Engineering: Com & Nav

E-9 continued to elaborate on the power system, but the further details eventually reached a level of complexity that overwhelmed you. "Can you show me another system?" you suggested.

"The communication and navigation systems are over here," he explained and led you to a pair of silvery cylindrical devices, surrounded by several consoles. Several Greys stood nearby monitoring the displays. Despite the fact you were wearing such a skimpy outfit with your crotch completely exposed or that none of them had ever seen you before, the Greys largely ignored you, only glancing at you briefly before resuming their work. Based on this, none of them cared about what you were wearing, and your presence in engineering was obviously not a big deal.

"As with the power system, these designs are based on subspace principles, but without a basic understanding in the fundamental concepts, it may be difficult to understand how these operate."

"Could you give me a brief explanation of those principles?" you inquired. If they were fundamental to how everything worked, you should probably try to learn the basics.

E-9 seemed amused, and if you didn't know better, you had the sense that the nearby Greys were laughing telepathically about what you'd said. After a short pause, E-9 replied, "Subspace principles are complex. Trying to explain it concisely may only make it more confusing."

"Well, how about a starting point?" you pressed. You weren't about to be turned away that easily. A couple of the Greys turned and looked at you with quizzical expressions.

"Ironically, Starting Point is one of the variables in many subspace calculations," E-9 remarked. "If you're serious about learning, let's start with one of the most basic principles: Void Pairing. Suppose there are two voids in space. Both are absolute vacuums entirely devoid of matter. How much energy would it take to cause them to overlay one another?"

"Overlay two voids in space? I don't see the reason for doing that or how it would even be done, but since there is no matter, it wouldn't take any energy to move one void onto another. So the answer could be zero, but that seems impossible. Is the value a variable based on distance between the voids?"

"The energy is variable, but it's not based on distance," answered E-9. "You're correct that without matter present, no energy is needed for moving mass, but even a void will still contain some amount of energy. In order to overlay two voids, it requires an amount of energy equal to the difference in the base energy levels of the two voids plus the subspace resonant constant times the size of the void. For voids with similar base energy, the amount of energy needed may be extremely small, but it is measurable. Once you understand this basic principle, you will begin to see there are two direct implications: First, by expending a small amount of energy, it's possible synchronize and overlay two nearly identical voids. Second, if the observed energy within a void differs from base energy level, the extra energy is likely due to a non-natural source. The former principle has applications in navigation and propulsion, while the latter principle is applicable to communication."