I'm so stupid, I signed up and got the Zot.

[hk409]

THIS SITE IS ZOT!

GIMME A BRAKE ALREADY! YOU GUYS MUST BE THE BIGEST MORONS ON THE WORLD! THE BIGEST MORONS NEXT TO THAT SOFTWARE COMPANY I USED TO VISIT SIX YEARS AGO! OY YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! YOY! EACH TIME I TRYED TO POST SOMETHING NO MATTER HOW SMART! NO MATTER HOW CONSERVATIVE! EVEN IF I BEND OVER BACK AND DO BACK FLIPS AND THEN BEND OVER FOR THAT DUMB LIBERAL WE UNFORTUNATELY ELECTED! EVEN IF SPELL CHECKER ARE WORKING I STILL GET THEN KICKED OFF!! THEN ZOTTED!! WHY? IS IT JUST BECAUSE I WRITE SO BRILLIANT? BOB RUNS THINGS HERE!? OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. MAEYBE PEEPLE LIKE JJFATE AND NOAH HORSEFLY IS ASKING FOR IT BUT WHAT ABOUT ME!

[NicknamedBob]

"...where Amos Ori from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, comes in. He says that according to Einstein's theories, space can be twisted enough to create a local gravity field that looks like a doughnut of some arbitrary size. The gravitational field lines circle around the outside of this doughnut, so that space and time are both tightly curved back on themselves.”

This adds a new "wrinkle" to my plans to build a second-generation ship during our travels. I had arranged sufficient space in the area under the castle to put together a sort of flying saucer shape with, you guessed it! -- a doughnut-shaped high-speed plasma which would generate reactionless thrust, as well as a gravitational field.

If it is further complicated by producing a time-warp as well... Well, it upsets the whole percentage, don'tcha see?

Hey, while we're chatting, and waiting for the shuttle to start its countdown again, whaddaya say we put together a lunar excursion module with some of the shuttle-thrusters, and a pod of some sort?

I've been concerned that our maneuvering in Lunar orbit with the castle and the other enclosures could get a little tricky. If we send a separate probe, we can just sweep by the moon on our way to Mars. It should save a lot of reaction-mass, as well as time.

And this would give us something to talk about while we're waiting for the rest of the modifications to be completed. I have in mind a continuous, light thrust to supply artificial gravity, with a turn-around at mid-point, and then a return the same way after we drop off NASA's packages. If we take off directly toward the sun from the Pacific, we shouldn't even be observed by anyone other than NORAD, and we can ask NASA to run interference for us with them.

Comments? Who wants to go? What should we take, et cetera?

[Tax-chick]

If we're going to the moon, shouldn't we take cheese? And how about a few moose, too?

[NicknamedBob]

We should certainly take cheese. As to moose, does it taste like ham?

We'll have a restricted amount of space, and will have to limit the number of people to no more than one hundred.

We'll use a well-stocked food pantry, CO² scrubbers, all the typical accoutrements of places like the shuttle or the ISS, but we shouldn't have to put up with zero-gee, just reduced gravity.

I'm picturing a six-sided vessel with six of the shuttle-thrusters for propulsion, and six internal pressurized tanks, four for reaction gas, one just for make-up Oxygen, and one for regular compressed air.

By being under continuous thrust, we'll also shave about four days off the typical Lunar journey, but it will still take about a week or so.

There would be a bit of extra acceleration pressure at the beginning and ending of the journey, but most of the trip will be in reduced gravity. You and little Whoosis want to come along?

[Not A Snowbird]

I'll go! Has anyone signed up to bring the Krispy Kremes yet?

[NicknamedBob]

That can be one of your jobs!

Don't forget your spacesuit, and make sure it has a little "breathing room."

Bob ran things here, all right!

[NicknamedBob]

The shuttle on the lower right, shown here, is the closest to my vision for the ones we will use.

The wings may seem useless for this mission, but on the return trip, should the need arise, we can use them as emergency escape vessels for Earth atmospheric re-entry. Each shuttle has two Gas Cooled Nuclear Reactor/Rocket Engines, and they tap into the on-board reaction tanks during rocket firing.

[tuliptree76]

Who wants to go?

I'm willing to go pretty much anywhere right now.

[NicknamedBob]

That stubby cylindrical shape on the lower left, if you scaled up its relative size by ten times, would correspond to the excursion module.

Picture six of the shuttles attached around it centrally like rocket motors, and you'll have the concept of our journey.

The NASA package will be in the aft section, and we'll try to scoop up some of that South Lunar Pole water-ice, if we find any. NASA will want to study that. I guess the rest of it will be picture-taking, and just to say we've been there.

[Not A Snowbird]

Don't forget your spacesuit, and make sure it has a little "breathing room."

Absolutely! The problem with Krispy Kremes, though, is they get stale quickly. Do we have a super-duper pantry that will keep donuts fresh for the duration?

[Darksheare]

I don't foresee any overly BAD side effects of the plasma torus time warp effect.*

*said while pointedly ignoring the scantily clad space-fems phasing in and out of relity and floating overhead.
/ bad joke

[Lady Jag]

[NicknamedBob]

Yeah, you'll need a break.

We'll need to put together a module first, but you'll be welcome to come along.

By the way, we're going to need some shuttle pilots. Some of you will have to practice with the training package.

It's easy, just follow the electronic guidelines. Mostly the computer will do the work, but we need a standby system (human beings) just in case.

[NicknamedBob]

"...they get stale quickly. Do we have a super-duper pantry that will keep donuts fresh for the duration?"

Well then, after the first day, we'll have to have some home-made stuff. Donuts, pizza, ice-cream, ...

Don't worry about gaining weight -- we're going to a low-gravity environment!

Actually, we could have a super-duper sub-zero freezer. Extreme cold temperatures are easy to get in outer space.

[Lady Jag]

Dew knot trussed you're spell chequer too fined awl mistakes

[tuliptree76]

My brain is turned too much into mush for me to drive anywhere - even if I'm just a standby system.

[NicknamedBob]

That's okay. You can entertain Darksheare, and keep him away from the controls!

[tuliptree76]

Can I sleep instead? You can just wake me up when we get to our destination.

[Darksheare]

Sounds good to me.
*Surfing time waves, here I come!*

[NicknamedBob]

"Can I sleep instead?"

Sure thing! The steady rumble of the thrusters should sound like rain! Good sleeping conditions!

[Not A Snowbird]

Dew knot trussed you're spell chequer too fined awl mistakes

What did I do? (Rechecks her post, looks bewildered, shrugs...)