6.0 WARP FACTORS
In ST:TOS1 even warp factor three was hurrying (“The Squire
of Gothos”); but the NCC1701 has been known to run in
circles at ten (ST:TOS3, “Let That Be Your Last
Battlefield”), or occasionally exceed fifteen (ST:TOS2, “By
Any Other Name”; ST:TOS3, “That Which Survives”).
Warp‐ten as an ultimate limit is a purely ST:TNG
conceit. Is it meant to be a fluke that we count in base
ten?
The actual scale is deliberately hazy. How quick is
“warp factor two”, compared to lightspeed, “warp factor eight”,
“transwarp”, or ST:TNG “warp‐two”? Trekkie orthodoxy
was always that “warp factor X” equals X cubed times the speed of
light. Thus warp factor one is 1 c (lightspeed); eight
is 512 c (ten light years a week, which severely restricts
the Federation's radius – see
4.1); and fifteen is a respectable
3375 c (Proxima may be a daytrip but the galactic core is
nine years away). Warp factor 0.1, by the way, translates as
a wretched 300 km ⁄ s. In
ST:TNG, though, as transwarp‐capable Excelsior‐class ships
do the menial jobs, I presume the scale has been readjusted so the
new‐style “warp‐eight” is much faster than the old‐style “warp,
factor eight”.
Naturally, when actual distance or time figures are given they
imply ludicrously high or low speeds. In “Amok Time”
(ST:TOS2) 2.8 light days is a big diversion; in
“Obsession” (ST:TOS2) 1000 light years is trivial.
The missiles in “The Changeling” (ST:TOS2) take five
seconds or so to travel 90,000 km (so “warp factor fifteen”
is 0.06 c!). Yet in “That Which Survives”
(ST:TOS3), Spock describes 990.7 light years as 11.33 hours
travel at warp factor 8.4 (766,000 c, or nine light days per
second). I can forgive such anomalies in ST:TOS… but
recent stuff is, for all its claims, little better. Just two
examples:
-
In “The Final Frontier” (ST:TMP5) they go to the galactic
core (30,000 light years) in a couple of hours (that's 100
million c!), crossing no political boundaries
en route.
-
“The Price” (ST:TNG3) hinges on ranges to two distant
quadrants, one twenty years travel further than the other.
But they're only 200 light years apart!
6.2 ALTERNATIVE STARDRIVES [see
postscripts]
SF authors have invented a wide range of variably preposterous
Faster‐Than‐Light drive rationales, which fans refuse to keep
distinct. In this section, to help show how incoherent
warpdrive is, and in the interests of sheer pedantry, I classify
them into three separate types. Note – few of
them actually move the ship, as such; they just make it possible
for motion to be fast, and should also require rockets or
something for propulsion!
Less useful than they sound. Each creates some kind of
envelope of localised distortion (but not a
discontinuity: that's teleportation).
-
Physics‐warp; the one warpdrive entitled to ignore the light
barrier.
-
Gravity‐warp; somehow or other converts your “forwards” into
“down”.
-
Inertia‐warp (as in E. E. “Doc” Smith); leaves you bouncing
off photons.
-
Time‐dilation; faster for passengers but not for external
observers.
-
Time‐compression; the opposite of time‐dilation. Feels no
faster, but looks FTL. Cancels out with the above if you
try to combine the two.
-
Space‐compression; squashing a dimension relative to the ship, or
in real terms stretching the ship (cf. Harry Harrison “Bloater
Drive”).
-
Space‐folding; fold at M, so A and Z are neighbours. The
discontinuity still separating them, albeit often forgotten, must
be crossed by a jumpdrive (= Teleport) or
wormhole (= Hyperspace).
6.4 TELEPORTS
Methods of going from A to Z instantly, skipping intervening
points; no subjective time passes en route (not very Star
Trek). Teleports vary not so much in their rationales as in
their built‐in dramatic limitations:
-
Megajumping; instant magical relocation to an arbitrary
destination.
-
Jumproutes; similar, but risky except on established (mapped)
paths.
-
Stargating; requires a convenient network of preexisting
tramlines.
-
Closed‐jumping; transmitter‐to‐receiver only. Hard to
explore with.
-
Stutterjumping; constant tiny hops (A‐C‐E‐G‐I‐K‐M‐O‐Q…); see
1.4.
6.5 HYPERSPACES [see footnotes]
Shortcuts through implausibly convenient “dimensions” (usually
sic); the defining characteristic is that travellers
experience journey time outside normal space (as shown on
screen in Star Wars and few others).
-
Newtonspace; where c = infinity (or c = three
km ⁄ s, useful in its own way).
-
Macrospace; on a different scale (macrospace metres = real
parsecs).
-
Swiftspace; a compressed timescale; epic treks in
seeming eyeblinks.
-
Metaspace; a true “higher spatial dimension” through which
shortcuts (as if over wrinkles in Flatland) may (or may not)
become available.
-
Wormholes; (temporary) purpose‐built shortcuts from A to Z via
beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon that can be arbitrarily
short. Star Trek Universe wormholes, however, are very
rarely useful; see ST:TMP1 and “The Price”
(ST:TNG3).
1993 Footnotes
- 6.1
-
And how fast is impulse drive – as fast as warpdrive
(as in “The Menagerie”, ST:TOS1), or slower than a
drifting asteroid (as in “The Paradise Syndrome”,
ST:TOS2)?
- 6.3
-
Bloater Drive is from “Bill, the Galactic Hero”. Oh, and
don't forget the Douglas Adams
Probability‐warp.
- 6.5
-
Hyperspace is usually visualised as a mere “alternate universe”;
if it was a real extra dimension, it would be a whole continuum
of different “universes”.
1997+ Postscripts
- 6.1
-
The entire scenario of ST:V hinges on the idea that they
can't sustain speeds much over a kilocee. Compare the
forty‐megacee drive they discovered in “Descent”
(ST:TNG6)!
- 6.2
-
The stardrive in Babylon 5, although referred to as “jump drive”,
is in fact a classic hyperspace (apparently a Macrospace).
- 6.3
-
“Space‐warps” may have become a fashionable subject for
pop‐scientists, but they don't resemble Star Trek's warpdrive in
the least. Note also that wormholes should look spherical,
not like tunnels!
