Krasnikov Gate

A Krasnikov Gate is a system consisting of two structures which connect a Krasnikov tube, allowing for faster than light travel. These are also known as FTL Gates, Jump Gates, Warp Gates, or just Gates for short. Gates are the basis for long range faster than light travel for most spacefaring civilizations.

Krasnikov Gates use the principle of Krasnikov Tubes to constrict spacetime to allow objects to preserve causality while traveling at faster than light speeds. Objects are accelerated in realspace before entering the gates. Once an object passes the event horizon, it cannot change its velocity except relative to other objects that are observation anchored. The faster the object is traveling when entering the tube, the quicker it will exit the other side. Navigation is not required since the tube is a straight path relative to the object regardless of its velocity.

Gate entrances are built using Null Anchors which maintain the tear into nullspace open while preventing null collapse via an artificial event horizon generated at the point of entry.

The event horizon of a Gate structure and the tube inside are both pitch black. Crews of ships are discouraged from looking outside while traversing through nullspace as it causes Null Syndrome. In emergency situations where EVA is required, crews should spend less than an hour total outside their ship. A very small subset of humans are immune to null syndrome.

Linelaying is the process of creating a gate system and requires a linelayer ship to travel from the start to the destination through conventional means. Linelayer torchships are typically massive self-sufficient starships with a rotating null anchor array at the back. The ship tears through realspace as it travels, creating the warp tube structure behind it as it moves. Once the tube is paved, the end gate structure is deployed by the lineship and the tube is forced open through high energy matter-antimatter annihilation.

The amount of energy required to ‘open’ a gate is inversely related to its diameter. The huge superhighways of the ICA Core Worlds require on average 1000-2000 AC to open, whereas smaller frontier gates could use up to 10 times more. The energy required to sustain the gates are also inversely related, with the previously mentioned supergates requiring less than 30 AC a month to maintain. While the tube structure itself does not require any energy to remain open, the gate structures must remain powered in order to prevent the ends of the tubes from collapsing in on itself.

The negative mass-energy required for these tubes to exist are provided for free as the tube tunnels through nullspace. The theoretical infinite negative force exerted on the exterior of the wall counteracts the infinite gravitational force of the tube attempting to collapse in on itself, allowing it to remain open.

Intentional destruction of a gate structure is considered a crime against reality. The resulting tear in spacetime usually consumes the entire system it’s located in, and the resulting unstable space leaves that area untraversable for centuries. Gates are installed with multiple redundant failsafes that will attempt to terminate the tube before nullspace tears through the event horizon.

Furthermore, due to the Non-Directionality phenomena, passing through the event horizon at too low of a velocity could doom an object to spend a ridiculous amount of time trapped inside until it eventually drifts out the exit or the gate collapses. There are more than a thousand missing ships, miscellaneous objects, and even stations trapped within superluminal tunnels.

Several related phenomena occur while traveling through a Krasnikov tube.

Observation Anchoring is a phenomenon experienced between an observer and an object when traveling through nullspace. As long as an observer is consciously perceive another object, it will remain within that frame of reference. However, if the object drifts too far away to where the observer can no longer perceive it, the object can never be observed again.

For example, if two ships enter a gate at the same time but at different velocities, they would eventually drift apart enough to where they can no longer observe each other. Even if the ships accelerate towards each other, they will never find each other again.

This phenomenon is beneficial in that gates allow two-way traffic without any risk of collision. However, objects lost within the superluminal tube can never be found until they eventually drift out through the gate exit. Gate traffic controllers still have to be aware of inbound and outbound traffic as collisions at the event horizon can still occur.

Non-Directionality refers to the phenomena where objects cannot supposedly change their velocity while traveling through a tube. Multiple experiments have shown that accelerating or decelerating does not change the time required to traverse the tube. The velocity recorded while passing through the event horizon is the only deciding factor in how long it will take to go through the entire tunnel.

Ships attempting to change direction and go back through the gate entrance will find that they are unable to, even while observationally anchored to it. Only relative velocity between anchored objects in the tube can be changed.