Whenever we make an assumption, it's not enough simply to leave it at that; to be fair to the reader, the SF writer should also see what that assumption does to everything else.This was brought home to me when Jim Baen called to ask for a column on "What happens if we get an economical space drive?" The result was not only the column, but the cover story for the issue. ("Tinker," included in HIGH JUSTICE, Pocket Books, 1977).The problem is more complex than it sounds. In fact, until we have some idea of what kind of space drive, there's no real answer at all.For example: let's suppose we have a magical space drive in which we merely turn on an electric motor and "convert rotary acceleration to linear acceleration." The Dean Drive, remember, was supposed to do just that.Incidentally? the Dean Drive wasn't suppressed by big corporations, as I've heard some fans speculate. I am personally acquainted with two men who were given large sums by aerospace companies and instructed to buy the drive if they saw any positive results whatever in a demonstration.After all, if the thing worked just a little bit, it would be worth billions.
