On Sep 23, 4:15 pm, Sue in PA  wrote:   
   > [How did] Sheridan survive that plunge into a 2 mile high chasm.   
   Well, the "two mile high" part sounds dramatic, but a two mile fall is   
   no more deadly than a fall of a few hundred feet.  Sheridan would have   
   reached terminal velocity (about 195 km/h or 122 mp/h for a typical   
   skydiver in free fall) in under 20 seconds.  Beyond that it didn't   
   matter if he fell one more foot or sixty miles, he wouldn't gain any   
   speed or be any deader at the bottom, *based on the distance* fallen,   
   than at the point where for force of drag acting on his falling body   
   exactly matched the force of gravity pulling him down.   
   The unknown variables are the gravity and atmospheric pressure on   
   Z'ha'dum, how much the atmosphere thickened (or thinned, or did   
   neither) as he dropped and what effect the nuclear blast in the city   
   above had on conditions in the shaft.  Any number of factors could   
   have resulted in Sheridan's speed being markedly reduced before he hit   
   bottom, including updrafts from the hotter interior of the planet.   
   His survival does seem unlikely, but given some of the skydiving   
   accidents people on *this* planet have survived, I wouldn't put it in   
   the totally implausible column.   
   Regards,   
   Joe   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)