Encounter-a-Day

Slingers have a reputation as cowboys of the 30th century. It’s a dangerous job that requires uncommon guts, intelligence, resourcefulness and luck. Where most people live in thoroughly cataloged, explored and civilized galaxies, the slingers have to go and face the only real unknowns in the universe. Each mission is a new challenge requiring a new solution.

The word “slinger” comes from the Dillyard-Fraunhöffer Asymmetric Deep Space Transit System, more popularly known as the “gravity slingshot.” Interstellar travel is usually accomplished by a network of orbital gateways which allow for easy, safe and convenient hyperspace travel. The problem with these orbital gateways is that you need them at both your point of origin and your destination.

The gravity slingshot, however, can theoretically send you almost anywhere. Like the normal orbital gateways, they are both powered by gravity as well as using it to function. Unlike the orbital gateways, which are single units orbiting planets, the gravity slingshot consists of three platforms arranged around a star. The slingshot sends the ship’s hyperstream through the very center of the star.

This squashes the hyperstream into a sort of spout, like you’d find on a water gun, and the ship is propelled through at almost unimaginable speeds. It’s calculated so that the hyperstream passes through relatively empty space until it reaches the gravity well of the desired system, which naturally disrupts the hyperstream and returns the ship to normal space.

The systems slingers are sent to are almost a complete mystery. Sensors are not yet well-enough developed to get anything but the most basic readings from the distant planets; they’re barely able to verify that the planets exist and have the necessary characteristics to establish an orbital gateway. Once they arrive at the new system, the slingers must establish a base on the planet and begin the preparations for setting up the orbital gateway. The process is long and involved and requires a variety of complex disciplines, including mathematics, geology, fabrication, physics, chemistry and more.

In order for a world to be considered suitable for the establishment of an orbital gateway, it must meet several criteria. This includes size of its star, distance from its star, its own size and its composition, among others. It just so happens that, as a result, most suitable worlds also meet the criteria of the “life-profile,” meaning that it is very likely for lifeforms to have developed on it. As a result, all slingers know how to defend themselves, and frequently they’ll bring along some trained fighters just for defense purposes.

If things go wrong (and they usually do), slingers must be prepared to deal with the situation. They’ll usually bring enough spare parts to build a second orbital gateway, maybe even several spares of the especially fragile parts, and enough supplies to last months. If worst comes to worst, they can send a databurst back home to request resupply or reinforcements, but depending on their distance that could take anywhere from days to months before it’s received.