Routine ISVs en route to Pandora

[Sothis]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Originally Posted by Patrice Maire

The only thing that I'd like to mention is Norm's comment to Jake about doing the videolog.
'It'll help keep you sane for the next six years.'
so.. if that's an indication then the next ship won't arrive for 6 years?

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

Patrice Maire, I always saw that comment as being when Norm and Jake would LEAVE - and that it had nothing to do when other people get there. Particularly with the other ships constantly to and fro, to me it makes sense that people cycle on and cycle off at different times.

Ash pretty much gave the answer I was going to give. Jake and Norm wouldn’t be leaving on the next ship. They would’ve left on the 5th ship to arrive after the Venture Star. I imagine the contracts are staggered, so different people are constantly arriving and leaving on each ISV.

Originally Posted by Patrice Maire

But then again... Quaritch told Jake he was getting his legs back and 'out on a shuttle tonight'.
So...he's been there less than a year... which means he would be shipped out on the Venture Star on it's trip back.

Exactly. The ISV is still in orbit, so they could’ve easily gotten Jake into cryosleep before its return trip.

Originally Posted by SnowRider

Now, the only real question is what do they do at that point?

We'll find out, I am sure.

(however, I think the last "routine" ship to leave Earth would still be able to stop and turn around if they got enough advance warning that the situation has changed on Pandora)

Indeed, I’m sure we will find out. In the meantime, that’s what fanfiction is for. :-p

Actually, I don’t think the last ship would be able to turn around any more than the ones that are further along in their journey to Pandora. Even if they’re able to receive immediate, superluminal communication that the situation has changed, they’d already be at least 6 or 7 months into their journey. This means that the 5.5-month acceleration phase has already passed and they are travelling at 0.7c. It takes a lot of energy to decelerate from relativistic speeds, and twice that to accelerate back up in the opposite direction. Unless they can stop at some kind of fueling station en route, they’d be dead in the water if they stopped.

Originally Posted by Ashen Key

No concrit just yet - too post work - but, SOTHIS I HEART YOU. This is utterly BRILLIANT, thank you for working this out!

Hehehe, no problem. :-p It had been bothering me. Of course, now that I’ve worked it out, it’s going to feel like a glaring flaw whenever I encounter fanfiction with “mistakes” in their timelines.

Originally Posted by Helicoradian

There would need to be some interaction between the arriving ISV's and Hells Gate in order to restock on consumables for the crew. But given the circumstances, it should pose no problem to the humans and na'vi occupying Hells Gate.

VERY good point; thank you for pointing this out. And yes, I’d imagine that the ISV crews would have orders not to create trouble, in exchange for Jake and co agreeing to keep the base operational and supply them with the necessary consumables. Not to mention it would make no sense for the “routine” ISVs to try anything.

Originally Posted by Helicoradian

I'd be worried about those in cryo. Jake describes it as an ass kicking, and that's just for a one way trip which would imply even though you don't age as fast, it's still hard on the body. Could a person withstand being in that state for such a long period of time?

I’d imagine that the “ass-kicking” has more to do with being completely frozen and then thawed out, and less to do with the duration of the cryosleep. I always imagined that once you have been successfully frozen, you can remain that way almost indefinitely until it’s time to thaw out. But I’m just conjecturing, so it’s a potential concern.