e2fc903d   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: throopw@sheol.org   
      
   : Bill Patterson    
   : I had the impression that the drives in MC weren't all depicting   
   : relativity -- that the Gods of the Jockaira and the Little People in   
   : particular had *something else* -- and that the specific problem Libby   
   : was wrestling with was trying to fit the data into a relativistic   
   : framework.   
      
   According to my memory, the captain of the ship remarked that they should   
   keep accelerating and see *if* they could pass lightspeed.  A similar   
   comment to what was made in Farmer in the Sky.  That's before any Jokira   
   or LP drives were involved; it was human reaction drives in the original   
   ship, after Libby's gadget was deactivated.  This suggestion was treated   
   seriously, in that it was argued against on pragmatic grounds (but we   
   couldn't navigate if we outran light, etc).  Arguably, either the people   
   discussing it were being ignorant, were supposing relativity was wrong   
   (since they already knew conservation of energy and momentum is wrong),   
   or were joking.   
      
   Note the similar bit in Farmer in the Sky has no such excuses, so overall,   
   I think it's a fair cop to say Heinlein of that general era wasn't   
   describing relativity fair and square.  See also the simultaneity issue   
   in Time for the Stars (though again, a "relativity is wrong" scenario),   
   and xref the later bit in Methuselah's Children where Libby points out   
   "same time as" is a fiction.   
      
   So all in all, a mixed bag.  But again, I think a fair cop to say   
   it wasn't really handled all that well, presentation-wise, in any   
   of these cases.   
      
      
   Wayne Throop   throopw@sheol.org   http://sheol.org/throopw   
      
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