Slipstream space
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Slipstream space, colloquially known as slipspace,[1] or the Slipstream[2] and formally known as Shaw-Fujikawa space[3] or subspace[4] by the United Nations Space Command, is a dimensional subdomain[5] of alternate spacetime consisting of eleven non-visible infinitesimal dimensions used for faster-than-light travel.[6][7] Making a transition from one place to another via slipspace is known as a "slip", or "jump". A device which allows a spacecraft to perform slipspace transitions is generally referred to as a slipspace drive.
Background[edit]
Slipstream space is a specific set of eleven "nondimensions" existing in a very small bundle "above" the one temporal and three spatial dimensions perceptible to human beings.[6][8][9] By moving matter from the three space dimensions and one time dimension of normal space to slipstream space, one effectively changes the laws of physics for that piece of matter. This allows faster-than-light travel without relativistic side-effects i.e., the occupants do not "warp" time, despite their superluminal speed.
In the year 2291, physicists Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa were the first humans to successfully implement a device that could safely transition normal matter in and out of slipstream space, the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. This enabled humanity to begin colonial expansion beyond their home system.[10]
The Covenant utilizes the same eleven dimensions of slipstream space for travel, though the means they use to make the transition are more sophisticated than those used by humans, as evidenced by their markedly faster journeys from point to point.
The Forerunners had a far greater understanding of slipstream space, with the abilities to travel nearly instantaneously over galactic distances, transport massive objects through the use of portals, to disrupt slipstream travel from normal space and track slipspace jumps across the galaxy. In addition, they had developed a great variety of other applications, often involving the manipulation of time and space within a slipspace field.[citation needed]
Mechanics[edit]
Slipspace is a tangle of intertwined non-spatial dimensions,[8][11][12] comparably similar to a wadded up piece of paper; rather like taking the classic "flat sheet" used to represent gravity and crumpling it up into a ball, thereby creating extra dimensions and shorter spaces between points.[13] Our plane of existence is thought to have four dimensions (up-down, front-back, side-to-side and time), but slipspace is an eleven-dimensional spacetime. Slipspace is entwined with the physical universe to the extent that phenomena in one realm can affect the other, and with sufficiently sophisticated equipment, transitions between the two forms of spacetime are possible.[6] Slipspace is not the only such alternate realm: others include denial of locale, natal void, shunspace, trick geodetics and a photon-only realm known as the Glow, all of which were once discovered and studied by the Forerunners.[7]
Described as non-Euclidean and non-Einsteinian,[14] the slipstream possesses markedly different laws of physics than "normal" space.[5] Due to its different laws of physics, times, masses, positions or velocities in slipspace are impossible to accurately measure based on the standards of normal space.[2] Although they are often used in colloquial contexts, the conventional notions of acceleration, velocity, distance, and time are technically meaningless within slipspace.[15] Even the name "slipspace" is technically a misnomer because the subdomain is non-spatial.[11][12][14] Ordinary matter cannot exist in the raw slipstream without being torn apart; ships traveling in slipspace are shielded by carefully-tuned quantum fields which wrap them in envelopes of normal space. Any construction in slipspace itself would have to be composed of specialized forms of exotic matter.[9]
Slipspace is not completely empty; clouds of primordial atomic hydrogen are relatively frequent. Occasionally, even comets are known to somehow find their way into slipspace.[2] Objects close to one another such as fleets often group together in mass slipspace transit and may appear to sensors as a large, singular object.[16] Objects in normal space are intangible in slipspace: an object in slipspace can pass through a mass, such as a planet, without causing a collision in normal space; such an event may often go completely unnoticed.[16] However, there may be risks involved if a ship is still early in slipspace transit and passes through a large object, such as another ship.[17]
Slipspace itself is nonvisible to the human eye, as there is nothing in the visible spectrum to see. To observers aboard spacecraft traveling through slipspace, this means that alternate domain appears pitch black.[1][18][Note 1] Slipspace-associated phenomena in normal space, such as the radiation from a slipspace transition, are most commonly luminous blue. In some cases (most prominently in teleportation) these effects may also appear yellow and orange.[19][20]
The curvature of spacetime inside slipspace is affected by the gravity wells of planets outside the slipstream, leading to the formation of transit points that allow for easier access into slipspace. These transit points link together to form slipspace "routes", providing faster and more optimal travel time than ordinary slipspace travel.[21] The Forerunners employed these navigation techniques heavily, in a process referred to as a "Rational Journey".[22]
