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neutrons. The particles were at first particie in its path as it speeds up. This
produced from other substances that keeps the accelerator package within
radiated them naturally. reasonable limits of slze (stili, one that
(Forthose of us who need reminding- should be completed by now is two
protons are part of the nucleus of the m i les in c i rcumference, if memory
atom, one of the first pieces to be dis- serves). and allows the same system to
covered. They carry positive charges. be repeated ly used, reducing cost and
18
P.ART1etC ACCHE~ArOR
j
protection from radiation and explosion
effects when the hit occurs. Sandcasters
don't provide enough atoms in a given
space to effectively intercept the beam.
For starships, the best defense comes
from a high agility, a good computer,
and the first shot.
Before we move on to the meson gun,
Linear Accelerator: This is a schematic which
il/ustrates the way a linac works. Note the there is somett)ing you should be warned
alternating charge in each section, which about. So far in this series we have
alternately pushes and pulls each particie as stayed pretty wel l within the bounds of
it comes through. The sections get progres- present science. At this point, however,
sively longer in order to give the particie the
we are poised on the edge of current
same push as it gets taster and taster. The
beam can be aimed by placing magnets at the science and something which, for want
end of the linac to pull or push the charged of a better term, I will call parascience. ft
partie/es onto the target line. wi ll not be long before fact ends and
almost pure conjecture takes over. So
strap in.
the beam of charged particles is directed says that the accelerator fi res electrons The meson gun could more accurately
into a target of some substance that and hydrogen nuclei, which, depending be called the pion gun. According to
produces neutrons as a result of the on the· isotope of hydrogen used, is STAI KER © ( Traveller miniature combat
collisions. Since neutrons cannot be either a proton, a proton and neutron, or rules) the meso n gun uses prirnarily the
directed magnetically, aiming has to be a protron and two neutrons. Use of the pi neutral meson. The pi neutral is one of
accomplished by the angle of beam proton corresponds closely with present th ree pi rnesons, the other two bei ng the
impact with the target and/or the posi- day accelerators, as it is difficult to push pi plus and the pi minus, Pions are
tioning of neutron-absorbent materiał to heavier particles to relativistic speeds subatomic particles, existing within the
prevent the neutral beam from going but (Accord ing to Einstein, an object as it nucleus. They act as carriers of the
one direction. gains velocity, gains mass. At the speed strong nuclear force (The strong nuclear
There are severa! different types of of light you approach infinite mass, and force is the force of attraction that holds
particie accelerators. In order of their that takes a lot of energy to propel. The the nucieus of the atom together, despite
development, the significant ones are energy required as the particie mass the fact that protons in the nucleus,
the linear accelerator, cyclotron, beta- grows has been a big problem with being of like charges, want to fly away
tron, synchrotron, synchro-cyclotron, particie accelerators.) . from each other. lt is many tirnes strong-
and proton synchrotron. The exact So-the linac (linear accelerator) pro- er than the electromagnetic force we are
differences are not important, save that duces a beam of either electrons (which so farniliar with.). and were predicted in
at the present time the proton synchro- can get very fast because they start with 1935 by Hideki Yukawa. They were not
tron is probably the most powerful of the a mass about 111200th of the proton's), discovered, however, until 1947 by Cecil
lot, at least as far as I know (I ad mit freely or protons (not as fast as electrons, but Frank Powell. In terms of size, they are
that I don't keep up with high-energy more massive) and directs them at the roughly in-between protons and elec-
physics. like I should). target. What happens when they hit? trons, requiring about 135 Mev for pro-
For weapon purposes, the most likely The beam particles coll ide with atoms in duction. Their lifetime inside the nucie us
candidates are the linear accelerator the ship's hull and produce energy and is about ten to the minus nineteenth
and the proton synchrotron, the first other particles. The energy is generally seconds. Outside, this drops to around
because it is linear and well suited to the in the form of gamma radiation, which ten to the minus twenty-third seconds.
spine of a starship, while the proton accounts for the radiation damage to In other words, it doesn't last long at
synchrotron is the most powerful and crew and electronics specified in High best. (A meson is any of a group of
produces the strongest beam ot the lot. Guard. Surface explosions are the result unstable nucleons having a mass inter-
Given the probably technology gai n, it is of the subatomic "debris" of the beam's . mediate between that of the electron
a safe bet that the linear accelerator impact with the ship's hull . Given a high and the protron.)
(which simply pushes the particles down enough energy accelerator, particles of Enter the meson gun and relativity. A
a straight line of RF (radio frequency) antimatter will spring forth to annihiliate useful fact carne out of Einstein's theo-
generators, each of which kicks it a little themselves with other atoms of the ship's ries; namely, that time, relative to an
taster) will be the weapon of choice, skin , l iberating energy. The other parti- observer outside a moving object, slows
since it adapts well to starship design. cles also collide, liberating energy. The down for that object. In other words-
The choice of particie to fire is fairly combination isenough to cause a signifi- put a pion on a ship moving at near
simple, even though there are so far cant explosion. . lightspeed. To the pion, or sorneone on
ni nety-two of them to choose from. Out -Counter_measures? Run. Kill it before the ship, it still decays in ten to the minus
of these, many will be disqualified be- it shoots at you. An atmosphere does twenty-third seconds. To someone with
cause of size, mass, neutrality, or d iffi- just dandy, as the beam particles run a timer on a relatively stationary (all
culty of production. Of course, the easi- into it instead of you . Armor is a mixed things are relative, rernember) planet,
est way to choose is to look in HIGH blessing, as it provides more atoms for however, the pion decays for up to
GUARD© (Traveller Book 5) , where it the beam particles to hit, but provides several seconds, an increase of over a
19
Look for these new games* from GDW:
ETO
The War In Europe, 1939-1945
Solomani Rim
Traveller Supplement 10
Assault
Tactical Combat In Europe: 1986
Prison Planet
Traveller Adventure 8
21
pi neutral mesons (again, I sigh over this known that penetrates anything solid, ety of energy transfer available at each
selection by GDW instead of its charged no ammunition to run out as long as the setting. Man-portable versions range
relatives). Again., by slowing down the fusion plant lasts, great destructive from cigarette-pack sized for concealed
rate of pion exchange, you cause the power, speed of light delivery, and the carrying to a rifle version about the size
nucleus to become more unstable and techn ical difficulties involved in operat- of a Thompson SMG.
shed particles at controlled rates, which ing field defenses against it. Powerguns-from Hammer's Slam-
is what makes nuclear warheads go So-if I were facing a meson gun, I mers, by author unremembered. Power-
dead. would want a dispersed structure, great guns are a cross between an energy
The other way to manipulate the strong agility, a good computer, a meson weapon and a sług thrower. lt is fed with
nuclear force is to increase or decrease screen, a black globe, and the first shot. a disc of a substance whose molecular
the number of pions in the nucleus. You That way, if I didn't kill il immediately, I structure has been al igned and charged
can do !his by building them out of cou ld probably survive long enough to by strong magnetic and electric fields.
quarks, or of reducing them to quarks. run. The disc, when fed into the chamber, is
Now, quark man ipulation is way beyond then made to release its stored energy,
present capability, especially when their Weil, that's about it for Traveller-spe- which, due to the characteristics of the
existence has not been proven. Given a cific energy weapons, and since we have disc's alloy and construction, comes out
few centuries, though, and the fairly some space left, I would like to briefly in a coherent burst. The "bolt" is cyan in
reasonable assumption that quarks do run down some other science-fiction col or and carries a lot of energy. Effect is
indeed exist, it should become possible weapons on the offhand chan ce that you explosive. The weapon ranges in size
to bui Id atoms and particles out of them. might run into them in a modified Travel- from a 2 cm pistol to a 200 mm cannon,
The nuclear dam per is the result. Focus /ersomewhere or somewhen. So, turn to used on hovertanks.
il on an incoming warhead and destroy a the chapter marked "Others", and let's DeLameters- from the Lens·man ser-
few pions, and you get a dead warhead, start with: ies by E. E. "Doc" Smith. Smith is fond of
caused by premature neutron shedding. Blasters-a generic term for almost superlatives, so this handgun comes
Focus it on a box of californi um rounds any energy weapon, especially those across as the most powerful hand-held
and build a few pions, and you prevent thai cause explosions at the point of energy weapon ever produced. No ex-
premature neutron shedding. beam impact. Gould be anything from a planation as to how it generates such
Now for the hard part-create a nu- pulse laser on, though usually denotes awful power is given. In power and
cleardamper with an anti-node sufficient something thai fi res a "packet" of energy. effect, something like an FGMP-15 in a
to surround the ship, or at least make a Beamers-like blasters, a generic Colt .45-sized package.
"wal i" between it and a meson gun. term, used to denote those weapons that Then there's the unnamed hand wea-
When the pion beam hits, its pions are fire a continuous beam of energy. pon i n The We apon Shops of lsher by A.
dissolved into their constitutent quarks. Flamer-from Robert A. ·Heinlein's E. Vogt. Fits in the pocket, leaps into the
lf in the process they decay first into Starship Troopers. Available in two ver- hand at the mental command of the
gamma rays and antiparticles, the radia- sions, a heavy flamer and a hand flamer. owner, fi res an energy beam or creates a
lion shielding of the ship can handle the Also described as a plasma flamer. The wali of force sufficient to stop a light
first, and there is no matter in sufficient P/FGMP is the Traveller version of the laser can non. Wow.
concentration for the second to cause a weapon, although the flamer is more Lightsaber-a melee weapon, yes, but
significant explosion. This is not a sure adjustable than they are. it uses energy for its destructive effect
thing, but it's better than nothi ng. Disrupter-usually refers to a weapon nonetheless. My theory is thai the handle
Black globe? A true force field; an thai fires son ie or ultrasonic "beams". contains a miniature plasma generator
interruption in the fabric of space; a Always refers to the effect, that of d is- and magnetic bottle generator, controll-
modification·of the jump field generator; rupting the molecular structure of the able by the userfor anything from a kn ife
negative energy; these are speculations target. Metal or solids disintegrate. Flesh to a longsword-length "blade" of energy.
off the top of my head. In truth, I can'! or semisol ids rupture of liquify. Usually The magnetic field of lightsabers all
come up with a logical extrapolation that target-specific; that is, metal disrupters have the same polari ty, which is why you
wi ll end with the black globe. l'm willing don't work on organie matter, organie can błock one wit.h another. The only
to listen to anything anybody else has. disrupters don't work on metal, etc. other explanation I have uses gravitics
In concl usion, the meson gun, like the Neurodisrupters are a subclass of the and would make the user a walking
particie accelerator, is well suited to weapon that act directly on the nerve black hole, which could be tricky. Other
starship combat. Wh ile it has tremen- endings of a living target, causing ex- possibilities; laser contained by a force
dous potentia! as a battlefield weapon, treme pai n or paralysis or loss of muscle field, a hand-held variation of the nuclear
pure size and mass disallow this until control or loss of consciousness from damper disintegrator effect, a particle-
tech 15. lt is an excel lent planetary nerve shock. Grenades can be designed disruptor that reduces solid matter to its
defense weapon, however, since it can to use the same effect. component quarks, a stasis field.
be buried completely w ithout the beam Phaser-from the Star Trek series. Variable sword-from any of Larry
being obstructed, leaving onlythetarget According to The Making of Star Trek Niven's stores that have anything to do
acquisition and guidance gear vu lner- by Whitfield and Roddenberry, it emits a with Puppeteers. A handle with a retract-
able to fire. Disadvantages? Power re- beam of energy which is designed to able wire that is the source of a stasis
quirements, size of installation required, interact with the wave pattern of any field. The power source and generator
technological expertise required for op- molecular form. Can be set to stu n, heat, are in the handle. When extended and
eration. Advantages? The only weapon disrupt, or dematerialize, with wide vari- activated, you get a stiff blade thai could
Gont. on pg. 53
22
ing (o overhear the conversation, it is was not making much money; I was
Hardware Wars cont'<t t,om p. 22
just so much gibberish. Observation of working ridiculous ly long hours; I had
be up to several feet long and will cut the conversant pair would show heads two very lucrative job offers; I enjoyed
anything. Note that objects protected by together, speech patterns accelerating, AG and was proud of it. (AG was look-
stasis (at least in Niven's stories) can go and a general high /evel of excitement. ing deader all the time ...)
through stars and impact planets at high They are twitching. The same phenome- Lucki ly for all of us read ing this, l'm
velocities with no effect. Best explana- non manifests itself when a chance re- an inveterate glutton for abuse. That
tion for the stasis field I have is that it is mark about ancient chariots, for exam- last entry in the long preceding list was
an alteration of probability. There is ple, prompts a bystander to suddenly worth as much as all the others. I found
never a 1-00.00% certainty that something discourse at great length on how the five small investors (not one of 'em is
will affect something else. The stasis Babylonians had the first spring suspen- more than 4'6") and we bought out the
field alters that probability so that it sions, and are therefore entitled to move founding/funding company's interest.
doesn't. (I hope that that wasn't too taster, or over roughter terrain, etc. So, what does al l of this bode for
confusing.) I am as big a twitcher as anyone I you, the readers, you wonder? Good
Force knife, blade, axe, sword-a me- know. question. . . First and foremost, it
lee weapon that generates a force field One must walk in the way of twitch to means that AG is now the only total
in the shape of the particular blade recognize it. hobby magazine on the market that is
specified. Generat◊-r and power source truły independent. We join a select
are in the handle. Capabi lities vary from few- THE COURIER is independent,
the abi lity to cut anything to the ab i lity to but primarily a miniatures/historical
cut interna! organs of the body without magazine; CAMPAIGN is independent,
marking the skin. Up Against The Wall . .. but primarily a board/historical maga-
ł on cannon-from The Empire Strikes The Magazine That Wouldn't Die... zi ne that sometimes delves into the
Back. Taken at face value, a large beam mysteries of miniatures and fantasy.
weapon that fi res a bolt or beam of ions. AG stands alone i n edi"torial di rection
(Those of you that subscribe are ask-
An ion, by the way, is an atom with its and market served.
ed to bear with me through some ot the
electrons stripped partially orfully away, White I feel no particular compunc-
tollowing- some of this is a/ready
or with too many electrons. This sug- tion to become a "voice in the
known to you trom the notes we put in
gests either that it is a modified particie wilderness", it seems that that role has
the last mailing.)
accelerator or a fusion cannon. (The been thrust upon us-perhaps even ex-
high temperatures of plasma strip elec- Manzakk was funded by another pected of us. We feel it important that
trons away from atoms.). I suggest that company in getting it off the ground one voice does exist that can be taken
you treat it like a very powerful fusion last July. The other company owned at face value. In the future, if we praise
gun. half of the stock, and I owned half. For a product, you the readers need not
Stun gun-energy weapon that pro- reasons of their own, the other com- wonder what ulterior motive we hold in
duces unconsciousness. This cou ld be pany became no longer wil ling to bear doing so. Conversely, if we rip a prod-
done by "shutting down" the brain or the financial responsibility. (AG nearly uct, you needn't consider that we
nerve shock/overload. Effect is usually dies the first time ...) might have done it because of some
produced eitherwith sonics, ultrasonics, A couple of other companies were in- vested interest that we hold in some
occasionally infrasonics, or with electro- terested in Manzakk, but wanted to competing product. Like most editors
magnetic fields. Stun weapons range move the operation east, which I was and publishers before me, my only two
from grenades to handguns to cannons. loathe to do. (AG nearly dies a second concerns are that we keep you the
And that, finally, I hope, is that. Every- time ...) readers buying and reading AG and we
thing you never wanted to know about By the time both of the other parties keep the advertisers mollified and give
energy weapons so you didn't ask. had been talked with and ultimately them fair and equitable treatment.
Questions, class? Oh, shucks, there's turned down, operations had been This does not portend AG turning in-
not enough time (sigh of relief)! Too suspended for a couple of weeks, and to a "preachy" magazine. We wil l con-
bad. Remember, the exam is Thurday, time was running out. Rumors sur- tinue to push those games and
and next time we meet, the topie will be faced, most of them far off the beam. systems we feel have merit. We will
spacesuits and armor. (AG goin' down for the third time ...) continue to do just about everything
Have a nice day. lt was now becoming apparent that if we have done in the past, with a few
AG was to survive, it was up to your surprises. We already feel that AG is
kindly editor to put something the best gaming magazine published-
OFF THE WALL cont'd tromp. 2 together. I took stock of the situation: our next goal is growth.
This ma lady is known to strike gamers AG wa-s showing healthy signs of
without a moment's notice. lt usually growth; advertiser support was strong;
happens when two gamers possessing numerous figures in the industry had
similar interests getto conversing abo ut given me great encouragement to try to
said interest. For example, two "tankers" keep it going, as they were fond of the
meet, and begin to discuss armor thick- magazine and w ished to see an in-
nesses, gun velocities, armor slopes, dependent voice not be stilled; we had
penetration ability of gun, ground- money owed us; we owed lots of
weights, etc. To the non-"tanker" chanc- money; we had no cash flow at all; I
53