QuasiSpace

2005-11-20T12:30:45Z

Quasispace: Rearrangement and edited Portal Spawner segments

[[Image:SC2_QuasiSpace_Screenshot.png|thumb|QuasiSpace portals transport The Flagship to predetermined locations in [[HyperSpace]].]]
'''QuasiSpace''' (literally ''resembling or to some degree like Space'') is one of the "higher dimensions" that forms a space-time analogue to [[TrueSpace]], home to the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] and only recently discovered by [[Humans]] during the events of the [[Second War]]. It is only accessible from [[HyperSpace]], having an analogous relationship to HyperSpace similar to that which HyperSpace has to TrueSpace. HyperSpatial distances are enormously compressed in QuasiSpace; however, HyperSpatial relationships in QuasiSpace are even more distorted than TrueSpatial relationships in HyperSpace. Unlike the vortices between HyperSpace and TrueSpace, there appears to be no correlation between the access points connecting QuasiSpace to HyperSpace and any natural phenomena like gravity wells. QuasiSpace also provides access to [[Falayalaralfali]] (QuasiSpace coordinates 613.4 : 590.0), the home planet of the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]], which they describe as kept in a giant TrueSpace pocket embedded within QuasiSpace.

The only Human to travel extensively in QuasiSpace was [[The Captain]], who was given free passage through QuasiSpace during the War by the Arilou as part of their effort to assist the [[New Alliance of Free Stars]] in their struggle against the [[Ur-Quan]]. During that time a number of strange, seemingly inexplicable and self-contradictory observations were made about the properties of QuasiSpace. Superficial observations of QuasiSpace show it to be similar to HyperSpace, a four-dimensional space-time in which time passed at the same standard rate as in HyperSpace. Unlike HyperSpace, QuasiSpace was filled with broadband radiation that peaks in the green wavelengths of the visible spectrum rather than the red. Against the green background were sudden bursts and explosions, similar to those observed in HyperSpace but appearing black instead of bright white. It is unknown if the dark and bright bursts of energy in QuasiSpace and HyperSpace are related, but the phenomena in HyperSpace are theorized to be manifestations of objects which are moving quickly between adjacent dimensions{{ref|1}} such as HyperSpace and QuasiSpace. It is interesting to note that the color scheme of QuasiSpace, including these energetic bursts, is nearly the exact complement (according to Human visual perception) of HyperSpace's color scheme.

More bizarre than this was the behavior of [[The Flagship]]'s own systems in QuasiSpace. The Flagship's systems appeared to respond exactly as they did in HyperSpace, engaging the engines to thrust through the QuasiSpace and being dragged to a halt relative to the QuasiSpatial absolute reference frame when thrust ceased. However, although the starship's engines appeared to be firing, The Flagship was consuming none of its fuel.

A few have interpreted the strange observations in QuasiSpace, certain references by the Arilou, and the name "QuasiSpace" itself to mean that QuasiSpace's appearance to the crew of The Flagship may have been some kind of illusion or falsely generated set of perceptions obscuring a more bizarre reality.

== QuasiSpace Portals ==

The exact method of creating an artificial portal into QuasiSpace is primarily known by the Arilou. The interdimensional beings known as the [[Orz]] may also have the knowledge but choose to stay away from Arilou dominated QuasiSpace. The Arilou mention that the process involves [[Dimensional Fatigue]], which they caution is extremely dangerous and research into this field should not be attempted by the Human race. The only time that they have created a Portal Spawner for use by another race was their donation of one to The Captain during the [[Second War]], which was subsequently destroyed along with the rest of The Flagship.

The local region of QuasiSpace features a tight cluster of naturally occuring one way portals into [[HyperSpace]]. However, there is a naturally occuring bidirectional portal to QuasiSpace accessible from our region of space. This intermittent portal is located in the Chandrasekhar constellation and manifests as a large region of green-glowing space visible from HyperSpace and is mistaken for a variable star by the [[Spathi]]. This portal only appears for a period of about three Human days on a roughly thirty-day cycle, such that its' open times occur near the end of each month on the Human calendar -- a mnemonic the Captain's crew used to locate the natural portal in their first dealings with the Arilou.

This table shows the QuasiSpace locations and [[HyperSpace]] endpoints of the 15 uni-directional portals and the single bi-directional portal.
{|border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|-
!QS portal!!HS endpoint!!HS endpoint description
|-
|500.0 : 500.0||043.8 : 637.2||center of [[Arilou]] space; bi-directional; open monthly 17th - 20th
|-
|448.0 : 504.0||565.8 : 971.2||far north on the map, near [[Delta Lyncis]]
|-
|458.0 : 492.0||860.7 : 015.1||far southeast on the map
|-
|466.0 : 514.0||230.2 : 398.8||in the middle of [[Spathi]] space
|-
|468.0 : 464.0||921.1 : 610.4||far east on the map; near [[Arcturus]]
|-
|476.0 : 458.0||409.1 : 774.8||northwest edge of [[Ur-Quan]] space
|-
|476.0 : 496.0||611.7 : 413.1||south edge in [[Ur-Quan]] space
|-
|488.0 : 538.0||973.5 : 315.3||in the middle of [[Druuge]] space
|-
|492.0 : 492.0||005.0 : 164.7||in the middle of [[Ilwrath]] space
|-
|502.0 : 460.0||318.4 : 490.6||between [[Spathi]] and [[ZFP]] space
|-
|506.0 : 474.0||191.0 : 092.6||near [[Earth]]
|-
|516.0 : 466.0||567.3 : 120.7||between [[VUX]], [[Mycon]], and [[Yehat]] space
|-
|520.0 : 514.0||011.2 : 940.9||far northwest on the map, near the [[Slylandro]]
|-
|520.0 : 540.0||585.0 : 621.3||in the middle of [[Ur-Quan]] space
|-
|530.0 : 528.0||775.2 : 890.6||between [[Supox]] and [[Utwig]] space
|-
|544.0 : 532.0||036.8 : 633.2||in the middle of [[Arilou]] space
|}

==Notes and references==
{{note|1}}''[[Star Control II]] manual, pg. 34.

[[Category: Dimensions]]

QuasiSpace Portal Spawner

2005-11-20T11:00:42Z

Quasispace:

[[Image:Quasispace portal spawner.png|right]]
The '''QuasiSpace Portal Spawner''' is a device constructed by the [[Arilou Lalee'lay]] for [[The Flagship]] as a favor to [[The Captain]] during the [[Second War]]. It is a variant on the Arilou's standard [[QuasiSpace]] Portal Spawners, devices which use [[Dimensional Fatigue]] technology to create a temporary overlap between the dimensions of [[HyperSpace]] and QuasiSpace, allowing the Arilou to jump into QuasiSpace without going to the trouble of finding one of the rare, intermittently active natural portals. The process of creating such portals is extremely energy-intensive and dependent on the portal's size; this is probably one of the primary limiting factors leading to the relatively small size of the standard Arilou [[Skiff]].

In order to allow The Captain to use such a Spawner on the much larger Flagship, the Arilou had to amplify a standard Spawner's power using a [[Ur-Quan Warp Pod|Warp Pod]] scavenged from the wreck of an [[Ur-Quan Kzer-Za]] [[Dreadnought]] at [[Alpha Pavonis]]. The Captain's scientists were unable to divine the internal workings of this Spawner. Of particular concern was the fact that the Spawner contained a black box energy source: whatever exotic form of energy storage necessary to power the Spawner could not be reproduced by human technology. Therefore, there was no way to recharge it when it ran out of power, but in the end, The Flagship was destroyed before its Spawner became nonfunctional. With no way as yet to predict the service lifetime or reliability of such a device in the long term, the possible usefulness of installing large numbers of hybrid Spawners on battleships (even if the Arilou agreed to do so) remains in doubt.

The [[Druuge]] offered to trade three of their ships and to fill The Flagship's ship fuel tanks completely for The Captain's portal spawner; arguably he could have made a good deal by coming prepared with 14 empty double-capacity fuel tanks on his ship (getting almost 1400 fuel in the process which is worth 28000 resource units - more than triple the value of mining the entire Druuge sphere of influence!).

[[Category:Alien Artifacts]]

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QuasiSpace

QuasiSpace Portal Spawner