This is a beautiful post about Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean‘s immortality. Imagine Jack living through modern times and the future. He’s been through it all, he watches humanity discover the heavens above them, watched them begin to wonder what’s out there. He cheered with the rest of the world when they landed on the moon, cheered as if he’d found Isla de la Muerta all over again, because there was something new…
❤❤💔💔
I had the same reaction.
I have written a fanfic series on exactly this subject; Jack Sparrow achieving immortality & having various experiences through the centuries. And discovering that being deathless has certain disadvantages.
It’s called ‘Jack To The Future’, by Jennifer Weston, and anyone who’s interested can read it on the FanFiction website.
Okay but not solar panels. Science fiction already gave us the right tech, backed up in theory by science fact. With enough surface area to mass ratio, you can achieve propulsion by literally riding the charged particle “wind” emitted by the sun. Theory implies solar sails are perfectly feasible and would simultaneously be backup power *and* backup propulsion. So he wouldn’t be deploying a panel, he’d be hoisting the sails.
“The winches and cables are different; the rigging goes by another name these days. Jack watches the sails deploy ever so slowly, and the sight of it sends a chill down his spine. He doesn’t see the echoes of past sails, past ships, past lives so much as he feels them …… an endless chain of hands on rigging raising sails and watching … He’s mesmerized by how slowly everything happens, but these sails are huge. After the solar sails start to show tension, Jack busies himself with manual adjustments. He doesn’t need to look at the strain gauges or remote readouts after centuries. He just needs the stars and a sensitive touch.
“Okay, Lucky Jack, we’re back online. Computer will give us the corrections and …… nope. Spot on. HOW the f**k do you do that?”
“It’s an old gift. I’ll ……. be EVA a while longer. I need to, monitor the sails for a while.”
“Uh, Roger that EVA request. Just check in every now and then to let us know you’re still breathing, okay?”
It’s 100% believable that Jack would be able to set the sails- any sails- by stars & touch alone. Nobody’s had more practice!