QuasiSpace

QuasiSpace portals transport The Flagship to predetermined locations in HyperSpace.

QuasiSpace (literally resembling or to some degree like Space) is a dimension 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 Star Control II. It is only accessible from HyperSpace, as far as the Humans know, apparently 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 Humans to travel extensively in QuasiSpace are The Captain and his crew, who are given free passage through QuasiSpace by the Arilou as part of their effort to assist the New Alliance of Free Stars in their struggle against the Ur-Quan. Superficial observations of QuasiSpace show it to be similar to HyperSpace, a four-dimensional space-time in which time passes at the same standard rate as in HyperSpace. Unlike HyperSpace, QuasiSpace is filled with broadband radiation that peaks in the green wavelengths of the visible spectrum rather than the red. Against the green background are 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.¹ 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.

In QuasiSpace, The Flagship's systems appear to respond exactly as they do in HyperSpace, engaging the engines to thrust through QuasiSpace and being dragged to a halt relative to the QuasiSpatial absolute reference frame when thrust ceases. However, although the starship's engines appear to be firing, The Flagship consumes none of its fuel.

The Orz explain that the Arilou are from *outside* and from *above*, while the Orz themselves are from *outside* and from *below*. Most interpret this to mean that *above* refers to QuasiSpace, with *outside* being a general reference to dimensions besides TrueSpace and HyperSpace and *below* being the Orz home dimension. However, since it is very difficult to adequately translate Orz communications and since these words are merely lingual best-fits, it is not certain how QuasiSpace fits into the Orz description of dimensions.

QuasiSpace Portals

The exact method of creating an artificial portal into QuasiSpace is primarily known by the Arilou. The interdimensional Orz may also have the knowledge but choose to stay away from Arilou-dominated QuasiSpace. The Arilou mention that the method involves Inter-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 is their donation of one to The Captain during the second Doctrinal Conflict, which is 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 only one naturally-occurring bidirectional portal between QuasiSpace and the Alliance region of the galaxy. 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 two-thirds through each month on the Human calendar — a mnemonic The Captain's crew uses to locate the natural portal in their first dealings with the Arilou.

This map shows the QuasiSpace locations and HyperSpace endpoints of the 15 unidirectional portals and the single bidirectional portal (marked as "A" in the map).

Quasispace Map

Notes and references

¹Star Control II manual, pg. 34 (PC) or pg. 18 (3DO).

²Labels as seen on the "Deluxe Map of HyperSpace"

³Travelling to Sol from this spot in HyperSpace requires 5.5 units of fuel so that the minimum fuel required to return via QuasiSpace to Earth from anywhere is 15.5 fuel units.