2291: Difference between revisions

*A group of researchers headed by [[Tobias Shaw]] and [[Wallace Fujikawa]]<ref>''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'', Chapter 1</ref> secretly developed the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace Drive]], a practical means of propelling spacecraft across vast interstellar distances. This new engine allowed ships to tunnel into "the Slipstream" (also called "[[Slipspace]]"). Slipspace is a domain with alternate physical laws, allowing faster-than-light travel without relativistic side effects. Faster-than-light travel is not instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more. The SFTE generated a resonance field, which when coupled with the unusual physics of the Slipstream, allowed for dramatically shorter transit times between stars; however, scientists noted an odd "flexibility" to temporal flow while inside the Slipstream. Though no [[human]] scientist is sure why travel time between stars is not constant, many theorize that there are "eddies" or "currents" within the Slipstream. There is generally a five to ten percent variance in travel times between stars. This temporal inconsistency has given military tacticians and strategists fits-hampering many coordinated attacks.<ref>http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/storyline.htm</ref>