Warp Theory: A primer in FTL drive systems.

N-Stable drive units rely on the existence of dimensions which run along the same plane as N-Space yet have important differing properties. For example, hyperspace is a dimension that is essentially empty and has no light speed limit. These dimensions must run along the same plane as N-Space so that re-entry is possible after the distance required is traversed. The extancy of such planes is not beyond the reach of probability.

Extra-dimensional travel for short distances requires entry into a plane which matches the state of N-Space adequately for the survival of the passengers of the vehicle making the journey and a shift in phase which produces an effect which can be mapped onto N-Space as faster than light momentum for a fixed period of time. The survival aspect of the requirements is understandable. Mapping an effect onto N-Space as a fixed period of FTL movement is a bit more complex, but the entire process wouldn't be worth much without it. Why bother using N-Stable drive if you cannot get anywhere you couldn't get just as easily without it?

Hyperspatial travel is a limited subset of wormhole travel. A tunnel is created between two distant points in N-Space and the body traversing that distance jumps into it. This is a subset of wormhole travel, and not real wormhole travel, since a wormhole has no real length. True wormholes are direct connections between distant points in N-Space which can connect without regard for time or spatial distance.

Wormholes are like mirrors running in reverse. You look at a mirror from the side and the mirror is an maybe inch thick. The reflection in the mirror is close to two dimensional, and should be two dimensional. Looking at the mirror from the front will yield a reconstruction of 4 dimensional N-Space within the apparent space of the reflection. There is no true limit to the amount of space which can appear in this 2-D matrix. It will appear as large as the space being reflected by the mirror, and last as long as the unit of space being reflected.

With a wormhole, the effect is reversed. You look into the wormhole and see the N-Space at a great, or not so great, distance from your current location. It could be across the room or across the universe. From the side, these locations will be separated by much more distance than they are through the wormhole. Apparently, the length of the wormhole from the outside is many times as great as the distance within the wormhole.

Moving through the wormhole requires a relative dimensional stabilizer. Any warp capable ship will be able to use the inertial field accelerator as a stabilizer and enter the wormhole. The real problem being that wormholes are are dimensionally unstable with a tendency to collapse across any particle of solid matter which enters them. This effect is due to the quantum folding of N-Space which causes solid matter to hold its shape. Warp fields reduce the body within them into a single field frame which appears to be a collection of genesit particles held suspended across a magnetic matrix.

Hyperspace uses wormholes to move into a parallel dimensional space which can be relatively smaller than N-Space or where the light speed limit does not exist. Since these dimensions overlap N-Space at every point, movement along these planes will allow you to re-enter N-Space through another generated wormhole at a distance so great that light could not cover the same distance in the same time frame. The case where space is relatively smaller is the most like standard I-Fix drive, but it is not the only application of compressed space. It is possible that the dimensions on the space you jump to can be twisted in such a way that your ports are directly adjacent.

Perihelion is the most extreme case of spatial compression. In this case, only a single point covers all of N-Space. From perihelion, you can return to N-Space at any point in space-time without limits. This is the domain of a special breed of FLT drive called star-navigation. Bodies moving through perihelion using star-navigation are de-actualized for entry and then re-actualized by the star-navigator at their destinations.

Spaces where the light speed limit does not exist also has an extreme case. It is possible that additional planes which overlap N-Space use the same time-space, however, they use it in differing orders. For example, time spent in one of these dimensions maps back to distance traveled at light speed. This is not all that impressive unless you realize that lateral movement maps back to time in N-Space, thusly the body can return to N-Space before it left. Since velocity is a matter of distance and time, the light speed limit technically does not exist in these dimensions.