Discontinuous transit

See also: Category: Known discontinuous transit routes

Transiting is a relatively new form of interstellar transport. Unlike the temple ships' jump drive, a transit does not involve entry to the Vault of Heaven, and therefore is not limited to church vessels. However, the poor man's warp is still heavily regulated.

Popular Science

The general theory quoted by most non-scientists is that it is possible for a ship to dive into an accelerative discontinuity and emerge from another, much like a swimmer who cuts out a bend in the meandering stream of space by diving to an underground stream. While this metaphor is easy to understand, however, it is in fact quite far from the truth as physicists understand it.

Energy Transition State

In reality, a ship approaching a discontinuity under the right conditions can experience a sudden increase in velocity - instantly changing from one speed to another without accellerating through the intervening speeds. This makes a convenient loophole in the law which prohibits accelleration to the speed of light. After travelling at superluminal speeds for some time (during which no time appears to pass for the passengers), the ship will hit another discontinuity and decelerate. The velocity of the ship on returning to 'normal' motion apparently depends on the number of bodies near other discontinuities (which may be accelerated themselves as they accept the kinetic energy from the decelerating ship).

Terminology

Pilots who use transiting regularly have developed their own jargon. As this form of travel has become more popular in the last couple of centuries

• An accelerative discontinuity is known as a hole
• A pair or quad of discontinuities is a pipe
• The psychadelic experience witnessed by a human travelling faster than light is a ride
• The weird landscape you see while riding is called hyperspace or the dreamscape
• Accelerating to beyond lightspeed is known as diving
• Leaving hyperspace is dropping out
• The discontinuity you're using to exit is a drop
• Diving without planning your route first (a very risky endevour) is known as a long dive. As a method of suicide, it is also going canonical.
• The area of hyperspace between two holes in the same pipe is the tunnel. These rides often appear as a 2 dimensional pattern of straight grey lines
• slipstreaming is the dangerous practise of using the spatial echo of a temple ship (usually 3-5 seconds before and after it jumps) as a drop point.

Limitations

Transiting has several notable weaknesses compared to going via the Vault of Heaven. Its only real advantage is the ease with which a suitable ship can be constructed or modified.

Firstly, a transit takes time. It may take days for some journeys, and maybe months for longer voyages. There is also no guarantee that the distance between two holes will remain constant if used multiple times.

Secondly, there is no known way to move an accelerative discontinuity. We don't even know how to find one; the known discontinuities in the universe to date have all been detected by chance. So if there isn't asuitably placed discontinuity in your system, your only option is the temple ships.

A third difficulty is the energy cost - in most circumstances, it seems that up to 10^14 Joules of energy must be delivered to a discontinuity to prepare it for a lightspeed transition.