Discontinuity Drive
The Discontinuity Drive used by Xeelee Nightfighters directly pushes on Spacetime. This is done by a pair of extremely large "wings" that can extend from the Sycamore seed shaped Nightfighter. These wings are not made of typical Xeelee construction material, but are constructs of pure spacetime and in this way they can directly exchange momentum with the fabric of the universe itself. The means by which the wings interface with the degenerate matter Nightfighter cockpit is unknown, but it is suggested that this may be a fundamental aspect of Xeelee physiology and/or technology. The wings appear jet black and seem to be at least as durable as the cockpit.
The discontinuity drive is capable of tremendous accelerations, and is observed to allow a Nightfighter some degree of maneuverability even near the surface of a Neutron Star. This suggests accelerations on the order of 10^12 - 10^13 m/s^2, allowing the Nighfighter to go from a dead stop to near the speed of light in about 100 microseconds. It is also suggested that the Xeelee ships perform better in regions of highly curved spacetime, so their accelerations in flat space may be a couple orders of magnitude lower.
Read more about this topic: Xeelee Technology
Famous quotes containing the word drive:
“That night ended the day when history was written in Abilene. August 14, 1865 was the date. That was the end of the first drive on the Chisolm Trail. It was just the first of thousands of such drives bringing beef to the world.”
—Borden Chase [Frank Fowler] (1900–1971)