The Great Implosion
In the usual scenario, human beings will settle the Galaxy by going “out there.” (sometimes known as The Great Explosion). This has the disadvantage that, if there is no method of FTL travel, the resulting colonies will be almost isolated from each other.
What if, instead of a Great Explosion, there's a Great Implosion, in which the planets are moved to the solar system? The stars can stay where they are provided they're surrounded by solar-power collectors and the resulting energy beamed toward the solar system. (It might be necessary to move them closer to do that right.)
I'm surprised that Isaac Asimov, with his well-known distaste for travel, didn't write about such a system.
3 Comments:
I read a science fiction series set in such a universe c. 20 years ago.
The world was Islamic in flavor, and there were ~ 100 habitable systems...all within let's say 30 LY. There was some unknown problem w going further - FTL ships would disappear.
The hero (I think) discovered the problem: after some maximum jump distance ships retained their velocity vector but grew hugely in mass, becoming black holes (or somesuch).
The hero, as I recall, used this quirk of physics to drag all the planets, one by one, into solar orbit, so that there were 100 planets, all united around one sun.
I have no idea how to google the title.
It might possibly be A Gathering of Stars by Donald Moffitt.
Yes, I think you're right!
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