Traveling Light

Roger has a tremendous urgency to explore. Everywhere he travels, he moves extremely fast. There are never any stops along the way, and no sightseeing, at least not in the traditional sense.

Of course, part of the enjoyment of a long voyage is observing the scenery as you go. Roger is always more comfortable being the observer rather than being observed. In fact, he'd be fine if no one ever knew when he had passed by, as he feels traveling unnoticed is his natural state.

In the time it's taken you to read this, Roger has traveled 3.35 million miles.

Coursework

"Professor, here's my coursework."

"I see. Have you been hitting the bars in the Kuiper belt again."

"Well, maybe."

"And you traveled at what fraction of the speed of light?"

"Zero point nine nine seven."

"Applying the Lorenz factor, how much extra time passed in the Earthframe of reference compared to your personal frame of reference?"

"Erm, maybe three days."

"Did you travel out to the Kuiper belt at the same speed?"

"Yes."

"That's six days more that time progressed on Earth compared to yourpersonal frame of reference. When was the coursework deadline, Mr.Physics Student?"

"Oh shit."

From Guest Contributor Ross Clement

Absolute Zero

Is it so easy to discard Einstein? To forget Kuhn? Nothing is absolute. Even the rules Einstein himself believed inviolable proved fallible.

We've broken the light barrier. We've entered a black hole and returned. Still they demand their rules be sanctified.

Now she would prove them wrong again. She would surpass absolute zero. She would prove that no matter how cold, it could always be colder. She would do so by transforming the hermeneutics of quantum gravity, and forever alter our understanding of the universe.

And she would die in the process, praying she's right about the viability of cryogenics.