Why does he want a Blackbird? Why would you want a Ford GT? (Warning: flash video intro)
As he finds beauty in the world of nature, he finds beauty in the wolrd of man-made machines, such as a test of a J-58 engine at full afterburner as shown here.
As for what he'd pay... Well, the original cost of of a Blackbird airframe was, in my mind's eye, surprisingly little: 34 million dolloars a peice. But that was 1964. What cost $34 million in 1964 would cost a little more than $205 million in 2005. Considering that the B-2 Spirit costs well into the Billions, the Blackbird's a steal.
Of course, even if Ben were to cough up the dough, they wouldn't just let him have it. First of all, they'd probably want assurances from him that he wouldn't do anything like use it against the US Government. But even then, they'd be reluctant, so Ben opts to do favors for NASA and the US Government for free or at-cost, depending on what said favors are. I dunno how long this would last, though. NASA had better be paying him something in addition to the fuel bills to make long-distance runs for them on a regular basis.
And before anyone says, "Well if they had Ben in the first place, then why did they bother with the Miranda, then?" Simple. Much longer range with much more scientific equipment that will not be tampered with by Wave-tech. Ben offers no guarantee that any of his wave-tech systems will not interfere with the readings he takes. Fortunately, though, the data he does gather will be pretty clean. Midnight knows what she's doing and so she makes the effort.
Ben is pretty well into the Professor's pocket. Thing is, Ben's met some pretty strange people in his time on Earth. Thus, the Professor hardly even turns any of Ben's hairs because as crazy as he is, his stuff -works- and has a basis in reality. So to speak, anyways.![[Image: wink.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif)
Give Ben's level of sanity and his connections to the Professor, I'd day say that NASA would use him often as a go-between themselves and the Professor, especially if they don't want it known that they're getting his help on something. So yeah, There probably would be a few under-the-table deals.
I like where you're going with the Mayan Calender idea. granted, getting out to the Miranda could be trouble as far as fuel is concerned. Perhaps if he had a pair of external tanks, then I'd guess it'd be do-able. Just have to see what Fnord thinks.
I think that the Professor would want Ben to go out and save them, if anything else then for the sake of science. After all, those men and women have boldly risked their lives in the name of science and my guess is that he feels that we need more intrepid scientists like them. That and a death in a tin box floating in vacuum at who knows how many light-years' distance from home is most assuredly not a nice way to go. The professor is, after all, certifiably insane, not inhumane (though any Julian Friese would tend to dispute that).
However, despite all that, I don't see the Professor himself having any great desire of a platform like a Blackbird. Sure, he'd love to see just how fast Ben can make her go and how he did it, but I think that would be the extent of his curiosities. Actually, I could see him involved in the development process, it's just not his project, really.
In response to time dialation, here's a new quirk I just thought of - please comment:
Time keeps on slipping...: In a most bizaar quirk, whenever Midnight pushes herself beyond her normal levels in FTL flight an inverse time dialation effect will occur: relative time inside the space-frame speeds up, giving the effect of seeming to have spent more time in transit when they actually have not as far as the outside world is concerned.
And another quirk I thought'd be nifty:
What AI?: Originally, Ben intended to transfer Gina over into the Blackbird, but despite the absence of a central computer core, something resembling an AI manifested anyways. She can not be found in any of the auxilirary computers (navigation, engineering, weapons control...) but she's there, non the less. Ben figures that the Handwavium simply brought the spirit of the Blackbird to manifestation. The Professor, equally baffled (that is to say, no more perplexed than Ben was), feels that the Handwavium itself has formed a sort of AI-like peronality matrix within the space-frame itself and controls the ship through its auxilirary computers.
Black Aeronaut Technologies Group
Aerospace Solutions for the discerning spacer
"But first, let's test it on the penguin."
"Meep?" O.o
As he finds beauty in the world of nature, he finds beauty in the wolrd of man-made machines, such as a test of a J-58 engine at full afterburner as shown here.
As for what he'd pay... Well, the original cost of of a Blackbird airframe was, in my mind's eye, surprisingly little: 34 million dolloars a peice. But that was 1964. What cost $34 million in 1964 would cost a little more than $205 million in 2005. Considering that the B-2 Spirit costs well into the Billions, the Blackbird's a steal.
Of course, even if Ben were to cough up the dough, they wouldn't just let him have it. First of all, they'd probably want assurances from him that he wouldn't do anything like use it against the US Government. But even then, they'd be reluctant, so Ben opts to do favors for NASA and the US Government for free or at-cost, depending on what said favors are. I dunno how long this would last, though. NASA had better be paying him something in addition to the fuel bills to make long-distance runs for them on a regular basis.
And before anyone says, "Well if they had Ben in the first place, then why did they bother with the Miranda, then?" Simple. Much longer range with much more scientific equipment that will not be tampered with by Wave-tech. Ben offers no guarantee that any of his wave-tech systems will not interfere with the readings he takes. Fortunately, though, the data he does gather will be pretty clean. Midnight knows what she's doing and so she makes the effort.
Ben is pretty well into the Professor's pocket. Thing is, Ben's met some pretty strange people in his time on Earth. Thus, the Professor hardly even turns any of Ben's hairs because as crazy as he is, his stuff -works- and has a basis in reality. So to speak, anyways.
Give Ben's level of sanity and his connections to the Professor, I'd day say that NASA would use him often as a go-between themselves and the Professor, especially if they don't want it known that they're getting his help on something. So yeah, There probably would be a few under-the-table deals.
I like where you're going with the Mayan Calender idea. granted, getting out to the Miranda could be trouble as far as fuel is concerned. Perhaps if he had a pair of external tanks, then I'd guess it'd be do-able. Just have to see what Fnord thinks.
I think that the Professor would want Ben to go out and save them, if anything else then for the sake of science. After all, those men and women have boldly risked their lives in the name of science and my guess is that he feels that we need more intrepid scientists like them. That and a death in a tin box floating in vacuum at who knows how many light-years' distance from home is most assuredly not a nice way to go. The professor is, after all, certifiably insane, not inhumane (though any Julian Friese would tend to dispute that).
However, despite all that, I don't see the Professor himself having any great desire of a platform like a Blackbird. Sure, he'd love to see just how fast Ben can make her go and how he did it, but I think that would be the extent of his curiosities. Actually, I could see him involved in the development process, it's just not his project, really.
In response to time dialation, here's a new quirk I just thought of - please comment:
Time keeps on slipping...: In a most bizaar quirk, whenever Midnight pushes herself beyond her normal levels in FTL flight an inverse time dialation effect will occur: relative time inside the space-frame speeds up, giving the effect of seeming to have spent more time in transit when they actually have not as far as the outside world is concerned.
And another quirk I thought'd be nifty:
What AI?: Originally, Ben intended to transfer Gina over into the Blackbird, but despite the absence of a central computer core, something resembling an AI manifested anyways. She can not be found in any of the auxilirary computers (navigation, engineering, weapons control...) but she's there, non the less. Ben figures that the Handwavium simply brought the spirit of the Blackbird to manifestation. The Professor, equally baffled (that is to say, no more perplexed than Ben was), feels that the Handwavium itself has formed a sort of AI-like peronality matrix within the space-frame itself and controls the ship through its auxilirary computers.
Black Aeronaut Technologies Group
Aerospace Solutions for the discerning spacer
"But first, let's test it on the penguin."
"Meep?" O.o