Warp Theory: A primer in FTL drive systems.

Common warp drive units are in the I-Fix class since they do not involve moving through alternate dimensional vortexes. They are fixed in N-space that is the same 4-dimensional time-space within which the ship originated. These drive units rely on the principles of field acceleration to produce short-cuts between navigational points. This works by producing strong enough quantum fields along an isolinear corridor to produce an apparent shortening of linear space between two points in N-space.

This effect is largely an illusion. Space itself does not really fold. The quantum field projected to appear just ahead of the body to be conducted along the warp channel really accelerates the body in such a way that no inertia is experienced, thus it appears that space is moving and not the body being conducted along the channel. As a result, the body within the field 'tricks' N-space into refreshing the structure of the body at a distance from where it could actually have been while bounded by the light speed limit.

I-Fix drive mechanics is a combination between super string theory and aether theory. Aether theory is the older of the two and was thought to have been disproven long ago, until revived by corollaries of super string theory and relativity. Super string theory is essential to warp dynamics in that it allows the bodies involved to be conducted along the warp channel as the energy they are made of rather than as completed structures. If this was not possible, the quantum fields required to produce the warp effect would crush the body being conducted along them. Such bodies must be absorbed into the fields during movement.

Aether theory expresses a material, called aether, through which magnetic waves propagate. Gravity is expressed as the consumption of aether by mass, kind of like the 'vacuum' produced near the drain plug of a tub. Super string theory expands on this to say that the aether is not consumed, but that it oscillates into another dimension to return at another point where there is relatively no mass.

Super string theory is drawn from the fact that all 'solid particles' of matter can be diffracted by the 'double slit experiment.' This indicates that subatomic particles are not solid, but standing waves. That leads to a new view of reality in that nothing is really solid. Warp theory draws from this to allow for a quantum field to be constructed along a field-frame such that the body within the field is indistinguishable from the field. At that point, the body cannot be destroyed by the field because there is no difference between the field and the body.

Relativity also helps here. Imagine that there are two stars, one on each horizon from where you are standing on a planet. Your planet is orbiting its star away from one star and toward the other. Since the speed of light must be a constant, and you would see it as higher on the star you are moving toward, there must be extra space compressed along the leading edge of your orbit to account for the additional distance the light from that star has to traverse to stay at a fixed speed. Likewise, there has to be a stretching of space so that the light from the star you are moving away from does not appear to be moving slower than C.