Im using visual basic 6, so i guess the lib is out of the question :)

Another approach would be to take into account time dilation. When stuff travels at relativistic speeds (as measured from an intertial reference frame), time appears to pass slower for it (from the perspective of the home reference frame), and for the object, distances appear to be smaller. So, if you are travelling near c, the distance that you travel is going to seem shorter (as a factor of 1/(v^2 - (v/c)^2), meaning that this factor is infinite when v = c, and is 1 when v << c). If you use this physically correct perspective, you could just calculate distances and compensate for this relativistic model, making distances not so far if you can travel near c.
Sorry if this makes little sense, its been a long week.

You might check this topic out on my physics professor's GPLed textbook, available online here: Link, in particular the section on "Kinematics of Special Relativity", and the spacetime Pythagorean theorum.

I wrote quite a bit on applied time dilation in a previous thread

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=321923


time dilation is actualy kind of exciting from a stretegic war game point of view