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Sol, when I get emails sent to me by TNBW, and I click on the link within (e.g., to go to a new message from another member), my security software (Bitdefender) intercepts my attempt to do so, and kicks up an error message like the following (edited for brevity):

https://email2.booksie.com/ls/click?upn=u6w90slL...etc.
Your connection to this web page is not safe due to an unmatching security certificate.
This means that the certificate was issued for a different web address than the one it is being used for, and you run the risk of exposing your data by accessing this page.

I can force my way past it, although I never do so at any other site. I'd prefer not to have to do it here either since there's always a chance the site's been hacked.

Thanks
Dirk

I would hold off on removing Raymond's account for a few weeks yet. He's not selling anything. You could consider it an author's bio, and he has published, although not in fiction. I sent him a quickee, so we'll see.

You know it's cold when Alexa switches to Kelvin. LoL

Avg Temp on Jupiter = 163K = -110C
Surface = 125K = -148C
Core = 24K-36K °K = ~24K-36K °C

Looks quite toasty inside Jupiter.

Son of a... Winter hit Alberta with a vengeance. I guess mother nature is trying to make up in one day for the nice weather we had through late December. My Accord's heater couldn't keep up, so I was freezing in the car, even with thick gloves on, and only 1/3 of the windows were clear. I finally bit the bullet and ordered the warmest pair of gloves I could find (non-heated). It's frightening when you have pay almost as much for gloves as you do for a parka. I subsequently read a review froom a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol, who considers the Black Diamond Guide gloves to be perfect for what they do. There are even warmer, heated gloves, but they cost as much as my first used VW, so I'm not that desperate yet.

I have another possible approach that doesn't involve an explicit 4th dimension: the Imperials can shoot some form of energy that can travel through shields. That's what I had originally.

Since that's too much like magic, I added that the weapon fires through hyperspace, where there are no shields, and when it encounters the hull of the target ship, the fired energy drops out of hyperspace, having skipped over the 3D shields, and hits the hull in 3D space, where the hull actually exists. Of course, this requires handwavium as to why the energy traveling through hyperspace "knows" the 3D ship is there. One of the mysteries of energy, I guess.

This is rather long, but it eliminates the need for bigger guns, which Star Wars has done to death:

Potayto. Potahto.

Slight tweak. I've gone back to hyperspace as the name of my story's extra dimension(s). I'm going to be intentionally vague since I don't want to suggest that my extra dimension is in any way related to the 4th spacial dimension of string theory, where the math says the extra dimensions must all be the itsy bitsy curled up ones. If I call mine hyperspace, then it falls into that classic sci-fi category known as "made up crap". The beauty of space opera.

Interestingly, I came across an article where scientists were able to test indirectly for the existence of a fourth spacial dimension, and two different teams using different tests found evidence that suggests it actually exists. It's not conclusive proof, but a cool result nevertheless.

I punted hyperspace as a term hours ago. I also ignored the fact that the fourth dimension is often considered to be time. I'll just have to be explicit. To simplify the writeup, I've said that all matter in our normal universe has 4 "physical" dimensions, of which we can normally only experience 3. Also, rather than 4D cannons, I've decided to give the Hercules a huge emitter on the hull, which she can use to open a hole into the 4th dimension of space, through which she can then fire a full barrage of supernova blasts at the unshielded portion of the Colonial ships. Where the extraordinary need for power will come into play is in opening the hole.

Just thought of another plot hole, though. If the Hercules wants to dump huge amounts of power into the emitter, all she has to do is install another powertron just for that (admittedly they're huge and they eat atreidite for breakfast). Then there would be no risk of overloading the existing powertron.  Crap like this has been happening to me all day. Fix one thing, break another. I'm going to bed. I'll try to figure it out tomorrow.

[Censored!]

One definition of hyperspace I read usually involves extra dimensions where the laws of physics are different than in our dimensions, allowing ships to go faster than light. It's a concept invented by an SF author in the early 1900s and used by many others, including Asimov in his Foundation novels.

I'm considering calling mine extraspace, but it probably fits the definition of hyperspace too. Specifically, all objects that exist in spacetime also exist in my version of hyperspace, which is merely a fourth "physical" dimension of those objects. If you hit an enemy ship's fourth dimension with an energy beam fired into hyperspace, that foreign energy is expelled from hyperspace at the point of collision between the energy beam and the ship's fourth dimension.

I don't actually mention hyperspace when it comes to the operation of my stardrives. I simply call it teleportation and leave the "how" to the reader's imagination. But I do refer to hyperspace (or extraspace) for how the hypercannons work. The firing ship doesn't itself enter hyperspace, but the cannons are able to fire into it, resulting in an energy beam that bypasses the target ship's shields (which only exist in the first three dimensions) and strikes the hull of the ship.

Dune had a book dedicated to the period/characters who invented their drive mechanism. They went into some details, but I don't recall how much.

Thanks, njc. Energy kicking back and causing a potential explosion onboard the Hercules (the firing vessel) could be very useful. I had previously used the idea that firing the (mattergy) cannons could overload and damage the Hercules's powertron (power source), but since I now have the ship firing through hyperspace, some kind of unpredictable blowback would serve to render the technology unusable in the long run, regardless of how powerful the powertrons eventually become. That fits well since I don't want this particular tech to remain a part of the story beyond the initial battle.

Below is the proposed replacement for those idiotic mattergy weapons in the opening battle.

Aussie said, “She’s charging her new cannons.”
“Analyze!” St. James said.
“Based on their energy signature, I believe those are hyperspace weapons, able to fire at a target through a higher dimension. Whatever energy makes it through hyperspace to its target would effectively bypass our shields, which don’t exist there. Development and use of such weapons is strictly prohibited by the Neuer Mond Treaty.”
“Since when has that ever stopped the Imperium? Weaknesses?”
“The beam such a weapon fires is known to spread out very quickly in higher dimensions, obeying the inverse cube law. By the time it hits the target back in spacetime, it has lost considerable energy to space. As a result, such weapons require enormous energy to fire a blast strong enough so that the energy that hits the target still has sufficient punch to penetrate a ship’s hull.
“The Hercules must be bypassing its powertron’s safety limits  to concentrate sufficient energy to fire, risking a breach. Many of her other systems are dropping off to compensate.”