Intergalactic human space ship encounters another ship, character gets shunted off beyond known universe, reality starts collapsing The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern) Latest Blog Post: Highlights from 2019 – 1st Quarter Favorite questions and answers from first quarter of 2019Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?Genetic engineering of a enhanced new human to help deal with Earth problems (environment etc.)Looking for a sci-fi novel where Earth is actually a spaceshipAlternate history story where Shakespeare accidentally stows away on a ship to AmericaComputer simulation of a battle of the Crusades. In perhaps the first cyberpunk anthologyShort story about colonist ship's computer deliberately “weeding out” unfit colonists during hypersleep?1990s novel about a man trapped in simulated historic New YorkTrying to recall a sci-fi book about elitists uploading their mind into computer to gain immortalityRobotic Spaceships have a human prisoner to maintain themShort story with a teleportation tunnel and a “hole” in itShort story about a spaceship that meets an alien spaceship made of anti-matter

Could an empire control the whole planet with today's comunication methods?

Why don't hard Brexiteers insist on a hard border to prevent illegal immigration after Brexit?

Are there continuous functions who are the same in an interval but differ in at least one other point?

Can a flute soloist sit?

How did the audience guess the pentatonic scale in Bobby McFerrin's presentation?

Is this wall load bearing? Blueprints and photos attached

Identify 80s or 90s comics with ripped creatures (not dwarves)

Is it ok to offer lower paid work as a trial period before negotiating for a full-time job?

Why not take a picture of a closer black hole?

Was credit for the black hole image misappropriated?

Variable with quotation marks "$()"

Can each chord in a progression create its own key?

How to determine omitted units in a publication

What to do when moving next to a bird sanctuary with a loosely-domesticated cat?

Match Roman Numerals

Did the new image of black hole confirm the general theory of relativity?

What aspect of planet Earth must be changed to prevent the industrial revolution?

60's-70's movie: home appliances revolting against the owners

Can I visit the Trinity College (Cambridge) library and see some of their rare books

Using dividends to reduce short term capital gains?

Can withdrawing asylum be illegal?

Deal with toxic manager when you can't quit

Does Parliament need to approve the new Brexit delay to 31 October 2019?

Do warforged have souls?



Intergalactic human space ship encounters another ship, character gets shunted off beyond known universe, reality starts collapsing



The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)
Latest Blog Post: Highlights from 2019 – 1st Quarter
Favorite questions and answers from first quarter of 2019Which science fiction universe holds the title of furthest distance travelled in one voyage?Genetic engineering of a enhanced new human to help deal with Earth problems (environment etc.)Looking for a sci-fi novel where Earth is actually a spaceshipAlternate history story where Shakespeare accidentally stows away on a ship to AmericaComputer simulation of a battle of the Crusades. In perhaps the first cyberpunk anthologyShort story about colonist ship's computer deliberately “weeding out” unfit colonists during hypersleep?1990s novel about a man trapped in simulated historic New YorkTrying to recall a sci-fi book about elitists uploading their mind into computer to gain immortalityRobotic Spaceships have a human prisoner to maintain themShort story with a teleportation tunnel and a “hole” in itShort story about a spaceship that meets an alien spaceship made of anti-matter



.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;








8















This question reminded me of a very vaguely recalled short story, most likely from the early '00s or '90s (and probably in a magazine like F&SF, Asimov's or Analog), of a space ship that can easily travel incredibly far, galaxies clusters away, in some far future when humans commonly can and do pilot craft that travel above c somehow (I don't recall if this involved some sort of hyperspace or what), colonizing the universe with abandon.



Somehow (obviously this seems incredibly improbable, but I don't recall how this was explained -- perhaps ships had some light-speed-breaking way of detecting other ships?) the handful (2? 3?) people in a first ship randomly encounter in mid-intergalactic-space another human traveler traveling alone in his own ship, and they dock the two ships together. I think they have dinner together in honor of the meeting, but something is off about their new acquaintance (some wort of craziness that slowly reveals itself?), and some sort of conflict occurs.



I think someone on the first ship was working on something like simulating a miniature universe in a computer.



The story got... weird, somehow... toward the end. I think just one character somehow got locked into one of the ships with the controls jammed into taking him far beyond the furthest explored reaches of the universe, and he was just left talking to the computer with no other company. Somehow, he found himself disconnected from interaction the rest of the universe in that far void, where there was no possible return to the realm of galaxies, and local reality seemed to be disintegrating somehow, as the ship had lost its causal connection with the rest of the universe.



I think there was some sort of connection implied between the computer simulation notion and the disintegrating isolated reality state the character ended up in. I don't know if that necessarily meant that we are in a simulation; it may just have been some more philosophical connection.



I think they may have mentioned never having come across another sapient race in all of humanity's vast expansion, but I'm not sure.



Sorry if this is rather vague; it's about all I can remember of the story, and I may be pulling in some detail or two from another story.



I'm pretty sure I didn't read it in the last few years, which is why I place it in the '00s or earlier, and the computer simulation aspect is what makes me think it was '90s or later. It's possible that I read it in some collection, rather than the aforementioned magazines.










share|improve this question
























  • Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

    – DavidW
    8 hours ago











  • I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

    – Jacob C.
    8 hours ago











  • Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

    – JohnP
    7 hours ago











  • Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

    – user14111
    6 hours ago











  • @user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago

















8















This question reminded me of a very vaguely recalled short story, most likely from the early '00s or '90s (and probably in a magazine like F&SF, Asimov's or Analog), of a space ship that can easily travel incredibly far, galaxies clusters away, in some far future when humans commonly can and do pilot craft that travel above c somehow (I don't recall if this involved some sort of hyperspace or what), colonizing the universe with abandon.



Somehow (obviously this seems incredibly improbable, but I don't recall how this was explained -- perhaps ships had some light-speed-breaking way of detecting other ships?) the handful (2? 3?) people in a first ship randomly encounter in mid-intergalactic-space another human traveler traveling alone in his own ship, and they dock the two ships together. I think they have dinner together in honor of the meeting, but something is off about their new acquaintance (some wort of craziness that slowly reveals itself?), and some sort of conflict occurs.



I think someone on the first ship was working on something like simulating a miniature universe in a computer.



The story got... weird, somehow... toward the end. I think just one character somehow got locked into one of the ships with the controls jammed into taking him far beyond the furthest explored reaches of the universe, and he was just left talking to the computer with no other company. Somehow, he found himself disconnected from interaction the rest of the universe in that far void, where there was no possible return to the realm of galaxies, and local reality seemed to be disintegrating somehow, as the ship had lost its causal connection with the rest of the universe.



I think there was some sort of connection implied between the computer simulation notion and the disintegrating isolated reality state the character ended up in. I don't know if that necessarily meant that we are in a simulation; it may just have been some more philosophical connection.



I think they may have mentioned never having come across another sapient race in all of humanity's vast expansion, but I'm not sure.



Sorry if this is rather vague; it's about all I can remember of the story, and I may be pulling in some detail or two from another story.



I'm pretty sure I didn't read it in the last few years, which is why I place it in the '00s or earlier, and the computer simulation aspect is what makes me think it was '90s or later. It's possible that I read it in some collection, rather than the aforementioned magazines.










share|improve this question
























  • Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

    – DavidW
    8 hours ago











  • I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

    – Jacob C.
    8 hours ago











  • Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

    – JohnP
    7 hours ago











  • Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

    – user14111
    6 hours ago











  • @user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago













8












8








8


1






This question reminded me of a very vaguely recalled short story, most likely from the early '00s or '90s (and probably in a magazine like F&SF, Asimov's or Analog), of a space ship that can easily travel incredibly far, galaxies clusters away, in some far future when humans commonly can and do pilot craft that travel above c somehow (I don't recall if this involved some sort of hyperspace or what), colonizing the universe with abandon.



Somehow (obviously this seems incredibly improbable, but I don't recall how this was explained -- perhaps ships had some light-speed-breaking way of detecting other ships?) the handful (2? 3?) people in a first ship randomly encounter in mid-intergalactic-space another human traveler traveling alone in his own ship, and they dock the two ships together. I think they have dinner together in honor of the meeting, but something is off about their new acquaintance (some wort of craziness that slowly reveals itself?), and some sort of conflict occurs.



I think someone on the first ship was working on something like simulating a miniature universe in a computer.



The story got... weird, somehow... toward the end. I think just one character somehow got locked into one of the ships with the controls jammed into taking him far beyond the furthest explored reaches of the universe, and he was just left talking to the computer with no other company. Somehow, he found himself disconnected from interaction the rest of the universe in that far void, where there was no possible return to the realm of galaxies, and local reality seemed to be disintegrating somehow, as the ship had lost its causal connection with the rest of the universe.



I think there was some sort of connection implied between the computer simulation notion and the disintegrating isolated reality state the character ended up in. I don't know if that necessarily meant that we are in a simulation; it may just have been some more philosophical connection.



I think they may have mentioned never having come across another sapient race in all of humanity's vast expansion, but I'm not sure.



Sorry if this is rather vague; it's about all I can remember of the story, and I may be pulling in some detail or two from another story.



I'm pretty sure I didn't read it in the last few years, which is why I place it in the '00s or earlier, and the computer simulation aspect is what makes me think it was '90s or later. It's possible that I read it in some collection, rather than the aforementioned magazines.










share|improve this question
















This question reminded me of a very vaguely recalled short story, most likely from the early '00s or '90s (and probably in a magazine like F&SF, Asimov's or Analog), of a space ship that can easily travel incredibly far, galaxies clusters away, in some far future when humans commonly can and do pilot craft that travel above c somehow (I don't recall if this involved some sort of hyperspace or what), colonizing the universe with abandon.



Somehow (obviously this seems incredibly improbable, but I don't recall how this was explained -- perhaps ships had some light-speed-breaking way of detecting other ships?) the handful (2? 3?) people in a first ship randomly encounter in mid-intergalactic-space another human traveler traveling alone in his own ship, and they dock the two ships together. I think they have dinner together in honor of the meeting, but something is off about their new acquaintance (some wort of craziness that slowly reveals itself?), and some sort of conflict occurs.



I think someone on the first ship was working on something like simulating a miniature universe in a computer.



The story got... weird, somehow... toward the end. I think just one character somehow got locked into one of the ships with the controls jammed into taking him far beyond the furthest explored reaches of the universe, and he was just left talking to the computer with no other company. Somehow, he found himself disconnected from interaction the rest of the universe in that far void, where there was no possible return to the realm of galaxies, and local reality seemed to be disintegrating somehow, as the ship had lost its causal connection with the rest of the universe.



I think there was some sort of connection implied between the computer simulation notion and the disintegrating isolated reality state the character ended up in. I don't know if that necessarily meant that we are in a simulation; it may just have been some more philosophical connection.



I think they may have mentioned never having come across another sapient race in all of humanity's vast expansion, but I'm not sure.



Sorry if this is rather vague; it's about all I can remember of the story, and I may be pulling in some detail or two from another story.



I'm pretty sure I didn't read it in the last few years, which is why I place it in the '00s or earlier, and the computer simulation aspect is what makes me think it was '90s or later. It's possible that I read it in some collection, rather than the aforementioned magazines.







story-identification short-stories space computers






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 8 hours ago









Stormblessed

2,4161837




2,4161837










asked 8 hours ago









Jacob C.Jacob C.

2,042823




2,042823












  • Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

    – DavidW
    8 hours ago











  • I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

    – Jacob C.
    8 hours ago











  • Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

    – JohnP
    7 hours ago











  • Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

    – user14111
    6 hours ago











  • @user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago

















  • Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

    – DavidW
    8 hours ago











  • I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

    – Jacob C.
    8 hours ago











  • Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

    – JohnP
    7 hours ago











  • Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

    – user14111
    6 hours ago











  • @user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago
















Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

– DavidW
8 hours ago





Is the lone character locked in the ship with the computer doing the simulation, or is that computer in the other ship?

– DavidW
8 hours ago













I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

– Jacob C.
8 hours ago





I think the lone character was, at the end, locked in a ship along with the computer doing a simulation (or that he had at least planned to use for running a simulation). It's pretty foggy in my head, though.

– Jacob C.
8 hours ago













Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

– JohnP
7 hours ago





Hmm...parts of this are evocative of "I hope I shall Arrive Soon" by PK DIck, but the meetings don't match as this was a solo trip.

– JohnP
7 hours ago













Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

– user14111
6 hours ago





Why does the computer simulation aspect make you think it was '90s or later? They were writing stories about simulated worlds in the '60s.

– user14111
6 hours ago













@user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago





@user14111 It seemed to me like the 90s saw a burst of speculation about computer-simulated worlds, but indeed I was wrong about the date, and you're right, even ST:ToS did have a holodeck.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















6














I think this may be "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley...at least it's reminiscent.



The computer simulation is called the "thespitron" and to modern readers it resembles nothing so much as Star Trek's holodecks. The story even starts out with the protagonist in a film noir detective story like the ones Picard enjoyed.



The spaceships are called 'habitats' and the FTL drive is called the 'velocitator'. The 'velocitator' is capable of stupendous speeds, at the beginning the protagonist is traveling at c186...




While waiting, he glanced through the window at the speeding galaxies,
then crossed to the velocitator control board and peered at the
speedometer, tapping at the glass-covered dial.



"Will we get there soon, do you think? Is 186 your top speed?"



"We could do nearly 300, if pushed," Naylor said.



......Velocitator speeds were expressed as powers of the velocity of light. Thus 186, Naylor's present speed, indicated the speed of light multiplied by itself 186 times.




The protagonist and his friend do locate and dock with another habitat, and they do have dinner together. (The society is kind of a neo-or-revived-Victorian one). The person from the other habitat does, indeed, slowly reveal himself to be crazy.



The crazy guy uses his 'zom ray' device to push the protagonist's habitat up to such a velocity that his 'velocitator' can't cancel it and the habitat shoots out to the edges of the universe far from any galaxies.



The protagonist gives up and decides to lose himself in the thespitron world.



At the end there is some problem with the thespitron. It ends like this.




Derived of the massy presence of numerous galaxies, the signposts of
reality, the thespitron had ceased to function.



The closing circles were getting smaller. Now there was only the shell
of the habitat, analogue of a skull, and within it his own skull, that
lonely fortress of identity. Naylor sat staring at a blank screen,
wondering how long it would take for the light of self-knowledge to go
out.




The story's quite dense and complicated and I probably haven't explained it well. But if this is it, I am betting you will recognize it at once, it's not like any other story I know.






share|improve this answer




















  • 1





    Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago






  • 1





    The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago












  • Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

    – jpmc26
    3 hours ago











  • @jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

    – Organic Marble
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

    – user2357112
    23 mins ago











Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);

else
createEditor();

);

function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);



);













draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f208982%2fintergalactic-human-space-ship-encounters-another-ship-character-gets-shunted-o%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









6














I think this may be "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley...at least it's reminiscent.



The computer simulation is called the "thespitron" and to modern readers it resembles nothing so much as Star Trek's holodecks. The story even starts out with the protagonist in a film noir detective story like the ones Picard enjoyed.



The spaceships are called 'habitats' and the FTL drive is called the 'velocitator'. The 'velocitator' is capable of stupendous speeds, at the beginning the protagonist is traveling at c186...




While waiting, he glanced through the window at the speeding galaxies,
then crossed to the velocitator control board and peered at the
speedometer, tapping at the glass-covered dial.



"Will we get there soon, do you think? Is 186 your top speed?"



"We could do nearly 300, if pushed," Naylor said.



......Velocitator speeds were expressed as powers of the velocity of light. Thus 186, Naylor's present speed, indicated the speed of light multiplied by itself 186 times.




The protagonist and his friend do locate and dock with another habitat, and they do have dinner together. (The society is kind of a neo-or-revived-Victorian one). The person from the other habitat does, indeed, slowly reveal himself to be crazy.



The crazy guy uses his 'zom ray' device to push the protagonist's habitat up to such a velocity that his 'velocitator' can't cancel it and the habitat shoots out to the edges of the universe far from any galaxies.



The protagonist gives up and decides to lose himself in the thespitron world.



At the end there is some problem with the thespitron. It ends like this.




Derived of the massy presence of numerous galaxies, the signposts of
reality, the thespitron had ceased to function.



The closing circles were getting smaller. Now there was only the shell
of the habitat, analogue of a skull, and within it his own skull, that
lonely fortress of identity. Naylor sat staring at a blank screen,
wondering how long it would take for the light of self-knowledge to go
out.




The story's quite dense and complicated and I probably haven't explained it well. But if this is it, I am betting you will recognize it at once, it's not like any other story I know.






share|improve this answer




















  • 1





    Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago






  • 1





    The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago












  • Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

    – jpmc26
    3 hours ago











  • @jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

    – Organic Marble
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

    – user2357112
    23 mins ago















6














I think this may be "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley...at least it's reminiscent.



The computer simulation is called the "thespitron" and to modern readers it resembles nothing so much as Star Trek's holodecks. The story even starts out with the protagonist in a film noir detective story like the ones Picard enjoyed.



The spaceships are called 'habitats' and the FTL drive is called the 'velocitator'. The 'velocitator' is capable of stupendous speeds, at the beginning the protagonist is traveling at c186...




While waiting, he glanced through the window at the speeding galaxies,
then crossed to the velocitator control board and peered at the
speedometer, tapping at the glass-covered dial.



"Will we get there soon, do you think? Is 186 your top speed?"



"We could do nearly 300, if pushed," Naylor said.



......Velocitator speeds were expressed as powers of the velocity of light. Thus 186, Naylor's present speed, indicated the speed of light multiplied by itself 186 times.




The protagonist and his friend do locate and dock with another habitat, and they do have dinner together. (The society is kind of a neo-or-revived-Victorian one). The person from the other habitat does, indeed, slowly reveal himself to be crazy.



The crazy guy uses his 'zom ray' device to push the protagonist's habitat up to such a velocity that his 'velocitator' can't cancel it and the habitat shoots out to the edges of the universe far from any galaxies.



The protagonist gives up and decides to lose himself in the thespitron world.



At the end there is some problem with the thespitron. It ends like this.




Derived of the massy presence of numerous galaxies, the signposts of
reality, the thespitron had ceased to function.



The closing circles were getting smaller. Now there was only the shell
of the habitat, analogue of a skull, and within it his own skull, that
lonely fortress of identity. Naylor sat staring at a blank screen,
wondering how long it would take for the light of self-knowledge to go
out.




The story's quite dense and complicated and I probably haven't explained it well. But if this is it, I am betting you will recognize it at once, it's not like any other story I know.






share|improve this answer




















  • 1





    Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago






  • 1





    The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago












  • Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

    – jpmc26
    3 hours ago











  • @jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

    – Organic Marble
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

    – user2357112
    23 mins ago













6












6








6







I think this may be "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley...at least it's reminiscent.



The computer simulation is called the "thespitron" and to modern readers it resembles nothing so much as Star Trek's holodecks. The story even starts out with the protagonist in a film noir detective story like the ones Picard enjoyed.



The spaceships are called 'habitats' and the FTL drive is called the 'velocitator'. The 'velocitator' is capable of stupendous speeds, at the beginning the protagonist is traveling at c186...




While waiting, he glanced through the window at the speeding galaxies,
then crossed to the velocitator control board and peered at the
speedometer, tapping at the glass-covered dial.



"Will we get there soon, do you think? Is 186 your top speed?"



"We could do nearly 300, if pushed," Naylor said.



......Velocitator speeds were expressed as powers of the velocity of light. Thus 186, Naylor's present speed, indicated the speed of light multiplied by itself 186 times.




The protagonist and his friend do locate and dock with another habitat, and they do have dinner together. (The society is kind of a neo-or-revived-Victorian one). The person from the other habitat does, indeed, slowly reveal himself to be crazy.



The crazy guy uses his 'zom ray' device to push the protagonist's habitat up to such a velocity that his 'velocitator' can't cancel it and the habitat shoots out to the edges of the universe far from any galaxies.



The protagonist gives up and decides to lose himself in the thespitron world.



At the end there is some problem with the thespitron. It ends like this.




Derived of the massy presence of numerous galaxies, the signposts of
reality, the thespitron had ceased to function.



The closing circles were getting smaller. Now there was only the shell
of the habitat, analogue of a skull, and within it his own skull, that
lonely fortress of identity. Naylor sat staring at a blank screen,
wondering how long it would take for the light of self-knowledge to go
out.




The story's quite dense and complicated and I probably haven't explained it well. But if this is it, I am betting you will recognize it at once, it's not like any other story I know.






share|improve this answer















I think this may be "The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor" by Barrington J. Bayley...at least it's reminiscent.



The computer simulation is called the "thespitron" and to modern readers it resembles nothing so much as Star Trek's holodecks. The story even starts out with the protagonist in a film noir detective story like the ones Picard enjoyed.



The spaceships are called 'habitats' and the FTL drive is called the 'velocitator'. The 'velocitator' is capable of stupendous speeds, at the beginning the protagonist is traveling at c186...




While waiting, he glanced through the window at the speeding galaxies,
then crossed to the velocitator control board and peered at the
speedometer, tapping at the glass-covered dial.



"Will we get there soon, do you think? Is 186 your top speed?"



"We could do nearly 300, if pushed," Naylor said.



......Velocitator speeds were expressed as powers of the velocity of light. Thus 186, Naylor's present speed, indicated the speed of light multiplied by itself 186 times.




The protagonist and his friend do locate and dock with another habitat, and they do have dinner together. (The society is kind of a neo-or-revived-Victorian one). The person from the other habitat does, indeed, slowly reveal himself to be crazy.



The crazy guy uses his 'zom ray' device to push the protagonist's habitat up to such a velocity that his 'velocitator' can't cancel it and the habitat shoots out to the edges of the universe far from any galaxies.



The protagonist gives up and decides to lose himself in the thespitron world.



At the end there is some problem with the thespitron. It ends like this.




Derived of the massy presence of numerous galaxies, the signposts of
reality, the thespitron had ceased to function.



The closing circles were getting smaller. Now there was only the shell
of the habitat, analogue of a skull, and within it his own skull, that
lonely fortress of identity. Naylor sat staring at a blank screen,
wondering how long it would take for the light of self-knowledge to go
out.




The story's quite dense and complicated and I probably haven't explained it well. But if this is it, I am betting you will recognize it at once, it's not like any other story I know.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 1 hour ago

























answered 6 hours ago









Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

26.5k492135




26.5k492135







  • 1





    Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago






  • 1





    The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago












  • Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

    – jpmc26
    3 hours ago











  • @jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

    – Organic Marble
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

    – user2357112
    23 mins ago












  • 1





    Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago






  • 1





    The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

    – Jacob C.
    6 hours ago












  • Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

    – jpmc26
    3 hours ago











  • @jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

    – Organic Marble
    3 hours ago






  • 1





    Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

    – user2357112
    23 mins ago







1




1





Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago





Yes, the neo-Victorian aspect especially rings a bell! I'm pretty positive this is it.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago




1




1





The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago






The quotes, too. This is definitely it.

– Jacob C.
6 hours ago














Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

– jpmc26
3 hours ago





Are you certain 186 is an exponent and not merely multiplicative?

– jpmc26
3 hours ago













@jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

– Organic Marble
3 hours ago





@jpmc26 I am 100% certain.

– Organic Marble
3 hours ago




1




1





Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

– user2357112
23 mins ago





Travelling at a speed of c^186 makes about as much sense as walking 3 liters to the grocery store, but that won't stop authors from writing it.

– user2357112
23 mins ago

















draft saved

draft discarded
















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid


  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f208982%2fintergalactic-human-space-ship-encounters-another-ship-character-gets-shunted-o%23new-answer', 'question_page');

);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

How to create a command for the “strange m” symbol in latex? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)How do you make your own symbol when Detexify fails?Writing bold small caps with mathpazo packageplus-minus symbol with parenthesis around the minus signGreek character in Beamer document titleHow to create dashed right arrow over symbol?Currency symbol: Turkish LiraDouble prec as a single symbol?Plus Sign Too Big; How to Call adfbullet?Is there a TeX macro for three-legged pi?How do I get my integral-like symbol to align like the integral?How to selectively substitute a letter with another symbol representing the same letterHow do I generate a less than symbol and vertical bar that are the same height?

Българска екзархия Съдържание История | Български екзарси | Вижте също | Външни препратки | Литература | Бележки | НавигацияУстав за управлението на българската екзархия. Цариград, 1870Слово на Ловешкия митрополит Иларион при откриването на Българския народен събор в Цариград на 23. II. 1870 г.Българската правда и гръцката кривда. От С. М. (= Софийски Мелетий). Цариград, 1872Предстоятели на Българската екзархияПодмененият ВеликденИнформационна агенция „Фокус“Димитър Ризов. Българите в техните исторически, етнографически и политически граници (Атлас съдържащ 40 карти). Berlin, Königliche Hoflithographie, Hof-Buch- und -Steindruckerei Wilhelm Greve, 1917Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars

Чепеларе Съдържание География | История | Население | Спортни и природни забележителности | Културни и исторически обекти | Религии | Обществени институции | Известни личности | Редовни събития | Галерия | Източници | Литература | Външни препратки | Навигация41°43′23.99″ с. ш. 24°41′09.99″ и. д. / 41.723333° с. ш. 24.686111° и. д.*ЧепелареЧепеларски Linux fest 2002Начало на Зимен сезон 2005/06Национални хайдушки празници „Капитан Петко Войвода“Град ЧепелареЧепеларе – народният ски курортbgrod.orgwww.terranatura.hit.bgСправка за населението на гр. Исперих, общ. Исперих, обл. РазградМузей на родопския карстМузей на спорта и скитеЧепеларебългарскибългарскианглийскитукИстория на градаСки писти в ЧепелареВремето в ЧепелареРадио и телевизия в ЧепелареЧепеларе мами с родопски чар и добри пистиЕвтин туризъм и снежни атракции в ЧепелареМестоположениеИнформация и снимки от музея на родопския карст3D панорами от ЧепелареЧепелареррр