I’m going to drop in again to say that Albucierre’s particular solution in his doctoral thesis was a mathematical closed form corner solution for tractability.
We shouldn’t take the features of this limited corner case as characteristic of the drive approach. Instead, we need to understand that the point of his thesis was to demonstrate cleanly that this particular solution was viable to get around the FTL problem in general relativity.
The thing is that the inertia being zero is implied one of the assumptions of the corner solution. That is, for tractability, Albucierre assumed that the ship would have no initial velocity that it would take into the warp bubble with it.
It would be mathematically messier and would require a computational approach to relax this assumption and allow the ship to have positive initial velocity, but it’s exactly what some of the folks trying to extend the model and reduce the exotic matter requirement have explored.
All to say that the elaboration of Albucierre’s approach seems likely to take it exactly in the direction of some of the distinctions the OP has noticed.
Th most significant difference that remains is that ships at warp are able observe and to receive information from outside their bubble while this seems inconsistent with a bubble in Alcubierre’s model.
(Mostly copying the comment I did on the other places for visibility)
it is implied the nacelles assist with impulse operations (SNW: “Memento Mori”)
At the same time, that seems to be contradicted by ships that have no/limited warp capacity having impulse. The Constellation, sibling of the Enterprise, still retained impulse capabilities, in spite of the warp drive being turned into a pile of slag, and it’s implied that the Hathaway also retained impulse, despite the warp core being non-functional. It wouldn’t be much of a simulated combat if the Hathaway could only sit there.
It is clear, though, that subspace has its own physical laws and its own special frame of reference, one of which is that you can exceed the speed of light in it: for example, the use of subspace radio which transmits at, in TNG times, Warp 9.997 (approximately 79,000c).
What’s surprising is that subspace signals aren’t that much faster than a given starship is. At full tilt, the Sovereign is almost as fast as the radio signal it’s transmitting, and later generations of starships might well match, or even surpass it.
So what if generating a warp field is like domain amplification, creating a bubble of a subspace domain that encloses the ship? This subspace or warp bubble is then shaped by the nacelles, which distorts space locally, allowing the bubble and the ship to be propelled along at FTL speed. This is because while inside the bubble, the rules of subspace apply, not the relativistic rules of real space. It therefore becomes possible to exceed c in that special frame of reference. And yet, the bubble is still strongly connected to real space, so the ship can interact with objects outside the bubble. This explains the existence of Newtonian forces like inertia, acceleration and momentum still acting on the ship, and the continuing need for inertial dampers at warp.
At the same time, if they can do that, you might expect that the warp field could then be used as a shield against alterations in the flow of time, or that being in a warp field would be extremely bad for anyone on board who’s relying on biochemistry or conventional physics to live.
This tight coupling to real space is also why we can see “stars” streaking by while in warp (more likely dust particles in real space being accelerated as they are caught in the ship’s warp bubble). The visual change in post-DIS Trek where the outside of the ship looks more like a Stargate-ish tunnel can be explained away as what the interior of the warp bubble looks like stretched out, as the ship speeds along within it like a canoe on a river, being propelled by layers of warp energy within the bubble and also carried along by the current within the bubble itself as it cruises along.
In TNG, we see both, with the tunnel seeming to be a transitory state as the ship accelerates to warp speed. But treating visuals as literal seems like an exercise in futility. There’s a whole bunch of exotic physics we’re not privy to that go on, in much the same way that a Q do not use warp drives for their powers (despite the similar effect), and people don’t disappear in a puff of light when transporting.
So this further suggests that the TNG Tech Manual c values are meant to reflect speeds in subspace, or rather the ship’s velocity within the warp bubble, which translates to faster velocities and thus further distances travelled in real space. In effect the ship, by surrounding itself with a subspace domain, creates its own shortcut/wormhole through real space.
At the same time, using a subspace distance unit that conflicts with a realspace distance unit seems like it would cause more trouble than not. If anything, were that to be the case, you’d expect the Federation to have a separate distance for subspace travel, just to avoid people getting confused if there is a disparity between realspace and subspace.
It’d be like giving Calorie two different definitions. Does a 200 Calorie food mean that it has 200 Calories, or 200 KiloCalories, and someone’s just used shorthand?
At the same time, that seems to be contradicted by ships that have no/limited warp capacity having impulse. The Constellation, sibling of the Enterprise, still retained impulse capabilities, in spite of the warp drive being turned into a pile of slag, and it’s implied that the Hathaway also retained impulse, despite the warp core being non-functional. It wouldn’t be much of a simulated combat if the Hathaway could only sit there.
I’m not suggesting that if warp drive gives out that impulse cannot be used. It obviously can be from the examples you’ve quoted, but I’d say that without the warp assist (from internal driver coils or external nacelles), it’s less efficient and speed would be reduced. From SNW: “Memento Mori” itself:
PIKE: How fast can you push impulse?
ORTEGAS: The starboard nacelle is half-damaged. I can get us about half speed.
Given the Tech Manual’s idea of incorporating warp drivers into impulse engines, I thought this fit in nicely as well with the idea of using a warp field’s mass-lowering properties to assist impulse operations.
At the same time, if they can do that, you might expect that the warp field could then be used as a shield against alterations in the flow of time, or that being in a warp field would be extremely bad for anyone on board who’s relying on biochemistry or conventional physics to live.
Coincidentally, Sternbach and Okuda have thought about those effects, because the Tech Manual makes passing reference to Starfleet safety standards for subspace field exposure in talking about the inertial dampening system:
The IDF operates by maintaining a low-level forcefield throughout the habitable volume of the spacecraft. This field averages 75 millicochranes with field differential limited to 5.26 nanocochranes/meter, per SFRA-standard 352.12 for crew exposure to subspace fields.
Like many things, they kind of gloss over them, but those millicochrane levels are pretty low, so there must be some kind of protective measure to mitigate against too much direct exposure to subspace. Perhaps it’s in the material hulls and EVA suits are made of? Maybe any deleterious subspace radiation can be blocked easily.
At the same time, using a subspace distance unit that conflicts with a realspace distance unit seems like it would cause more trouble than not. If anything, were that to be the case, you’d expect the Federation to have a separate distance for subspace travel, just to avoid people getting confused if there is a disparity between realspace and subspace.
Although, for practical purposes since ultimately the ship is moving through real space anyway despite being enclosed in a subspace bubble, it all evens out in the wash. I mean, when we’re saying Warp 3 is 39c (TNG scale), we still have to ask ourselves 39c relative to what? And the answer to that might be relative to subspace as a frame of reference, and the distance travelled is simply expressed in real space terms.
There are any number of shuttles lacking warp drive capability that have impulse drives. It seems clear that they need not be interlinked systems. Also, impulse drives still function when a warp core has been jettisoned.
Now you’ve paused, thinking any action could cause a temporal paradox, or damage to the future timeline.
You can also arrest them anyway. Logically, it would fit into the timeline, since if they’re from the future, they should have accounted for those circusmtances, including their arrest in their future timeline. And a scan would show a fair few forms of time travel, which you can use to verify, or any connections that you might have with other temporal entities. Time travel is a bit convenient like that, until everything goes horribly wrong.
But ultimately, nothing actually prevents someone from just out and out lying. They could easily say “oh, sorry, can’t say, Starfleet Intelligence business”, or “I’m here on Captain/Engineering’s orders”, and you’d have that delay in either case to verify the story. The Temporal Prime Directive doesn’t really factor into it.
The TNG Technical Manual has another line that I think supports this general idea:
The combination of forces produced within the warp engine core and the flow of space and subspace around the vessel created the particular engineering solution to the problem of faster-than-light travel.
This seems to support the notion that subspace itself is bleeding into real space around the ship, at least to a degree.
I love this question. My first thought was not a book, but Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse which depicts the repetitive life of a Hungarian farmer and his daughter. Each day is essentially the same, with similar but ever-changing frustrations, and no hope for change in sight. The audience really feels their frustrations, but the characters also appear to have fully accepted the situation. The title is a reference to the horse-whipping that allegedly drove Nietzsche insane.
Not quite an “epic” in the usual sense, but absolutely repetitive and a surrender to economic powers beyond one’s control.
I don’t know what the most similar novel to The Neverending Sacrifice might be, but I think the exact opposite is probably the 1970s novels satirizing the British Raj called The Flashman Papers. They are incredibly funny, highly offensive, beautiful assaults on the landed gentry, set during one of the most incompetent, badly failed military expeditions to Afghanistan in the history of badly failed military expeditions to Afghanistan–the British one.
No, not the American one with British help–the actual British one, from way back in the seventeenth century.
The unspoken thing about the Prime Directive is that a Federation Captain’s most solemn duty is deciding when to ignore it, and the same goes for the Temporal Prime Directive.
As far as I know, the directive mainly applies to officers who are sent back in time and/or given the opportunity to change established history. I don’t think it would prevent someone from making an arrest in their “proper” time.
At most, it might limit their ability to interrogate the prisoner, if they can verify that the intruder is from the future and possesses knowledge that the contemporary officers can’t have.
Starfleet personnel ends up back in time on a Starfleet vessel. We both serve the same organization. My duty is to protect the timeline I come from. Your duty seems, implicitly, to aid a fellow Starfleet officer in their mission (to protect the aforementioned timeline).
It seems like Starfleet should have a dedicated Temporal Security crew on every starship and starbase for such an occasion. You find a supposed time traveler, you immediately call this team. They sequester the intruder and go through a careful interview to verify their claim as cleanly as possible, then render what aid is needed to secure the timeline and get them home (or, barring that possibility, get them somewhere isolated where they can’t contaminate the timeline). Then, maybe memory wipe the Temporal Security team (and possibly anyone else who interacted with the traveler). On the flipside, if you end up back in time, it’s expected you should immediately attempt to contact the local Temporal Security crew.
I feel like repetitive epic is like a Cardassian version of the dubious literary idea of The Hero’s Journey, adapted for the Cardassian heroic ideal of selfless sacrifice to the state. I think Garak would appreciate the “Rememberence of Earth’s Past” series (Three Body Problem) for the way that individual heroics take a backseat to the glory and survival of the state.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. It tells the story of a man who lives his life over and over again. Very interesting story and while not exactly like Garak’s repetitive epic its definitely in the same vein.
I think you might be able to draw a parallel with long-running serials like comic books, or even Star Trek itself. They tend to revisit old themes and revolve around a certain status quo.
They tend not to involve multigenerational obedience to an authoritarian regime, though…
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