imperial radch - Why is the distance that shots fired by the (Presger) Garseddai gun can penetrate through an object 1.11 metres?

In the Imperial Radch trilogy of novels, the protagonist Breq Mianaai is in possession of a powerful weapon created by the alien Presger. The weapon is a relic from the failed resistance of Garsedd (which acquired the weapon from the Presger) to annexation by the Radch.

It is established that bullets fired from the weapon will, upon contact with any object, penetrate that object to a distance of 1.11 metres (and no further).

In Ancillary Mercy, Breq (and the audience) learns that the distance of 1.11 metres is not intentional, and is instead a side-effect of its design. As Presger Translator Zeiat explains:

"It wasn't meant to be a useful distance. In fact, the distance wasn't meant at all...the bullets aren't designed to go through anything for 1.11 meters. They're designed to destroy Radchaai ships. That was what the purchasers required of them. The 1.11 meters is a kind of... accidental side effect sort of thing. And useful in its own way of course." (Ancillary Mercy, Chapter 9)

This provides an in-universe answer to the significance of the 1.11m, however, is there an out of universe explanation as to why the ammunition of the Presger gun is limited to this distance? Is there any significance to this detail being 1.11 metres?

Comments from the author on the subject, or theories with explanation, are both acceptable and encouraged.

Answer

I just asked Ann Leckie, author of the Imperial Raadch trilogy, this question on Twitter. Her response, posted here, is

@matgutting There is no significance to the number, it's just one I chose because it seemed cool for whatever reason.

Comments

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...

Blog

Search This Blog