Slipstream space: Difference between revisions

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.<ref name="eleven"/><ref name="goo186">''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 186</ref><ref name="journal">''Halo: Reach'', [[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]</ref> 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.

Slipspace is a tangle of intertwined non-spatial dimensions,<ref name="goo186"/><ref name="fs211">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 211 (2003)</ref><ref name="fs338">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 338 (2003)</ref> 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.<ref>''Halo: First Strike'', p. 216 (2003)</ref> 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.<ref name="eleven"/> 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 [[Forerunner]]s.<ref name="c100"/>

Described as [[Wikipedia:Non-Euclidean geometry|non-Euclidean]] and non-[[Wikipedia:Theory of relativity|Einsteinian]],<ref name="fs191">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 191 (2003)</ref> the slipstream possesses markedly different laws of physics than "normal" space.<ref>''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 55</ref> 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.<ref name="tfor136"/> Although they are often used in colloquial contexts, the conventional notions of acceleration, velocity, distance, and time are technically meaningless within slipspace.<ref name="fs152">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 152 (2003)</ref> Even the name "slipspace" is technically a misnomer because the subdomain is non-spatial.<ref name="fs211"/><ref name="fs338"/><ref name="fs191"/> 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.<ref name="journal"/>

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.<ref name="tfor136"/> Objects close to one another such as [[fleet]]s often group together in mass slipspace transit and may appear to sensors as a large, singular object.<ref name="tfor137">''Halo: the Fall of Reach'', p. 137</ref> 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.<ref name="tfor137"/> 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.<ref>''Halo: Cryptum'', p. 99</ref>

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.<ref name="for15"/><ref name="GoODark">''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 288</ref>{{Ref/Note|While all descriptions in written works maintain slipspace is pitch black, all depictions in visual media diverge from this. ''Halo Wars: Genesis'' depicts slipspace as resembling purplish nebulae. ''Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp'' depicts it as a bluish-white tunnel of lines and quadrilateral figures. ''Halo 4'' depicts it as a prismatic, though largely blue-shifted expanse. In ''Halo: Nightfall'' it appears as a blue-white tunnel. These are artistic liberties for the sake of presentation.}} 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 [[slipspace translocation|teleportation]]) these effects may also appear yellow and orange.{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo: Combat Evolved|Level=[[Two Betrayals]]}}{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo 4|Level=[[Midnight]]}}

The curvature of spacetime inside slipspace is affected by the gravity wells of planets outside the slipstream, leading to the formation of [[transit point]]s that allow for easier access into slipspace. These transit points like together to form slipspace "routes", providing faster and more optimal travel time than ordinary slipspace travel.<ref name="SS22"/> The Forerunners employed these navigation techniques heavily, in a process referred to as a "Rational Journey".<ref name="WFG">''Halo: Warfleet'', Glossary - p.90-92</ref>/>

The Forerunners were forced to place significant importance on this phenomenon due to their routine galactic-scale travel. For example, reconciliation has a limited range and time dilation effects may occur if a ship performs a very long jump.<ref name="cryp135"/> The Forerunners prevented this by completing unusually long slipspace journeys in a number of individual jumps, allowing reconciliation to take effect between each.<ref name="s60">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 60-61''</ref> Despite the limitations it placed on them, the Forerunners could also control reconciliation to an extent, enabling them to use its effects against their enemies, hampering and even cutting off their channels of slipspace travel.<ref>'''Halo: Primordium''', ''page 240''</ref> Early on in their history, the Forerunners used [[probability mirror|time-phased mirrors]] to reconcile space-time on a large scale.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 110-111''</ref> The Forerunners also employed the [[overwatch network]] to monitor interstellar traffic as to prevent the build up of reconciliation debt.<ref>'''[[Halo: Warfleet – An Illustrated Guide to the Spacecraft of Halo|Halo: Warfleet]]''' - ''Page 91''</ref>

Reconciliation has a "budget"—extensive slipspace travel exerts strain on space-time on a large scale as causal paradoxes accrue a "debt". When these aftereffects build up, it can impede with, or in extreme cases, entirely halt other superluminal traffic and [[Superluminal communications|communication]]. Slipspace returns to its normal state as reconciliations are allowed to take effect, gradually causing the space-time debt to disappear into the quantum background.<ref name="s60"/> This effect is noticeable if large amounts of mass are transported over long distances frequently, slowing down slipspace travel throughout the galaxy and requiring ships to perform more individual jumps during a journey.<ref name="cryp266">''Halo: Cryptum'', p. 266</ref> This was seen when [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]] used slipspace portals to transport the Halos,<ref name="c223"/> or when the ''[[Audacity]]'' traveled to the [[Large Magellanic Cloud]].<ref name="s60"/> The latter voyage demonstrates the nonlinear scaling of reconciliation: although physically shorter than the trip to the [[Ark]]s, for example, the other factors involved led to the journey being the most challenging one in the Forerunners' recent memory.<ref name="Catalog17"/>

Reconciliation is briefly experienced once a ship returns to normal space, and manifests as a shimmering blue glow radiating out of the ship<ref>'''Halo: Cryptum''', ''page 312''</ref> and static electricity building up in the occupants' bodies;<ref name="cryp322"/> on extremely long jumps or in strained slipspace, the effects experienced by the occupants may by significantly more severe.<ref name="cryp322"/> With Forerunner ships, the effects of reconciliation are clearly noticeable for several seconds after a ship exits slipspace.<ref>''Halo: Cryptum'', p. 100, 135, 266</ref>{{Ref/Note|Pre-''Halo 4'' media do not depict the telltale shimmer and distortion surrounding ships undergoing particle reconciliation. While the Doylist explanation is simply that the concept had not been added to the setting at the time, this may also have canonical implications. One may infer that reconciliation debt became a comparative non-issue after the time of the Forerunners; to wit, the spacefaring civilizations of the 26th century have fewer slipspace-capable vessels and other constructs than the Forerunners by several orders of magnitude. Despite this, several Covenant [[CRS-class light cruiser|light cruisers]] are seen experiencing causal reconciliation in ''Halo 4''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s campaign as they enter [[Requiem]]'s core, though this may be a result of entering Requiem's core, due to the nature of Requiem itself; later, the [[Mantle's Approach|Didact's flagship]] is seen experiencing reconciliation, as are the Covenant dropships that have been traveling through slipspace under the larger ship's power. Strangely, {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} is never seen experiencing this effect in ''Halo 4'' or in any subsequent works, despite greatly outmassing all known human and Covenant vessels with perhaps [[CSO-class supercarrier|one exception]]. As even the UNSC ''Infinity'' and most Covenant ships are dwarfed by the size and mass of Forerunner vessels, this may be due to the lesser impact they have on Slipspace. Additionally, while UNSC ships "punch a hole" in Slipspace, Covenant ships execute a series of micro-jumps, but neither method is fully on-par with Forerunner slipspace travel's efficiency and speed; because of the relatively lesser impact, even including the UNSC's method of entering slipspace, UNSC and Covenant vessels may not create the level of disruption that Forerunner vessels did.}}

The [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]] generates a resonance field, which when coupled with the unusual physics of the slipstream, allows for dramatically shorter transit times between stars. UNSC slipspace drives use particle accelerators to rip apart normal space-time by generating micro black holes. These holes are evaporated via [[Hawking radiation]] in nanoseconds. The real quantum mechanical marvel of the drive lies in how it manipulates these holes in space-time, squeezing vessels weighing thousands of tons into slipspace.<ref name="Halo page 53"/> The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine itself provides no actual motive power outside slipspace, and ships equipped with such a device still require [[Fusion drive|conventional engines]] for sublight travel.{{Ref/Novel|Id=engines|Novel=Halo: Contact Harvest|Chapter=1|Page=23}}

Starships and their occupants are not directly exposed to the eleven-dimensional spacetime while moving through slipspace; instead, the ship is enveloped in a quantum field generated by the drive. The field acts as a medium between the ship and the higher dimensions, translating its presence as a normal-space object to the arcane physics of slipspace and enabling it to "squeeze through" the higher dimensions.<ref name="quantumfield">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', December 25, 2534</ref> This field requires an enormous amount of constant calculations to maintain, with the number of needed calculations increasing with the size of the ship. For example, the slipspace translations for a {{class|Phoenix|colony ship}} require 4.3 quadrillion calculations of the quantum field per second.<ref>''Halo Wars: Genesis''</ref> The vessel's mass is a noted consideration in the generation of this "buffer" as well as the energy expenditure of the drive in general.<ref name="Catalog17"/>

The Forerunners' advanced slipspace technology allowed them to perform smooth and ultraprecise transitions, enabling ships to reach their destinations with superior velocities, unerring accuracy and without the temporal anomalies commonly experienced by human ships.<ref name="ttw247">'''Halo: The Thursday War''', ''page 247''</ref> The restrictions on Forerunner slipspace travel had less to do with technology and more with the inherent nature of space-time which limited their slipspace travel by forcing them to take into account the effects of reconciliation and the overall space-time debt it accumulated.<ref name="s60"/> Forerunner slipspace drives used a form of [[Slipspace flake|crystal]] to control and stabilize their slipspace passages; forgoing these crystals would force them into much more chaotic and unpredictable transitions.<ref>''Halo: Silentium'', p. 105</ref>

The [[Gravemind]] was able to use the {{UNSCShip|In Amber Clad}} to make a successful precision jump into ''[[High Charity]]''. This may be due to an improvement on the ship due to the recent capture of Covenant Slipspace technology, the Gravemind adjusting it or possibly using [[Installation 05]]'s [[teleportation grid]] or related systems to move the ship.{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo 2|Level=[[Gravemind (level)|Gravemind]]}} Cortana was able to jump the Covenant flagship ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' into slipspace inside the atmosphere of the gas giant [[Threshold]] following the [[Battle of Installation 04]], a feat previously thought impossible even by the Covenant.<ref>''Halo: First Strike'', p. 80, 87</ref> Following the Human-Covenant War, a number of UNSC ships, such as the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, have been fitted with Forerunner drive technology, granting them near-perfect jump accuracy in addition to far greater velocities.<ref name="ttw247"/>

Although they are not present as tangible objects within slipspace, the gravitational pull of large masses, such as stars, affects the geometric trajectory of objects traveling in slipspace much like it would in normal space. This effect typically distorts and scatters clouds of dust drifting in the Slipstream.<ref name="tfor137"/>

Gravitational fields of significant size, such as those generated by a planet, affect the superfine quantum filaments that a slipspace drive must use to calculate an entry point to the slipstream, and UNSC calculations are unable to offset this effect.<ref name="numbers">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 85</ref> Covenant drives, in turn derived from Forerunner technology, have a much higher resolution of the filaments, and use more accurate calculations, and though the Covenant do not use this ability, are capable of making slipstream transition in and out of a planet's gravity well. Indeed, while using the captured ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' to make a slipspace jump within [[Threshold]]'s atmosphere, [[Cortana]] remarked that ''"It was as if she was blind before."''<ref name="numbers"/> After observing this innovation, a Covenant AI managed to leak the data out to the rest of the Covenant in a transmission. During the [[Battle of Mombasa]], the [[Prophet of Regret]] used this newfound knowledge to transition into slipspace while directly over [[New Mombasa]] in Earth's gravity well, damaging the [[city]] and causing the weakening and eventual collapse of the [[New Mombasa Orbital Elevator|orbital elevator]] there.{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo 2|Level=[[Metropolis]]}} These events show that, while the Covenant often cannot innovate their own solutions, they are quick to adopt any practice that increases their combat prowess.

The effect of a gravity well on the curvature of space-time inside slipspace often allows for the right conditions to form to allow for the formation of a [[transit point]], allowing easier access to slipspace than may otherwise be possible.<ref name="SS22"/>

The mechanics of the slipspace drive and the way it manipulates the slipspace field have an effect on the time it takes for a ship to cross distances, with more sophisticated drive technology allowing for various methods of crossing distances more efficiently.<ref name="fs86"/><ref name="tug"/> The size of a ship's engines correlates with the velocity at which it traverses slipspace; ships with larger engines will move faster within the Slipstream.<ref>''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 187</ref> Frequent traffic, especially when moving objects of considerable mass, will also slow slipspace traffic down on a galactic scale, although this is only known to have occurred when the Forerunners moved the Halo installations across the galaxy.<ref name="cryp266"/>

However fast it may appear, human faster-than-light travel is by no means instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more for the crew. Certain UNSC ships are known to be able to travel at a speed of 2.625 light years per day,{{Ref/Note|1=In ''Halo: First Strike'', Lieutenant [[Wagner]]'s [[prowler]] traveled from [[Reach]] to [[Earth]]—a distance of 10.5 light years—in four days. Velocity=Distance/time (V=10.5 light years/4 days=2.625 l/d)}} while certain Covenant ships can reach speeds of more than 1,368 light years per day.{{Ref/Note|1=In ''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', the Covenant destroyer ''[[Bloodied Spirit]]'' travels from Earth to [[Onyx]] within less than 40 minutes. The distance from [[Sol system|Sol]] to [[Zeta Doradus]] is 38 light years. Velocity=Distance/time (V=38 light years/40 minutes=57 l/h or at least 1,368 ly/d)}} After the end of the Human-Covenant War, the discovery and reverse-engineering of Forerunner technologies allowed humanity to achieve significantly greater velocities. By early [[2553]], the {{UNSCShip|Port Stanley}} and {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} had been equipped with upgraded drives which enabled them to cross interstellar distances in mere hours.<ref name="ttw247"/><ref>''Halo: Glasslands'', p. 68</ref> More efficient routes can be discovered over time. The earliest slipspace routes required over a year of travel to cover the twelve light-year distance from Earth to Harvest, while modern ones have it down to weeks.<ref>''Halo: Warfleet,'' p.86-87</ref>

Further complicating matters is that transit times between different star systems are not consistent. While [[Epsilon Indi]] is only approximately 12 lightyears from Earth, and 83.3 lightyears from [[23 Librae]], [[Madrigal]] is described as the "closest" colony to [[Harvest]], at only a few weeks transit time for a pre-war [[DCS light freighter|human freighter]], as opposed to just over two months to the much closer [[Epsilon Eridani system]] which lies only 14 lightyears from Epsilon Indi. The military starship {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} took only three days to reach Arcadia from Harvest, a star system 11.488 lightyears from Epsilon Eridani.<ref>''[[Halo Wars]]''</ref> These discrepancies are due to the fact the internal topology of slipstream space differs from that of normal space in certain areas, sometimes resulting in major inconsistencies in the distances traveled.<ref name="Catalog17"/>

Direct exposure to the slipstream is incredibly dangerous. Despite the presence of a quantum field which effectively keeps the ship within a "bubble" of normal space,<ref name="quantumfield"/> people traveling on a slipspace-capable craft can experience a range of symptoms, from nausea, to heart failure or even death. It is also known that some people react to slipspace jumps stronger than others.<ref>''Halo: Glasslands'', p. 84, 87</ref> Even more uncommon, but still known to happen, is the total disappearance of a person while in the slipstream.<ref>''Halo: Contact Harvest'', p. 175</ref>

Since the Slipstream is constantly shifting, and its laws of physics are different to our own, the magnetic coils of Slipspace drives drift out of phase when entering and leaving a Slipspace field, requiring constant maintenance. During the [[2490]]'s, technicians had to manually repair Slipspace drives, exposing themselves to the Slipstream and occasionally suffering injury, death or simply disappearing.<ref>''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p 146</ref> Mechanical failures like [[Slip Termination, Preventable]], or STP, can also occur with Slipspace drives, usually resulting from poor maintenance.<ref>''Halo: Contact Harvest'', p. 24</ref><ref name="WFG"/> An improperly mounted Slipspace drive can also result in catastrophic accidents, as was the case with a colony ship ''en route'' to the [[Cygnus system]] in the mid-2550s: as a result of a maintenance failure, the drive tore the ship apart, transporting half of it into an unknown location. During the [[Fall of Reach]], the UNSC intentionally recreated the conditions of this accident to destroy the Covenant {{Class|CSO|supercarrier}} ''[[Long Night of Solace]]''.{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo: Reach|Level=[[Long Night of Solace (level)|Long Night of Solace]]}}

Entering and exiting the slipstream is normally only attempted by ships of large mass, their gravity wells stabilizing the constantly fluctuating slipspace to a degree that allows safe passage.<ref name="fs289">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 289</ref> Small ships, such as dropships, do not possess the same gravity and are placed under considerably more stress than a warship, able to crack the hull and buckle reinforcing struts.<ref>''Halo: First Strike'', p. 296</ref> It is not impossible, and UNSC slipstream monitoring probes make the transitions all the time, but require heavy reinforcement to survive the stresses, and are unmanned, having no need to protect internal occupants.<ref name="fs289"/> Specialized craft like [[Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pod]]s can make the transition, but are still an extremely uncomfortable ride.<ref name="Halo page 13"/> A Slipspace-to-normal space transition has been successfully attempted by a Spirit dropship, but it had been extensively equipped with Titanium-A battleplates, lead, and carbon-molybdenum steel I-beams.

Even the Forerunners had potential dangers when traveling through slipspace. During [[Battle of the Capital|the assault]] on the [[Capital]] by [[Mendicant Bias]], seven of the twelve original Halo rings in existence at the time attempted to flee using a slipspace portal. Only one of them, along with [[IsoDidact|Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting]]'s ship made it through. The rest were destroyed when the slipspace portal closed due to the stress of the Halo installations passing through. The enormous amount of mass passing through simultaneously also put massive strain on the slipspace portal, causing any occupants to be dangerously exposed to the foreign physics of slipspace. This resulted in causal reconciliation effects far more severe than normal, as well as symptoms involving the loss of perception of reality and time, massive amounts of electrical charge, even depriving the occupants of solidity for a time.<ref name="cryp322"/> After such an event, a slipspace channel may not return to a stable state for years.<ref>''Halo: Cryptum'', p. 341</ref>

Slipspace has been used as the basis for some (although not all) forms of faster-than-light communications system, enabling communication across the vast distances of space in reasonable timescales. First utilized by the Forerunners, such technologies were later appropriated for use by the modern civilizations of the Covenant and humanity. Communications can be routed through slipspace through "[[Wavespace]]", layers of slipspace with proximate terminations.<ref name="WFG"/>

A possible application of slipspace is the use of its eleven-dimensional spacetime as a platform for abstract fractal housing and processing structures for [[Smart AI|"smart"]] [[artificial intelligence]] constructs. The extra dimensions would grant AIs faster-than-light processing speeds but more importantly, it would give unlimited room for extended neural linkages—by extension, making the AI virtually immortal, free from the limitations of a [[Riemann matrix]], which normally cause a smart AI to descend to [[rampancy]]. So far, this has only been attempted once, by [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] in an unsanctioned experiment in [[2547]]. Though the experiment was a failure, the AIs of the [[The Assembly|Assembly]] recognized it as a viable means of gaining permanent independence from their creators.<ref name="journal"/><ref>''Halo: Reach'', [[Data pads|Data pad 17]]</ref>