This section will focus on the technology of time travel itself, providing an overview of the different types of temporal technology available, as well as giving some of the more historically notable examples of each type. Also in this section, we will take our first look at the temporal transportation employed by the Corps, with a detailed examination of the PTT, or Timeglider.
Similar in appearance to the motorcycles, ski-mobiles and jet-skis of the late 20th and early 21st Century, Timegliders are equipped with twin graviton drive nacelles on either side of the main body, endowing the vehicle with flight capability. Behind the pilot’s seat is the circular torus casing, which contains the time drive and polybdenum fuel cells.
Every active agent in the Operation’s section is assigned a Timeglider, and agents above the rank of Sergeant are accorded the privilege of personalising their machines. It has become traditional for agents to name their machines, and add personal insignia to the aft systems access panels, similar to the "nose-art" painted on Allied Bombers in WWII.
Weight: 0.85 mt (0.8 t)
Length: 2.7m (8.8 ft)
Width: 1.57m (5.1 ft)
Height: 1.5m (4.9 ft)
Duration: 15 years
Crew: 1
Passengers: 0
Armament: None
Defence: Class 1 Deflection Shield
Operation: - Equipped with an onboard AI, Timegliders are
relatively easy to operate, utilising simple controls and a holoplate computer
interface that configures itself to the pilot’s personal preference. The
AI can accept chronospatial co-ordinates in a variety of different forms,
including colloquial descriptions.
Security Systems: - The Timeglider is security keyed to the quantum signature of the authorised pilot, and will not accept commands from anyone else. Should the machine detect tampering without the correct deactivation codes, it will automatically enter Cloak Mode until recalled by the pilot.
Cloak Mode is engaged when the Timeglider must be left unsupervised,
whether there is a perceived risk of discovery or not. When this function
is activated, the Timeglider slips out of temporal phase, travelling exactly
four picoseconds ahead of the temporal horizon, rendering it unreachable
from the present moment. Further attempts to tamper with the machine will
result in a controlled fusion cascade within the drive torus, triggering
a warp field detonation and ejecting the Timeglider and everything within
twenty-five metres into phase space.
Fuel: - The drive mechanism is powered by a temporal flywheel,
which draws power from the passage of time, in much the same way as a water
wheel draws power from the passage of a river. Though the power of the
drive is theoretically infinite its use is limited by the need for polybdenum
crystal rods, inserted directly into the drive torus through ports in the
outer rim, as focussing emitters for chronon/anti-chronon interaction.
Each successive use de-phases the crystal until it can no longer focus
without re-processing. A Timeglider may hold ten such rods at any one time,
each rod good for two jumps, though they are rarely equipped to their maximum
capacity due to the extreme scarcity of polybdenum crystal.
Navigation: - Timeglider pilots have a unique problem. They need a system capable of guiding them through phase space (which technically does not exist) to any point in space and time with pinpoint accuracy, and then back again. The complexity of this task can be made clear only when it is understood that not only is the Timeglider itself in motion, but the planet, galaxy, universe and parallel of both destination and origin are also moving. The Timeglider’s navigational AI is aided in this task by a suite of sophisticated sensors that enable it to calculate its exact Omniversal co-ordinates (relative to parallel Zero-Prime).
Movement: - The Timeglider’s real-space motive power is provided
by twin graviton thrust generators located on either side of the machine.
These thrusters are capable of moving the Timeglider at a maximum speed
of mach 7 within a planetary atmosphere, and can lift two tonnes in addition
to the mass of the Timeglider and its pilot.
Defence Systems: - Derived from the spatial distortion bubble
generated by the graviton thrusters, the Timeglider is capable of generating
a one-way kinetic deflection field capable of repelling both small arms
fire and low-to-mid range energy weapons. This field is primarily intended
to protect the pilot from extremes of wind and cold during high-altitude
flight, but may also be used in combat. As a matter of Time Corps policy,
Timegliders themselves are not armed.
Drive Systems: - Located within the torus casing behind the pilot's seat, the time drive is sealed to prevent tampering or study by non-Corps personnel. The casing is rimmed with ports for the insertion of polybdenum crystal rods.
The principle of the drive system is simple and more easily explained than achieved. On activation, the time drive begins two processes simultaneously. Firstly it opens a quantum scale wormhole in the fabric of reality, tunnelling out into phase space and opening the other end at the target site. Secondly, it warps local space around itself, effectively rotating itself out of real space and into a ‘bubble universe’. This bubble, of sub-atomic size on the outside, is considerably larger on the inside and can be moved through the open wormhole safely, thereby avoiding the problems of the Hawking radiation effect. The Timeglider steers the entrance to the bubble universe through the wormhole tunnel and out into the desired space-time co-ordinates, before unfolding the bubble universe and rotating itself back into normal space.
The complexity of the drive system accounts for the relatively large
size of the Timeglider. Though it is possible to create much smaller and
more fuel-efficient time machines, these can generate significant levels
of temporal fallout and damage to the timestream, making them almost as
great a danger to the timeline as historical disruption.
Sensor Systems: - The Timeglider is equipped with a powerful
high-resolution sensor array, capable of gathering navigational and scientific
data over an area equivalent to a quarter of the Earth’s surface. Combining
optical and wide-band EM scanners with virtual tachyon spectrometers and
short-range neutrino resonance detectors, the system is configurable to
any search parameter the operator desires and may even be slaved to the
pilot’s personal scanner unit. However this may not be used while the craft
is cloaked.
Environmental Systems: - The Timeglider maintains an optimal environmental bubble around itself and its pilot at all time, protecting the pilot from extremes of temperature, gravity, pressure and radiation, as well as from the physiological and psychological effects of time travel. The environment bubble is defined by the field generated by the graviton thrusters, as is incapable of supporting more than the designated number of passengers for long.
Due to the popularity of these machines, the term "pod" has now become accepted Corps slang for any kind of small, enclosed time transport.
Weight: 1.25 mt (1.2 t)
Length: 8.41 m (27.5 ft)
Width: 4.57 m (14.9 ft)
Height: 3.12 m (10.2 ft)
Duration: 10 years
Crew: 1
Passengers: 1
Armament: None.
Defense: Class 1 Deflection Shield.
A multi-environment vessel, the Chronoshuttle is equipped for use in most planetary environments, and is capable of short-range interstellar flight. The interior of the Chronoshuttle is modular in design, allowing easy reconfiguration of the interior space and systems depending on the mission objectives.
Weight: 3.4 mt (3.3 t)
Length: 7.04 m (23 ft)
Width: 4.95 m (16.2 ft)
Height: 3 m (9.8 ft)
Duration: 10 years
Crew: 2
Passengers: 4
Armament: 2 Heavy Plaser Turrets (one above, one below)
Defense: Class 2 Deflection Shield
Range: 157 ly
Maximum Speed: Mach 10 (in a standard planetary atmosphere), C100 (space)
The control and drive systems of the Assault Craft are virtually identical to the Timeglider, with the exception of the powerful deflector shields and the hull mounted weapon pods. It is however, far less efficient than the Timeglider, utilising almost five times as much polybdenum.
The Striker is much beloved by Corps agents, and its distinctive elliptical shape and resemblance to the many alien craft seen in the skies of Earth before First Contact has led to it being called the ‘flying saucer’ by many.
Weight: 12 mt (39.3 ft)
Length: 20 m (65.6 ft)
Width: 20 m (65.6 ft)
Height: 3.15m (10.3 ft)
Duration: 5 years
Crew: 2
Passengers: 20
Armament: 4 hull mounted Plaser Cannons, 2 Omnidirectional Heavy Plaser Turrets (top and bottom), 2 Plasma Torpedo launchers (top and bottom), 50 Plasma Torpedoes.
Defense: Phase-Shifted Deflection Shield
Range: 389 ly
Maximum Speed: Mach 10 (in a standard planetary atmosphere), C1000 (space)
Not all temporal transports are vehicles. Included in this category are wearable devices like the timebelt, the Chronopac, and Jump Armour. Rarest of all is the Omnihedron, a psionically controlled crystalline device of unknown origins that has been encountered in forms small enough to be implanted beneath the skin, worn around the neck or mounted in a ring.
A baroque assembly of polybdenum-doped quartz and copper and brass tubing, the Sinclair Machine is aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, and is the first example of temporal flywheel technology, in that it derives its power from the passage of time itself.
Like projectors, both gates and portals are relatively simple to construct, and the technology is normally developed early in a parallel’s history of temporal technology.
The risks involved in using gates or portals are large. Aside from the logistical problems of arranging a safe location where the return door may be opened, there is also the risk of discovery by contemporary observers. Also, since most portals operate from within the same timeline as the travellers, there is a risk of temporal deletion due to disruption, stranding the travellers in the past. There is also a risk of temporal feedback, in that it is possible for a wave of disruption to feed back through an open portal or gate, deleting travellers in the past and effectively bypassing the Law of Temporal Preservation.
Typically, a gate or portal consists of a large metallic hoop standing on its edge, attached to a control apparatus and a power source. The size of the apparatus and the power source depends on the era the device originates in. Since gates are normally open passages between time periods, the potential for disruption is enormous, and the damage done to the fabric of the timestream can be severe. In the early days of this technology, they were large devices, often weighing several tons. However, later versions have been encountered that can be folded up, placed in a pocket or concealed within hand luggage.
Located in the Nordhausen research complex beneath the Harz Mountains of Thuringia, the first Blitzstrasse is a vast device, requiring the full output of three nuclear piles. Using the device is a laborious process, as the calculating machines used to derive target co-ordinates are extremely primitive. However, with the aid of modern computing techniques and a more stable power source, the Blitzstrasse could be a formidable device and the simplicity of it’s construction mean that a similar device could be constructed at almost any time after the start of the industrial revolution.
Most retros encountered by the Corps are relatively small devices. Some temporal criminals have been known to wear a retro strapped to their body beneath their clothing, and at least one example has been recovered that activated automatically if the user was injured in any way.
During the life of the project, Drake succeeded in extending the range of the device to almost a week, but he remained unsuccessful at finding ways to reduce the size of the device, and the project was shut down when Drake suffered a psychotic episode and destroyed his notes.
Though the Arm is constructed of alien materials, its design is so elegant that it is relatively easy to reproduce. Temporal criminals have been know to create tailored Arms, keyed to weapons dumps or equipment caches, allowing them to access the tools of their trade at any time. At least one criminal has been inventive enough to implant his Arm under his skin, and several examples of Arm equipped cyborgs have been encountered.
Though they are normally one-way devices, some machines have been encountered that combine scoop and projector technology, and use transtemporal broadcast techniques to enable remote control.
Slingshots are typically "dirty" devices, frequently causing probability distortions as a result of their operation. Like projectors, they are normally large static installations.
Despite its size, the Klein projector was a relatively easy device to construct, with most post-atomic industrial powers having the ability to construct such a machine. Though brilliant, Klein was also highly unstable, and marketed the construction details in an attempt to gain more funding for his continued research, singe-handedly creating the greatest period of temporal instability outside of the Time War itself. This threat prompting the United Nations of the day to create the very first Terran temporal security force.
Because this technology works by bouncing tachyons off the target events through a series of micro-wormholes, there exists a very slight risk of historical disruption. Even so, the Corps only uses time viewers rarely, as over-use can generate timelock.
Eye-Spies are small remote drones, equipped with a limited use time
drive and jumped into the target time period for reconnaissance purposes.
Later examples of this technology incorporate a broadband tempcomm, enabling
the drone to transmit and receive data across time. While Corps researchers
do use Eye-Spies for information gathering in dangerous or sensitive areas
of history, their use is generally restricted due to the disruptive technologies
involved.
Though Hugin and Munin were unique, several other temporal criminals have attempted to duplicate them, with varying degrees of success.
