Identification Scanner ("I.D. eyes") -- Either portable or fixed installation reader of ident chips. Typically has a variety of additional communication and information management capabilities to aid the daily user.
see also Holistic Scanner
In 11,302 A.D., on the capitol world of the Shieren Empire, a coup d'etat was successfully attempted by using a computer virus that caused the Immunanoes of the ruling classes to turn on their hosts. The victims suffered nearly instant death as their bodies' tissues were attacked from within by their uncounted nanomachines. Since this tragedy, all Immunano systems incorporate permanently-sealed security systems. While the threat-databases can be upgraded, the operating systems themselves (including new-threat analysis measured against physiological continuity) cannot be altered. Rumors of Immunano hackers abound, but successful attempts to corrupt the technology are currently unknown in the civilized reaches.
| "Apparently, as we were busily unraveling the webs of subatomic theory, God was weaving us an entirely new tapestry." | |
| -- Dr. Vice Julian | |
While human interstellar space travel was still in its infancy -- long before humanity encountered any Lattice World or discovered the wonders of gravengines -- nearly all motive power in space was based upon the elementary Newton’s Second Law listed in his publishing, Principia. Essentially, for any action, there is required an equal and opposite reaction. Thus action/reaction spacecraft were limited as to their thrust and power by the rate at which they could accelerate propellants to speeds of no greater than ~0.99c. Fuel constraints kept most interstellar craft from ever achieving velocities of greater than 70% of the speed of light.
The inertia sink -- an amazing manipulation of sub-atomic particles in which they are "convinced" to shift their inertia from the local frame of reference to that of any arbitrary reference frame -- resulted in the greatest single change in spacecraft propulsion besides the introduction of the gravengine. Fitted with inertia sinks, even obsolete chemical rockets could now achieve extremely high thrusts. Newton’s second law and perhaps a sundry other physical laws were temporarily in remission, it seemed, and the perpetual motion machine might just have become a reality. Sadly, energy for free would have to wait until the discovery of the Power Films on the Lattice Worlds. Despite initial theory that stated otherwise, inertia sinks could recover both the matter and energy produced by a particle (or flow of particles) with no cost, but analytical tests always resulted in a net loss of energy unexplained by inefficiencies in the production of the flow. Some theorists postulate that this energy is fed back into the "zero-point" universe through a convoluted relationship between the inertia sink and zero-point energy sources, but no convincing argument has ever given irrevocable proof as to where the energy is actually going.
However, despite the mysteries of the theory behind them, inertia sinks quickly became standard equipment of every form of thruster, from ion compressors to antimatter ramjets. Depending on the preference of the manufacturer, engine exhaust can be almost completely eliminated and fed back into a system as fuel, or it can be re-accelerated into a drive trail by a second inertia sink of opposite orientation. In general inertia sinks had the result of eliminating the problem of thruster flare in heavy-traffic areas, and drastically reducing the necessary mass of fuel a spacecraft needed to carry.
Today, inertia sinks can still be seen on older-model spacecraft or vehicles that require a constant presence in real-space while maneuvering: warships, sensorcraft, and exploratory vehicles, among others. Engines fitted with inertia sink baffles still leak a goodly amount of highly energetic particles, giving their nozzles a characteristic glow and sensory signature when in use, though this can be mostly eliminated through various stealthing techniques.
|| To: UseLWA//messages/techboard/discussions
|| From: Delphi <user6172.5515>
|| Verified: NO <NR Trace Error 901: No Fixed Port/Ship In Transit>
|| Subj: Re:Re:These Are a Few of my Favorite ThingsQ. "... Also, I want to make sure I understand the Inertia Sink properly. Basically, in one form, it is a panel mounted opposite a ship's thruster, against which the particles of the thruster strike, AFTER the ship has benefitted from action/reaction, right? But then the sink absorbs and redirects the exhaust's inertia, and channels it back to the vessel (for extra thrust if they so desire to spend it). Do I have that right?"
A. Pretty much. It's more a concept than a specific design. The most common inertia sinks take the form of a hollow cylinder placed just behind the exhaust for an action-reaction (rocket) motor. Inside the cylinder, the matter emitted from the rocket motor enters an (invisible*) field where it is "convinced" to "give up" its momentum and is channeled** back into propellant tanks, thus raising the efficiency of the engine by several thousand powers.
Better sinks will capture more matter; cheap -- or poorly tuned -- sinks will allow more to escape. Ship-servicing facilities usually require a certain efficiency of inertia sink in order to avoid contamination of their structures and pollution of their space.
You can kind of relate them to a combination desmogger and catalytic converter on internal-combustion engines of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. You might have heard of them being used on some of the frontier worlds.
There's a lot more to be said for these devices, but I suppose I've typed for long enough.
* The field is transparent to sensors. You can see right through it and into the engine. There's usually a glow from the matter expelled by the rocket, but that isn't from the inertia sink.** When the inertia sink 'writes' new reference information on the matter, it can tell it to go any direction. Usually, it tells it to go into collectors set into the walls of the inertia sink which funnel fuel back into the tanks. In the case of engines that change the chemical or nuclear composition of their fuels, the reacted fuel can be fed back into a secondary reaction-mass system. However, most modern engines simply heat and expel reaction mass to reduce the complexity of the system. (or use another interia sink to 'convince' matter to expel itself.) Only high-performance, high-thrust engines require reactable propellants or double inertia sinks.
It was in one of the underground laboratories that InfoJuice began. The ability to tailor the hallucination, to choose the experience the user would go through, was something new. Soon a vast number of different Designer-Dreams were flooding the market. From serious depravedness through to simple escapism, whatever was required could be tailored.
The use of InfoJuice is not, in itself, chemically addictive (although psychological dependence was common). The addition of stronger addition-ensuring elements has become almost standard practice.
One enterprising chemist saw a different use. He worked hard and long to produce a singe dose of InfoJuice that contained a different experience than had previously been supplied. Then he asked for an interview with his boss.
Jean-Pal XIV was one of a long line of underworld bosses, and as such was as tough as they came. He had no formal education, but he knew how to keep people in line with a combination of punishment and reward. He allowed his staff to come up with ideas, but he was ready to kill anyone who stepped out of line once.
When one of his junior scientists offered him a dose of Designer-Dreams, he immediately ordered his bodyguard to frisk the scientist. On another day he probably would have shot him out of hand, but he had just heard that his wife was pregnant, and the fetus was accepted as a genetically perfect male with an IQ of over 175. He accepted the dose, after having it scanned for addictive substances and poisons, of course, and went through one of the strangest experiences of his life. Unlike a normal Designer-Dream, this dose was not created with the experience as foremost consideration.
The experience itself was described later as a combination between being eaten by rabid dogs, and drinking warm ice-cream on a velvet beach. However, he woke up an hour later, with an understanding of chemistry similar to someone just gone through a degree course.
He saw at once the possibilities, and rapidly promoted the scientist. Then he started to buy up or destroy all of his competitors who were marketing Designer-Dreams. He almost destroyed his entire organization in the process, but when he had succeeded, he started legitimately marketing InfoJuice.
The chemical coding process itself is a closely guarded secret, although it is related to the process used to create a Designer-Dream. Some facts have leaked out over the years. The information itself must first be learned by a person -- it cannot be created from nothing. Then, via a lengthy process including hypnotism, brain scans, and chemical analysis of the brain, the information is recorded to be coded into the chemical mixture. There is always some degredation in the memory of the person from whom the information is recorded -- normally this is of no matter; however, there have been reports of scientists being kidnapped, having their memories forcibly taken, and being returned in an almost vegetative state.
Once the chemical coding is complete, using a process similar to the production of a Designer-Dream, the resultant concoction is produced as a slow-release single molecule, which, when taken by injection, will result in a memory-storing experience. These experiences usually last for an hour, but can last longer. While under the influence of the Juice, the subject is completely incapable of any action at all, and resembles a person in a catatonic state.
The chemical slowly unravels, encoding memories directly into the long-term memory area of the brain. As the Juice is related to Designer-Dreams, it has the effect of giving the user a 'trip,' but the trip is usually unpleasant, and very surreal, as different centres of the brain are accessed at various times. The user is normally weakened for an hour or two after the experience. About four hours after the trip has ended, the user is left with a degraded, minimal chemical residue in their system, indistinguishable from a Designer-Dream user, with no trace of the original single InfoJuice macro-molecule to be found. This residue disappears entirely within 12 hours.
The InfoJuice is able to incorporate memory blocks to repress the memories it stores, and this is frequently used for courier jobs, where the courier is given a repressed memory and sent to his destination, where the memory is recovered by a given key word or phrase The courier's memory is then replaced by another dose of InfoJuice, or the courier is killed, whichever is more cost effective. Innocent, unknowing individuals are sometimes used for this purpose.
The Jean-Pal Company tightly controls all manufacture and sale of InfoJuice, with licensed vendors found throughout the inhabited worlds.
by Ekaterin
On the planet Khalei, the Terrax Corporation is renown for their custom ships, weapons, and experimental device capabilities for nearly a century. Many a ship has been outfitted with Terrax weaponry. The Terrax Ion Cannon has been extremely popular on the black market, where it is sold for great prices and profits.
The I-Drive was created for Mr. Nathanial E. Duron, the owner of Duron Incorporated, a merchandising production firm, who funded the Intra project for the Terrax Corporation. Duron wanted a device that would help to slow traffic near his factories and thereby reduce the number of collisions resulting in personnel or property damage. He paid a hefty sum for funding for the project.
Two years later, Terrax's technical group finished developing a device which they named the IntraDuron X-190. Duron insisted that the device be used on his main factory right away. After the power-up of the device, it created a gravity-well or "intradiction" field around the factory, thereby slowing all gravity-powered traffic in and around the area. Duron was extremely pleased, and the ID X-190 was equipped onto all of Duron's factories. Duron dealt Terrax his payment, much to the approval of the technical team.
Two of the team's members, Haley Croolez and Denae Yeshii, decided to further develop the ID X-190, and began to work. They and their team constructed a smaller version of the device, amplifying the projection field and generators, along with the Laser Information Sustainment System, or LISS. The resulting device created an intradiction field a mile wide from the device's center. Croolez and Yeshii were convinced they had a guarantee to make them extremely rich. They called it the X-212 Intradiction Drive. But who could pay for it?
They applied to the RI&E. The police force was not interested in the device, and even kicked Croolez out of their office before he could offer a demonstration. The RI&E balked at the two technicians, calling the device "not worth the money," and "impossible." Croolez and Yeshii went back to the Terrax Labs and put the device into storage.
Four years after the X-190's defeat, a wealthy young man came into Terrax Corporation, asking for a long list of modifications to be added to his ship. One of the technicians was frustrated after months of work of this man's ship, and complained to the supervisor, Dr. Danae Yeshii. Yeshii looked over the specifications and went to meet the young man. The man wanted the most powerful and useful weapons and equipment that Terrax could provide. Yeshii agreed, especially after he learned that the man was to become a bounty hunter. Then he remembered the X-190 device and asked the young man about it.
At first, the man did not want it; but, after a visit to the Duron Inc. factories, he was convinced and agreed to the fee. The device was placed on the ship, and the young man paid and left with his custom ship two months later.
Yeshii, recognizing, finally, a use for the device, began to build more of them and sold them on the black market for astronomical prices. At first, only the wealthy had hold of them, but soon many bounty hunters were stealing and equipping the devices on their own ships. Yeshii created his own company, Yeshii Corp., which specializes solely in bounty-hunter specialty ships, weapons, and devices. His prices are high, but his work is higher.
The I-Drive is approximately three-meters in width and spherical in shape. The top of the device folds back, exposing a cylinder supported by three rods, and lifting another cylinder around the first, with thin devices protruding from the outer cylinder. When activated, a small needlepoint object protrudes from the center cylinder, connected to the field generator.
The energy focuses into the needle. The thin, protruding devices activate the LISS, focusing the projecting information into the needle point. The field then expands, with a faint blue hue around the field itself, disabling any and all graviton particle production within its field, thereby disallowing the activation of gravengines.
When the I-Drive is either shut off or destroyed, the field dissipates almost immediately, leaving behind only a small amount of electrical communication static to mark its former presence in the area.
An I-Drive is susceptable to laser blasts, torpedoes, and especially ion cannons, as it strives almost completely on electronic output. The field can last only as long as the power supply allows, which is often only up to five hours for a capital ship, and one hour for a small ship.
by Spartacus