6 hours Ago By Jennifer Sensiba
Today, we’re going to take a trip through the Stargate, a really cool plot device in a fictional universe now owned by Amazon. But, for readers who are super serious (and fellow writers who have wooden objects lodged in the worst places), I’m going to promise right now that we’ll come back to the real world to make some valid points about the advantages of electric bikes. So, bear with me! For those unfamiliar, I’ll share this short video explaining what a Stargate is: Unlike most science fiction series, the characters don’t usually take a spaceship to visit other planets.
Instead, they travel to other worlds just by taking a short walk through a circle that looks like a puddle of water. After walking through, your particles get transported to another planet, where a second gate puts you back together and you keep walking almost like nothing happened. In some ways, this is a lot like air travel in that you can only bring through what you can carry.
They do sometimes send small robotic vehicles to carry small loads of supplies, though. On the other side (which usually looks like someplace in Canada), there’s often zero infrastructure to support things like four wheel drive pickups, semi-trucks, or any other means of carrying large loads. There are lots of other rules for stargate travel that affect the story all the time.
You can only go one way through a wormhole, and need to dial back home to return. It can only stay open for 38 minutes in most cases. If the stargate gets buried or blocked up, you either can’t dial to that gate or you go SPLAT! and die upon arrival.
Yikes! There’s also the question of powering the thing. It supposedly takes immense power to operate, and costs millions of dollars in power alone, but the shows have also shown one being powered by the alternator of a car or even the generator of a Nazi Kubelwagen, which could put out maybe 360 watts at best. Most populations on the other planets are technologically behind the people of Earth (due to enslavement in the past), so about all you can expect to find is a path suitable for travel on foot or with pack mules.
There are also no gas stations, no EV charging stations, and basically nothing else you can use to refuel or recharge a vehicle. So, outside of a short-lived animated series, every journey to another planet happens on a dirt or gravel path. If you’re into biking, that last paragraph might sound kind of fun.
Even a single rough rut out in the desert blazed by cows or a game trail (literally made by deer and elk in most cases) is good enough for a mountain bike to ride on. So, a simple foot trail that people have been taking from the stargate to some nearby settlement would definitely be super easy for a bike to tackle! Even if the trail is abandoned, has obstacles that can’t be biked over, or has a fallen tree across it, it’s no big deal. Just bike where you can, walk where you need to, and push or lift the bike over/around the problem spots.
There’s almost nothing that can stop a bike. The advantages of taking an electric bike are obvious. Instead of being limited to what fits in a backpack or tactical vest, you can carry more gear along.
Food, ammunition, tents, long-range radios, water purifying equipment, and just about anything else can be carried along on a bike. With the speed of an e-bike, you can go faster and cover a lot more ground, too. Even if the batteries run out, e-bikes give you options.
You can, of course, keep pedaling to get back to the gate. Or, if you’re on a longer expedition, you could set out some solar panels and charge the bikes up for more range. You could also bring along a naquadah generator (an awesome clean energy device) to quickly get more range, assuming you don’t build one of those in to begin with.
If Amazon (the company that bought MGM) ever does bring the franchise back to life, it would be strange if they didn’t somehow incorporate electric bikes or electric motorcycles into the series. The technology has come a long way, and people would find it strange if the show continued to do everything on foot like it did before. Because Stargate is military science fiction (small military teams go through the gate to explore other worlds and hopefully bring valuable knowledge and technology home), it would make sense for any revived series to consider what’s happening with real militaries.
Ukraine’s conflict alone has given us countless examples of the military utility of electric bikes and motorcycles carrying everything from civilian humanitarian aid to Javelin missiles to drone and sniper teams. Other militaries are all experimenting with the use of e-bikes. This little thought experiment in a fictional universe also shows a lot about the usefulness of e-bikes for civilian use.
Unlike cars, which require well-maintained (usually paved) roads built and maintained at great expense, bikes are a lot more forgiving. If they could be useful for a hypothetical trip to another planet with no supporting infrastructure, their infrastructure needs here on Earth are quite light, which makes them easier to plan for. The other thing we can learn from this is how easy it is to piggyback e-bikes on other forms of transportation.
While it would be fun to ride through to other planets, e-bikes are also great at riding on trains and buses, on bike racks for cars, and even on planes (assuming you can take the battery along or rent one at destination). Even boats and ferries are great places to take a bike along on. The big key here is that bikes simply don’t need much, and for that reason, they’re easier to support.
Whether you’re traveling to say “Comtrya” on P3X-989 or around your neighborhood, the general lack of neediness a bike or e-bike presents makes it an excellent choice. Featured image: an MGM promotional image for Stargate: Origins. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy LinkedIn WhatsApp Facebook Bluesky Email Reddit.
