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From: mcdaniel@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: Phaser that idiot! - (nf)
Message-ID: <2898@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Sep-83 23:35:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.2898
Posted: Tue Sep 20 23:35:51 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 22-Sep-83 04:36:02 EDT
Lines: 28

#R:uiucdcs:24900010:uiucdcs:24900012:000:1158
uiucdcs!mcdaniel    Sep 20 22:30:00 1983

Just one last point:  Why didn't they just photon torpedo/phaser Reliant
(and Genesis) into a rapidly expanding ball of vapor?  I KNOW Kirk
wanted their surrender, but once Genesis was started, the chances
of getting prisoners was small, and the Enterprise's chances of
survival were getting pretty darned slim, Jim.  Also, they could have
beamed it up and beamed it far away (probably not far enough,
though; the max range was on the rough order of 5e4 kilometers),
or dispersed its constituent particles throughout a large volume:
	      ... ---> xporter -----> .
				\------> .
				 \-------> .
(wasn't this done in one episode?).  Let me guess an objection:
>The Genesis license agreement CLEARLY stated that
>"any attempt to phaser, torpedo, beam up/down, fold, spindle,
>or mutilate Genesis is a license violation, and the
>device is programmed to detonate instantly if attempted."*

I know, "pick, pick, pick . . . ."

* "Genesis" is not a trademark of Bell Labs, but it probably will be,
sooner or later.

Tim McDaniel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, CS dept.
(UNIX mail: . . . pur-ee!uiucdcs!mcdaniel)
(CSNET: mcdaniel.uiuc@RAND-RELAY)