Old ideas like old habits die slowly. The speed at which a bullet travels could no longer be considered awesome, yet the Constellation Train that made the Orion run, up through the Milky Way through Gemini, to the Great Square in Pegasus was called The Bullet. It carried the name proudly even though it would take a bullet (at bullet speed) more than several million years to reach places the Train would arrive at in just hours today. The name simply persisted. Perhaps it was the old idea.

Now, how does one travel to the farthest constellations in such a short time? Part of the answer lies in refraction. Things are not always where we suppose them to be. Light bends. Space curves. Our universe is unbounded…but it is finite. It doubles back upon itself. Lines emanating from a point can end exactly where they began even though they progress in a forward direction and make no angular turns. Like advancing on a sphere or Mobius strip: one surface doubling back on itself, one side and one edge…or no sides…no edges.

And because distant stars move by the time their light even reaches us, their images appear to be where things are not. And not only are these things not where they are supposed to be…they could be anywhere. They could be everywhere. The trick, then, is to put the traveler there too.