>... The Outer Rim Territories are at the far end of the arm and
>curving back along the "back edge" of the bend in it, so to speak; the
>Coreward Frontier, representing as far as modern explorers have cared
>to press on toward the galactic core, is about seven-eighths of the
>way "down" the arm toward the center; and it's bounded on either side
>by the gaps between this arm and the neighboring ones. In universal
>terms it's a vanishingly small area. See, this I did not know. I don't recall if it's been mentioned 'on-screen', as it were, and if it has I doubt it was at this level of detail. And honestly, it probably *shouldn't* have been, lest FoF (or whatever) devolve into The EPU Science Hour.
I appreciate the clarification (and the point-by-point list above, too). My point (perhaps not too clearly explained) was not so much that I, the geek sitting here at the keyboard, do not understand the difficulties with the various forms of travel, but rather that I, in my absorbed reader disguise, was jolted ever-so-slightly out of the flow by the problem as it appears at this point.
Essentially, it seems like everyone is saying, "Oh, but it's so far away!" And yeah, it is. But frackinsmackindammit, these are HEROES! Ok, maybe it's STILL too far away, but nobody has really explained that. If I sit back and think about it, I mean REALLY think about it, I understand what you mean in the explanation you gave (which I appreciate, BTW). But as a reader enjoying your work, I'm feeling... I dunno, clueless, I guess.
I'm not sure this makes sense, really. I guess I'm feeling as though, if I were actually THERE, in the UFverse, I'd be hopping up and down going, "Gee, mister, why? Why can't you go save her? Huh? Huh, mister Gryphon sir, huh?" Granted, if I were there and did such a thing, I'd probably be ignored at best, but still. It doesn't feel like anyone's addressed the enormity of the problem. All that's happened so far is something along the lines of:
"We know she's in another galaxy! Let's go save her!"
"But no matter which galaxy it is, it's too far away!"
"Oh. Well, ok then. Hey, what's on TV tonight?"
I mean, I know that's not what's going on, but that's the impression I get upon reading it, and I don't think that's the impression you want to portray.
Of course, I could just be the only idjut getting this impression, but hey - feedback, right? ;)
--sofaspud
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