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time-delayed-communication
The concept that messages between distant colonies take years or centuries to arrive due to relativistic travel and space-time differences.
1 chapter across 1 book
Between the Strokes of Night (1985)Charles Sheffield
Chapter 41
In this chapter, a group at Gulf City receives a long-delayed communication from a colony on Kallen's World, revealing challenges in identifying the origin of stellar changes affecting their galaxy. The colony reports difficulties in locating the first star to have changed spectral type, which is crucial to understanding the stellarforming phenomenon, and passes the responsibility back to the Gulf City team. The meeting concludes with a discussion on the limitations of current data and the need for patience and passive observation to solve the mystery.