And
I Guess That’s Why They Call it Time
Dilation
by Zach Smith
“We will be reaching
lightspeed in three minutes,” the captain
announced over the loudspeaker. “At which
point we will immediately enter the Sombrero
Galaxy.”
“Nervous?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “How did you
know?”
“Well, you’re holding my hand,” he
said. “And I don’t really know who you
are.”
“Oh, right. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to let go.”
“Okay, thank you,” she said, holding
his hand a little tighter. “I’m sorry.
It’s my first time traveling at light speed.”
“Mine too,” he said. “Same for all
of us here. This is the maiden voyage.”
They were true pioneers, leaving everything
behind. Everyone on the ship had their own
reasons for leaving Earth, reasons they were okay
with; and for many of those back on Earth…
the feeling was mutual. There was no return trip
scheduled or even possible, thanks to the
peculiarities of time dilation.
Some were nervous. She coped by holding a
stranger’s hand; he coped by rambling.
“A decade ago, most scientists thought that
nothing with mass could travel at the speed of
light,” he said. “But when you tell
some scientists that something is impossible,
their next step is to make it possible. And that’s
how we find ourselves on a spaceship the size of
the Titanic, the first human beings to visit the
Sombrero Galaxy, thirty million light-years away.”
“You could have said a different ship.”
“Sorry,” he said. “Bad example.”
“I still don’t get it. If we’re
traveling at the speed of light, and Sombrero is
thirty million light-years away, how can we
survive a thirty-million-year journey?”
“For the people on Earth, it will look like
it takes us thirty million years to reach
Sombrero. But for us, as soon as we hit light
speed, no time will pass for us until we stop.
That’s why they call it time dilation."
“Okay,” she said, growing more nervous
now, seeing a flaw possibly overlooked. “But
if our trip is instantaneous to us, how is the
ship navigated?”
“What do you mean?"
“Well, someone has to guide the ship through
space. Something has to steer us into Sombrero.
Because if we miss it, we might overshoot
Sombrero and hit the Hydra Cluster in sixty
million years—which, for us, would still be
instantaneous.”
“Oh, well, that’s simple,” he said.
“The ship is aimed at Sombrero before
hitting light speed.”
“Okay, sure,” she said. “But how
will the ship know when to slow down or stop? Or
at least dodge an asteroid before hitting it? If
we hit an asteroid between here and there, wouldn’t
we not even know it, wouldn’t our
conversation just cut off in midsentence?”
“Oh, um, the computers will take care of
that,” he said, unsure of his answer. “People
can’t run the ship, but computers can.”
“But wouldn’t the computer be affected
by the time dilation as well? Wouldn’t it
take no time at all for the computer until the
ship slows down? Wouldn’t we just continue
going in the same direction for millions of years
until we crash?”
“You know,” he said. “I’m not
sure. That’s a good ques—”
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