11 KiB
[Spoilers Fall of Doc Future/Skybreaker's Call] Possible plot hole in Skybreaker's Call?
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Author: u/Ilverin *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3bf12y/spoilers_fall_of_doc_futureskybreakers_call/
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Score: 8
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Created: 2015-06-28T17:10:17
Post:
[Spoilers Fall of Doc Future/Skybreaker's Call]
EDIT: The scenario is explicitly discussed in http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/81156411972/skybreakers-call-chapter-15 well before the actual invasion happens. Feel free to ignore this thread.
Hello,
I've finished Fall of Doc Future (found here: http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/34751426243/doc-prologue )
I'm currently on chapter 29 of Skybreaker's Call (found here: http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/63708903466/skybreakers-call-prologue )
(These works are intended to be rational, they're by /u/DocFuture )
Earth is being invaded by a fleet of space ships, and Flicker aka Skybreaker has the ability to A. Move really fast/exert a lot of force. B. 'entropy dump' so that she doesn't explode from all the energy/force involved.
Flicker is destroying some of the ships in the fleet by throwing rocks from the Earth but releases harmful radiation in the process. Shouldn't she have done this from the moon instead (she could have brought rocks/tungsten to the moon ahead of time and gone directly to the moon as soon as the invaders were spotted)?
Many of the characters (Stella, Doc, Yiskah) are supposed to be super-geniuses (literally the smartest people on earth + cybernetic brain upgrades), so isn't it a plot hole that they missed this?
EDIT: Now the invading fleet has destroyed Flicker's piles of rocks by scanning the ground and locating them. Admittedly I didn't anticipate this directly, but I did imagine flicker using underground bases on the moon (though to hide herself rather than the rocks).
Comments:
u/DocFuture [+3] (2 days later)
Well, nice to know my work is inspiring discussion 8-). An early commenter on chapter 14 asked about the going to the Moon method, so I added a discussion of it in chapter 15. One of the problems was that the Moon is quite a long ways from Earth--farther than Flicker's effective range to hit maneuvering spaceships with rocks, and wasn't in the right part of its orbit to be between Earth and the approaching fleet. Other problems I went into more detail about in chapter 15.
For the comment about romance: I understand that it won't be to everyone's taste, and I can certainly sympathize with over-empathizing and emotional exhaustion, but one of the things I was trying to portray is plausible relationships--and those don't necessarily get easier at the far right end of the bell curve, even in the absence of other problems. Doc was suffering from chronic sleep deprivation and was actively sabotaged by a powerful probability manipulator as a teenager, Flicker had multiple traumas and a completely asocial childhood, and Stella was a serial killer. In addition, the only major viewpoint character who is remotely neurotypical is Donner. They're bad at it for good reasons.
I'll take "like reading Romeo and Juliet, only with superpowers and world crisis" as a compliment, whether is was intended as one or not 8-)
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and comment. Seeing the different ways people react to my work helps give me perspective as a writer.
Edited for clarity.
u/SvalbardCaretaker [+1] Mouse Army (2 days later)
So for positive feedback:
I thought your first depiction of Flikkers true speed (when she flits to london to save her friend) was an unparalleld feat, showing us the life of a true speedster.
Later I saw the Quicksilver scene from Xmen: days of future past and I think they are pretty much equal in awesomeness.
So thank you for providing much entertainment.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+2] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (17 minutes later)
Obvious problem: she's basically helpless and exposed for the duration of the trip to the Moon and back.
u/mhd-hbd [+2] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (5 hours later)
Yes, because it is very easy to hit a target moving at 80% lightspeed...
(Disclaimer: I have no knowledge of the Alien's weapon capabilities, but TFODF 'verse seems to be light-speed hard. Atomic Rocket's article on Relativistic Kinetic Kill weapons provides the rest of the argument.)
(Incidentally, I stopped reading TFODF when it became a romance novel.)
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (a day later)
It didn't become a romance novel. It has romance in it, because it's depicting really intelligent people as people, but it's no more a romance novel than Luminosity and Radiance are.
u/mhd-hbd [+4] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (a day later)
It was mostly a joke, but I think it lays it on thick. I have some issues with over-emphasizing with fictional characters and suffering emotional exhaustion.
And the characters are really intelligent, but all have Wisdom as the dump stat and that really pisses me off. It's like reading Romeo and Juliet, only with superpowers and word crisis instead of romance.
u/Chronophilia [+1] sci-fi ≠ futurology (19 hours later)
A target moving at 80% of light speed in a straight line at a constant speed is the easiest thing in the world to hit, if you've got laser weapons and computer-fast reflexes. Flicker can't steer when she's not on the ground.
u/mhd-hbd [+3] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake' (21 hours later)
Reading the other posts in the thread, I saw a quote indicating that the alien ships were at least 60 light seconds away. ~1.5 light seconds to the moon, means a travel time of less than three seconds, and that Flicker-in-flight will be outside their past and future light-cones.
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (a day later)
They were that many light-seconds away when they dropped into space. They were much closer when they reached Flicker's effective range, by which point she'd be a sitting duck if she needed to drop back to Earth to deal with ships on the far side of it from the Moon.
u/Ilverin [+1] (23 minutes later)
Okay, then the plan could be: establish some underground moon bases with oxygen tanks (if necessary) and communications equipment. As soon as the invading fleet is spotted, go to the moon right away and wait to be signalled to attack?
EDIT: Actually if she is both vulnerable and unable to throw all of the rocks from the moon due to lack of entropy then she would be unable to get back to the Earth to destroy all the ships.
However, now that I've read the next couple of chapters, she does actually destroy all of the ships from the Earth and it's not an extinction event, so I fail to see how it could be possible that she couldn't have done it on the moon.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (6 hours later)
They also tracked her and started systematically destroying her missile dumps during the attack. They'd have had to have created a BUNCH of hideouts and made them undetectable to pull it off.
Be better to dump a bunch of volatiles on the moon and give it an atmosphere.
u/eaglejarl [+2] (3 hours later)
It's been a while since I read it, but I recall this being addressed -- by the time they spotted the fleet, the fleet was too close for her to safely jump to the moon. She'd have been helplessly ballistic with no mass nearby to entropy dump into.
So, basically, what /u/ArgentStonecutter said.
u/Ilverin [+2] (4 hours later)
Quote from chapter 26 which is found at : http://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/96437734176/skybreakers-call-chapter-26
"Eighteen ships now being tracked,” said DASI. “Velocity about 2,030 kilometers per second towards Earth, with slight variations.” Doc almost stumbled. “That’s huge! They must have jumped through with it.” "How soon will they be here?“ asked Jetgirl. "Depends on how soon they start decelerating, and how fast. Two and a half hours for a flyby if they don’t. Or impactors. DASI? Any sign–”
EDIT: Numbers:
According to the quote, the fleet are traveling at 2,030 kilometers per second when they are first spotted, and they will arrive at earth in 2.5 hours if they do not slow down.
(2,030 kilometers per second * 2.5 hours) / c = 60 light-seconds away.
Flicker has shown she can get to the moon in less than 60 seconds during the music video.
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (4 hours later)
High-powered lasers.
u/Ilverin [+1] (4 hours later)
According to the quote, the fleet are traveling at 2,030 kilometers per second when they are first spotted, and they will arrive at earth in 2.5 hours if they do not slow down.
(2,030 kilometers per second * 2.5 hours) / c = 60 light-seconds away.
Flicker has shown she can get to the moon in less than 60 seconds during the music video.
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (4 hours later)
I'll believe it.
u/VorpalAuroch [+1] Life before Death (a day later)
That's still a massive amount of time on the timescales where this fight takes place.
In all, she’d hit with over four million rocks, and destroyed eighty-two ships so far, including all the dreadnaughts.
It had not yet been ten minutes since she started, by the clock. Flicker shook her head at that–in her subjective time, it had been about forty days.
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (a day later)
This is specifically mentioned earlier in Skybreaker's Call (one of the Lizard children suggests it). It's very hard, maybe impossible, to make a containment suit that lets her operate at speed, and if they don't approach from the same side as the moon, she's a total sitting duck for the jump home.
EDIT: Found it. Chapter 15. And note that in the actual attack, they quickly surround the planet, so those fears were well-founded.
u/Ilverin [+1] (a day later)
I can't find the reference to which you are referring.
Didn't she operate at speed on the moon during the music video?
Why does she need to go back to earth before the fleet is destroyed? Just destroy the fleet first, then go back to earth.
u/VorpalAuroch [+2] Life before Death (a day later)
If the Earth is between her and the fleet, she cannot destroy it from the Moon. And she can't destroy them fast enough to prevent them from putting the Earth between the Moon and themselves; her effective range is not that large. Read the chapter I linked in the edit.