Re: Gateways and Trains - Edit 2
Before modification by Dunstan at 12/11/2010 01:41:11 AM
Question 1. Why in Aviendha’s test would the Seanchan (or anybody else for that matter) need to make trains? Cars yes, planes yes, but trains? Don’t gateways make trains kind of irrelevant?
Trains would still work well. Have a train track that runs through gateways and it's a quick and easy way to transport large groups of people.
You should read Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga. It's a science fiction story where humanity has colonized multiple planets, and there is an entire system of trains set up that make interplanetary journeys through wormholes. The Seanchan could have done something similar, with terminals that connect via gateways to other cities.
The problem with that is that it would be faster to just go through the gateway then load up, and unload the trains, and that old-fashioned trains can be out-and-out deathtraps to the people who work on them.