----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Culture Club" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2002 6:04 PM Subject: What is Maru? part 2
> Tom Paine Maru (Del Rey Books, 1984) > L. Neil Smith > The North American Confederacy reaches the stars at last, its Prime > Directive: search out governments wherever they are found to exist and > destroy them! > > ***************************************************************** > "YD-038, the hero of my fifth novel, Tom Paine Maru, is an escapee from the > kind of world that liberals have spent the last 60 years trying to build for > us. > > ***************************************************************** > > THE TOM PAINE MARU, Del Rey, 1984. ISBN 0-345-29243-X. > The first of the mainline Confederacy novels in which Win Bear does not > appear. Whitey O'Thraight, descendant of some of the first extrasolar > colonists, finds himself in the North American (now Galactic) Confederacy. > His homeworld having reverted to barbarism (i.e. government), he suffers a > rather severe case of culture shock but eventually assimilates into the > culture. > > ******************************************************* > TOM PAINE MARU (Del Rey, 1984) Launching spaceships eight miles in > diameter, the freewheeling North American Confederacy reaches for the > stars! _Its_ Prime Directive: search out governments wherever they > exist -- and destroy them! Sapient dolphins and talking apes contend > with aliens on the endless frontier. > > ************************************************* > OK, let's talk about the Confederate Fleet! > > In 234 A.L., Construction began on Tom- and Bobfleet, on the > assumption faster-than-light drive would be > discovered, which it was in 250 A.L. > > Tomfleet and Bobfleet consist of 6 ships each, you can see the > roster below, each about 7.5 jeffersonian miles (jm) in diameter with tiers > of smaller auxiliary ships docked on the underside of them, 7 per tier. I am > not quite sure as to weither there are 4 or 5 tiers of ships, but depending > on the number there are either 400 or 2801 individual vessels per ship once > all the auxiliaries are docked to their mother-ship. > > The vessels themselves are light-colored featureless "inverted > salad bowl" in shape. My calculations indicate that they are 3.75 times as > wide as they are high, and I would guess that would apply to all tiers of > ships. I will post a diagram in a separate message. > > I am not sure if the TRANS-UNIVERSAL fleet follows the same > design as Tom- and Bobfleets as I get the impression they are smaller faster > vessels for inter-world travel. Neil, can you let us know? > > Lux > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- > ------------- > TABLES: > > > Fleet Hierarchy: > > Tier 1 1 7.5 jm 12.0 km > Tier 2 7 2.1 jm 3.4 km > Tier 3 49 (7x7) 2940 jf 940 m > Tier 4 343 (7x7x7) 823 jf 260 m > ---- > 400 > > Tier 5 2401 (7x7x7x7) 230 jf 73 m > --- > 2801 > > > > Ships of the Confederate Fleet > > TOMFLEET: > Tom Paine Maru > Tom Jefferson Maru > Tom Szasz Maru > Tom Edison Maru > Tom Huxley Maru > Tom Sowell Maru > > BOBFLEET: > Bob Heinlein Maru > Bob Wilson Maru > Bob Shea Maru > Bob LeFever Maru > Bob Poole Maru > Bob Walpole Maru > > TRANS-UNIVERSAL > Ragnar Danneskold > Hagbard Celine > Captian Nemo > Peter LaNague > Star Fox > Zorro > > ************************************************************************* > > xponent > Tom Bob Maru > rob > >
