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A Primer on Alurian Space Travel (Final Part)
(Art from February, 2017)
(Pictured: A deployed salvation drone, likely en-route to provide aid to a distressed spacecraft.)
A Primer on Alurian Space Travel
<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>
At long last, the universe was open to us...
But that didn't mean it would be a free ride from then on. The Source energy that powers our technology, and is as necessary for our survival as air and water, is not as abundant as we first thought. It saturates our own star system, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the universe. Therefore, all Alurian colonies and ships must be equipped with Source Emitters, which are built on similar fourth-dimensional principles to Everters, and similarly protected from unauthorized meddling.
In addition, 4D topography is exceptionally complex... We can't see it, so it can be very difficult for the average person to comprehend, even when analogies are liberally applied. Its terrain is also erratic, making it challenging to map. The process is one of educated trial-and error that includes the sacrifice of countless innocent probes. Due to the strange way that the 4D terrain connects 3D spaces, the useful locations that we have mapped reliable routes to are often remote, and possibly not even visible from our planet. Even after all this time, we cannot point to any given star in our sky and say with confidence that we know how to Evert to there.
Navigation, even on frequently-traveled routes, must be automated. This decision lead to one of our species' greatest achievements: the development and maintenance of the Path Network, a grand web of space stations that enable all Everter-equipped species to traverse the stars. The individual Path Gates serve many functions: They supply the ships passing through with as much Source as they’ll need to make the next leg of their journey, and perform the complex navigational computations involved in their upcoming Eversions. In addition, Path gates also act as 4D beacons, reducing the likelihood of ships going off-course while Everting, and they relay signals through 4D space, allowing faster (but still not instant) communication with Gate-equipped regions.
The full Gates are transported and maintained by massive carriers called Skybearers. Only three were ever built, and ownership of each was distributed between three countries: Arxyna, Kanspyr, and Dyntral. The intention is that Skybearers should only need to be called in for the deployment or major failure of a Gate. All Gates have a small crew that is trained and equipped for long-term self-sufficiency. It has a few simple defenses, and in the event of a threat that the station is not able to handle, it can jettison its supercomputer and habitation module, which will Evert and head for safety as long as it is not being followed.
In an environment where the signal delay can be significant and the nearest inhabited system is most often unfathomably far away, lives can easily be lost by even a minor setback. Sometimes it was an unforeseen equipment failure. Frequently, captains and crews would be overwhelmed by what they witnessed or felt during eversion, and would revert prematurely as a panic response, stranding them in the emptiness between stars. Other times, some pilots overestimated their skills, and opted to navigate 4D space manually. Rarely, the 4D topography would change without our realizing, and ships could be unexpectedly deposited in unknown locations after reverting.
Thus, each gate is also the hub of its own fleet of Eversion-ready Salvation drones, which are designed to track down and rescue ships that have become lost, stranded, or inoperable. While they can be remotely controlled, they must also carry a simple on-board AI, as often times the signal delay renders an operator ineffective. The AI is constantly modified and improved as the drone fleet encounters novel challenges.
All Trinity Project species and settings are OPEN! If you wish to create something within the TP universe, please read this Journal first.
All copyright-able Trinity Project content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!
(Pictured: A deployed salvation drone, likely en-route to provide aid to a distressed spacecraft.)
A Primer on Alurian Space Travel
<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>
At long last, the universe was open to us...
But that didn't mean it would be a free ride from then on. The Source energy that powers our technology, and is as necessary for our survival as air and water, is not as abundant as we first thought. It saturates our own star system, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the universe. Therefore, all Alurian colonies and ships must be equipped with Source Emitters, which are built on similar fourth-dimensional principles to Everters, and similarly protected from unauthorized meddling.
In addition, 4D topography is exceptionally complex... We can't see it, so it can be very difficult for the average person to comprehend, even when analogies are liberally applied. Its terrain is also erratic, making it challenging to map. The process is one of educated trial-and error that includes the sacrifice of countless innocent probes. Due to the strange way that the 4D terrain connects 3D spaces, the useful locations that we have mapped reliable routes to are often remote, and possibly not even visible from our planet. Even after all this time, we cannot point to any given star in our sky and say with confidence that we know how to Evert to there.
Navigation, even on frequently-traveled routes, must be automated. This decision lead to one of our species' greatest achievements: the development and maintenance of the Path Network, a grand web of space stations that enable all Everter-equipped species to traverse the stars. The individual Path Gates serve many functions: They supply the ships passing through with as much Source as they’ll need to make the next leg of their journey, and perform the complex navigational computations involved in their upcoming Eversions. In addition, Path gates also act as 4D beacons, reducing the likelihood of ships going off-course while Everting, and they relay signals through 4D space, allowing faster (but still not instant) communication with Gate-equipped regions.
The full Gates are transported and maintained by massive carriers called Skybearers. Only three were ever built, and ownership of each was distributed between three countries: Arxyna, Kanspyr, and Dyntral. The intention is that Skybearers should only need to be called in for the deployment or major failure of a Gate. All Gates have a small crew that is trained and equipped for long-term self-sufficiency. It has a few simple defenses, and in the event of a threat that the station is not able to handle, it can jettison its supercomputer and habitation module, which will Evert and head for safety as long as it is not being followed.
In an environment where the signal delay can be significant and the nearest inhabited system is most often unfathomably far away, lives can easily be lost by even a minor setback. Sometimes it was an unforeseen equipment failure. Frequently, captains and crews would be overwhelmed by what they witnessed or felt during eversion, and would revert prematurely as a panic response, stranding them in the emptiness between stars. Other times, some pilots overestimated their skills, and opted to navigate 4D space manually. Rarely, the 4D topography would change without our realizing, and ships could be unexpectedly deposited in unknown locations after reverting.
Thus, each gate is also the hub of its own fleet of Eversion-ready Salvation drones, which are designed to track down and rescue ships that have become lost, stranded, or inoperable. While they can be remotely controlled, they must also carry a simple on-board AI, as often times the signal delay renders an operator ineffective. The AI is constantly modified and improved as the drone fleet encounters novel challenges.
All Trinity Project species and settings are OPEN! If you wish to create something within the TP universe, please read this Journal first.
All copyright-able Trinity Project content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!
Category Artwork (Digital) / General Furry Art
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1200 x 875px
File Size 1.41 MB
Comments