Strings and Collisions in FTL Conditions
Lynda's notes (May 31, 2001) on the quote, below, from source
cited:
 Reality
Skimming was inspired by my undergraduate exposure to special
and general relativity, and subsequent reading in cosmology
suggesting the universe had 10 dimensions, only 4 of which (3d
space plus time) may be apprehended by our senses. I envision
what rel-pilots call 'gap' as the extra dimensions, and presume
power can be drawn from them in transit, making rel-skimming
a bit like sailing once you "cut into the medium".
Comments such as Ken's below, and other hints I know just enough
math to wince at, almost certainly render the details of reality
skimming forever fanciful. The utter lethality of FTL collision
does worse things to the prospect of a real life "shake
up". But the general permises more or less hold. It's accomplished
via transitioning out of 4d reality (in the case of rel-skimming,
in and out repeatedly in "stiches") and collisions
with matter are prohibitively horrible - if not quite so horrible
as to destroy existance as we know it in the cosmos.
While attempting to at least geneflect in the direction of
cosmology, reality skimming as it now exists is too central
to the nature of the Okal Rel Universe to revamp, and functions
more as an underpinning analogy for living, than an attempt
at futuristic science. We stick to honest details where possible
- such as rel-skimming ships being unable to communicate via
light-speed messaging.
related article: Reality
Skimming  related
animation: Station Fly-By
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With
Permission of Author
From kenlbear@earthlink.net Tue May 29 16:56:17 2001
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1904 15:54:16 -0500
From: Ken <kenlbear@earthlink.net>
To: sfnlist@sfnovelist.com
Subject: FTL Transitions
One of you people wanted more info on FTL transitions, so I asked the AI.
Thatıs what theyıre for. Iım just a dumb space jock.
I know what's going to happen. For all the trouble I went through, most
wonıt read this, Some will read it and wonıt understand it. A few will
understand it and do whatever they damn well please anyway.
Near as I can understand it, the AI says:
Those six extra dimensions that are rolled up fine, you know, the ones
strings vibrate in, arenıt just rolled up any which way. They have some
special shape, called a Calabi-Yau shape. Problem is, Calabi-Yau is really
a group of shapes, and only one works for us. Letıs call the dimensional
size of the CY space little r and the size of our normal 3-space big R.
When we transition into FTL, we are actually transitioning into a CY space
of 1/R, and the strings in this hyperspace become 1/r. So we barrel full
throttle, at our speed of light into a universe that is smaller than the
inside of a proton. The shock wave is really Bremstrahlung, shedding energy
to get you down to the new light speed. But your trip across that
reciprocal CY space is so short, you donıt slow down that much. It may seem
like forever, but thatıs your poor brain trying to make sense of six
dimensions.
Now when you come back out into normal space, part of that shock wave
preceeds you, and the part you left behind on entry catches up. The old one
is an inertial displacement wave and the new one is a temporal wave, These
make an identifiable signature and make you feel like youıre standing on all
six walls, yet again.
Well, thatıs the nuts and bolts of it. The AI says I canıt give you the
equations, itıs against the law. Youıll have to figure it out yourself.
Oh, one more thing: donıt muck around with FTL near a planet, or any really
heavy body, and avoid FTL collisions at all costs. This might be hard to
explain, but space tears. When it tears, the CY configuration has to shift
into another member of the group. During this transition, little things,
like the mass of the electron, change. The AI says a change in those kinds
of things by more that 1 percent or so makes all life, even AIıs,
impossible. Everything from electronics to metatabolic reactions no longer
work. Worse, the tear causes ALL space to go through this phase change, so
your clumsy accident could wipe out intelligent life throughout the
universe. Well, itıs possible, but a small , very small, maybe, According
to some guy in your time at Princeton, quantum interaction will cause a
string to form around the tear, shielding it from space. The nasty part is,
you know whose carcass that string will be formed from. So in the best of
possibilities, your ass becomes the string that saves the universe.
Now, that guy at Princeton never knew about Burgess generators that power
FTL craft. The tiny black holes, stabilized in those generators, are naked
singularities in reciprocal CY space. And if thereıs ever a collision in
FTL or transition with those babies, youıre not going to make a little tear
in space, youıre gonna shred it. Thatıs why we have the Rules of the Road:
in case of imminent collision inbound goes starboard and down 10 points;
outbound goes starboard and up ten points, with Galactic Axis North as the
reference for up. Keeps those naked singularities apart. Itıs a built in
autoresponse on every nav system.
Ken
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