Slipstream space: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}

'''Slipstream space''',<ref>''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 13</ref> colloquially known as '''slipspace''',<ref name="for15">''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 15 (2001)</ref> or '''the Slipstream'''<ref name="tfor136">''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 136 (2001)</ref> and formally known as '''Shaw-Fujikawa space'''<ref name="for141">''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', p. 141 (2001)</ref> or '''subspace'''{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo: Combat Evolved|Level=[[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]|Detail=opening cinematic}} by the [[United Nations Space Command]], is a dimensional subdomain<ref name="Halo page 53">''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 53</ref> of alternate spacetime consisting of eleven non-visible infinitesimal dimensions used for faster-than-light travel.<ref name="eleven">''Halo: First Strike'', p. 87 (2003)</ref><ref name="c100">''Halo: Cryptum'', p. 100</ref> 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]].

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/Reuse|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 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/Reuse|cryp322}} on extremely long jumps or in strained slipspace, the effects experienced by the occupants may by significantly more severe.{{Ref/Reuse|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 [[Zanar-pattern 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 [[Sh'wada-pattern 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.}}

Because of modern-day humanity's inferior grasp of reconciliation technology, the time slipspace travel takes to normal-space observers varies substantially; one cannot depend on the same amount of time passing in slipstream space and normal space. With human slipspace travel, there is generally a five- to ten-percent variance in travel times between stars. A fleet that transitions to slipstream space at the same time may or may not transition back to normal space at the same time. Furthermore, if ship 'A' and ship 'B' both were to enter slipstream space at the same time and exit at the same time, the crew on ship 'A' could have experienced a longer journey subjectively, and the crew of ship 'A' could be a week older than that of ship 'B' despite appearances in normal space. 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. This temporal inconsistency has given military tacticians and strategists fits, hampering an uncounted number of coordinated attacks.<ref name="timeline">'''Halo.Xbox.com''' - ''Halo Timeline''</ref>

===Drive operation===

Slipspace travel is also dangerous due to the high level of [[radiation]] encountered during the trip, which can be extremely hazardous to the crew. This is negated by the use of [[lead foil]] in UNSC ships, which absorbs the radiation. Fissile materials also emit radiation, specifically [[Čerenkov radiation]], upon exiting slipspace; this is not harmful to humans, however it does make emerging from slipspace very noticeable. It is not known how the Covenant deal with radiation, but it is presumed that either they also utilize a shielding material, or with their improved slipspace technology and [[energy shielding]], it does not affect them at all.<ref name="Halo page 13">''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', p. 13</ref> In addition, slipspace travel generates a great deal of static electricity on the ship's hull. To discharge the static energy, [[human]]s have developed a piezoelectric material known as [[polymerized lithium niobocene]].<ref>''Dr. Halsey's personal journal'', July 30, 2511</ref>

[[File:H2A - Mombasa consumed.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Regret's jump into slipspace from a mere several kilometers above Earth's surface inflicted enormous damage on New Mombasa.]]

Prior to 2552, entering slipspace from the gravity well of a planet had never been attempted, either by the UNSC or the Covenant. The effect of gravity upon the creation of a slipspace entrance usually collapsed UNSC-generated holes, and was assumed to be the same with Covenant technology. The flagship ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', however, was able to escape from a gas giant's gravity well after [[Cortana]] realized that it had a far higher resolution of the quantum filaments that allowed a transition, and she was able to compensate for the gravity. Subsequently, the ability was transmitted by a Covenant AI, and the Prophet of Regret used an in-atmosphere slipspace jump to escape [[Earth]], with the resulting shockwave dealing devastating damage to the city of [[New Mombasa]]. Slipspace jumping inside an atmosphere, however, is extremely dangerous to the surrounding people and objects. When a ship transitions into normal space in-atmosphere, the air that was there is pushed aside, causing a massive shockwave centered at the ship. If a ship transitions to Slipstream space inside an atmosphere, on the other hand, it leaves an empty space that air quickly rushes to fill, causing an implosion. An in-atmosphere jump is also known to cause prominent meteorological aftereffects; the air becomes saturated in an electric blue haze and luminescent clouds emanating from the point of the transition for nearly half an hour.{{Ref/Level|Game=Halo 3: ODST|Level=[[Tayari Plaza]]}} Exiting slipspace in-atmosphere is generally far less destructive than entering it, as ships have done so numerous times without disastrous effects.

There are also realms of slipspace distinct from the one typically used for travel. A [[Forerunner crystal|spacetime-manipulating crystal]] found on Reach caused the UNSC-captured ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' and the Covenant ships which pursued it to enter an anomalous slipspace dimension different from the normal slipspace used for travel.

===Communications===

{{Main|Superluminal communications}}

===Teleportation===

The Forerunners had developed a great deal of applications for the slipstream. These included the ability to create [[Slipspace bubble|bubble-like enclosures of slipstream space]], in which the flow of time could be manipulated or stopped altogether while keeping the contents of the bubble either visible or invisible in normal space. The Forerunners were also capable of containing these bubbles of alternate space-time within one another.<ref>''Halo: Glasslands'', p. 306, 311</ref> These bubbles could be used to store considerable masses and volumes in slipspace stably for thousands of years and potentially for all of time, and to transition matter from normal space to the inside of a construct in slipstream space without requiring the construct to transition back to normal space. The same technology was utilized in [[slipspace field pod]]s that were essentially a Forerunner equivalent of [[cryo-chamber]]s, effectively preserving a living organism inside a slipspace field. Slipspace bubbles were also employed in a type of Forerunner prison cell in which the passage of time could be manipulated so that a period of a billion years would pass inside the field, while only seconds had transpired in normal space.<ref>''Halo: Primordium'', p. 366</ref>

==Production notes==

File:H4-SO-S1E7-Backup-SlipspacePortal.jpg|A micro slipspace portal on [[Requiem]].

File:H4-Forerunner-SlipspacePortal.jpg|[[Cortana]] opens a micro slipspace portal on Requiem.

File:HSA CovenantShips TradingCard.jpg|[[Merg Vol's Covenant]] exiting slipspace around [[Draetheus V]].

File:HTV-Unbound-Slipspace.jpg|[[Condor 325]] in slipspace in ''[[Halo: The Television Series]]''.

**''[[Homecoming (TV Series)|Homecoming]]''

**''[[Reckoning]]'' {{Mo}}

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