quote:

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There is no known way to build an ansible. The theory of special relativity predicts that any such device would allow communication from the future to the past, which raises problems of causality.

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If Peter asks Ender the results of a race on earth that happens next week, the information cannot instantaneously be sent to Ender until it happens, so, although Ender is in effect in the future, to him, he's not. While it's true the race would have been long over on earth by the time he used the ansible, to Ender it's the same time. Ender isn't calling into the past, Peter is answering into the future.

[Edited to Add:]

Ironically, this is post 101--thereby making it "Ansibles and Guns Blazing 101". He, he, he.

"You rang?"

"Yeah. Almost everyone has voted and sent in their crits of their top three stories; some have sent crits of eight or more. One person has promised their vote is imminent."

"Good. And you're telling me because?"

"Because I haven't heard anything from Cheyne, and I don't think he's posted anything at Hatrack these last few days. Could you find him and ping him about tomorrow's closing date for votes and crits? His vote would make a big difference to the results. Please?"

"I'll see what I can do. And tell WouldBe we agree that unrestrained magic in fantasy is indeed equivalent to bad science in SF."

"We? You're speaking for me now?"

"It was a Royal 'we'," said the Voice from Afar, and hung up.

Cheers,
Pat

[This message has been edited by TaleSpinner (edited July 17, 2008).]

"What!?"

"It's about time you picked up."

"How did you get this number?"

"From Talespinner."

"This is supposed to be a private line. He's passing out my number now?"

"Well, no. He ate one of Merlion's german chocolate cakes and needed to run to the bathroom. I got your number off his ansible while he was scar-ing up the porcelin."

"It's one-fifth past twenty-seven in the morning here. What do you want?"

"Twenty-seven?"

"Time works differently on this plane. Now get with it."

"When will we see the results?"

"Results of what? Daytonna 500? Your blood test? Your daughters SAT? The hatrack plumbing inspection?"

"Well, that last one would be interesting. Nah, the ansible contest."

"Oh for crying out loud. You got KDW ready to erase half your post and you waste all your time asking me that?"

*click*

Here, from the list on the fridge, are the stories, their numbers and their authors:

1 Unwritten "The Cabin"
2 would be "Ansible Time Zone"
3 Annepin "Spin Cycle"
4 IB "Rebirth"
5 kathyton "Special Delivery"
6 snapper "The Centenarian"
7 TaleSpinner "Vauum Sucks"
8 Shimiqua "And This is Life Eternal"
9 would be "The Red Ansible"
10 Grant John "Thirty-five Dollars"
11 Cheyne "Listen"

For the first 13s, in third place was ... drum roll ...

Excuse me, the ansible's ringing in the kitchen.

"Who won?" asked the Voice from Afar.

"I'm just telling everyone. You're interrupting."

"So get on with it then."

"But ... oh, never mind ..."

In third place for the first 13s was ... drum roll ...

Thirty-five dollars, by Grant John

And in second place was ... bigger drum roll ...

And This is Life Eternal, by Shimiqua

But in first place for first 13s, with over twice as many points as its nearest rivals was ... huge drum roll ...

quote:

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Best first 13: Spin Cycle, by Annepin

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"Do you think she'll glom if I ping her again?" asked the Voice from Afar.

"Shudup," I said. "You're messing up the ceremony. And what was all that nonsense you were telling snapper about time working differently on your plane?"

The Voice from Afar chuckled. "That wasn't me he was talking to. It was my alter-ego--the Voice from Another Far. But why are you nattering about history? Who won the contest?"

Okay. Four stories were grouped close together at the top, just ahead of the pack.

In fourth place was ... drum roll ...

The Centenarian, by snapper

In third place was ... drum roll and trumpet fanfare ...

Spin Cycle, by Annepin

In second place was ... drum roll, trumpet fanfare, ansibles ringing ...

Listen, by Cheyne

And in First Place ... Was ... drum roll, trumpet fanfare, ansibles ringing and guns blazing ...

quote:

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Best story: The Cabin, by Unwritten

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And of course, with a little work, all the stories will be winners :-)

Congrats to Annepin and Unwritten, and to everyone for some great work.

Thanks y'all for a super contest, for some valuable crits, and for making my life easy by observing the rules.

If you owe more crits (some people did their eight, some just the top three) please send them direct to their authors.

Everyone got at least three crits. I have e-mailed the whole package of crits to everyone in the contest. It's a small, 78Kb zip file, and if you can't deal with it, e-mail me. (On most computers you should be detach the file from the e-mail, right click it and unpack it into a bunch of text and Word files. Therein you'll find the crits. Some of the votes were sent separately, so if you want to see the full voting spreadsheet, e-mail me.)

#

"You promised IB an anisble. You broke your promise," said the Voice from Afar.

"I promised him an ansible when they're invented," I said.

"And you're speaking to me on?"

I looked at the ansible, sleek, smooth and sexy in my hand.

"Give it to him," said the Voice from Afar and hung up.

Before I could protest the double-entendre, the ansible began to fade, back into my imagination.

Sorry, IB.