Tom lived along the East Coast of the USA, in the same time zone as the spaceport. Conveniently, that meant Tom’s time and the ship’s time were aligned. Tom could cope with a call at 6am. Zak didn’t want to wake Skye, so instead of shouting at Tom to wake up, he sent a notification alarm. Then, he set the cabin’s wall to display the video, and turned the volume low.
He waited for Tom. There was no response. He sent another alarm, but that too failed to rouse him. Zak scratched his head, and tried to think if Tom might be out. He sent another alarm in case he was being stubborn. Finally a response. This time, the commando emerged from a tent in the desert.
‘Hi Zak,’ said Tom, rubbing his shaved head. ‘Another early call. You’re going to harass me from across the solar system are you?’
‘Hi Tom,’ whispered Zak. ‘Yeah you’ve no escape.’
The commando put his hands on his hips.
‘Well. Don’t just stare at me like a vending-robot,’ said Tom.
‘I’m not,’ said Zak.
The commando frowned and raised his hands.
‘Yeah okay Zak. I’m here.’
‘What are you talking about!’ said Zak, baffled by this response.
‘Didn’t you have anything to say?’ asked Tom.
Zak slapped his forehead. It was the communication delay. He quickly brought up the journey information on the ship’s computer. A small panel appeared in the top right hand corner that read “Communication time to Earth: 31 seconds”.
‘Can you stop beeping me, I’m up,’ shouted Tom.
Zak checked to see that Skye was not being disturbed.
‘Sorry Tom,’ he said. ‘I forgot. It’s the delay – thirty-one seconds. So it’ll take about a minute to get the response. I’ve heard that when the delay is this long, it’s better not to wait for the other person, or it will take hours to have a conversation. I think we’re meant to both talk for thirty seconds, then both listen for thirty seconds.’
Tom’s voice arrived again, so Zak stopped to listen.
‘Hey Zak. I know what it is. It’s the delay…’ Tom proceeded to give Zak exactly the same advice.
