I was recently on a medium-haul bus ride, sitting within earshot of the driver—but not the closest passenger to him. I’d encountered him a few times before: a somewhat chatty middle-aged fellow given to telling the occasional joke into the microphone for the whole bus. He is, on the whole, a friendly and likable guy, who does his job well.

The passenger sitting in front of me obviously had talked with him before, because at one point he asked the driver for an update on his ion drive. It took three tries to have his question heard correctly: “eye-on drive?” But once clear, ho boy did the conversation take off!

This post is partly for entertainment value, but also serves to highlight delusions about space. Granted, some people might judge this character to be a little “out there,” but to my ears all space talk is at a similar level of crazy.

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