Trying to remember a book or series of books
06-11-2020, 12:17 PM (This post was last modified: 06-11-2020, 12:18 PM by Bob Schroeck.)
06-11-2020, 12:17 PM (This post was last modified: 06-11-2020, 12:18 PM by Bob Schroeck.)
I'm trying to recall the name/titles and author of a series of SF books, vintage 1980s IIRC, in which psionic teleportation is an established talent, and some kind of organization trains and employs all teleporters to handle interstellar shipping. The teleportation talent has very strict, very consistent rules -- a maximum mass somewhere just below 1000kg, needing to match velocities between origin and destination using an "elsewhere" full of energy that can be drawn on or added to, and a few other things that all apply to all teleporters equally.
The catch is, the organization conditions/hypnotizes/mind controls its trainees to be very unimaginative with their use of their talent. The protagonist's roommate somehow finds this out and because he can't figure out why anyone would want that he jiggers the device in their room that does this so they're not affected (then disappears from the story, I forget why). So protagonist grows up, gets his assignment, and starts working and making a good living without this conditioning... and when he ends up in the dangerous situations that make up the plot of the books, he realizes just how much of a weapon his teleportation talent can be if he does something like, say, take that just-under 1000kg of air, adds a lot of velocity from the energy space, and drops it on top of the enemy...
Does this ring any bells for anyone? Thanks.
The catch is, the organization conditions/hypnotizes/mind controls its trainees to be very unimaginative with their use of their talent. The protagonist's roommate somehow finds this out and because he can't figure out why anyone would want that he jiggers the device in their room that does this so they're not affected (then disappears from the story, I forget why). So protagonist grows up, gets his assignment, and starts working and making a good living without this conditioning... and when he ends up in the dangerous situations that make up the plot of the books, he realizes just how much of a weapon his teleportation talent can be if he does something like, say, take that just-under 1000kg of air, adds a lot of velocity from the energy space, and drops it on top of the enemy...
Does this ring any bells for anyone? Thanks.
-- Bob
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....