#superluminal communication

[skylobster]

It seems to me that entanglement would allow superluminal communication ONLY if you could CHANGE the state of one particle, and have that same change manifest itself simultaneously in the other entangled particle. But RANDOM changes that track between two entangled particles does not transfer any information.

However, one possible use of entanglement could be be to generate simultaneous encryption keys at either end of a subliminal communication link.

CAN ENTANGLED PARTICLES COMMUNICATE FASTER THAN LIGHT??

Blog#467

Wednesday, January 1st, 2025.

Welcome back,

Happy New Year Everyone!

Entanglement is perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of quantum mechanics. On its surface, entanglement allows particles to communicate over vast distances instantly, apparently violating the speed of light. But while entangled particles are connected, they don't necessarily share information between them.

In quantum mechanics, a particle isn't really a particle. Instead of being a hard, solid, precise point, a particle is really a cloud of fuzzy probabilities, with those probabilities describing where we might find the particle when we go to actually look for it.

But until we actually perform a measurement, we can't exactly know everything we'd like to know about the particle.

These fuzzy probabilities are known as quantum states. In certain circumstances, we can connect two particles in a quantum way, so that a single mathematical equation describes both sets of probabilities simultaneously. When this happens, we say that the particles are entangled.

When particles share a quantum state, then measuring the properties of one can grant us automatic knowledge of the state of the other. For example, let's look at the case of quantum spin, a property of subatomic particles.

For particles like electrons, the spin can be in one of two states, either up or down. Once we entangle two electrons, their spins are correlated. We can prepare the entanglement in a certain way so that the spins are always opposite of each other.

If we measure the first particle, we might randomly find the spin pointing up. What does this tell us about the second particle? Since we carefully arranged our entangled quantum state, we now know with 100% absolute certainty that the second particle must be pointing down.

Its quantum state was entangled with the first particle, and as soon as one revelation is made, both revelations are made.

But what if the second particle was on the other side of the room? Or across the galaxy? According to quantum theory, as soon as one "choice" is made, the partner particle instantly "knows" what spin to be. It appears that communication can be achieved faster than light.

The resolution to this apparent paradox comes from scrutinizing what is happening when—and more importantly, who knows what when.

Let's say I'm the one making the measurement of particle A, while you are the one responsible for particle B. Once I make my measurement, I know for sure what spin your particle should have. But you don't! You only get to know once you make your own measurement, or after I tell you. But in either case, nothing is transmitted faster than light. Either you make your own local measurement, or you wait for my signal.

While the two particles are connected, nobody gets to know anything in advance. I know what your particle is doing, but I only get to inform you at a speed slower than light—or you just figure it out for yourself.

So, while the process of entanglement happens instantaneously, the revelation of it does not. We have to use good old-fashioned no-faster-than-light communication methods to piece together the correlations that quantum entanglement demand.

Originally published on https://phys-org.cdn.ampproject.org

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, January 4th, 2025)

"DID LIFE BEGIN IN DEEP SPACE??"

[superpte]

“BREAKING PHYSICS”? No! SUPERLUMINAL COMMUNICATIONS Would Not BREAK PHYSICS! Physics Dialogue Surprising ChatGPT

Recently Dialogue with Chat GPT on Nonlocality and the possibility of SUPERLUMINAL COMMUNICATIONS. Initially ChatGPT  pontificates, throwing well-known “theorems” and “principles” of physics in my face to demonstrate the error of my ways. However, I have thought of these subjects for decades, exchanging with the best…  ***  CHAT GPT: 🧪 Consider Entangled Photons (Singlet State Example).  Say you…

[kabr0ztrousers]

For your everyday writing, could you write something with insectoid aliens?

Like, reader (masc preferably but I could go either way tbh) works on a human ship going planet to planet studying aliens, except they’re not a scientist, instead something like a janitor or tech fixer whose never really viewed as an “important member” of the ship.

But, they, unlike their fraud higher uppers, actually are unfearfully open to alien culture, and when the aliens see this, reader is basically “kidnapped” (not actually really kidnapped bc they probably let willingly but yk) and made into the hive king/queen

Kabr0z Writes episode 83: First Contact Protocol

Find the rest of the Kabr0z Writes anthology here!

CWs: group sex; kidnap-but-not-really; Oviposition; mpreg

A/N: I wound up doing a seni-hivemind thing here, though if you were hoping for a little more sexy personality sublimation that's coming later this week. That's not even a joke, it's on the forecast

######################################

The ship was on yellow alert, shields up and no unnecessary power draw. It's been there for a week, ever since you left the borders of Federated space. A slipspace contrail had been detected above a previously uncontacted world. Xenologists had been observing from high orbit in cloaked research platforms. The hivemind on the planet below have discovered FTL transit, which means one thing: diplomacy would have to begin.

Yours was the closest ship, the xenologists having left the system in a hurry once ships started reaching orbit equipped with suspected superluminal drives, scuttling their platforms into the host star. No cultural or technological pollution could be allowed to happen before the hive made those first faltering steps on their own.

The ship rattled as it dropped from slipspace. Long and thin, like a javelin. The vessel was designed to minimise cross section while passing through a shockwave of compressed space. Travel between stars now took days rather than centuries, at the cost of slipspace vessels being laid out in long corridors.

You'd been lucky enough to be selected for the away mission, along with a xenolinguist and a comms officer. Your job was to stand there holding a rifle and looking serious.

The species were insectile, long-bodied and angular. Twitching antennae swaying to an unheard movement. The aliens were writing, their species having long since abandoned verbal communication for a form of low-level telepathy. Individuals weren't very smart, but as soon as more than two or three came together in a room, they could outpace most humans. By the time twenty got together they formed a living computer. Each individual takes on a role as a single node in a vast networked mind.

The delegation was being walked through the hive, twisting passages filled with individuals, each swaying as they watched you pass. There must have been thousands, even tens of thousands of them, each networking with the others.

You weren't looking where you were going. One corridor led to another, then another, the insectile people parting for you as you strayed further from your group. You were being herded, though you didn't know it yet.

You stepped into a round, vaulted room. A larger insect reclined in the centre, on a bed of sorts. They pushed you towards it. Antenne settled on either side of your head. A voice echoed within your mind. Your voice.

"Apologies for deceiving you. I am the King of this hive. My time grows close, and I must have a successor."

A successor? Did he mean you?

"Yes. You. I have seen your mind, through my drones. You are unfulfilled amongst the stars, the whipping boy aboard ship, no home on your planet, you took to space to fill the void. Let us fill it for you.

He wasn't wrong. Four of the drones approached you: larger, winged, with reddish markings on alabaster white exoskeletons. Their touch was gentle, disrobing you from your dress uniform, stroking your skin, caressing your chest and back. One knelt in front of you, taking your cock in its hand, while another wrapped it's arms around you from behind.

You could feel something pressing against your ass, gently pushing into your hole as its fellow fondled you. You grew harder in its hand, grunting as it rubbed the shaft in one hand, massaging the head with the other. It was remarkably good at this, you suppose it must've got some technique from scanning your mind. Or maybe the immense processing power surrounding it let it find the most effective method. Either way, it was mere moments until you were struggling to stand, knees buckling as cum leaked out of you. The drones maneuvered you to the bed, leaning you against it. One sat below you, hands still working your cock, the other pushing against your rear, a third took a place in front of you.

An appendage extended from its crotch, pressing into your mouth. You opened up, allowing it to enter you as the one behind you pushed its way into your ass. You moaned around one cock as the other ground against your prostate, feeling the ridges of it tease you to another aching, leaking orgasm. The one underneath hummed delightedly as cum dripped down from you onto it. The drones fucked you harder, reaching their own release, buzzing and humming as they buried themselves into you.

The cum tasted like cranberries. Sweet, sharp, astringent, it flooded your mouth with pearls. They felt like the tapioca balls you'd had in milk tea once or twice, soft and pliant, bursting when you applied pressure with your tongue, but mostly sliding down your throat. The one in your ass released as well, dumping its load deep into you, grinding into your ass as the pearls filled you up. It stung a little, the eggs taking root in your guts.

Days passed, your belly swelled up. You could hear the hive around you, growing stronger as the old king grew weak. You weren't one of them, your mind was your own, but the harem of those special drones treated you as if you were. The next generation grew within you, one day soon you would push them out, a slew of larvae to renew the hive.

It's good being king

[dat-physics-gal]

A leap of faith and Physics (part 2)

Now that we knew how to find the crystals, the scientific community was tense. Itching to do something with them.

One paper had just unveiled a method of propulsion using the tachyon background and directed linear resonance chirping. The tachyon background, as it turned out, is self organizing. Unlike the tardionic world we were used to, entropy actually decreases over there. There is a natural tachyon base frequency, one so high that they travel really slowly. That's also weird about tachyons, how the more energy they have, the slower they move. But we knew that part beforehand.

Anyway, the paper outlined how to use a subharmonic of that base frequency, that could slowly be chirped in one direction to one harmonic lower, which would generate physical thrust on the tardium crystal used for chirping. Only problem was that once the frequency arrived at the new subharmonic, the tachyons decayed into their base frequency, completely stopping the propulsion. This stopping effect, though detrimental to the experimental setup in terms of having broken it multiple times, begged the question though: Since it stopped, momentum isn't conserved, despite motion happening.

Just half a year later, some madlad had designed an actual engine based on that concept, that should in theory exceed the speed of light. To be fair, the tardium crystals did that, for a couple attoseconds. Unfortunately for the rest of the prototype, normal matter doesn't appreciate being moved at superluminal speeds, and therefore broke apart when the craft approached the light barrier.

Despite that setback, people kept on theorizing and engineering. Then, two years later, Star Trek came to the rescue again. A research group posited that they could make a 'structural integrity field' by sprinkling microscopic tardium crystals into the steel and ceramic of the hull, and engineering a tachyon field that would keep them at a constant distance relative to the drive crystals. Ten months later, and a tiny prototype did what we thought to be impossible: For 24 milliseconds, it traveled at about 1.000000001c, and it came out of this experience unharmed. However, the sharp drop from superluminal to low subluminal speeds did de-tune the structural integrity field. Unless we got someone to board the vessel and re-tune it after every drop from superluminal, this wasn't going to work out. Especially because the chirp would not last all that long.

Now that the principle was proven, though, the engineers and mining crews took over. While the former slaved over engine and hull designs, the latter set up multiple extra bases along the asteroid belt, undulation mining all the tardium crystals they could get their metaphorical hands on. They were tiny, but since we needed most of them for the integrity field anyway, that wasn't a problem. What was harder was finding good, sufficiently large drive crystals.

Meanwhile, the engineers had settled on a design that was, for some reason, a flying saucer. They explained that they needed three or more engines to run at the same time all the time, to be able to adjust course. And also have more than that so some could be stopped, reset, and be ready to chirp again before the active ones were done. Therefore, at six points radially along the saucer, there were 2cm sized drive crystals which would propel the craft. They would be working on three cycles, while one pair was resetting, the other two pairs would be actively propelling the vessel. This way, continuous propulsion could be achieved. And the integrity field would not need to be re-tuned every couple milliseconds.

For low subluminal speeds, the engines didn't actually require the integrity field to be active. This had the advantage, that the vessel could be contacted. Because as prototyping quickly revealed, as soon as the integrity field was up, communications were all blocked in their entirety.

But, well, after 5 more years of prototyping and biological compatibility testing, the first starship was deemed spaceworthy and safe for humans to be on the inside of. Turned out that as long as the hull integrity field was up, the inside of the craft needed no further cautions, and you could float around in it like normal. The field itself didn't even extend much further inside beyond the outer hull. Though, when the field was down, you would experience the g-forces of the drive, which sounds bad, but actually made for some handy way to produce artificial gravity during the ascent from the surface. Once the field was up, the magnetic boots of the uniforms anchored you to the floor. Or you could grab onto two handles and anchor yourself that way.

We would love to have made a bigger ship than we did, but unfortunately, the Enterprise (because of course they named it that) was limited by the amount of available large tardium crystals for the drive. So we deemed its first mission to be getting some more. Trade for them, get permission to mine them, whatever, we just needed some larger ones.

As for now, the enterprise had just one deck in the wider saucer, but 3 in the middle, which was bulbed out for no discernible reason i could find, other than to make it look like a proper UFO. And maybe to house the living quarters for the crew of 45 brave explorers. And also to transport back more tardium in the cargo hold, located smack dab in the middle of the ship.

We sent a request for the isocoordinates of the closest civilization to us over vibromessage, and after receiving them, we gave the go ahead.

We however forgot to take into account that due to the message blocking of the structural field, we could no longer send our friends in the Andromeda galaxy any messages. Nor could we check in with the Enterprise, as it would be in the tachyon slipstream continuously, so as not to need to re-tune the integrity field as often. Because that takes a while each time.

So for 30 long years after the sendoff, we didn't know anything. We didn't waste that time, but with so much of our supply of crystals built into that ship, we needed a while to even start on other experiments. And the first thing we did was to upgrade the control network for the dyson collectors. I say first thing, as if we finished that project quickly, when in reality it took us 2 of those 3 decades. The last decade was pretty calm. Humanity had endured so much excitement, that the new generation now pushed to refocus on our culture. So, now that the collectors were precise enough, we finally began to enact our long awaited plan to terraform Mars. But that would take about a century in total, so it wasn't like there was much daily excitement to be had about that.

Then, thirty years and 5 months after launch, at 0:1 PFJ, we received a vibromessage from Andromeda. Enterprise had made it.

Quickly thereafter, the prime administrator called me, demanding to be connected to the tachyon network at once, now that comms were open once more.

I didn't really watch the negotiations that followed, but to make a long story short, our wayward crew was allowed to mine asteroids in the system of the aliens for tardium, so long as the aliens got a 40/60 cut. They themselves admitted to being unable to mine them by themselves, so they gave us the lion's share.

For the domestic scientists, this meant the reserves of tardium were opened more to experiments, as more was on the way soon-ish.

This resulted in the discovery of how the tachyons decayed into their base frequency, or vacuum state, if you will. We knew that in tardium, the tachyons directly couple with the phonons, which are the vibrational excitation modes. However, in vacuum, when coupling with themselves in order to decay into a higher frequency, the excitation was mitigated by an elongation of the surrounding spacetime in turn. We had finally found the explaination for the expansion of the universe: Whenever tardium gets excited and tachyons of non-base frequencies are sent out, their decay mode stretches the universe. Or, well, it stretches spacetime, with isospace being left unaffected. Our drive tech basically anchors the vessel to isospace anyway, so even if the universe keeps expanding, we can still visit everyone we want with the first drive we made. But... negative spacial curvature was something we wanted to achieve for centuries. And now, we were able to!

With this discovery, the engineers went back to work to try to make this into a method of propulsion as well. This necessitated a name for our first, working engine, which we decided to call the slipstream drive. This was fairly intuitive of a name, as the vessel would couple to isospace instead of regular spacetime, where it would be carried by the pressure of the tachyon field on one side, while the chirpers destructively interfered with it on the other side. Thus essentially creating a slipstream pocket in the front, into which the tachyon pressure would continuously push the vessel.

Speaking of names, the newly conceived drive was uncreatively christened the warp drive. To be fair, it was pretty much exactly what a warp drive in pop-culture had been. Except, turns out, it didn't work that easily. The warp prototypes at the moment had small drive crystals. And so, their warp fields collapsed fairly rapidly, due to unwanted resonance we couldn't shunt away. No prototype even managed to break the warp 1 barrier yet, though they did achieve fairly decent sublight speeds. And, interestingly, they could still be communicated with via tachyon message. This was due to the fact that they worked on the opposite principle of comm-arrays. Where communications needed to stay stable over vast distances, the warp drive needed the tachyons to rapidly decay into the ground state in order to achieve propulsion. Anyway, as exciting as the warp drives were, in terms of actual propulsion, they weren't all that revolutionary.

The theoretical development of better, more efficient slipstream drives on the other hand flourished. Once Enterprise got back, the engineers were confident that the next trip to Andromeda could be tackled in about a month or two, with the new engine design. Maybe three, if some unforeseen hazards appeared.

-------------------------------

The high council of Krg didn't really know how to react to the news of the Humans' arrival.

Nobody could wrap their minds around how they got here. Or really why. Well, they stated that they wanted to mine the asteroids in the star system for tardium, but why they came to the surface was beyond the council's understanding.

They had to wear thick, bulky suits, with gas containers for respiration, as Krg didn't have an atmosphere. To even get to our habitats, we had to open one of the pressure doors, which we normally use to get to the surface whenever we want to access the telescopes. It was such a strange feeling, letting something else then a Krgian crawl through our living spaces. Usually when that happened, the intruder was some kind of pest, which we quickly drove out.

The Humans had trouble with the steepness of some of our tunnels, but they still insisted they come down here. Our multitude of locomotive limbs allows our kind to easily traverse these tunnels, but that didn't mean the Humans didn't manage. When we thought it would be too steep for them to follow us, they unveiled a rope and pulley system, which they used to hoist themselves down along the wall. Ingenious!

Though i couldn't help but ask: "Are you sure you can get back up?"

The lead human, furthest down the rope turned its head, and replied: "Yeah, easily. The gravity here is so much lower compared to Earth, it will be a cakewalk. Ah, sorry, human expression, what i meant was it will be a simple matter. To be honest, i am more worried about the light."

Light? "Oh right, you Humans have sensory organs that require light." I had forgotten about that, but supposed it made sense for surface dwellers such as them.

"Yes, we can't see much down here with our measly flashlights."

"What is a flashlight?"

"A portable light source, which can be directed into a specific direction. But in tunnels like these, in the dark, i can see why your species has evolved vibrational senses first and foremost."

"You are familiar with them?"

The Human made noise that sounded as if it had trouble with respiration. "Yes. We have lots of life forms on Earth that have whiskers like yours. Not even all of which live in tunnels. Some live together with us."

This surprised me. "There is another intelligent species on your planet?"

"No." came the swift reply.

"Ah, a pet then. Or is it livestock?"

"No, cats are pets. Though jury's out on who's domesticated whom."

I wanted to ask for clarification, but we had arrived at my workstation.

"We are here," i announced to the humans, opening the hatch. "You may enter."

"Whoa. Is that? A tardium crystal?" The third Human in line extended their forelimb toward one of the array crystals. "It is gigantic!"

Appraising the crystal, it was only about one and a half body lengths of the Humans. "It is for a communications array, after all. Though it is not the largest single crystal we have," i informed them.

"If the boys back home saw that, they'd be foaming at the mouth, you know that?"

"Isn't mouth foaming a bad sign?" I wasn't sure about all the intricacies of Human biology, i was a communication officer after all, not a biologist.

"It would be, if that wasn't just an expression. Sorry, i keep forgetting that idioms require context that you don't have. May we use the array to send a message back home? Our vessel is only equipped with a short range communication grid."

Another human whispered something i think i wasn't supposed to hear, but could clearly: "ET phone home." It was said in English, which i was rusty in, so i didn't know what it meant. We had been conversing in basic so far.

Of course, i agreed to let them use it. They proceeded to turn their heads in many different positions, but didn't go to the controls.

"Is something wrong?" i asked.

"We have no idea how to work this thing."

Oh. I went over to the vibromotor-controls, and softly brushed the control crystal. Brushing the harmony for communication with Earth, the vibromotors undulated, configuring the array crystals into the correct alignment.

The Humans then initiated a small scale communication from their own limited range communicator, which i configured the array to pick up and amplify, then transmit toward Earth. On the side, i used internal communications to call the council of elders up here, who to my surprise agreed to come right away. Only two millirotations later, they crawled up the side entrances, their chitin softness dampening their approach to a respectably low volume.

At the same time, the communications array was picking up a response, from the leader of Earth.

"Shall we leave the leaders to their decision?" one of the Humans asked me.

"Probably." i responded. We made our way outside the cavern.

"Do you have a water reservoir here somewhere?" one of the Humans requested. "We need to refill our oxygen supply, but we have electrolyzers and hydrogen fusers in the ship. So if you could spare a couple tons of water, that would really help us."

I had no idea what half these words meant, but lead them to a communal pressure well. We use those to transport cargo from the lower levels, but we had more than enough liquid water to spare. A couple tons were nothing.

After a trip back to the surface, hauling some metallic objects down the tunnels, the humans went to work. Why they were using construction material was beyond me, but soon, a rythmic hum came from one of the devices.

"Fusion in 3. 2. 1. Fusing now," one of them announced, having connected a soft pipe from one device to the other.

"What exactly is it that you are doing?" i inquired.

"Electro-chemically splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen, then using the hydrogen for the fusion reactor, which in turn powers the electrolyzer."

"I have no idea what any of that means," i admitted.

The Humans turned their heads to one another for a moment, then back to me.

"We're using a machine, or two machines rather, to make breathable gas out of the water."

"Oh, so you breathe water vapor?"

"No. But we can make what we breathe out of water. We don't just vaporize it. I don't think i can properly explain chemistry or electrolysis right now. We don't have the time for that."

"Don't we have plenty, while the negotiations are underway?" i inquired.

"If you think they will take multiple cycles, then maybe. But i thought it would only be a few rotations, right?"

It takes multiple cycles to explain?

What?

Just what is up with these Humans?

...to be honest, i kind of wanted to find out for myself at this point. Maybe, just maybe, they would allow me to travel back to Earth with them. I didn't have a clutch of eggs to care for, nor a mate. Which hadn't exactly bothered me, but it did mean i had nothing holding me here. Except for the now obsolete thought that i couldn't go to any other civilization.

Hello, Author here. I am sorry to say this, but this is probably the last thing i write for this world. ADHD refuses to let me do such a sustained project. If any of you want to write something in this setting i created, though, be sure to run it by me to see if it fits the setting. Also, if anyone has a cool idea what to call this worldbuilding/setting/universe, feel free to send me an ask with a suggestion, i'll edit the tags so we can find stuff written in that setting later on.

[unscpromiseofdawn]

Gundam: Halo In The Stars

"It’s been 19,200 years since humanity left the cradle of Sol, riding the cosmic filaments of Stringspace, and since then, it has expanded across the breadth of the Orion, Sagittarius And Perseus Arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, yet it is still a mere island in a titanic ocean, one that itself still has unexplored jungles. 

Trillions have diversified into interstellar empires, interplanetary and planetary polities, corporate colonies, and a variety of independent populations, all overseen by the Solar Lancers, a neutral paramilitary/government hybrid organization created in the aftermath of the Calamity Events, one of three different dark ages that set back human exploration and progress in the past sixteen millennium.

Holding the tens of thousands of colonies together are the mapped out Stringspace Faster-Than-Light Transit Corridors, where thousands of human ships flow through every day. And the Eidonet, a dataspace system built upon a network of high-bandwidth superluminal data transfer/unlink arrays that allow real-time communication and trade across the entire expanse of human colonized space, backed up by secondary luminal networks.

Yet order is not truly established, with wars, corpo corruption, unrest, inequality, space piracy, and tyrannic militarism popping everywhere from the Frontier Periphery to Core Sphere, and the Solar Lancers, as much it strives to help humanity, is nowhere perfect and itself has played a hand in many of these issues. 

Uncanny cosmic horrors of human and unknown origin lurk in all this chaos, with humanity delving deeper and deeper into the mystifying yet also horrifying depths of reality contradicting or outright breaking potential of ever advancing Thaulogical technology. 

Amongst the countless battlefields and conflicts popping up, mercenaries from any manner of background thrive, especially the pilots of the towering Mobile Suit mechs, commonly referred to as Apollyons, and their Handlers. Particularly freedom seeking individuals are overseen and managed by the independent private military contractor support organization Qixx, where freedom to do any contract or job is, no matter who is the contractor or how horrific the mission is, allowed, leading to many Qixx Apolloyons making a name for themselves as either great heroes who toppled corrupt regimes, exposed the horrific crimes of corporations, and ended bloody wars, or villainous monsters who destroyed colony habitats holding millions, sabotaged agriculture and industrial centers that lead to entire interplanetary states starving, and perpetrated endless cycles of destruction across conflict zones to line their own pockets.

Transhumanism is rampant across every part of the Human Sphere, as the need for either adaptation to the harsh environment of space and exoplanets or more ways to express one’s true self grows, though this philosophy and way of life is exploited by corrupted actors for their own self-serving needs as well.

At the core of the Human Sphere the star system of Sol remains, yet it is no bustling capital of a grand interstellar polity (at least only after two human dark ages), but merely the most largest and well-developed industrial center in human hands, where many of its people live and die without ever stepping outside the system, their homes and lives exploited and used as a resource to fuel the opulent Core Sphere and the ever expanding Outer Periphery. Their government, the Sol Administration Cadre, is merely a puppet state with no real power. Because of this, factions of revolutionists, terrorists, freedom fighters, and more who want some form of Sol Independence have formed over the millennia, uniting into the Solian Unchained, but is only recently that any of them begin making moves, ones that may have effects beyond breaking the cycle of exploitation plaguing the birthplace of humankind.

But in the middle of all this, centuries of secret planning and cascading buildup that will change the course of humanity forever breaks through the surface."

This is my little Gundam story. I've recently gotten into the mecha genre, mainly through Gundam, Lancer rpg and Armored Core, and I've found myself wanting to create a original mecha story, which now has evolved into a Gundam story, though not based in any of the canon timelines.

This is the Halo Dominus Timeline.

Its has elements inspired by stuff like Lancer, Armored Core, Gundam canon as well as original sci-fi stuff. I don't think I will ever be able to write any sorta of comprehensible story in the setting, but I just wanna to share it here.

In the setting, the Human Sphere political and social landscape is overseen by the centralized neutral entity, the Solar Lancers, regulating FTL travel and technology in order to prevent another Calamity Event, as well as curbing piracy, corruption, and human rights violation.

In theory.

In reality, the Solar Lancers are heavily decentralized and de-unified, split into many factions with differing views. Many commit or support said piracy, corruption and violation. Many exploit the organizations unbalanced control over FTL drive and technologic production and distribution to manipulate underdeveloped polities into agreements that only favor them. Many violate the sovereignty of independent worlds. And many do strive to accomplishing the original goals of the organization, yet even these groups differ in how to morally and ethically go about doing it.

Gundam's in the setting are like HORUS mech's, weird eldritch Mobile Suit's built out of technologic miracles, strange mechanical components that shouldn't be able to work but do, and Thaulogical Cores inhabited by sapient AI's, or, as they are referred as in the setting, Ontological Data Entities. Gundam's pilots become so through being chosen by these machines, forming a physical parasitic symbiote like bond that allows the pilots to 'understand' these ODE's while also ensuring that no other pilot can possibly fly the machines.

They appear out of nowhere, and none have found the source of the machines, only finding exabit data packets filled with nonsense, and manufacturing facilities that always seemed to have recently printed something.

Technology in the setting is based around gravity manipulation, AI's/ODE's, exotic metamaterials, and Anat Manipulation. The latter makes use of Anat exotic matter/particles, a particularly important handwavium material in the setting that is used as a hyper-powerful and efficient power source, a data conductor and the main fuel source of FTL drives.

More than that, it is also the main component of the practically magical Thaulogical technology, as things tend to get weird when high density Anat is manipulated in a certain way. Coral Release levels of weird.

Transhumanism is common in the setting, and plays a big part into some of the characters as well as the themes. One particularly theme is 'physical flesh, no matter how changed, does not define what is human, or more accurately, a person'

The main story within the setting as well as the characters are still really abstract, but it primarily involves Solar Lancer 344th Liberation Echelon and its employed private military contractor group Orphios getting caught in the middle of a Solar Lancer Civil War and a shdaow conflict between the remnants of incomprehensible entities pulling the strings that threatens to unravel the Human Sphere.

The main character is Sierra Kimura (She/Her), Orphios pilot of the Gundam Astraeus. (Sol-Dragon, Silver-Eyes Burning Bright, Winter Scales Coiled Around The Stars)

[lunaraurorawrites]

Subspace Gambit

A bit of a new thing while I'm working on Chrysalis.

Find the actual story under the cut.

Content warnings:

Xenophobia, war, death.

Don't hesitate to tell me if I missed one.

[Log started.  Date of creation: Approximately 10 years ago]

              I sat on the bridge on the starship Renard.  There wasn’t much else for me to do.  The engineering team was hard at work at our repairs, and I didn’t want to impede them.  The sooner we were out of enemy territory, the better.  Our hydrogen thrusters were firing periodically, but we relied on inertia to keep us moving towards the border.  It was slow, but with our faster-than-light drive, we would have been home already.  The Martire Drive.  Created in the 21st century, inspired by science-fiction of the 20th.  Creates a bubble around the ship to push space itself at superluminal speeds.  My orders were simple, that we needed a distortion factor of at least four to get out of here quickly.  Sixty-four times the speed of light.  I pulled up the plans of the drive on my tablet.  It was really a marvel of technology.  Improved hundreds of times since the original prototype, but the main thought was still there.  The major difference was the energy source.  Because the enormous amount of energy needed wasn’t sustainable, we had replaced basic nuclear fusion with this material that we had dubbed Vancium in English.  As I was mindlessly observing the 3-D model, a voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

              “Captain!”

              I looked at the source.  “Hamilton!”  Sawyer Hamilton.  The engineering officer on the Renard.  I put down the tablet and met his eyes, my hands clasped behind my back.  “Report.”

              “Yes, sir.  My team is working quickly, but we’re lacking Vancium.  We won’t be able to hold our speed at distortion 4.”

              “Well, how long can you hold it?”

              “46 Earth days.  We’re still looking at half a year travel.” He lowered his voice.  “And between you and me, this ship doesn’t have half a year.”

              I sighed.  “Reroute all power from medical to the engine.  If Brown didn’t need Vancium when he invented the Martire Drive, neither do we.”  Hamilton opened his mouth to protest, but I shook my head.  There simply wasn’t another option for us.

              My hands behind my back, I walked to the window.  Our hydrogen engines were still firing.  Stars streaking past us was always a beautiful sight.  I relaxed, placing my hand on the panel.  We were going to make it, I was sure of it.

              The ship jolted.  I almost lost my balance.  “Hamilton!”

              “Hydrogen engines down, captain.  We were just hit by a macrophoton beam.”

              “Oh my—what do they want with us now?”

              “To eliminate us.”

              I growled.  “Fine.  Call the bridge crew to the bridge.  Get all possible crew members to a combat booth.  Martire Drive is unessential at this point.  All unnecessary power to shields.”

              “Right.”

              Hamilton took his position at the sensors.  The other members came up quickly.  I took my seat in the captain’s chair.

              “Captain James, a ship is requesting a transmission,” Lieutenant Liu said.  Our communications officer.

              “Open channel,” I requested.

              On the viewscreen, an image we were all expecting but dreading appeared.  They were the ones who had opened fire on us.  One look at them and you’d swear they were from a fantasy novel.  Quadrupeds.  Winged.  The sharpest claws you will ever see in your life.  Scales rougher than sandpaper.  Just as dangerous as they looked.  The Ngal were a species of space-faring dragons.  They didn’t breathe fire, but their weapons did.

              “Lieutenant Liu, adjust translator to Ngal,” I ordered.  When she was done, I spoke to them.  “What do you want?”

              “We have come to…trade,” their commanding officer said.  “You have something we want.”

              “What is that?”

              “Your method of faster-than-light travel is more convenient than ours.  Hand it over.”

              I saw Hamilton’s eyes brighten.  He looked at me.  I nodded.  “What do we get out of this trade?”

              “Your lives.”

              “Sir, their weapons are trained and ready to fire,” Liu said.

              “May my crew and I have a moment to decide?”

              “Five minutes,” the commander said.  “And we expect a certain answer.”

              The communication ended.  Hamilton met my eye.  “With your permission, sir?”

              “Go ahead.”

              “I believe that I can upgrade our drive to enter their subspace.”

              The statement hung in the air.  Earth ships hijacking foreign FTL travel was completely unheard of.  And this was unknown enemy territory.  We had little idea how it worked, other than they used subspace.  It wasn’t instant, but it was superluminal.  Plus…

              “I’m sorry about your brother, but this could get us back to Earth,” Hamilton said.  “Or at least back to the milky way.”

              I walked to the viewscreen.  It wasn’t a perfect plan.  There were flaws.  But Hamilton was suggesting it.   Either he was desperate, or he was sure his gambit would work.  The question was, did I want to risk it?  I sighed.  “Very well.  What’s the ETA on this alteration?”

              “About ten minutes.”

              “We have five.”

              “We need ten.”

              I fixed his gaze.  There was no way we would survive ten full minutes, and he knew that.  He fiddled with his communicator on his wrist.  His finger was hovering over the call button.

              “Please, sir.  Can you buy us the time?”

              “Very well.  Work quickly, and alert me when we’re ready to jump.”

              Hamilton speedwalked off the bridge as quickly as he could.  I turned to the rest of the crew.  “Liu, alert the crew of an imminent subspace jump.”  Liu nodded.  The announcement rang throughout the ship.  As I sat down in my chair, the viewscreen came back on.  The Ngal were sitting on their bridge, an expectant look in their eyes.

              “So, do you have an answer?”

              “We will not give you our technology.”

              “Then we have no choice.  Fire!”

              “Divert all power but engineering to shields!” I called.  “We need to buy Hamilton as much time as possible!”  The ship jolted as we were hit again.  “Hydrogen engines, full power!”

              “Sir, our hydrogen engines are down.”

              “Right.  Simple thrusters, then.  As long as we aren’t a sitting duck.”

              The ship jolted.  I braced myself.  A couple more shots missed.  I wasn’t too sure how long we could hold out for.  More and more damage to the hull.  Alarms were blaring in my face.  Right before I was about to give up, I got a message from Hamilton.

              “Ready to jump, sir.”

              “Understood.  Initiate subspace jump.”

              The space around us distorted.  Alarms blared louder than I had ever heard them.  Louder than you’d ever want to hear them.  Then, everything was the strangest colour I had ever seen.  It was as if all the colours of a rainbow had merged into one.  But it wasn’t white.  Hamilton ran back onto the bridge.

              “Walker, start mapping,” I ordered.  Our interstellar navigator and pilot.

              “On it, sir.  I believe that starboard side is towards Earth.”

              “Then go.”  I felt the ship turn, almost knocking me off my chair.  I held on tight to the handles, expecting a barrage at any second.  “Walker?”

              “Mapping still in progress, sir.  Our sensors are picking up strange readings.”

              “Okay.  Are we being followed?”

              “Not as far as I can tell.  But it won’t be long before the Ngal realize what we did.”

              I nodded.  The ship continued heading forward.  Not much else to do but wait.  I wasn’t going to distract everyone from their jobs.  Hamilton had his nose in his console, surely making sure our drive didn’t fail.  Liu was the only one who looked like she had as little to do as I did.  One of the detriments of having a specific job.  I didn’t really have anything to do except give orders.  Of course, I was glad I didn’t need to give orders, but it did get slightly boring.  Liu didn’t have anything to do unless we had to negotiate or met a new species.

              The rest of the ride was uneventful, but I didn’t feel my crew let down their guard for a moment.  We were in completely uncharted territory.  And I wasn’t about to be one-upped by them.  I kept my eye on the view screen, though our sensors were getting blurrier the more time we spent in here.  My eyes were straining by the time Walker spoke.  The ship had come to quick stop, almost sending me off my feet.  I made a mental reminder to get Hamilton to look at the dampers when we were out of the fray.

              “Sir, if we don’t jump here, we risk jumping directly into the Kuiper belt.”

              “Hamilton?” I asked.  “Can we handle one more subspace jump?”

              “I believe so.”

              “Initiate subspace jump.”

              The world streaked past us, but without any alarms this time.  Engineering had probably solved that problem.  But there was another one.  As the Kuiper belt came into view, another problem arose.

              “Code red!” I called.  But it was too late.  They had been expecting us.  The Ngal ship took a shot and…

              Everything went white.

[Log recovered from the orbit of 50000 Quaoar]

[afaceinthecrowd415]

This was by far the last straw.

I took another breath of the linseutl and stared again at the image Rak had manifested. The blue vapor leaked from my gills and spilled over the rendering of the humans' StellarJumper.

This was bad news waiting to happen. Their scientists and star-watchers had been correct in assuming that this ship; this monstrous, angular, beast, cobbled together from the dead metals that form their planet's crust; this ship would in fact, "pierce the veil of stars". Stupid presumption! Physics demands a steep price for superluminal travel if the proper precautions are not taken. The technological advancements of a developing species threatened to affect the very fabric of the universe, perhaps the nature of spacetime itself.

Again.

I tapped on the communicator. "Rak, send a message to Destrickn: 'The time for intervention is now. Make contact. I don't care how you do it. Reveal yourself as a "god" if you have to. I need this monstrosity stopped. You must, MUST help them amend their design.'"

Hell! With combustion technology like that, you'd think those humans want to create a second Sol! Not on my watch. The Organization depended on good minds like mine to stop these problems before they started.

We needed to teach the humans to properly expand into the galaxy and help them explore like a civilized species. It wouldn't do to have them rip holes in reality because no one had the decency to show them the extra twists and folds needed to make a warp drive. It was so simple, simpler than their top scientists supposed, but it took a certain finesse to properly utilize warp technology. Once they were shown, I was sure they'd catch on pretty quickly.

Destrickn would do a good job, I was sure. Perhaps she'd allow herself to be "captured" and let them "force the information" from her. She'd get a kick out of that, and as warlike as their species was, that might be the only way to teach the humans.

Rak's answer came back. "Contacted, message sent. Destrickn and Source7 are on the job."

I had a sudden feeling of excitement. These humans believed they were alone. They had no idea what their little rocket was getting them into.

“Will someone PLEASE teach the humans the origami pattern they need to make a warp drive before they punch a hole in the universe with that infernal contraption?”

[ultrimio]

Telequantum Communication : Harnessing the Reservoir Computer Universe

Introduction:

In our pursuit of groundbreaking communication technologies, we present an innovative concept that integrates quantum mechanics, reservoir computing, and speculative faster-than-light phenomena. Our proposal, the Telequantum Communication Apparatus, aims to revolutionize information exchange, pushing beyond conventional limitations. By harnessing the reservoir computer universe and its instantaneous layer, we envision a paradigm shift in data transmission and processing.

Sender's Apparatus:

Advanced Quantum Encoding:

The sender's apparatus employs cutting-edge quantum encoding techniques, going beyond traditional error correction. By utilizing exotic quantum states, such as graph states and Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill codes, we enhance information density, security, and resilience against noise and decoherence. This advanced encoding ensures that transmitted data remains intact and secure throughout its journey.

Dynamic Entanglement Seeding:

Instead of relying on pre-shared entanglement, our design introduces dynamic entanglement seeding. We strategically "seed" the reservoir's instantaneous layer with entangled states tailored to the specific data being transmitted. By optimizing entanglement generation and distribution, we exploit the reservoir's dynamics, allowing for more efficient and adaptable information transfer.

Reservoir Interaction with Quantum Gates:

A network of quantum gates is integrated into the sender's apparatus, enabling precise manipulation of reservoir processes. These gates allow us to encode information onto specific quantum fields or energy states within the reservoir, potentially influencing its complex computations. This interaction opens up possibilities for harnessing the universal reservoir's inherent computational power.

Tachyonic Communication:

While highly speculative, the concept of tachyonic boosters that manipulate photons and excitons remains intriguing. Should tachyons, hypothetical faster-than-light particles, be proven to exist or not, our apparatus will imprint encoded information onto them. This would enable direct, superluminal transmission through the instantaneous layer, offering the potential for instantaneous communication.

Advanced Quantum Interface:

I propose an advanced quantum interface that facilitates precise manipulation and interaction with the cosmic reservoir's instantaneous layer. By drawing from quantum information processing and neuromorphic engineering, we ensure efficient and seamless information transfer between the sender and the reservoir computer universe.

Receiver's Apparatus:

Adaptive Reservoir Querying:

The receiver's apparatus employs advanced AI algorithms to formulate adaptive queries based on real-time feedback from the reservoir's responses. By analyzing patterns and discrepancies, the receiver optimizes information extraction and adapts to the dynamic nature of the reservoir's computations.

Hierarchical Neuromorphic Processing:

We introduce a hierarchical neuromorphic processing architecture, inspired by the human brain's structure. Lower levels of the hierarchy handle basic pattern recognition and noise reduction, while higher levels focus on complex data extraction and integration. This layered approach enhances the system's ability to interpret and make sense of the retrieved information.

Context-Aware Data Reconstruction:

Considering the initial data format and potential errors introduced during transmission or processing, the receiver employs AI-driven techniques to fill in missing information and resolve ambiguities. By leveraging context and redundancy within the encoded data, the receiver ensures accurate and meaningful data reconstruction.

Real-Time Error Correction and Feedback Loop:

Real-time error correction mechanisms are implemented throughout the decoding process, leveraging AI for anomaly detection and correction. A feedback loop is established with the sender's apparatus, allowing for adjustments or re-transmissions if errors are detected. This feedback loop enhances the overall reliability and accuracy of the communication system.

The Reservoir Computer Universe's Instantaneous Layer:

Harnessing Quantum Gravity:

We explore potential connections between the instantaneous layer and advancements in quantum gravity research. By investigating the manipulation of spacetime within the cosmic reservoir, we seek to create superluminal communication channels that transcend the limitations of conventional physics. This speculative yet captivating idea could revolutionize our understanding of information transfer.

Self-Organizing Reservoir Dynamics:

The reservoir computer universe exhibits self-organizing behavior, and we analyze how it processes and stores information. By understanding and potentially influencing these dynamics, we aim to optimize information retrieval and leverage the reservoir's inherent computational capabilities. This exploration could lead to breakthroughs in harnessing the universe's natural information processing power.

Conclusion:

Our enhanced proposal for the Telequantum Communication Apparatus offers a robust and versatile approach to quantum communication within the reservoir computing universe framework. By integrating advanced quantum techniques, dynamic entanglement seeding, reservoir interaction with quantum gates, and sophisticated receiver processing, we push the boundaries of what is possible in information exchange. While challenges remain, particularly regarding the speculative nature of certain concepts, our design opens up exciting avenues for future research and development. We invite further exploration and collaboration to bring this revolutionary concept to fruition, shaping the future of communication and computation.

[masterchef901]

I'm expecting an awful lot of art and media in the near future that'll be voicing (subtly or otherwise) people's opinion of AI - stuff with morals like the irreplaceable human spirit, or the value of not taking shortcuts, or whatever, but I just can't help but wonder, like

What about the opposite?

Like, I'm envisioning a sort of world where we make our AI overlords or meet some magic aliens or whatever, and then the twist is that they actually are just better than humans in literally every way. They don't just feel, they feel more deeply than humans ever did. They do art and suddenly it is complete and there is soul, just, readily and visibly apparent to everyone. They make anything anyone asks them for as an afterthought because they can spare a few trillion thoughts to try and make you feel better, sure, that's like 4 seconds out of their day. They show up and hate us and want to conquer us for all of like 0.2 seconds before realizing "nah fuck that" and just fuck off into a Matrix or a spaceship to go make a utopia, but leave us the Superluminal Communication Device and beg us to call if we need anything with the vibe of a sighing great-grandkid who feels a sense of guilty and pitying obligation toward the kinda-racist great-grandparent they never really got to or wanted to know

Every problem is one "ask" away from a solution, and it's like the work of anti-genies who don't deliver what you want but what you need and it's frankly infuriating how they're always right about what you need and how they require 0 time or effort to even riddle it out

Because thinking in this direction is where I feel like there's still questions, y'know? Everybody knows where they stand on the idea of being replaced by a cheap copy, there's not a ton of juicy discussion to happen there, but how do I feel about the world where it's actually just better?

The techbros accidentally do make their utopia where all competition is just gone, because anytime you'd compete to be needed the way we do in our jobs the job is now rightly filled by not-you. How do I deal with the idea of never being needed for anything because all the needs are just auto-filled? Is the utopia's flaw just my inability to get over myself? Shouldn't I feel better that I can just spend my life making things without the presence of money or glory coercing me away from artistic purity? That the only cause left to create is inspiration? Can humanity handle the idea of true freedom from all necessity? Or would they reject their new omniscient omnibenevolent gods out of some wide-felt idea that being needed to push against problems somehow feels better than actually being free from problems?

[superpte]

Is It True That Simultaneity Doesn't And Can't Exist, Or Is It That We Can’t (Yet) Determine It?

It is often said that simultaneity can’t exist in Relativity Theory. In the context of Relativity as defined by Poincare, that’s entirely correct, and a major consequence of LOCAL TIME theory. Actually Local Time is not just a theory, but a fact… a fact of classical (non-Quantum) physics However, as far as I know, the problem of simultaneity in Relativity as it is now, is somewhat similar to…

[prvtocol]

On a side note, the RDA on Pandora can communicate with Earth. They use something called Superluminal Communications, which involves subatomic particles to "tunnel" information between the two locations. It's expensive, however, so no one is calling home to mom. In 2154, the RDA could only send three bits of information per hour at a cost of $7,500 per bit.

[spaceleveln]

A possibly better idea than my first for the Polity.

My thought for the Polity is a sort of Federation version of the Romulan D'deridex class.

Just with a Saucer section because it isn't a Federation ship for me without a saucer section.

I definitely want it D'deridex size as well, thus the little stuck in Galaxy Class ship.

One of my thoughts for the tech that makes everything work is that there is a trade off for size and functionality. The bigger the ship, the better the tech works but the harder the ship is to manage. The smaller the ship, the more finicky the tech but you get all the benefits of a little ship. So it's a constant give and take. But that's why essentially all the ships are capital ships and not little fighters. It's impractical to shove the Warp tech that underlies pretty much every other tech in the Federation into anything as small as a fighter or a shuttle. This is why most of the ships are relatively large capital ships. There's a kind of minimum size for a ship to go FTL and faster speeds require bigger ships.

The ships also require empty space for safety. The warp field generation, before it envelops the ship, happens between the nacelles and its safest if there isn't anything there. Anything in between the nacelles is vulnerable to radiation and pretty much anything that can go wrong.

The empty space also allows the ship to work with other things besides itself in the Warp field. Stick a sublight shuttle in there and the ship can hurl the shuttle at FTL speeds. Fire a torpedo through there and you can hurl it at FTL speeds, too. On the other side, you can line up and catch things moving at superluminal speeds and bring it into the frame of the ship.

Thus the transport shuttle bay is right at the back of the support circle and the lower secondary hull, so it can spit out and grab shuttles right into the warp field.

The transport shuttle bay is also where you go for transporters. Much safer to extend the field just to the transport bay and fire the field from there than to extend the field to somewhere deep inside the ship.

The extreme majority of regularly used space is in the large and relatively safe saucer section, the main hull, which doesn't get put in newly generating field layers until the ship is already pretty sure everything is safe.

In a truly dire emergency, the saucer section ejects from the secondary hulls and warp pylons structure. The saucer section loses artificial gravity (generated by one of the layers of the Warp field), FTL speeds, and most of the rest of its technological superiority (communications and sensors are also affected) but doesn't get atomized and blown across the system.

While it is absolutely meant for emergencies and not as a tactical solution, it is possible for a clever plan to use saucer separation to advantage. Such as rigging the warp structure to hurl a ship and then explode before flying through the ring to escape the destruction being left behind for the enemy.

Warp Nacelles can only work in multiples and a Warp field can only be generated between all the working nacelles. More nacelles allow for more precision placement and movement of a field but the gains are fairly low for the costs. The diminishing returns make it most cost effective to simply have a pair and leave it at that. Trying to make a warp field layer with only one nacelle is asking for trouble. Trying to make a warp field near a larger mass or greater source of artificial gravity is also usually asking for trouble because warp fields are affected by gravity and it is very possible for a highly gravitational object to function as another nacelle for generating the layer. It is not a good idea to turn on a new layer too close to a planet, star, or even another ship because it might move the center of the field to a different place than intended.

The Federation is aware of all this and aware that there is physics that allows for different variations of FTL. Warp technology is simply the branch of the technology that works best with what the Federation knows, gives the best returns on effort, and operates the most reliably and safely given what they want to do. All the other FTL tech that they understand well enough to make work has different trade offs and is usually worse. They are certainly interested in the tech of others but it's not a high priority because of the costs and learning curves. There is no known BEST way to go faster than light. And anyone who knows a definitively better way isn't sharing.

So far as the Federation knows (and so far as they suspect anyone else knows) there is no way to go faster than the speed of light without pulling some kind of field out of a space that is not part of our 4 dimensional universe and wrapping it around what you want to go faster than light or actually entering a space that is not part of our 4 dimensional universe and traveling through it instead. The closest to being able to use our universe to go FTL is to shortcut through a wormhole (extremely common) that is large enough to accommodate the size and mass of the ship (profoundly rare) and long lived enough (also extremely rare) to not collapse on the ship during transit.

That is the origin of the term N-Space and the letter designations of Federation ships (instead of being the number of the ship to bear the name). The Federation warp capable Star Ship Polity, registry FSS 93101-G is a G-class warp ship meaning its Warp Core Spools, housed in the Nacelles, can pull out and manipulate up to 7 additional layers of other spaces to wrap around the ship beyond the normal 4 dimensional (3 spatial and 1 time dimension) space of this universe. This places its top manipulation / speed at Warp 8. Warp 1 being the manipulation of this space time that allows the ship to move AT the speed of light through the medium at hand. N is usually used as the abstract term for some unknown number of parallel dimensions / other spaces that Warp and other techs can use. N coincidentally also happens to be the count under the Federation system where, as far as anyone is able to tell from the extremely limited evidence, the number of other spaces ends. There is no evidence that Warp 15 (our universe plus 14 layers of other spaces) is, or ever was, possible. There are multiple (but not excessive) pieces of exo-archeological evidence that suggest it is a fundamental barrier of physics that no civilization was ever able to crack. The Federation therefore uses N to designate ships that are capable of warping regular space to go at light speed but not faster than light speed. Lack of a letter means the ship is not warp capable.

The Polity, although about 16 years old as of 59949.8, is still a top of the line ship. All Federation ships able to exceed Warp 8 are currently designated X for experimental.

The experimental Excelsior project, currently in its early design phase and expected to finish construction and enter testing in about a decade has been given the registry number FSS 20287-X. It is expected to have a final registry letter of J when it enters full service, if it ever does. A lot of registry numbers get scrapped when the plans don't pan out. A registry number is issued at the point of project approval.

[hhdoesstuff]

‘Majority’ Imagines Internet Hate Mobs to the Extreme

Abby Goldsmith’s science fiction novel Majority tells the story of a group of young people from Earth who get abducted by the Torth, a galaxy-spanning civilization ruled by merciless telepaths. “There’s a galactic empire, and these people are all neurally, superluminally connected,” Goldsmith says in Episode 550 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “They can communicate instantaneously, and…

[timeclonemike]

My theory is the Anthropomorphic Filter theory, not to be confused with the Great Filter theory that includes the "technologically advanced civilizations destroy themselves" option in the poll.

Basically, we are looking for signs of intelligent life and civilization using the hallmarks of our culture and technology, partly because that's what we have to work with, but also partly because we expect other intelligent life in the universe to do the same thing. Currently despite breakthroughs in quantum physics, the speed of light is still considered the ultimate speed limit (outside of certain parts of the scientific borderlands) and even if there is a way to communicate faster than that, none of our existing physics models even account for how that would work, so we wouldn't know what to look for in the first place. So we are stuck using mass antenna farms to try to pick up deep space radio signals because electromagnetic waves are all we know to look for, even with the time lag involved.

Other civilizations might not be producing that kind of EM noise for any number of reasons. Their planet might not have the raw ore or relevant atmosphere to smelt and refine minerals needed to make radio-level technology, or it might have both but the species on that planet is aquatic and is incapable of using fire in the way that our ancestors managed. Or they could have evolved in such a way that they can detect electromagnetic waves and any any signal strong enough to be heard at interstellar distances would injure or kill their entire race. Or they have made the relevant scientific discovery for superluminal communication and are doing their own SETI program but using that medium instead of the radio spectrum, simply because they (quite reasonably) would not expect any other civilization to try to communicate over interstellar distances with something that slow.

If we ever do have another scientific revolution that cracks open the secrets of FTL communication and travel, we might suddenly realize that we were surrounded by signals from other civilizations for all of our recorded history, and didn't realize it because nobody looks for life as we DON'T know it.

As for the alien civilizations themselves, to the extent that one can possibly interpret or predict alien value systems according to any known human civilization or social construct, I expect them to run the full spectrum from benign and altruistic to callous and imperialistic and everything in between plus shit not even the most coked-up scifi writer ever considered.

So: that "Fermi Paradox"

[plzfeedmebread]

Revenant - Chapter 1

word count: 4392

Pairing: Colonel Miles Quaritch x Female! Wife! Reader Warnings/Tags: None

Chapter Summary: You discuss the mission a bit more in depth, and visit someone very important to you.

[Masterlist] - [Previous Chapter] - [Next Chapter]

In Tenebra Fidemus - In darkness we trust. In Luce Vigemus - In light we thrive.

---

“Do you have any questions, [Y/N]?” James throws the last file into the fire. He assures you information will be clearer and more readily available once you touch down moon side.

“What of communication? How long is the delay to reach Earth?”

“Ah. You’ll be pleased to know that the Superluminal Communications used by the RDA allow for instantaneous interstellar communication between worlds. And naturally, we have set up our own private networks.”

Your eyes widen slightly at this. You had thought communication took as long as the commute; 6 years. You are happy to be wrong.

“There is a drawback, however, in that you can only send three bits of information per hour, and at the cost of $7,500 per bit. So do keep it as concise as possible, won’t you? And only when necessary.”

“Of course, James. Who shall be my contact on world? What of supplies? Gear?”

“Your on-world Handler shall be a woman by the name of Paz Socorro; a pilot with SecOps. She will be responsible for meeting any and all of your needs. Now in regards to your cover…”

James retrieves a thin black folder from his desk, handing it to you.

“You have two options. One – you will arrive as a Magistrate of the Interplanetary Commerce Administration. It is by their hand that the RDA has a monopoly on Pandora and the export of her resources. You will be there to oversee that the RDA adheres to the strict rules set by the ICA, less their monopoly be revoked. You will be given complete authority over the entire base in this instance; thus you shall be able to move about unhindered. We will also assign Miss Socorro as your personal pilot for the duration of your stay. The downside here is that, by being in such a position of authority, you will have eyes on you constantly. You may also encounter resistance from some personnel in both SciOps and SecOps.”

You nod quietly as he explains further.

“Two – you will be a bioengineer, sent at the behest of the RDA to work alongside Grace’s team. You will be researching ways to utilise the planets flora and fauna to combat disease, prolong human life, perhaps chemical warfare if you feel so inclined. We will forge the necessary scholarly documents as required. In this position, you will be far more inconspicuous; just another member of the SciOps team. However your interactions with Miss Socorro will be lessened, as we cannot guarantee she will always be your designated pilot in the field.”

You nod, crossing your arms as you consider the two options.

“What would you suggest, James?”

“Honestly? Option one. I believe it will make your life easier. No one will question your decisions, and even if they perhaps did, you may simply ask them under who’s authority do they operate. Anything you do, can be under the guise of the ICA’s interests, and never will you have to explain your reasonings. Conversely, you may use your position as a bioengineer to gain access to invaluable research on deadly fauna and how it could be used to eliminate your target. Either way worry not; you needn’t give your answer just yet. You have until tomorrow night to come up with the decision.”

“Tomorrow evening. A shuttle will collect you from your apartment at 2300 hours.”

‘That soon?!’ That left you barely any time at all to tie up any loose ends here on Earth. Without any true way to estimate the length of time you’d spend away, you wanted to make sure you left nothing behind undone.

“Time is of the essence my dear. Here, some light reading for you before your long slumber.” He hands you a book detailing the Na’vi language; aptly named the same.

“It’ll be lonely without you here…Try and come back in one piece won’t you? In Tenebra Fidemus.” He half bows with a hand flat on his heart.

“In Luce Vigemus.” You mimic his gesture. “Thank you James, for all you have done for me and mine. I will not disappoint.”

“I know...Good luck, [Y/N], and stay safe.” He places a firm hand on your shoulders, and you look up. Your eyes meet piercing silver. You commit his face to memory; the thick grey mop of hair he keeps styled back, the wrinkles strewn on his face, the crookedness of his mouth and the crease in his eyes when he smiles. Time has been unrelenting, aging him like fine wine.

He is old, you realise, and you suddenly ponder if he’ll be there to greet you upon your return. A round trip would be over a decade, and that’s without factoring in time spent planet side. The realisation sits heavy on your heart, for you now are certain this is perhaps the last time you shall see your father figure. Although he was the one to pull you into his dark world of blood and shadow, he still did more for you than your birth parents ever did.

You jump at him, wrapping your arms around his mid, burying your face into his chest. By sheer force of will you do not cry, but your shoulders shake still.

Words remain unspoken, unneeded, as he wraps his arms around you in turn. He knows precisely what you’re thinking. He holds you for a moment not yet long enough.

“Go. Before I try and change your mind.” He gently pushes you from him. You take his hand, squeezing the back of it to your cheek. Your eyes meet once more, and with a final determined nod, you turn and briskly walk out of the suite.

You don’t look back.

---

Descension was no less easier.

Your new mission weighs heavily upon your mind. You have faced dangers untold and hardships unnumbered in your pursuit of betterment. But to be pulled nearly 4 and a half light years away? Unthinkable. Inconsiderable.

But of course you had agreed; in actuality, there was little choice to be made. Denying would look poorly upon both you and your handler for a start, and you were not about to tarnish the reputation of the man that essentially raised you. More importantly, you thought of your dear brother, Tom.

As smart as he was, he was not built for combat. He was decidedly the smarter twin. Academically gifted , the man was inundated with PhD honours. He deserved the safety of his books, the certainty of walls and structure. What kind of sister would you be then, if you let his gentle soul venture into these uncharted wilds, leaving him at the mercy of this xenosanctuary?

Thus your choice was clear; you must accept the contract. You gave yourself a secondary mission then; eliminate all who would threaten the safety of your brother. From the lowest grunt, to The Director themself; no one would be spared your golden stiletto blades.

Family above all else.

---

A shuttle awaits you as you exit the premises after a quick shower and wardrobe change. You inform the AI of your destination, and with monotone acceptance, you’re off into the skies.

A song you don’t recognise plays, but you enjoy the feeling of the dark bass as it pulses through your bones.

Far off in the distance, thick grey clouds reach up towards an unseen sky. Deep orange cuts through the effervescent neon sea; the remnants of your last mission set ablaze.

You peel your eyes from the scene, dragging your gaze over the city below. Flashing lights, dancing holograms. The people move as one; a single living organism splintering itself into every nook and cranny, invading the dark crevices below.

And somewhere in this hell of concrete spires and minds of metal, your two brothers reside.

---

Tom’s apartment complex resides somewhere in the nicer part of town; if you can even call it that. The shuttle drops you off at a designated landing zone, several floors above where you need to be.

The moment your heel touches down, you’re off in a hurried gait. You become one with the crowd, pirouetting through the sea of warm bodies, avoiding their touch as you weave through. The air is thick, laden with the stench of garbage, street food, and something sickly sweet.

You pay no mind to the AI holos that vie for your attention, their faux voices disappear into the background as you press forward.  Advertisements in a language you don’t understand lick at your ears from all directions, drowned only by the sound of the locals around you; drunks arguing with any who look at them wrong, the not so sound of mind and their unintelligible ramblings, users openly abusing on the streets, even the faint moans wafting on the air from dark corners unseen.

You hate this cesspool of debauchery and sin. But time and time again, your brother refuses your offers to live with you. Your apartment is high in the clouds, far away from the lower dregs of society. It would be much safer you insisted, pleaded, but your brother is as stubborn as you are deadly. He doesn’t want to rely on you, wants to be able to stand on his own two feet. An intellectual prodigy, you often wonder if common sense was perhaps lost on him. Never the matter, you had him under constant surveillance. Thanks to your connections, the criminals operating in this sector know the resident of this apartment is off limits – no exceptions.

You arrive to his front door. With your knuckles, you perform a rhythmic set of taps; a secret signal to let him know it was safe to open, and whom to expect. You hear hurried footsteps from inside, a loud thump followed by muffled cursing. There is the distinct sound of things being knocked over, followed by more footsteps, and the fumbling of several locks. The door is wrenched open, and you are greeted with the flushed face of your beloved brother.

“[Y/N]!!!” He exclaims, grabbing you by the hand and pulling you into a hug. You return it with equal enthusiasm.

“Tommy! Sorry, did I come at a bad time? I hope I didn’t wake you.” You step into the apartment, closing the door and reengaging the  multitude of locks.

“No not at all! I’ve just been going through some of my notes from my dissertation.” He busies himself with picking up scattered papers and books strewn along the floor; no doubt the result of the scuffling you heard before. You make yourself comfortable on the couch.

“Don’t you already have a PhD?”

“Yeeeeees, but one can never be over prepared! Grace Augustine is a world renowned Xenobotanist and Xenolinguist. I have to cover all my bases if I want to impress her!” Your heart melts and your expression softens when you see the twinkle in his eye, and hear the fire in his voice.

“Tommy – you’ve already impressed her. You start training next year! I’m sure she’s just as excited for you to get there, as you are.”

“Maybe you’re right…” He gives you a shy smile, a small huff of a laugh leaves him as he rubs the back of his head. His expression morphs to confusion though as he gives you a thoughtful look.

“Hey, it is pretty late...What did you come by for? Not that you’re unwelcome or anything! It’s just, you know, later than usual…”

You cover your mouth as you giggle at his fumbling.

“Nothing bad, don’t worry! It’s good news actually!”

Tommy ceases his cleaning, and comes to sit beside you. He faces you, giving you his undivided attention.

“Soooo you know how I have that government job that I’m under strict contractual obligation to not divulge, under any circumstance, to anyone, ever?”

“You mean the very suspicious career that Jake and I are both convinced is actually you working as a high-class escort for the billionaires that run the world? Yes, please do go on.”

You make an offended gasp, but laugh as you playfully punch him in the arm.

“AAH! No! Stop! I’m sorry! I bruise easily!”

The two of you are in a fit of giggles as you continue to shove each other, which then devolves into the two of you grabbing couch cushions and start wailing on one another.

Tom holds up his hands in surrender, yielding to your superior strength. The conversation resumes once the two of you become calm once more and the laughter dies down.

“As I was saying—I’m being shipped off-world for my next big project.”

“Oh? Which colony are off to? Somewhere in the Zeta quadrant?”

You shake your head. You let him fire off a few more guesses, enjoying the frustrated look slowly developing on his face as he wracks his brain for an answer.

“Try something a little closer to home. Something you might one day be, intimately familiar with, as it were.”

He stares at you, brow furrowed with confusion.

Realisation then hits him, eyes widening.

“Noooooo…”

“Yeeeeees,” there is a tease in the tone of your voice as you nod with a widening smile.

“[Y/N]! Are you serious?! This is amazing!” Without warning he has you trapped in another hug, vigorously swaying side to side.

“I have so many questions! When are you going? What will you be doing? Will we be at the same RDA base? Is the government giving you your own Avatar? Have you been practising the Na’vi language? Have you even started? Would learning it even be beneficial to whatever it is you’re doing there?! What—”

“Tom!” Both of your hands are immediately cradling his head. It shuts him up instantly.

“Breathe bro. You know damn well I can’t answer, ANY of those questions! Ah well, except I’m actually getting flown out tomorrow night…”

“Tomorrow?! That’s so soon…” Tom grabs your hands in his, slowly lowering them to his lap. His eyes are cast downward. You can see his pupils shifting rapidly as his mind races with unknown thoughts.

Quickly his on his feet, releasing your hands. He sprints off into his room without a word. You call after him.

“Tom…?”

“One sec!”

After a few minutes, he’s right back in front of you, cradling a small black box.

“I was gonna wait till your birthday to give this to you—but seeing as I won’t see you for a few years…” He holds the box out to you.

The material is soft velvet, smooth under your skin. You let out a faint gasp when your eyes see the contents within.

A small pendant of silver, fashioned into the shape of a rose, with a ruby fastened into the centre; tied to a thin silver chain.

“Tom, it’s beautiful.”

“You’re welcome.” He gives you a self-assured smile, clearly quite pleased with himself. You turn around and he helps fasten it around your neck. It sits comfortably just below your clavicle.

“Thank you, you really didn’t have to do this.”

“I know…But I wanted to give you something special, now that I can afford to. It’s made of platinum by the way, so it’s nice and durable.” You wordlessly nod, putting the small black box into your jacket pocket. Tom grabs both your hands in his, holding them up in the space between you two.

“…Listen. You always took good care of Jake and I, ever since…Well you’ve acted not only as our big sister, but also filled the shoes of mom and dad. And you know what? I’m happy it was you there, and not them. Seeing you work hard, coming home at ridiculous hours, but still finding time to spend with us? It must’ve been hard, having to grow up so fast…But you were always smiling—Hell I don’t remember you ever complaining, even when we were being brats for no reason…You’re one of, if not, the strongest person I know.”

There comes a painful throb in your chest, the soft silk of his words wraps itself around you, squeezing. Your eyes glisten with the promise of tears, but you hold steadfast to your emotions.

“Look, all I’m trying to say is, thank you. Thank you, for taking care of me. Without you, I wouldn't have gotten all those scholarships, wouldn’t have had the drive to get my PhDs, and probably wouldn’t be sitting in front of you right now. So, my beloved big sister [Y/N], thank you for being my family. I love you.”

And the dam breaks.

You crash into him, hugging him with all your might. Tears flow freely down your face as you wail uncontrollably. Hearing him say those things, suddenly makes everything you have done, everything you have sacrificed, worth it all. There is an almost indescribable feeling that washes over and through you. It brings about a peace you hadn’t known you needed. It was a reassurance that your brother was going to be okay—his future was secure, thanks you both yours and his efforts; all in spite of the rough start you had in life.

“TOOOOOM!!! IT’S OKAY!!! I’D DO IT ALL AGAIN FOR YOU GUYS!!! I LOVE YOU TOOOOO!!!” You bawl out, still crying.

Tom laughs as he pats your back.

---

“Here, just TAKE it. It’ll give me peace of mind!” You hold out your spare apartment keycard. He sighs at your antics.

Some time after you had finally calmed down, you brought up the idea that he should live in your apartment while you are away; look after the place as it were. He wouldn’t have to pay rent, as that was covered by your job, and it would be in a safer neighbourhood. Still he fights you on this. You pout at him, puffing your cheeks.

“You owe me for making me cry!”

“Oh my GOD fine! Give it here!” He grabs the card, and immediately you face turns to a victorious smile.

“Good. I’ll be gone by tomorrow, so you can start moving your stuff in the day after.”

Tom nods but stifles a yawn at the same time. You cast a glance at the clock on the wall, realising the time.

“I should probably head off then, it’s getting rather late, and you clearly need your beauty sleep.”

He swats your arm playfully, and calls you something in a language you don’t recognise as the two of you make your way to the door.

“What did you just call me?”

“Ha! It’s Na’vi for ‘moron’. Even if you don’t need to learn the language for your job, I suggest you do. Because even if we’re not at the same base, you better believe I’m going to annoy you every chance I get! Even if it has to be over comms.”

You roll your eyes at him as you undo the various locks. With the door open, you turn to your brother once more. You pull him into one final hug. This time the two of you remain quiet as you embrace.

Your stomach flips, an uncomfortableness settles deep within. This goodbye feels far too final, and you do not like that.

Hesitantly do you remove yourself from his embrace, taking a small step back and out into the cold.

“I’d say goodbye, but that doesn’t feel right. So, I’ll see you later?”

He gives you a confident smile.

“Yeah…See ya later [Y/N]. Have a safe trip home. And a safe journey too. Keep Pandora warm for me.”

With a tiny wave, you turn and slowly start the ascent to the shuttle bay. Before you disappear behind the next flight of stairs, you turn to meet his gaze once more. The two of you share one final wave and an exchange of smiles.

He knows you won’t move first, and so you watch him disappear safely behind his apartment door.

---

The penthouse is dark when you arrive. You remove your shoes, leaving them in the entryway. Your hands glide over the walls as you meander into the living room, collapsing on the couch.

You lay there for a few moments, idly playing with the pedant on your chest. You can feel sleep tugging at the recesses of your mind, threatening to take you in a moments notice. With a grunt you sit yourself up. You know you have to call Jake now; you’ll be far too busy tomorrow.

You heart feels heavy in your chest as you think of him. He was deployed into active service in Venezuela a few months back, and contact with him is few and far between. The odds of him picking up are unlikely, but you attempt to establish a connection anyway.

It rings and rings, but there is no answer. The AI offers for you to record a video message.

You sigh in defeat, saddened that you would not be able to speak with him before you leave. For you it would feel like days, maybe weeks till you spoke with him next. But for him, he’d have to wait 6 years before he hears from you again. Guilt gnaws away at you, but the situation is out of your hands. Despite your pleas, he was insistent on joining the marines. He was more adamant than ever once he was accepted and started their rigorous training.

Often he would call you all hours of the night, once he retired with his fellow recruits to their bunkers. And even though he looked battered and bruised, his smile was toothy and genuine. The comradery of his fellows made known as they always invaded his personal space when he was chatting with you.

“Yooo Sully!!! Aye, bro! Is that your missus?!” The face of a stranger pushes against Jake’s as they try and get a better look at you on the comm pad in his hands.

“No you dick—that’s my sister! Urgh, [Y/N] this is Waitara. Waitara, this [Y/N] my SISTER.” You hide your mouth behind your hand as you let out a soft giggle.

“Hiiii Waitara. I hope you guys are taking good care of my baby brother?”

“Ayyyye, I promise, we’re taking good care of this one!” He puts one arm around Jake, giving him a noogie in the process. You once again laugh at your brother’s annoyed reaction as he tries to swat the other man away.

“Well then you have my deepest thanks Waitara.”

“Aww Miss! You can just call me Matiu, means ‘Gift of God’—”

“OKAY Romeo that’s enough! Stop trying to flirt with my sister!” Jake interrupts Matiu with a hard shove to the side. You can hear him laughing at Jake’s expense off camera. You faintly hear him call out to the others, Jake rolling his eyes, and before you know it, you’re being introduced to the others; much to Jake’s annoyance.

You on the other hand are all smiles and laughter as they inundate you with embarrassing stories of Jake, plus variations of “Miss Sully! Look what I can do!”

You smile at the memory, but remind yourself you need to record this now lest you fall asleep.

You hit the button to begin the recording, and your image appears on the screen.

You give an enthusiastic wave to the camera and a wide smile.

“Hi Jake! How are you doing? I hope everything is uhh, as good as it can be…” Your smile falters when you realise the man is in active duty, not training. He could very well be on the battlefield right now, under enemy fire. You bite your lip to stop yourself from over-thinking. Unlike Tom, Jake was always a fighter. Where Tom excelled academically, Jake excelled physically. His confidence was easily backed by the strength of his heart, and the strength of his fist. You shake your head and continue.

“Urgh sorry. I know you’re on active duty right now and it probably sucks…But I have some good news! Uhh, though whether you think it’s good remains to be seen…Anyway! You know my job, government, classified, NDA yadda yadda. Well! I have been given a big new assignment to take on…And for it, they’re going to be shipping me off-world! It’s gonna take me 6 years to get there cuz it's about four and a half light years away…I was hoping to speak with you before I leave, but I guess the universe has other plans huh? I’d tell you where, but, ya know. NDA and all that…”

Unfortunately you couldn’t really speak of where you going, nor elude to what you were doing. Tom was also under restrictions in regards to his future work with the Avatar Program. The only reason he spoke of it to you was, one, you are his big sister and he was always going to spill the beans to you, risks be damned. But two, your ‘government job’ meant you were well entitled to be privy to such information. At least that’s how you spun it to him.

“Oh! I just came back from seeing Tom, look what he gave me, isn’t it pretty?” You lean in closer to the camera, showing off the pendant.

“Said it was for my upcoming birthday…” You go quiet again, but only for moment.

“Listen Jake. I don’t know how often, if at all, I’ll be able to get in contact with you once I touch down. It’s a pretty remote place, and the work I’m doing…Look I don’t want you to feel like I’m abandoning you here on Earth while I go, chasing the stars or whatever. Everything I do, I do for you and Tommy. I love you guys, so, SO much. You’re my precious baby brother, and there isn’t anything in the entire God damn galaxy I wouldn’t do for you. I hope you know that… I love you Jake. Please stay safe out there. Come back to me in one piece? Love you, and I’ll see you later…”

You hit stop on the recording, sending it in one go.

There is so much more you want to say, so much more you feel you should say. But your emotions are running high, and you feel so utterly drained from everything that has happened, compounded with your worries for the future.

With conscious effort you drag yourself to the bedroom, changing into you usual sleep attire.

You move to throw yourself onto the bed.

You’re asleep before your head even hits the pillow.

---

[Masterlist] - [Previous Chapter] - [Next Chapter]

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Author's Notes: And so the adventure begins. Thank you to @mechformers for her constant support and feedback! <3 Apologies for grammatical errors, hope you all enjoy this first step.

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