Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!JAFFE From: JAFFE@RUTGERS.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: "Where no man has gone before" Message-ID: <2599@topaz.ARPA> Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 20:37:13 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.2599 Posted: Mon Jul 8 20:37:13 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 10-Jul-85 23:44:25 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 30 From: orstcs!richardt (richardt) >How likely is it that anyone would send so expensive a ship >off into nowhere for 5 years? Very. As a general rule, exploration ships fall into two classes: unarmed and armed. Unarmed exploration ships are usually designed so that they are so pathetic as to not be a threat to anyone. Marco Polo did this and it worked fairly well, albeit with a few backfires along the way. Armed explorers tend to be armed with the most powerful weapons that the society can hand to a non-military ship. When you already know of several hostile races in your neck of the galaxy, it is far better to assume that the natives will shoot first and ask questions later than to lose crews in the nether regions of the universe. For one thing, the appearance of an alien ship is usually a dead give-away as to its origin. Besides this, the Enterprise was travelling in regions which were known to have Klingon ships running around in them. In a situation where a nation is exploring out from a multinational border, esp. when one of the nations is hostile, the explorers had better be armed. Besides, human ships are always armed. Haven't you read any space opera? As for naming, I believe most of the visible stars have been named. I see no reason to assume that this trend will stop anytime in the future. Man, as a race, is arrogant. As long as StarFleet sticks to names of the form Starname-Planet_#, they're on well established ground. orstcs/richardt "If I'm human, what are *YOU*?"