6g4Qh4++             | JUNET:                     grue@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2156
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: PBEM Turn 10.6 (finally)
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 15:24:28 PST

PBEM Turn 10.6  *********************************************************


My deepest apologies for seeming reticent lately.  especially I
apologise to those of you who asked to join the game, just as mail
service was disappearing.  Send in a brief character sketch, and
whether you want to be R-alpha native, Aslan, or Alcyon crew.  (If
the last, we'll talk the CO into using a "frozen watch" or something.)   
I promise not to apologize any more for taking so long.  Let's just 
say there are lots of extenuating factors.  Because of this nonsense, 
you probably will notice that this turn is a little short, and not 
many people are talking.  Could be for many reasons.

Hope this turn sort of makes sense.  I've taken some really big liberties 
with a few of your characters, but tried really hard to keep it in 
character.  I did this to keep the story line consistent, and have it 
all start to make sense.  If you don't like it you can chew me out 
publicly or privately.  :-)



Don't mail in your next turn-action right away.  go ahead and prepare it, 
but hang on to it.  I still don't have mail completely sorted out at agora, 
or between agora and my machine at home.  I've been slipping into work at 
night and clandestinely putting the turn together there (and work just 
moved across town).  When I get the mail working (right now I think a new 
set of old-style address aliases will do the trick), I'll send you all mail.  
THEN you can send in your next turn.


Richard

**************************************************************************

Part 1:  Somewhare in the Uncharted Depths of Space...



"Aiwi.  Wake the others and ensure we're ready to depart jump."  The cool
Aslan reflexively licked the back of his paw as he scanned the ship's 
system holos.  A deep purr-growl spontaneously and quietly emerged from
his throat as he thought of a real discovery for the Clan.  "Let's see
where we are now."

In the darkness, a sudden blue flare appears briefly, and then changes
color and dims, fading through the spectral colors, the outline of an 
exploration vessel appearing as its grid loses the last of its charge.



The only visible companion to the ship is a yellow-green star, about two 
weeks journey away.  No other bodies appear on any of the scans, but there 
is a strange neutrino flux, seeming coming from almost every direction in 
the ship's forward arc.

"For the glory of the clan!" Akhou roars.  "Find us some food and
some fuel, and let's see what makes this star flicker."



**************************************************************************



Part 2.  Aboard the Alcyon



<recap>

The Alcyon has gone to general quarters.  The bridge crew is busy
trying to set up a comm link and verifiable sensor readings.  The
armory overflows with volunteers packing powerful sidearms.  The
engine room is recharging jump caps and bringing up engines as fast
as possible.  The Aurora has opened it's outer hatch and is preparing
to receive Anton for emergency medical treatment.

Outside, a large force of apparantly Imperial (somebody's Imperium)
vessels has jumped in and is rapidly slowing, probably to turn and
approach the ships rendezvoused for transfer.	This fleet is now
about 2 AU away, and heading the wrong (or right) way -- away.

Snowball is spraying hydrogen in an enormous swath between the Alcyon
and the incoming fleet.  This is playing havoc with your (and their)
sensors.  Anslinger is maneuvering erratically, spraying neutrinos in
all kinds of different direction, and all kinds of different energy
levels.  The "scout" is presently on a collision course with one of
the larger ships, at a closing speed that is becoming relativistic.

<turn>

====================

In engineering, Kimball Redd settles in and begins to monitor and
adjust fuel flow and pressure.  He looks around to verify just who is
in engineering right now and where they are.  He spots Abuko giving
instructions to Aaron and Fitz.  Slide, the new guy seems to be
settling in nicely on the corrsponding panel on the opposite side of
the control room, and Ralf seems to be helping him out, or at least
wondering what's gonna happen next.

Some of the physical scientists come in, look around and head toward
Johann.  One of the new guys, who is it?  MT?  Yeah, MT head directly
for the open overhead panel and starts to latch it into place.  Ah, a 
real engineer in there with those gravitron-weenies.

Where's Zben?  Did he make it in?  Oh yeah, on the bridge.  Good, now
rf they decide to shut down internal radio links, I know who I'm working 
with anyway. 

One other thought - If we get boarded, how many people in engineering are
armed? - Mine's in my cabin, not that I fancy taking on Imperial Marines
with a HEAP snub pistol, but you never know. And does general quarters
include vac-suits? - I never heard an answer to that one.  I notice
some of the folks here have 'em on and some don't.



We sure haven't had any time for training.  Hope everything is
holding together OK.  "Slide, you haven't had long to get to know the 
layout - you managing OK?"

"No problem.  Nicely laid out."

The numbers here would astound a non-engineer.  Nothing to full fuel
flow in under 30 seconds.  Wow!  Let's see, 500 tons per minute,
that's ... 114,000 plus liters per second at full flow.  Rate of
change is over 38 kl/s/s.  I can hardly wait to see those pipes when
we get out of this one.

=======================

Rigo Edmondsen slowly opened his eyes and shook his head as a jagged 
pain thrust itself from one temple to the other.  Ouch!  What happened?  
He had been sitting at the desk in his stateroom, enjoying a snack and
reading "Lord Alderon and The Rebel Fleet", an old favorite of his,
when... what?

The alert!  That was it!  Ignoring the pain Edmondsen rose to his
feet in one fluid motion and checked the wall clock.  Five minutes!
He had been unconcious for almost five minutes.  As he quickly
tapped his percomp for a transcript of any messages recieved during
his unconciousness, he looked around the stateroom and tried to
reconstruct how he had been knocked out.  When the jump alert had
sounded he had jumped for his bunk and carelessly knocked over his
snack.  Then, when the call for action stations had come, he had
jumped out of his bunk, placed his left heel squarely on the
sandwich, gone over backwards and neatly knocked himself out on
the bunk edge...

As he zippered up his vacc suit and grabbed the life support
unit he felt his ears grow red.  Good thing no-one back home would
ever know this.  The hero of the Groober Block Riot felled by a
ham sandwich!  He gave a small sigh of relief as the comp told him
that no messages had been directed at him.  He buckled on the stun
pistol and, after a short hesitation, his gauss pistol,
automatically checking the load and charges.  As he left his
stateroom he gave a small prayer to Snafu, god of fools, rogues
and cockups, that no-one would ever demand an accounting of him
for those missing minutes.

Falling instinctively into the deceptively fast lope of the
urban sniper-hunter, incessantly checking in all directions for
enemies, he thumbed his communicator onto the generalist's band.

"Whitfield?  Edmondsen here. I can't fill any crew post except 
communication, so I'm on my way to the armoury.  Unless you countermand, 
I'll put myself under Farouk	and help as a guard.  Edmondsen out."


<Mac> "I've got no problems with you working with Farouk.  Good Luck." 

As he comes around the corner, Rigo is pulled up short by a beehive
of gauss and energy pistols leveled at him.  Stopping, and speaking 
verrrry slowly, he says "Need any help?  I'm qualified on all infantry 
weapons, but best with an ordinary rifle."


===================

On the bridge, Zben turns to his panel.  "Computer, re-align main radio 
and laser arrays to position of incoming bogie traffic.  Calculate speed 
and [...etc] (synaptic I/O must be good for something)."

A few moments later, Zben turns to Etienne.  "I have established full 
high speed data links with all attached ships (actually, it was part 
of the whole communications set-up), so all you have to do is call it 
up."

Etienne glances at Zben then looks, somewhat suspiciously, at the sensor
console.

"Ahem...Computer...Please display all sensor data from Scout ship Aurora 
in Sectors 50 to 100 of the Alcyon's main Holodisplay.  Apply all data 
manipulations currently running on the Alcyon's sensor data to everything 
from the Aurora...[long pause] Thank you."

The computer quetly goes about it's work, setting aside one section
of the holo for the requested information.  "Sir," it speaks "I have
taken the liberty of also adding all available sensor information,
from all available sources, to the main holodynamic view."  The display 
clears somewhat, as Alcyon's computers start muscling the data now 
arriving from four sets of sensors.  The additional information, and 
the attendant information gained by parralax starts restoring color 
and depth to a display that was rapidly deteriorating.

<Etienne> Without looking up from the sensor controls...  Cursing in 
French, under his breath.  "Never heard of an airlock with no safety 
overrides!"



"Charyn, help Zben with commo.  You maintain the links with the Anslinger, 
the fuel barge and the scout.  Zben can handle communications with the Imps.
If any."



"Zben, don't transmit anything without Commander Ger's orders, but let us 
know what they're saying, as soon as anything reaches us."



<Charyn>  "Aye aye, Sir." Charyn uproots one of the movable acceleration 
couches and replants it at the Comm console, edging Zben over to the right 
a little bit (Charyn is apparently a leftie).

"Hi Zben, I'm Charyn Robins.  Pardon me while I muscle in on this half
of the console."

She pauses for a moment, studying the layout, then makes and brief poke
at the console.  It instantly reconfigures the panel to standard Vilani
mercantile Comm display layout.  Her hands fly over the panel with
deliberate and practiced motions, as if from memory, with a few clever
twists of inspiration.  After 15 seconds her rapt concentration relaxes.
Most of the data has been rearranged into a setup a little different
from the standard layout.  She pulls a strand of hair back from her
face, leans back a little; a pleased, detached smile drifts across
her lips.



"Links with Anslinger, fuel barge, and scout are open and functioning...
Internal ship communications active."



She efficiently opens a small window in the corner of her half-panel on
Navigation, Sensor, Engineering, Security, and other ship functions, so
she can scan the status of all bridge functions secondary to Comm.  She
pays a little heavier attention to the Nav and Sensor displays.  Then
she reprograms her commdot to place her on all appropriate ship
frequencies.

<Zben>  "We now have laser hookups with the sensors from the scout,
the Anslinger, and the Snowball."

Now the holo truly clears with the adidtion of the information
gleaned from the other side of the gas cloud.  Eleven ships are
visible.  Three seem to be of a typical 2000T Imperial cruiser design. 
One is a tender of some kind.  Three are fuel barges, much like
Snowball.  Two are 500T escort vessels, and two are fast pickets. 
These last two already are peeling away from the rest of the fleet
and preparing to engage the Turskaad scout.  The display indicates
weapon range for those combatants in ~6 minutes.  About 4 minutes
remain before you might hear any initial signals from the Imp fleet
(or them from you), and about 24 before any round-trip signals.

<Etienne> "Niishu, will we have jump coordinates by the time 
engineering is ready?	By the way, any idea yet where we're heading 
on this next jump?"

<Nishu>  "The nav computer is working on those coordinates now.  It 
shouldn't take long; all the equipment on this ship is state of the art.  
If we do have to jump, Engineering's charge time will be the limiting 
factor."

"I'll report when it's done and try to figure out where we're going."


========================================


Upon getting the word from Lazer to man the laser turrets on
the 'Talisman, Thul runs to the central Fire Control station about
his ship and 

        1) Lifts the safety cover off a switch
        2) puts it in the Bridge Station Overide position.

satisfied with this, he pell-mells to the 'Talisman's bridge and
throws himself into the pilot's position.  Thul grabs a card that
he has stashed under the FC panel and methodicly goes through the
checklist that his previous gunner provided him. A red enunciator
indicates "Fire Control Panel Active".  Grabing a square device
with three buttons on it, he presss the left button.  On a screen
a table of selections pops up and he follows it down through the
choices 

   "Fire Control" ---> "Sensor Source" ---> "Passive All" -->

   "Process" ---> "All" ---> "Computer" and releases the button.



        This set of choices in an instant sets up the following conditions:

        1)  Only passive sensors are being used in conjuction with the 
        fire control system.

        2)  All sensor input is processed through the ship's computer
        to sync up the fire control.

        3) Disables all but navigational active sensors.

He then selects

        "Sensor" ---> "Process" ---> "MTI"  (Moving Target Indicator)

        

Thul then selects

        "Compute" ---> "Firing Solution" ---> "Passive" --> "Contacts/All"

        
On another screen, (right ref?) the firing solution on all bogeys
is displayed with a confidence level for each.  (Pretty mediocre
considering the sensors being used.)

On a computer console he types "load gunnery 6" "load auto/fire"
"load auto/target" "load select 5"

Lastly he selects

        "Weapons" ---> "Lock/Soft" ---> "Safe"

        

This downloads the firing solution to the turrets for the targets
and awaits target selection.



Over the security circuit he reports in to Lazer.
"Lazer, Thul here,  the 'Talisman's fire control system has
 firing solutions for our bogies.  Weapons are in soft-lock and
 safed.   Using passive sensors only.  CIWS activated. Awaiting orders"





================================

Dr. Limner on the medical channel:

If we can recover Anton's foot, we might be able to reattach it.  Of course,
this would involve re-growing a great deal of flesh.  Anton would be out of
action for quite some time, and we can't be certain of whether the cloned
nerve tissue would take.  I remember researching this area some many years
ago.  Let's see...  No, I'd have to go back to my old notes.  I could be of
assistance if you want to pursue this course -- after I check them, though.

If you decide to use prosthetics, it would still put Anton out for a while,
but as you know would be a bit more certain.

Let me know what you think is best.  Until then, I'm going to try to get to
some of my equipment to see what the devil could be going on outide.

Limner, out.

Joachim's voice comes over the medical channel:

Ian, I'm scrubbed and preped in sickbay.  Where is the amputation?  If
there's no chance for recovery of the missing part, what do you
recommend for a prosthetic?

Christian, we can handle Anton here.  There's no need for you to rush
over if your current work is more important.

<Alliara>  Is there anything I can help with?

<Ian>  (Panting) "I'm almost to Aurora now."  Puff  Puff "Not really
anxious to start running again."  Puff Puff "Doc, where do we go?!"

<Doc Van Der Merwe>  Bring 'im in now!  Joakim, Limner, get here on
the double!  The medical facilities aboard the Alcyon are adequate, 
but all of the really important stuff is aboard the Aurora, where the 
main Surgery is. 

He's coming to the Aurora for three reasons: that's where the equipment
is, I'm CMO (& prob. the best skilled & a surgeon), and I have special
expertise in bionics anyway.... Besides, I was just doing some routine
checklists...

Joachim on the medical channel:

Anton's going to be out for a while no matter what we do.  Even with
time modification these things take a while to recover from.

I'm a bit skeptical about rejoining a freeze-dried foot, but then
vacuum medicine is hardly my specialty.  'Vouf certainly has some
interesting, ... um, err ... hands.  Think we could something like
that for a foot?

We have to stabilize Anton first.  Prosthetic decisions can wait until
the current major crisis is concluded.


Joachim, out.


================================

back on the bridge...



<Niishu> "Etienne, I have that information now.  Jump is layed in,
waiting for engineering.  We should arrive 1.115 AU from this star
here."  A pip on his holo brightens.  It's 5 parsecs away, no known
planets, and has a very rhythmic brightness oscillation.  I'd say
*that's* R-alpha.

"If we jump within the next seven minutes, it should be much, much
harder for the fleet to trace our ionization trail."

<Ger> "Etienne, jump as soon as engineering is ready.  Are we still
in Imperial space?

<Etienne> "Aye, sir.  Just barely.  This is the last location
clearly claimed in the latest set of charts."

=================================

Back in engineering, Slide is watching the fuel disappear at an
appreciable rate.  "Nav, Slide.  How much fuel is needed for the next
jump?"  

<Niishu> It's a 5 parsec jump Slide.  That's about all I've got right
now.  How 'much longer till you're charged?"

<Slide> Caps say 73% charge now.   Probably 5 minutes and we'll be
ready.  Just get us there.  Out."

Now, let's see, ... yeah. we've got enough hydrogen.  Hope we don't
misjump.  We sure don't have enought for a second.  What the ... !!!	 
Slide gasps as he sees the fuel flow in number 4 conduit suddenly 
skyrocket and and the pressure plummet.

"Engineering.  Emergency!  Overide this bank!  Break in number 4
feed!"  Slide immediately sets to work re-balancing the load to the
governors and capacitors while Redd gets to work on the fuel
routings.

At that instant, as Daniel Sylvmain crosses from Abuko toward the
rear of the control room, the overhead panel bursts open and
inundates him with supercooled hydrogen, freezing him in mid-stride
like a baroque statue, and lowering the temperature in the
compartment rapidly.

MT, the second nearest person, is splashed and knocked across the
control room, sliding to rest not too far frm the front door,
unconsious, and in serious hypothermia.

Engineers and scientists begin donning helmets and gloves, as a
flashing amber beacon cast macabre shadows across the control room,
now glazed with frost.

With practiced hands, Redd secures the feed through the number 4
conduit, bypassing the break, and Slide's panel.  Alarms begin
sounding again, and the air-tight doors close.  Lets see.. gotta
reroute pronto or we're in deep guano.  Ah, number eleven - bypass
through Talisman's fuel hookups and hope she holds.

"Slide, I've got it sealed, hope your maintaining balance.
 Abuko, Redd.  Got it bypassed through Talisman, and secondary on
 Paladin.  Hope they hold together."

Then, stopping to get his gloves and helmet on, Kimball notices the
frostbite forming on his fingers, and on the spot on his lip where 
he'd been biting.  "Oh shit" he mutters quietly.

<Abuko>  "Somebody get over there and prop him up before he falls
over and shatters."

"Sickbay, Engineering.  Stand by for hypothermia victims."

"Leadfoot, get onto that break STAT!"

Glancing at his portable panel repeater, Johann studies the fuel
flows for a minutes, then switches to the piping diagrams for the
interconnects.

"Redd, Slide, give me 110% on the conduits 1,2, and 3; then back off
Talisman's feed to 70%."  



"Bridge, Engineering.  We've had a fuel flow casualty.  We'll have to
postpone jump .. 2 minutes.  That gives us.. about four minutes to go
before the caps are charged, emergency fashion -- if it holds.  Or,
if you prefer, we can do it in .. eight minutes very safely."


===============================

<Ger> "Engineering, Conn.  Give us a 6.5 minute charge; a little margin 
of safety, but not a lot."  



Turning to the assembled queue of non-bridge personnel, "Now,
gentlemen, we either vaporize ourselves, convince the natives, we are
NOT dinner, or escape with very little trouble.  In any case, you
have yourself a story, (gesturing toward Adrian) and you have
yourself some information about your competition (talking directly to
Jett).  Better get us some legal precedent quickly.  IT won't take
those guys very long to figure out where we went."



=================================

<Abuko (and the rest of engineering)>  "Whew.  Thank God for small
breaks.  Redd, reduce fuel flow to 100% on the primaries and 50% on
the backup.

"and somebody shut off that alarm."

=======================================

In the number 1 passageway:

"Engineering, Ian.  {puff} Almost got Anton to sickbay now.  {puff} 
Be down there in about two minutes.  {puff puff} Anybody at the armory 
got any first aid, {puff} or available to {puff} run down the hallway 
with a body? {puff, click} 



"Doc {puff} I got Lucan here. {puff} Can you send Dulinor down {puff}
or do you need him in Sickbay {puff}?"

Ian, Anton, and Lucan scoot through the Aurora's air lock as Dulinor,
the second medbot literally flies out the door and down the
passageway, siren blazing.	Docs Limner and Tabor jump aside as it
screams by, and then Tabor turns around and starts following it to
engineering.

<Doc Van Der Merwe> "Great.  Plug Lucan in there and we'll start 
feeding him the new programs while the others fetch the folks from 
engineering.  Ian, walk *WALK* down to engineering and help out."

The two doctors then carefully put Anton into a stasis module and
begin working.


=================================

The bridge's main holo display flickers slightly and its image gets 
a little poorer.



<Niishu>  "Sir, the Snowball just jumped." 
<Charyn>  "The anslinger wishes us luck.  Recommends we detonate the
hydrogen just prior to jump to simulate an on-board explosion."

<Niishu>  "Anslinger is gone, sir.  Now the scout, too."

<Ger>  Very well.  "Lazer, slave a single HE missile to the
Talisman's turret.  Thul, on my signal, blast the hydrogen cloud with
laser and the single HE.  ... Once.  

Maybe we'll get a fireball to remember on our way out of here."

<Lazer>  Roger.  

<Thul>   Locked and loaded.

=====================

Abuko silences the engineering alarm and opens the main control room
door.  Dulinor flashes in and grabs MT and Daniel, and hauls *ss out
of engineering toward the Aurora.

A moment later, Ian appears with a first aid kit, and a *very* large
thermos.  "Who wants chicken soup?"

A chorus of voices is heard.

=====================

<Niisu>  Got a green board, Sir.

<Etienne>  Ready for jump sir.

<Ger>  "Fire.  Engage."

The Alcyon literally sighs as the lights blink, then momentarily dim, 
in their pre-programmed pattern for jump initiation.  Outside, space
becomes bluish, and suddenly brilliantly white, just as it
disappears. 

					     

<Niishu> 99.99995% discharge sir.  We're gonna come out of this jump
within a few hundred meters of our programmed point.



*********************************************************************



- - -- 


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2157
From: geovision!achilleus!brian@uunet.UU.NET (Brian Dawson (Co-op))
Subject: Border Worlds
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 13:57:12 EST



I have a question for anyone familiar with the recent history of the
Spinward Marches and it's environs:

What are the Border Worlds?



The Megatraveller Imperial Encyclopedia doesn't say anything about them
(that I have found), and I lost track of the goings-on in the Traveller 
universe after the Fifth Frontier War.  Who controls the Border Worlds?  
Are they a captive government?  Where do their sympathies lie?

Brian. 

[bdawson@geovision.gvc.com]

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2158
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 11:27 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: The Border Worlds





...are an Imperially-aligned buffer state created from half of the 
beaten Sword Worlds Confederation at the end of the Fifth Frontier War
to limit the threat from a united Sword Worlds government. They are a
largely captive gov't and would gladly re-form with the SWC if Norris
would let them. Details may be found in THE SPINWARD MARCHES CAMPAIGN.

metlay

(TML historian)



------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2159
Date: 21 Feb 91 15:19:00 CDT
From: za057@zeus.unomaha.edu
Subject: Digest Group's software



Did Digest Group ever deliver on the promised system generator for
Traveller?  They had it advertised in the back of the World Builder
Handbook, but I never heard if it was ever released or where to pick
it up...

David West

------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,

maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.

------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed Mar  6 21:01:06 PST 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #173: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2160  21-Feb-91 Shannon D. Appel  Traveller != Imperium << I decided not to lon
2161  21-Feb-91 George William He Alternate Campaigns << I've been in a couple 
2163  22-Feb-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi Traveller Not In the Imperium << Shannon, I'v
2164  22-Feb-91 gsw@moss.att.COM  Re: Traveller != Imperium << Well, Shannon, I
2165  22-Feb-91 plb@violin.att.CO Re: (2160) Traveller != Imperium << Operating
2166  24-Feb-91 za057@zeus.unomah Non-Imperial campaigns << I, to, have run a n
2167  25-Feb-91 Jo Jaquinta       3D Traveller << I also run a non-Imperium Tra
2168  23-Feb-91 f3w@mentor.cc.pur Re: Non-Imperial campaigns... << [Mark's mail
2169  26-Feb-91 tek@CS.UCLA.EDU   Re: 3D Traveller << In msg (2167) "3D Travell
2170  26-Feb-91 09nilles%cuavax.d 3d space.... << >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@ma
2171  26-Feb-91 Arthur Green      Planet generation << G'day all - A question f
2172  26-Feb-91 George William He Fusion Drives (was re: nonimperial campaigns)
2173  27-Feb-91 al646@cleveland.F Stellar Densities << tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim
2174  27-Feb-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi Inquiries on DGP stuff << My local game store
2175  27-Feb-91 f3w@mentor.cc.pur Re: Fusion drives. << I'm relying on a Charle
2176  27-Feb-91 PHB100@PSUVM.PSU. 100 diameter jump limit again << Greetings tr
2177  28-Feb-91 Andreas Bjorklind Re: Inquiries on DGP stuff << Our TML Histori
2178  28-Feb-91 James T Perkins   Re: Inquiries on DGP stuff << METLAY@vms.cis.
2179  28-Feb-91 asulaima@zephyr.c Addres change << Please note that my address 
2180  01-Mar-91 wilson m liaw     AI release date << AI is scheduled to be rele
2181  01-Mar-91 Jo Jaquinta       Re: 3D Traveller << >I suggest you add this a
2182  28-Feb-91 Richard Johnson   PBEM is Slowly Re-awakening << OK. Now that y
2183  28-Feb-91 Richard Johnson   3-D traveller << Jo asked about running MT ca
2184  01-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      TDR SIG archives available on Sunbane << Shar
2185  01-Mar-91 sfellows@slate.Mi MTJ- a quick, qualitative look << I got the M
2186  03-Mar-91 woodsb@ecn.purdue Holo capacity << The list has been kind of qu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2160
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 15:06:46 -0900
From: Shannon D. Appel <appel@soda.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Traveller != Imperium



I decided not to long ago to start a MegaTraveller game here in Berkeley.
It's been about 2 years since I last ran MT, but I was still feeling a little
burned out on the Imperium.  I'd seen so much of it over the last X years
that it seemed NORMAL.  Trying to recapture to exotic flavor of Traveller
for myself, I decided to go ahead and run my new campaign SOMEWHERE ELSE.
(Somewhere still being developed).  What I'm kind of interested in knowing
is if any one else out there has run Non-Imperium Traveller campaigns
and what interesting things they've done in them.

Thx,

    Shannon Appel
------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2161
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 22:42:08 -0800
From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Alternate Campaigns



I've been in a couple of campaigns set outside the Imperium, and have a pet
project of my own in the works.



One was a (theoretical, the GM made a new sector somewhere 8-) trans-border
region that hadn't been explored very well yet.  We were hired to go scout
it out and survey it.  It was... interesting.  Especially when higher-than-
Imperial tech gadgets group depended on failed for various reasons, 
leaving some of us stranded DEEP in space.

One setting that I've been working on is the Zhodani core expedition.  It's
only mentioned in passing, but there's a lot of territory it covers, and the
chance to do some very neat things with the setting.

Another is a post-TL20 setting.  A universe with starship-sized portals between
most major planets is a whole different eniverse from a jump-only travel.
And there's allways a ringworld or three 8-)

- - -george william herbert

gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu



------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2163
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 09:55 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Traveller Not In the Imperium



Shannon, I've run two non-Imperial Traveller campaigns: the first was 
before any information at all on the Imperium was ever published 
anywhere (1977-1978), and the second was a "mini-universe" I whipped
up for a campaign for a course I taught in Role Playing Theory in 
college (no, really! and for credit, too!). If one doesn't mind the
physics of the rules, one can rewrite things easily, and having a
different reality makes jumps like TDR a lot easier as well if one
DOES mind the physics of the Imperium.



There are a number of other folks who have their own universes too;
one fellow whose name eludes me at the moment has published a fair
amount on the subject.

metlay

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2164
From: gsw@moss.att.COM (Jerry Williams)
Subject: Re: Traveller != Imperium
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 10:33:28 EST



Well, Shannon, I'm glad you asked.



You see, I've run a number of non-Imperium games and campaigns
(Traveller being my favorite game system).  I'll tell you about
a few of them.  I also still have background notes for some of
them.



Anyway, here are the scenarios:



o Post-Nuclear holocaust.  You've grown up in the wreckage.  There
  are mutant animals and such.  First Contact.  But the Aliens have
  a SECRET, which you must discover.  I ran this as a one-player
  campaign (before Traveller:2300 came out).  It started out more
  like Gamma World than Traveller.  Then the Aliens arrive and
  promise to make everything better.  Yet you don't seem to see any
  real progress, only a few tokens of Alien goodwill.  Why?  A bit of
  detective work is called for.

  One this this campaign did was give me experience creating animals
  using Traveller.

  I tried to give the feel of a broken Earth, after being blasted
  back into the Stone Age, with a few mutants thrown in for good
  measure.  The alien part caters to "detective" PCs, and could be
  eliminated entirely if you wish.  This campaign gives Traveller
  players a chance to play larger-than-life heroes, such as are often
  seen only in D&D-type games.

o Exploration mission.  Aiuconium (Ay-You-Ko-Nee-Um) has been
  discovered.  It is a stable heavy element which emits rays which
  stabilize nuclear reactions, making nuclear fusion a reality.  You
  are in an advanced Shuttle scanning the Moon for these ray
  emissions.  What you discover instead is a frontier cruiser.

  Another First Contact scenario, only this time you discover that
  the galaxy is at war and you must choose sides.  I recently ran
  the first part of this at a convention.  It went over pretty well.
  I made great use of impromptu skill rolls for this one.



  The cruiser had a definite Imperial feel, although this was not the
  Imperium.  This was kind of a choice of the lesser of two evils --
  an Empire which will plunder the Earth for its resources, leaving
  its people alone, or a Federation which will bring its technology
  to the Earth, but will bring it into the war as well, and actively
  "assimilate" us into its culture.  Real enterprising PCs might be
  able to find a way to avoid both and buy the Earth a few more years
  of anonymity.



o Another campaign I developed was non-Imperium, non-Earth, etc:
  You are a human from a free Federation, which has been plagued by
  attacks from a hostile alien race.  Eventually, open war breaks out
  between the two races.  The problem is that you don't know where
  the alien bases are -- they are a complete unknown.  Meanwhile,
  contact is made with another race, which promises to help you by
  leading you to the hostile aliens' capital.  What you don't know is
  that they are trying to manipulate the war so that both sides are
  destroyed and they can pick up the pieces.



  This is a kind of grand campaign, where the players get to make
  galaxy-affecting decisions.  One thing that's very important to
  this type of campaign is to provide LOTS of background material,
  most of which will never get used.  You also have to be able to
  "wing it" pretty well.



  As a point of interest: the characters in this campaign destroyed
  the first envoy from the "friendly" race, thinking it was an attack
  from their traditional enemies (they DID warn them with radio
  messages, but the envoy used a different method of communication).
  They then felt so guilty after learning of their mistake that they
  fell right into the trap unprepared.  They were so unconventional,
  though (and you would not believe the lucky skill rolls they made),
  that they managed to come through in the end.  As an example, when
  attacked by a type of battle cruiser/starbase, they realized that
  their long range fighter would never survive, so blasted their way
  into the hanger, then through interior walls until they got to an
  access shaft to the core (like what Lando Calrissian did to the
  second death star, only crazier).



I can't remember the other totally non-Imperium campaigns at this
time, BUT I'd like to point out another option: what about devising
your own sector/star/star cluster/whatever?



Here are two more background settings I have used:



o You are pirates in a star system on the edge of the Imperium.  You
  don't know about Imperial events, and don't care.  You live off of
  booty from passing ships.



  This is a fun campaign to run, and to be in.  I once played in one
  of these campaigns as a deposed barbarian chieftain, who was
  vicious with a sword.  The GM put us on an Ancients asteroid base,
  and kept trying to get us involved in Imperial matters.  We only
  paid attention to things that would help us in our piracy, ignoring
  the rest.  We didn't want that kind of campaign.  We were PIRATES,
  damn it, not research scientists.  That was lots of fun.



o You are in a star cluster called The Barrens.  They have a unique
  atmosphere which makes them a rather unpleasant place to live, and
  they have always been a bunch of backwater worlds, despite their
  proximity to the sector capitol of the Diaspora sector.  After the
  assassination of Strephon, they find that The Barrens are squeezed
  uncomfortably between Daibei, the Solomani Confederation, and the
  Imperial Marines (which have a base a few parsecs away).  Their
  solution -- ignore everything that is going on around them, and get
  ignored in return.

  I've set up two campaigns in this setting.  It is based in the
  Imperium (although I've made a few minor changes here and there),
  but they have no contact with it.  Each of the five worlds has a
  unique flavor to it, uncorrupted by Imperial tampering.

  "Travellers' Aid Society?  Are you joking?" -- you get the picture.

  I also took a great deal of latitude in the way things work when
  running these campaigns.



My point with the last two campaigns is this: if you place your
campaign appropriately, you can put it in the Imperial setting but
make it entirely your own, using only what you want from the
Imperium.

The advantage of the Imperium is the background knowledge you have
(it's tough to design a consistent universe, and keep it interesting).
Other good sources of background knowledge include using the Earth of
the near future (or present, or past), or books, or movies.

Star Wars is a good model for a universe, as is Star Trek.  I've done
some background work using both systems in Traveller.  You need to
use antimatter drives for Star Trek, but it works.  This was before
the proliferation of RPG's though.  Each of these now has its own
game system.  There are also a number of campaign possibilities in
the Foundation universe, although I have not worked on any of them.


*********

Gerald Williams

att!moss!gsw
gsw@moss.att.com
(201)386-2059
*********



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2165
From: plb@violin.att.COM
Subject: Re: (2160) Traveller != Imperium
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 91 8:45:43 EST



Operating System: HP-UX A.B7.00 U
Organization: AT&T-BL, Red Hill System Administration Group (HRSAG)
Location: HR 2C119
Phone: (201) 615-4419
Return-receipt:
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL5]



*| is if any one else out there has run Non-Imperium Traveller campaigns
*| and what interesting things they've done in them.
*| 
*| Thx,



Shannon,



I was running a campaign for a while that had the premise that an
over-populated earth had sent sleeper ships out to colonize the
stars.   The result was a collection of ethnic enclaves.  These
enclaves took on some flavor that appealed to the people within
that enclave.   For instance, I had "Nihon" which was the Japanese
enclave that had taken the flavor of fuedal Japan of the 14th and
15th century... only at tech 12!  They happened to get along real
well with the Aslan as well.

There were some tech 15 areas within my universe, but the average
was tech 11 or 12.  

In my universe, the Imperium was known about, but rarely interacted
with.  This was to keep some of my players happy that wanted to
have characters with an Imperial background.  The major difference
was that I had the Imperium displaced in space by a few dozen
sectors so that they did not interfere with the history of Terra
and it's outplaced colonies.   Terra, for its part by now had
killed itself off in a series of cataclysmic wars due to the
pressures of overpopulation.  The original reason behind the
diaspora of its peoples to the colonies.





- - -- 

Peter L. Berghold | TELEPHONE: +1 (908) 615-4419
- - ------------------+---------------------------------------------------
EMAIL ADDRESSES:   BIX - PETEB  COMPU$ERVE - 70152,3017 
FAX (908) 706-2004 DELPHI - BERGHOLD GENIE - PBERGHOLD

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2166
Date: 24 Feb 91 11:26:00 CDT
From: za057@zeus.unomaha.edu
Subject: Non-Imperial campaigns



I, to, have run a non-imperial campaign.  It was based on an expedition 
spinward, past all of the races in that direction  (hivers and K'kree).
The party ran into new empires and new races at every corner, and of
course very little humaniti...

The only advantage of having an Imperium campaign is all of the source
material out for the game, but if you want to run a non-imperial campaign,
GO AHEAD!!!

David West

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2167
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 91 14:04:53 GMT
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: 3D Traveller



	I also run a non-Imperium Traveller. I was quite surprised at the 
number of people who do/did. Anyhow, I have another question.
	Traveller, as published, is two dimensional. Space, at least on a
stellar scale, has no depth. You've got rimward, coreward, spinward and
trailing but no above or below. No rationalisation. No explination. Does anyone
out there run Traveller in a three dimensional universe? E.g. where sectors
are 10x10x10.

				Jo Jaquinta
				lgrant@maths.tcd.ie


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2168
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 91 00:48:36 -0500
From: f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Mark Gellis)
Subject: Re: Non-Imperial campaigns...

[Mark's mail came to traveller-request by mistake, so I forwarded it to
the Traveller Mailing List at large -- James]

I've never run a traditional Traveller campaign, but I've used something
like the Traveller system (actually, it's gradually mutated into something
quite different, including a bunch of new characteristics, lots of new
skills, and a weapon system that's reasonably close to realistic--i.e.,
Jesus!  They're shooting REAL guns at us!  I mean, we could get KILLED
from ONE SHOT!  Jeez!

Anyway, and this background stuff is copyright Mark Gellis 1991, it's
fifty thousand years in the future, and humanity is now a young, but
respected member of the intergalactic community known as the Network.
The Network spans the universe.  There are no jump drives, people se
(oops, that should be "use") hypergates, enormous machines that can
punch portals through spacetime...they have no maximum range so people
can just cross the distance between galaxies at will.  In other words,
you've got as many solar systems to play with as you need.

There are three large human governments--the Solian Commonwealth, the
Po Empire, and the Ocyron Federation.  Technically, Solia are the good
guys ("good" a relative term in politics).  There are also dozens of
smaller federations, hundreds of independent systems, and millions of
independent nation-states in the thousands of human-controlled solar
systems.

There are more aliens than you can shake a stick at.  If you want an
alien character, bounce an idea off me and if I don't think it will
needlessly unbalance the game, it's yours.

Technology has reached a high and stable level.  Assume Tech Level 20 
is the norm, except there are no psionics and anti-gravity (sorry, I
just don't believe in 'em)(), although some civilizations are rumored
to have much higher technology at their disposal.  Eeek!

Don't worry about uncontrolled mayhem.  The universe does not have a
government--it's too big--but it does have caretakers.  Long ago, an
ancient race (actually, several of them, working as allies) fought
another ancient race and ITS allies, and won, so the universe was
not devoured by the bad guys several billion years ago, and the good
guys built the Modems, a machine race who own, control, and often are
the hypergates, and who have a racial prerogative to observe the
organics and make sure they don't genocide each other out of existence
(murder and war are okay, but genocide and uncontrolled expansion
are no-nos).  This is actually my explanation for why WE are here
now--after all, if you have intelligent life and FTL travel billions
of years ago, they would have kept expanding and colonized Earth 
and we would never have evolved, unless something stopped them.  (Sound
bizarre...try this experiment, a civilization with a trillion people
doubles its population ONLY once every million years, but it can
travel at infinite speed and its doubling rate starts in a hundred
solar system region two billion years ago...what's one trillion
doubled TWO THOUSAND times?  A lot of aliens, and no room for poor
evolving proto-humans.)

Of course, and many of you have listened to me chat about this every
now and then, I really have all of my adventures in only ONE solar
system.  How can I do this?  Simple.  Any space industrialized solar
system, with an asteroid belt (which I assume most of them have, or
will have after they shatter a few big moons) and a sun for solar power
and gas giants and comets for hydrogen has the raw materials to build
habitats (city-states) for several hundred billion people.  Usually,
I figure, you end up with a few million habitats organized into a few
hundred archipelagos.  Each habitat is its own city-state, but the
archipelagos are nations or federations, which are either independent,
or have allied or joined some larger federation, like the Solian
Commonwealth.  

Can you say, "Gee Mark, that sounds like an awful lot of places to
set adventures...and each habitat can have its own set of corrupt local
politicians, local criminals, local celebrities, etc., and so on"?



Why yes, it is.  That's why I like it.  I have an infinite range of
possibilities to work with, and I just narrow down to a particular locale
each campaign (or send people running around the system) and work out
the details.



Oh, did I mention that since there is no anti-gravity, and people are
limited to reaction drives (like a 1,000,000 Isp fusion drive--the most
common spacecraft drive) that the cometary halos of every solar system
are effectively a permanent frontier?  They're so spread out that no 
government can possibly control them, and they contain an enormous
number of cometary nuclei, which can each be used as a base (big ones
can be used as raw materials for entire habitats), so you get a lot
of free nations, some of them basically pirate nations, out in the
cometary halo of each solar system.  Good for adventures.  

Anyone who has any comments, etc., I would be interested, but it might
be better to send them to me via email, so we don't tie up the newsgroup,
since this is so different from the regular Traveller that it might not
really be fair to people who are interested only in the GDW games, etc.

[As list admin, I feel that FOLLOWUPs on specific setups are indeed best
directed at the orginator, but PLEASE feel free to send in an OVERVIEW
of your setup as Mark and others have kindly shared -- James]

Anyway, enjoy.

Mark

f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu







------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2169
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 08:24:28 -0800
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude))
Subject: Re: 3D Traveller



In msg (2167) "3D Traveller", lgrant@maths.tcd.ie (Jo Jaquinta) writes:
>
> Traveller, as published, is two dimensional. Space, at least on a
> stellar scale, has no depth. You've got rimward, coreward, spinward
> and trailing but no above or below. No rationalisation. No
> explination. Does anyone out there run Traveller in a three
> dimensional universe? E.g. where sectors are 10x10x10.
>



I have always wanted to play Traveller with 3D star maps. This is
something which has always bothered me about the standard subsector
maps. I suspect GDW kept things 2D for simplicity, but I always
thought this might make things more interesting, especially in border
areas. 



I suggest you add this as an option to sysgen5 (or whatever the next
version is). The key thing to keep in mind is to maintain the average
3D interstellar distances close to that of the 2D game. Otherwise,
game balance as far as jump drives go might be thrown off. (BTW, does
any one know what the actual stellar density is in the various parts
of the galaxy?) 

- - -ted



Ted Kim                           Internet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu
UCLA Computer Science Department  UUCP:     ...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek
3804C Boelter Hall                Phone:    (213)206-8696
Los Angeles, CA 90024             FAX:      (213)825-2273

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2170
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 09:16:39 EST
From: 09nilles%cuavax.dnet@netcon.cua.edu (Fiver Toadflax)
Subject: 3d space....

>From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
>Subject: (2167) 3D Traveller

 

>	I also run a non-Imperium Traveller. I was quite surprised at the
>number of people who do/did. Anyhow, I have another question.
>	Traveller, as published, is two dimensional. Space, at least on a
>stellar scale, has no depth. You've got rimward, coreward, spinward and
>trailing but no above or below. No rationalisation. No explination. Does anyone
>out there run Traveller in a three dimensional universe? E.g. where sectors
>are 10x10x10.



No, but I can see why GDW did not make it 3d.  Consider the problems
involved in displaying such a map.  The best and most accurate would be
a hologram.  But we haven't gotten that far yet....
An easier way would be multiple levels of 2d maps.  A real pain to use.
Another way would be to have notes about how far a system was above or
below the major 2d plane.

Dave

09nilles@cuavax.dnet.cua.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2171
Date:         Tue, 26 Feb 91 20:33:56 GMT
From: Arthur Green <AJGREEN%IRLEARN@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject:      Planet generation

G'day all -

            A question for planet generators ... how much do you cheat?
I'm in the middle of using The World Builder's Handbook to detail up Wardn
(in the goodole Spinward Marches) and have ended up with a world orbiting
a giant type M star (which means a year of something like 160 standard
years) and an axial tilt of 40-odd degrees (which means mondo extremes
of temperature through the seasons). Only snag is, the base temperature
is a bit on the high side. Using Book 6 I could fiddle with the albedo
values to get a nice temperature, but I haven't gone into WBH in enough
depth to get a good feel for how much I can stretch things.



As an aside, what do people think of the chances of indigenous life (not
necessarily intelligent on a world orbiting a Type M giant?

 - Arthur

   AJGREEN@IRLEARN.UCD.IE (or AJGREEN@irlearn.bitnet)
   "A waist is a terrible thing to mind"

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2172
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 91 17:49:34 -0800
From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Fusion Drives (was re: nonimperial campaigns)

Mark [ f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu ] mentioned 1,000,000 Isp fusion
drives in a 'realistic' lower-tech Traveller setting.

Antimatter _might_ make a million.  Try ten to a hundred thousand
for good fusion.

- - -george

gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2173
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 10:28:25 -0500
From: al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (T. L. Hayes)
Subject: Stellar Densities





tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) writes:



>game balance as far as jump drives go might be thrown off. (BTW, does
>any one know what the actual stellar density is in the various parts
>of the galaxy?)



In the vicinity of our Sun the denisty is about 1 star per 10 cubic parsecs
or an average of 2.1 parsec between stars (in three dimensions).  Of course
this is near our Sun and things would certainly vary as you move in and out
of galatic arms, enter the core, move perpendicular to the plane of the
galaxy or change galatic types such as to an elliptical or irregular galaxy.
Near the core of our galaxy the estimated densities of stars per cubic parsec
goes something like:

Distance      	Number of
from Center	Stars per
in PC		Cubic Parsec
  0.1		3 x 10E7
  1.0		4 x 10E5
 10.0		7 x 10E3
 20.0		2 x 10E3

Hope this helps


TLH



- - --

T.L.Hayes                  |  Personal Mail: hayes@ll.mit.edu
MIT/Lincoln Laboratory     |              - or -
Lexington, MA              |  General Mail : al646@cleveland.Freenet.Edu

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2174
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 12:00 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Inquiries on DGP stuff

My local game store is hopeless when it comes to MegaTraveller support.
They didn't even know tht the Travellers' Digest was changing its name,
as it turns out, so I've been waiting around for the first issue of 
the MegaTraveller Journal and it was never ordered in the first place.


Argh!

Could someone with access to a REAL game store do their beleaguered
Historian a favor and help him get all of the MTJ back issues that
are out so far? Also, I've seen FLAMING EYE in the stores, but have
any other promised DGP books been released-- in particular, the second
volume of the Aliens books, Solomani and Aslan?

thanks
metlay


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2175
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 91 01:18:29 -0500
From: f3w@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Mark Gellis)
Subject: Re: Fusion drives.



I'm relying on a Charles Sheffield article in a New Destinies issue (I'm
sorry, I can't find my copy right now, but I will post the reference
later if anyone wants it) that is relying on the Daedelus project's
estimate of an Isp of 1,000,000.  I actually checked one source, which I
forgot to write down the name of, that listed the potential Isp of
fusion drives at 2.4 million (assuming perfect efficiency, etc.).  I'm
assuming a) 40% of the ideal potential is conservative, but fair, and b)
my Traveller campaign is set far enough in the future that
matter-antimatter isn't even a "neat idea" anymore (anyone get that
reference?)...the engineering problems involved in getting a fusion
drive to its full potential are ancient history to these people.  I do
agree that, sadly, it will probably be a long time before we are able to
achieve this kind of efficiency with fusion, probably, in Traveller
terms, we're talking at least Tech.  12 or 13.



By the way, Sheffield also lists matter-antimatter at about 18,000,000 Isp.
I admit that I do cheat a bit and use 20,000,000; it's much easier to
figure things out that way.  :)

Mark

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2176
Date:    Wed, 27 Feb 91 14:00 EST
From: PHB100@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: 100 diameter jump limit again


Greetings travellers,

In one of the later posts about the 100 diameter jump limit, Dan Corrin says:

>
>Third, in a talk given by Mark Miller, he always intended there to be a
>limited (but large) number of points that a ship could jump from/to,
>otherwise piracy couldn't exist (qv my other article in this digest).
>
>                   -Dan Corrin



This brings up a question, can you jump from any point outside the 100 diameter
limit regardless of destination?  I.E.  do you have to be on the same side of
the gravity source as your destination?  Or can you jump "through" a G source?
Wouldn't this drop you out of jumpspace when you reenter the 100 D limit?



If you do indeed have to be on the same side as your destination, would this
significantly change in-system travel times for some ships depending on your
destination?  Or will this not matter to a constant acceleration?  How about
you physics/astronautic types doing some calculations for travel times to the
100 diameter limit at 90 - 120 degrees around the other side of the gravity
source to see if it makes a significant time difference?


- - -------

In the dark no one can hear the color of your eyes.
Disclaimer:  This is me.  Do I sound like anyone else?

Paul Baughman          PHB100@psuvm.bitnet

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2177
From: Andreas Bjorklind <abj@IDA.LiU.SE>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 08:56:33 +0100
Subject: Re: Inquiries on DGP stuff




Our TML Historian asked some questions about DGP's publications. I
have in fact been in contact with the DGP by phone. From this I
understood that:



1) The first issue of MTJ is not yet out (or, wasn't when I spoke to
them two weeks ago). It should be out real soon now, though. The
person I spoke to said that the premiere issue should be out in
February. So, it's is just around the corner!



2) Yes, Flaming Eye is out, and has been so for a couple of months.
Manhunt is postponed, and will be released as a part of their Onnesium
triology this fall instead. Apart from this there is nothing more
advertised except their Grand Survey Software Package (or whatever
it's called). No word about their Aliens-series or Starship Operator's
Manual volume 2, or anyhting else.



3) A.I. (tm) is their new role-playing game to be released this fall
(som I suppose a lot of their energy right now goes into this!). I
asked them for a short resume of the concept, and I got it. If you're
interested I can pass on whet they said about it.



Regarding the ftp-site: Have anyone been successful in connecting to
sunbane lately? I haven't succeeded at all the last few weeks! And I
want to check that new trade-software... Could anyone send me a
mail-copy of the trade-software?



[MTJ is shipping now! Please feel free to share the AI summary with the
TML if you like.  I've been on sunbane Feb 22 and Feb 28 (today).  It
works fine; are you aware that a couple months ago the ftp address
changed to 129.100.100.12? The new trade software is there, and I have a
copy of it.  If one last ftp to sunbane fails to work, let me know and I
will send you a copy.  -- James]


/andreas

- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

|G    Mr. Andreas Bjorklind, Laboratory for Library and Information       W|
|O  Science, Department of Computer and Information Science, Linkoping    O|
|S    University, S-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. Tel. +46 13 28 19 69        W|
|H Internet: abj@ida.liu.se, UUCP: sunic!liuida!abj, Bitnet: abj@seliuida !|
- - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2178
Subject: Re: Inquiries on DGP stuff 
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 11:30:02 PST
From: James T Perkins <jamesp@metolius.WR>

METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu writes:
> Could someone with access to a REAL game store do their beleaguered
> Historian a favor and help him get all of the MTJ back issues that
> are out so far? Also, I've seen FLAMING EYE in the stores, but have
> any other promised DGP books been released-- in particular, the second
> volume of the Aliens books, Solomani and Aslan?

Metlay, I just gave The Military Corner (Portland gaming shop) a call.
It looks like the MegaTraveller Journal will be there today, or at least
sometime in the next week.  I've been eagerly awaiting this mag!

The most recent DGP products that I know of are Vilani and Vargr,
Knightfall, and Flaming Eye.  No-one has any idea when Solomani and
Aslan or AI will be coming out, but TMC usually gets only about a week's
notice from their wholesaler (although TMC sold direct from DGP when the
company was a fledgling).  As soon as I hear of any more new products,
I'll be glad to make it generally known.  I pity you, being stuck in a
Traveller-product void.



James

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Traveller Mailing List Administrator	     James T Perkins @ Tektronix, Inc
traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com	     Beaverton, Oregon, USA
uunet!metolius.wr.tek.com!traveller-request  "Load Auto/Evade, Beowulf!"


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2179
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 14:55:13  19
From: asulaima@zephyr.cair.du.edu (SULAIMAN)
Subject: Addres change



Please note that my address will no longer be valid after March 1
Could you please now send my mail from the traveller digest to

	sulaiman@ecs.umass.edu

Thank You

Ameer Z. Sulaiman


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2180
From: wilson m liaw <macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: AI release date
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 0:12:33 EST

AI is scheduled to be released on October this year. 

				Mac


Wilson MacGyver                      | In every heart, there is a time machine
Internet:macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu | if you believe in your memeory. Trace
=====================================| every place you've been, you know what
Disclaimer:All opinions are mine only| it means.    -Encouragement from Martika



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2181

Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 14:16:02 +0100
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: Re: 3D Traveller


>I suggest you add this as an option to sysgen5 (or whatever the next
>version is).

	*Every* release of sysgen has been three dimensional! Sysgen 5
is to extend mapping to roads and city plans. I have had absolutely
zero feedback on it though and won't bother posting any more updates.
	I use it extensively to run my own (3D) campaign.
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 13:02:03 GMT

Sender: jaymin@maths.tcd.ie



>but I always thought this might make things more interesting, especially 
>in border areas.

	Borders are difficult to define, impossible to defend. Fleets have
to operate like packs.


>The key thing to keep in mind is to maintain the average
>3D interstellar distances close to that of the 2D game. Otherwise,
>game balance as far as jump drives go might be thrown off.

	It is impossible to keep the average the same. Since the
number of systems increases by r^3 in 3D and r^2 in 2D, if you have
the same density at jump-1 it will be off for jump-2, etc.

	The main difference I have found is the universe is so LARGE. In
a 10x10x10 "subsector" there are several hundred stars. With a jump-2 ship,
say, an amazing number of different stars can be reached in just a few
jumps. This is why sysgen (and Computer-Aided-Traveller) is a necessity 
for me.

	"Game balance" is a laughable concept. Any system of rules, no matter
what they are, will reach a point of equilibrium. If the referee correctly
understands what that point is and creates the initial position of the universe
accordingly you will have balance. Otherwise as events proceed the universe
will drift toward that point.

 

>I can see why GDW did not make it 3d. [associated problems]...

	It could have at least been rationalised. E.g. that jump
drives only work along planes paralell to the galactic plane. Thus
several planes (paralell universes?) might exist in our single galaxy
only reachable by slow-ships (or perhaps misjumps). Endless possibilitys.
Perhaps TDR would like to include this concept. That way everyone's favourite
non-Imperial traveller can co-exist!

				Jo Jaquinta
				jaymin@maths.tcd.ie


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2182
Subject: PBEM is Slowly Re-awakening
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 17:57:10 PST
From: Richard Johnson <agora.rain.com!richard@tessi.UUCP>


OK.


Now that you've all had a week to think it over carefully,
you can send in your PBEM turns.  Please try to limit yourselves
to a couple of play-type turns, and a moderate amount of 
inter-character discussion.  I, in turn, will endeavor to have
a resonse out ASAP.

Thanks.
Richard


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2183

Subject: 3-D traveller

Date: Thu, 28 Feb 91 17:53:41 PST

From: Richard Johnson <agora.rain.com!richard@tessi.UUCP>



Jo asked about running MT campaigns in a 3-D universe.
I tried once.  Space seems just too sparse to get away
with it unless you start to "fudge" jump limitations too
(like pilot X means you add X to the total "hexes" you

can jump).



I rationalize the map as a high distorted, non-representational
view of space.  This is what the Imperium looks like to your
jump drive, not your eyes.  Then the view is flattened to fit
on paper.  (Which is something that makes *no* sense in an
age of holodynamics and virtual reality...)

Richard



------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2184
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: TDR SIG archives available on Sunbane
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 13:01:37 PST


Shar files containing monthly bundles of the TDR SIG mail traffic are
now available by anonymous ftp from Sunbane (129.100.100.12).  Look
in ~ftp/pub/traveller/TDR.  As of today (3/1/91), bundles are available
for Dec90, Jan91, and Feb91 (with the appropiate .sh suffix on each
file).



TDR traffic has died off to almost nothing.  At the current rate of
decline, there may not be a Mar91 TDR archive!  Come on, all you TDR
members.  If we're going to fix the mechanical problems with MT, we'd
better get to it.  (In my own defense, I'm about to start collaborating
with Iain Fogg again on Firefight! ver. 1.1.)


Later,
        - Mark F. Cook (TDR Archivist)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2185
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 91 15:21:09 -0700
From: sfellows@slate.Mines.Colorado.EDU (FELLOWS STEVEN B)
Subject: MTJ- a quick, qualitative look

  I got the MTJ last Sunday.  Cover price is $5.95.  It includes a white on
black map of the Domain of Deneb. Length: 56 pages

So far I have not read it (much).  Just glancing through it, it is very
much like the Digest except it deals completely with MegaT.  The artwork ,
with a very nice cover, is a great improvement over before (on the whole).
Some noted things (I am glancing at it while typing), there are equipment
sheets and a discussion of the different types of battle dress and there is
an article titled,"A Concise History of the Rebellion", written by my
friend Clay Bush.  Should be really useful to someone like me who just got
into Traveller a year after the release of MegaT.  There is an adventure
which corresponds to the front cover and a few other things.

I noted a lack of material on Gming or design itself, and no Q&A, but
looking on the back page, they promise this in the next issue.



Overall, it was pretty much what I expected:  Not a startling improvement
over the Digest, but more articles dealing with the currents state of
the game. Note: there are no articles that deal with Traveller (ie. the
form of the game before MegaT was released) but I doubt anyone could not
use this material in a "old" Traveller format.

Maybe someone out there can give a detailed report of the contents.

Steven B. Fellows
sfellows@slate.mines.colorado.edu


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2186
From: woodsb@ecn.purdue.edu (Brent L. Woods)
Subject: Holo capacity
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 91 5:46:33 EST




     The list has been kind of quiet today, so I thought I'd ask a
quick question:

     What's the data capacity of a holocrystal?  I've taken a
(admittedly superficial) look through all the references I have here
and all I could find was a note in _Traveller's Digest_ 10 that one
holocrystal can hold about 5 hours of holographic video.  That's fine,
as far as it goes, but it doesn't tell me how much raw data the
crystal can hold.  If it'll hold 5 hours of video, I'd assume that the
capacity is fairly large, but *how* large?  500 Mbytes?  1 Gbyte?  1
Terabyte?  More?

     The reason I'm asking is that I'm trying to find out how much
data can be contained in a cubic meter of holocrystals (I'm assuming
one crystal every 2 cm, or 125,000 crystals in a 1 kl lattice).  After
I find *that* out, then I can estimate the capacity of a sphere of
crystals 100 km in diameter.  Yeah, that was *kilometers*.  I'm writing
a scenario about an old (about the end of the Rule of Man) archive
system.  Large capacity, eh?  It fills the center of a gas giant moon.
Doc Smith would have been proud, eh?  ;-)

     Now that I think about it, this could be more generally expressed
as, "What kind of data format is used in Traveller technology?"  Sure,
an 8-bit byte is a _de facto_ standard today, but it doesn't necessarily
*have* to be (at one time, it wasn't).  Also, does one "byte" correspond
to one text character, or are all files stored in a binary form that
includes some user-transparent data compression?  If so, do you express
the capacity of storage media in arbitrary-number-of-bits units (i. e.,
its physical capacity) or the amount of data that can be compressed
onto it (its *practical* capacity).  Heck, with lharc, I can squeeze
1.8 Mbytes of (text) data onto one 880 Kbyte Amiga disk.  Could a TL 15
mass storage system do any less?

- - --

     Brent

INTERNET:  woodsb@gn.ecn.purdue.edu
USNAIL:  2818 S. Sunrise Dr.  /  New Palestine, IN  46163
PHONE:  +1 (317) 861-4844 (voice)

------------------------------


End of TML Bundle

*****************

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        Chuck McKnight <mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
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Subject: TML Bundle #174: Msgs 2186-2193
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Precedence: bulk
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Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.



------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Wed Mar  6 21:01:15 PST 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #174: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2187  04-Mar-91 Jo Jaquinta       Getting out of the doldrums... << Lora was bo
2188  04-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      Re: Holo capacity << In TML subject 2186, woo
2189  04-Mar-91 za057@zeus.unomah Problems with ftp << Does anyone know what is
2190  04-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      MT Journal: You can't get there from here! <<
2191  05-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Vehicles << I have accumulated another batch 
2192  05-Mar-91 salamon@sdbio2.UC more questions about sector data << Hello, ev
2193  05-Mar-91 sfellows@slate.Mi Challenge Mag and GDW << Interesting News: Ju
2194  05-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Archive Messages << I just recently figured o

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2187
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 9:47:32 GMT
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: Getting out of the doldrums...


     Lora  was bored.  Everyone had gone off leaving Daegaer  for 
company.  She wandered about the ship,  Daegaer following.  "Your 
great company,  you know,  Daegaer",  she told him. "A barrell of 
laughs."  He stared blankly at her.  "Go on,  find something that 
doesn't work.  I will fix it." He held out a snapped stylus. "Oh, 
very  funny." She wandered back to engineering and pressed a  few 
buttons at random,  then reset them.  "Go on,  I'll close my eyes 
and you twiddle a few knobs",  she shut her eyes.  Daegaer turned 
off the light.  "Gee,  that's a difficult one", she said, turning 
it  back  on.  She pulled out a reference manual.  "Lets  see  if 
everything meets its tolerance levels." She leafed through a  few 
pages,  "Go  get  me  a welding  kit,  a  fire  extinguisher,  an 
impedence  tester  and  a milkshake." He sighed  and  loped  off. 
"Strawberry!", she yelled after him.

     She  turned  the  power plant on and  began  increacing  the 
energy  flow.  "Just  a  shade below red." Daegaer  returned  and 
dropped  the items.  "Lighting system should be able to take  0.3 
mega-watts",  she  said  around  the straw.  She  flicked  a  few 
switches  and  the lights glowed a very  intense  white.  Daegaer 
gasped and covered his already shaded eyes.  "Sorry!" She  turned 
them off.  "Lets see,  circulatory fans on max." Daegaer held his 
head as she made the connection and flicked the switch.  A gentle 
wind  began  blowing  through  the  ship,  gradually  increacing. 
"Wheee!",  cried  Lora.  She turned it off as the manual's  pages 
began  to  blow about in her hands.  Daegaer sat back up  in  his 
seat.  "What next?  Purefication plant? Boring. Air conditioning? 
Never did like snow...  Hull bonding?  Hmmm... enhances molecular 
bonds  in  crystal structure of hull,  three mega-watts."  Daeger 
whimpered  quietly.  "Did you say something?" He shook  his  head 
rapidly. "I know you can talk. Why do you play mute?" She sighed. 
"Lets  give it a go." She twisted a few wires together and  threw 
the  switch.  An  almost subsonic throb echoed and  quickly  died 
away.  Lora  raised and eyebrow and flicked the switch off and on 
again.  The low noise reverberated throughout the ship. "I've got 
an idea."

     She  unwired  the console and set up a small circut  to  the 
power  flow controler.  She set it to one megawatt and  activated 
it.  The  monitor filled with a square curve and around them  the 
hull emitted a vibrant tone.  She smiled.  "Go to stores and  get 
forty  mertre  of six core cable",  she instructed  Daegaer.  She 
dismantled  the  temporary  circut  and  began  studying   wiring 
diagrams.

     She worked rapidly most of the afternoon, Daegaer catching a 
bit  of  her  excitment.  Dashing here and  there,  fetching  and 
carrying tools. In late afternoon the sun was setting. They stood 
on the hot cement to one side of the ship.  A thick cable drooped 
out a hatch and ran to a set of many switched boxes that  Daegaer 
sat  at.  A  thin  wire  lead to the final  aparatus  which  Lora 
carried.

     "Stoke her up",  she said.  Daegaer gingerly turned a  knob, 
watching  the head shimmer radiate off the engines.  "Connect the 
interface."  He threw several large switches.  "Engage  filters." 
Her activated these and his hand hovered shaking over a large red 
button. "Activate", she whispered. He pushed it.

     She savoured the moment of silence,  then leaped in the  air 
bringing  her hand down shaply on the string of her  gitaur.  The 
sound  blasted from the hull's surface area and exploded over the 
whole shipyard as she sank to her knees,  fingers madly  plucking 
their way up the nect as the sound rose hight and higher. Daegaer 
clung to the console as the ship slid several inches on its madly 
vibrating  landing  gear.  At  her climax he joined in  with  the 
ship's artilery thundering.



                              * * *



     Terry and the others returned that evening to find their lot 
covered in people.  Starport police surrounded the area and a few 
administrators  in business suits were arguing loudly with  Lora. 
Around her several other spacers had turned up and were  chatting 
at  Daegaer.  One  had  brought a howitzer,  another  a  suitably 
modified ultrasonic combat stunner and a tight knot worked around 
a plasma cannon,  making unguessed modifications. Lora waved them 
over.

     "What is going on here!", demanded Terry,

     "We just thought we'd have a good old jam session!"
------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2188
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: Re: Holo capacity
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 11:27:37 PST

In TML subject 2186, woodsb@ecn.purdue.edu (Brent L. Woods) writes:

>      What's the data capacity of a holocrystal?  I've taken a
> (admittedly superficial) look through all the references I have here
> and all I could find was a note in _Traveller's Digest_ 10 that one
> holocrystal can hold about 5 hours of holographic video.  That's fine,
> as far as it goes, but it doesn't tell me how much raw data the
> crystal can hold.  If it'll hold 5 hours of video, I'd assume that the
> capacity is fairly large, but *how* large?  500 Mbytes?  1 Gbyte?  1
> Terabyte?  More?


If you're willing to accept modern film/video technology as a starting
point, throw in a dose of computer display specifications, and sprinkle
with a dash of HDTV, we can make a pretty good educated guess.  Let's
start with a little biology lesson.

Modern industrial movie cameras record at a speed of 24 fps (frames per
second), while video camcorders are more like 30 fps.  Both of these
rates, if played back to the human eye at the speed they were recorded,
would produce visible flicker.  This is eliminated in video units by
clocking playback at 60 hertz (or higher) and in movie cameras by a
rotating mirror, which rapidly flashes each individual frame 3 times,
producing a virtual playback rate of 72 fps.  playback rates of ~60
hertz and higher are beyond the humans eyes threshold to discern flicker.

Next, there's the issue of image quality.  Currently, everyday TV produces
images with a vertical resolution of ~560 lines, which shows up as a very
coarse image if frozen-framed.  Recent research in HDTV (high-definition TV)
produces video images with a vertical resolution of over 1100 lines, which
approaches the image detail in a 1280x1024 hi-res computer display.  Most
people consider this resolution satisfactory.  In fact, doubling THAT
resolution would produce images which are literally photographic quality.
Also, the number of simultaneously presentable colors affects image
quality.  Modern hi-res computer workstations (Silicon Graphics,  DEC,
Hewlett-Packard, Sun, et.al.) use 24-bit 'true' color to produce photo-
realistic images.


Given these boundary conditions (pixel depth, image dimensions, and
number of frames per second), we can estimate the amount of storage
neccessary for 5 hours of continuous visual data.  Figure 24-bit pixels
in a 1024x1024 image, scanned 60 times per second, and you end up with
1,509,949,440 bits of data per second.  Multiply that by the number of
seconds in 5 hours (18,000) and you get 2.7179 x 10^13 bits of data.
To put this into perspective, think of it as 41,180,439,290 pages of
text (66 lines, 80 columns wide), or 73,800 copies of the entire
Encyclopedia Britannica! And this is just for a silent movie, so far.
We haven't even touched on the subject of storing a parallel soundtrack.


>      Now that I think about it, this could be more generally expressed
> as, "What kind of data format is used in Traveller technology?"  Sure,
> an 8-bit byte is a _de facto_ standard today, but it doesn't necessarily
> *have* to be (at one time, it wasn't).  Also, does one "byte" correspond
> to one text character, or are all files stored in a binary form that
> includes some user-transparent data compression?  If so, do you express
> the capacity of storage media in arbitrary-number-of-bits units (i. e.,
> its physical capacity) or the amount of data that can be compressed
> onto it (its *practical* capacity).  Heck, with lharc, I can squeeze
> 1.8 Mbytes of (text) data onto one 880 Kbyte Amiga disk.  Could a TL 15
> mass storage system do any less?



These are all valid points.  Even today, it's becoming obvious that an
8-bit byte is far from sufficient for even simple text storage.  The
increasing problems of internationalization (or I14N, as people refer
to it) show that 16-bit NLS (National Language Support) is neccessary
to represent far eastern character sets such as Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana,
Triad-Chinese, etc.  Add to this the fact that most western font sets
are very generalized, or VERY specialized, and you end up with lots
of missing special characters.  For example, it's impossible for a
single 8-bit font to fully support both English and German, and still
contain all the standard punctuation characters we're all used to.



For a single font set to support all existing languages on the planet
right now, a 16-bit font would be hard pressed to serve.  24-bits would
definitely do the job.  I cite even multiples of an 8-bit byte only
for historical reasons.  There's no reason that 19, 23, or 26 bits wouldn't
work just as well.  However, since computers (at least existing ones)
are binary by their very nature, it seems that using an even power of
2 would facilitate whatever storage scheme you eventually use.  How
you choose to compress this data is left as an exercise to the reader. :-)



Regarding the compression of image data, I offer only one tantalizing
point.  Recent date compression reseach has demonstrated that very
complex natural images (a fern, a tree, a mountain skyline) can be
reduced to a single factal equation for storage, and then reproduced
in total detail, with no loss of resolution.  Optimists suggest that,
eventually, more sophisticated methods will be found which allow ANY
image to be stored in fractal form.  This form of compression results
in a storage space reduction several magnitudes of order smaller than
the original image.  The current drawback is that discerning the correct
storage fractal is very hit-and-miss, and deriving it is extremely
time-consuming.  Some images fail to be fractally compressed.



However, let's assume that eventually fractal compression becomes
common-place.  Presumably, each 1K x 1K x 24 image (discussed earlier)
could be reduced to, say, just under 1K of compressed data.  If we
further assume that compression could be done real-time, then that holo
crystal could be a lot smaller, and still hold 5 hours of data.  Now,
instead of having to hold 2.7179 x 10^13 bits of data, it only has
to hold 1,105,920,000 bits of data (138,240,000 8-bit bytes).



I don't know about you, but I always assumed that these crystals were
about half the size of a standard domino.  Considering that modern
high-density 3.5" floppy discs can already hold over 1 Mb. of data,
This only represents a 2 order of magnitude improvement in data storage
density, which doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me.



If we assume that one of these 5-hour holo-crystals is 1x2x4 cm., then
the total number of them in a cubic meter of crystal would be 100 x 50
x 25, or 125,000.  If we assume that each crystal can hold 2.7179 x
10^13 bits of data, before fractal compression, then you have 3.3974 x
10^18 bits of storage per cubic meter.  Since volume of a sphere is
stated as 4/3 pi R^3, where R (in this case) is 50,000 meters, the
total volume of a 100 Km. diameter sphere is 5.2360 x 10^14 cubic
meters.  Multiply that by the storage capacity per cubic meter, and
you have a total storage capacity of 1.7789 x 10^33 bits.

Now THAT's entertainment.

Later,
        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330


INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com



------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2189
Date: 4 Mar 91 23:13:00 CDT
From: za057@zeus.unomaha.edu
Subject: Problems with ftp

Does anyone know what is going on with sunbane??

It takes anonymous ftp, but is unable to 'load guest restrictions'??

Question #2:  Does anyone have a copy of the TDR Trade and/or sysgen
program that can be sent to me zipped/uuencoded?  The VMS system here won't
let me uncompress files...

- - --David West

za057@zeus.unomaha.edu

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2190
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: MT Journal: You can't get there from here!
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 22:53:04 PST

If any of you are thinking of subscribing to DGP's new MegaTraveller
Journal, put away your checkbooks, I can save you the trouble.

I won the random drawing back in Traveller's Digest issue #18 readers
survey, which was a free 1-year subscription to the magazine (4 issues),
starting with issue #19.  Since it only ran through issue #21, my 'forth'
issue was actually the first issue of the MegaTraveller Journal, which
just arrived today.  Included with the magazine was this notice (which I
re-print below verbatim, without permission):


                "PLEASE DO NOT RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION
                     TO THE MEGATRAVELLER JOURNAL



Sorry, but we are not taking subscriptions on the new magazine.  So why
not?  There are several reasons.



First, the magazine has always been the least profitable thing we produce.
We make our money from cover price, since we have few paying advertisers --
most of our ads are provided as a service, or we'd have no ads at all in
the magazine.  To make our magazine more profitable, we have several changes
in the wind, and trying to offer subscriptions during this time of great
change is not a good idea.  One immediate change is the Journal's increase
in cover price to $5.95 per 52-page issue.



Next, we are dropping our concept of the Journal being a magazine, and
thinking of it more as a product.  We are viewing it more as a semi-regular
resource book.  Consistent with that philosophy, all issues of the Journal
from 3 and beyond will be double-sized (104-pages) and cost $12.95 -- just
like a product.  This Journal will have minimal ads (no more convention
notices or fanzine ads), and it will appear twice a year (more or less).

Finally, few good writers are coming forward to write TRAVELLER articles
for us.  That means we have to fill the space ourselves.  Not that we don't
enjoy doing that, but we are spread pretty thin as it is already.  We want
the freedom to be able to produce a Journal when we have enough material to
fill it -- thus no required release frequency and no subscriptions."



Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I have real mixed emotions
about this.  On the one hand, I think it's probably a very good idea, and
issue quality, which is already excellent (more on this later), will almost
certainly get better.  On the other hand, I don't know whether I can stand
the wait between issues! :-)  Recent issues of Challenge have been so
scattershot, contents-wise, that I'm really beginning to question it's
usefulness as a MT information resource. Lately, I only buy it for the
Traveller News Service articles (Chorus: "Yah, sure!  Go ahead, pull the
other leg!!")  Okay, okay, so I'm an MT junkie.  We'll just have to see
if I can last between these drawnout issues of MT Journal.

As for the first issue, well it's everything Steven Fellows described and
then some!  As he mentioned, it's cover price is $5.95 and issue 2 should
be the same.  Then (according to the above notice), issue 3 and later will
cost us $12.95.  Oh well, as long as it's only twice a year, sigh. :-)


The cover art is as good or better than any Traveller's Digest has ever
had, and includes a creature referred to in the credits as "a Khethss
from Giranima".  I can't find a reference to this race anywhere in my
MT stuff.  Maybe our esteemed Traveller Historian can help out (how
about it, Metlay?).



The Domain of Deneb pull-out map is very sharp.  It actually includes
all of the Spinward Marches, Deneb, the Trojan Reach, and Reft Sector,
on a single page.  It includes X-boat routes, borders, allegiance codes,
names and starport types for all listed systems.  Everything but the actual
UWPs are listed.



If this issue is a typical sample of following volumes, then we all have
a lot to look forward to.  It is definitely a "use everything, waste nothing"
magazine.  Articles include a very complete planetside adventure on Wardn
(1727 Spinward Marches), and A Concise History of the Rebellion (as Steve
already mentioned) with a detailed rebellion time running from 1103
(Dulinor's elevation to Archdukedom) to 1120.  There is also a detailed
guide to both the Domain of Deneb circa 1120 (hence the pull-out map),
a world guide to Enaaka (Deneb 0203), an interview with Norris (ala Rebel
Reporter), and finally (my personal favorite), a lengthy article on the
niceties of battledress (what can I say; I'm a hardware junkie, too).
The illustrations in that article alone are worth the price of admission
(if you ever wondered how somebody gets into one of those things, this
will answer your questions).


Finally, in the back of the issue, there's an article on a subject
near and dear to all of us (well, MOST of us, anyway): "Shareware:
MegaTraveller Computer Aid Directory".  It explains why DGP doesn't
offer MT software gaming aids (low return-on-investment), but how
they're going to start reviewing some of the better software they
receive from MT buffs, and how you can lay your hands on the stuff.
Since some of you may entertain thoughts of writing and selling your
own MT computer gaming aids, here's the ideal forum for "free advertising",
assuming, of course, that your application makes the (subjective) quality
cut line.

Anyway, check this first issue out for yourself.  And then be prepared
to wait a while for number 2.


                        "Wait a minute.  They're selling us replacement
                         parts AT COST?!?  Something stinks here.  LSP
                         NEVER sells *anything* 'at cost'!"



Later,
        Mark F. Cook


USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330


INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2191
Date:     Tue, 5 Mar 91 9:39:17 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Vehicles



I have accumulated another batch of vehicle designs, and figured I might as 
well distribute them.  The three Type A variants should be of some use in 
adventures.  I've noted what the actual thrust would be, figured on the
1 Maneuver unit=650tons basis, and you'll see that Maneuver-1 vessels have
a slight problem when it comes to planetary landings.  

Rob Dean

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Frenetic Armored Car TL10



     The Frenetic is an inexpensive armored car designed to mount a VRF gauss 
gun.  The gun accounts for almost 2/3 of the vehicle cost. A sealed environ-
ment system is installed for use in chemically or radioactively contaminated 
environments, and auxiliary oxygen tanks can be installed to permit operation 
in non-breathable atmosphere or vacuum.  This results in a decrease in endur-
ance to 40 hours.



  CraftID: Frenetic Armored Car, TL10, Cr323,600
     Hull: 1/2, Disp=1, Conf=4USL+turret, Armor=20E, Loaded=10.54t,
           Unloaded=9.22t
    Power: 1/2, 12*Fuel Cell=1.08MW, Dur=15/45
     Loco: 1/2, 6 wheels, P/W=102, Road=222kph, Offroad=67kph
     Comm: Radio=Regional(500km)
  Sensors: 2*Headlights, Passive IR, Light Amplification
      Off: Hardpoints=1

                              Pen/          Max     Auto   Dngr
                 Ammo  Rds    Attn    Dmg   Range   Tgts   Spc    Sig   ROF
 VRF Gauss Gun     -  60000   21/4    10   Dist(4.5)  4     -      L    300


      Def: -
  Control: Comp0*1, 6*DynLink
    Accom: Seats=Adequate*2, Env=basic env, basic ls
    Other: Fuel=1.78kl, Cargo=0.6kl, ObjSize=Small, EmLevel=Moderate



Tiremese Termagant class Fighter TL11


     The Termagant is a long endurance light fighter built by a consortium of 
the independent governments of Tirem.  It can be operated by a single crew-
member, but usually carries two on routine long duration patrol missions.  
This requires double occupancy of the accommodations, and results in a high 
sociability rating being advantageous for selection to Tirem's fighter serv-
ice.  With no requirement to provided an atmospheric combat capability, the 
designers elected to avoid streamlining in favor of ease of construction. 
Termagant flyers usually call their craft "Uglies".  Use of this nickname by 
the non-Termagant community is not tolerated.



  CraftID: Termagant Class Fighter, TL11, MCr31.25
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Conf=4USL, Armor=40E, Loaded=454.7t
           Unloaded=445.0t
    Power: 3/6, Fusion=270MW, Dur=29/87
     Loco: 3/6, Maneuver=6 (Thrusters=2210t), MaxAccel=4.86G, Agility=4
     Comm: Radio=System, LaserComm=System, MaserComm=System
  Sensors: EMM, EMS(Act)=FarOrbit, EMS(Pass)=Interplanetary,
           ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoints=1

              Missile=x02
           Batteries    1
           Bearing      1

      Def: DefDM+9
  Control: Comp3*3, HeadsUpDisplay*1, 40*DynLink
    Accom: Crew=1, Small Staterooms*1, Seat=Roomy*2, Env=basic env, basic ls,
           extended ls, grav plates, inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=96kl, Missiles=60 (20b-r), ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint


Derwent class Merchant TL11
     The Derwent class is a common Type A merchant variant.  It is fitted 
with a reasonable anti-piracy weapons package, typical for the current unset-
tled times in the Imperium.  No accommodations for passengers are provided, 
but Derwent operators who are shorthanded occasionally carry a middle passen-
ger or two.


  CraftID: Derwent class Merchant, TL11, MCr71.5
     Hull: 180/450, Disp=200t, Config=4SL, Armor=40E, Loaded=3433.4t,
           Unloaded=2221.8t
    Power: 10/20, Fusion=900MW, Duration=30/90 
     Loco: 9/18, Maneuver=2 (Thrusters=6500t), 4/8, Jump=1, Cruise=750kph,
           Max=1000kph, MaxAccel=1.9G, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System*2
  Sensors: EMS Active(FarOrbit), EMS Passive(Interplanetary),
           ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoints=2

                Missile=x02
           Batteries      1
           Bearing        1

      Def: DefDM+4

               SandCaster=x04
           Batteries        1
           Bearing          1

  Control: Computer Mod1*3, 3*HeadsUpDisplay, 590*DynLink
    Accom: Crew=6 (1 bridge, 2 engineer, 2 gunners, 1 medical), 
           Staterooms=6, Env=basic env, basic ls, extended ls, grav plates,
           inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=594kl (1 jump-1+30 days), Cargo=1167kl, Missiles=60 (20b-r),
           Fuel Scoops, Fuel Purifier (12hr), ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint



Rummelhart Tracked ATV TL12

     The Rummelhart (named for a large shaggy herdbeast of Trin, noted for 
its toughness and endurance) is a fairly ordinary tracked ATV, useful for
situations in which a flying vehicle would be inappropriate.  Originally 
designed on Trin in 887, the Rummelhart is now produced under license on 
several planets in the Spinward Marches, particularly Lunion and Strouden.  
Common field modifications include addition of light armament or cranes, 
rearrangement of the accommodations and cargo space to include bunks, and 
installation of specialized sensors.


  CraftID: Rummelhart Tracked ATV, TL12, Cr773,310
     Hull: 6/14, Disp=6, Config=4USL, Armor=4F, Loaded=52.7t, Unloaded=41.8t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=6MW, Dur=30/90
     Loco: 2/4, Tracks, RoadSpeed=227kph, Offroad=91kph
     Comm: Radio=Regional
  Sensors: EMS Active(Distant), EMS Passive(VDist), ActObjScan=Form,
           ActObjPin=Form, PassEnScan=Form
      Off: Hardpoints=1
      Def: -
  Control: Comp0, DynLink*17
    Accom: Seats=ExtOccRoomy*5 (Driver, 4 passengers), Env=Basic env,
           basic ls, extended ls
    Other: Fuel=6.48kl, Cargo=10.4, ObjSize=Small, EmLevel=Moderate



Stiletto Light Grav Tank TL14

     The Stiletto is a light grav tank still found equipping second-line 
units of the Imperial Army.  Its small size, high speed, and extensive defen-
sive suite make it survivable in a modern battle.  Cramped accommodations are 
somewhat less popular among the crews. 


  CraftID: Stiletto Light Grav Tank, TL14, MCr7.6
     Hull: 2/5, Disp=2, Config=1AF+turret, Armor=45G, Loaded=62.3t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=60MW, Dur=106hr (3/10)
     Loco: 1/2, StdGrav=280t, Max Speed=3150kph, Cruise=2363kph, NOE=180kph,
           MaxAccel=3.5G
     Comm: Radio=Planetary, RadioJammer=Planetary, LaserComm=Continental, 
           MaserComm=Continental
  Sensors: EMS Active(Far Orbit), EMS Jammer(Far Orbit),
           EMS Passive(Interstellar), Low Pen Densitometer(100m), Neutrino
           Sensor(10kw), ActObjScan=Routine, ActObjPin=Routine,
           PassObjScan=Routine, PassObjPin=Difficult, PassEnScan=Simple,
           PassEnPin=Routine
      Off: Hardpoints=1

                      Pen/          Max     Auto   Dngr
                      Attn    Dmg   Range   Tgts   Spc    Sig   ROF
         Fusion-Y Gun  71/5    30  VDist(21)  2     45     H     40

      Def: Point Defense Targeting for fusion gun
  Control: Comp0*2, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Seats=Cramped*2 (Commander, Driver/Gunner), Env=Basic env, basic 
           ls, extended ls
    Other: Fuel=5.3kl, Cargo=0, ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint


Type Y Yacht TL15

     This version of the Type Y Yacht appears in the shipbuilding catalog of 
ConTech of Glisten.  The most unusual features of the design are the dome 
airframe hull for rapid transit on planet and provision of a 8x6x2 meter 
swimming pool.  The pool is part of the central atrium around which the five 
passenger staterooms are arranged.  Since the craft itself is capable of high 
speed travel, no permanent provision for carried smaller craft has been made.  
The 57kl cargo area could hold a vehicle of up to 3 tons displacement if 
desired.  No fuel scoops or fuel purifier are installed, limiting operations 
to civilized systems.  Cost of fuel was considered to be no object for anyone 
wealthy enough to own one of these.

  CraftID: Type Y Yacht, TL15, MCr133
     Hull: 180/450, Disp=200, Config=6AF, Armor=40G, Loaded=1736t,
           Unloaded=1589t
    Power: 8/16, Fusion=2070MW, Duration=30/90
     Loco: 15/30, Maneuver=3, 8/16, Jump=3, NOE=190kph, Cruise=2880kph,
           Max=3840kph, Agility=3, (ActualThrust=5.99G)
     Comm: Radio=System*3, LaserComm=System
  Sensors: EMS Active (FarOrbit), EMS Jammer (FarOrbit), EMS Passive
           (Interstellar), ActObjScan=Routine, ActObjPin=Routine, 
           PassEnScan=Routine
      Off: Hardpoints=2
            BeamLaser=xx4  
           Batteries    1 
           Bearing      1 

      Def: DefDM+9

               SandCaster=x04
           Batteries        1
           Bearing          1

  Control: Computer Mod5*3, 2*HeadsUpHoloDisplay, 20*HoloLink
    Accom: Crew=5 (1 bridge, 1 medic, 1 engineer, 1 steward, 1 gunner), 
           Passengers=5, Staterooms=10, Env=basic env, basic ls, extended ls,
           grav plates, inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=1285.2kl, Cargo=57kl, SwimmingPool=240kl, ObjSize=Average,
           EmLevel=Avg



    Notes: This was designed using the usual design rules, but evaluated 
using my "1 drive unit=650 tons thrust" method to calculate airspeed.  In 
this particular case, since there are a large number of low density compo-
nents (fuel and staterooms in particular), this results in a performance 
substantially better than the rough estimate provided by the Drive=3 rule.  
The yacht as given in the Imperial Encyclopedia is apparently plagued by a 
number of typos, as I don't think it has enough fuel or power to support the 
Jump-4, Maneuver-4 set-up shown.  In Classic Traveller, I believe a Yacht was 
a jump-1, Maneuver-1 vessel, but it seemed to me that that could be bettered.



Stalwart Heavy Tank TL5
     The Stalwart is a heavy tank from the lowest tech level at which such 
vehicles are commonly used.  It mounts a large howitzer in a rotating turret, 
and two machine guns (bow and commander's). Because of the ability of the 
16cm howitzer to penetrate an unarmored starship hull, this vehicle is com-
monly found in a starport guard role on low tech worlds.

  CraftID: Stalwart Heavy Tank, TL5, Cr154,180
     Hull: 4/8, Disp=3, Config=4USL+turret, Armor=20A, Unloaded=53.3t,
           Loaded=48.0t
    Power: 1/2, IC=1.0MW, Dur=5hrs
     Loco: 1/2, Tracks, P/W=19, Road=50kph, Offroad=20kph
     Comm: Radio=VDistant(50km)
  Sensors: none
      Off: Hardpoints=1

                           Pen/         Max    Auto   Dngr
                Ammo  Rds  Attn   Dmg   Range  Tgts   Spc    Sig   ROF
 16cm Howitzer   HE    67   22     20 Dist(17km) -     30     H     4
                KEAP   -   31/3    16 Dist(17km) -     -      H     4
                HEAP   -    43     16 Dist(17km) -     -      H     4
   2*Medium MG   -    800   3/3     3   VLong   3      -      H    80

      Def: -
  Control: Mech*39
    Accom: Crew=5 (Driver,3 Gunners,Commander), Seats=Cramped*5
    Other: Fuel=600L, Cargo=0, ObjSize=Small, EmLevel=Moderate



Type A Free Trader TL10

     This is a fairly standard Type A free trader, with the only changes to 
the basic package being the wedge form hull and the two dual turrets, each 
with a missile rack and a sandcaster.  Free trader crews with members who can 
double as gunners (such as the steward and perhaps the engineer) can allocate 
additional staterooms to passenger service.  The standard grav maneuver drive 
system loses efficiency beyond a gravity well, and only provides 0.95Gs of 
acceleration when the vessel is fully loaded.  This limits the vessel to use 
of orbital port facilities when carrying cargo to or from earth-size planets.  
The ship can make 1.5Gs empty, which allows for landing when necessary.

     The vessel's control system is sufficient for installation of a more 
powerful weapons system.



  CraftID: Type A  Free Trader, TL10, MCr54.15 
     Hull: 180/450, Disp=200t, Config=1SL, Armor=40E, Loaded=2740t,
           Unloaded=1699t
    Power: 6/12, Fusion=468MW, Duration=30days
     Loco: 4/8, Maneuver=1 (StdGrav=2600t), 4/8, Jump=1, Cruise=750kph,
           Max=1000kph, NOE=140kph, TrueAcc=0.95G, Agility=1 
     Comm: Radio=System*2
  Sensors: Radar=FarOrbit, ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout
      Off: Hardpoints=2

                  Missile=x01
           Batteries        2
           Bearing          2

      Def: DefDM+3

               SandCaster=x03
           Batteries        2
           Bearing          2

  Control: Computer Mod1*3, 2*HeadsUpDisplay, 420*DynLink
    Accom: Crew=6 (1 bridge, 1 engineer, 2 gunners, 1 steward, 1 medic),
           Passengers=4, Staterooms=10, Low Berths=20, Env=basic env, basic
           ls, extended ls, grav plates, inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=440kl (1 jump-1+30 days), Cargo=1010kl (74.8t), Fuel Scoops,
           Fuel Purifier (12hr), ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint


Type S3 Naval Scout TL13

     The Type S3 Scout was built to an Imperial Navy specification for a 
light fleet scout.  Based on the standard Type S design, the S3 includes a 
larger jump drive, electronic countermeasure capability, and a redundant 
sensor and communication suite. A typical mission might involve two or three 
S3s that would jump to the outskirts of an enemy held system, refuel clandes-
tinely, monitor enemy broadcast communications, and identify forces with 
passive detection gear.  If something vital were learned, or at a scheduled 
time otherwise, one of the ships would jump outsystem and report, leaving the 
other(s) to continue the surveillance.  A full tank of fuel would allow 
operation of the life support and sensor systems for over 300 days with no 
other use of power.



  CraftID: Type S3 Naval Scout, TL13, MCr163.8 
     Hull: 90/225, Disp=100t, Config=1AF, Armor=40F, Loaded=1472t,
           Unloaded=1376t
    Power: 6/12, Fusion=720MW, Duration=30days
     Loco: 5/10, Maneuver=2 (Thrusters=3250t), 4/8, Jump=3, Cruise=1050kph,
           Max=1400kph, NOE=170kph, TrueAcc=2.2G, Agility=2
     Comm: Radio=System*2, Laser=System*2, Maser=System*2
  Sensors: EMM, EMS Active(FarOrbit)*2, EMS Jammer(FarOrbit)*2,
           EMS Passive(Interstellar)*2, Neutrino Sensor (100Kw),
           High Pen Densitometer (100m), ActObjScan=Rout,
           ActObjPin=Rout, PassObjScan=Diff, PassObjPin=Diff,
           PassEnScan=Rout, PassEnPin=Diff
      Off: Hardpoints=1

               BeamLaser=x02     Missile=x02
           Batteries       1               1
           Bearing         1               1

      Def: DefDM+6

              Sandcaster=xx3
           Batteries       1
           Bearing         1

  Control: Computer Mod3fib*3, 1*HeadsUpHoloDisplay, 75*HoloLink
    Accom: Crew=2 (1 bridge/engineer, 1 gunner), Passengers=6, Staterooms=4,
           Env=basic env, basic ls, extended ls, grav plates, inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=560kl (1 jump-3+30 days), Cargo=56kl, Fuel Scoops, Fuel  
           Purifier (6hr), SubCraft=1*4ton (not included), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=None


Type A Free Trader TL11

     This is a basic Type A free trader, typical of those produced by low 
tech systems in secure areas prior to the Rebellion.  No weapons are in-
stalled, but the control system has sufficient excess capacity to accept the 
installation of any practical armament package.  The hull design is optimized 
for ease of construction.  Thrusters provide a reasonable deepspace accelera-
tion of 0.94Gs, but it should be noted that this is not sufficient to lift 
the fully loaded craft from a size 8 planet.  Planetary landings while empty, 
for crew vacations, passenger loading or maintenance are possible.

  CraftID: Type A Free Trader, TL11, MCr50.7 
     Hull: 180/450, Disp=200t, Config=4SL, Armor=40E, Loaded=2754t,
           Unloaded=1701t
    Power: 6/12, Fusion=540MW, Duration=30days 
     Loco: 4/8, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters=2600t), 4/8, Jump=1, TrueAcc=0.94G,
           Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System*2
  Sensors: Radar=FarOrbit, ActObjScan=Rout, ActObjPin=Rout
      Off: Hardpoints=2 (No weapons currently installed)
      Def: DefDM+3
  Control: Computer Mod1*3, 2*HeadsUpDisplay, 450*DynLink
    Accom: Crew=4 (1 bridge, 1 engineer, 1 steward, 1 medic), Passengers=6,
           Staterooms=10, LowBerths=20, Env=basic env, basic ls, extended ls,
           grav plates, inertial comp
    Other: Fuel=445kl (1 jump-1+30 days), Cargo=1022kl (75.7t), Fuel Scoops,
           Fuel Purifier (12hr), ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2192
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 10:46:29 PST
From: salamon@sdbio2.UCSD.EDU (Andrew Salamon)
Subject: more questions about sector data


Hello, everyone!

  I am looking for the following info. If anyone has good pointers too it, or 
even an on-line copy, it would be greatly appreciated.

	1) Any and all 'official' subsector names (except Spinward Marches).
	2) A list of what all of the allegiance codes in the Sector data files
	   mean.  
	3) Is there any way to tell which planets in the Sector data files are
	   capitals?  (Sector and subsector capitals)

  If any of this info is in the Rebellion Source book, don't worry about it, 
as I should have a copy soon.


Thanks!



Andrew

salamon@sdbio2.ucsd.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2193
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 13:52:03 -0700
From: sfellows@slate.Mines.Colorado.EDU (FELLOWS STEVEN B)
Subject: Challenge Mag and GDW

Interesting News:



Just received Challenge 48 in the mail from GDW.  In the "From the Management"
section it states: "We're going monthly starting in July."  



This is good news, because now they are going go head to head with Dragon
and White Dwarf.  I always found Challenge to be a decent mag.  While it
does cover many other games other than MegaT, I do think their other
material is quite interesting.  It will be nice to get a science fiction
gaming mag once a month.  My roommate gets Dragon, but that doesn't cut the
cake for a science-fiction gamer (even though they said in their last
editorial they were also expanding to include sf.  I doubt that will
last).



Bad news, because I just sent in a subscription which I thought would last
a year.  Even though the subscription was paid by using gift certificates
it looks like I will have to renew in August.  They also mistakenly sent me
47 on my subscription, which I told them I already have.  Oh well, I'll
just give it to one of my players.

Speaking of which, I have to say that their mail-order is quite efficient.
I sent them my order (60 dollars of 65 dollar total was paid using gift
certificates) less than 2 weeks ago.  I was quite surprised to see it so
fast.



Steven B. Fellows

sfellows@slate.mines.colorado.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2194
Date:     Tue, 5 Mar 91 16:34:07 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Archive Messages


I just recently figured out how to access the archives, and spent most of
last weekend reading through everything prior to my arrival on the scene
in June 1990.  (Seems like I've been here longer...)



A question which was discussed at great length was appropriate size or budget
of naval forces.  It was agreed by all that the Trillion Credit Squadron 
rules gave ludicrously large results (I know...ask me about the navy for Narsil
- - --Pop A--sometime), and that the Striker rules, while moving in the right
direction, were still too generous.  What does anyone feel is a reasonable
force level for a population 9 TL15 planet?  If we got the results in terms
of total spending, how much would be devoted to which services?  At TL15 is
there any use for infantry, apart from suppressing low tech natives, standing
guard duty, and occasional police work?  Would low tech planets actually
bother maintaining any sort of military forces beyond the bare minimum 
required for maintaining order, knowing that any reasonable attack by a
higher tech neighbor would result in a rapid defeat?  (U.S./Iraq)  Balkanized
worlds would obviously be a special case here.

Has anyone been following MT discussion on GEnie?  I have an account there
now, but don't have the funds to spend on Scorpia time.  Have any interesting
files been uploaded there lately?

Is anyone planning on attending Origins this year?  We really ought to plan
some sort of get together, there and/or at the World SF Convention in Chicago
over Labor Day.  Keep it in mind...

Rob Dean

------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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        Chuck McKnight <mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
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Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 21:01:10 PST
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Status: RO

TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.


------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun Mar 10 21:01:06 PST 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #175: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2195  05-Mar-91 gsw@moss.att.COM  RE: holocrystals << In TML subject 2188, Mark
2196  06-Mar-91 wilson m liaw     Re: (2193) Challenge Mag and GDW << > Bad new
2197  06-Mar-91 sfellows@slate.Mi Holographic Crystal Memory << Jerry Williams 
2198  06-Mar-91 Bob Koester       Planetary Armed Forces << In a recent note, R
2199  06-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Cargo Transportation << Does anyone know offh
2200  07-Mar-91 gsw@moss.att.COM  Re: Holographic Crystal Memory << In TML arti
2201  07-Mar-91 09nilles%cuavax.d Re: Holo Crystals << > 4) A company would nev
2202  07-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi Crystals << My standard for crystal storage a
2203  07-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi cargo containers << Generally the movement of
2204  07-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Re: (2198) Planetary Armed Forces << > In a r
2205  07-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Cargo Haulers << I *think* 4 displacement ton
2206  07-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  TL10 Navies << I have been working very inter
2207  08-Mar-91 Jo Jaquinta       Containerised Cargo << Despite the new found 
2208  08-Mar-91 Marc Alexandrovic Planetary Armed Forces and Navies, etc << To 
2209  08-Mar-91 Bob Koester       Planetary Armed Forces << Regarding RSD's fur
2210  08-Mar-91 wew@naucse.cse.na Hello! << I've just joined the list and am ve

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2195
From: gsw@moss.att.COM (Jerry Williams)
Subject: RE: holocrystals
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 13:08:55 EST


In TML subject 2188, Mark Cook writes:



> In TML subject 2186, woodsb@ecn.purdue.edu (Brent L. Woods) writes:

> >      What's the data capacity of a holocrystal?  [ ... ]
> 
> [ ... ]
> 
> Given these boundary conditions (pixel depth, image dimensions, and
> number of frames per second), we can estimate the amount of storage
> neccessary for 5 hours of continuous visual data.  Figure 24-bit pixels
> in a 1024x1024 image, scanned 60 times per second, and you end up with
> 1,509,949,440 bits of data per second.  Multiply that by the number of
> seconds in 5 hours (18,000) and you get 2.7179 x 10^13 bits of data.
> 
> [ ... ]



Whoa!  A holocrystal holds 5 hours of HOLOGRAPHIC video.  I think the
parallel soundtrack is nothing compared to the fact that this data is
3-D.  The picture is likely to be 1024x1024x1024.  Multiply that number
by another 3 orders of magnitude to get 2.7831 x 10^16 bits (3,240,000
Gigabytes) if the data is uncompressed.



> 
> Regarding the compression of image data, I offer only one tantalizing
> point.  Recent date compression reseach has demonstrated that very
> complex natural images (a fern, a tree, a mountain skyline) can be
> reduced to a single factal equation for storage, and then reproduced
> in total detail, with no loss of resolution.  Optimists suggest that,
> eventually, more sophisticated methods will be found which allow ANY
> image to be stored in fractal form.  This form of compression results
> in a storage space reduction several magnitudes of order smaller than
> the original image.  The current drawback is that discerning the correct
> storage fractal is very hit-and-miss, and deriving it is extremely
> time-consuming.  Some images fail to be fractally compressed.
> 

Actually, fractals are really just the beginning.  There are many amazing
compression techniques which are just being developed now.  For instance,
you can time-compress pictures for a tremendous savings, and without
using nearly as much CPU time as fractalizing would take.  For example,
you might fractally draw a picture once, then move regions of the picture
from frame to frame.  Any compression technique like this would incorporate
a way to patch the new frame, so that you can optimize between drawing new
parts of the picture and moving the old ones.



You could also get even better compression ratios with 3-D fractal 
expansion (although not enough to out-weigh the fact that the picture is
3-D as opposed to 2-D).  There are many other compression techniques, too.
For instance, you could take advantage of things such as locality of color,
which might let you use 8 bits instead of 24 bits (or something like that)
to represent colors).



We could also probably assume that maximum compression is available, no
matter how much processing power is needed.  Computers are bound to be
pretty fast by that time (even hand-comps).



The question remains -- how much compression can we get?  Uncompressed,
the images might take 3 million billion bytes.  I can't tell you how
much all of the compression techniques give you, but lets assume that
fractalizing gives you a 32 K to 1 savings, time-compression gives you
a 128 to 1 savings, and various other methods such as color-compression
give you a further 32 to 1 savings.  Wow!  Already down to 25,920,000
bytes!  Of course, this is a very rough estimate, but entirely feasible.
Also, this would be an AVERAGE.  You could get better or worse
compression depending on what you're recording.  Hopefully, compression
techniques will have advanced enough to cover just about all cases by
then.



> [ ... ]
> 
> I don't know about you, but I always assumed that these crystals were
> about half the size of a standard domino.  Considering that modern
> high-density 3.5" floppy discs can already hold over 1 Mb. of data,
> This only represents a 2 order of magnitude improvement in data storage
> density, which doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me.
>

Well, 3 1/2" CD-ROMs can hold 250 MB of data.  Assuming they use the
outer 3/4" band to store data (remember that they are only 1 3/4" in
radius), they have about 6 1/2" of surface ares.  A square inch of
surface area would thus hold 40,330,000 bytes of information.  If you
think of it as a square of bits, thats 6350 bytes per side, or 20,000
bits per cm.  Well, that's 8 x 10^12 bytes (7450 Gigabytes, or
6.4 x 10^13 bits), for a 1x2x4 cm chunk, assuming that all else is the
same as today except we use 3-D crystals instead of 2-D disk storage.

In any event, that's 300,000 times the size I (optimistically)
estimated as required for storage.  You could assume that the (usable)
crystal is 1/40 of a cm on a side.  Or, you could assume that data
compression techniques are much less efficient.



One thing you DON'T want to do, however, is to assume that you can
store 3,240,000 Gigabytes on a crystal.  You can't.  Compression simply
lets you store video, which, if uncompressed, would take 3,240,000
Gigabytes to store.  Pure DATA compression is an entirely different
matter, and in most cases can't come anywhere near the ratios that you
can get with video.



> 
> If we assume that one of these 5-hour holo-crystals is 1x2x4 cm., then
> the total number of them in a cubic meter of crystal would be 100 x 50
> x 25, or 125,000.  If we assume that each crystal can hold 2.7179 x
> 10^13 bits of data, before fractal compression, then you have 3.3974 x
> 10^18 bits of storage per cubic meter.  Since volume of a sphere is
> stated as 4/3 pi R^3, where R (in this case) is 50,000 meters, the
> total volume of a 100 Km. diameter sphere is 5.2360 x 10^14 cubic
> meters.  Multiply that by the storage capacity per cubic meter, and
> you have a total storage capacity of 1.7789 x 10^33 bits.
> 



Again, remember that fractal and other video compression methods do not
apply to pure data.  You might be able to get this kind of storage, but
take data compression out of the picture.



Using my CD-ROM model, I got 8 x 10^18 bits (931,000,000 Gigabytes)
per cubic meter, for a total of 4.19 x 10^33 bits (4.88 x 10^24
Gigabytes) for the entire sphere.  You could probably increase this
with data compression as well, but probably on the order of 2 to 10
times, not the same level that you can get with video.


In any event:

o There is more data to store than you thought.  I'm pretty sure that
  the intention was for the images to be 3-D.



o I think that data compression may be able to more than make up for
  it (but who knows).



o Don't take fractal compression into consideration when considering
  how much data a crystal can store.  This merely means you can store
  more video using the same amount of data.

- - --------------------

Jerry Williams
gsw@moss.att.com

#include <std.disclaimer>

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2196
From: wilson m liaw <macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: (2193) Challenge Mag and GDW
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 2:57:30 EST



> Bad news, because I just sent in a subscription which I thought would last
> a year.  Even though the subscription was paid by using gift certificates
> it looks like I will have to renew in August.  They also mistakenly sent me
> 47 on my subscription, which I told them I already have.  Oh well, I'll
> just give it to one of my players.



        No, I do believe the year subscription is still a year even though
they are going monthly. At least, it's so according to my address lable.
 
                                Mac

Wilson MacGyver                      | In every heart, there is a time machine
Internet:macgyver@cis.ohio-state.edu | if you believe in your memeory. Trace
=====================================| every place you've been, you know what
Disclaimer:All opinions are mine only| it means.    -Encouragement from Martika







------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2197
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 11:58:19 -0700
From: sfellows@slate.Mines.Colorado.EDU (FELLOWS STEVEN B)
Subject: Holographic Crystal Memory



Jerry Williams discussed Holographic data storage in the kind of 
detail that I like.  But one other thing should be mentioned:

Packaging


The crystal itself could be 1/40 cm on a side, but fit into a package
the size of a domino.  I could see that customers would want this for
several reasons:

1)  If it is too small, it can be easily lost.

2)  It needs to be protected from harmful elements:  atmospheres, rain,
dust, and coffee to name a few.  (How many of you drink coffee or something
else while you are at the computer?)

Also, the crystal could be made of a material that easily dissolves, and
thus moisture in the air would ruin the surface.

3)  Big enough so that a label can be placed on it.  (Important!!!! Would
not want to load "Debbie Does Gushemegga"  by accident instead of "Fluffy 
goes to the Circus" when showing it to the kids.


4)  A company would never sell a tremendous amount of data storage.  They
want their customers to continue buying their product, so give them 5
hours.  Thus, the chip could be very small, allowing more to be sold per
production unit.  One could say this makes the company more profit, but
more importantly it keeps the cost of the product down (remember your
supply and demand curves , and rate of return from economics?).





Can anyone else think of other reasons why a small chip would be placed in
larger package?  The package could still be the size of a domino, but I
would imagine it would be a little bigger, for the above reasons.  This
would not apply to computers, but then they also might have a special
packaging for the memory.  Remember, the company who manufacturers the
computer might buy its memory cells from the Holographic company.  The
Holographic company might make special memory cells (hold more data because
they are bigger) but they might still include them in some sort of package
for protection.



Steven B. Fellows

sfellows@slate.mines.colorado.edu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2198

Date:    Wed, 06 Mar 91 13:07 CST

From: Bob Koester <ASTRJKPA@UIAMVS.BITNET>

Subject:  Planetary Armed Forces



   In a recent note, Robert S. Dean asked whether high-tech worlds would
bother having ground forces, since such worlds are not likely to see
large ground battles, and whether low-tech worlds would bother having forces
at all, since they would not be of much use against attack from higher-tech
neighbors.

   Dealing with the high-tech case first, remember that in the world today
most national armies exist with the primary function of either protecting
the government from its own citizens or for controlling the government.  Very
few nations have the ability to conduct protracted military operations beyond
their own borders.  Thus ground forces for internal security could be very
sizeable, and not just in a balkanized situation.  Governments in which the
military is the final judge of political conflict (a la Chile, Argentina,
Brazil), governments where the military is split along political lines and
thereby maintains some sort of balance of power (China, perhaps), governments
where different military branches are an important part of the federal system
(USA), all of these would necesitate sizeable ground forces even if there was
no threat from outside.  This ignore governments of planets in rebellion and
pure military government, as well as feudal government.
   I myself wondered about the utility of low-tech armed forces for a while,
but now think I have a justification for them.  They are there to protect
the planet from casual interference, not from determined attack.  Think about
the walls that midieval towns had, and the town levies.  Not particularly
useful against military attack, but useful against bandits, pirates, and
roving vagabonds (i.e. most traveller players).  They also perform(ed) an
important psychological role when dealing with higher authority, giving the
people a certain sense of independence.


------------------------------
Archive-Message-Number: 2199
Date:     Wed, 6 Mar 91 16:57:48 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Cargo Transportation



Does anyone know offhand what the size of an Imperial Standard cargo container
is?  I was toying with the idea of working out the designs for the Tl12-Tl15
equivalents of semi-trucks, cargo aricraft, railroads, or whatever.  There is
a design in 101 Vehicles for a 200ton monster reminiscent of the contra-grav
ships from H. Beam Piper's COSMIC COMPUTER (or JUNKYARD PLANET, if you prefer).
That might well be economically feasible, but I suspect there would still be
a market for something in the 10-20 displacement ton line--I've got a pre-
liminary version of a TL13 10 ton vehicle, which ends up with 8 dt's of
usable volume--2 3x3x6 meter 4 ton containers worth.

Would cargo really move in human-driven vehicles, or would it be better to
move bulk goods around in robotic railway systems?  That would keep it out
of the sky being used by Joe Traveller in his family air/raft.

Any opinions?

Rob Dean


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2200
From: gsw@moss.att.COM (Jerry Williams)
Subject: Re: Holographic Crystal Memory
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 9:54:12 EST


In TML article (2197), Steven Fellows writes:

> Packaging
> 
> The crystal itself could be 1/40 cm on a side, but fit into a package
> the size of a domino.  I could see that customers would want this for
> several reasons:

Yes, that was what I meant by saying that the (usable) crystal might be
only 1/40 cm on a side.  Look at modern ICs.  The "brains" of the chip
are often less than a cm on a side.

- - --------------------

> Can anyone else think of other reasons why a small chip would be placed in
> larger package?  The package could still be the size of a domino, but I
> would imagine it would be a little bigger, for the above reasons.

I can think of several reasons:



o It would be difficult to put a 1/40 cm crystal into a computer and
  expect it to line up perfectly so that it could be read.  You would,
  in the very least, need something to align the crystal.

o There might be some kind of mechanism for actually GETTING TO the
  data on the crystal.  This could be as simple as a lens, or as
  complicated as a laser read/write head.

o By using a standard exterior size, you could package different size
  (in MB storage) crystals into the same (physical) size package.
  Similar to the way you have double versus high-density disks.  This
  would let the same computer read any size crystal (especially if the
  crystals contain their own read/write heads) without requiring a new
  holocrystal reader.

o There's also aesthetics.  Everyone thinks of a holocrystal as a
  "crystal".  The packaging might actually be more "crystal"-looking
  than the crystal itself is.  It could also come in different colors
  or shapes.

- - --------------------

The lens I mentioned earlier gives me an idea of how to label the
crystals.  The label itself could be tiny, embedded in the crystal,
but a lens on the holocrystal could make it readable to human eyes.
You'd probably have to use a machine to label the crystals, but who
cares?

- - --------------------

By the way, if you're interested, here's my idea of a holocrystal:

  Holocrystals in general look like crystals.  They come in all colors
  and shapes, but all crystals have a 2 cm square base,  You can look
  into this base to read the label on the crystal.  To attach the
  crystal to a holo-reader, simply "plug" the crystal into it.  It
  attaches itself magnetically (or something similar to magnetically),
  and lines itself up this way.  Some crystals actually contain several
  "programs".  You can access the different ones by either turning the
  crystal (allowing up to four programs), or attaching a different base
  (if the crystal has multiple bases).  This would be mostly used for
  video (computers could access the crystal randomly), but would have
  other uses (Corporal Flak, switch the computer to auto-evade! 8-).

  The holoreader would be either covered while not in use or would use
  some advanced technology to keep itself free from dust.  I prefer the
  latter, since the crystals could use the same technology.

  Military holocrystals tend to look more like dominoes, with the base
  occupying 1/2 of the face of the domino.  They can also contain as
  may as four programs, but usually only do this by having four bases.
  They would probably be color-coded so it would be abvious which
  program was currently running.

  Civilian holocrystals more often look like cubes or pyramids, but
  come in a variety of shapes, including the "1/2 domino" compact
  crystal which is very popular for use with hand-comps.  The cube
  shape is popular among video libraries, since it can contain as
  many as 24 "programs", although those who can afford a large
  number of crystals more often use pyramids, which are a bit easier
  to keep track of (especially if they are color-coded).

  Military crystal (showing one base):



           .-------.
          /       /|
         /       / |
        /       / /
       /_______/ /
      / ....  /|/
     / ....  /|/
    / ....  / /
   / ....  / /
  .-------. /
  |       |/
  |_______|





  Civilian crystals (showing one base):



       .-------.
      / ....  /|
     / ....  / |
    / ....  /  |
   / ....  /   |
  .-------.    |
  |       |   /
  |       |  /
  |       | /
  |       |/
  |_______|





       .-------.
      / ....  /|
     / ....  / |
    / ....  / /
   / ....  / /
  .-------. /
  |       |/
  |_______|





       .-------.
      / ....  /
     / ....  / /
    / ....  /
   / ....  /  /
  .-------.
   \      |  /
    \     |
     \    | /
      \   |
       \  |/
        \ |
         \|



Anyway, that's my conception of a holocrystal.  Your mileage may vary.



- - --------------------



Jerry Williams

gsw@moss.att.com



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2201

Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 09:12:32 EST

From: 09nilles%cuavax.dnet@netcon.cua.edu (Fiver Toadflax)

Subject: Re: Holo Crystals



> 4)  A company would never sell a tremendous amount of data storage.  They
> want their customers to continue buying their product, so give them 5
> hours.  Thus, the chip could be very small, allowing more to be sold per
> production unit.  One could say this makes the company more profit, but
> more importantly it keeps the cost of the product down (remember your
> supply and demand curves , and rate of return from economics?).



We have to remember that we are assuming that they are using the same or
slightly better resolution in their displays.  Using the home TV as the
base example, it has developed from limited gray scales to the possibility
of over 256 colors and better resolution.  The main thing holding back
HDTV or any new type of TV is the FCC.  They demand that any new TV system
be backwards compatable (IMHO - a good move) so that poeple do not have
to go out any buy the new sets just to watch the news or whatever program
they want.  True the FCC cann't set those requirements for other nations,
but it is a good PR idea.  Those advances have come over the past 25 or so
years.  What is to say that the base resolution hasn't dramatically increased.
After all, we are not talking about broadcast pictures.  And LaserDiscs now
have noticably greater resolution then video tape or broadcast TV.

> Can anyone else think of other reasons why a small chip would be placed in
> larger package?  The package could still be the size of a domino, but I
> would imagine it would be a little bigger, for the above reasons.

Kids might have to handle them.  The old Atari game system had small chip
relative to its 'boxed' appearent size.  Nintendo cartigest are most likely
has alot of empty space for its size.



Having a large ammount of space would allow for different recording
lengths.  ie the T120 VHS tapes and the T160 VHS tapes both fit and work
in the same sized machine(though the tape itself is thinner).  Or the
90 min. Cassetes vs 60min or 120min or 100min.  It would let the producer
sell "HIGH DENSITY HOLO Crystal.  You can record for 7 hours instead of the
normal 5."  I can see that being a big selling point particularly to people
who are going on vacation in a back water world where they cann't go down to
the local drug store and pick up a 3 pack of holo crystals.

David Nilles
09nilles@cuavax.dnet.cua.edu

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2202
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 14:23 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: Crystals

My standard for crystal storage at and above TL 11 (i.e. Standard IMperial
spread) is a disc approximately the diameter of a USA 25-cent piece and
about 3mm thick, with imprinting on one side and a small set of notches
on the other to identify the type of crystal reader the disc works on, 
like music, video, holo, or data (note the moronic insistence on different
crystals for different types of machines in the Imperial Encyclopedia).

This makes them convenient, easily stacked and stored, and allows for a 
whole gamut of nifty packaging devices for various sorts of crystals. The
one disadvantage of the circular shape is orientation difficulties, but
it would be simple enough to make the connections axially symmetric....

metlay

PS. Haven't had a chance to check the reference to the animal Mark mentioned...

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2203
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 91 14:31 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: cargo containers

Generally the movement of cargo at high speeds is one of those things
that I believe will have a human operator as a safety feature, simply
because humans get nervous when thinking of unsupervised blocks of 
mass moving at high speed. The "gravitruck" is a ubiquitous vehicle in
my games, essentially being a manned grav vehicle with capacities in
the tens to hundreds of tons. For really big-ass mass movement without
mucking up the environment, maglev or grav-float "trains" on fixed lines
would do the job nicely and could conceivably automatically, but humans
might be handy there too.



I conceive of a situation where a trucker drives out of East Phart with
his grav-hauler groaning under a tandem cargo pallet weighing 100 tons
or more, drives it down local roads carefully, gets to larger highways w
where he can drive with impunity, and after no more than 100 Kilometres
reaches the "Mainline", where he locks into a traffic control program,
kicks up his feet, and sleeps while robots convey him across the continent
at high speed. Then, at the other end, he wakes up, gets off the Mainline,
and wends his way down smaller and smaller roads until he makes his delivery
at Pymple's Corners.....

metlay

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2204
Date:     Thu, 7 Mar 91 15:19:06 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Re:  (2198) Planetary Armed Forces

>    In a recent note, Robert S. Dean asked whether high-tech worlds would
> bother having ground forces, since such worlds are not likely to see
> large ground battles, and whether low-tech worlds would bother having forces
> at all, since they would not be of much use against attack from higher-tech
> neighbors.

Close.  Actually, I recognize the probable need for infantry/security/military
police troops regardless of tech level.  I just think that at TL15, say, that
those all purpose undersea to orbit grav vehicle are going account for 90% of
your 'army' budget.

>    Dealing with the high-tech case first, remember that in the world today
> most national armies exist with the primary function of either protecting
> the government from its own citizens or for controlling the government.  Very
> few nations have the ability to conduct protracted military operations beyond
> their own borders.  Thus ground forces for internal security could be very
> sizeable, and not just in a balkanized situation.  Governments in which the
> military is the final judge of political conflict (a la Chile, Argentina,
> Brazil), governments where the military is split along political lines and
> thereby maintains some sort of balance of power (China, perhaps), governments
> where different military branches are an important part of the federal system
> (USA), all of these would necesitate sizeable ground forces even if there was
> no threat from outside.  This ignore governments of planets in rebellion and
> pure military government, as well as feudal government.



Agreed.  But I'm still curious about particulars.  Take TL15 again.  First,
would many/most/all governments be willing to use FGMP-15 battledress equipped
infantry for crowd control?  What about armored vehicles?  What does "very
sizeable" work out to in terms of population or GNP percentage?  If weapons
were tightly controlled, one battledress equipped infantryman would be capable
of suppressing hundreds or thousands of ill-armed citizens in unrest 
(assuming you'd be willing to flame down ritoers, say, en masse).

>    I myself wondered about the utility of low-tech armed forces for a while,
> but now think I have a justification for them.  They are there to protect
> the planet from casual interference, not from determined attack.  Think about
> the walls that midieval towns had, and the town levies.  Not particularly
> useful against military attack, but useful against bandits, pirates, and
> roving vagabonds (i.e. most traveller players).  They also perform(ed) an
> important psychological role when dealing with higher authority, giving the
> people a certain sense of independence.
> 



   But would we see these forces armed with indigenous weapons, or would they
feel it was better to import a "token" quantity of high-tech equipment, along
with the technicians to maintain it, or perhaps even hire mercenary units 
already trained in the appropriate tactics?  A shipload of TL11 Vargr pirates
is going to be an armful for a TL5 planetary army, when the Vargr infantryman
can wear armor that can only be penetrated by the local artillery.  (I know, I 
know--Traveller has a serious armor/penetration imbalance in favor of the 
defense.)

     I like the psychological angle, although I think it still might tend to
manifest in the form of highly equipped (though perhaps not well trained or
maintainable) "palace guards" rather than masses of TL6 armored divisions.


Rob

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2205
Date:     Thu, 7 Mar 91 15:27:43 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Cargo Haulers



I *think* 4 displacement tons is a standard container size in this game.

Anyone want to think about the economic rationale of these things?



Rob

- - ------------------------------------------------------------------


LSP Model 1006 Transporter TL13

     The Model 1006 transporter is a high speed cargo mover common on high 
tech worlds.  With a cargo capacity of two Imperial Standard 4 ton cargo 
containers, it can rapidly deliver shipments from a starport to any location 
on the planet.  The total weight of cargo containers can be up to 123 tons 
without affecting the vehicle's speed.



  CraftID: Model 1006 Transporter, TL13, Cr2,290,000
     Hull: 9/23, Disp=10, Config=4SL, Armor=1F, Loaded=143.2t, Unload=34.9t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=31.5MW, Dur=4 days
     Loco: 1/2, StdGrav=300t, Max Speed=1000, Cruise=750, NOE=170,
           MaxAccel=1.1G
     Comm: Radio=Continental
  Sensors: EMS Active(VDist), ActObjScan=Diff, ActObjPin=Diff
      Off: Hardpoints=1
      Def: -
  Control: Comp0*2, HeadsUpDisplay*1, HoloLink*4
    Accom: Seats=Roomy*2 (Driver, Passenger), Env=Basic env
    Other: Fuel=3.36kl, Cargo=108kl (8t), ObjSize=Average, EmLevel=Moderate



LSP Model 7012 Transporter TL13



     The Model 7012 is a large, low speed cargo transporter, suitable for low 

priority containerized cargo.  The cargo compartment is fitted to carry 16 

Imperial Standard 4 ton containers in a two high by eight long configuration.  

Side doors open to allow access to containers not at the rear of the vehicle.  
Up to 900 gross weight tons of containers may be carried without affecting 
vehicle performance.  


  CraftID: Model 7012 Transporter, TL13, Cr5,651,000
     Hull: 63/158, Disp=70, Config=4USL, Armor=1F, Loaded=966.5t,
           Unload=100.9t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=126MW, Dur=13.6 days
     Loco: 2/4, StdGrav=1250t, Max Speed=300, Cruise=225, NOE=40,
           MaxAccel=0.3G
     Comm: Radio=Continental
  Sensors: EMS Active(VDist), ActObjScan=Diff, ActObjPin=Diff
      Off: Hardpoints=1
      Def: -
  Control: Comp0*2, HeadsUpDisplay*1, HoloLink*62
    Accom: Seats=Roomy*2 (Driver, Passenger), Env=Basic env
    Other: Fuel=22.9kl, Cargo=864kl (64t), ObjSize=Average, EmLevel=Moderate


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2206
Date:     Thu, 7 Mar 91 16:50:40 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  TL10 Navies



I have been working very intermittantly on recreating in MT the mass of data
and designs I have for various navies designed to High Guard standards in my
area of play interest.  This happens to include the Sworld Worlds, and I sat
down today to see if I could build something along the lines of a heavy cruiser
or so, to be armed with a particle accelerator-K.  This is the largest spinal
weapon available at that TL, and I figured they would use it despite the
widely known drawbacks of PA weapons.  (Besides, the armor levels on many of
my ships have been going down, making PA's look a little better.)

At any rate, the Model 4 computer would seem to have a maximum controllable
value of 15,000MCr at TL10, which is not sufficient to build much of a vessel
around a PA-K.  Does anyone think there would be any major structural
catastrophes (-8 in the game system if:

     a) The maximum cp input rule was ignored completely, which in this
        case would give you a huge crew (maybe ok)  or...


     b) Six model 4 computers were installed under the assumption that they
        were two cooperating networked systems and their respective backups?
        In this case, I suppose you could even work out that System 1 was
        responsible for fire control and System 2 was responsible for flight,
        and apply appropriate penalties when one full system (including
        backups) was destroyed.
Any opinions one way or the other?
Does one feel more "artistically" correct?

Rob

------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2207
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 91 12:55:16 GMT
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: Containerised Cargo


	Despite the new found predilection for kilolieters I have always
assumed the standard unit of measure, and thus the size of one container
of cargo, in the ton.

	Given the normal 1.5m floor grid one ton occupies two squares
of a normal starship deck. This gives a rather overbalanced crate so my
standardised cargo containers are four deck squares in area and only half
a deck's height. There are standards for projections and indentation by
which they could be lifted and stored. All connections are simple mechanical
to facilitate production and repair at all tech levels. They all have a
certain necissary load bearing capacity to enable them to be stacked as
well as a maximum weight for the unit. This is sumarised below:



        Volume of  Shape     Height   Max          Supporting
        container                     Weight       Weight
        1 ton    1.5m x 6m    half    40,500kg     283,500kg
        1 ton      3m x 3m    half    40,500kg     283,500kg
        2 ton      3m x 6m    half    81,000kg     567,000kg
        4 ton      3m x 6m    full   162,000kg     486,000kg
        8 ton*     6m x 6m    full   324,000kg     972,000kg



*The 8 ton cargo container is optional and is generally only supported by
the largest of transports. Class A facilities must be able to handle these
but not necissarily in all berths.



	By simple examination you can see the standard requirements that
cargo bays be fitted with 6m wide doors. Similarly that containers may
be stacked as much as four full sized containers deep or eight half sized
containers deep. The specific density of a container cannot exceed that
of three times water. There are further regulations covering how much
shock, temperature extremes, and so on cargo may be subjected to. These
are very important for insurance reasons.


				Jo Jaquinta
				jaymin@maths.tcd.ie



PS: There are now 260 ships in the "library". Volunteers for creating
background or floorplans are always welcome.



------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2208
From: Marc Alexandrovich Volovic <mav@cs.huji.ac.il>
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 91 09:11:38 PST
Subject: Planetary Armed Forces and Navies, etc


  To expand on Robert Dean's question - what's a world GNP? How much GMP
does a Rich Industrial world generate?

  If and when we know that figure we can assume that a world spends some
percentage of the GNP on miltary and security matters.

  On our own balkanized world we would have ranges from 0.001% or so for
Andora (an army of 35 - the band) to 35% of Iraq from 1980 to 1991.

  My fear is that if the GNP be known, most of the naval ships are
horribly expensive. A backward world would probably not have anything
beyond an SDB or two.


  The internal security matters are less problematic - all it takes a
few armoured cars of MCr0.5 each to settle many problems very well. If
there is balkanization then more major expenditures are required. The
jump from "wheeled 25E water hose" to "grav 65E 100MW laser" seems to
be about MCr20 or so in Rob's designs. When GvPz Battalions are raised,
Credits roll.



------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2209
Date:    Fri, 08 Mar 91 14:46 CST
From: Bob Koester <ASTRJKPA@UIAMVS.BITNET>
Subject:  Planetary Armed Forces



    Regarding RSD's further questions.  First off, back to the high tech case:
    While it may seem silly to keep a bunch of fusion gun armed troopers
around for crowd control, remember that all weaponry is relative (this is
a problem that I have with the standard Law Level system, as you will see).
There are both criminals and otherwise law-abiding citizens around in the
USA who have fully automatic weapons or weapons that can be easily converted
to such, as well as all kinds of explosives.  As a result police where vests
and have access to shotguns and SWAT teams to handle such threats.

    Translating this to a high-tech case, a relatively libertarian future
society will have some citizens who are well armed for criminal purposes,
for self-defense, or for recreation, and the police and internal security
will scale up to deal with this.

    Possible Imperium organization:  the IPA - Imperial Plasma-Gun
Association.  Plasma Projectors don't kill beings, beings kill beings.

    On the other hand, a government sufficiently restrictive and intrusive
to prevent the citizenry from being well armed would probably have an
internal army like the Soviet MVD for all sorts of uses.  Not necesarrily,
though, as the case of England points off (not perfect, but they do better
than we).

    On the low-tech side, a small high-tech palace guard is very likely,
especially if the rulers don't trust the local people, but I think that
the bulk of the army would still be low tech, simply for price's sake
(in my universe the exchange rate is more slanted against low-tech planets
than the Trillions Credit Squadron table).  To be honest, I also do this
because I like Byzantine political struggles (between the low-tech militia,
the mercanaries, the mid-tech imperial wannabes, the government trying to
keep them from shooting each other, security forces looking for treason,
etc.  Yes, I do occasionally play Paranoia).

    As for the armed forces being turned completely into triphibious grav
vehicles, I stick with Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers) and say that
the infantry will always be there.  They're the cheapest self-aiming
self-controlling weapons available.





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2210
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 91 16:00:24 -0700
From: wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Bill Wilson)
Subject: Hello!



I've just joined the list and am very glad to be a part of the group!



I have one question: Has anyone else out there put together an alternate
damage system for MT?  I am testing one that I think may be pretty good.
I have taken ideas from Striker, Twilight 2000, and Cyberpunk and have
designed a system based upon hit location and damage level.  It seems
to run pretty fast.  



If you would like to look at this system, or would like to pick up copies
of some programs that I have written to help with Traveller and Striker,
you can ftp into my machine at wew.ucc.nau.edu (134.114.32.3) between
9 to 4 MST.  It is a PC hooked into the Internet and should be accessible
mon-fri during those hours.  Keep trying since only one person can get in at
time.  You can use anonymous ftp.



Enjoy!



Let sleeping dragons lie........                    | The RoleMancer 

- - --------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Wilson (wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu | ucc2wew@nauvm | wilson@nauvax)
Northern AZ Univ  Flagstaff, AZ 86011


------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>,
        Chuck McKnight <mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
        "James T. Perkins" <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: TML Bundle #176: Msgs 2210-2220
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Precedence: bulk
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 21:01:08 PST
From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Status: R





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.


------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Sun Mar 17 21:01:04 PST 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #176: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2211  03-Mar-91 mcknight@tusun2.m V-Net Info << [Here's some information Chuck 
2212  11-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi The big, Big, BIG picture << Just for grins, 
2213  10-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      Say "Good-bye" to TDR SIGs << After a fair am
2214  11-Mar-91 Adrian Hurt       Wanted: Striker, MegaTraveller << I have rece
2215  11-Mar-91 Mark Humphreys    mailing list << Hi there, I'm not sure if I'm
2216  12-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      Assorted Ramblings << In subject 2212, METLAY
2217  12-Mar-91 Leonard Erickson  Sector list << I'd love to have that list. I 
2218  12-Mar-91 George William He TDR RIP? TDR Forever! 8-) << As Mark Cook poi
2219  13-Mar-91 teets@frith.egr.m Old Gaming Stuff.... << Well, another suggest
2220  13-Mar-91 bonnevil@acc.stol Re: The Big BIG Picture.... << Yes, it would 
2221  13-Mar-91 rem@oz.plymouth.e Kinorb^2?, deckplans, elm burster... << Hi al


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2211
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 91 10:55:32 CST
From: mcknight@tusun2.mcs.utulsa.edu (Chuck McKnight - Law)
Subject: V-Net Info



[Here's some information Chuck McKnight provided, for those of you
active in local BBSing, Fidonet, WWIVnet and that stuff.  It's a
telephone listing of everyone carrying VervanNet, a USENET-like network
of bulletin boards.  Of course, there's a Traveller-playing group on
this net.  On a quick visual inspection I recognize fields like
location, site administrator name, telephone, and baud rate -- the rest
is apparently grokable by VervanNet gurus :-) -- James]



James,



Attached is a nodelist for the VervanNet Gaming Network.  This is a Fidonet
Technology (more or less) network dedicated to RPGs.  There are several
PBEM games in progress now, as well as discussion areas for various games,
and other topics such as game design.  I've forwarded it to most of the 
people who responded via email, but a lot of those bounced.  If you think
it appropriate to post this in the TML, please do so.



Thanks.



Chuck McKnight



- - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
;A Vnetlist nodelist. Created for day number 027 : 57481
;A             ==================================================
;A             Copyright 1991, V-NET,  All rights reserved.
;A             ==================================================
;A
;A
;A  NOTICE  This compilation is the property of V-NET as its created work.
;A  This work includes certain individual portions provided to V-NET by
;A  operators of Bulletin Boards.  V-NET reserves and has the right to
;A  create and distribute these Nodelists based, in part, on rights granted
;A  to it by those originating such portions.  Other than the rights granted
;A  V-NET, those creating and maintaining the portions retain all residual
;A  rights in and to each's individual portion.
;A
;A  V-NET grants unlimited duplication and/or distribution rights for
;A  noncommercial purposes only and reserves all other rights, including,
;A  but not limited to, any commercial use of any kind.  Any distribution
;A  authorized herein may include recovery of reasonable, actual costs of
;A  duplication and/or dissemination.
;A
;A  No one is granted any right to any use, sale, duplication or distribution
;A  of this compilation for any commercial purpose.
;A
;A  This VNETList is released each and every Sunday. 
;A  If you have any additions or changes please send them 
;A  to V-NET Node 45:45/901 as soon as possible.
;S
;S  =========================================================================
;S
;S                         VERVAN'S GAMING NETWORK NEWS
;S
;S  1/27/91
;S  
;S  The VNET nodelist is designed to identify all systems that carry at least
;S  one VNET echo available to their users. We hope that this nodelist will
;S  be useful for those wishing to locate a system that carries VNET echos.
;S  If you know of a BBS that carries VNET echos and is not listed here,
;S  please contact Membership Services at 45:45/901. Please note that all
;S  systems listed here operate or are able to operate according to FTSC
;S  standards. If this does not meet your needs, please contact the VNET 
;S  Zone Coordinator or Membership Services.
;S  The current VNET Newsletter, which contains all the information you
;S  will need to know about VNET (echo listing, policy, et. al.) can be 
;S  file-requested from 45:45/0, 45:45/1, or 45:45/901 as ECHOVNET.
;S
;S  Joel Veeneman, V-Net Membership Co-Ordinator
;S  45:45/901
;S
;S  =========================================================================
;S
;
Zone,45,V-NET_Echo_Coordinator,Indio_CA,Ron_Lahti,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
,1,V-NET_Zone_Echomail_Co-Ordinator,Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4589,9600,XX,CM,HST,MO
,6,MACLIST_Gateway,Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4708,9600,XW,CM,HST
,7,AlterNet_Gateway,Lyndhurst_NJ,Phil_Buonomo,1-201-935-7968,9600,CM,XP,HST,V32,ISA:1711
,8,Intelec_Gateway,Wentzville_MO,Joe_Crosby,1-314-327-7126,9600,CM,XA,HST
,9,PhoenixNet_Gateway,San_Diego_CA,David_Nolan,1-619-695-3011,9600,CM,XX,HST
,26,SigNet_Gateway,Hurricane_WV,Derek_Rogillio,1-304-757-7772,9600,CM,V32,HST
,900,V-Net_Administrator_At_Large,San_Diego_CA,David_Nolan,1-619-695-3011,9600,XX,CM,HST
,901,V-Net_Membership_Coordinator,Burlington_IL,Joel_Veeneman,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
,902,V-Net_Policy_Coordinator,Diamond_Bar_CA,Chris_King,1-714-860-3213,2400,CM
,903,V-Net_Gate_Administrator,Wentzville_MO,Joe_Crosby,1-314-327-7126,9600,CM,XA,HST
,904,V-Net_Gaming_Coordinator,Salem_OR,Nancy_Feldman,1-503-370-9739,2400,XX,CM,MO
;
Region,350,RC_Northwest_(AK_ID_OR_WA),Indio_CA,Ron_Lahti,1-619-347-0353,9600,HST,CM,XX,V42
;
Host,500,Alaska_VNET,Anytown_AK,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
;
Host,501,Idaho_VNET,Boise_ID,Edward_Boston,1-208-939-6498,2400,XA,CM
,101,Phantasia_BBS,Boise_ID,Edward_Boston,1-208-939-6498,2400,XA,CM
;
Host,502,Oregon_VNET,Salem_OR,Nancy_Feldman,1-503-370-9739,2400,XX,CM,MO
,101,The_GameMasters,Salem_OR,Nancy_Feldman,1-503-370-9739,2400,CM,XX,MO
,102,C.R.'s_Place,North_Bend_OR,Richard_Welty,1-503-267-4859,2400,XX,MO
;
Host,503,Washington_State_VNET,Anytown_WA,Sysop_at_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42
,102,Twilight_Zone_BBS,Auburn_WA,Douglas_Fifield,1-206-839-3537,2400,CM,XA
,103,Imagination_Station_][,Seattle_WA,Scot_Kelly,1-206-526-8708,2400,CM,XA
,104,Files_Depot,Kent_WA,Chad_Hoffman,1-206-631-6185,9600,CM,XA,V32
Pvt,105,The_Sages_Guild,Bellevue_WA,Tom_Hazel,-Unpublished-,9600,CM,XA,HST
,107,The_Doctors_In!,Federal-Way_WA,Duane_Mattson,1-206-838-6727,9600,XA,CM,HST,V32,V42
;
Region,351,RC_Far_West_(CA_HI),San_Diego_CA,David_Nolan,1-619-695-3011,9600,CM,XX,HST
;
Host,510,Northern_CA_VNET,San_Leandro_CA,Cheryl_Mathison,1-415-481-2806,2400,CM,XA
,69,Yellow_Submarine,San_Leandro_CA,Cheryl_Mathison,1-415-481-2806,2400,CM,XA
,101,Shadowfox/Furverts!_3,Oakland_CA,Patrick_Swift,1-415-452-3551,2400,XX,CM
;
Host,511,Southern_CA_VNET,Indio_CA,Ron_Lahti,1-619-342-9806,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
,101,The_Hawk's_Nest,Indio_CA,Ron_Lahti,1-619-342-9806,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
,102,The_T&L_BBS,Indio_CA,Tom_Alford,1-619-342-1647,2400,XA,CM
,103,The_Great_Escape,Indio_CA,Ed_Ohlson,1-619-775-3930,9600,XA,CM,HST,V42
,104,Kevin's_Karousel,Palm_Desert_CA,Kevin_Blaisdell,1-619-345-7248,2400,XA
,106,Daniel_&_Company_BBS,Palm_Desert_CA,Daniel_Miller,1-619-568-6447,2400,XA,CM
,107,Miller_Time_BBS,Cathedral_City_CA,John_Miller,1-619-321-2058,2400,XA,CM
,108,The_Mentality,Cathedral_City_CA,Bryan_Stohl,1-619-324-6894,2400,XA,CM
;
Host,512,Orange_County_VNET,Yorba_Linda_CA,Mike_Bandoian,1-714-996-0805,9600,XA,CM,HST
,101,The_Archivist's_Scroll,Yorba_Linda_CA,Mike_Bandoian,1-714-996-0805,9600,XA,CM,HST
,102,Castle_of_the_4_Winds_BBS,Diamond_Bar_CA,Chris_King,1-714-860-3213,2400,CM
,104,The_Cloak_of_Illusion,Fullerton_CA,David_Steever,1-714-871-0897,9600,CM,HST
Hub,300,The_Cloak_of_Illusion,Fullerton_CA,David_Steever,1-714-871-0897,9600,CM,HST
,302,The_Castle_Ethaire,Stanton_CA,Mark_Cleveland,1-714-636-3982,9600,CM,XA,V42
,303,12_&_12_Anonymous_BBS,Garden_Grove_CA,Joe_Jared,1-714-539-8644,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,513,San_Diego_VNET,San_Diego_CA,David_Nolan,1-619-695-3011,9600,CM,XX,HST
,101,Adventure_Games_of_America,San_Diego_CA,David_Nolan,1-619-695-3011,9600,XX,CM,HST
,102,StarBase_23_BBS,San_Diego_CA,Mike_Nielsen,1-619-560-2996,9600,XA,CM,HST
,103,Adventures_In_Palancia,Point_Loma_CA,John_Sanchez,1-619-222-1785,2400,CM,XA
,104,Pea's_Keep,San_Diego_CA,Jim_Pea,1-619-291-6746,9600,CM,XR,HST
,105,Raven's_Roost,San_Diego_CA,Scot_Washam,1-619-296-6890,2400,XX,MO
Hub,200,The_Otter_Limits,Westminster_CA,Darren_Hanson,1-714-531-6802,2400,MO,XX
,201,The_Otter_Limits,Westminster_CA,Darren_Hanson,1-714-531-6802,2400,MO,XX
,202,The_Tiger's_Den,Garden_Grove_CA,Shane_Raney,1-714-530-2554,2400,XR,CM
,203,PC_Sewer,Anaheim_CA,Robert_Bardon,1-714-533-1452,1200,XX
,204,The_Otter's_Holt,Ontario_CA,Jerry_Case,1-714-986-1525,9600,XA,CM,HST,V32
Hub,300,Central_City_Hub,San_Diego_CA,Al_Cooper,1-619-583-1626,9600,XX,CM,HST
,301,The_Computer_Room,San_Diego_CA,Al_Cooper,1-619-583-1626,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,514,LA_Area_VNET,Santa_Barbara_CA,Scott_Swaine,1-805-683-0499,9600,HST,V32,XX
,101,Console_Command_Headquarters,Santa_Barbara_CA,Scott_Swaine,1-805-683-0499,9600,HST,V32,XX
,102,The_Back_Door_BBS,Orcutt_CA,Peter_Koch,1-805-937-6205,9600,CM,XA,HST
;
Host,515,Hawaii_VNET,Anytown_HI,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-695-3011,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Region,352,RC_Southwest_(NV_AZ_CO_NM_UT),Sparks_NV,Ken_Johnson,1-702-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST,V42
;
Host,520,Nevada_VNET,Sparks_NV,Ken_Johnson,1-702-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST,V42
,101,The_Danger_Zone,Sparks_NV,Ken_Johnson,1-702-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST,V42
,102,The_No_Name_BBS,Reno_NV,Chris_Ramstad,1-702-345-0689,9600,XA,CM,HST
,103,Depeche_BBS,Sparks_NV,Jerry_Walters,1-702-674-2816,2400,XA,CM
;
Host,521,Arizona_VNET,Mesa_AZ,Jason_Harper,1-602-985-1861,2400,XA,CM
,101,The_Lion's_Den,Mesa_AZ,Jason_Harper,1-602-985-1861,2400,XA,CM
,102,Kitty's_Sandbox_BBS,Tempe_AZ,Kathleen_McDonald-Neal,1-602-829-7522,2400,XX,CM
,103,Quick_Dog_BBS,Tempe_AZ,Russell_Neal,1-602-862-1012,2400,XX
;
Host,522,Colorado_VNET,Anytown_CO,Sysop_At_Large,1-702-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Host,523,New_Mexico_VNET,Anytown_NM,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Host,524,Utah_VNET,Anytown_UT,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-358-7233,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Region,353,RC_Great_Plains_(ND_SD_NE_MT_WY),Burlington_IL,Joel_Veeneman,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST,V42
;
Host,530,North_Dakota_VNET,Anytown_ND,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,531,South_Dakota_VNET,Anytown_SD,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,532,Nebraska_VNET,Anytown_NE,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,533,Montana_VNET,Anytown_MT,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,534,Wyoming_VNET,Anytown_WY,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Region,354,RC_South_(OK_TX_KS_AR_LA),College_Station_TX,Danny_James,1-409-846-4480,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Host,541,Oklahoma_VNET,Tulsa_OK,Scott_Carr,1-918-495-1341,2400,CM,XP
,102,Lightspeed_BBS,Tulsa_OK,Scott_Carr,1-918-495-1341,2400,CM,XP
,103,Aztec_BBS,Ponca_City_OK,Sean_Cavanaugh,1-405-765-0167,9600,CM,XX,HST
,104,The_C-Shore_BBS,Tulsa_OK,Charles_McKnight,1-918-834-7402,2400,CM,XA
,105,The_Demon's_Guild,Tulsa_OK,Terry_Marrs,1-918-445-0454,2400,CM,XX
,106,Future_City,Tulsa_OK,Josh_McCormick,1-918-622-1121,2400,CM,XX
;
Host,542,Northern_Texas_VNET,College_Station_TX,Danny_James,1-409-846-4480,9600,XA,CM,HST
,101,STARFLEET_PCBoard,College_Station_TX,Danny_James,1-409-846-4480,9600,XA,CM,HST
,102,The_Troll's_Lair,Bryan_TX,Katherine_Kelly,1-409-823-7793,2400,XW,CM
,103,The_Wyrm's_Byte_BBS,College_Station_TX,John_Bowlin,1-409-823-2245,2400,XW,CM
,104,The_Terminator!!!,College_Station_TX,Mike_Easterling,1-409-693-9820,2400,CM
,105,The_Skool_Bored,College_Station_TX,William_Milberger,1-409-696-3991,2400,CM
Hub,200,Camelot,Dallas_TX,Jim_Stanford,1-214-339-8283,2400,CM
,201,Camelot,Dallas_TX,Jim_Stanford,1-214-339-8283,2400,CM
,202,The_Science_Fiction_Fans_BBS,Fort_Worth_TX,William_Christmas,1-817-651-1406,2400,CM,XW
;
Host,543,Southern_Texas_VNET,Anytown_TX,Sysop_At_Large,1-409-846-4480,9600,XX,CM,HST
,101,CONCH_OPUS,Houston_TX,Scott_Royall,1-713-667-7213,9600,CM
;
Host,544,Kansas_VNET,Anytown_KS,Sysop_At_Large,1-409-846-4480,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,545,Arkansas_VNET,Anytown_AR,Sysop_At_Large,1-409-846-4480,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,546,Louisiana_VNET,Anytown_LA,Sysop_At_Large,1-409-846-4480,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Region,355,RC_Midwest_(IL_IN_WI_IA_MN_MO),Burlington_IL,Joel_Veeneman,1-708-683-2390,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42
;
Host,550,Illinois_VNET,Burlington_IL,Joel_Veeneman,1-708-683-2390,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42
,101,The_Red_Star,Burlington_IL,Joel_Veeneman,1-708-683-2390,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42
,102,INFO_QUEST_RBBS,Carbondale_IL,Chuck_Strouz,1-618-529-3724,9600,CM,HST,XA
,103,Slobber_Lips_Haven,Lombard_IL,Jerry_Ablan,1-708-620-8244,9600,CM,XA,HST
;
Host,551,Indiana_VNET,Anytown_IN,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,552,Wisconsin_VNET,Milwaukee_WI,John_Richardson,1-414-796-8408,2400,CM
,101,Top_Gun_][,Milwaukee_WI,John_Richardson,1-414-796-8408,2400,CM
;
Host,553,Iowa_VNET,Anytown_IA,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,554,Minnesota_VNET,Anytown_MN,Sysop_At_Large,1-708-683-2390,9600,XX,CM,HST
,101,The_North_Castle_BBS,Rochester_MN,Robert_Richter,1-507-281-8292,9600,XA,CM,HST
;
Host,555,Missouri_VNET,Wentzville_MO,Joe_Crosby,1-314-327-7126,9600,XA,CM,HST
,101,Knights_Of_The_Square_Table,Wentzville_MO,Joe_Crosby,1-314-327-7126,9600,XA,CM,HST
Hub,200,St_Louis_HUB,St._Louis_MO,Chelsea_Carlstedt,1-314-349-5344,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
,201,Cheswick's_RBBS,St._Louis_MO,Chelsea_Carlstedt,1-314-349-5344,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
,202,B.S._Box_BBS,Creve_Coeur_MO,Todd_Graham,1-314-434-3470,9600,HST,CM,XX
,203,The_Banana_Republic,Chesterfield_MO,Mike_Bateman,1-314-537-9238,9600,CM,HST,XX
,204,VELO_BBS,St._Louis_MO,John_Crandall,1-314-225-1693,2400,XA,CM
,205,Modem_Madness_Rehab_Center,Fenton_MO,Allen_Sandifer,1-314-343-7936,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
;
Region,356,RC_Dixie_(FL_GA_AL_MS_TN_SC_NC),Franklin_TN,John_Marlett,1-615-790-6038,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42
;
Host,561,Georgia_VNET,Anytown_GA,SysOp_AT_Large,1-615-790-6038,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,562,Alabama_VNET,Anytown_AL,Sysop_At_Large,1-615-790-6038,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,563,Mississippi_VNET,Anytown_MS,Sysop_At_Large,1-615-790-6038,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,564,Tennessee_VNET,Mt_Juliet_TN,Roy_Odum,1-615-885-0695,2400,XA,CM
,101,Computer_Concepts,Franklin_TN,John_Marlett,1-615-790-6038,9600,CM,HST,XX,V42,MNP
,102,Genesis_BBS,BrentWood_TN,Jason_Bennett,1-615-377-3419,9600,CM,XX,HST,V42,MNP
,103,The_Music_Scene,Nashville_TN,John_Meeks,1-615-832-1874,2400,CM,MO,XX
,104,Nascom_II,Mt_Juliet_TN,Roy_Odum,1-615-885-0695,2400,XA,CM
,105,Dandy_Line_BBS,Nashville_TN,Barry_Cassetty,1-615-227-1768,2400,XX,CM
;
Host,565,South_Carolina_VNET,Anytown_SC,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-790-6038,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,566,North_Carolina_VNET,Anytown_NC,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-790-6038,9600,XX,M,HST
;
Region,357,RC_Mideastern_(WV_MI_OH_KY),Hurricane_WV,Derek_Rogillio,1-304-757-7772,9600,CM,HST,V32
;
Host,570,West_Virginia_VNET,Hurricane_WV,Derek_Rogillio,1-304-757-7772,9600,CM,HST,V32
,101,CYBER-9_Systems_][,Hurricane_WV,Derek_Rogillio,1-304-757-7772,9600,CM,HST,V32
;
Host,571,Michigan_VNET,Anytown_MI,Sysop_At_Large,1-304-757-7772,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
;
Host,572,Northern_Ohio_VNET,Anytown_OH,Sysop_At_Large,1-304-757-7772,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
;
Host,573,Southern_Ohio_VNET,Anytown_OH,Sysop_At_Large,1-304-757-7772,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
,101,Faneuil_Hall,Gahanna_OH,Jim_Vaughan,1-614-476-3351,2400,XX
;
Host,574,Kentucky_VNET,Anytown_KY,Sysop_At_Large,1-304-757-7772,9600,XX,CM,HST,V32
;
Region,358,RC_East_(NJ_NY_DC/MD_VA_DE_PA),Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4589,9600,CM,HST,MO,XX
;
Host,580,GO_GIANTS!,Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4589,9600,CM,HST,MO,XX
,101,Dragon's_MailBox,Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4589,9600,CM,HST,MO,XX
,102,Dragon's_Cave,Caldwell_NJ,Jeannette_Merritt,1-201-228-4708,9600,CM,HST,XW,UAD&D_CHAT,V_WILL
Pvt,103,Star_Fleet_HQ,Newton_NJ,George_Crain,-Unpublished-,9600,MO,XA,HST,USF-BATTLES
,104,Depths_of_Hell,Bayonne_NJ,Eric_Knorowski,1-201-437-5706,9600,CM,XA,HST
,105,Rivendell,Fairfield_NJ,Rick_Hadsall,1-201-575-7519,9600,CM,XX,HST
,106,The_Hourglass_BBS,Ridgewood_NJ,Jonathan_Hulley-Miller,1-201-612-0559,2400,CM,XX
Hub,200,Central_HUB,Elizabeth_NJ,Bryan_Socha,1-908-351-5883,9600,HST,CM,XX
,201,Fone_Link_Support,Elizabeth_NJ,Bryan_Socha,1-908-351-5883,9600,HST,CM,XX
,202,The_Bird's_Nest,Cranford_NJ,George_Bird,1-908-276-5494,9600,CM,HST,XP
,203,The_Door_Land_BBS,Kenilworth_NJ,Rick_Hoefling,1-908-276-3708,9600,CM,XP,XX,HST,V42,DDS
,204,The_Outer_Limits_BBS,Flemington_NJ,Kevin_Santella,1-908-806-8856,9600,CM,XA,HST
Hub,300,North_Eastern_HUB,Bergenfield_NJ,Tom_Heffernan,1-201-387-9232,9600,CM,XW,HST
,301,The_Rock_Pile_BBS,Bergenfield_NJ,Tom_Heffernan,1-201-387-9232,9600,CM,XW,HST
,302,Nitemaer_BBS,Cresskill_NJ,Abram_Stern,1-201-569-4074,2400,CM,XW
Hub,400,Groupmail_HUB,Old_Bridge_NJ,R_Bonenfant,1-908-721-3087,9600,CM,XP,HST
,401,Group_Side_Of_The_Gate,Old_Bridge_NJ,R_Bonenfant,1-908-721-3087,9600,CM,XP,HST
,402,PC-Palace,Carlstadt_NJ,Terry_Steckowich,1-201-935-6971,2400,CM,XP,UTIME
,403,Starship_][,Lyndhurst_NJ,Phil_Buonomo,1-201-935-7968,9600,CM,XP,HST,V32
Hub,500,Southern_HUB,Pennsauken_NJ,Michel_Mitchell,1-609-488-4398,9600,CM,HST,XX
,501,The_Dark_One's_Domain,Pennsauken_NJ,Michel_Mitchell,1-609-488-4398,9600,CM,HST,XX
;
Host,581,Eastern_New_York_VNET,Anytown_NY,Sysop_At_Large,1-201-228-4589,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,582,Western_New_York_VNET,Anytown_NY,Sysop_At_Large,1-201-228-4589,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,583,Maryland/DC_VNET,Greenbelt_MD,Jim_Wakeman,1-301-982-2340,1200,CM,XX
,101,The_Watering_Hole,Greenbelt_MD,Jim_Wakeman,1-301-982-2340,1200,CM,XX
;
Host,584,Virginia_VNET,Anytown_VA,Sysop_At_Large,1-201-228-4589,9600,XA,CM,HST;
;
Host,585,Delaware_VNET,Wilmington_DE,Mike_Jacobs,1-302-571-9080,2400,CM,XA
,101,Chaos_Unlimited,Wilmington_DE,Mike_Jacobs,1-302-571-9080,2400,CM,XA
;
Host,586,Pennsylvania_VNET,Anytown_PA,Sysop_At_Large,1-201-228-4589,9600,CM,HST,MO,XX
,101,The_GeneSys_Project_Mail_Only,Philadelphia_PA,Chuck_Gorish,1-215-637-8790,9600,CM,MO,HST,XA,TZ:-5,U9:100/9
;
Region,359,RC_N_England(ME_NH_VT_MA_RI_CT),Caldwell_NJ,Ralph_Merritt,1-201-228-4589,9600,CM,HST,MO,XA
;
Host,590,Maine_VNET,Anytown_ME,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,591,New_Hampshire_VNET,Anytown_NH,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,592,Vermont_VNET,Anytown_VT,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,593,Massachusetts_VNET,Anytown_MA,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,594,Rhode_Island_VNET,Anytown_RI,Sysop_At_Large,1-619-347-0353,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,595,Connecticut_VNET,Enfield_CT,Dale_Ulrich,1-203-763-3485,9600,XA,CM,HST
,101,The_Dark_Side_BBS,Ridgefield_CT,John_Maly,1-203-438-1955,2400,XA,CM
,102,Mystical_Madrigal,Dayville_CT,Robert_Johnson,1-203-779-3173,9600,XA,CM,HST
,103,The_Earth_Network,Enfield_CT,Dale_Ulrich,1-203-763-3485,9600,HST,CM,XA
;
Region,360,RC_Eastern_Canada,Orleans_ON,Andrew_Hutton,1-613-824-0280,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Host,600,Ontario_Canada_VNET,Orleans_ON,Andrew_Hutton,1-613-824-0280,9600,XX,CM,HST
,101,Role_Players_Heaven,Orleans_ON,Andrew_Hutton,1-613-824-0280,9600,XX,CM,HST
;
Region,361,V_Net_Europe,Vienna_AUS,Johannes_Mistelbauer,43-1-526-7858,9600,XA,CM,HST,V32,V42
;
Host,610,V_Net_Austria,Vienna_AUS,Johannes_Mistelbauer,43-1-526-7858,9600,CM,HST,V32,V42,XA
,101,The_Sub_Etha_Net,Vienna_AUS,Johannes_Mistelbauer,43-1-526-7858,9600,XA,CM,HST,V32,V42



** V-ECHO.018 ********************************************************



              V E R V A N - N E T   E C H O   L I S T I N G



                                 F O R



            F R I D A Y,   F E B R U A R Y   0 1,   1 9 9 1



  FIDO Area Name Class Conference Description         Game Master

- - - -------------- ----- -----------------------------------------------
  AD&D_CHAT      [GEN] AD&D General Discussions       Ralph Merritt
! BATTLE_TECH    [WAR] Battle Tech                    John Bowlin
  BLOODSTONE     [RPG] AD&D Edition 2 Campaign        Karsten Liegmann
  CAR_WARS       [WAR] Car Wars                       John Bowlin
  ISC            [WAR] Imperial Space Command         Ron Lahti
  MORROW         [RPG] Morrow Project RPG             Michael Brunk
  OOII           [IND] Operation Overkill II          Tom Hazel
  OTHER_CASTLES  [RPG] Other Suns Module              Darren Hanson
+ PAINTBALL      [IND] Paintball Players Forum        David Nolan
  PARANOIA       [RPG] Paranoia Module                Tom Hazel
x RINGS_OF_ZILFA [RPG] Rings of Zilfa RPG             ** DELETED **
  SF-BATTLES     [WAR] Star Fleet Battles             George Crain
  SHADOWRUN      [RPG] Shadowrun                      Nancy Feldman
  TIME           [RPG] AD&D - Once Upon A Time RPG    Terry Steckowich
  TMNT           [RPG] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles   = GM wanted
  TRAVELLER      [RPG] Traveller                      Michael Brunk
  TRIAD          [RPG] AD&D Edition 2 variant RPG     Wayne Shaw
! TWIL_2000      [RPG] Twilight 2000 RPG              Andrew Brewer
  VNET_ADMIN     [RES] VNET Administration            Ron Lahti
x V_ANNOC        [RPG] Treasures of Annoc RPG         Jim Vaughn
+ V_BEYOND       [RPG] Beyond the Supernatural RPG    Will Owen
+ V_BOARD        [GEN] Boardgames Discussions         Nancy Feldman
+ V_CHESS        [WAR] Play-by-Mail Chess             Joel Veeneman
+ V_CYBER        [RPG] GURPS Adventure in Dark Future Neal Feldman
+ V_DAWN         [RPG]                                Mark Cleveland
+ V_DECKER       [RPG] TransLight Connection RPG      Mike Parkin
+ V_FRINGE       [RPG] Dimensional Travel RPG         Nancy Feldman
  V_GAMECOCK     [RPG] AD&D Beginner's Game (1st Ed.) David Nolan
  V_GAMER        [GEN] General Forum for RPG's        Nancy Feldman
+ V_GM           [GEN] DM Discussion Forum            N. & N. Feldman
  V_GURPS        [RPG] Generic Universal RPG          Neal Feldman
+ V_HERO         [RPG] Champions Campaign             Chris Taylor
x V_HUBTALK      [RES] Admin Forum for Hubs           ** DELETED **
+ V_ICRC         [RES] International/Regional *C's    Ron Lahti
  V-LIBRARY      [GEN] SF&F book reviews              Chris King
+ V_SALE         [GEN] RPG For Sale/Wanted Echo       Joe Crosby
+ V_STAR         [RPG] Twilight 2000 Red Star RPG     Jim Vaughn
  V_SYSOPS       [SYS] General Forum for V-NET SYSOPS Ron Lahti
  V_THEGAME      [RPG] AD&D 1st Edition RPG           David Nolan
  V-TREK         [RPG] Star Trek RPG                  Scott Royall
+ V_WILDCARD     [RPG] Realistic Super Hero RPG       Nancy Feldman
  V_WILLOW       [RPG] Willowbrook Sage (Ars Magica)  Frank Lazar
+ V_YRTH         [RPG] GURPS Fantasy Module           Neal Feldman



CONFERENCE NOTES

- - ----------------

  +     Designates a new echo added during JANUARY.
  x     Designates an echo deleted during JANUARY.
  !     Designates an echo with a new Host.



[GEN]   Designates an echo open to anyone for topical discussions.
[IND]   Independent echo carried on V-NET backbone.
[RES]   Designates a restricted echo.  Links must be approved by
        the V-NET Coordinator.
[RPG]   Designates an echo devoted to a Role Playing Game.
[SYS]   Designates an echo that should be limited to SYSOPS ONLY.
[WAR]   Designates an echo devoted to a war game (Private mail
        capability is frequently a requirement for these echoes.)





 (1) You can 'create' a new conference where you can run the game of
     your choice!! All that is required is for a member sysop to
     sponsor your game. Usually, you will need to create some text
     file/message bulletins describing your game before a sysop will
     agree to sponsor your game. For more information, please contact
     the V-NET Game Echo Coordinator, Nancy Feldman (45:45/904).



------------------------------
Archive-Message-Number: 2212
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 17:05 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: The big, Big, BIG picture

Just for grins, I took some time this weekend and drew up a map of the
known Universe as known in the Traveller mythos, using sector names
scrawled in tiny print on a sheet of graph paper, one sector per square
centimeter. It was a big damn map, y'know that? Between the veiled hints
we've gotten in the Zhodani, Aslan, Hiver and K'Kree Alien Books, to say
nothing of the Vargr map that was recently expanded upon in the DGP
Dullboys'n'Doggies thicky, there is a chart of space approximately 18
by 11 sectors in a rough rectangle, spilling off the edges of the famous
GDW promo poster showing The Whole Shmear, as it were. Impressive. What's
also impressive are the incredible, aggravating HOLES in this map-- I 
rated each sector on a scale of 0 to 3:

0-- nothing known, other than a sector name (e.g. RimReach or Gmbiir!!k)
1-- Star Map published in the Atlas of the Imperium, no other data out
2-- Sector data available, pre-Imperial (i.e. the GEnie archives)
3-- Current data available (via GDW for Hinterworlds, Spinward; DGP for others)

The resulting map is patchy as hell. We have "good" data for the Hinterworlds,
courtesy Challenge magazine; the Spinward Marches, courtesy the MT rules; and
Massilia, whoops, also courtesy GDW via "Knightfall." We also have DGP maps
for Trojan Reach, Riftspan reaches, Reft, Verge (I think), Corridor, and
Deneb. The rest of the IMperium relies on the GEnie archives, not including
the tiny bits of Lishun and Zarushagar and Windhorn that have been published
in various adventures and the Vland sector in the DnD book. Note, though, that
while Ealisiyiw in the Aslan Hierate is modern and we at least have an old
map for Gvurrdon (the Vargr book), there are FIVE SECTORS in the Imperium
and surrounds for which there is no available data at all: Ilelish, Zarushagar,
Dark Nebula, Reaver's Deep and Magyar. This is inexcusable!



So, open question for you completists and archive raiders out there: anyone
know where I can get extant official data for any of the sectors not listed
above? And would anyone like to see a schematic view of the BIG BIG picture
here in the TML? Thrills! Excitement! Learn to answer burning questions like
"What do the Zhodani call the Spinward Marches?" (answer: Tloql) and "How
many official names does the Windhorn have?" (answer: at least three--
Galanglic, old Vilani, and Gvegh-Aek) And so on....


Your ramblin' kinda historian kinda guy, 

metlay				|  "It is not easy to get a Prophet T8 to
				|  'shimmer.' One tends to get shimmering
METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET           |  *BLAAAAAAT*."
metlay@vms.cis.pitt.EDU		| 				       zrgynl

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2213
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: Say "Good-bye" to TDR SIGs
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 91 12:36:23 PST


After a fair amount of deliberation, TDR administration has decided that,
due to an overwhelming lack of traffic, the TDR SIG Mail Lists will be
shut down and all TDR discussion will be merged back into the regular

TML forum.



Does this mean TDR is dead?  Absolutely not!!  What it means is that the
splintering effect generated as a result of the establishing seperate
channels for developing TDR will be eliminated.  Everyone who is a TML
member will be able to follow (and participate in) the discussions
involving the development of TDR.  "Traveller Done Right" is still a
going concern, and Metlay and I will make sure that any and all reasonable
suggestions for modification and enhancement of existing MT rules will
be rolled into TDR as it evolves.  The archive for TDR will be maintained
as well.  Anyone will be able to submit complete rulesets to the archivist
(me) for review and distribution.  TDR now has it's own directory on Sunbane,
for those of you able to access the TML archives.  We will be placing all
reviewed TDR rule submissions in that directory, after they've been evaluated.

So, the TDR SIGs will be accepting mail until midnight, Friday, March 15th,
after which time they will shut off for good, except for the TDR Admin mail
address (tdr_admin@hpcvss.cv.hp.com) which will remain activated for the
forseeable future.  We would also like to thank Burt Choinski, Dan Corrin,
Paul Dale, Rob Dean, Iain Fogg, Matthew Harelick, Tony Hayes, George William
Herbert, Adrian Hurt, Bertil Jonell, Bill Morrison, Rob Poole, Mark Power,
and Eric Sergienko for their heavy participation and for their excellent
input in the areas of combat, medicine, physics, and vehicles.  I'm sure that
most, if not all, the new proposals will ultimately find their way into the
first full release of TDR (whenever that may be :-)).



One last thing.  We would like to have a set of submission reviewers for
rules submitted to TDR, specifically in the areas of combat, physics,
vehicles, and medicine.  We would prefer reviewers to have some background
in the area they volunteer to review (i.e. combat reviewers should have
a fair background in military weapons, ballistics, and some physics).  I
already have plans for some TML readers to be reviewers, even though they
don't know it yet.:-)  If you'd like to be a TDR reviewer, please send a
letter to the tdr_admin address (shown above) telling us what areas you'd
like to review and what qualifications you have to review those areas.
Then we'll sort out who does what.


Thanks again and remember, the SIGs may be dead but TDR is definitely not.
Keep those ideas and suggestions rolling in!  Don't let the concept die.

Later,



	- Mark F. Cook (TDR Archivist)



USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330


INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2214
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk>
Subject: Wanted: Striker, MegaTraveller
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 15:42:21 GMT



I have received a request for "Striker", the rules for combat with
miniatures based on Olde Traveller.  Before I do anything about this
request, I would like to ask a few questions.



1.  Is "Striker" still available from GDW?
2.  If so, can it be bought from them by mail-order?
3.  If not, is it still illegal for me to photocopy the game, or
    parts of it, and send them to the person who requested it?
4.  Anyone want to part with an old set?

- - -- 

 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2215
From: Mark Humphreys <cs89mmh@cct.brunel.ac.uk>
Subject: mailing list
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 17:48:14 BST


Hi there,



I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly, but I would like very much 
to join your TRAVELLER mailing list.

mark humphreys (cs89mmh@cct.brunel.ac.uk)

Department of Computer Science, Brunel, The University of West London,
Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, Unitied Kingdom

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2216
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: Assorted Ramblings
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 0:22:17 PST


In subject 2212, METLAY writes:



> So, open question for you completists and archive raiders out there: anyone
> know where I can get extant official data for any of the sectors not listed
> above? And would anyone like to see a schematic view of the BIG BIG picture
> here in the TML? Thrills! Excitement! Learn to answer burning questions like
> "What do the Zhodani call the Spinward Marches?" (answer: Tloql) and "How
> many official names does the Windhorn have?" (answer: at least three--
> Galanglic, old Vilani, and Gvegh-Aek) And so on....



Hmmm, I guess, when I sent you the sector UWP listings, I should have told
you about the OTHER file I have.  GDW indexes the sectors on a standard
cartesian coordinate system with Core sector at [0,0], i.e.:



                            +Y
                   --|-----|-----|-----|--
                     |-1,+1|     |+1,+1|
                   --|-----|-----|-----|--
                 -X  |     |Core |     |  +X
                   --|-----|-----|-----|--
                     |-1,-1|     |+1,-1|
                   --|-----|-----|-----|--
                            -Y



and I have sector names for all the sectors from [-9,5] to [8,-6], with
subsector names for the majority, and multiple names (Zhodani, Vargr,
Aslan, Imperial, K'Kree, Hiver) in many cases.  Interested?


...and in subject 2214, Adrian Hurt writes:

> I have received a request for "Striker", the rules for combat with
> miniatures based on Olde Traveller.  Before I do anything about this
> request, I would like to ask a few questions.
> 
> 1.  Is "Striker" still available from GDW?



Nope.  Not for a long, long time.



> 2.  If so, can it be bought from them by mail-order?



Nope.  See answer #1.



> 3.  If not, is it still illegal for me to photocopy the game, or
>     parts of it, and send them to the person who requested it?

Yes, but that's never stopped me. :-)

> 4.  Anyone want to part with an old set?



Not on your life.  However ("Aha," he says, "There really IS a point to
this drivel after all!"), I can tell where you can get mint, reasonably
priced copies of Striker (Original publications; not reprints).  This
is my semi-regular plug for the Weekend Warrior.



The Weekend Warrior is a mail-order only shop in N. Hollywood, California
which carries the completest selection of out-of-print GDW products of
any store on the planet (Earth, that is).  They also carry quite a few
in-print products for GDW and DGP, plus out-of-print and in-print products
from companies such as...

        Ad Technos, Australian Design Group, Avalon-Hill, Bard Games,
        Chaosium, Clash of Arms, Columbia Games, Different Worlds,
        Empire Games, Engelmann Military Simulations, FASA Corp.,
        Game Research, The Gamers Inc., Games Workshop, GHQ, Chester
        E. Hendrix, Hobby Japan, Hero Games, Iron Crown Enterprises
        (ICE), Steve Jackson Games, Leading Edge, Lion Rampart Games,
        Mayfair Games, Nova Game Designs, Omega Games, Palladium Games,
        Ral Partha, Simulations Design Inc., Sho Kikaku, Supremacy
        Games, Tabletop Games, R. Talsorian Games, Task Force, Tactica,
        Thoughts & Images, Timeline, TSR, West End, and World Wide Wargames.

Whew!  BTW, GDW and SPI are so well represented that they each rate their
own separate catalogs.  The GDW catalog that I currently have is an old
one (I gave my newer one to a friend in Norway :-)).  It has Striker listed
as follows:

        Code Year       Title                      Used       New
        ---- ---        -----                      ----       ---
        704  1981  Striker (1st Ed. boxed)        $20.00    $40.00
        704  1984  Striker (2nd Ed. boxed)        $25.00    $50.00

Now I know that sounds spendy, but I bought a new "bagged" 1984 copy of 
Striker (Ziplock; no box) for $20.00 just last summer.  I'm pretty sure
they still carry it.  The only thing you're not getting (as opposed to
the boxed mint 1984 set) is the actual cardboard box and a pair of
six-sided dice.  Hardly worth the extra $30.00, unless you're a die-hard
collector.  To avoid keeping you in suspense and longer, here's the
address and phone number:

        Weekend Warrior
        8116 Van Noord Ave
        N. Hollywood, CA  91605
        (818) 988-1441

They take Cashiers Checks, Personal Checks, and Money Orders (all in
U.S. Currency only), but no credit cards of any kind.  If you're going
to send Cashiers Checks or Money Orders, you can call ahead and they'll
hold items for you (for up to 10 days, I think).

One more thing: they also carry back issues of a number of gaming magazines.
These include Traveller's Digest, Challenge, and (hold your breath) the
*original* JTAS!!  Be advised, issue #1 (Annic Nova) goes for $60.00 in
mint condition.

I am in no way connected with the Weekend Warrior, other than being
a VERY satisfied customer.

...and finally, in subject 2215, Mark Humphreys writes:



> Hi there,
> 
> I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly, but I would like very much 
> to join your TRAVELLER mailing list.
> 
> mark humphreys (cs89mmh@cct.brunel.ac.uk)
> 
> Department of Computer Science, Brunel, The University of West London,
> Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, Unitied Kingdom

                       ^^^^^^^

...the "UN-TIED" Kingdom!?!  And here I thought the sun was never supposed
to set on the British Empire.  Adrian, better straighten this fellow out. :-)
(Sorry.  Cheap, shallow American humor.  You have to make allowances for us
younger countries.  Give us a few more centuries. :-))

Later,

        [The scene is Muuir City, Urnas (0609 Pretoria/Deneb), in the
         employee lunchroom of Muuir Packet Express (sorta like Fed-Ex).
         Rikainne and Turin are questioning a delivery-van driver in
         connection with a string of city-wide terrorist incidents:]

         Rikainne: "We'd like you to come back to LSP admin, so we can
          ask you a few more questions.  Your cooperation would really
          be appreciated."

         Turin: "Yah...  Take of your pants!"

                        - Paraphrased from last weekend's MT session


        - Mark F. Cook



USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330


INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2217
Date: 12 Mar 91 06:36:35 EST
From: Leonard Erickson <70465.203@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Sector list

I'd love to have that list. I sent out such a list in the early days of
TML. My formmat was something like:

XXYY:nane[|name][|name]
where XX & YY were co-ordinates, using Core as 00 00.
name had code attached in {} to identify *whose* name it was.

I did it that way as I intended to have the file be read by programs as
well as people.

One half of Dark Nebula sector is "sort of" available. GDW had a game
by that name that used a map that bears a striking resemblaance to a
sector map chopped in half! Complete with X-boat routes.

The sort of, is because the map was made by assembling *sub*sector
maps at random. Also, the data doesn't match *at all* even in the
"default" configuration, unless you turn the maps upside down. (yes, 
there is a pattern that "makes sense" for the maps)

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2218
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 91 16:45:25 -0800
From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: TDR RIP? TDR Forever! 8-)


As Mark Cook pointed out, the TDR atrophied from lack of recent mail.  However,
fear not, some of us are still working on various TDR projects (Rob Dean is still
doing vehicles, and I'm helping out in parts; I don't know about the other
teams).  We'll send the TML any new stuff we generate.

- - -george

gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2219
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 09:55:19 -0500
From: teets@frith.egr.msu.edu
Subject: Old Gaming Stuff....


     Well, another suggestion for picking up Striker is of course at Cons.  I
picked up my copy (mint, even got the box in mint) after a brief struggle for
around $12.  Actually Striker was bought by a few old wargamers who were 
disappointed (not playing traveller and using it as a stand alone) and sell
them off here.  The good thing is that there usually aren't that many people
as fanatical about traveller as the most of us so you can usually get a good
deal.

     Now what I'm really looking for is these old FASA deck plans.  Just love
those things.  Didn't they come out with one for a starport too?  Can't really
find these anymore.  Except, last year I went to a con and this guy was 
selling brand new ones from a box underneath his table for $1.50!!!  I just
about picked up the whole box but only got one of each, besides he only had
adventure ship vol I & II, if anyone could help me out as far as finding the
rest at a reasonable price I would aprreciate it.  Well sorry to ramble but
just throwing in my two cents.

    Matt Teets

    teets@egr.msu.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2220
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 14:46:50 -0600
From: bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu
Subject: Re:  The Big BIG Picture....

Yes, it would be interesting to see what people know about Charted Space
in Traveller.  There are so many things about the map that we know little
about; the Lesser Rift area...the Hive Federation...heck, just the sector
spinward of the Marches.

Does anyone have any idea just how far the IISS explorers have gotten?
DGP refers to bases in Sigma Zephyrus and Theta Borealis sectors.  I
can't find Sigma, but Theta is way the heck out on the spinward edge of
the map; Group One used to have a map for it (probably bad now) but I
see they've kept the name.

Still, it's hardly impressive in comparison to the seven great Core
Expeditions of the Zhodani.  According to the Ref's Manual, they've
roughly explored (probably not surveyed!) a corridor some thirty
parsecs wide and SEVEN THOUSAND long toward the galactic core!  Even
assuming that they aren't straying much from a subsector-wide area
near the middle, that's still a corridor about 175 sectors long!!!
I figure that it would take a ship able to Jump 6 parsecs every two
weeks over 44 years to reach the far end, one-way.  No wonder they're
still planning the eighth one...you wouldn't want to leave anything
behind....

Still, it would make for some interesting adventure possibilites for
Zhodani parties.  Besides, who knows what they're going to run into
way out there?  You can't exactly call for reinforcements. :)

- - --Steve

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2221
From: rem@oz.plymouth.edu (Bob Mahoney)
Subject: Kinorb^2?, deckplans, elm burster...
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 21:15:48 EST



Hi all!



I've been pretty quiet lately (not at ALL like me, right Brucer?), but the 
fiber optic cable is installed, the local network is running, and we're 
attached to the internet!  And as I come up for air, I have Questions!



1)	Maybe I missed a list-explanation of this, but there are TWO Kinorbs
	on the Spinward Marches map: 2202 and 2512.  What gives?  It's not a
	really *pretty* name...sounds like something your doctor can remove
	easily with local anesthesia.


2)	Now that we're part of the SMART data net, I've been ftpeeing around,
	and I grabbed the deckplans from the sunbane server.  They wouldn't
	print.  I used a VAX and an Ultrix system to send it to an LN03 
	Scriptprinter.  Anyone have any ideas for me?

3)	And in the area of contribuiting, I have made up deckplans for the
	Lady of Shallott class Yacht.  It probably violates many rules and
	conventions, but for the role players it might be ok.  (design freaks
	would probably be displeased)  Anyway, it's done in MacDraw (damn
	cute little machine has been sitting in my office gathering dust:
	thought I'd see how it worked...)
	How do I convert from MacDraw to Postscript, as that seems to be
	a format-of-exchange?

4)	And lastly, now that the UNIX box is on the net, I'm getting TML here.
	A while back, someone posted a digest-burster for elm.  Can anyone
	point me toward it?  I can't seem to find it anywhere.  (My accounts
	look a lot like my desk.  And my car.  And my apartment...)



5)	Got the new MegaTraveller Digest.  It gets the Earl of Margesi seal
	of approval!  Buy this, if only for the map of Deneb.  (but there is
	a lot more.)  Oregon seems to suit DGP.

- - -- 

                                ..

- - -------------------------------m--m------------------------------------------
Bob Mahoney    Plymouth State College   Computer Services, Plymouth, NH 03264
rem@oz.plymouth.edu           Net Manager Deluxe      bobmah@psc.plymouth.edu
------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>,
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Precedence: bulk
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 91 21:01:11 PST
From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Status: R





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.
 

------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Wed Mar 20 21:01:07 PST 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #177: Table of Contents


-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2222  14-Mar-91 grue@cs.uq.oz.au  Re: the big Big BIG picture << >Subject: (222
2223  13-Mar-91 bart@cs.uoregon.e Re: Striker (2216) << In TML biweekly V14#18,
2224  00-Jan-00 Alan Huscroft     The Big Picture << I have a couple of Postscr
2225  13-Mar-91 Richard Johnson   He dit it again! << Just noticed that Alan (o
2226  14-Mar-91 "Simpson, Bart"   Spinward Marches to Spica << All of the basic
2227  14-Mar-91 "Bruce T. Ritchie Martial Arts vs. Brawling << Greetings Gang! 
2229  15-Mar-91 plb@violin.att.CO Re: (2227) Martial Arts vs. Brawling << Opera
2230  15-Mar-91 plb@violin.att.CO Re: (2223) Re: Striker (2216) << Operating Sy
2231  15-Mar-91 Mark F. Cook      Mint copies of Striker available!! << I just 
2232  16-Mar-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Voyage of the Gamla Bettan part Two [story:25
2233  16-Mar-91 Richard Johnson   Trouble mailing to Chris Olson (fwd) << <Incl

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2222
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 15:57:14 EST
From: grue@cs.uq.oz.au
Subject: Re: the big Big BIG picture


>Subject: (2220) Re:  The Big BIG Picture....

>Yes, it would be interesting to see what people know about Charted Space
>in Traveller.  There are so many things about the map that we know little
>about; the Lesser Rift area...the Hive Federation...heck, just the sector
>spinward of the Marches.

I'd like to find out a little more...

>Still, it's hardly impressive in comparison to the seven great Core
>Expeditions of the Zhodani.  According to the Ref's Manual, they've
>roughly explored (probably not surveyed!) a corridor some thirty
>parsecs wide and SEVEN THOUSAND long toward the galactic core!  Even
>assuming that they aren't straying much from a subsector-wide area
>near the middle, that's still a corridor about 175 sectors long!!!
>I figure that it would take a ship able to Jump 6 parsecs every two
>weeks over 44 years to reach the far end, one-way.  No wonder they're
>still planning the eighth one...you wouldn't want to leave anything
>behind....

It is worse than that, the Zhodani only have Jump-5 ships (since they
are TL=14!).  This makes the one-way trip about 53 years (closer to 54)!
And it would be safe to assume that the early trips were made at a
lower TL than the later ones.

>Still, it would make for some interesting adventure possibilites for
>Zhodani parties.  Besides, who knows what they're going to run into
>way out there?  You can't exactly call for reinforcements. :)

Could be kind of fun running into some high-tech xeno-phobic planet
along the way (one that was marginally industrial the previous time
through, could be capable of putting up decent resistance on the way
back).  The supplies required would be HUGE, they mustn't have sat down
and worked out the specific details when the figures in the ref's guide
were invented ;-}

I think it would make a VERY good scenaro.  A couple of supply ships
mis-jumping about 1000 parsecs out would cause lots of 'fun' problems.

        						Pauli

seeya

Paul Dale               | Internet/CSnet:            grue@cs.uq.oz.au
Dept of Computer Science| Bitnet:       grue%cs.uq.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Uni of Qld              | JANET:           grue%cs.uq.oz.au@uk.ac.ukc
Australia, 4072         | EAN:                          grue@cs.uq.oz
                        | UUCP:           uunet!munnari!cs.uq.oz!grue
f4e6g4Qh4++             | JUNET:                     grue@cs.uq.oz.au



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2223
Subject: Re: Striker (2216) 
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 22:49:39 -0800
From: bart@cs.uoregon.edu


In TML biweekly V14#18, message 2216, Mark Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM> writes:

> > 3.  If not, is it still illegal for me to photocopy the game, or
> >     parts of it, and send them to the person who requested it?
> Yes, but that's never stopped me. :-)



I'm *not a lawyer*, and thus you *shouldn't believe me*, but as I understand
the copyright law, it is perfectly legal to make a copy for personal use of
a work which is (1) out-of-print, and (2) unavailable at a reasonable
price.  Thus, if you (Adrian) can't find a copy of the Striker rules at one
of the places suggested on the list, you shouldn't feel guilty about copying
it.



Somebody should just try to get GDW's permission to photocopy the thing --
if they don't plan ever to publish it again, why should they mind?  (Oh, I'm
sure you creative souls will all think of good reasons -- it's just a
rhetorical question :-).

					Bart Massey
					bart@cs.uoregon.edu
					

"I've got so many lawyers working for me, I make Bell Labs look like an
organization engaged in the business of making scientific discoveries."
				-- The Usenet Oracle

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2224
Date: Thursday 14th March 1991 10:12:19 GMT
From: Alan Huscroft <ASSHUSCR@cms.am.cc.reading.ac.uk>
Subject: The Big Picture


I have a couple of Postscript files lurking around in some dim and dusty
corner which map out all the sector names I have ever been able to find.
Trim off the margins and tape them together and it makes quite a nice
2-page spread.  It just shows the names of the sectors (including alien
alternatives), no astrographical features, no political borders or
anything like that.  If anybody is interested in seeing these files I
might be persuaded to go and hunt them down.  I can't promise they are
absolutely complete because there are some gaps in my collection.

As far as world data is concerned, I don't have any more information
than Metlay.  There are certainly several Imperial sectors for which
I've never seen anything published.  I imagine DGP is saving them up
for future publications.  (We probably won't get to see Ilelish sector,
for example, until they finally get around to finishing The Black Duke.)

And whoever had the yacht deckplans -- if you can get them in Postscript
form then I'd like to see them!


............................................................................
: Alan Huscroft              : Janet:    A.Huscroft@uk.ac.reading          :
: Reading, England           : Internet: A.Huscroft@reading.ac.uk          :
: 6-G takeoffs AND landings! : X-boat:   A.Huscroft@terra.sol.solomani_rim :
:............................:.............................................:


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2225
Subject: He dit it again!
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 91 17:32:01 PST
From: Richard Johnson <agora.rain.com!richard@tessi.UUCP>


Just noticed that Alan (our wise and wonderful sysadmin) dumped
all incoming uunet/uucp mail that arrived Monday and Tuesday.  If 
you sent something in the last copule of days, and read this before 
you see a reply by me, please re-send it.  I'm gonna put PBEM turn
10.7 together Friday night with whatever I have then.


Thanks.
Richard

	richard@agora.rain.com
	home of the Pharosian bitching cactus

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2226
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 13:41:00 CST
From: "Simpson, Bart" <C447463@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Spinward Marches to Spica


All of the basic survey data from the Spinward Marches to Spica (read
7 x 5 sectors of the Imperium) is available from GDW or Digest Group
Publications if you prod enough. I have them in a text format that I
took from a macintosh program. I don't know if this will help fill in
the big BIG picture for you (I'm just starting on the list) but I will
help with it if I am able...


                            Bart

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2227
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 91 17:14 EST
From: "Bruce T. Ritchie, P.S.C." <BRUCER%PSC.PLYMOUTH.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Martial Arts vs. Brawling



        Greetings Gang! Hi Bob!



     A question, if I may... How do some of you handle a Martial Arts
skill? I know that a while back there was an article about MA in
either Chall. or Travellers Digest, but I found it a bit confusing. If
I recall the author equated MA skill level with dan rank. This would
seem to suggest that you'd need a skill of 12 to be a beginning black
belt!! I must have missed something and the issue is not available to
me at the moment.

     Or, would the Martial Arts be lumped under Brawling, with
extentions to take care of weapons such as Katana (long blade), etc.?
Have any of you done anything with `ninja-esque' PC's or NPC's?? Do
you break down the skill among things like stealth, blade, brawling,
etc?


     Sure, a FGMP is great... but sometimes ya gotta be subtle....


                                brucer

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

        Bruce T. Ritchie (Brucer@PSC.Plymouth.EDU) AKA: Zben Blaine
        Media Services
        Plymouth State College
        Plymouth, N.H. USA

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

       "The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects
        is that science requires reasoning, while those other
                subjects merely require scholarship"

                                        Lazarus Long

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2229
From: plb@violin.att.COM
Subject: Re: (2227) Martial Arts vs. Brawling
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:12:55 EST



Operating System: HP-UX A.B7.00 U
Organization: AT&T-BL, Red Hill System Administration Group (HRSAG)
Location: HR 2C119
Phone: (201) 615-4419
Return-receipt:
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL5]



*| 
*|         Greetings Gang! Hi Bob!
*| 
*|      A question, if I may... How do some of you handle a Martial Arts
*| skill? I know that a while back there was an article about MA in
*| either Chall. or Travellers Digest, but I found it a bit confusing. If
*| I recall the author equated MA skill level with dan rank. This would
*| seem to suggest that you'd need a skill of 12 to be a beginning black
*| belt!! I must have missed something and the issue is not available to
*| me at the moment.
*|      Or, would the Martial Arts be lumped under Brawling, with
*| extentions to take care of weapons such as Katana (long blade), etc.?
*| Have any of you done anything with `ninja-esque' PC's or NPC's?? Do
*| you break down the skill among things like stealth, blade, brawling,
*| etc?

*| 
*|      Sure, a FGMP is great... but sometimes ya gotta be subtle....
*| 
*|                                 brucer



I have been handling martial arts the way the GM I first started
playing under handled them without thinking too much about it.  The
asumption he made was that a brawling of 3+ indicated some level of
martial arts skill.   Increases above 3 were higher levels of
martial arts skill. 



So far as long bladed weapons were concerned, he (and I ) take the
closest weapon covered in the sword, broadsword, etc skills and
applied those.



Funny you should mention Ninjas... He had some character
generation table that he created just for that purpose.  You could
have a Ninja character in his campaign, and parties often had to
deal with Ninja assasination attempts if they got a little too big
for their britches...

- - -- 

Peter L. Berghold | TELEPHONE: +1 (908) 615-4419

- - ------------------+---------------------------------------------------

EMAIL ADDRESSES:   BIX - PETEB  COMPU$ERVE - 70152,3017 
FAX (908) 706-2004 DELPHI - BERGHOLD GENIE - PBERGHOLD


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2230
From: plb@violin.att.COM
Subject: Re: (2223) Re: Striker (2216)
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 10:18:46 EST


Operating System: HP-UX A.B7.00 U
Organization: AT&T-BL, Red Hill System Administration Group (HRSAG)
Location: HR 2C119
Phone: (201) 615-4419
Return-receipt:
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL5]



*| 
*| In TML biweekly V14#18, message 2216, Mark Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM> writes:
*| > > 3.  If not, is it still illegal for me to photocopy the game, or
*| > >     parts of it, and send them to the person who requested it?
*| > Yes, but that's never stopped me. :-)
*| 
*| I'm *not a lawyer*, and thus you *shouldn't believe me*, but as I understand
*| the copyright law, it is perfectly legal to make a copy for personal use of
*| a work which is (1) out-of-print, and (2) unavailable at a reasonable
*| price.  Thus, if you (Adrian) can't find a copy of the Striker rules at one
*| of the places suggested on the list, you shouldn't feel guilty about copying
*| it.
*| 
*| Somebody should just try to get GDW's permission to photocopy the thing --
*| if they don't plan ever to publish it again, why should they mind?  (Oh, I'm
*| sure you creative souls will all think of good reasons -- it's just a
*| rhetorical question :-).
*| 



HA!  Are you kidding?   GDW hasn't struck me as being too
cooperative about much of anything!   When I asked them about
publishing SHAREWARE for Traveller and MegaTraveller they gave me
the knee jerk reaction of "The Traveller and MegaTraveller names
are protected by copyright and remain the property of GDW..."

I tried to explain to them I wasn't trying to STEAL anything but....

- - -- 

Peter L. Berghold | TELEPHONE: +1 (908) 615-4419

- - ------------------+---------------------------------------------------

EMAIL ADDRESSES:   BIX - PETEB  COMPU$ERVE - 70152,3017 
FAX (908) 706-2004 DELPHI - BERGHOLD GENIE - PBERGHOLD


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2231
Subject: Mint copies of Striker available!!
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 91 20:35:49 PST
From: Mark F. Cook <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>

I just got off the phone with Ken Fonarow at the Weekend Warrior and
he confirms that he still has mint condition copies of Stiker (2nd Ed.)
available.  They are shrink-wrapped and don't include dice, but you still
get books 1, 2, and 3, plus the additional charts.  The only difference
between this and the original boxed sets is the missing 2 6-sided dice
and the box itself.  BTW, he still does have boxed sets but they're
sure to be priced out-of-sight.


The shrink-wrapped copies are now $30.00 (up from $20.00 early last
year).  I assume this means the mint-condition boxed 2nd Ed. sets are
probably up around $75.00, but I didn't ask about them so I'm just
guessing about the price.



Later,
        Mark F. Cook



USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
          markc%hpcvss.cv.hp.com@relay.hp.com

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2232
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Voyage of the Gamla Bettan part Two [story:25k]
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 9:42:15 MET



  I admit that this version of Pixie (Hitech port in on the road from Regina to
Gvurrdon, with a naval base added as an afterthought) dosen't match the official
DGP one (Naval Base out in the middle of nowhere) but we like our Pixie the 
way it it is:)



===============================================================================

Copyright (C) 1990,1991 Bertil K K Jonell, All Rights Reserved, Permission is 
hereby granted to the TML to distribute and store this document on the TML and 
associated ftp-sites and to the Members of the TML to store it if they should
find it interesting enough:)



Written and Directed by: Bertil K K Jonell
Corrected by: Olof Dahlberg and Tomas Eriksson
Starring: Olof Dahlberg, Tomas Eriksson, D J Fredrik Granholm, Mikael Rubin and
          Henrik Sjo"strand.
Rating: R (Still no mention of Belgium)
Ships and Vehicles provided by the IISS, Medical facilities by Naasirka, 
	  Catering by the TAS and Legal Advice by Sohn, Sohn & Sons, Regni,
	  Regina.


Voyage of the "Gamla Bettan" part Two

                       The Lawyer:

Time: 070-1112  0230 hours Imperial Standard Time

Location: Pixie/Regina/Spinward Marches



The Gamla Bettan and Crew:
   Gamla Bettan (Old Betty in the language of some ethnic worlds of the 
Imperium, Swordworlders might understand it too) is a tech 11 Scoutship about 
35 years old. She is of a variant class and is shorter and thicker than the 
standard Type S, but has the same performance. Gamla Bettan lacks armament.
   Preben Moeller, Scout, 26 years old. Smart but with great lapses in 
education and behaviour in a civilized environment. Trained as pilot and 
navigator. Born in the absolutely worst slum district of Efate. Ran Xboats 
between Regina and Rhylanor for 8 years.
   Werner Schmallhaussen, Major in the Roupian State Security, 26 years old. 
Very good with all kinds of slugthrowers. Werner has been trained in various 
military areas, including infantry tactics, using a SMG, and as a corpsman. 
Born on Roup and currently on extended AWOL.
   James P Troop, ForceCommander in the Imperial Marine Corps, 34 years old. 
Strong, smart and agile, but with a behaviour and language fitting a Sergeant 
Major. Born in the Shionthy belt, and managed to get out. Trained to lead 
marines in combat, but little else useful.





Excerpt from an interview with John Ichiwara after his visit to his 1000th 
world: "Pixie? Yes, I've been to Pixie. A very curious world indeed. Did you 
know that it's been continually inhabited by the same family from the days of 
it's discovery back in the 350's until today? They are quite sensitive about 
what you call them. Remember to call them 'pixians', never 'pixies'."



   Three men came walking down the access-tunnel connecting the Scout ship to 
the Eldritch down Starports main terminal. Or rather: Two men walked and 
dragged the third one along rather effortlessly in the low-gee environment.
   "Easy, Werner, The left foot now, and the right one, that's right, and left,
 and right, " Preben instructed him, "Hang in there for a few minutes, there's 
got to be a medibooth in the lounge."
   "A month from now you will laugh at this story, Werner!" Troop said 
cheerfully as they stepped out of the tunnel and onto a green carpet of grass 
stretching down to a quiet brook a few hundred meters away. Scattered trees 
stood outlined against the deep blue sky, where the clouds formed the words: 
"Welcome to Pixie, Gateway to Gvurrdon" and in smaller letters: "Eldritch 
Starport Authority, Pixie/Regina/Spinward Marches". After a few more steps the 
hologram dissolved and revealed the Starports' main mall.
   Troop cast a glance around the silent surroundings, "It's pretty dead here. 
What's up? A local holiday or something?"
   "No, It's just that they are going by IST and looking at that clock," Preben 
indicated a large globe bearing the insignias of the Eldritch Starport 
Authority, "it's well past midnight." There's the booths!" Preben pointed.
   "It's never this empty at Regni, no matter what time a day. And I thought 
that Pixie was on a trade-route. Hold Werner, will you?"
   "Sure," Preben held Werner while Troop opened the booth. Even though it had 
indicated that it was currently unoccupied, a semiconscious sentient in Scout 
uniform fell out. Troop felt the smell almost immediately.
   "Shit! Does every scout always drink pangalactic gargleblasters like it was 
tap-water?" he said as he dragged the scout out of the booth and propped him up
against a convenient wall.
   Preben put Schmallhaussen in the booth and explained: "Yupp, it's our 
'National Drink'. Just like Marine 'Pufferfish Parties'."
   "Yeah," Troop grinned "One got to have guts to eat pufferfish."
   "The pufferfish got to have it guts cut out, you mean, I guess?" Preben 
closed the booth that activated automatically. After observing that Werner was
in no condition to answer questions it prompted Preben for a case history and, 
most importantly, money.
   "<Beep> Please state full name and homeworld for you and the patient."
   "Preben Moeller, Efate, and the patient is Werner Schmallhaussen, Roup."
   "Please put five credits in the slot and state the patients symptoms."
   "Nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pains and light fever." Moeller 
answered as he put the money in the machine.
   "Now preparing diagnosis..." The medibooth began to hum and buzz as it 
busied itself. After a few minutes it was ready.
   "The Diagnosis for patient Werner Schmallhaussen is severe food-poisoning. 
Do you wish a treatment?"
   "Stupid soda-can. Schmallhaussen said the same thing himself when he began 
to feel ill, and he has corpsman training." Troop muttered.
   "Yes, we want treatment."
   "The patient is unconscious and can not give his consent. Do you take take 
the responsibility?"
   "Yes I take the responsibility, just get on with it!" Preben signed the 
paper that the machine presented for him.
   "Thank you, the treatment will begin when you have put fifty credits in the 
slot, and will take approximately thirty minutes."
   "What? I've already put five credits the damned slot you stupid piece of 
junk!"
   "That was for the diagnosis, Please put fifty credits in the slot for the 
treatment."
   Preben gave in, and paid up "Very well, just hurry!"


   As the medibooth hummed and the intoxicated Scout began to snore, Troop made
a recon-tour around the mall. It looked like every other type A Starport mall 
that he had seen. Built as a big, four stories high hangar, two hundred meters 
long and fifty wide, and with a big houselike structure in the middle. The 
floorspace was covered with various sofas, chairs and billboards, and the 
banks, shops, bars, and offices for the various freight and passenger lines 
was located in the middle 'building'.
   At the far end big signs indicated that the starport administration could 
be found to the left and the hotels to the right. The only thing moving was 
the occasional janibot that was sweeping the floor.
   After spending some minutes peering through the show-window of a 
Interstellarms outlet, Troop went back to Preben and the booth, his steps 
echoing emptily in the big mall.
   "This place is dead!" he said, "But I found a ironmonger that seems to 
have a good selection, better than on Efate, at least."
   "Don't blame me for the curfew, I had no chance of knowing that Ine Givar 
had planned a major bombing-campaign just when we arrived." he continued 
ironically, "They don't consult me, you know.".
   "Look, we've got company."
   When Moeller looked in the direction that Troop indicated, he saw that a 
man was walking in their direction. Clad in a strict suit and tie and carrying 
an attache case, he seemed very out of place in the Starport environment. He 
obviously also felt out of place, because he kept looking over his shoulder 
all the time.
   "You want to know what I think, Preben? I think that the booth has snuffed 
Werner and that that clown in the suit is a Naasirka lawyer coming to nail you 
for it!"
   The man was clearly heading for them and Moeller glanced at the booth to 
make sure that Werner's values was in the green.
   Troop put on his best 'Macho Marine' posture and made sure that Werner's SMG 
was easily accessible in his duffel bag. The man in the suit almost stopped 
when he saw this, and came up to them hesitantly.

   "Good evening, gentlemen." he began "Let me introduce myself. My name is 
Eric T Sohn, and I'm a senior partner in the law firm Sohn, Sohn & Sons from 
Regina, and I would like to ask you a question."
   "Shit! It was a lawyer!" Moeller exclaimed.
   Mr Sohn jumped a meter backwards "I beg your pardon?"
   "No, eh, I'm sorry, we, eh, we, eh, had made, eh, yes! When we saw you, 
Troop thought that you looked like a lawyer and we made a bet! yes, that's 
what it was: a bet."
   Mr Sohn looked very confused.
   "A question, you said." prompted Troop.
   "Uh, Yes, a question. I would like to know if it was you three that arrived 
with the Scoutship about half an hour ago."
   "What if it were? We haven't done anything illegal, Have we Troop?"
   "Shaddup Moeller! Let me handle this!" Troop hissed in answer and turned to 
Mr Sohn, "I guess that we should introduce ourselves. I'm ForceCommander James 
P Troop, Imperial Marines Retired, and this is Preben Moeller, IISS detached 
duty." They shook hands.
   "As answer to our question, Yes, we came in that Scoutship."
   "Do the ship stand to your disposition or are you presently on your way some
where?" Mr Sohn looked disapprovingly on the unconscious Scout.
   "No, we are totally free to go wherever we wish in it."
   "Good, good. You may be the solution to my problems. I'm trying to locate a 
certain person that has disappeared and I wonder if you would be interested in
finding this person. There would, of course, be a substantial reward for a 
successful conclusion."
   "That sounds interesting, Mr Sohn. Can you be more specific?"
   The lawyer hesitated and looked behind himself to ensure that nobody was 
listening before he continued. "I'm truly sorry, but due to various reasons, I 
cannot go into specifics at this time and place. Could you come to the TAS 
Hostel in one hour, then we could discuss the mission in more detail."
   "In one hour? Isn't it enough to do that tomorrow?"
   "I'm afraid not. I'm already booked on a flight to Feri which leaves in 
five hours. It is essential that everything is arranged before that time."
   "Very well, then. We have to get hold of a few friends first, but we will 
be there in one hour.

   When Mr Sohn had left Troop began lecturing Preben "In the future, Preben, 
you keep your mouth shut and let me handle all situations like this. If you 
insist on behaving like you'd come directly from the slums of Efate, we'll 
never get a decent assignment."
   "Oh yeah? What's wrong with the slums of Efate? I was born there you know!"
   "Yeah, tell me about it. And even if I hadn't known I could have guessed 
after listening to your accent and watching your table-manners!"
   "Don't blame me for disliking lawyers. We weren't afraid of the cops at 
home, there are no cops at Efate, but the corporate lawyers with their squad
of bodyguards unloading from their G-limo outside was a major storm-warning. 
They usually show up to evict you or give you a summons and if their hired 
muscle 'happened' to bump somebody off they would get you to pay damages to them
for it!" They were interrupted when the door to the medibooth opened and a very 
pale Werner Schmallhaussen stepped out.
   "<Beep> Treatment successfully completed. Have a nice day and welcome back!"
the booth blipped enthusiastically.
   "I guess I ate a little to much at Efate?"
   "A little!" Troop laughed "You stuffed yourself around the clock for three 
weeks!"
   "We have got a mission now," Preben explained as he walked towards the 
nearest public terminal "there is a lawyer," he pronounced it as an insult, 
"that wants us to look for someone. It didn't sound too hard." he put a 
quarter cred in the terminal and called up the naval base.
   A sleepy marine guard appeared on the screen "Imperial Navy, Pixie Naval 
Base, Good evening!"
   "Hi! I want to speak with Master Chief Petty Officer Zod Miandwhypt of the 
'Monsoon', that's a StrikeCarrier."
   "I know what class 'Monsoon' is," the marine guard answered irritatedly, 
"but do you know what time it is?".
   "Just connect the call will you? He's expecting us to call."
   After several signals Zod answered, at last. "Who the bloody... Oh, it's 
you Preben, " he looked at his watch, frowned and shook it. "I'm going to nail 
the bastard who sold this watch to me. Do you have *any* idea what time it is, 
Preben?"
   "Sure, a quarter past three in the morning." He proceeded to tell Zod about 
the mission and the lawyer that they were supposed to meet at the TAS Hostel.
   "Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
   "No, he's leaving in a few hours. We are to meet him there at four. 
Remember: the early bird get the largest worm and it sounded like this will be 
a very, repeat very, profitable deal."
   "OK, OK, I'll try to get there in time. By the way, have you found an 
engineer yet?"
   Moeller answered that there were nobody on the Gamla Bettan that was 
trained for engineering so Zod continued. "You see, I know this Lieutenant 
Commander that was Chief Engineer on the 'Monsoon'. He's an engineer and he's 
also quite good at electronics and stuff. He's mustering out today."
   "Bring him along then," Preben said "Remember, The TAS hostel in forty-five 
minutes."
   "Ok, I'll be there, Bye!"
   "Bye!"

   Erik T Sohn waited until the waiter had left before answering Werners 
question: "I want to hire you and your ship to locate a certain person that, 
shall we say disappeared, twenty one years ago."
   "How much?" asked Moeller.
   Mr Sohn looked perplexed "How much I want to locate the person?"
   "No, How much you want to pay us"
   "Eh, Rather a direct fellow, are you not? The payment is not in money."
   "We don't want another ship." Preben cut him short. "And we can't transport 
a lot of goods."
   "The payment is not in goods or something like that! What do you take me 
for? A mere merchant?" Mr Sohn looked almost insulted and both Werner and 
Troop furiously kicked Moeller on his shins under the table. "The payment is 
in securities."
   "In what? Zod asked.
   "I cannot disclose the identity of the company until I know if you accept 
the mission or not. I'm very firm on this subject for various reasons which I 
cannot disclose either."
   "I guess that we have to know some more thing before we can decide, " 
Werner asked, "for example, how big will our compensation be?"
   "About one and a half megacredits.."
   "Each?" Troop asked quickly.
   "Certainly not! One and a half megacredits total, give or take a few 
hundred thousand. The exact amount depends on the stock market, and the faster 
you find this person, the more it will be worth. This is non-negotiable."
   "Hey, We can buy a turret for that!" Zod exclaimed loudly "I demand that we 
buy a turret!" He began to wave at the waiter. "You there! I want a turret"
   "A turret?" The waiter asked when he reached their table.
   "Yes, a turret, don't you know what a turret is?"
   "I'm afraid that I've never heard about a drink named 'turret', sir"
   "Not a drink, damn it! A turret! The kind with lasers in it!"
   "This is a restaurant, sir. We do not sell turrets with lasers in them 
here!" the waiter answered testily.
   "Please forgive my friend, he tend to be a bit excited at times." Werner 
apologized to the waiter while Troop rapidly quieted Zod using very harsh and 
vulgar language.
   Preben asked if there were any megacorps involved and Mr Sohn assured that 
there were not.

   "Any other corporations involved?" Preben persisted.
   "There is a Reginan corporation that would like that you didn't find this 
person, but they are only active in this subsector. They won't resort to 
violence, since that would cause them to lose anyway."
   Troop immediate caught on to thread "Any other violence?". He looked 
almost disappointed when Mr Sohn said that he didn't think so.
   "I can imagine that the Marine Corps might be a little irritated, but the 
mission is in no way illegal by Imperial laws."
   "This is unfortunately all I can say, Do you accept the mission?"
   "Well, what do you say?" Werner asked them "It sounds good to me. Anyone 
have any objections?". When nobody protested he turned towards Mr Sohn and 
said "Yes, we accept the mission."



   It was very visible that Erik T Sohn felt great relief when he heard that 
they accepted. He looked like all his troubles were gone and a positive outcome
guaranteed.
   "Could we get the whole story now, please?" Zod asked impatiently. "I want 
this over with so that we can buy a turret."
   "If you mention that word again I'll tie you to a Yresish ant-hill!" Troop 
threatened him.
   With a worried look at Troop and Zod Mr Sohn began: "We, that is Sohn, Sohn 
& Sons, have since many years represented the Scofeld family of Regina and the 
company Scofeld Investments LIC, that was founded by the late Desmond Scofeld, 
and several minor partners, in the 1070's. It growed during the aftermath of 
the Fourth Frontier War and were, in fact, one of the financial backers behind 
Sergei hault-Oberlindes.
   Desmond died last year without heirs. His wife died in the 4FW and his son, 
John, died in a pirate raid in 1093 along with his wife, Melissa U Chorral and 
their daughter, Desmonds grandchild, Tracy Everlyn Chorral-Scofeld. According 
to his will, the same clause is in all the original five partners wills, the other partners would have the option to buy his part of the shares if he died 
without leaving any direct heirs. The money in this case would go to Desmonds 
closest heirs, a bunch of distant cousins of his totally without interest in 
Scofeld Invest LIC.  
   However, in a late addition to the will, Desmond stated that a certain part 
of the inheritance should be used to finance a last attempt to locate John, 
Melissa and Tracy. When this fact was made public the other two surviving 
partners immediately filed a complaint against the will on the grounds that 
Desmond was mentally incompetent we he wrote the addition. This case will 
begin in a few weeks and I have no idea how long it will take.
   The task of locating his heirs fell on us, the Sohn, Sohn & Sons, since we 
were the law firm that he usually had employed. To avoid any conflict of 
interests we had to refuse any other assignments from Scofeld Invest LIC.

  We began the search with a big advertising campaign all over this and the 
neighbouring subsectors with pictures and fingerprints of John, Melissa and 
Tracy, computer-generated pictures of how they would have looked ten years ago 
and today and promises of large rewards for information about their 
whereabouts. Initially we met with little success, but two months ago the 
first reply came in. It was from one of the pirates...
   The pirate, who naturally wish to be anonymous, had settled down on a world
in this subsector claimed to have served with Captain Belit on the 'Barracuda' 
between the years 1088 and 1094. He told us that he remembered a strange 
episode that took place in 1093."

  "Belit" Troop laughed. "Do you know how many pirates there is that use that 
name?! The Corps have at least fifteen 'shoot to kill's out on pirates that
call themselves 'Belit'. It's fifth on the top ten list!"
   Mr Sohn asked irritatedly if he could continue, and when Troop fell silent 
he did.

   "They had been cruising for several weeks without attacking any shipping, 
slowly working their way coreward from their usual territory between Regina 
and Turedad on the Spinward Main towards Feri. According to Belit they were on 
a special assignment that would be very profitable.
   When they reached Feri they waited for a few weeks before attacking a small
Oberlindes liner enroute from Regina to Efate. Belit ordered them to 
concentrate their fire to the crew and passenger part of the ship. Just 
minutes before the liner exploded a smallcraft was launched and tried to 
escape from the pirates.
   Since all space vessels are expensive they captured the fleeing craft 
intact. The pirate claimed that the three persons on the pictures were among 
those aboard that craft, but they were using different names!
   According to him Tracy had not been related to John and Melissa!
   Belit had interrogated all the survivors from the liner who subsequently 
had been spaced, all except John, Melissa and Tracy. The first two had been 
murdered, put in a freezer and flown to Ruie, and the latter lived because the
crew had refused to space her.
   "Most of us were veterans from 'fourth'," the Pirate had said, "we were 
only in this kind of work because we had no choice. Some of us had been 
commerce raiders, others had taken 'extended AWOL' from various units. Zapping 
fat traders, and spacing witnesses is one thing, but the suggestion that we 
should space a seven year old kid almost caused a mutiny. But Belit said that 
contract specifically said that ALL persons aboard the liner should be killed 
so we put the girl ashore on Knorbes on our way to Ruie."
   But on Ruie Belit had returned to the ship without money but in a terrible 
mood. They had immediately blasted off for Knorbes and turned the planet 
upside-down for two weeks until the Navy had arrived to chase them away.
   The Pirate's career had taken a sudden end the following year when the 
Barracuda was pounced upon and destroyed by another pirate ship when he was on 
shoreleave.
   We, speaking as the Sohn, Sohn & Sons, thought that the matter was solved. 
Tracy was living on Knorbes and it was their low level of technology that 
prevented her from getting in touch with us. But, sadly to say, all our 
investigations on Knorbes came to nought."
   Zod interrupted him irritatedly "What's wrong with Knorbes? I was born 
there and look what I am today!"
   "Yeah, a navy geek that would run if he saw a Zho eye to eye!" Troop 
laughed.
   Von Tjaikovskij almost dropped his monocle when he protested "Excuseth my 
humble opinion gents, by what hasth thee against our glorious Empire and it's 
equally glorious Navy?" Preben just listened to the accent and groaned.
   "Hey, have your exaltedness ever heard about the Galanglic language?" Troop 
retorted. "No speaken galanglic, eh?"
   Preben felt forced to intervene "Calm down Troop, If Tjaikovskij..."
   "Von Tjaikovskij if you may." Roshel said as he polished his monocle.
   "On my ship you ain't von. On my ship you're Tjaikovskij!"
   "Oh dear!"
   "As I was saying, Tjaikovskij may be a noble, but don't hold it against him.
If he is a good engineer he's good enough for me!"
   "You amaze me, Preben" Werner said ironically.
   Mr Sohn almost regretted hiring them but said "Gentlemen! Please! I must be 
on a ship in two hours time and you bicker about accents." In the embarrassed 
silence he continued:
   "To recapitulate..."
   "Capitulation? Never!" Zod hollered but the rest of the crew shut him up.
   "To recapitulate, " Mr Sohn continued, "we had traced Tracy to Knorbes but 
there she had disappeared. Then came our second lucky break. We got a letter 
from Boughene.
   The letter was from a certain Leonides Chubhelm who was working as an 
electronics engineer for Ling Standard on Boughene. He was born and had gone 
to school on Uakye and he had some interesting things to tell us.
   He had recognized the computer projection on how Tracy would look ten years 
ago and gotten interested enough to compare the fingerprints to the ones in 
the old yearbook from the Uakye City Polytechnic Highschool."
   "They have fingerprints in their yearbooks?" Werner asked amazed "Why?"
   "Standard practice to help catch juvenile delinquents" Troop answered.
   "We didn't have that on Efate," Preben remarked, "But I never went to 
highschool!"
   "He further told us that she had gone by a different name then. According 
to him she called herself Kiiara Travernier and were supposed to be the 
daughter of a cousin of a captain of a free trader that plyed the routes 
between Efate and Regina."
   "Passing Knorbes!" Troop exclaimed.
   "Exactly! We naturally did a thorough investigation about this 'Kiiara' 
person and found that all ID's fitted Tracy exactly, All documents identifying 
her as 'Kiiara Travernier' was forgeries. Quite bad forgeries, actually. The 
trader had died five years ago, but we could confirm that he didn't have any 
cousins.
   Mr Chubhelm also told us that 'Kiiara' had signed up with the marines, and 
that he had got a holo from a publication that Uakye City PolyHigh published 
and sent out to all old students every five years with the latest news about 
what all old students did. The holo," Mr Sohn passed around a holo depicting 
ten persons in IMC uniforms standing around a Trepida AFV, "shows the 1108:5 
OCS class of newly graduated marine 2nd lieutenants here at Pixie."
   Once again it seemed that our work were finished. We thought that Tracy 
served in the marines somewhere in the subsector and that all that remained 
for us was to inform her about the inheritance and clear all legalities. Then 
we ran into a wall, again.
   Our message to her, care of the Imperial Marines, was returned with a 
'Addressee Unknown' label. I immediately travelled to Uakye and checked with the
IMC enlistment office there and they confirmed that she were in the marines 
after all. They claimed that she had been assigned to Pixie for OCS and that I 
should check there. I got here and made inquiries about her on the naval base, 
but they said that they never had heard about anyone named Kiiara Travernier, 
or Tracy Everlyn Chorral-Scofeld either for that matter. They compared 
fingerprint- and retinal data with what we had and said that they were 110% 
certain that they didn't match any person in the IMC living, dead or 
lowberthed, either in the IMC now or retired or MIA or KIA or POW or anything.
   They said that she didn't exist.
   I want you to find her!"

===============================================================================

- - -bertil-

- - -- 

>From the foolfile:

"The Baltic states are not occupied"  -  Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2233
Subject: Trouble mailing to Chris Olson (fwd)
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 91 18:12:44 PST
From: Richard Johnson <agora.rain.com!richard@tessi.UUCP>


<Included message follows>

I haven't noticed anything, but then I'm notoriously innacurate with
this mail stuff.  Anyone else notice problems?
Richard





****included message here ****

**** this space for rent  ****



:From: intelhf!uunet!moss.att.com!gsw (Jerry Williams)
:Subject: Trouble mailing to Chris Olson
:To: richard@agora.rain.com (Richard Johnson)
:Date: Mon, 11 Mar 91 9:19:24 EST
:X-Mailer: Elm [version 2.1 PL1]
:Content-Type: text
:Content-Length: 437
:
:Has anyone else had trouble mailing to Chris Olson?
:
:I can never get through to him at chris@ssbell.imd.sterling.com
:I get the message
:
:	"...unable to contact machine 'sparky'
:
:	The following mail has not been delivered:
:
:		sparky!mail chris (Date 03/04)
:
:	"
:
:I think the other messages are going through.
:
:This might have something to do with the @ in the address.  I'm
:going to try to find an alternate address.  Any suggestions?
:
:gsw
:



------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************

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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>,

        Chuck McKnight <tinylk!1!170!104!chuck.mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
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Status: R





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
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------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Sun Mar 31 21:00:11 PST 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #178: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------

2234  17-Mar-91 Richard Johnson   PBEM Turn 10.7 (nearly on-time) << This is th
2235  18-Mar-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Miscellaneous Things Available << I happened 
2236  21-Mar-91 richard@oresoft.C Misunderstanding Task Difficulty << Just had 
2237  22-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi misinterpreting task difficulty << Generally,
2238  22-Mar-91 "Simpson, Bart"   Shareware and GDW << GDW isn't so easy to wor
2239  25-Mar-91 wew@naucse.cse.na New versions of Traveller Shareware and docs.
2240  27-Mar-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha PBEM: Away until monday << I'll be away for G
2241  26-Mar-91 Jo Jaquinta       A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature is 
2242  27-Mar-91 sfellows@slate.Mi Liquid Hydrogen << Liquid Hydrogen boils at 2



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2234
Subject: PBEM Turn 10.7 (nearly on-time)
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 91 20:14:18 PST
From: Richard Johnson <agora.rain.com!richard@tessi.UUCP>


This is the earliest we've ever been late!  In the immortal words of
Zben:  "Glad to see us back!"
                             
Actually, I'm glad I held on 'till Sunday to finish this up.  Got a lot
of late-breaking news from the Doc 'n' the Dog.  :-)  The Aslan must've
been stunned into silence by the realization of where they were; I heard
nothing from them, so I'm gonna play them as NPC's until they wake up or
tell me to let them rest in peace.  (C'mon Rob, life is not all battle :-))


When we left our adventure, the Aslan with the unpronouncable names
had just entered the R-alpha system.  The Alcyon had just jumped toward
R-alpha, on their pre-arranged course, and the Imperial fleet had just 
told the Alcyon to heave to.  I guess that'll teach the bureacrats...






**************************** We begin aboard the Alcyon ***************



Jordan peers down the halls almost as if he is in a trance. He watches
and waits for any commotions that may occur. After a while of looking
and observing, he puts the helmet to his suit on and double checks his
auto-shotgun clip. 



Motion stirs him into action and he levels the shotgun at the shadow
creeping up the corridor. 



<Click>  (sound of round being chambered)
[GM note - this is our tried-and-true friend who bonked himself with
the desk, and whose name I forgot.]
"Ulp.  Uh, high.  Sorry I'm late.  Where do you guys need me?"


Horne orders him back to the armory.



Jordan then awaits anxiously but unemotionally for the
next order to be barked out.



- - ----------------

Zben pays close attention to the countdown for jump. When he
approximates Jump minus 2 minutes, he addresses the computer:

     

"Computer: High speed holographic recording of all data on
bogies coma Imperial. Begin now. Terminate 20 seconds after jump
initiation. Also, prepare to generate 1 kilowatt RF spectrum burst of
white noise, linked to firing of main laser, delayed by.." he stops
and make a quick calculation of distance to hydrogen cloud ".0025
seconds. Use transmitters on Alcyon, and all sub vessels to generate
multi-nodal wavefront."

Turning to the commander "Sir. I've set up an RF burst linked to
the hydrogen explosion to assist with the jump masking. Do I have
permission to engage?" 

<Etienne> Engage.

#####include all the usual stuff associated with jumping #####




<Niishu> 99.99995% discharge sir.  We're gonna come out of this jump
within a few hundred meters of our programmed point.



<Etienne>

In a low but still audible voice:
  "If any of us survive..."


[Addressing the computer...]

"Store all sensor data from just before General Quarters until just 
after entry into Jump-space.  Coded 'Imperial Fleet'.  Correction, 
coded 'Imperial fleet 1'.  Then cancel all displays of external data 
and return all intership connections to standard communications setup."


- - ---

Cup of chicken soup in hand, Johann is about to begin to speak when the 
lights dim for jump. Surprised, he looks up at the lighting panels and 
begins to speak, and interrupts himself again.

"Dirty panels... I thought the robot cleaned them at least once a week." 
He cranes his neck and looks close at the slowly evaporating thin film of 
frost on the panels.

   

"Oh, It was just the hydrogene." Johann pauses and looks at the floor that 
is covered with ice that has begun to melt. "...hydrogene...".


- - ---

The SubCommander's voice barks out on the all-call channel, a bare ten 
seconds after the Jump is initiated:

"CLEAR THE CORRIDORS, PEOPLE! SUBCOMMANDER COMING--"

- - ------

Zben locks down the external communications station and starts restoring 
internal communications, first by running a diagnosis on all systems. 
Turning to Charyn, "Well, we seem to have made another one! You can consider
this your `trial by fire'... and I think you did a great job. Its nice to
have someone else on board who understand these wave pushers!  Besides," he 
says with a grin, "with two of us understanding communications there's a
better chance for each of us to get on an Away team!"
        

Turning back to the console "`course, you being on the Generalist team, 
I guess you'll get a good shot at R-alpha anyway.  Lets just hope the 
`shots' AREN'T from our turrets..."

        

(To the console) "Computer, run analysis on stored information
reference bogies coma Imperial. Extrapolate speed, trajectory, and
acceleration for each unit. Predict minimum time for each unit to
match system intrinsics, reposition, realign, and prepare for jump to
any sector of Alcyon target system. Store all data under heading

Imperial Fleet 1"



Etienne turns to Commander Ger with a formally correct salute...]



"Commander, request permission to talk with you privately.  I have 
information whose importance I have absolutely no way to judge."





<Zben>

(Turning to the commander) "Sir. I have an approximate minimum turn-
around-and-jump time for the Impers. 7.7 hours.  This does not include 
re-fuel, but does include any jump vector that puts them in the same 
system as R-alpha."

     

Tuning back to Charyn "I don't know about you, but I could use a
drink. Soon as we stand down I'll show you where the crew lounge is,
if you'd like. First round's on me." (grinning) "I expect there'll be
several rounds after that..."





<Etienne>

"Nishu, start briefing Charyn on what happened during the last jump.  
Also point out anything she may not be familiar with about the Alcyon.  
Like our internal commo setup.  Oh, and she'll also need to get a comdot 
as soon as possible.  Plus, I may need your input in a few minutes.  
I'll give you a call if I do."



- - -----



The airlock door to Engineering opens and Lucan and Dulinor start
to enter the room.  'Vouf caroms off of Lucan and comes rocketing in at 
his usual dead run....and hits the ice condensed on the deck.


"--THROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"


He narrowly misses Abuko, bounces off Morser and sends him reeling, skates
past the crew with tail tucked and arms windmilling like rotor blades,
executes a neat half turn as he passes, and slams backwards into the main
maneuver-drive console at about thigh height.   



<Morser>

"Vy don't we chust -OOF!! Hah? Vat? Oh, sorry, herr subcommander...it
zeemz power has been diverted from ze deck's heating coils for ze
currrrent crrrisis. Ve should haff zat ice cleaned up as zoon as ze
ship stabilizes."



Abuko drops his cup of chicken soup as he hurries to change channels on 
his commdot.  The ice melts in spots where the soup spatters.  



'Vouf does a beautiful roll across the surface of the console, randomly 
flipping about fifty switches and using the console surface as a launch 
pad, and sails off and past it for another two or three meters, hitting 
the rear wall shoulders first with a crash and sliding to the floor. 





<Abuko>

"Robot! Do an olfactory sample for hydrogene right now! 
Questions: What concentration is it? and is that concentration 
explosive or flammable?"



Bruised and panting, 'Vouf gets his feet under him, stands
up, falls down again, gets up again, and stands with feet braced wide apart
and mailed fists clenched. He slowly scans the room with a feral glare,
silently daring someone, ANYONE, to even SMILE. 



Ian regains hands-and-knees on the deck and looks briefly at the commotion.
"I'm sure glad Adrian's not here, he chuckles."



Leadfoot interrupts reparing the fuel line and floats still under the 
ceiling for a second. Then he darts down to the floor and up to his 
previous position in the ceiling. Everyone with a communicator on the 
general engineering channel hears the answer.



"Concentration of Hydrogene variable. Local maximums close to explosive 
concentration."



<Abuko>

"Redd! Do you know where the environment controls are? Get over there fast 
and purge the air in this compartment! Everyone, evac engineering! You can hook
up the the panels in here through your hand computers or some consoles outside 
this room. Anyway, the only thing that needs watching right now is the power 
plant, and the crystals, so that they really are empty and don't hold any 
additional charge.



"Robot! Set routines for work in explosive environment. No saws, drills, 
welders and so on. And try to move as little as possible and don't strike any 
metal."



"Bridge, Engineering here. We've got hydrogene in the air so we are 
evacuating engineering to purge the air in here. It'll only take a few 
minutes."



Johann opens the main door "Let's go everyone. Try not to slip on the ice 
and slam into something metallic..." 



When the expected explosion doesn't arrive, Johann makes a comment about how 
good it is that holodynamic controls don't produce sparks when they are 
operated and proceeds with the evacuation. When everyone, including the late 
arrived Vouf, is out he scans the room once again and exits, closing the valve 
behind him.

   "Redd, Abuko here, everyone is out now. Clear to purge."



Helping 'Vouf to his feet, Karl suddenly remembers what he was thinking
about a moment ago(possibly a new speed record for him :-), and almost
drops 'Vouf back on the deck while tapping his commdot:



"Herr Kaptain, it'z prrobably a bit late now, but as zoon as ve get out
of jump, I vould highly advise checking ze integrity of ze surface jump 
vebs. Until zome of ze injured rrecover, ve haf no vay of knowink what
zey found out zere. I also zink zis should be done from ze viewports
of ze other ships, to avoid usink ze airlocks again until ve find out
chust vat happened! Morser out."


'Vouf tests his footing gingerly, half ignoring Morser's offer of help.
When Morser lets go of him to start talking to the Bridge, he almost falls
again, but catches himself. He then gently conveys the still-chattering
Morser out of Engineering behind the others, carefully choosing his footing,
and doublechecks that no one is left behind but Leadfoot before giving an
all-clear hand signal to Abuko.

As the flammable gas mixture begins pumping out of Engineering, he says, 
"Nice job of damage control, all of you. Sorry you got such a baptism of
fire, Mr. Wrinkely--or should I say ice?" His smile carries no humor.

He turns to leave. "Dr. Abuko, I'll leave damage control in your capable
hands. In the meantime, I don't want any of you disturbing Doctor van der
Merwe with questions until he's out of Sickbay-- he's got a lot on his
mind right now. But for those of you who have never seen an L-Hyd leak
before, let me clue you in: we may see Silvmane again, but MT is dead as
a black dwarf." He sighs gustily, and walks away. 

"If anyone wants me, I'll be on the Bridge punching holes in the bulkheads."



*****************************************************************



The Kaekh-oh [hope I spelt it rite :-)] drops out of jump space to find
a main-sequence, yellow-green, star, with no obvious planetary bodies, 
but a higher-than-normal neutrino reading from all directions forward.

"Commander, computer says high likelihood of asteroids and extensive
mining in this sector. . 

"By the Gods! Look at THIS!" Akhouw is nearly dazed by the display
now slowly appearing in the holo tank.  As the Kaekh-oh moves, a thin,
silvery arch slowly resolves before them, from edge-to-edge of the tank.
Almost creeping into their consciousness is the fact that what they see
is as far away from the stellar primary as is the Kaekh-oh.

"NOW we have glory for the clan!"

<Aiwi>

"Wait!  we've got a moving body.  Looks like a shuttle."



<Akhouw> Follow it.





- - ----

"Routine maintenance.  Nothing fun about this except I get to see the
stars.  I wonder why he always has me go fix things, and check the
vacuum zone?  `Doejin,' he always says `you know you love this.'  Yeah,
but when does Doejin get to play?

"Hmm, that's new - it moves.  Stars don't move..." 

Fresh orders pour in - Terminate maintenance immediately.  Return to
base and await further instructions.

"Now THAT is curious.  He told us to expect visitors, but now he says
they're here and we're not supposed to meet 'em?

"Oh well.  Back to base little chair."



- - ---

<Aiwi>  We've got a good fix on that craft sir.  Definitely a shuttle,
power spectrum is cleaner than anything I've ever seen.  He seems to
be out here skylarking.

Uh oh, he's turned toward the . . uh . . ring?  sir.  We'll never catch
him, but we should get close enough to find a city.


*********************************************************************



- - ----



Hearing the latest medical emergency call, Dr. Limner halts (he was
on his way to his grav bus), and asks on the medical channel, "Should
we treat them in engineering or in sickbay?".



Just then, Ian and the medbots go screaming by with Anton, then fly 
back for the next round of patients.  "It looks like sickbay it is, 
then." 



Dr. Limner then heads to sickbay.  He realizes that he is still
wearing his vacc suit, and, although the hood is hanging behind his
back, he looks rather like a diver than a doctor.  Putting the hood
on, he scrubs the whole vacc suit.  Then, putting the hood behind his
head and removing the vacc suit gloves (actually they just peel off
his hands and tuck into the sleeve -- the vacc suit does not come
apart), he scrubs his head and hands again.  He then dons a medical
gown.  Now, with the gray hood hanging behind the white medical gown,
the good doctor seems to have transformed again, this time into some
sort of minister or priest.



As he walks into sickbay, Doctor Van Der Merwe tosses him a crystal.
"We've got another surgeon aboard," he curses.  "If only those @#$% 
@#$% corporate types would give us this info *before* we need it!
This guy's name is Yorblin, some scout doctor.  Get him out of the
freezer, start him thawing, and get back here and help with  the
incoming."


- - ---------

Lazer continues to stare intently at the tactical screen for several 
seconds after Jump blanks it out.  Then he snaps his head up, glances 
across the other tell-tales, and mutters, "A perfect jump after that 
fiasco. There's a god for fools and incompetents, and he likes us..."



Then, the controlled tone of command returning, "Mr. Horne, take your 
team and make sure that bloody airlock is secure.  The telltale says 
it's sealed, but then the failsafe shouldn't have allowed the accident 
to happen at all.  When you're sure, put a security seal on the corridor, 
and we'll take a closer look later.  Farouk out."


J.J. stands and addresses the rest of his small fire team. "Let's button
up, just in case, and check out that airlock." He spits out the cheroot and
sets the Helmet of his Vacc suit an buttons it down. He chins his comunit
in the Vacc Suit. "Mr. Farouk, we're on our way, Horne out." And with that
he leads the other two of his team out of security, to see what the awaits
them at the airlock.





<Lazer>

"Security to Engineering.  I can send down some bodies if you need help 
with cleanup.  Security out."



"Security to Bridge.  Permission to power down?  Security over."



While waiting for a reply, Lazer runs a complete systems check, looking for 
any other damages, corollary to the fuel leaks or the cloud explosion.



The comm buzzes politely, and Commander Ger's voice comes through,
"Bridge to Security.  Permission granted.  We're clear.  Bridge out."



Lazer nods to Andon, "All right.  Shut her down, pilot."  While Andon 
tends the engine power-down sequence, Lazer resets the safeties and travel 
locks on the missile turrets.



" Security, Thul here, you want me to meet the team at the airlock?, 
Thul over."


"Horne here, fine by me meet us there, this OK with you Farouk?"


"Farouk here.  Negative.  Sorry, Thul, someone has to stay at the security 
post there on the 'Talisman.  You got to blow away that nasty threatening 
hydrogen cloud--let J.J. have his fun closing an airlock.  Farouk out."




After hearing "the word" passed that the emergency is over, Thul
grabs the rectangular device with the three buttons on it and goes through
the choices displayed for him on the console:



	"Weapons>" ----> "ALL>" ---->  "Safe..."
	"Sensors>" ----> "ALL>" ----> "Standby..."

	
	

He reaches over to the corner where his guass rifle lay, removes
the magazine and clears the breach.  He removes his webbing and
mutters to himself under his breath "I'm getting a little old for
this sheise!"   



"Security, Thul Jonson here.   'Talisman secured from GQ, awaiting
further instruction."



He walks back to the galley, opens a cabinet, and pours himself a
brandy.   He shakes his head slowly, as he plays the events as he
saw them through his mind.   "Mein GOTT!  That reminded me too much
of the close call we had back in '58!  We were outgunned then too."



When shut-down is completed, Andon and Lazer drop lightly out of the 
command shuttle, after one last check that the docking clamps are 
properly re-secured.  Suddenly realizing he has no duty left to attend 
to--the EVA obviously being on hold, for the moment--but too wound up to 
do nothing, Lazer jogs off to the security post.



<...>   Farouk to Bridge.  Command shuttle secured; I'm on my way to the 
'Talisman.  Farouk out. <...>



The easy run through the corridors does Lazer some good--helps work the 
adrenalin out of his system.  On arriving at the 'Talisman, he summons a 
mug of warm, spicy Tammaran zyder out of the beverage dispenser, and 
drops smoothly into a chair.  He scans the board quickly; nothing seems 
unexpected.  



"Thul, if you still want to, you can go help with the airlock.  It'll be 
a couple of  hours before I can relax--I might as well watch the ship."






After the trouble is over, Abdul skulks back from the Talisman to his
cabin, muttering something about having to run all over the place for
no obvious reason.  He remove his vacc-suit and stows his equipment
in his usual hap-hazard manner and starts recharging his laser's power
pack [ about time too ].



[ A while later ... ]



Abdul rushes to contact 'Vouf, "Don't know if you're the right person to
direct this suggestion to but couldn't we recommence the bug sweep while
we're in jump space?  Give us something to do for the next week.  A lot
better than another silly overly long party."



'Vouf's response is carefully measured... Schmud gets the impression that
the Vargr is very angry about something and trying not to take it out on
Abdul. "NO I'M NOT-- eh-hrf. No, I'm not the right person to direct it to;
you've got a Security chief to coordinate with. If you need the voice of
authority, then yes, get on it. But check with Farouk first... I know he has 
at least one team on the job already, Horne's people are checking out that
supposedly failsafe airlock that mangled Devious. 'Vouf out."



Abdul, have no fear--we'll get back to it.  Just as soon as we get this 
mess straightened out.
Farouk out.



- - ----

"Damn all this...." Christian fervently swears to himself while his
hands are feverishly working on Anton, in a valiant attempt to cauterize
the amputation while fighting the decompression and anoxia damage that
Anton suffered when he lost suit integrity.



"Dulinor, type and cross-match five units; inject 10cc dextranol, we
need to give his spleen a kick in the ass. Monitor fluid levels and push
the plasma, he needs blood volume fast."



The medicomp beeps softly, and Christian pauses briefly to read the
latest update on blood chemistry. Not bad, the critical levels are starting
to nudge upward, but it's still a near thing. He stabs at a series of
controls, and a holographic projection of Anton's neurological scan fades
into existence.



As he stares intently at the hologram, his eyes widen fractionally and
he is momentarily taken aback. Christian utters a vicious curse as he
punches up a supplementary brainwave scan. "Khakh trrae, gvaekh durrgh! If
I ever get my hands on the engineer/moron who is responsible for the
safety interlock failure..." He picks up a laser scalpel and shifts up to
work on Anton's skull. "Dulinor, get the bone knitter warmed up and optimize
it for facial repair." If I didn't have enough to deal with -- his damn
skull has a fracture and now there's a beaut of a swelling haematoma. He
pauses for a second to gather his wits, then plunges ahead with the weary
work of many hours needed to repair the extensive damage.



Just a few minutes later, Lucan flashes in with the LH2 victims, followed
by Dr. Limner. Christian's manner is harsh and abrupt. "Limner, take that
table and get cracking. I'll be over when I can. Lucan, get Silvmane
stabilized and then help Limner. Maybe MT isn't a total loss."


With accomplished hands, Dr. Limner begins to work on the frostbite
patients.

"Doc, I'll start on Silvmane.  MT looks like he's in *serious*
trouble," Ian pants.  "Some parts broke off when he slid across
the deck."  And Ian turns to Silvmane, plugs him in and starts to
minister to him, while Lucan and Limner start to figure out what
can be rejoined.



"This is the most ill-fated mission I've ever been on," comments
Limner, while busy trying to get blood flowing back into frostbitten
fingers, "and I've explored scores of planets."



"Well, there was that time on Eriandor 11.  Nobody was killed,
although my assistant Brandon received third degree scalds when the
natives tried to cook him.  Yes, they really tried to cook him alive,
big black pot, and all.



"You see, it seems that they had some odd tradition that you are only
supposed to eat during the daylight.  Only animals eat after dark,
they thought, and animals deserved to be eaten themselves.  It seems
that this race was fixated on eating.  They even had very explicit
social rules about how and where to eat, and about what foods could
be eaten with which others.  Probably very similar to many cultures'
fixations on the reproductive act.



Anyway, what happened was this..."



Dr. Limner continues with his story for some time while working on
the frostbite cases.  After a few minutes he turns to Ian and
finds him passed out, fallen over Silvmane.

(that's what you call a real ORAL SEDATIVE).









(waiting to go to sickbay and learn first aid...)        

Whistling despodently, Alliara strolls to her assigned cabin and
settles for a nice rest with Arbiniik Gruushan's newest scout poetry
anthology and her favourite toy: LSP Orgasmo-Cycle Mk. XXXIV (60kg, 4 x

0.5hp motors, direct neural inductors, 30 KW/hr Cr300).

 

As soon as Dr. Van Der Merwe finishes unfreezing corpsicles and
pages her, Alliara will get off the O-Cycle (if not unconscious before 
that) and go to the MedBay.

 





Several hours later...





Doc Van Der Merwe turns back to his work, his face set in a rictus  of 
tightly controlled anger. "Too many good men, dammit.... Too many..." 
He continues to work on Anton, while keeping an eye on Limner's valiant 
battle to save MT. His face slowly becomes increasingly tinged with gray
as the work progresses. Eventually, he steps back and wipes the sheen of 
perspiration off his forehead. He soberly looks at Anton, and turns to 
Dulinor. "Take Mister Devious and put him in Unit 1. If he's still stable 
in an hour, transfer him to the Alcyon Infirmary."



Christian tiredly shakes his head, and then steps over to Dr. Limner.
It is clearly evident that MT is beyond help -- too much cell damage to
repair; ruptured brain cells, a cascade of pulmonary and cardiac damage
leading to an inexorable final conclusion. Christian looks at Limner, and 
shakes his head. "Lucan, take MT to the (his voice tightens) morgue."



As work begins on Daniel Silvmane, the gloom lifts a bit from
Christian, as it becomes clear that the cryonic injuries are not as
severe as was first feared, but the danger of system shock and gangrene
are still ominous. However, as the time progresses, Silvmane's system
comes back stronger than expected, and with the wonders of Tech 15 medicine
the cell damage is regenerated, again quicker than normal. As Christian
finishes up, he remarks to Dr. Limner - "That's something quite remarkable -
he must have a strong will to live, I guess..." With several hours of
intense effort under his belt, Christian is positively gray and haggard,
and his mood is subdued and somber.



Van Der Merwe wakes Thomas. "Meet Dulinor in Alycon Infirmary -- we're
setting up our hospital care there for Devious and Silvmane. Make
sure it's all ok. I'm going to report; after that, I'm going off
duty for a while..."



"...is ..."

 

Christian slowly shakes his head.   Ian slowly sinks to the deck.  "Yeah.
I'll be there in a couple of minutes."







<...> Van Der Merwe to Abuko, Farouk and SubCommander Bhyarrvouf. Please
      meet me in on the Bridge for medical report. <...>





Many minutes later, Christian slowly walks onto the bridge, with a
slight stumble in his step from fatigue. His appearance is strikingly
abnormal -- his face is gray and haggard, his hair is disordered, and
his expression is grim and shows his weary frustration.



Acknowledging the others with a nod, he looks at Ger. "Commander,
Gentlebeings, I am afraid the n..news is not good. MT is dead -- the
cryonic damage was just ... too extensive. Silvmane should make a full
recovery, but he won't be able to return to duty for about a week. He
was damn lucky.  Anton Devious, however..." Christian pauses a second,
trying to push away the mental haze of exhaustion. "... There was more
damage than just the amputation... The b..blood loss and de..decompression
did more damage, and he suffered a skull fracture as well. He's in a coma
right now.. (looks down at the deck) I don't know when or if he will come
out of it... All we can do is hope.."



He looks back up at Ger. "I'm sorry sir, it's the best I could do." He
stops, sways slightly, frowns, then looks over at Bhyarrvouf. Christian 
say  "Permission to faint, sir?" and gently crumples to the deck.



Bhyarrvouf catches Christian as he topples forward, crying, "Aenrra, 
AENRRA!"  He lurches backward under the big man's weight, then eases 
him into a shoulder assist. "Permission denied," he whispers. "Not until 
I get you back to your cabin, you moron. Tsakha, what an idiot...."


He helps the half-conscious doctor off the Bridge, tossing over his 
shoulder, "I'll see to him, Commander. You should get some rest; I'll 
cover the first shift tonight."



Lazer bows his head, "Oh my Lord..."  He gives a quick, silent prayer 
for the dead and wounded.



He opens his eyes just as 'Vouf starts to hoist van der Merwe, and quickly 
steps forward.  "I can take him, if you'd rather get back to Engineering.  
Unfortunately, I can't help there."





 



**********************************************************************



Ayrlathi swings open the wide wooden shutters of the arzeth danunduln
and looks out.  It is sunfade -- Ayrlathi's favourite time of day --
and the light is slowly beginning to dim.  He gently takes in the
subtle aromas of the summer evening and listens to the breeze rustling
the taspeln stalks in distant fields.  An irridescent hipsir flits
through the sky in front of him, trilling its roosting song as it
seeks a comfortable perch for the night.

 

Ayrlathi wanders around to the opposite side of the tower and looks
down upon the town of Hilawin.  Here and there, various jijid are
wandering casually about their business.  Small lights are appearing
in some of the windows as the sun steadily disappears.  In the
distance, Ayrlathi can make out two members of the edo najizev
patrolling the top of the town wall, on the watch for dangerous
animals.

 

As the sky grows dark, Ayrlathi returns to the side of the tower that
faces away from the town, and turns his gaze towards the sky.  This
is what he really came up here for -- to watch the stars come out.
He has spent many an hour staring up at the myriad tiny points of
light, and he knows them well.  They are almost like old friends to
him.

 

But tonight something is different.  There is a new light in the sky,
one that Ayrlathi does not recognise.  And... it is moving!  For
several minutes he watches it carefully, his tendrils making small
writhing motions atop his head.  Before long, it passes beyond the
horizon and is lost from sight.

 

Deep in thought, Ayrlathi closes the shutters and makes his way
slowly down the wide spiral stairway.  As he leaves the tower, he
instinctively closes the door behind him and raises the ornate
bronze marker which indicates that the tower is vacant once more.

 

As he walks back towards his home, Ayrlathi is still consumed with
curiosity about the strange moving star.  He wonders whether it will
prove to be of any importance.  Perhaps he should mention what he has
seen to the Ezad when they meet tomorrow...

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Rak stands ankle-deep in the freshly-fallen snow just outside the
cave entrance.  His supple neck arches backwards as he stares up
into the night.  Rak rarely notices the cold, but tonight there is
a shiver which seems determined to run repeatedly up and down his
spine.  Perhaps it is not the cold after all.

 

Rak's thoughts are interrupted by sounds of shouting and struggling
from the cave behind him.  He looks around to see the shaman Mrog
being dragged out by two particularly burly kythui.

 

"Stop whining, Mrog," snaps Rak.  "I don't care if I *have* interrupted
your dinner.  Explain *that*!"  Rak points up to a tiny point of light
moving slowly across the sky.  "What is it, Mrog?  Is it one of your
tricks?"  Rak makes a concerted effort to pull himself together.  He
must not show any signs of fear in front of his underlings, but he has
to admit to himself that this light suddenly appearing in the sky has
left him feeling very unnerved.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Phin Base 1 is always a hive of activity, but today it is doubly so.
Phins are rushing about everywhere as if there was no tomorrow.

 

Ferdy swims into the vast coordination centre and lurks at the back
of the room, observing the comings and goings.  The wall of the great
spherical chamber is lit up by a mind-boggling array of different
instruments and panels, nearly all of them being attended by one or
more phins.  Ferdy has never seen the place so crowded.

 

Eventually, Ferdy's curiosity gets the better of him and he hails a
phin who happens to be dashing past.

 

"Harry, what's going on here today?  Why all the fuss?"

 

"Come and listen," says Harry excitedly, and he leads Ferdy across
the chamber to where several phins are already listening to a 3D
sonic projection.  "It's a deep space sensor," explains Harry, "and
just listen to that blip!"

 

Ferdy listens, and there is indeed a blip.  "Does this mean what I
think it means?"
 

"Yes," says Harry.  "Visitors!"



********************** (trivia - how many stars in this message?) **

Have fun :-)



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2235
Date:     Mon, 18 Mar 91 13:14:28 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Miscellaneous Things Available



I happened to drop by the Armory, the local game distributor, this past
weekend, and I noticed a few things on the shelves that might interest
other folks on the TML.  The Armory still has copies of Belter (*not* 
Beltstrike), Asteroid, and Dark Nebula (2nd version, flat box) on the
shelves.  They also had one box of 15mm Martian Metals Traveller figures
(labelled CITIZENS, about ten or twelve people and a couple of grav bikes).
Our local hobby shop grabbed this last, so I could get it for $6.95 from them.
The Armory takes credit card phone orders, and their number is (Whoops! Not 
handy...) available from (301) directory assistance or I can post it tomorrow
if anyone is interested.  I have no connection with the Armory, etc.


Rob Dean


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2236
From: richard@oresoft.COM (So wht IS "light rain"?)
Subject: Misunderstanding Task Difficulty
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 91 8:33:12 PST



Just had a little run-in with the boss that got me thinking about how
difficult a task seems, and just how difficult that same task really is.



Suppose the CO says "Let's covert from 12V to 24V to save expenses".
(What he actually said is _almost_ this bad.)  His perception:



TASK:	rewire ship; trivial; int, elec, eng.  3 hrs.  +DM for 
		"doing it as each part comes up for maintenance"
		mishap - inconsequential


In other words, to the outsider, this looks like something that should be
easy, simple, and could be fit in almost anytime.



Now the engineer's perception:



TASK:  rewire ship;  normal; int, elec, eng.  3 months.  -DM for
	   "not doing it all at once, thus enabling *all* wiring to burn out"
       mishap  - fateful, possibly fatal





So, how do you folks play out this kind of ignorance in your campaigns?
(This might, or might not, be a PBEM hint.  :-))



- - -- 

"If I get murdered one more time, I'll scream!"  //      Richard Johnson
`Mary' from the movie "High Spirits"            //   richard@oresoft.com
                                              \X/ richard@agora.rain.com


------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2237
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 91 09:59 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: misinterpreting task difficulty


Generally, it is the place of a GOOD commanding officer to (a) have
a reasonable idea of the difficulty of most tasks (b) trust his men 
when they tell him otherwise... it is the responsibility of command
to keep the personnel under pressure but not demand impossibilities
(sorry, Captain Kirk, We can't all be Scotties). It is and should be
the responsibility of the underling to point out such inconsistencies
and he should be allowed to do so without fear of reprisal. This is
rarely the case in the American military, which is why discipline is
such a mess in many units, or in American business (Except, interestingly,
in most Fortune 500 companies. I wonder why?). The Japanese attitude that
one cannot admit failure produces strong results, and a lot of suicides
and drinking deaths. Make of that what you will. (This may or may not be
a subliminal message to the PBEM ref |-> )

metlay

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2238
Date:         Fri, 22 Mar 91 11:05:20 CST
From: "Simpson, Bart" <C447463@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject:      Shareware and GDW



GDW isn't so easy to work with sometimes, but a friend DID get permission
to copy the Alien modules for himself. All of them. In fact, he got a
blanket permission to copy anything GDW used to put out and doesn't anymore.


As to shareware, well... GDW may not do anything, but DGP does. They are
doing a megatraveller digest - new format - with a new column. Shareware. They
describe it all in there. Check it out.


On the side, does anyone have shareware for Traveller for IBM micro's?

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2239
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 91 14:24:43 -0700
From: wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Bill Wilson)
Subject: New versions of Traveller Shareware and docs.



I have placed new versions of my shareware and optional rules on my machine.
You can ftp into wew.ucc.nau.edu for the new copies.  


Let sleeping dragons lie........                    | The RoleMancer 

- - --------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Wilson (wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu | ucc2wew@nauvm | wilson@nauvax)
Northern AZ Univ  Flagstaff, AZ 86011


------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2240
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: PBEM: Away until monday
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 20:05:40 MET



  I'll be away for GOTHCON XV until monday.



  Therefore (naturally) Johann in the PBEM will be rather quiet for some time.
But assume that he is in engineering, running the enhancement on the sensor
data from R-alpha and reparing (or putting a mekbot to repair) the agnis.


- - -bertil-

- - -- 

"Some people almost never think. They just reshuffle their prejudices."



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2241
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 91 9:36:50 GMT
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature is liquid hydrogen)



	Dieter isn't the brightest. This is the character who thought his
hamster was lonley and bought it two more. You have to give him credit
for trying. He is concerned about Annie's weight. Being the steward he bought
her several pounds of sugarless sweets (she likes a snack between mouthfulls)
but he thinks she needs more exercise.
	Now swiming exercises all the muscles and is very therputic. They 
haven't a swimming pool though and the Chief Steward will hear nothing about
flooding any (not even just one!) of the staterooms.
	They all have ship's suits (tailored vacc suits). It says they can
withstand temperatures up to -110oC. So given the large storage tanks of
liquid hydrogen he was thinking of encouraging her to take a dip.
	So the question is what temperature is hydrogen fuel [or methane or
whatever] stored at? How long could Annie swim before it became more than
invigorating [she has lots of her own insulation]?
				Jo Jaquinta
				jaymin@maths.tcd.ie


Debriefing officer:	Is there anything else?
Phoebe:			Yes. We deliberately killed the Count.
Steen:			But we'd rather you didn't put that down.


PS: My hard disk blew up so I might have missed something. Did someone say
all the TDR groups had been shut down?



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2242
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 91 23:20:34 -0700
From: sfellows@slate.Mines.Colorado.EDU (FELLOWS STEVEN B)
Subject: Liquid Hydrogen



Liquid Hydrogen boils at 20 Kelvin.  This is -253.15 degrees Celsius.
This is also -423.67 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is at 1 atm pressure.


Liquid Helium is the coldest liquid at 1 atm.  Its boiling point is 4.25
Kelvin.


A suit that is safe to -120 degrees Celsius will not protect the person
from liquid Hydrogen.  Now , if you raise the pressure it is possible to 
increase the temperature, but at the point that it would be safe to enter, 
the pressure would probably be too high.


Lower the pressure, lower the temperature, for those of you who want to know.


Steven B. Fellows

sfellows@slate.mines.colorado.edu


------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>,
        Chuck McKnight <tinylk!1!170!104!chuck.mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
        "James T. Perkins" <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: TML Bundle #179: Msgs 2241-2251
Reply-To: TML Administrator <traveller-request%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Precedence: bulk
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 91 21:00:12 PDT
From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.



------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Sun Apr  7 21:00:09 PDT 1991

From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)

Subject: TML Bundle #179: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2243  28-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi The Big, BIG picture: Introduction, first dra
2244  28-Mar-91 wew@naucse.cse.na New ver of mtbchar shareware prog. << Since m
2245  28-Mar-91 bart@cs.uoregon.e Re: A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature
2246  28-Mar-91 bart@cs.uoregon.e PBEM Hydrogen Explosion In Space? << I'm sure
2247  30-Mar-91 George William He Last Rites for COACC << I've been part of the
2248  30-Mar-91 Richard Johnson   Re: Vacuous H2 Explosions... << Day before ye
2249  01-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C The 80K++ Blues << Been working on the PBEM t
2250  02-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C How a Pilot Sees a Landing Strip << A critica
2251  02-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C PBEM - Please shut up for a couple of days! <
2252  02-Apr-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Re: (2247) Last Rites for COACC << > From: Ge
2253  02-Apr-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Adjutant Vehicle Books << I stopped in at my 

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2243
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 12:36 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: The Big, BIG picture: Introduction, first draft. Comments, please?






THE BIG BIG PICTURE



A Do-It-Yourself Map of the Known Universe for Traveller
by metlay, from data published by, and copyrighted by, GDW and DGP.



- - ---



Version 1.0



Contains information from: 
a. all published Game Designers Workshop books, modules and adventures to date
b. all materials published to date by Digest Group Publications
c. all issues of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society and Challenge
d. all issues of the Traveller's Digest EXCEPT 5, 6, and 7
e. all sector data uploaded to GEnie



Does NOT include information from:
a. the now-excommunicated data that appeared in star charts by Paranoia Press
(Beyond, Vanguard Reaches) and Judges' Guild (Ley Sector, Glimmerdrift 
Reaches, Crucis Margin, and Maranantha-Alkahest (now renamed    ))
b. sectors of Reavers' Deep and the Old Expanses that appeared in High Passage
and Far Traveller whose officialdom is uncertain
c. The HIWG or other "official but not widely published" sources, INCLUDING
the complete Atlas of the Imperium data that I have from Bart Simpson but
have not determined if I can distribute freely
d. Efforts to crosscheck or verify any of these sources, some of which are 
known to be incomplete or inconsistent in places. This should not discourage 
the referee or the players; these errors are usually small.



New official data (MegaTraveller Journal issues, HIWG, etc) will be added to 
future versions.



- - ---



INSTRUCTIONS:



1. Make a grid of squares on a big piece of paper, 18 wide by 11 high.


2. Number the grid as given in the Handy Chart (see Handy Chart, below).


3. Once you've laid out the chart in your own preferred fashion, just write
   in the relevant data from the Handy Database (see Handy Database, below).
   You have the option of putting in as much or as little data as you wish.



4. Voila! You now know as much about this Swiss-cheese universe our 
   characters live in as I do. Isn't that exciting?



- - ---



			*** HANDY CHART ***



  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18



 19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36



 37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54



 55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72



 73  74  75  76  77  78  79  80  81  82  83  84  85  86  87  88  89  90



 91  92  93  94  95  96  97  98  99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108



109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126



127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 



145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162



163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180



181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198



- - ---



			*** HANDY DATABASE ***



Use as much or as little data for each sector as you wish. I have tried
to be as thorough as possible in listing references, and I expect all you
little munchkins to doublecheck my every word and number, okay?



Here's a key to the listings, with a sample listing to give you a feel for how

to read them: 



KEY



The first number is the sector's location on the Handy Chart. Note that the 
entirety of known space is represented on the grid, with the exception of a 
corridor approximately one sector wide and many, many sectors long stretching 
from the coreward border of the Zhodani Consulate halfway to the center of the 
Galaxy. Nothing is known of the territory of this corridor yet, other than a 
few names of administrative districts and one fully-colonized sector, called

            (We anticipate more information on this and other boundaries, in a 
promised but not yet scheduled book on frontier explorations from DGP.)



The NAME is given in capital letters, followed by alternate names where known.
The first name listed is in capitals, and is the prevailing name in use in the 

Imperium, NOT necessarily that used by the natives of the sector, although for 
sectors far removed from the Imperium that is often the default. The codes for
the various languages are:



A - Aslan (Trokh)
B - Bilandin (old high Vilani)
I - Imperial (Galanglic: used for Solomani and Hiver sectors as well)
K - K'Kree
V - Vargr (usually Gvegh)
Z - Zhodani



The next line lists the pertinent data available, followed by the reference 
where it may be found and the amount of the sector covered by the reference
listed. If there is no second line, that means nothing at all is known about
the sector except its name(s), a fairly common occurrence due to the inclusion 
of wide-ranging sector maps in many of the Classic Traveller Alien Modules.
Names for core-spinward sectors are from the Zhodani Module (4), coreward 
sectors are named in the Vargr Module (3) and in the Vilani and Vargr book,
core-trailing sectors are named in the K'kree Module (2), rim-spinward sectors
are named in the Aslan Module (1), and trailing and rim-trailing sectors are 
named in the Hiver Module (7). The Solomani Module (6) contains no new data of 
this type, largely overlapping with the Hiver and Aslan maps, and the same is 
true for the map in the Droyne Module (5). 



The data codes are:



SC Star Chart-- usually includes presence of water or asteroid belts, starport
   type, allegiance code (may be wrong if map is from Trav Classic), gas giant
   and bases if any. Names are only available for High-Population worlds.



UWP Full Universal World Profile listings-- includes, except in very old 
    references, eight-digit UWP and three-digit addendum, hex locale, star
    type, and trade and Zone classifications. Does NOT always have all names.



NM All names are given for all worlds, not just High Population ones.


BR Borders of interstellar states, and Xboat and other main news routes, are 
   shown graphically.



ALL Comprises all of the above data in a comprehensive listing.

- - --> NOTE: Not all of these classifications are nested. For example, GEnie 
listings as raw ASCII are UWP only, and NM only on occasion, but the program
written by Mark Cook can create SC on a subsector basis. The Atlas of the
Imperium is SC only. Several sector listings in Traveller's Digest are BR 
only, and so on. Generally subsectors reproduced on their own have ALL data.


Codes for references include:



Sup - Supplement 
Adv - Adventure 
Dbl - Double Adventure 
AM  - Alien Module
TTB - The Traveller Book       \  These four sources contain a great deal
TTA - The Traveller Adventure   | of data about the Spinward Marches: maps
SMC - The Spinward Marches      | of trade routes, histories, battles, etc.
MT  - MegaTraveller Rules      /  Such extra detail is unique to the Marches.
AI  - Atlas of the Imperium
TAS - Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society (includes Challenge)
TD  - Traveller's Digest
MTJ - MegaTraveller Journal
GE  - GEnie Sector Listings
MTA - MegTraveller Alien Book (e.g. Vilani and Vargr = MTA1)


The codes for data extent are:



:all - Entire sector represented
:A,B - Subsectors A and B represented, per the usual array:


		SUBSECTORS IN A SECTOR


			A  B  C  D



			E  F  G  H



			I  J  K  L



			M  N  O  P



- - --> NOTE that information on single worlds, no matter how detailed, is
excluded from this listing. We deal in sectors and subsectors ONLY.



SAMPLE



200	ARGENT (G)/Zhdatlqats(Z)/Grrnokhvrrgaeng(V)/Mulikaa(B)
	SC UWP (GE:all), SC UWP NM BR (Dbl9:J,K) (Adv14:A,B,E,F)



Sector number 200 on the Handy Chart is called Argent by the Imperium and 
other Galanglic-speaking peoples, and its other names are listed. The Star
Chart and UWP listing is obtainable from GEnie's archives, but full data
(note that we could have written "SC UWP NM BR" as simply "ALL") is available
from Double Adventure 9 for subsectors J and K, and from Adventure 14 for
subsectors A, B, E and F.


Easy, right? OK, then, here are the listings:



- - ---



[end of part 1. Actual listing data follows in part 2, still being written]





------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2244

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 10:43:49 -0700

From: wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Bill Wilson)

Subject: New ver of mtbchar shareware prog.



Since my programs are still in test and development, you may want to 
check the FIXES and GM directory for new versions of the software.
My machine is wew.ucc.nau.edu and is up mon-fri between 0900 & 1600 mst.
The machine can go down at any time though.  It is a 386 PC running
under Windows 3.0.



Let sleeping dragons lie........                    | The RoleMancer 

- - --------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Wilson (wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu | ucc2wew@nauvm | wilson@nauvax)

Northern AZ Univ  Flagstaff, AZ 86011



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2245

Subject: Re: A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature is liquid hydrogen)

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 14:42:08 -0800

From: bart@cs.uoregon.edu



In TML V15#3 msg 2241 Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie> writes:

...

> 	They all have ship's suits (tailored vacc suits). It says they can
> withstand temperatures up to -110C. So given the large storage tanks of
> liquid hydrogen he was thinking of encouraging her to take a dip.
> 	So the question is what temperature is hydrogen fuel [or methane or
> whatever] stored at? How long could Annie swim before it became more than
> invigorating [she has lots of her own insulation]?



Hmm.  LH2 has a density of about 70Kg/m^3, LH2O about 1g/cm^3 = 1000Kg/m^3 ,
thus LH2O is about 14 times denser than LH2 -- it's also much more viscous
than LH2, although I don't have those numbers handy.


I suspect than Annie would dive into the LH2 tank, fall like a rock to the
bottom, and rupture her suit.  At the very least, she'd be trapped at the
bottom of the tank, in a -110C vac suit, in a -240C liquid.  BRR!



BTW, why are the low-temp numbers for vac suits so very low?  After all, the
big problem in space is getting *rid* of body heat, not conserving it -- the
vacuum outside the suit is at a very low temperature, but it's also a darn
good insulator! :-)  I suspect that the -110C rating corresponds to a much
lower rate of *heat loss* than one would experience immersed in LH2.


Thus Annie would probably be Anniesicle before she even hit bottom...


It's hard to say what temperature the LH2 would actually be stored
at, but I can't think of any good reason why it would be deliberately kept
much cooler than its boiling point, cited above.  With a pressurized system,
the system might well reach equilibrium with the cabin temperature and still
contain some liquid, in which case Annie could sit down there for quite a while,
unless the pressure was enough to squish her the moment when she somehow got
into the tank without depressurizing it -- I haven't calculated this.



See the recent PBEM summary for what might happen if she does somehow
accidentally release a tremendous quantity of gaseous LH2 into the oxygenated
atmosphere in the process of getting into the tank :-).


All in all, I don't like Annie's chances on this one :-) :-).



					Bart Massey
					bart@cs.uoregon.edu

------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2246

Subject: PBEM Hydrogen Explosion In Space?

Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 14:47:18 -0800

From: bart@cs.uoregon.edu



I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I've a question vaguely related to
my previous message.



As I understood it, recently in the PBEM campaign being reported on this
list, a fuel ship leaked a big cloud of hydrogen into space, and then one
of the ships ignited or exploded it as a diversion.  Why did it ignite or
explode?  It seems like it wouldn't, unless there was also some other chemical
about for it to combine with.  Was it a nuclear explosion?  Seems like the
conditions for this would be pretty unlikely in a small cloud of hydrogen
in deep space...



Probably just being stupid, or misunderstood the description.



					Bart Massey
					bart@cs.uoregon.edu

------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2247
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 91 12:11:31 -0800
From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Last Rites for COACC



	I've been part of the TDR vehicles group, and a rules rewriter for my
own good for a lot longer.  I've recently come to the conclusion that COACC
is _bad_ and should be ignored in entirety.  (well, not recently, but my 
attempts to fix it in a reasonable manner are failing miserably).


	Is there anyone out there who thinks that there is anything salvagable
from COACC?  If so, what and why?



- - -george william herbert

gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2248

Subject: Re: Vacuous H2 Explosions...

Date: Sat, 30 Mar 91 10:01:39 PST

From: Richard Johnson <richard%agora.rain.com@RELAY.CS.NET>



Day before yesterday, Bart Massey said:

:Thus Annie would probably be Anniesicle before she even hit bottom...


Oops, wrong message, butit sure was good :-)



:As I understood it, recently in the PBEM campaign being reported on this
:list, a fuel ship leaked a big cloud of hydrogen into space, and then one
:of the ships ignited or exploded it as a diversion.  Why did it ignite or
:explode?  It seems like it wouldn't, unless there was also some other chemical
:about for it to combine with.  Was it a nuclear explosion?  Seems like the
:conditions for this would be pretty unlikely in a small cloud of hydrogen
:in deep space...
:
:Probably just being stupid, or misunderstood the description.
:
:					Bart Massey
:					bart@cs.uoregon.edu
:


Uhmm, er, uh,.... stammer..

Well, the *REAL* reason is because it was spectacular, fit well in the game,
and seemed almost plausible.



For the purposes of the game, I'm gonna let the characters decide if they
want to worry about this little detail.  I can't think of any reason in
our common reality why it should have expolded, sans other chemicals in
the mix.  There might have been, there  might not, I haven't had to rule
on that yet :-).



Oh yes, it was NOT NOT NOT thermonuclear.  Niether was it some kind of
fission.  (Beats the he** out of me how someone could split H2 anyway.)



I will also go out on a limb and say that the crew of the Alcyon had the
materials, and enough on the stick intellectually to make it happen.


Your not being stupid, just observant.  How come you're not on board?

:-)

Richard

PBEM ref - home of the pharosian bitching cactus   richard@agora.rain.com


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2249
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: The 80K++ Blues
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 7:41:52 PST



Been working on the PBEM turn all weekend.  So far I have it down to ~84K
bytes, and mor or less in order.  It covers the first three days of jump.
Unfortunately, I have only about six hours of stuff from the R-alpha and
Aslan folks.    C'mon you guys.  If you're quick (next day +/-) I can land
you.  I also want to hear a little bit from the physical and social
sciences teams (Werner, Morser, etc.)  You guys have been cloistered up
against your terminals too long.  It's time to come out and say a few
words to your comrades.

- - -- 

Average number of hours worked per year:          //      Richard Johnson
Japan - 2,052;  U.S. - 1,962; Germany - 1,642    //   richard@oresoft.com
Goal of Japanese Trade Union: 1,800/yr         \X/ richard@agora.rain.com
(Oregon Business, March 1991)

------------------------------

Archive-Message-Number: 2250
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: How a Pilot Sees a Landing Strip
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 8:08:49 PST






A critical eye would rate all of these one level less than I did.
Anyway, here's some non-copyright material to feed your imaginations
for describing "that" landing pad in your next adventure.



Last night, I went out and knocked some winter-accumulated rust (this is
Oregon) off my flying skills.  Here is a brief list of a few places I
"visited" (that is, I landed, stopped, and (maybe) took off).



Stop one:  Flying M Ranch
   This is a small, "dude ranch" resort on the Yamhill River, in the Coast
   Range.  The airstrip is gravel, 6 m X 650 m, and nestled between the 
   river and the tree line at the bottom of a box canyon.  No fuel or
   repairs are available.  No navigation aids exist.



   I rate this one  CLASS D in the TM scheme of things.



   I made my skill rolls (with some serious sweat) on the crosswind
   landing, and easily on the cross wind, short-field takeoff.





Stop two:  Hillsboro  (Offically Portland International/Hillsboro)
   This is Oregon's second busiest airport.  There are two paved runways, 
   one 50 m X 1900 m, one 50 m X 1400 m.  It has a full-time control 
   tower, visual and radio navigation aids, runway and approach lighting.
   Several different vendors offer fuel, services, and hauling.

   I rate this one CLASS B in the TM scheme of things.

   Skill rolls for this were trivial (just don't snake-eye the dice).





Stop three: Twin Oaks
	This is a paved 15m X 875m strip near Hillsboro.  The navaids for
	Hillsboro can be used.  Runway lights are available.  There is no
	tower or even full-time radio watch.  It is a one way strip -- that is
	you have to take off to the south, and land to the north.  (My "home"
	airport).  Some service and fuel are available.

	I rate this one CLASS C in the TM scheme.



	Great landing, but minor panic, 'cause I carefully scheduled this to
	happen after darkness fell.



Explanation:

    I would rate Flying M Class E if it were grass, mud, or snow, or a
	little shorter, or if there weren't a really neat restaurant there.
	($100 hamburger anyone?)



	I don't rate Hillsboro class A 'cause there is no RADAR coverage, no
	mandatory altitude or radio coverage.   I'd like to save the "A"
	rating for the BIG 'ports like Heathrow, JFK, LAX, Tokyo, etc.



- - -- 

Mycologists Are Fun Guys                          //      Richard Johnson
(Seen on a bumper sticker)                       //   richard@oresoft.com
                                               \X/ richard@agora.rain.com



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2251
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: PBEM - Please shut up for a couple of days!
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 7:37:08 PST





Woe is me.



Here am I, diligently trying to get a turn out almost on time, and you
guys keep on adding stuff even as I compile.  Ordinarily, I'd just ignore
it, but it's too good.  All of you on the Alcyon SHUT UP until you get
the next turn.  A couple of you are starting to get yourselves out of sync
again...


Of course, my invitation to the R-alpha natives and the Aslan to yap away
is still open.





====

I probably have 5 to 10 hours more work to do on this turn, so I should be
able to get it out this week.  Right now I'm shooting for posting it
during the work week (difficult, int, writing, luck, fateful).  So
whatever you say after Wednesday will not get heard.  I usually get two
day or less turnaround to everywhere, so I can be reasonbly sure of
getting what you say on Wednesday by Friday.	

====


Thank you for your support.

Killer trivia question:  Why is it that all of the very best game material

						 is delivered in private, between two or three

						 characters, rather than publicly?

- - -- 
Mycologists Are Fun Guys                          //      Richard Johnson
(Seen on a bumper sticker)                       //   richard@oresoft.com
                                               \X/ richard@agora.rain.com



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2252
Date:     Tue, 2 Apr 91 15:38:42 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Re:  (2247) Last Rites for COACC



> From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
> Subject: (2247) Last Rites for COACC
> 
> 	I've been part of the TDR vehicles group, and a rules rewriter for my
> own good for a lot longer.  I've recently come to the conclusion that COACC
> is _bad_ and should be ignored in entirety.  (well, not recently, but my 
> attempts to fix it in a reasonable manner are failing miserably).
> 
> 	Is there anyone out there who thinks that there is anything salvagable
> from COACC?  If so, what and why?



There is probably very little that is salvagable from COACC...bombs, rockets,
and external ordnance racks being about the extent of it.  As far as I can
tell, too many inconsistencies exist between COACC and the Referee's Manual
design system to allow craft from one to compete on an equal footing with
craft from the other.  Scott Kellogg's _Indianapolis_ series space fighters,
with their single computers, lack of armor, and batteries worth of externally
slung missiles provide an excellent example of this problem.  (Not to mention
the fusion rockets that Dow Rieder assures us have a greater than light speed
exhaust. I should also mention that the external missiles portion of Scott's
designs is reasonable, and I'd support its incoporporation into TDR Air.)

Aircraft damage capacity is hugely inflated, and controls are not consistent
with the ref's manual.  I feel strongly that any rewrite should specifically
take into account dogfights between grav vehicles and aircraft, because there
is no real way to determine the "equivalent agility" of grav vehicles as things
stand now.  

I did like some of the general ideas introduced in COACC--like helicopter and
airship design, but I can't say that they are well implemented.


Rob Dean



------------------------------



Archive-Message-Number: 2253

Date:     Tue, 2 Apr 91 16:04:57 EST

From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>

Subject:  Adjutant Vehicle Books



I stopped in at my local game store last night, and looked through their
distributor catalogs.  A group of vehicle books, grouped by types like "Tanks",
"Hovercraft" and so forth is supposedly available from someone(?) called
Adjutant(?).  Before I request the shop to order these for me, has anyone seen
them?


(All you need is more vehicles, I hear you saying...)


Rob Dean


------------------------------



End of TML Bundle

*****************



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To: Dan Corrin <dan%engrg.uwo.ca@RELAY.CS.NET>,
        Chuck McKnight <tinylk!1!170!104!chuck.mcknight@TUSUN2.MCS.UTULSA.EDU>,
        "James T. Perkins" <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: TML Bundle #180: Msgs 2252
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Precedence: bulk
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 91 21:00:20 PDT
From: James T Perkins <jamesp%metolius.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Status: RO





TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.


------------------------------------------------------------



Date: Sun Apr  7 21:00:17 PDT 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #180: Table of Contents



-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2254  02-Apr-91 Richard Johnson   PBEM Turn 10.8 (1600++ lines) << Here it is. 


------------------------------


Archive-Message-Number: 2254
Subject: PBEM Turn 10.8  (1600++ lines)
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 22:28:21 PST
From: Richard Johnson <richard@agora.rain.COM>





Here it is.  All 1600++ lines of it.  I saw no reason to keep you
folks waiting any longer.  We can just start the Aslan out at day -2 or
something on the next turn.



[In my own defense, I admit I straightened out some confused timeline in
Charyn's bridge interactions.  Hope this doesn't offend anyone -- James]


One of these days we've definitely got ot finish this so we can all compare
notes and compile them.  As good as the public stuff is, the private is
better.



Nominations for great character development:
Lazer, Alliara



Nominations for noisest chracter:
'Vouf, Bishop



Great quote for March:
"Sometimes I suspect there IS no richard, just a silent conspiracy 
on the net to create the appearance that he exists...  :-)"





%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%





                      **** Day zero *****



- - ---------------------------------



"Boy, this is a tough one.  



"Here am I out on routine maintenance, a moving object in the 
sky,  visitors coming, and the Hoop wanting me to come back home.


"_Very_ curious.   Maybe almost too curious a situation.  



"I wonder if that object is  the Visitors?  I wonder what the 
Visitors are?  I should go back to the base like I was asked.  



"But what about the Visitors?"



Doejin stars a parallax and passive scan to guage the distance to 
intercept the Object moving in the sky.  



"Hmm, one diameter.  Take way too long to intercept, besides, its
coming toward us, accelerating.  Nope, not a rock.  



Ooohh... just went active.  All kinds of EM radiation. Old stuff; 
no antimatter in use, just fusion.  Not enough fuel to get out there 
and  back, either.    Maybe I can get Their attention."



Doejin fires the thrusters and begins an intercept course.





- - --------------------





>From the commander's chair, Akhouw looks at the large holotank with 
rapt attention. The meaning of the gleam in his eyes is unmistakable -- 
excitement at the incredible potential that a ringworld possesses and 
deep pride at the glory he will gain for his clan.



"Computer, lock and continue scan of the raohke ship, store all sensor
information. Compute optimal pursuit course and display on my holo."



Turning to his navigator, Akhouw raps out further instructions. 
"Aiwi, find out the composition of the asteriods in this system -- 
particularly  if there are any ice asteroids. After that, I want maximum 
scan concentration on the ringworld -- get as much as you can.  Find and 
locate any bodies of water suitable for refueling.  Look for population 
centers as well, and keep an ear out for communications and tell-tale 
signs of meson packet decay."



He touches the intership commlink. "Eihoftyah, get your troop up, I want 
them ready to go within the next tekhaao (1 Aslan hour = 137 minutes).  
Don't know if we'll need them, but it's best to be ready since we have 
proof of advanced lifeforms. Standard kit. And I want the pinnace crew 
ready right away."



Switching to the general channel, "Attention, all personnel. The next
few tekhaaor may be of immense importance to our clan. Let us show that
we are worthy of our clan-mates. Khaukeairl hrau'troikh! (To the glory 
of our clan)"





The computer starts spitting out reams of information.  No asteroids.  
Two concentric rings.  Lots of fresh and salt water.  Low frequency AM
radio signals.  Tell-tale indications of gravitics use from all over the
ring.





"Captain.  The ship has changed course.  It's on a low-energy intercept!"







- - ------------- In hyperspace -------------



... Dulinor, Lucan, and Ian fly off down the hall with the scoutcicles...



Redd : "Ok, once we've *carefully* cleared the air in there, we can see how
	much damage was done by that break. I'd like to have a good look at
	that fuel line, too - Will we have enough uninjured crew to manage?"



Abuko: "Try to find out what caused it too.  There have been to many
        coincidences on this ship, and we'd better begin to stay in front of 
        the action instead of behind it, if we want to survive to pay-day."



        Let's get a muster here.  We've gotta find out which engineers are 
        left?  Somehow engineering's got a higher causuality rate than 
        Security.



        Devious, MT and Silvmane in sickbay 
        haut-Frieder missing



Present:

        Morser 
        Blaine
        Ralf
        Redd
        Abuko
        'Vouf if he's needed
        Wrinkely. 


Redd:   Let's NOT have a party this jump.













After the successful jump, Zben compliments Charyn on her performance at
the Comm Panel.  Charyn winks playfully and says: "Thanks, Zben! In a
ship of this size and sophistication, and with the competent individuals
we have aboard, I feel very secure!"



A dainty frown crosses her lips and her forehead wrinkles, then she
states: "My biggest concern is that we are all so different.  If we had
a base of common preparation and procedure, and a common vocabulary for
expressing ideas, we'd be better off.  Still, such training and
discipline take time.  It takes time to have a real *team* of people.


She is reserved as to her inflection and movement, and always seems to
carry herself with a steady, graceful poise, friendly and open, though,
not the poise of arrogance or superiority.



"As for a drink, I'll be glad to join you once I finish up my shift
here.  I've never been big on matrix management, but I'll need to report
in to my other teams here real soon."



After setting up a running update on the computer for the estimated time to
jump exit and making sure that his nav station is secure, Nishu turns his
attention to Charyn with a long sigh.  "Miz Robins, I don't think we've
been formally introduced.  My name is Nishu Neriika - kind of a navigator,
though with the preprogrammed jump data I'm as much along for the ride as
you are."  He smiles wryly.


Charyn pops her head up quizically from the board and absent-mindedly
runs a slim hand through her long dark wavy hair.  



Nishu leads Charyn to the back of the bridge, where it is a little quieter,
and begins to fill her in on the events before her arrival.  


She stands and stretches her shoulders and neck, then sidles back.



Nishu: "Let's see we boarded the Alcyon at Turnskaad's asteroid base,
and got boosted out to the jump point.  That jump entry was a lot
smoother and a lot less crazy than this one..." He shakes his head.

"Anyway.  Once we were secure in jumpspace, the traditional setting-out
party got underway in the crew lounge.  Both I and our roving reporter
Mr.  Bishop have some footage of that, if you're interested."



His grin fades.  "Somehow, we got slipped something a little more potent
than the usual refreshments.  When we woke up, we found out a few things.
One, we'd been out for about five days.  Two, some of the crew were still
in a coma... and one, Sgt-Major Hammer, was already dead.  Three, someone
had slipped a beacon on board; the electronics and demolitions boys were
still picking over it, last I heard."



Nishu's expression by now is rather grim.  "So, we came out of jump at the
rendezvous point, and you came on board... and all zisk broke loose.  You
saw the rest."



"Let's see, commdots.  Zben can probably tell you were to pick one up; I
just got handed one preset.  There are ten channels, of which your 'dot
should connect to four - All-call, Help, the 'Kommon' party-line, and
the Transport team channel.  Oh, and also the Generalist channel, that
makes five.  The computer is handling all the switching, so it should
be pretty easy to use.  If you want more details, talk to Zben."


"Anything else?"



"Pleased to meet you Neriika! Navigation? I've served as Navigator for a
few years on the Perry-Robins merchant fleet flagship.  Thanks for the
Comm info, I already had it programmed up once I found what frequencies
were in use.  I tend to be inordinately nosy and completist that way."
She smiles enthusiastically.



She returns to her console and:



	leaves VoiceMail for the exhausted Dr Van Der Merwe, asking him
	to give her a call when he can schedule her in for the physical.


	Calls up Etienne De Mer and asks what routine services and
	schedule he is expecting.



	Calls up Mac Whitfield and inquires as to how she can serve the
	interests of the Generalists team.



When the shift ends, she looks at Zben and raises an eyebrow.  They exit
the bridge in search of the ship's commons, conversing on the way.











Zben says a few quiet words to Etienne, shrugs, and heads for the 
iris valve.  Upon leaving the bridge Zben wanders down to Engineering. 
He heard there was some damage just before Jump, but wasn't really 
aware of the extent or type.



All around are engineers and robots cleaning and checking guages, 
switches, valves, wires, pipes, and each others' work.  When he learns 
of the critical injuries he pales, and is visibly shaken.   He leaves and
heads quickly to sick bay.



He waits quietly while Dr. Limner works desparately to save MT, and Ian
works himself to exhaustion on Silvmane.  After an eternity, Dr. Limner
applies some rejuvenating fluid to his OWN hands, which have become 
rather frostbitten simply by working so close to MT's frozen body, 
despite any precautions Limner had taken.



Despite the long monologues that Limner gave almost without pause while
the medical teams were working, Limner finally appears tired, in fact
almost haggard, himself.  "Boy, I forgot how difficult this," he waves
his hand slightly towards the medical room, "can be.  Oh my!  I seem to
have lost track of time.  I'm past due for some sleep."



Dr. Limner dissapears into the Aurora surgery, where Dr. Van der Merwe is
finishing his stabilization of Anton.  After a few minutes, the two 
doctors leave the Aurora, and head in separate directions.



On the general channel:
  Dr. Limner here.  I'm going off duty now.



Zben stays.  Here in the Alcyon sickbay, Lucan lifts Ian into a chair and
props his head up on a pillow stolen from a lounge chair not far from Zben.
Dulinor silently wheels in a comatose figure bristling with exotic medical
machinery that is no doubt keeping him alive.  Lucan briefly leaves and 
disappears into the adjacent room with the cold-berths, then returns.
Lucan and Dulinor set  viital sign monitors, and take position, each 
hovering near the head of one of the two recumbent figures.



Still Zben stays.



On the General Channel:
   All hands, attention.  This is Commander Ger.  It grieves me to have to
   report that one of our crew, Doctor Much T'B Deziered, who most of you
   knew, if only briefly, as MT, is dead, the victim of a hydrogen leak
   in engineering just moments before the jump.  Although he was only 
   aboard a few hours, he was a valued member of our exploration team.
   Memorial services for MT and Hammer will be held when we reach R-alpha.
   It is fitting that those who first gave their lives in search of the
   unknown be left forever with the object of their search.



   We have had too many accidents, and too many unexplained mysteries
   already.  We have only a few days now before ringfall to solve these
   mysteries.  All ship's crew on 48-hour minimum-work schedule.  When
   we get back to work, let's get it right.  Then the rest of us can
   return to tell what secrets R-alpha has to share.



   That is all.





Zben turns and slowly walks back to his cabin. If anyone greets him in 
the corridor he just walks on, not seeming to see them.  In his cabin, 
he sits on his bunk, unmoving, staring at a someplace many lightyears 
away...



After a while he stirs, and begins, in a low monotone, to curse
fluently.  Anyone listening (Bit?) would hear a mix of galanglic, low
Aslan, and a few Darrian choice words. Mixed in and among them:
"....Damn. I left him there. I just tossed stuff to him and
left..." "....not my fault, sure. Wasn't my fault when Norin died.
That didn't help him, doesn't help MT..."



Suddenly, he sits up straight. Rising, he goes to the storage
cubby and pulls out a beat-up duffle bag. From a side pocket he takes
out a small valutawood case. Inside is a  tarnished medallion on a
blue and green ribbon. Across the top can be read (barely) "HIGHEST
COMMENDATION", and at the bottom the insignia of the Tukera Lines.
Running his fingers lightly over its surface, "Death. Stupid,
meaningless, empty death. Why? Why? So young, so much ahead of them."



His eyes swimming, he closes the case, and returns it to the bag.
Opening the larger part of the duffle he takes out a flask that sloshes,
quietly. Raising it in a toast, he intones "The idea is to die young,
as old as possibile", and takes a small swig. Lying down on the bunk,
he stares at the ceiling for some time before drifting off into a
troubled sleep.











Nishu, the navigator whose large frame and neat beard makes him look more 
like the traditional engineer, walks quietly back to his cabin.  He's had 
a full day, from the panic of jump entry and trying to help clean up 
afterwards, lending a hand where he could.  Like most of the crew he has 
taken a moment to drop by Sickbay and look in on the injured.  His usual 
wry grin has been replaced, bit by bit, with a look of weariness.


He happens to pass the crew lounge, noting Bishop in the early stages 
of a drinking session.  Sitting at a table next to one of the blanked 
viewports in the lounge, Bishop stares into a mostly empty glass.  
Judging from the assortment of empties already on the table, he is well 
on his way to alcohol poisoning.  In a loud voice, slurred almost beyond 
understanding, he rants.



"Dulinor,... and Margaret,... and *LUCAN*.  *GOD* *DAMN* him!!"  He
convulsively tosses down the rest of the drink.  "...'P..'puter.  Give
another one,... no *TWO*,... of whatever I or..ordered the last time!"
As the drinks arrive, he continues his tirade.  " 'Go on the expedition,
Adrian' ", he sneers, " 'It'll be a great story!'.  HAH!!  I can see the
headlines now.  'Well Known INN Journalist killed in Vehicle Accident.
Holo at 2300 hours.'"



Nishu pauses for a moment, but elects the better part of valor with the 
realization that the reporter probably doesn't want company and continues 
down the corridor.  In a few more minutes he has reached his own quarters 
and palms the door shut, sitting down at his desk.



He opens an envelope, spreading the contents out onto the desktop - about
twenty photographs, printed on glossy paper in super-high-res format, and
the crystal from his still camera on which the data is still stored.  
This is one of the things he really likes about the Alcyon:  he can get
the photos printed out now, rather than having to wait until the mission
is over to get the data to a processing lab.  Nishu goes through the 
prints, tossing out the one or two bad shots.  Even Imperial technology
can't prevent all the errors of an amateur. 



When he's done, Nishu puts most of the photos back into the envelope with 
the crystal, writing the date on the outside.  A few remain on the desk.
He pulls out other envelopes, sorting through them and occasionally add-
ing one to the small pile.  When he has about five photographs, he
reaches for a book he left on the desk - a small photo album, with a 
cover of black leather.



Nishu opens the book and turns to the middle, finding a blank page.  He
begins to mount the pictures of MT under the thin plastic, from his
short time aboard.  Facing these on the opposite page are a few photos
of Sgt. Major Hammer, taken during the mission briefing and the hasty
preparations for setting out and placed in the album shortly after the
first jump.  He notes the contrast between the thoroughly military man
in camoflague fatigues and the grey-haired scientist known for a
reverence for all life.



The photos in place, Nishu takes a moment to turn back through the album, 
looking at other faces.  Toby Briggs, who'd been standing next to him 
when the PB-772 took a pirate missile.  Vince Parsons, whose ship mis- 
jumped and was never seen again.  Salla Ijini, dead in a groundcar 
accident.  Fallen comrades.  Now this was all he had of any of them.



He closes the book, which still has many blank pages.  He hopes he won't 
have to fill any more of them on this mission.






Several hours into jump, Johann suddenly remembered that he has forgotten 
Bit in his transport cage.  Several hours alone in a padded cage, well 
equipped with water and food pellet dispensers granted, but with nothing 
the intensely curious creature hadn't seen a hundred times before would 
drive Bit nuts, Johann was certain of that. 


When the Van Der Merves call came through, Johann was in the process of 
trying to coax Bit down from an airvent using small pieces of fruit. He 
ignored the first call, but when it was repeated, he muttered something 
about everything being an class red emergency onboard the Alcyon, ate the 
fruit himself and left for the bridge.


When he returned ten minutes later, Bit had once again managed to escape the 
stateroom or hide exceptionally well. "You don't have to hide Bit. Your surgery
is postponed indefinately." Johann looked in the lockers under the bed but no
Bit. "No inplanted tracer beacon. Did you hear that? No commdot. You'll be a
free and untracable tree-rat like all your untracable ancestors on Focaline.
At least until he get his act togeather again, I'll not allow any doc to bring 
a knife anywhere close to you." 


No Bit showed up, however, so Johann decided that he probably had managed to
leave the room after all. On second thoughts, maybe one of the medibots could
implant a commodot in Bit? It would sure make Bit easier to find in an
emergency. Leaving those musings behind, Johann begun to rifle through a locked
rack of holocrystals, selecting some but leaving most behind. When he was 
satiesfied that he got all that he needed, he switched the auto-answer on the
console on the desk to the highest setting and left for enginering. It would
file all calls and only forward life-or-death matters to him. He hoped that
there wouldn't be too many life-or-death matters for a few hours, but he
didn't really expect it to hold.



Somehow something always cropped up and interrupted everything. First there
was that party, with the following poisonings and deaths, then the solomani
beacon, the service hatches that should have been closed but had been opened at
sometime by someone, the fleet that just "happened" to appear in the same system
just when they refuelling, the frantic hurry to charge the sinks and get out
of the way of a force packing several thousands times the Alcyons firepower,
two strance occurances of equippment malfunctions that should happen. One 
leading to a lost foot, at the very least, and one leading to one dead and 
one griveously wounded.

  

The only kind of emergency that Johann could think of right away that hadn't
happened yet was a weapons accident, and with the amount of heavy weapons
onboard the Alcyon, he tried not to think of the results if one happened.



Now, however, everyone seemed to at least hold their emergencies outside 
the engineering department. Finally, he could run the enhancement programs on
the probe data. Taking over a unoccupied console originally indended to
show holopictures or spareparts, heat distribusion or other mundane matters,
Johann hooked it up to the computers in the command shuttle and loaded some 
programs into it from the crystals. He fetched the recent sensor data from the
refueling, distorted it severely and then let the computer at it using one 
of the sensor analysis program he'd brought. Small figures of different colors 
and intensity in one corner of the holodisplay indicated the effort the computer
spends on the task, while the picture slowly became clearer and clearer and 
finally approache it's original state.



The shuttles computer managed the test with flying colors, so Johann let
loose the entire battery of sensor analysis and enhancement at the real
target. The data the Turnskaad probe brought back from R-alpha.


In the lounge, Adrian arches his arm and pitches the half-empty glass at 
the bulkhead, where it shatters, spraying fragments in every direction.  
"DAMN IT!!", he sobs, his voice cracking, "I'm a *journalist*!!  I'm not 
a damn war correspondent!" Picking up the remaining drink, he spasmod-
ically gulps half of it, and then wails, "Lucan, *Goddamm you*.  You shoot 
at me, *YOU* *BASTARD*!!!  I write your own *FUCKING* propaganda!!  Every 
day." he sobs, "Every day, I tell your story,... with that *THING*!"  He 
gestures weakly at the dented and silent shape of the AGNIS unit, laying 
on the floor surrounded by the broken remains of a crew lounge chair.


He gulps the last of the liquor and the glass slips from his almost numb
fingers to thud on the carpeted floor.  As his head falls to the table
amidst all the empties, he sobs, "I'm a journalist.  I'm not a so..soldier!"



Richard Jett steps into the room and surveys the debris. He sighs, and 
gazes at Bishop slumped over the table with knowing sympathy. He steps 
over to the compu-bar and says "Computer, recognize Jett, priority 
Turnskaad-Alpha. Accept no further orders from intoxicants from Adrian 
Bishop for 24 hours."



Looking down at Adrian, Richard says "So it finally got to you... It 
happens to all of us who are compelled by circumstance to act against 
our wishes.  You are a journalist, I am a judge -- but both forced to 
contravene the ideals of our profession." Richard is now animated, 
puncturing his speech with pointed gestures, as he continues in a louder 
voice, reckless of any nearby listeners.  His face flushed yet determined, 
he leans in close to Bishop's face.  "It *sucks* Adrian, there's no way 
around it. I could tell you stories of gross injustice that would make 
you sick -- AND I HAD TO DO IT! Why, *WHY* (as his fist pounds the table)? 
Because if I gave up and surrendered, *worse* would follow -- my power was 
limited, but I did my damndest to do JUSTICE at every turn. The question 
is -- what are you prepared to do? Let it consume your soul in self-doubt 
and recrimination, or rise above it?"



With each blow of Jett's fist on the table, Bishops head bounces in unison,
making a wet, slapping sound in the puddle of spilled alcohol.  Finally,
Bishop drunkenly lifts his head from the puddle of booze on the table and
struggles to focus his glazed, red eyes on Jett.  Then he flops back in the
the chair and slurs, "Sh..self-doubt?  I nhe..*never* doubt myself.  I know
eck..eck..*EXACTLY* what my limitations are, counselor.  How many other
people do you know that can honestly sha..say that?"  He fumbles for a
grip on the edge of the table and pushes himself into a weaving, upright
position.

    

"I do my job better than anybody, *ANYBODY* else in this business!!" he 
asserts, obviously fighting to form each syllable.  "I am *NEVER*
self-recri..recrim..criminating."  Then he points at the blanked viewports,
as if indicating imaginary warships in space beyond them and continues,
"But I am *NOT* bulletproof either!  And there wasn't supposed to be any
shooting!!"  



He snorts, "We have this HUGE starship", he sweeps both arms in the air, 
"just *FILLED* with scientists, and scholars, and explorer-types.  Oh 
sure, almost everybody carries a weapon.  We've got Horne with his big
9 millimeter 'fire-hose', and 'Vouf with those two Whirlwinds of Devestation
he carries on his hips.  Have you seen 'Vouf's cabin?  He's *proud* of it!!  
He advertises it!!  But what about poor Adrian?  Does he carry a laser?  
Does he carry a gauss rifle?  Noooo, he carries *A CAMERA*!!  You know what 
that makes me??  It makes me a god-damn *target*, that's what it makes me!!  
A somewhat less-than-innocent bu..bystander.  And don't point out those 
stupid little stun-guns that they handed out to everybody last week.  That's 
like trying to stop a charging Virushi with harsh language.  You know what 
the epitaph would read?  It would read 'He died because he was *STUPID*'!!"

    

"These people," Bishop waves around at the rest of the ship, "these
people think they can take on a *BATTLE FLEET* with one lousy little
research ship.  We just entered jump again.  Do you think we're going
home, after they tried to kill us?  Hell, *NO*.  Can't have any of that
rot, nosirree.  We going on to the bloody ringworld.  We'll show those
military shits they can't push around *REAL* scientists.  This entire
crew has the cumulative survival instinct of a section of deck plating!!"

    

"And injustice, you want to talk about injustice?" Bishop jabs a
wavering finger in Jett's direction.  "Counselor, I make my living, by
the grace of God, off of the *BI..BIGGEST* injustice this sorry empire could
ever imagine.  I feed the masses Lucan's *PARTY LINE*,  EVERY...SINGLE...
DAY!!  I know, you see, I know...", He turns away from Jett and mumbles,
"I found him,... last year,... I found him.  I ta..talked to Windhook... he

told me *EVERYTHING*."

    

Bishop spins back towards Jett, grabbing a chair to keep from falling
over.  "I'VE GOT THE GODDAMN HOLO-CHIP!!  I SAW *EVERYTHING*!!!" he screams.
"I COULD... I could... my God...", his voice fades away as the blood drains
from his face.  Eyes wide with terror, he backs away from Jett, "My God, what
am I saying...?  My God..."  Shoving his fist in his mouth, he turns and
stumbles frantically from the lounge, heading towards his cabin.



Jett is frozen in time for just an instant; a split-second of shock and
disbelief as his mind absorbs Bishop's terror-confession. Then his mind
snaps back to reality as comprehension spreads like a tidal wave against
the neural sands. A furtive glance left, then right. He utters a single,
fervent word, resonating with sympathy and frustration. "Damn." He quick-
marches after Bishop's retreating, panic-stricken figure.















"All right, computer, close file."  Lazer sighed wearily.  "Tag it and save
under Disaster Inquiry, today's date, Farouk report, prelim."  He grimaced.
"No, better make that first bit 'Procedural Report'."



Lazer stood up and stretched, working knots of bureaucratic frustration out
of his back.  Damned documentation had to be done, and he knew himself well
enough not to let himself put it off.  And now, he had one last errand to run.



He went into the lav, rinsed out his mouth, and straightened his collar.  The 
man in the mirror didn't look good. "Dammit, you're getting old, Lester."
He came to attention and drew in a deep breath.  Exhale slowly.  He saluted 
cleanly, pivoted, and left.



Fortunately, the corridors were quiet this time of night.  He didn't feel up
to an encounter with one of those who deal with stress by getting drunk. 
Just keep the pace crisp and the mind blank.  Down the corridor, to the right,
now towards Engineering, but turn off first--here it is.



Lazer nodded to a bored Ian as he went into the dark Infirmary.  Anton was in 
the bed to the right, laid out under racks of magic gadgets with telltales like
watchful glowing eyes.  Silvmane lay across from him in ghoulish counterpoint.
One dead, two critically wounded, and they never even fired a shot.



He sat, and quietly took fresh air deep into his lungs.  "I'm sorry, Anton.
You're a good man.  You didn't deserve that."  He pauses, groping for words.
He continues, quietly, "Damn it all.  That was my order that put you there."
The nagging voice buried deep in his mind taunted, what are you going to do
now?  Ask him for forgiveness?  Think you're omnicient, Lazer?  You're human, 
fallible.  No.  Yes.  



"I failed you, Anton.  I can't weasel-word to my own wounded.  I was 
responsible, and I failed.  I'm sorry."  Why was it always so hard with few 
wounded?  Mass casualties were numbing, somehow.  My soul is too small too 
encompass that much suffering.  "I'm sorry."



He tasted salt tears at the crook of his mouth, and welcomed them.



Lazer sat out the rest of his vigil in silence.  After an hour he rose, and
walked toward the door.  "Later, Anton."  Ian was still at his seat as he
left, expression indecipherable.













Bhyarrvouf is performing his "midnight prowl," a ritual he began when still 
an Engineer and which he continues as SubCommander: he walks quietly 
through the Alcyon from stem to stern, looking in each work area, perhaps 
exchanging a brief word with the crewmen on watch, before going off duty. 



All seems well on the Bridge, and he skips through the labs quickly so as to 
avoid disturbing the scientists working late into the night on their 
calculations and preparations for the Big Moment. He pauses in the Sick Bay
entry, and looks for a long moment at each of the recumbent forms before
continuing down the hall. He walks down the quiet halls of the quarters deck,
ears and nose twitching after every faint scent, every sigh or snore from
behind a wall. 



He makes out the unmistakable voices of Bishop and Jett, several meters
down the hall and what he hears stops him.



   "Adrian -- are you OK?" 



   "....

   Look, ...  right?  I never said *ANYTHIN'*.  It *NEVER* happened."

   ... dead man...  

   I *LIKE* bein' *ALIVE*.  I want to *GO ON* bein' *ALIVE*."

   ...

   Don't you screw up too...You poke your nose into this, and 

   you're a corpse ...

   ..."



There is another brief, hushed, exhange of words, and the distinctive
sound of a forcefully closed door.  'Vouf continues on around the corner.
He passes Jett in the hall, and favors the lawyer with a friendly 
grin, avoiding an actual conversation.  The judge seems preoccupied, 
determinedly heading toward his cabin.

  









Dr. Morser wanders into the lounge, running his hand through his shock 
of unruly blond hair. He is distracted, as usual, but also somewhat 
somber. He also mutters a bit under his breath as he picks out some 
nutrition(bleah!) from the dispensers:

	"Hmm...seen zome pretty ztrrrange ting in my time...Veird
mutations, odd crreatures, terrrible side-effects...but poor MT..."



He shudders involuntarily at the memory of bits of frozen person shattering
off as MT's flash-frozen body slid across the floor just before engineering
was evacuated.



Taking his meal to a table, he stops suddenly at the sight of the paritally
disassembled and maimed AGNIS unit. He steps over and examines it 
immediately, ignoring his rapidly cooling meal. So engrossed is he in this,
that he completely misses the commotion about the Subcommander, and just
keeps poking about the bits and pieces of the poor AGNIS.









'Vouf's long path ends in Engineering, where the liquid hydrogen spill's 
effects have quickly been dealt with (after all, when it evaporates it
doesn't leave a mess) and the feed has been patched. Now, with the drives 
off and the power plant idling, the huge room is quiet. 



Johann Abuko is up late working on a simulation at one of the holodisplays. 
Abuko doesn't hear 'Vouf come in, and 'Vouf doesn't disturb him. 'Vouf walks 
past the familiar machines, stopping now and again to run a loving hand over a 
particularly well-kept device, until he comes to the Maneuver Drive monitoring 
station, deep in the bowels of the Engine Room. During Jumps, the thruster 
plates are silent, and the station is on automonitor and abandoned. 'Vouf 
sinks into the contoured couch, poking his tail through the slit at the back, 
and settles into the cushions with a sigh. "I miss this," he whispers softly.
"Promotions aren't all fun and glory...." 



He pauses and sits up, his ears focussing forward like twin antennas toward 
the machinery near the main drive coils. His nose twitches furiously, but the 
wind in the vents is at his back, he smells nothing. In a blur of silver, a 
Gauss pistol is in his hand. "I know you're there," he says menacingly. "Come 
on out."



There is a moment's pause, then a tiny golden head with twitching whiskers and 
rounded ears pokes out timidly from behind the coil. Bright black eyes survey 
'Vouf suspiciously, and the tiny nose wrinkles at his scent.



'Vouf's ears fold back flat, and he sighs in disgust, shoving his pistol 
angrily back into its holster. "Aw, Bit," he groans, "Get out of there! You're 
not supposed to be down here, it's dangerous! Johann's supposed to know 
better....especially after that fiasco this morning!"



Bit's ears perk up at the sound of his name, and he scampers out from behind 
the drive and up onto 'Vouf's lap. 'Vouf's expression gets even madder. "Go 
away, Bit," he growls. Bit looks puzzled at that, and puts his forepaws up on 
'Vouf's chest to get a better look at him.



'Vouf bares his teeth. "Let me teach you a little bit of biology, tree-rat," 
he whispers grimly. "In every ecosystem, there's a whole order very carefully 
laid out as to how plants and animals get nourished. At the bottom end are the 
bacteria, which digest the corpses of higher forms and provide food for the 
next lower step on the ladder. Then those tiny plants are eaten by tiny 
animals, and the tiny animals are eaten by bigger animals, and so on, and so 
on. That's what we call a food chain, see? Now, near to the middle of the food 
chain are little carnivores that eat vermin and insects... like tree-rats. And 
you're a tree-rat, see? That's your place in the food chain: eating vermin and 
insects. Okay? Now, a ways further up on the food chain are the sentient 
animals, which with the dubious exception of the K'Kree eat pretty much 
whatever they want to, including lower animals on the food chain. Like 
tree-rats. Now, some species have this weird double standard where they keep 
lower animals around for fun, not for eating. Humans do it; so do Aslan, and 
so do the Hivers, or so I've heard. But the Droyne don't, and the K'Kree 
don't, and the Vargr CERTAINLY don't. And I'm a Vargr. And you're a tree-rat. 
Are you beginning to understand the implications of this yet, Bit?"



Bit sniffs more closely at 'Vouf's muzzle, and his whiskers wiggle.



"Look, I'll spell it out for you in simple terms," 'Vouf snarls. "LITTLE 
predators get EATEN by BIG predators. And I'm getting really TIRED of eating
RECONSTITUTED MEAT from the BIOMASS TANKS! DO YOU GET THE HINT?" His teeth 
draw back into a killing rictus, his jaws open to snap the tiny head off.



Bit licks his nose.



'Vouf looks shocked, then outraged, then angry, then sheepish, as Bit begins 

vigorously cleaning his nose and muzzle with a tiny rough tongue, stopping now 
and again to sniff at his handiwork. Bit, satisfied with the job he's done,
sits back, and 'Vouf laughs quietly, as much at himself as at the tiny animal.
"Oh, g'wan, get out of here," he grins. "Your papa's probably wondering where
you've got to. Go on, shoo!" As an extra impetus, he picks up a glittering
holocrystal from the blank-disk box, waves it in front of Bit's eyes so it
glimmers in the dim light, and tosses it away, back toward the occupied areas
of Engineering. Bit gives a little "chuff" of excitement and goes tearing
after the disk as it rolls away. 'Vouf watches him go with a faint smile, then
leans back in the chair once more, closing his eyes. After a minute or two,
his breath comes in slow, easy surges, and one of his feet gives an occasional
twitch. 



After a little while, Bit comes back, the disk clutched in his tail. He climbs 
back up onto 'Vouf's lap, inspects the sleeping face carefully, then curls up 
and goes to sleep himself. Absently, one gauntleted hand comes up off the
armrest and gently caresses the tawny fur on Bit's back, coming to rest there.







Many hours later, Johann realizes that the engineroom has fallen silent, and 
that he is thirsty. The commo channels are silent, except for the occational
status report from the bridge watch and the entire ships seems to get a much
needed rest. Feeling certain that there is nobody around to ask embarresing 
questions like what the chief enginer is doing running simulations of various
levels of technology on the surface of a simulated R-alpha and comparing it 
to the enhanced probe data in the middle of the night, he winded his way
forward in the ship on stiff legs. The autogalley is never closed. "And it
never complaines about snacks at strange hours."



When he reached the demolished crew lounge, Johann begun to suspect that
someone had had a accident with some weapon after all. Then he discovered the
dented little sphere that was Bishops camera unit. "Either I missed a big
party with a equally big bar-fight or someones got a big grudge against 
cameras!." Johann speculated and went over to the autogalley to punch in an
order for several sandwiches and something with a lot of kaffeine in it.

  

"I know one tree-rat that will be delighted that the mysterious globe is
down at an easy-to-reach level." He thought and remembered that Bit probably
was loose somewhere in the ship again. Johann was convinced that no matter how
it had happened, if Bishop found the camera half-dissasembled on the floor
of the crew lounge, with one guilty looking Bit sitting amongst the pieces,
he would draw his own conclusions.



"Looks like it's time to put all the robotics to a practical use." he 
grumbles as he takes the agnis unit and carries it towards engineering.











                        **** Day one  *****

Ferdy checks in at the central maintenance facility.


"Visitors.  WHERE?   Who's outside today?  Where are they?"


Swimming over to the console, Ferdy slides into the hoop so that it
just contacts his skin.


"Doejin, where are you?"



- - -------------------







"Admiral.  He has not threatened us.  He has gone ballistic toward a
large continent.  There is a fresh water lake we can refuel from there."





- - ------------------



Kimball Redd rises very early and takes several laps around the Alcyon 
with Thule, Lazer, Ian, Charyn, Etienne, and Ralf, grabs a really quick 
breakfast and heads to engineering.



When he gets there he discovers Abuko rubbing his eyes over a large
pile of metallic junk, and 'Vouf stretched out at the number 5
console, with Bit on his lap, furtively darting out a paw and touching 
'Vouf's gauntlets, then as quickly withdrawing it.



Chuckling to himself, Redd grabs a chair by a terminal and starts making 
up a list of things to be done in jump.



"Hmmm...."



Check & repair the fuel line		- what caused the break ?
Check the rest of the fuel lines	- make sure it doesn't happen again
Check all systems for damage		- Did anything get frozen ?
Repair the systems damaged by the leak	- Frozen panels, etc


Leadfoot - check him for cold damage, and see about...



"Hey, Abuko - have you talked to Medical about getting Bit  an  implanted
comdot  yet?  It  would  make  it  a lot easier if we could have Leadfoot

listen out for his radio signal & throw him out every time he wanders  in
here -  stop  him  from  hurting himself on something hot. I *think* he'd
get tired of it before the robot wore out! It shouldn't be too difficult
to instruct Leadfoot about how to catch him without hurting him (and what
tasks he shouldn't interrupt for it)."


General Maintenance

Airlock	- What happened to it ? Are the others OK ?


"Anyone else think of anything we need to check ?"











In sickbay, Ian gently wakes Silvmane.

  

Dan's eyes open slowly and finds himself staring into the soft glowing light

strips of sickbay. 



"How you feeling this morning?"



Slowly he moves his limbs, feeling still a little weak.
The last thing that comes to his mind was the blinding jet of hydrogen
that came from a leaky pipe.  By all rights he should be dead.  Thank god
the ship has modern techniques to save his butt. 



"All your vitals are good.  Doc Van Der Merwe and Lucan both say you're
remarkably fit.  I guess we can't violate an 'imperial' edict," Ian says, 
slightly nodding toward the two medbots and grinning.  "I REALLY am glad
you pulled through OK.



Sitting up in bed Dan notices that table next to him has a new set of 
in-ship coveralls.  Slipping into them he feels a moment of regret of 
losing his old uniform.  



Ian drones on almost as though he's insensitive to Dan's condition.
"I'm really not a medic.  I'm a generalist, so we might wind up working
together.  I hate to consider the shape this mission would be in if it's
so desparate I have to stay on in medical.  I'd like to discuss the probe
data with you and Dr. Werner and Dr. Morser and Ralf when we get a few
spare minutes.



Moving slowing towards the door, Dan makes his 
way down to the mess hall.


"If you have any shivers, or nightmares, or strange feelings, or even
questions, just look me up."



Dr. Limner comes in and Ian goes off duty.  Doc heads immediately into
the cold berth area.



"Good Morning .. Jan Yorblin."



Jan shakes off the lethargy off of the low passage.
"Gak! I hate those things, damned navy trait, that frozen watch, does anyone
have a cup of black tea around here?" he says to noone in particular as he
yawns and stretches, his joints popping into place.



Jan is about 2 meters tall, and looks the product of a low-g birth planet
followed by many years in normal to high-g enviroment.  His most striking
feature is his albinism and his belter haircut.  He wears a TL15 Scout issue
vacc suit ("20 years of service, what do I get- two of these and a clean
change of underwear").





"Ah, I believe I recall your holo from my preflight briefing.  Dr. Limner,
isn't it?  I assume that were either at our destination, our my services were
needed sooner than expected."



Upon finding that they have not reached R-Alpha, Jan gets a quick brief on
the current situation.



"Well, better get logged on to the ship's MedCompSys and get to work:
Computer, prepare log-on file for newly awakened physician, create
personal and patient note files, exam and treatment files, the usual
epidemiology and tracking files, the usual routine..."



"Physician name: Yorblin, Jan Thaddeus.
"Imperial License: STRO/REGI-1108-SPMAR-JYOR-07-11-PI-532-82-2618
"Specialty Board: Fellow, Imperial Academy of Adult Intensivists
"Subspecialty: currently completing work on Astronautic Injury
 Reconstruction"



He asks Limner what patients he can assist with.  After taking a look
at Anton, he sits down with his tea and whatever food he can scrounge 
and begins to review the patient charts.
Assuming that Dr. Limner is present:


"Dr. Van Der Merwe is our Chief Medical Officer.  He should be along
shortly.  Since you seem to have recovered well, 'Welcome Aboard'.
If you don't mind, I have some other matters to attend to."




The few assorted crew-members populating the lounge see a haggard, but 
freshly showered, Adrian Bishop stalk into the compartment.  Without so 
much as a wave or a word of good morning, he heads straight for the auto-
galley.

     

"Scotch," orders Bishop, pointedly ignoring the looks from the rest
of the crew present.

     

"Request denied." the auto-galley coldly replies.  "Authority, Jett,
Richard.  Authorization Turnskaad-Alpha."
     

"Damn", Bishop mutters.  His fist, resting on the counter, slowly

clenches and unclenches.  After an embarrassing pause, he slowly exhales
and says, "Coffee.  Strong and black."  With a brief hum and a click,
the unit disgorges a steaming, if somewhat utilitarian, mug of coffee.
Bishop picks it up and eyes it suspiciously.  He then takes a tenative
sip, grimaces, and then gulps about half of the contents.  Sweeping the
room with a brief glance, coffee cup in hand, Bishop slowly wanders out
into the corridor.  He then picks up his pace and heads aft, towards
the cargo hold.







  Deep down Johann isn't surprised at all the calamities that has befallen the 
ship. "What else could one expect that when they put a hairball as executive
officer and fills the ship with Vilanis?!" he thinks and is at the same time
relieved that he put Bit in his cabin so that wasn't in harms way when the 
hydrogene spill occured.

  "And what was the language the doc begun mumbled in?! Vargr?! What kind of
flying lunatic asylum is this?"

  

  Johann repairs the agnis unit if it is possible, and takes advantage of the
occation to snoop around in it and take a copy of what it might have recorded.
He installs no tracers or anything, but he takes one of the covers of holo-
crystals from the bag under the agnis, so that he can put a bug on it and put
it back in the bag, using Bit as a diversion, if there is need to trace the
agnis in the future.









Jordan plays with the switches on his suit and prepares for the trip to
the airlock. His helmet mask goes down giving him an eerie appearance due
to the fact that the inner helmet lights are busted, but HUD displays can
be seen reflecting off his face. As he approaches, he activates his motion
scanner and tries to log possible targets. He also observes what the others
are doing and tries to work in unison with them , all the time quiet as a
door mouse.








"Do any of you know how to run diagnostics on this thing," Horne says as he
starts to clean the blood from the bulkhead.



Azabi stares back and then at Mahlel and shakes his head. He slings the
his shotgun on his back and proceeds to help with the clean up. Finally,
Azani speaks,knowing that the danger has passed.



"Sure is messy down here, I wonder what happened..." as he flecks of blood
that has freeze dried onto the walls. Eventually the mess is cleaned and 
some engineers appear to run diagnostics on the airlock.



Azani leaves and relaxes a lot more. He doesn't know why, but for some 
reason he feels more tense everytime a stressful situation occurs. 



"Gotta relax alittle," he mutters to himself. His stomach rumbles, reminding 
him that he ashn't eaten yet.



He strolls down the corridor, with his helemt in hand and shotgun at back
anticipating the prefab food broth at the mess hall...









An hour later, still holding the now-cold coffee mug, Bishop strides
into engineering.  At first glance, nothing about him looks out of place,
until crew members realize that that's exactly the problem.  The one 
object that should be conspicuously absent is the AGNIS unit floating 
silently behind his left shoulder.  A number of double-takes occur, and 
several glances are made towards Abuko, who was, until a moment ago, 
working diligently on the damaged AGNIS unit abandoned in the crew lounge 
the night before.  The bent holo-bot, several of it's access panels now
removed, still lies silently on the workbench next to Johann.

    

Bishop walks over to Abuko and stares down at the smashed robot.
"Well, if you can actually repair that thing," he gestures at the
dismantled unit, "more power to you."  Setting down the coffee mug,
he carefully picks up the main housing, so as not to dislodge any probes
or loose components, and with his free hand, grips the holo-chip access
tab and pulls.  Then he pulls a little harder.  Finally, he sets the
unit back down and picks up a pair of heavy grips, which he applies
directly to the tab.  After a grunt and a protracted tug, he gives up
and drops the grip back on the workbench.

    

Casting up and down the bench, his eyes lock onto a pulse-proximity
laser cutter.  Picking it up, along with a pair of protective goggles,
he checks the charge on the cutter.  Satified that it's at working levels,
he dons the goggles, turns and announces, "Eye cover kiddies, laser tool
in use!"  Once he's reasonably certain that everybody is safe, he thumbs
the "ON" stud and applies the tip of the cutter to the access tab.

    

PI-PI-PI-PI-PI-PI-PING!! shrieks the metal as the thermal change
in the AGNIS housing drowns out the hiss of the cutter.  Bishop quickly
cuts two more dotted lines along the access tab, then the entire cover
comes loose and falls onto the workbench with a tinny clatter.
    

Bishop thumbs the cutter off and lays it down on the bench.  Carefully
avoiding the hot edges of the opening, he reaches into the gap and pulls
the pair of circular holo-chips from their slots.

    

"Got you, you little bugger." Bishop smiles grimly.  Turning to
Abuko, he says, "Sorry about the mess, but I didn't expect it to yield
much more than spare parts anyway.  Still, if you can actually get it
to work again, well, another one never hurts."  With that, he pockets
the holo-chips and heads for the exit.

    

As he reaches the hatch, he spots 'Vouf and he stops in mid-stride.
With a malicious grin on his face, he remarks, "Hey 'Vouf, I've got good
news and I've got bad news.  The good news is, I got the entire IceCapade
cart-wheel on chip.  The bad news is, the angles so bad, I probably won't
be able to use it!"  After a pause, he continues, "Maybe you'd consider a
repeat performance!"  Then he ducks out into the corridor and flees, leaving
the almost empty coffee mug sitting on the otherwise orderly workbench.



"Eyeskepeyd Khartweel?" 'Vouf blinks at the retreating Bishop, then reaches
into his pocket for his well-thumbed Vuakedh/Galanglic Dictionary With Idioms.
"Eyeskepeyd, eyeskep-- harf! Got it! 'Escapade'! Okay. But, 'Eyesk...' What's
the-- 'ICE'?" His voice trails off into a look of utter horror. "Ice Escapade!
Kae, kakh TSAKHA!" He begins feverishly flipping through the book again. 
"Khartweel, Kartweel, cart wheel... O Kae NO...." He drops the dictionary on 
the deck, and claps an armored fist to his eyes as if in sudden pain. "He 
didn't. He couldn't! He WOULDN'T DARE!" His voice rises to a shriek, as he
pelts down the corridor after the now-long-gone journalist.

	

"BISHOP! YOU CRUSTY-FLANKED LITTLE TAILSNIFFER! I'M GONNA EAT YOUR EYEBALLS! 
I'M GONNA WATER YOUR ALCOHOL! I'M GONNA GRIND YOU UP AND FEED YOU TO THE 
LAWYER! YOU'RE DEAD, Y'HEAR ME? DEE EE AY DEE, *DEAD*!"
	

A pleading note enters the tirade. "Bishop? Gimme that crystal, Bishop! 
I'm not gonna ask you again.  Adrian!  Samshkarkh ROUKH!  Come back here!
I promise I'll leave you alone!  I'll give you that interview you wanted!"



He raises his fists above his head, and his bellow is heard all over 
the ship:



"********* ADRIAN! AAAADRIAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN! *************"






Horne and his crew get to the airlock. "Well now that we are here we might
be able to figure out what went wrong. Run diagnostics on this thing, and I
guess we ought to clean up the blood.  Azani, Mahlel, do either of you know
how to run diagnostics on this Damn thing, if not we will have to get some
engineering type down here. Let's get t'work.


Damn, this makes no sense." With that he starts cleaning up blood from the
bulkheads while the others run checks on the airlock.



"Holy sheeit," Ralf says quietly.  "Look at this."  He's got the air lock 
control panel removed from the bulkhead.  It looks like the victim of a
blow torch with an attitude.  "This .. whatever bypassed all the normal 
interlocks.  That iris valve only did what it was told -- to close.
Unconditionally.  


"I sure wouldn't trust ANY doors on this ship until we check 'em over."







Dr. Limner's voice comes across both the Science and Generalist
channels.  He seems somewhat subdued:



"I've been rather busy with the medical emergencies lately.
 Now that that's...over, I'd like to get back on track.  I
 had been on my way to my grav bus.  I have a great deal of
 equipment stored there, mostly designed for planetary
 expeditions, but some of which is useful at interplanetary
 ranges.



"I'm used to working basically alone, so I have pretty much
 everything you'd need to explore a planet, except for the
 equipment which was too big to remove from my ship.



"Perhaps we should discuss what equipment we need to take,
 so that we can avoid too much redundancy in the away teams'
 equipment.



"Also, what types of long range scanners are available on
 our ships?  We should make sure that we get all of the
 information we need..."



Limner's voice appears to have been trailing off a bit
throughout the transmission.  Without picking up the volume
at all, he continues:



"We've already paid for this expedition with blood.  I hope
 we can avoid this in the future, but we've already found
 out that this mission is going to be anything but simple.
 We have a job to do, however.  Let's redouble our efforts
 and do it right.



"Limner, out."







"Dr. Limner," Bhyarrvouf replies over the Generalists' channel, 
"You might want to compare notes more closely with Ralf, who also 
has a fairly well-equipped grav unit with different emphases than 
what yours probably has.  Mister Witfield has nominal authority 
among the Generalists, but this matter lies in a grey enough area 
between Science and Generalist matters that you can probably act on 
matters as you see fit."



"Both Mister Witfield and Mister Edmondsen should be brought up to 
speed on any gear that requires in-field unsupervised use, and....
hrm....I'm forgetting someone....Hrr, yes! Mister Robins! If she's 
finished getting over that hangover she and Blaine were planning 
after the Jump, you should get her up to speed as well. I'm going 
to be occupied with something very important today, so I won't be 
able to join you all. 'Vouf out." 





"On the generalist channel, Ian's voice pipes in:"
Does this mean I'm *officially* a scientist now?











Dr Van Der Merwe is engaged in the singularly depressing task of 
reviewing the autopsy reports, when he hears a faint bellow echo 
throughout the ship.



"********* ADRIAN! AAAADRIAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN! *************"



Seconds later, this is followed by the sound of shoes pounding down
the corridor decking.  The sound abruptly stops just outside the closed
hatch to the sickbay.  The hatch hums open and Adrian Bishop, face

glistening with sweat leaps into the compartment and jabs the door
control.  As the hatch hums closed, Bishop sags weakly against it,
his sides heaving with laugher and lack of breath.  Tears of glee run
down his cheeks as he doubles over with joy.  The laugher eventually
dissolves into a fit of coughing, leaving Bishop almost totally devoid
of breath.

    

"Heeheehee... whew!" he chuckles.  "Well, he probably... hahhaha...
probably won't be able to... heehee... find me in here for a little
while!"  Then his face goes straight for a second.
    

"Oops!!" he blurts and quickly palms the hatch open.  The AGNIS unit,
all this time waiting patiently on the other side of the doorway, floats
silently into the compartment.  Bishop hazards a quick glance out into
the corridor, then thumbs the hatch closed again.

    

"Hi doc," he grins at Van Der Merwe.  "Having this bloody thing bobing
outside is as good as putting up a sign that says 'HE'S IN HERE!'.  Well..."

    

Then he pauses, and his animated manner evaporates as he studies the
silent injured forms laying in the beds.

    

"I'm... sorry to hear about Silvmane." Bishop says.  "I didn't know
him but I'm sure he was a good man."

    

"I... ah... I was thinking that now might be a good time to have a
chat.  I haven't had a chance to talk to you, and I'd like to find out
a bit more about the Alcyon's Chief Medical Officer," he adds, "if you
don't mind, that is."

    

Settling into a nearby chair, the AGNIS unit hovering at his shoulder,
Bishop undergoes what might be termed 'a profound change in behavior'.
He is suddenly the epitomy of a professional network interviewer.  Even
his appearance is more settled and relaxed.  He has obviously found refuge
in the one thing with which he feels the most comfort: a one-on-one interview.

   

"Perhaps you could talk a bit about your background."  Bishop begins
smoothly.  "I believe your home is in the Marches.  Is that correct?  Also,
I am told by members of your medical staff that you're quite the published
physician.  And, that you saw action in the Fifth Frontier War.  Tell me
about yourself, please."









Twice a day for the first few days after Jump an odd, slightly rythmic, 
thumping sound can be heard in the vicinity of the Talisman's gym-room.  If 
anyone approaches the gym they hear a voice, barely audible above the other 
sound, coming from the room.



Etienne is standing near one wall with his back to the door, wearing nothing 
but a pair of shorts.  He is facing a body-suit of ballistic cloth armor that 
seems to have been stuffed with odds and ends and lashed to a post.  The suit 
may once have been well made, but it is now very ragged looking, with a number 
of patches.  Etienne holds a classic en-garde position for a second then 
explodes in a series of formal strikes to the dummy.  None of his blows are 
pulled in the slightest and the cloth draped form rocks with each one.



As he executes each blow he mutters something under his breath.  It seems to
be a long list of names, with those of the dead and wounded members of this
expedition at the end.  Among the names are one obviously Varg name, two that
are probably Aslan and, surprisingly, one that can only be Zhodani.  When he 
finishes the list with "Silvmane", he drops back into en-garde, holds it for 
second, then starts over.



His body is quickly covered with sweat, and as time rolls by, his blows
become weaker and less accurate.  When he reaches the point where he can barely
keep the tip of his blade up, he collapses to his knees and remains there, head
bowed, for several minutes.



A short time later, showered, shaved and dressed in a clean flight-suit, he
enters the main lounge.  He orders some food and proceeds to eat while 
watching the action centered around Sub-commander Bhyarvouf.



Etienne rises as 'vouf leaves and follows him out into the hallway.




Bhyarrvouf hears, if not the light tread behind him, the reopening and
closing of the Lounge door. He turns and sees Etienne following him, 
and says mildly, "H'lo, M'syoor de Mer. On your way to the Lounge, looking
for me, or both?"


vouf





[Etienne hurries to catch up with Bhyarvouf...]



  "Sub-commander, may I have a word with you please?  Officially."





  "There is a delicate matter I need to discuss with Commander Ger, but I 
haven't been able to find him.  It may be critical."



"Certainly.  And you can also tell me, and I'll pass it on as well."











Vouf:  (late that night)

"We should decide on a search pattern," 'Vouf remarks as the airlock
cycles, allowing the four into the Paladin's dark, silent interior.
"I think we should split up based on our epxertise... M'Lord Ger, I
think you should access the computer and scan his logs for unusual
behavior or anomalous systems failures before his death. Lazer, check
out the turrets, missile magazine and the ship's locker. Christian, 
glance over the Bridge before the Count gets settled in, then check 
the cargo hold and staterooms. I'll take Engineering and Avionics 
myself.  Agreed?"



It quickly becomes obvious this is a highly modified type S.  The computer
and security systems are dormant, and seem to be TL16+.  So is most everything
else on board.



<Ger>

Sounds good 'Voof. Just be careful in here, we don't know if there is
any latent security devices.  Ger follows Christian and 'Vouf to the 
forward section of the ship.  When Christian is done inspecting
Ger begins to access the computer.



Christian nods, and assuming there are no further objections, walks with
Ger to the Paladin's bridge. As Ger busies himself with the main computer,
Christian checks over the other bridge stations and runs some tests,
looking for anything unusual.



The holodynamic display is set up to make the entire bridge part of the 
display.  All of the sensors, and on command all of the sensors of the 
other ships as well, are tied in.  When engaged, the bridge disappears
entirely, leaving Ger and Van Der Merwe "standing" in space, in zero g.
The intense, deep blue glow of the jump grid covers everything, and the
outline of the Alcyon is clearly visible covering the "starbord" side
of the view.



As their eyes adjust, they can make out the shape of the single, form-
fitting acceleration couch.  A somewhat closer examination reveals 
proximity and contact sensors, and numerous suit plug-in sensors, located
all over the chair.



Christian checks with Ger to see if he's found anything. 



"The computer recognizes me, 'Vouf, and Hammer.



"Got some synaptic, robotic, and AI stuff in here.  And and incredible
array of sensors.  Kinda makes me wonder if we need the Alcyon's.  All 
three of these tag-alongs got better gear."



When finished on the bridge, Christian proceeds to slowly walk to the
stateroom and cargo hold, taking his time to look through each area
with caution and great thoroughness, his senses alert to the smallest
anomaly.



...Not quite your average boarding mission.



Twenty years of combat reflexes keep playing Lazer false, expecting hostile 
fire at every door, twitching for the rifle that wasn't there, demanding 
_speed_ before a counter could be mounted...



No. One step at a time, keep checking the scanner.  Just keep your eyes up
and your ears open.



'Vouf rips open the access panels to the avionics section (well, not 
literally), and enters. He spends a long time downloading data from
the instruments, checking internal monitors of airflow and other environmental
factors, examining the instruments and sensors for tampering, and checking
behind access panels (walls, floor, ceiling) for hideyholes and hidden
compartments, being especially careful to scan for any sort of boobytrap,
either a tripwire, a switch, or an electric-eye beam in UV, visible, or
IR. 



'Vouf we have some more problems to discuss. Things are still not going
well. Actually I think that this is the most error-prone mission I've
ever been on.



"Error-prone, m'lord?" 'Vouf's laugh is half sneer. "I'm assuming that you're
relying on sarcasm and absolute politeness in choosing your words! Nobody
this "error-prone" would have made it onto this mission at all, I'll bet. And 
it isn't an error when an iris valve mutilates a man, or a ceiling duct 
ruptures and kills one man and nearly kills another, or an entire crew sleeps
for five days and some of them don't wake up at all. If you want a 
confirmation of your suspicions, m'lord, you have it from me." He nods grimly. 
"We're being sabotaged."



At that 'vouf lifts up a spent air canister and bares his teeth.


"Found this plugged into the Alcyon emergency air supply connect.  It was
buried in there *REALLY* deep.  So deep only a really good engineer
who knew what he was doing could plant it.  Nayduz got set up, but good
and we lost a good man because of this."



"Here guy.  Some chemists are gonna wanna see this."
Once that's said, he hands the tank to Christian, and walks down to 
the Engine Room and repeats the process again, stopping just short of 
disassembling the engines.





Lazer runs as thorough an inspection of the weapons systems--yes, that's the 
right attitude--as he's ever given any of his own ships.  



Whoa, what's this?  The weapons are all auto-relayed to the bridge and
main computer.  Hmm, only a software switch to transfer control to Thule.
good.  Unusual weapons, too.  A missile rack and some kind of plasma
guns on the turret.



He leaves the weapons locker for last, figuring if he's going to find 
anything, that's the most likely place.  Opportunism is the key...keep 
the eyes open and the brain running, and be damned sure to recognize 
what you're looking for when you find it.



Computer keyed.  Recognizes Nayduz, Ger, 'Vouf, and  Hammer!?  grrr.
Lazer gets Ger to open the locker for him.  He whistles softly.  Captain...









                          **** Day two *****



[I don't have any intelligence from R-alpha for day two or day three...RJ]





<Andon>

Hey Lazer,  I'm going to be down at the vehicle bay, I'm to keyed up, I need
to keep myself busy for a while.



<Go and hunt down Ralf>

Ralf, I think we were just about to do some checking of the vehicles before
we were so rudely interrupted.  How about we get back to it?



Andon will spend a long time rechecking the vehicles and giving Ralf a hand
with making adjustments, if he comes down.  Andon will continue working until
he is very tired, he has trouble getting to sleep after an alert in which
he can't do anything and working helps him unwind.











Christian leisurely finishes his lunch and disposes of the meal in the 
handy recycler. Standing up, he brushes a few crumbs from his gray 
surgery fatigues and scans the room, before his gaze locks in on an 
unfamiliar individual and he strides over to meet the new addition to 
the bio/medical team.



With a wide and relieved smile, he reaches out and gives Jan a firm
handshake, then sits down across from him. "Welcome aboard Doctor Yorblin,
I'm afraid I've been busy up until now, sorry I wasn't there when you were
thawed out so that we could get acquainted. I'm Doctor Christian Van Der
Merwe, (Order of Starship and Crown), the Chief Medical Officer and leader
of the Bio/Medical Team. Glad to have you aboard doctor, we've been a bit
short-handed until now. What is your medical expertise, Doctor?"



"Pleased to meet you, Sir Christian,"  Jan says as he extends his hand.
He is still wearing the scout TL15 vacc suit he had on in low passage,
but he does have a ship's comm dot on.  Jan stands about 6'6", is pale
bordering on albino, has a white hair in a belter cut, and a white handle
bar mustache.



"Don't know if you had a chance to puruse my portfolio before ya thawed
me, but why don't I tell ya a little about me.  Finished med school at the
IISS Medical Academy on Stroud.  Did a four year residency in adult intensive
care medicine in the belt in the Stroud system.  Took the board certification
as an adult intensivist two years ago when I went on detached duty.  Been
doing that since then with a focus on reconstructive medicine post space
injuries.



"Figured it was time to get back into exploration, so when I was offered
a spot on the Alcyon, I went ahead and took it.  Before becoming a doc
I was an exploration branch generalist -licensed as a watch standing pilot
and junior navigator.  Got some other skills that make me handy on a
dirtside trip, stuff like weapons handling and recon, things you probably
aren't too concerned about."



Christian seems genuinely pleased. "Good! They way things have been going on
around here, I could use a good critical care and reconstructive man. Anton
Devious, who is in a deep coma now, had his foot amputated by an iris valve,
so maybe your expertise would come in handy if we tried to reattach or
regenerate."



"To return the favor, let me tell you a bit about myself. I'm certified by the
Imperial Medical College in xenomedicine, specializing in Vargr trauma
surgery and neurology, and in bionics. After graduating from the University of
Deneb Medical school with honors, I spent a few years as in the IISS R&D
branch, doing teaching and research; I wrote a number of papers on both of
my specialties. After that, I transferred into 'the field' as a flight
surgeon and after I picked up my ship operations skills I was assigned as
a courier and 'travelling doctor' of sorts, looking in on all kinds of
remote posts and such. That's how I picked up my ship, the Aurora."



"Anyway, seeing as I was up, I went over the patients you still have in
the sickbay.  What sort of workload do you me to start out with, and
on which patients?"



"As I indicated, Anton is the worst case. I'm not sure we can do anything
about his coma, but if he comes out we would have to consider regenerating
or replacing his foot. Obviously I have a bionic replacement covered, and
you have regeneration. So you could keep an eye on him. The other patient,
Daniel Silvmane, needs extensive help with rehabilitation after that LH2
accident. If you can handle these two, I have a prior investigation that I
have to attend to. I think that's about it; questions?"







Ralf and Andon notice 'Vouf transferring his grav bike to the Command Shuttle.



	Geez, tight fit, but if he can manage it.  I'd have just

flown it around the outside.  But then I guess this was in jump?



	Ralf comments that anything that big he expects to be 

pressurized for comfort :-)



"Actually, it IS pressurized," Vouf says mildly as he rounds the bend.
"It runs smoothest at high altitudes." And then he's guiding it
down to the vehicle docking areas, and is lost to sight.


The armory got a shock today when Rigo Edmonsen bumped a box
(a cube of some flat-black material, about 2' high) which has been
lying around since the start of the trip.  The box responded with 
a short klaxon and the appearance of a radiation warning sign (a
large red dot with three red trapezoids extending from its edges)
for a few seconds.


Ger walks quietly into the lounge that evening with a large bundle of papers
and a portable computer. He walks to the autochef, and orders a nutri-meal,
and nutri-beverage. After a nod in 'voufs direction he heads over to a corner 
of the room sets up the computer, and spends the next hour or so shuffling
papers, typing on the keyboard, occasionaly talking to himself, and oh yea,
infrequently partaking of the "meal" ordered.



(perhaps some of the people gathered wonder.."He actually reads all the
reports that I send him?? All the way through?")








                      **** Day three *****



Well after the furor of the post-Jump repairs has died down and gradually
been replaced by the relatively routine run of security work and scientific
prep for the long-awaited arrival at R-Alpha, probably the second or third
day of the Jump, Bhyarrvouf vanishes. He's not in his cabin, nor on the 
Bridge, nor in the Engine Room, the Alcyon's Sickbay, or on the Talisman.
The only person who seems to know anything at all about the disappearance
is Count Ger, whose only comment is, "He is attending to urgent personal
business today. He will be back on duty soon enough."







That night, as the crewmen who aren't on duty gather in the mess hall to get a 
bite of supper, 'Vouf comes in with Dr. van der Merwe, laughing and chatting
amiably. Christian seems a bit wrung out yet happy, a far cry from his misery
and exhaustion of the past few days of watching Devious, Hammer, MT, and 
Nayduz either die or get put in coldsleep tubes. 'Vouf is absolutely bubbling
over, happier than anyone's ever seen him and not caring who notices. He 
saunters over to the autochef and barks, "Bloodvark, raw, bite-sized chunks."
Christian orders his meal right after that, and picks up both trays, carrying
them to an empty table. He and 'Vouf sit down, and Christian begins 
alternating between feeding himself and popping bits of meat into Bhyarrvouf's
mouth. Anyone who gives a closer look at the pair upon seeing this bizarre
behavior will instantly notice the reason: 'Vouf's cybergloves are gone. In
their place are two sheaths of resilient polyfoam, from which only his 
fingertips are visible, held rigidly in a splayed position. He rests them on
his lap as he eats, and they twitch occasionally but otherwise don't move.






Fitz will come over, gnawing on a chicken wing and ask, "Ey, 'Vouf, what
happened to yer mitts?..."



"You have something to do with this Doc?"



Working his way through a particularly nuclear sort of chili, Christian grabs
a hunk of warm bread straight from the compu-galley and begins to slather it
liberally with synthobutter. In between bites and spoonfulls of chili (and
ballistically tossing bloodvark chunks at 'Vouf -- clearly Christian hasn't
been attending to himself of late and is ravenously hungry), he looks up at
Fritz and deadpans: "Sure did, I recommended that he attend to his hygine by
washing his hands before dinner. We just had a difficult time persuading some
of those twenty-year microbes that they could find another home. Last I looked,
I think they were chasing after Bit, yelling something about new tenants..."





'Hey, If you're not going to be needing those mitts, mind if I take a look at
them, they were pretty neat!'



"Oh, hi, Fitz," 'Vouf says between bites. "My gloves? I took 'em off. First
time in nigh on twenty years, actually. Decided I couldn't postpone washing
under my fingernails any longer-- hrf hrf hrf...." He chuckles. "And no, you
CAN'T take a look at them, no offense. They're kind of personal, y'know?"



Devoting himself to his cuisine, Christian mutters something under his breath
about curiosity...





'Vouf sighs, but holds out his hands to be inspected. They bear an astonishing
resemblance to human hands from what Fitz can see, with the fingernails very
large and hardened, almost but not quite clawlike. "For your information, 
Fitz, we call them 'hands,' because they resemble human hands so closely. 
Aslan have paws, K'Kree have hooves, Hivers have tentacles, and Droyne, Humans 
and Vargr all have hands." The difference between his arms and legs is 
startling, the most obvious sign of genetic engineering by the Ancients: his
arms and hands are quite humanlike in nature, but his legs have the powerful
haunches and enlarged tarsal bones of a dog's legs. "My feet have pads," he
says, "Which is why I go barefoot when I'm off-ship sometimes. But the hands
don't. The Ancients did a pretty good job, hrf?"



>Fitz goes back to nibbling his chicken wing.  "You ever try any barbeque sauce
>on them 'chunks'?"



"Barbecue sauce?" 'Vouf blinks. "Is that the sort of sweetish, spicy stuff the
Solomani smear on charred animal ribcages? Can you get that here?" He glares
at Christian in mock anger. "Yer not taking very good care of me, aenrra!"





    Just as 'Vouf prepares to intercept another bloodvark chuck tossed by
the good doctor, a hand descends on his shoulder while it's mate snatches
the piece of meat from the air inches from 'Vouf's jaws.  Looking up, he
locks eyes with the ship's resident snoop.
    "Greetings, your furriness," smiles Adrian Bishop.  "Hi ya, Doc...
Fitz.  How's tricks?"  Then Bishop looks down at his hand, clutching
the hunk of raw bloodvark.
    "Yeee-uuch!!" he grimaces, gingerly dropping it onto the table.
Searching about, he spots a napkin which quickly absorbs the mess.


Bhyarrvouf sighs gustily. "Bishop," he groans, "Don't do that. I could've
taken off a finger, and you know it."



Still deeply involved in assuaging his hunger, Christian favors Adrian with
a wearily tolerant eye. "What's the matter Adrian, did the INS cancel your
breathtaking interview of the Deputy Assistant to the Undersecretary in
charge of the Adjunct Department for Sucking Up to Lucan?" (grin)



"No," 'Vouf corrects him with a grin, his ears coming up a bit, "Actually he's 
onto the trail of a hotter target these days, aenrra. Seems he's got the goods 
on a mysterious Vargr whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose present is 
all too concrete...." 



    "Look," Bishop grins at 'Vouf, "I can see that you're REALLY busy right
now, but maybe when you're finished, we can do that little interview you
'promised' me in the hall two days ago, hmmm?"  Holding up an innocent-
looking holo-chip, he glances pointedly at 'Vouf's hands and continues,
"After all, in your present state, I guess I don't have to worry about
you shooting me, do I?"



Christian glances up at Adrian. "If you think that's all you had to worry
about, Adrian.... (meaningful look)" With a darkly humorous chuckle, he
returns his attention to selecting a delectible dessert, looking briefly
at Bhyarrvouf, as if to share an inside joke.



"C'maahhhhn, aenrra," 'Vouf chuckles, "Don't spoil my fun! If he's expecting--
whoops!" He looks over at Bishop again. "Almost gave it away. Can't have 
that, now, can we?"



    "I'll be in the lounge, when you're ready, OK?"


"Say good-night Adrian.  Cigarette? Blindfold?"



"I'll take the blindfold but no cigarette.  They're bad for your health."
Bishop positively beams as he walks out of the room.  It must be the drugs.



After he's gone, 'Vouf shrugs and finishes his meal with Christian's help.
He then gets up, yawns, stretches, and says to no one in particular, "Tonight
and tonight only, in the lounge, for the amusement and edification of the
Alcyon's crew: SubCommander Bhyarrvouf demonstrates that he CAN in fact kill,
dismember and eat a grown human in under five minutes. Without using his
hands." He strides out, licking his chops. 







Hey, Thul, wanna make a wager?  I say 'Vouf can do it.
Farouk over.



Heh!  I don't bet on foregone conclusions....





- - -- 

"If I get murdered one more time, I'll scream!"  //      Richard Johnson
`Mary' from the movie "High Spirits"            //   richard@oresoft.com
                                              \X/ richard@agora.rain.com


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