Black globes and gravity

Scott Kellogg writes (via Stephen D Smith):

>       As a dedicated high guard vessel, an experiment in jump
> technology has been tested in the prototype:  the 'ANNIC NOVA' jump
> technique.  This drive does not use liquid hydrogen, but...
>
> **********CLASSIFIED*********CENSORED**********
>
> *...influx from the black globe.  As all energy is absorbed by the
> globe, the ship would use this energy for jump.  The ship would dive
> into a planets gravity well and turn the globe on.  Light, heat, and
> gravitation are converted into usable energy and this is dumped into
> the jump drive.

If a black globe can absorb gravity and turn it into usable energy, does
this violate the law of conservation of energy?  How's this for a
perpetual motion machine: a craft fitted with a black globe, a laser,
and anything needed to control it.  The craft activates the globe,
absorbs the gravity, and rises.  (I assume the gravity can't be pulling
the craft down and be absorbed by the black globe at the same time.)  At
a given height, the craft deactivates the globe, falls, and discharges
the globe's capacitors via the laser, which is pointed at an energy
collection device on the ground.  (We're not talking about laser weapons
here! :-)  When the craft has fallen far enough, it activates the black
globe again and goes back up, absorbing energy again.  And so on.

Also, what happens to a piece of matter which hits a black globe?  Does
it bounce off, or get converted to usable energy too?  If it "bounces",
what happens to its kinetic energy?

- - --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]