space travel - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

"Mmm," said the alien, "we use space radiation as our fuel, it's always there. Why would you ever go on a journey with a fuel you were unable to replenish at will?"

"Right," said Addy, "and I guess as a bonus, if you can do that then getting a ton of energy from sunlight would be a doddle."

"Yeah," the alien replied, "you humans have potential, we see that. The thing is you chase power and advantage, make cultures of fear so much that you become strangers to yourselves. How can one seek truth out here when your inner truth eludes you? In that crazy state of constant self doubt and social positioning you miss all that is obvious and simple. For instance, in cultures where everyone makes their mark, gains advantage, by invoking fear, persuading others of a problem and marketing themselves as the answer... you create a world of ever expanding problems, ever more atomised, like a cultural atomic bomb. Literally every area of your thinking is poisoned by money culture. So, you wanna come up here and play with the really socially evolved species? Sort that mess out first."

The rocket changed distance by playing with time. Time travel, it turns out, is not a thing because the present moment is all we ever have. But if you can manipulate time then you can change spacetime, which is the same thing as distance. These new rockets were a kind of teleportation, yet they folded spacetime and popped out in a different place. It was kinda neat.