That first wormhole transfer...

Territoral waters err space about junctions is interesting. Made even more poignant to me as of late because of enemy spy ships sitting 30 miles off the U.S. coast. Near a navy submarine base. It seems a bit too friendly to me, despite the laws.

That's not a spy ship. It's close enough to have dinner at a local restaurant.

phillies wrote:Manticore might conclude that knowing you have a wormhole is much more dangerous once you expose that you own it, and postpone opening it until the economy is a bit built up and drive parts can all be made locally.

I wonder if the Manticoran government ever considered keeping their discoveries classified. It isn't an unprecedented concept. Except of course that they'd have lost so much revenue. It may not even be feasible to keep such a thing a secret in a society like theirs.

Also makes one wonder if there's another junction kept secret, somewhere outside of even Malign influence.

cthia wrote:Territoral waters err space about junctions is interesting. Made even more poignant to me as of late because of enemy spy ships sitting 30 miles off the U.S. coast. Near a navy submarine base. It seems a bit too friendly to me, despite the laws.

That's not a spy ship. It's close enough to have dinner at a local restaurant.

If it was an ENEMY spy ship it would be sitting on the bottom of the ocean, trust me on that. Until something happens to change its status into "enemy" it can go pretty much anywhere it wants and do whatever it wants as long as it stays outside US territorial waters and doesn't break some international accord or law.

Those things are "fishing vessels" or "research ships" you know, and we all know what they are fishing for or researching. They wouldn't be there if there wasn't something to make their continued presence worthwhile.

"It's close enough to have dinner at a local restaurant." I wouldn't be at all shocked if some smartass called Pizza Hut Delivery on his cell phone and when asked where to deliver "2 miles due east of Chesapeake Bay Light Tower."

For those unfamiliar with the Hampton Roads area, that Light Tower sits almost at the edge of territorial waters marking the beginning of the ship channel through Thimble Shoals into Norfolk, Newport News and the Chesapeake Bay (Washington DC and Baltimore. The light can easily be seen at night from Cape Henry, Virginia Beach VA.

cthia wrote:
I wonder if the Manticoran government ever considered keeping their discoveries classified. It isn't an unprecedented concept. Except of course that they'd have lost so much revenue. It may not even be feasible to keep such a thing a secret in a society like theirs.

Also makes one wonder if there's another junction kept secret, somewhere outside of even Malign influence.

We know of one from the unreleased novella that will be disclosed. It was left hidden in part because the wormhole doesn't go anywhere valuable (a virtually uninhabited region with no good stars for human colonies).

Normally I don't think there's much of a point to keep it secret outside of some short term games (stocks and commodities pricing). Eg. the value of transit fees and what they can do for your country is just too great. The exceptions would be when the wormhole ends up someplace not so nice. Like I'm poor, but honest republic with 12 tin cans for a SDF. Then I discover an expansionist power is on the other side, and I hope like hell they didn't see the transit.

But really I probably contracted out the survey work, and now it's just a matter of time. Unless the survey ship disappears. But then its one of those plans where you lose your hat...

feyhunde wrote: But then its one of those plans where you lose your hat...

Any plan where you lose your hat is not a good plan.
(Girl Genius)

feyhunde wrote:

cthia wrote:
I wonder if the Manticoran government ever considered keeping their discoveries classified. It isn't an unprecedented concept. Except of course that they'd have lost so much revenue. It may not even be feasible to keep such a thing a secret in a society like theirs.

Also makes one wonder if there's another junction kept secret, somewhere outside of even Malign influence.

We know of one from the unreleased novella that will be disclosed. It was left hidden in part because the wormhole doesn't go anywhere valuable (a virtually uninhabited region with no good stars for human colonies).

Normally I don't think there's much of a point to keep it secret outside of some short term games (stocks and commodities pricing). Eg. the value of transit fees and what they can do for your country is just too great. The exceptions would be when the wormhole ends up someplace not so nice. Like I'm poor, but honest republic with 12 tin cans for a SDF. Then I discover an expansionist power is on the other side, and I hope like hell they didn't see the transit.

But really I probably contracted out the survey work, and now it's just a matter of time. Unless the survey ship disappears. But then its one of those plans where you lose your hat...

Which unreleased novella ???

feyhunde wrote:

cthia wrote:
I wonder if the Manticoran government ever considered keeping their discoveries classified. It isn't an unprecedented concept. Except of course that they'd have lost so much revenue. It may not even be feasible to keep such a thing a secret in a society like theirs.

Also makes one wonder if there's another junction kept secret, somewhere outside of even Malign influence.

We know of one from the unreleased novella that will be disclosed. It was left hidden in part because the wormhole doesn't go anywhere valuable (a virtually uninhabited region with no good stars for human colonies).

Normally I don't think there's much of a point to keep it secret outside of some short term games (stocks and commodities pricing). Eg. the value of transit fees and what they can do for your country is just too great. The exceptions would be when the wormhole ends up someplace not so nice. Like I'm poor, but honest republic with 12 tin cans for a SDF. Then I discover an expansionist power is on the other side, and I hope like hell they didn't see the transit.

But really I probably contracted out the survey work, and now it's just a matter of time. Unless the survey ship disappears. But then its one of those plans where you lose your hat...

Hornblower wrote:Which unreleased novella ???

He is referencing the classified wormhole found less than seventy light years from Haven in the Dark Fall series. I had completely forgotten about it, mentioned in the second snippet above. Thanks for reminder. Though I was actually musing about some other entity, settled quite a distance away from all of the current players. And more technologically advanced.

That would be a very hot curve ball coming in from the author on the mound.

robert132 wrote:

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:
There is some explanation in the Honorverse article in _More than Honor_ (the first Honorverse anthology) which was repeated in _House of Steel_. Basically, nobody had surveyed a junction before and Manticore's researchers had to learn on the job.

Can you imagine the guts or b@lls it would have taken to fly the first ship through a wormhole, something no one (Manty at least) had ever successfully done before, with techniques and technology that people "learning on the job" said should work?

You sit at this anomaly in space and study it for months before it is determined that you understand it enough to venture in. The anxiety, fear and excitement must be sickening.

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:
There is some explanation in the Honorverse article in _More than Honor_ (the first Honorverse anthology) which was repeated in _House of Steel_. Basically, nobody had surveyed a junction before and Manticore's researchers had to learn on the job.

robert132 wrote:Can you imagine the guts or b@lls it would have taken to fly the first ship through a wormhole, something no one (Manty at least) had ever successfully done before, with techniques and technology that people "learning on the job" said should work?

cthia wrote:You sit at this anomaly in space and study it for months before it is determined that you understand it enough to venture in. The anxiety, fear and excitement must be sickening.

Excitement, yes. Anyone who would be on that first ship is a certified adrenaline junkie who likes taking one-in-a-million chances for a chance to be in the history books.

You must be mindful to pack everything you need to be as self sufficient as possible. When you pop out of the other end, you may find yourself in some neck of the woods where there's no unleaded gasoline and they don't take American Express. LOL

I know it's the wrong universe, but Star Trek's Voyager readily comes to mind.