Subject: PsiJump and Zhodani
I'd been thinking about the recent article on psi-based
interstellar travel, which ended with the question of why the
Zhodani don't use it. I've come up with a hypothetically
plausible explanation of the phenomenon:
PsiJump, although not _apparently_ different from a high level of
teleportation, is in fact qualitatively different. There are no
definite conclusions as to why, but the currently "accepted"
hypothesis has to do with the involvement of other psionically
aware minds interacting over interstellar differences. This
explanation is not considered adequate at this time, and research
is continuing.
Because of some quirk in the general psychological makeup of
humanity (and quite likely all known sapients), teleportation and
psijump talents never appear in the same individual.
Furthermore, psijump is extremely rare; the typical planet at the
height of the Imperium's power could be expected on average to
produce one psijump talent in a generation.
Worse, psijump is more stressful, even proportionally, to the
individual than any other psionic activity. Heavy use of the
talent (regular commercial use - once per month or once per
two weeks) has been shown to have severe detrimental effects on
life expectancy even under ideal circumstances, and any kind of
psionic mishap during a psijump attempt has a high probability
of being fatal to the individual.
There are no recorded instances of any psijump going to a
destination other than the intended one. Even when a mishap
kills the individual, the psijump, if initiated at all, completes
without error. More often, the mishap prevents initiation of the
psijump, and the ship goes nowhere.
It is because of the high cost in life that the Zhodani do not
routinely use this method. However, the Consulate Military does
in fact utilize this technique in capital flagships, as a
last-ditch measure to get flag officers out of an otherwise lost
situation. This is _not_ known to the general public, nor even
to crew members of the affected ships.
Just my take on the idea...
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Jeff Zeitlin [email removed]
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