I'm looking for a novel I read in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was a science fiction novel about an expedition of scientists sent at sub-light-speed (maybe in cryo-sleep?) to investigate a star system. Once there they set up a permanent scientific outpost. There was at least one inhabited planet in the system, with a sentient species that communicated telepathically. The aliens' speech was represented with various symbols instead of quotation marks, with each named character having (I think) its own characteristic set of symbols, as in the title of the question. The scientists are eventually able to communicate with these (generally friendly) aliens. The thing I remember most clearly is the end of the book. This was a one-way trip for the scientists, so gradually they all die off from various causes. When the next-to-last member of the crew dies of old age, the survivor is looking for an epigraph for her funeral, and (ironically, considering my current plight) can't find it in...

The Red Dwarf opening sequence shows somebody - presumably Lister - painting the ship. This seems bizarre. Everything about Lister's character suggests a predisposition towards laziness. He likes to cut corners; he is not the model professional. Yet painting the exterior of Red Dwarf is an infinitely arduous and time-consuming task. Why could he be smegged? Answer In Stasis Leak , first episode of Series II, we saw Captain Hollister sentencing Lister, and later Rimmer, to "PD", or Punishment Detail. Rimmer describes it thusly RIMMER: Why didn't you tell the Captain this? LISTER: What? And get someone into trouble? RIMMER: Oh, no. Eight weeks painting the smegging ship? LISTER: I'm sorry. RIMMER: Get the space-suits. What we saw in the opening was someone on PD, probably in order to show the scale of the ship.

Are there any hyper-drive based Star Wars weapons? I would think rather than fancy missiles, you would just want to send an inexpensive, weaponized hyperdrive to blow up an enemy ship. You would basically aim a hyperdrive at a course set through an enemy ship, and then let it fly. There would be several benefits to using them: They are traveling at relativistic speeds, giving them the most bang-for-their-buck. They are fairly inexpensive, as there are already hyperdrives in many common space vehicles. You wouldn't even be able to detect one until it hits you. So, are there any hyper-drive based Star Wars weapons? If so, why aren't they more common, given the multiple benefits listed above? Answer In the Dark Empire comics an Engineer named Umak Leth invented something called a Galaxy Gun, it launched missiles into hyperspace. It was used several times to destroy planets in far away systems and the Emperor attempted to use it to destroy the Rebel fleet. Images from Dark Emp...

In Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics No. 27, he is referred to as " The Bat(-)Man" exclusively. In the issue, characters say "It's the Bat-Man" rather than "It's Batman". For example: It's the Bat-Man — get him! In which issue does a character refer to him as just "Batman" for the first time? In particular, when is "It's Batman" (with no definite article) used for the first time? For the purpose of this question, hyphenation ("Bat-Man" vs. "Batman") is unimportant. Answer Interestingly, there are actually three four answers to this question... The Narrator The first time that Batman is consistently referred to as "Batman" (as opposed to "The Batman") by the omniscient narrator is Detective Comics #95 , some 7 years after his original debut. In-universe characters Batman is inconsistently referred to as "Batman" (no ' the ') by both the na...

At the height of its power, the Galactic Empire operated over 25,000 Imperial class Star Destroyers . Only 27 of them participated in the Battle of Endor . Why were so few at the battle? Scene where rebel fleet pulls back from Death Star 2 to see 27 Imperial Star Destroyers trapping them at Endor. Side note: the link for the Battle of Endor says there were 27 ISD's there, but I count 32 within this image from the movie. Were the other 24,973 of them deployed around the galaxy? In maintenance shops getting new parts? Was the Emperor overconfident in his navy? Or overconfident in Death Star 2? [embedded content] The destroyers were there only to prevent the rebels from escaping, and it might be easier to do that with 50 or a 100 ships instead of a mere 27. Bottom line: it would be a better trap if the Empire had brought in more firepower. I prefer answers from canon sources instead of speculative answers. Edit to Add: Thanks to Nat for tracking down the source of the number of Im...

I remember having read a short story in which the main character, thanks to a series of happenings also involving time travel, grew up, changed sex, made sex with himself and had a son... who of course was himself. The story ended with the main character saying something like "I know where I come from: but what about you?" As you may guess, I don't have enough data to search for the title, so I am asking knowledgeable people :-) Answer I'm pretty sure this is Robert Heinlein's All You Zombies . And the quote is; "I know where I came from—but where did all you zombies come from?" I also think this question is a duplicate but I couldn't find the original on this site.

I know at least one big universe where the creator officially includes works that would ordinarily be considered fan fiction as canon (as in he actually took the best of fan fics, edited them, and on an on-going basis publishes them in-universe, AND had works in universe based on things in those fics). That example is from Alternate History - the 1632/Assiti Shards universe by Eric Flint. Flint is a big time experiment builder in general (he seems to be one of the - if not the main - driving forces behind Baen's free library concept), so I was wondering whether the fanfic publishing concept is unique to him? Question: Was Eric Flint unique in this regard? Fan Fics here are defined as literary works produced by people who have not been commissioned by a publishing house/owner associated with the universe have not written their works with the expectation of being officially included in the universe (e.g. people writing a script with the goal of having Paramount shoot a Trek episode ...