Where was the Botany Bay going?

[Timo]

...Although for the sake of continuity, they probably didn't. After all, people who ventured to space 70 years after them thought that Terra Nova, some 20 lightyears away, was the closest available Earth-style planet. Apparently, the worlds around Alpha Centauri were only found habitable later, or made habitable later, or were conquered or purchased by Earth from former owners.

I don't see why Khan couldn't have traveled, say, 100 to 150 ly out from Earth in his two (subjective?) or three (objective?) centuries of cryogenic sleep. Trek impulse engines are certainly capable of reaching high relativistic velocities without the benefit of large fuel tanks, and there's nothing in the aired material to dictate that these engines were invented only after Khan departed Earth. There's only a vague reference to an improvement in sublight engines around 2018, but no real mention of what the engines were capable of prior to that date. Khan's ship was supposed to do practical interplanetary travel in the 1990s and perhaps 1980s, so it definitely was much better than anything we in the real world have, or better than anything we could have had even if we paid enough.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Myasishchev]

...Although for the sake of continuity, they probably didn't. After all, people who ventured to space 70 years after them thought that Terra Nova, some 20 lightyears away, was the closest available Earth-style planet. Apparently, the worlds around Alpha Centauri were only found habitable later, or made habitable later, or were conquered or purchased by Earth from former owners.

Alpha Centauri being occupied by another species (let's say Vulcans) and being Khan's destination aren't mutually exclusive, though. While prospective warp-speed human colonists would know that (e.g.) 500,000 Vulcans live on the third planet out from Centauri, Khan's astronomers would know at best only that it's a planet covered with photosynthetic, carbon-based life and significant amounts of liquid water. I doubt they'd be able to resolve the "Roundears go home" sign.

Ha, maybe that's how the BB wound up so far away. The Vulcans, having observed humanity for ages, knew that sending them back would mean a death sentence, but under no circumstances would have wanted a bunch of stinky emotional superhumans on their plot of land. Although reluctant to simply plink the Botany Bay out of the sky, they couldn't have them making planetfall. They recognized that the cryogenic systems would function indefinitely--so they towed them to some random point a few hundred light years out, putting them out of sight and out of mind, and ensuring a happier, safer Vulcan Alpha Centauri Colony.

 

[Timo]

At the end of the day, though, we should remember that neither Kirk nor any of his expert crew found anything odd about the presence of the Botany Bay at whatever distance she was found. Significant alien influence in her position or speed should therefore not be assumed IMHO.

Also, the area of space was said to "no longer" be visited by Earth vessels, yet Kirk's vessel did visit it for some reason, and was the only one to hear Khan's beacon.

Now, if Khan was just a dozen lightyears away from Earth or less, as perhaps dictated by the capabilities of his primitive vessel, surely his beacon should have been heard by many ships, installations or planets by then? Unless it was only extremely recently turned on, that is. This beacon stuff makes the more sense, the farther away the capabilities of the Botany Bay allow her to travel in 200 years...

Timo Saloniemi