Space Cadets

While some of us struggle to loose the bonds of gravity, others are digging in. I received two emails today representing both these perspectives. Why me?

First, I heard from the entrepreneurs of LiftPort. They have run into a rough patch, and if they’re going to get their space elevator going all the way to the top in less than twenty-five more years they will need a little cash flow.

A short time later I found in my in-box a message to Strike Force Nine (alien-base@aldebaran4.com). “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I’ll never know,” the message read. Damn Marxists. They’ll follow you everywhere. All my base probably are belong to them by now. Regardless, the message contained other clues, clues to the very survival of the planet, clues that would necessitate the completion of the space elevator project years ahead of schedule.

To quote the vendor,

This book describes a serious look at defending the planet in the event of an extra-terrestrial invasion. Travis Taylor, et al, have written the definitive book on the defense of earth against a potential alien incursion. Whatever your beliefs on the subject, and despite many of my own popular novels I am agnostic at best, the book also serves as an important primer on the potential future of warfare on every level. It is tightly grounded in current day realities of war and extrapolates thoughtfully but closely about future potentials. It should be on the reading list of anyone who is serious about national security and the future of war.

As for me, I just hope the bug-people from Antares don’t simply step into our space elevator and ride it down to the ground floor.

(And to think it was just last night that I went to sleep trembling with fear that the physicists of CERN are going to cut loose a black hole that will rip the felt right off our terrestrial pool table).

[tags]ostrich, head, sand, pig bladders and pratfalls, high end engineering[/tags]