Impeller Wedge in a Boat Bay

Sorry if this is a previously discussed topic, but I've been rereading the series and after finishing In Enemy Hands, EoH, and starting again on AoV, I find myself wondering why everyone is so horrified when they hear that Harkness lit off a pinnace's wedge inside Tepes' boatbay.

Now, I understand as the wedge comes up it expands outward from the nodes as the gravitational field strengthens. I imagine anything caught in the field would be ripped apart at a molecular level by the grav shear. That is why RFC used the description of how the ship just... disintegrated.

So, where does the horror come into things? Death would be instantaneous, there wouldn't even be enough time to realize anything was happening. How would that be different from a fusion bottle letting go? Both result in a debris field of very small pieces, though the grav shear might make for smaller pieces. And in both cases the victim doesn't even know what's happening. Or is their enough time as the field strengthens to realize what is happening as you... come apart?

Could someone enlighten me?

Borealis wrote:Sorry if this is a previously discussed topic, but I've been rereading the series and after finishing In Enemy Hands, EoH, and starting again on AoV, I find myself wondering why everyone is so horrified when they hear that Harkness lit off a pinnace's wedge inside Tepes' boatbay.

Now, I understand as the wedge comes up it expands outward from the nodes as the gravitational field strengthens. I imagine anything caught in the field would be ripped apart at a molecular level by the grav shear. That is why RFC used the description of how the ship just... disintegrated.

So, where does the horror come into things? Death would be instantaneous, there wouldn't even be enough time to realize anything was happening. How would that be different from a fusion bottle letting go? Both result in a debris field of very small pieces, though the grav shear might make for smaller pieces. And in both cases the victim doesn't even know what's happening. Or is their enough time as the field strengthens to realize what is happening as you... come apart?

Could someone enlighten me?

The Horror is he just killed 2000 souls with the removal of some code and a button push. It's not how they died, it's that he killed them that easily in a manner everybody fears "accidentally" happening (but are told can't happen).

Theemile wrote:

Borealis wrote:Sorry if this is a previously discussed topic, but I've been rereading the series and after finishing In Enemy Hands, EoH, and starting again on AoV, I find myself wondering why everyone is so horrified when they hear that Harkness lit off a pinnace's wedge inside Tepes' boatbay.

Now, I understand as the wedge comes up it expands outward from the nodes as the gravitational field strengthens. I imagine anything caught in the field would be ripped apart at a molecular level by the grav shear. That is why RFC used the description of how the ship just... disintegrated.

So, where does the horror come into things? Death would be instantaneous, there wouldn't even be enough time to realize anything was happening. How would that be different from a fusion bottle letting go? Both result in a debris field of very small pieces, though the grav shear might make for smaller pieces. And in both cases the victim doesn't even know what's happening. Or is their enough time as the field strengthens to realize what is happening as you... come apart?

Could someone enlighten me?

The Horror is he just killed 2000 souls with the removal of some code and a button push. It's not how they died, it's that he killed them that easily in a manner everybody fears "accidentally" happening (but are told can't happen).

It wasn't "code" - they had to disconnect the sensors from the autopilot physically, because the "code" was so firmly embedded.

The point still stands, though.

On top of that, everyone expects people to die in mass quantities during a battle - they're used to the idea that a fusion bottle can let go, or that people get sucked out into the void.

It's pretty uncommon for a wedge to come up inside a ship, so it takes people by surprise.

Even when I was reading that for the first time, I said, "Oh, $#!7)"

Not that I thought Ransom & Co. didn't deserve it, but it was unexpected.

I for one do not fully understand the Sollies's complete lack of redundant physical disconnects related to small craft wedge initiation. If they chose to lack the physical apparatus required to start a grav wedge, then one would think that their rote basic training policy would preclude such an "event" from happening?

Kinda like the USN having for years a rating yell out "I am carrying a lighted torch" before preceding to light off an old fashioned oil fired burner inside a steam boiler on steam turbine powered warships. Why did not the Sollies have such? Rather a quaint system, but it would perhaps prevent...such accidents?

Just me here. My opinions only. I love this place. HB of CJ (old coot)

They were horrified that Harkness was effectively bagging himself a battlecruiser kill using a pinnace, while their Fearless leader needs at least a heavy cruiser to pull the same job.

HB of CJ wrote:I for one do not fully understand the Sollies's complete lack of redundant physical disconnects related to small craft wedge initiation. If they chose to lack the physical apparatus required to start a grav wedge, then one would think that their rote basic training policy would preclude such an "event" from happening?

Kinda like the USN having for years a rating yell out "I am carrying a lighted torch" before preceding to light off an old fashioned oil fired burner inside a steam boiler on steam turbine powered warships. Why did not the Sollies have such? Rather a quaint system, but it would perhaps prevent...such accidents?

Just me here. My opinions only. I love this place. HB of CJ (old coot)

It was Haven, not the Solarian League. And they did have physical disconnects to prevent such an accident. The text explicitly mentions Harkness and Scotty physically removing those disconnects before they could pull it off. They had to work rather hard to make it happen. That's part of why it shocks people--they've always believed that it couldn't happen.

As well, in a battle, there's a chance of survivors. With this, the chances are exactly zero. While the death was probably instant and painless, it also nullified any chance of survivors. Killing that many people in an instant would probably leave me a bit shocked, too.

Uroboros wrote:As well, in a battle, there's a chance of survivors. With this, the chances are exactly zero. While the death was probably instant and painless, it also nullified any chance of survivors. Killing that many people in an instant would probably leave me a bit shocked, too.

I think that's right. OTOH no one seemed terribly shocked, in that sense, by 'Oops!'.

Randomiser wrote:

Uroboros wrote:As well, in a battle, there's a chance of survivors. With this, the chances are exactly zero. While the death was probably instant and painless, it also nullified any chance of survivors. Killing that many people in an instant would probably leave me a bit shocked, too.

I think that's right. OTOH no one seemed terribly shocked, in that sense, by 'Oops!'.

Actually, we haven't seen anyone's reactions to 'Oops!'. The scene cut away before anyone could react to the realization that Shannon had managed to sabotage all those ships. And we never got a flashback or later references to the incident. Perhaps no one brings it up because it still somewhat shocks them?