In the original script, rather than exploding, the yellow Escape Box opens up and out comes this headgear device straight out of a 'Saw' movie that will impale both his eyeballs if he puts it on. It was a better version of this scene IMO, but it would have added about two pages, and since this is already a tangent from the opening sequence, which is itself a tangent, I just had to trim this down. So, just one panel with the guy getting blown to smithereens instead.
Next week, we'll actually (re-) introduce some meaningful characters… which probably should have happened about three pages ago, but we do things different here!
On the previous page, one of the prizes our now-shredded contestant could have won was a pleasure cruise to Uranus. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to figure out just how long it would take our sci fi Love Boat to fly there, and it would give me an opportunity to use my Rocket Equation Cheat Sheet from the previous blurb.
So, how far away is Uranus from Neptune? At its closest, it's over a billion kilometers away, and at its furthest, it's 4.5 billion kilometers away. So… it's pretty far, and to get there in a reasonable amount of time, we need a pretty fast rocket. For that, I'll snag something from the Atomic Rockets Engine List… something stupidly overpowered…
Okay, so I settled on the Helium 3-Deuterium Fusion engine. It's pretty ridiculous, but it's something a fusion-capable civilization could build. So how fast could our fusion-powered Love Boat move? Using my Cheat Sheet, and very generously assuming a two thirds fuel-to-dry mass ratio, it has a top cruising velocity slightly over one percent the speed of light. At that speed, depending on where it is in its orbit, you can reach Uranus in just under 3 days, to at most 12 days. Not bad, right?
But of course, it's not that simple. The ship can't go from zero to crazy fast in the blink of an eye; the acceleration would turn the passengers into strawberry jam. So, it probably takes a lot longer than just a few days to get there. The calculations get muddy depending on how fast they're accelerating, but one thing's pretty clear: they don't need those stupid rotating sections, at least not during the voyage, because the ship will be under constant acceleration for days on end. And the passengers will probably be in hibernation pods anyway. So I guess that was dumb spaceship design on my part? Or maybe they use the rotating sections when they get to Uranus? I dunno. I regret NOTHING!
* Author's note: I actually did a good amount of spreadsheet work on this and, while it's really interesting, it mostly doesn't translate well to a blurb. For those who are interested, on a brachistochrone trajectory at a constant 1 G acceleration, the Love Boat reaches Uranus in 7.43 days, topping out at 3,150 km/s for the shortest travel distance. At the longer distance, it's 17.37 days, with 10.18 days under acceleration and 7.19 days coasting.
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