Space, as someone once wrote, is big, mind-mindbogglingly big (thanks Douglas) and that can create problems for a science-fiction author. Not the least of these is time. Get anywhere in this universe at the speed of light? How far can you go in 70 years? Not very far, and that's why we indulge in warp-speed, wormholes and, quite honestly, anything else that will ride roughshod over the laws of physics to facilitate our imaginations. Descent's no different in that respect, although quite how it does so is. And I needed something to give me visual confirmation of what I thought was going on in my head.
A core component of Descent are the destination planets that the central characters will find themselves on and, when doing the background research, I did enough to ensure that the assumptions and premises I was making will stand up to (at least a cursory) examination. But I was never quite able to get a graphic to go with it to ease the visual side of my brain. There were three major stumbling blocks. One was the fact that, for the Hipparcos Catalogue of stars I was using, the stellar coordinates are primarily given in RA and DEC; number two was that the old X-Y-Z axis charting programmes I used to use are either discontinued or can’t handle the volume of data I wanted to run through them; and thirdly that to convert RA and DEC into Cartesian coordinates (that work with X-Y-Z) involved a bit of mathematics that, despite my best efforts, kept returning ridiculously incorrect data.
Thankfully I found a medical imaging programme that could handle the number of data points I needed, together with the complete Hipparcos Catalogue that lists Cartesian Coordinates for the stars, so I was set. All I had to do was plug in the data for the stars I needed, grab a tall cup of coffee, and wait for the computer to sort itself out.
Wait, you ask?
Well, yes, of course. You didn't think it'd be simple, surely? The first section was relatively straightforward, all I needed was everything within 12 light-years of Sol, around 27 stars, and that's no real challenge for todays' machines. Ah, but the second, that's where it gets interesting and where Mr Adams' sentiments kick in.
Have a look at the following picture, the results of my visual desire. I've kept Sol as yellow in all the pics.
At the far left you have a pic that relates specifically to Diathesis and Death, all the stars within a 12 light-year radius of Sol, with the target star sitting on the outer edge in a nice, deep red colour. Space looks big but is a bit empty at this scale, not too much around and what seems to be a clear line of sight from Sol to target. Easy peasy, yes? Maybe. So much for the first section of my visual need.
In the middle of the pic, however, you can see a change in circumstances that arises in Death reflected in the addition of another target star, this time in blue, sitting around 400 light-years from Sol. Doesn't look so far at this scale or angle, right? Or even that crowded, as long as we just keep the 27 stars within 12 light-years of Sol in frame.
But.
Add in the 32,000 stars that lie inside a radius of 400 light-years from Sol and you get the far right pic. Crowded, dense, jam packed with stars, right? Well, yes and no. Looks like it from a distance but, honestly, with the exception of clusters etc it's no denser on average than at the scale on far left. So it poses a question. If you're in the middle of it, do you feel like it's empty or dense? Sit on board the flight-deck of a certain long-lived US scifi series and it's a series of streaks, a solid mass of stars and planets you can waltz around and through in the equivalent of a cheap sports-car (or SUV, depending on family situation). Rely on anything like a chemical or atomic reaction and it's all empty, all stark, all lonesome.
Maybe it seems like a crazy length to go to, just to confirm visually what I had settled on using some basic mathematics and star-charts, but in the end the confirmation’s needed for my own peace of mind and for the inevitability that, once I’m deeper into the writing/editing process in the final few volumes, I’ll have all but forgotten the whys and wherefores of all this and have only the assurance that (for whatever reasons) it’s correct. It makes me all the more in awe of the hard-core, hard-scifi writers out there keeping heads full of technical detail and linkages churning around.
And, like most of us, I can never underestimate the need to just sit and stare, to dream and let my mind wander in the depths of space.
Until next time, take the time to write, no matter what’s going on.
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