TERRA 12, Part I
When I first caught a glimpse of the story that was to become my second book, Terra 12: Paradise Found, I was enthralled by the possibilities. Admittedly, the idea of humanity seeking to colonize an inhabitable planet in a faraway solar system is no longer ground-breaking. But even before I put word to paper, even without having so much as a character in mind, I could see why this story needed to be told.
While that first glimpse was an overview from 60,000 feet, at least I could see the beginning and end of the story. Still, the task remained to fill in the middle which would consume two years of my life. Creating a future world has its share of challenges. From my experience, It is a balancing act to make future science believable by including enough ingredients to create such a world without burdening the reader with unnecessary details.
One of the reviewers on Goodreads was particularly interested in the science behind the star drive in Terra 12, or X-drive as this version of an FTL-(faster than light) drive was designated. He wanted to evaluate its feasibility for himself. Initially, it was his question that prompted the subject of this blog. But his question grew into an excuse to take another journey. And an opportunity to see Life and the Universe from a very different perspective. So… ready for another adventure?
Let’s start this journey with everyone’s favorite theory, Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. If we reduce it to the basics, the Theory of Special Relativity states unequivocally that as an object approaches the speed of light, the object's mass becomes infinite as does the energy required to move it. Therefore it is impossible for matter to go faster than light travels. Whether the mass is the size of a pea or a starship, it cannot travel faster than the speed of light.
Only… Without the possibility of FTL-drives, science fiction novels would have a very limited playground—namely, our solar system. Full stop. Yes, we have landed on the moon. Most recently the Mars expeditions have captured headlines and thrilled us with a closer look at the Red Planet. Meanwhile, plucky Voyager 1 has managed to travel 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) 44 years after its launch and flown a bypass of Jupiter. But realistically, without FTL-drives, humanity can never travel to other solar systems in a meaningful way. Even a short trip by light-year standards would seem infinite by Earth years (at least given our current propulsion technologies).
Theories not withstanding, a host of possible FTL-drive solutions have emerged and been popularized in books and movies/television: Warp, Hyperdrive, Stargates/Wormholes, Holtzman (folding space, a truly elegant solution proposed in Dune), and Slipstream. If I’ve failed to mention one of your favorites, feel free to Jump under your own steam. In Terra 12, the FTL-drive is known as the X-drive, capable of propelling the Delta-class vehicles to four times the speed of light.
I confess that I didn’t address the issues regarding how to accelerate and decelerate a starship from that speed. I didn’t specify the type of fuel nor determine how much fuel was required to travel a light year. Finally, I only hinted at how the X-drive circumvented the directives of the Theory of Special Relativity. My rationale was since only 12 people in our known Universe understood the science behind the X-drive, why belabor the point.
For those of you who are convinced that Einstein’s theory is the final word on FTL—that Faster than Light travel is inherently impossible—it’s time to share an open secret: “The laws of the Universe are not fixed, immutable. It’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ Universe.” Too often we operate under the assumption that whatever theories we “discover,” or whatever postulates we believe to govern the Universe are the gold standard. But every theory or belief is subject to change. Remember, not so long ago, people believed the world was flat. Once the Universe revolved around Mother Earth. Once we were the center of the Universe.
Admittedly, the more aware we have become regarding the vastness of the Universe, the smaller we have shrunk. Are we just an accidental byproduct of evolution? Is our time on the stage a brief moment, soon to be forgotten? If we no longer stand at the center of creation, what is our place?
Before I spill the beans, let me reiterate: Whether your conditioning arises from Science or Religion, if you are part of either or both of those worlds, you live in a world that has been structured. The human tendency is to project our own beliefs on everyone and everything else, including it appears, the entire Universe. But our beliefs, and our belief systems, are constricted. We have chosen to be limited because we are identified with the limited self, this form which we temporarily occupy.
Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing wrong with living in a form. Why not enjoy whatever form you happen to have at any given time. But don’t be so identified that you lose sight of your true self. Because this is what happens to most people. As long as we are part of a limited consciousness, we will never understand or appreciate this mystery we call the Universe.
Would it surprise you to learn that we are the ones who created the universal laws. And when we decide that these laws or theories are no longer working for us, we can change them. If we decide that we need to travel faster than light, we will. It may take time, but FTL will materialize when it is needed. It will simply be an agreement in humanity’s collective consciousness. Admittedly, I can’t give you an exact date as to when or what type of FTL-drive will evolve. That will be a surprise.
For those of you who have read Terra 12, you may remember the mealtime discussions between Zach, Hari, and Laura about the X-drive in the ship’s mess. What did Hari propose as the explanation for the X-drive? That the X-drive used the X dimension to facilitate FLT travel, a dimension not tied to the restrictions of theories. Laura, on the other hand, came closer to the explanation. Her take: It was magic. But this is not the magic associated with spells or fantasies. This is the magic of Life. If you can have a glimpse of the magic of Life, everything will begin to open up for you.
When Zach first arrived on Terra, he suffered from temporary amnesia brought on by his reentry from space. Because of this, he had forgotten his previous life on Earth. All he knew was this life on Terra. Due to the damage to his ship,Terra 12 was unable to establish contact with him or know for certain his fate.
For several months he lived among the people of Terra as one of them until his memories returned. While it was a much simpler world than what he had known on Earth, it was simpler by design. Such is the mystery behind Terra that it overshadows any notion of an FTL-drive. And is far more fascinating. Let’s take a closer look at this mystery on the next stop of our journey as we allow Terra to reveal her secrets.
While that first glimpse was an overview from 60,000 feet, at least I could see the beginning and end of the story. Still, the task remained to fill in the middle which would consume two years of my life. Creating a future world has its share of challenges. From my experience, It is a balancing act to make future science believable by including enough ingredients to create such a world without burdening the reader with unnecessary details.
One of the reviewers on Goodreads was particularly interested in the science behind the star drive in Terra 12, or X-drive as this version of an FTL-(faster than light) drive was designated. He wanted to evaluate its feasibility for himself. Initially, it was his question that prompted the subject of this blog. But his question grew into an excuse to take another journey. And an opportunity to see Life and the Universe from a very different perspective. So… ready for another adventure?
Let’s start this journey with everyone’s favorite theory, Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity. If we reduce it to the basics, the Theory of Special Relativity states unequivocally that as an object approaches the speed of light, the object's mass becomes infinite as does the energy required to move it. Therefore it is impossible for matter to go faster than light travels. Whether the mass is the size of a pea or a starship, it cannot travel faster than the speed of light.
Only… Without the possibility of FTL-drives, science fiction novels would have a very limited playground—namely, our solar system. Full stop. Yes, we have landed on the moon. Most recently the Mars expeditions have captured headlines and thrilled us with a closer look at the Red Planet. Meanwhile, plucky Voyager 1 has managed to travel 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) 44 years after its launch and flown a bypass of Jupiter. But realistically, without FTL-drives, humanity can never travel to other solar systems in a meaningful way. Even a short trip by light-year standards would seem infinite by Earth years (at least given our current propulsion technologies).
Theories not withstanding, a host of possible FTL-drive solutions have emerged and been popularized in books and movies/television: Warp, Hyperdrive, Stargates/Wormholes, Holtzman (folding space, a truly elegant solution proposed in Dune), and Slipstream. If I’ve failed to mention one of your favorites, feel free to Jump under your own steam. In Terra 12, the FTL-drive is known as the X-drive, capable of propelling the Delta-class vehicles to four times the speed of light.
I confess that I didn’t address the issues regarding how to accelerate and decelerate a starship from that speed. I didn’t specify the type of fuel nor determine how much fuel was required to travel a light year. Finally, I only hinted at how the X-drive circumvented the directives of the Theory of Special Relativity. My rationale was since only 12 people in our known Universe understood the science behind the X-drive, why belabor the point.
For those of you who are convinced that Einstein’s theory is the final word on FTL—that Faster than Light travel is inherently impossible—it’s time to share an open secret: “The laws of the Universe are not fixed, immutable. It’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ Universe.” Too often we operate under the assumption that whatever theories we “discover,” or whatever postulates we believe to govern the Universe are the gold standard. But every theory or belief is subject to change. Remember, not so long ago, people believed the world was flat. Once the Universe revolved around Mother Earth. Once we were the center of the Universe.
Admittedly, the more aware we have become regarding the vastness of the Universe, the smaller we have shrunk. Are we just an accidental byproduct of evolution? Is our time on the stage a brief moment, soon to be forgotten? If we no longer stand at the center of creation, what is our place?
Before I spill the beans, let me reiterate: Whether your conditioning arises from Science or Religion, if you are part of either or both of those worlds, you live in a world that has been structured. The human tendency is to project our own beliefs on everyone and everything else, including it appears, the entire Universe. But our beliefs, and our belief systems, are constricted. We have chosen to be limited because we are identified with the limited self, this form which we temporarily occupy.
Don’t misunderstand. There’s nothing wrong with living in a form. Why not enjoy whatever form you happen to have at any given time. But don’t be so identified that you lose sight of your true self. Because this is what happens to most people. As long as we are part of a limited consciousness, we will never understand or appreciate this mystery we call the Universe.
Would it surprise you to learn that we are the ones who created the universal laws. And when we decide that these laws or theories are no longer working for us, we can change them. If we decide that we need to travel faster than light, we will. It may take time, but FTL will materialize when it is needed. It will simply be an agreement in humanity’s collective consciousness. Admittedly, I can’t give you an exact date as to when or what type of FTL-drive will evolve. That will be a surprise.
For those of you who have read Terra 12, you may remember the mealtime discussions between Zach, Hari, and Laura about the X-drive in the ship’s mess. What did Hari propose as the explanation for the X-drive? That the X-drive used the X dimension to facilitate FLT travel, a dimension not tied to the restrictions of theories. Laura, on the other hand, came closer to the explanation. Her take: It was magic. But this is not the magic associated with spells or fantasies. This is the magic of Life. If you can have a glimpse of the magic of Life, everything will begin to open up for you.
When Zach first arrived on Terra, he suffered from temporary amnesia brought on by his reentry from space. Because of this, he had forgotten his previous life on Earth. All he knew was this life on Terra. Due to the damage to his ship,Terra 12 was unable to establish contact with him or know for certain his fate.
For several months he lived among the people of Terra as one of them until his memories returned. While it was a much simpler world than what he had known on Earth, it was simpler by design. Such is the mystery behind Terra that it overshadows any notion of an FTL-drive. And is far more fascinating. Let’s take a closer look at this mystery on the next stop of our journey as we allow Terra to reveal her secrets.
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