Post by dulci on Mar 10, 2007 4:18:40 GMT -5
SPACE TRAVEL!!!
The method of space travel is carried out by jumping into hyperspace--nothing unusual there. But the only way to make a jump into hyperspace is for a ship to reach a certain absolute "critical mass," which can then allow a jump to take place without shredding the physics of the universe, not to mention the inhabitants of the ship.
Because of this critical mass, a system is needed for all ships to be able to make this same mass before a jump. While this is technically impossible by normal standards, there are several things by which this can be accomplished.
1--All ships before being cleared for hyperspace travel must have their mass measured to fall within a "reasonable range" for travel. Ships accomplish this mass by the material used to build the ship, the amount of peoples in the ship, the amount of cargo in the ship. Smaller ships are more likely to be made of denser hull material, larger ships of less. Smaller ships are also more likely to carry heavier cargo, while larger ships, holding more cargo, carry lighter cargo. While the range for "reasonable mass" is fairly large, there still must be an enforcement, so all ships must accomodate accordingly.
2--All ships must be equipped with a Kalorbi-made water drive. These water drives are essentially a vein and artery network extending entirely and organically throughout the ship's hull and inner partitions, all leading back to a central "heart." This heart compresses and pumps the Kalorbi water within these veins/arteries, and regulates, chemically, the flow of the water.
Now here's the cincher. The Kalorbi have found that through the chemical manipulation and the direct timed pulsation of the water through the water-drive, the effect of mass can be added or subracted from a ship that falls within the accepted reasonable mass range. In essence, a distorted illusion of the ship's mass is created, allowing for the ship to meet critical mass without actually meeting it. So, therefore, a ship can then make the jump to hyperspace, maintaining this illusionary critical mass until the jump is complete.
It is imperitive, though, that the ship maintain this critical mass throughout the duration of hyperspace travel. If a ship should happen to alter its mass even in the most minute way, it would be dropped from hypserspace into any random point along the supposed route of travel. This could be a system, open space, or a neutron star...or every and any other ungainly possibility. So, those ships better maintain critical mass!
3-Water drives, while maintaining critical mass, also perform the essential function of actually POWERING the ship. This is accomplished, again, by the chemical reactions in the "heart" of the ship. So, while the heart is pumping, reacting and maintaining critical mass, it's also powering everything else in the ship to propel it forward and perform every available function.
In this sense, the heart of the ship becomes essentially that--the heart. A ship cannot go faster or slower than its heart "beats" to make critical mass. A smaller ship, needing faster beating and more reaction to make critical mass, is therefore faster than a slower ship needing less pumping and reaction.
When in normal space, the heart also functions similar to an organic heart, pumping and reacting much the same. In the heat of a battle, certain reactions can give a ship a spurt of "adrenaline," which can make it momentarily go faster, or, conversely, fire weapons in varied degrees of strength. A ship cannot fire weapons without this adrenaline spurt. If a ship tries to run too long on adrenaline, though, its heart rate will overload the system and the ship will "die."
Periodically, ships also need "sleep," a lower speed, preferably non-mobile, in which the "heart-rate" is lowered and the organic systems of the ship can regenerate themselves.
If you're wondering how space travel was then accomplished before the Kalorbi came along...well...not very easily. The Kalorbi needed resources, though, and would periodically travel to other inhabited worlds to see if they had the resources they needed. If so, they would barter their water-drive technology for the import of resources. Not a bad deal, overall. One society was even known to travel in a generation ship to the Kalorbi homeworld, upon which the Kalorbi summarily outfitted them with a water drive, returned home with them, and entered into the same resource contract.
With the water-drive, the Kalorbi, obscure as they are, basically control the known galaxy.
The method of space travel is carried out by jumping into hyperspace--nothing unusual there. But the only way to make a jump into hyperspace is for a ship to reach a certain absolute "critical mass," which can then allow a jump to take place without shredding the physics of the universe, not to mention the inhabitants of the ship.
Because of this critical mass, a system is needed for all ships to be able to make this same mass before a jump. While this is technically impossible by normal standards, there are several things by which this can be accomplished.
1--All ships before being cleared for hyperspace travel must have their mass measured to fall within a "reasonable range" for travel. Ships accomplish this mass by the material used to build the ship, the amount of peoples in the ship, the amount of cargo in the ship. Smaller ships are more likely to be made of denser hull material, larger ships of less. Smaller ships are also more likely to carry heavier cargo, while larger ships, holding more cargo, carry lighter cargo. While the range for "reasonable mass" is fairly large, there still must be an enforcement, so all ships must accomodate accordingly.
2--All ships must be equipped with a Kalorbi-made water drive. These water drives are essentially a vein and artery network extending entirely and organically throughout the ship's hull and inner partitions, all leading back to a central "heart." This heart compresses and pumps the Kalorbi water within these veins/arteries, and regulates, chemically, the flow of the water.
Now here's the cincher. The Kalorbi have found that through the chemical manipulation and the direct timed pulsation of the water through the water-drive, the effect of mass can be added or subracted from a ship that falls within the accepted reasonable mass range. In essence, a distorted illusion of the ship's mass is created, allowing for the ship to meet critical mass without actually meeting it. So, therefore, a ship can then make the jump to hyperspace, maintaining this illusionary critical mass until the jump is complete.
It is imperitive, though, that the ship maintain this critical mass throughout the duration of hyperspace travel. If a ship should happen to alter its mass even in the most minute way, it would be dropped from hypserspace into any random point along the supposed route of travel. This could be a system, open space, or a neutron star...or every and any other ungainly possibility. So, those ships better maintain critical mass!
3-Water drives, while maintaining critical mass, also perform the essential function of actually POWERING the ship. This is accomplished, again, by the chemical reactions in the "heart" of the ship. So, while the heart is pumping, reacting and maintaining critical mass, it's also powering everything else in the ship to propel it forward and perform every available function.
In this sense, the heart of the ship becomes essentially that--the heart. A ship cannot go faster or slower than its heart "beats" to make critical mass. A smaller ship, needing faster beating and more reaction to make critical mass, is therefore faster than a slower ship needing less pumping and reaction.
When in normal space, the heart also functions similar to an organic heart, pumping and reacting much the same. In the heat of a battle, certain reactions can give a ship a spurt of "adrenaline," which can make it momentarily go faster, or, conversely, fire weapons in varied degrees of strength. A ship cannot fire weapons without this adrenaline spurt. If a ship tries to run too long on adrenaline, though, its heart rate will overload the system and the ship will "die."
Periodically, ships also need "sleep," a lower speed, preferably non-mobile, in which the "heart-rate" is lowered and the organic systems of the ship can regenerate themselves.
If you're wondering how space travel was then accomplished before the Kalorbi came along...well...not very easily. The Kalorbi needed resources, though, and would periodically travel to other inhabited worlds to see if they had the resources they needed. If so, they would barter their water-drive technology for the import of resources. Not a bad deal, overall. One society was even known to travel in a generation ship to the Kalorbi homeworld, upon which the Kalorbi summarily outfitted them with a water drive, returned home with them, and entered into the same resource contract.
With the water-drive, the Kalorbi, obscure as they are, basically control the known galaxy.
