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The Nature of HyperSpace

Hyperspace technology was originally brought to the human race by the Mogensen. Although they gave very little in the way of details as to the physics of hyperspace they, apparently, have very little data as well. It is not known how Hyperspace was discovered or which race made the breakthrough. Of the old races only the Vaipen (YES! A name which starts with a V but isn't Vo**on!) and Ovaska appear to be highly advanced in hyperspatial travel but very little is known about either race, or their origins..... As a result Earth scientists have been trying to fathom the mysteries of hyperspace for some time , with mixed results.

• The most important aspect of hyperspace is the fact that time and space are not related in the same way as in normal space: in hyperspace one parsec of normal space is equal to about 200,000km. This means that a fast ship can make the journey from Earth to AlphaCentauri in about 5 hours hours (40,000Km/h = 11.1Km/s) whereas most normal ships will take about 10 to 20 hours.

• Hyperspace is distorted by objects in the real world according to the Branney-Girvin boundary effect which states that objects under a critical mass of 5*10^10Kg will have little or no effect on hyperspace whereas objects over the critical mass will exert a gravitational distortion explonentially greater than in normal space due to the compaction of distance in hyperspace. This means that ships must be guided by special beacons, known as guide beams, generated by each jump point and relay station (See section 1.3.4) The gravitational distortion produces effects similar to black holes when a very large gravity well is present. Ships which leave the guide beams are likely to go off course and be destroyed by gravitational tidal effects or by the next hyperspace phenomenon.

• Hyperspace exerts a drain on all electromagnetic signals. The source of this drain, know to earth science as the Hornmoen Effect (one for you George!), is unknown but it's affects can be fatal. All ships entering hyperspace, with the exception of some organic technologies developed by the Vaipen and Ovaska, are subject to this drain which depletes all electrical energy sources, including bio-neurological signals. If allowed to continue this drain will not only deplete a ship's whole power resever but also kill all it's occupants. To overcome this ships must periodically return to normal space to recharge ('charge-jumps'). The Average exposure level is about 1 day: some races can survive longer but there only the Ovaska can stay in hyperspace for over a week. There have been reports of a race which appears to live in hyperspace but there have been no confirmed sightings.

• During investigation of jump-gate technology (see section 1.4) by the Mogensen and Stabo it was discovered that certain forms of EM radiation, when modulated correctly, could cross the realspace/ hyperspace boundary (it has been speculated that it is by a derivative of this method that the Ovaska can enter hyperspace without jump points). Without this fact interstellar communication would be impossible.

• As hyperspace is subject to massive gravitational distortions electromagnetic signals can only travel so far before they become lost or distorted beyond recognition (or depleted into nothing). As a result signals sent through hyperspace, by the method described in 1.3.4, must be boosted regularly. All outposts act as relay stations and, where there are no outposts for a considerable distance, specially constructed relay stations boost the signal and provide basic services for ships undergoing a charge jump (a bit like motorway services). Ships which move out of range of relay stations are effectively cut off unless they are equipped with laser communications systems (which give double the range of normal signals but require an open jump-point to enter hyperspace through, as well as specialised equipment and permits) or comms drones. Comms drones are small probes which must be given the required message and are then launched into hyperspace where they lock onto the nearest guide beam and transmit the message. They can wait for a reply or return to the ship. They signal the ship which launched them to open a jump point so that they can be retrieved.