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"[Science fiction is] an integration of the mood and attitude of science (the objective universe) with the fears and hopes that spring from the unconscious."
- Gregory Benford
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| Fatline | ||
| A communications technology that provides immediate communication between star systems; faster-than-light communication. |
The fatline is an artifact served up to humanity by The Core, a group of artificial intelligences that have effectively divorced themselves from human control. The term derives from the common acronym for faster-than-light, FTL.
| Urgent fatline messages from Tau Ceti Center demanded that the ranking officer abord the orbiting HS Denieve settle the situation on Qom-Riyadh, free all hostages and depose the New Prophet ... without resorting to the use of nuclear weapons within the planet's atmosphere. |
| From Hyperion,
by Dan Simmons. Published by Doubleday in 1989 Additional resources -
|
I've included the reference here because I like the word and it's derivation; other earlier examples of faster-than-light communication include the ansible from Rocannon's World by Ursula LeGuin, ultrawave relay from the Foundation stories by Isaac Asimov and taprisiots from Whipping Star by Frank Herbert.
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Ever wonder how you look when you enter a new part of a spacecraft?
'Whoever launched it fired a laser cannon...'
'Most of the crew have the tiny imp ride on their shoulder...'
'About a third of the people in Manhattan have replaced their Freedom Card with a radio-frequency chip...'
