Link question from a techno nitwit

[DeMonk]

In "The Geometry of Shadows" Ivanova's link is used by the Drazi to pass on a fake message.

In "There all the honor lies" Sheridan's link is stolen but as he says, it is useless once REPORTED stolen. So... I presumed something could be done with it before it was reported stolen.

But in "Exogenesis" Marcus can't use Dr. Franklin's link to call for help.
Why not?

How come the Drazi can use Ivanova's link at all?

What am I missing here?

[Radhil]

I remember a near-throwaway line in the series that the links responded only to the DNA of their owners.

In which case, the Drazi could use Ivanova's link, because they had Ivanova.

But I don't know how that holds up.

[SLerman]

If they actually used her link (the one that staff wear on their hands), my guess was that they used it while it was still on her. She may have been unconscious at the time. However, remember how Garibaldi was concerned because Ivanova didn't actually talk to C&C, but sent a message instead (at least that's how I remember it)? It may have been sent from one of the terminals in the halls, and the Drazi "forged her signature" on the message.

[Jan]

In the script for Geometry, what Lou said, and Garibaldi picked up on was that they got an uplink, not a personal message. To me that indicates that it might well have been the B5 equivalent of email. In fact, in the tag, Garibaldi says:

Hey, in the two years you've been here, you've never been more than two inces away from your link. Knowing that little piece of information helped save your butt.

So even though they had Ivanova and they had the link, she probably told them, colorfully, profanely and probably anatomically impossibly, what they could do when they wanted her to link to clear out the section they wanted to use to ambush the other Drazi.

EDIT: Oops, SLerman pretty much beat me too it.

Jan

[therichieboy]

If you think that's techno nitwit stuff here's a good one. The carousel section of B5 rotates in one direction, right? If every action has an equal and opposite reaction, how come the zero g section of B5 (solar sails, upper cargo bay etc) doesn't rotate, even slowly, in the opposite direction?

[DGTWoodward]

One assumes that the retro thrusters, seen firing at full power at the climax of THE GATHERING, blast at some sort of constant low power to counter the force of the rotation mechanism...if you follow my cack-handed logic.

LOOK! I DONT SPEAK TECHNOBABBLE OK?

I leave that to the DEEP SLEEP 9 mob

[JPH3]

If you think that's techno nitwit stuff here's a good one. The carousel section of B5 rotates in one direction, right? If every action has an equal and opposite reaction, how come the zero g section of B5 (solar sails, upper cargo bay etc) doesn't rotate, even slowly, in the opposite direction?

Maybe there's a counter-rotating section of equal mass hidden somewhere else within the station to offset it. The non-humaniods populating the alien sector have different atmospheres and, presumably, different gravities.

On the surface it seems logical, but the stresses in such an arrangement might also warp the station's superstructure. Zero-G mechanics isn't my field.

[therichieboy]

I don't think I like the idea of wasting energy on constantly firing thrusters to keep parts of the station still. Why not just build the station as a single cylinder that could be spun up to speed with a single burst of some thrusters at a fraction of the cost? They could've stuck the cargo bay at the back, would've made getting the cargo from the zero g bit to the spinning bit easier. Why would they design such a crazy configuration into a space station? (Yes, I know because it LOOKS wicked).
In the Gathering Sinclair says the rotation of some sections can be changed to suit the gravitational requirements of some aliens.You can't see any seperate rotating sections from the ouside so maybe he's referring to this hidden counter-rotating section. But if they did change its rotation speed then that would throw things off kilter anyway. I wouldn't want to try and park a refuelling tanker in a bay that's spinning on a wide circle like that, not if I didn't want to get a cargo stablizer in the face.
Whilst on a rant, why did they bother rebuilding that cargo stabilizer that the Centauri Cruiser blew off in The Fall of Night when it's never used for anything (apart from,again, looking cool)?

[therichieboy]

By the way JPH3, thanks for bothering to reply to such an obviously pedantic posting.
'There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.' - Bertrand Russell

[grumbler]

If you think that's techno nitwit stuff here's a good one. The carousel section of B5 rotates in one direction, right? If every action has an equal and opposite reaction, how come the zero g section of B5 (solar sails, upper cargo bay etc) doesn't rotate, even slowly, in the opposite direction?

Because there is not a big engine and gears inside turning the rotating sections, they are rotated using thrusters (and the thuster gases do indeed go off in the opposite direction). In fact, there probably has to be some low-level thruster work to keep friction at the points where the rotating and stationary parts meet from forcing the "stationary" section to rotate WITH the rotating section (and not the opposite direction).

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Beat me to it Grumbler. The whole principle of rocket engines in a vacuum is based on Newton's Third Law (to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction).

Contrary to some popular belief rockets don't work by "pushing" against something - the simple act of ejecting the gases at high pressure causes the equal and opposite reaction to occur. Rockets are actually more efficient in space than in the atmosphere because there is no air in space to resist the ejection.

In the case of B5's rotation, the action is the ejection of the thruster exhaust gases, and the reaction is the rotating of the inner section of the station. Depending on how the rotating section of the station is physically connected to the rest (if at all) the only impact on the rotation of the outer framework would be the effects of friction as Grumbler pointed out.

[therichieboy]

I've read in several sources that rotation system is controlled by the fusion reactor at the back (presumably by some kind of motor) rather than independent thrusters.

If the rotating section wasn't physically connected to the z grav part then I wouldn't have a problem with it staying still. But then how would they transfer power from the reactor and solar sails to the spinning hub? Electrical arc maybe? Possibly they store the power in batteries that are shuttled over to the spinning bit.

[Capt.Montoya]

In "The Geometry of Shadows" Ivanova's link is used by the Drazi to pass on a fake message.

In "There all the honor lies" Sheridan's link is stolen but as he says, it is useless once REPORTED stolen. So... I presumed something could be done with it before it was reported stolen.

But in "Exogenesis" Marcus can't use Dr. Franklin's link to call for help.
Why not?

How come the Drazi can use Ivanova's link at all?

What am I missing here?

I concur with the DNA activation making it useless for talking.
But maybe it can still be used to authenticate "email", touch the link to some terminal and it will say that Ivanova sent the message.
That authentication code could be what is deactivated when the link is reported stolen.

______________

Regarding rotation:


That the rotation is controlled by the fusion reactor does not necessarily mean that is done by it (not to mention that if the references said that it's "controlled at" makes it more of a difference). The fusion reactor may just be providing the energy to the thrusters.

The other aspect to consider is that without outside friction the rotation of the station would remain almost constant for a very long time (being perturbed only by ships docking and leaving and the occasional battle), spin it once, adjust only as necessary.

The stationary section could beam the energy from the solar panels through microwaves (there's been proposals to do that with solar collection satellites beaming power to Earth), that would avoid physical contact.
But... since the forward stationary section is a cargo bay there has to be some physical connection there.
We could just assume that any physical connections between the stationary part and the rotating station are as friction free as possible and agree with Gurmbler's idea of small thrusters to apply any needed forces.

[DeMonk]

But maybe it can still be used to authenticate "email", touch the link to some terminal and it will say that Ivanova sent the message.

But why would she bother with email if she can just SAY the message. It's much simpler and faster.
Email would be OK if she couldn't reach security but she can. They are available. Wouldn't an email make you doubt the message too?

[therichieboy]

I concur with the DNA activation making it useless for talking.
But maybe it can still be used to authenticate "email", touch the link to some terminal and it will say that Ivanova sent the message.
That authentication code could be what is deactivated when the link is reported stolen.

______________

Regarding rotation:


That the rotation is controlled by the fusion reactor does not necessarily mean that is done by it (not to mention that if the references said that it's "controlled at" makes it more of a difference). The fusion reactor may just be providing the energy to the thrusters.

The other aspect to consider is that without outside friction the rotation of the station would remain almost constant for a very long time (being perturbed only by ships docking and leaving and the occasional battle), spin it once, adjust only as necessary.

The stationary section could beam the energy from the solar panels through microwaves (there's been proposals to do that with solar collection satellites beaming power to Earth), that would avoid physical contact.
But... since the forward stationary section is a cargo bay there has to be some physical connection there.
We could just assume that any physical connections between the stationary part and the rotating station are as friction free as possible and agree with Gurmbler's idea of small thrusters to apply any needed forces.

Cheers, Capt.Montoya. You've pretty much sold that to me. Now let's talk beam weapons...