LEAP Translocation Technology

Background
August of 2061, the think tank turned technology firm Quandry Industries, engages the 71 year old Hawkings to complete his work on Inter-Universe Resonance. Specifically Quandry was pushing to develop a translocation technology code named Slipstream.

On September 7th 2072, at a Quandry research facility, an egg is successfully transported from a test chamber into the wall of an adjacent lab thirty meters away. Within a matter of months the Slipstream team were transporting objects all over the Quandry compound. The new system operated with such precision that for a final demonstration Hawkings is said to have had a ham and cheese sandwich transported directly into his stomach. The project officially becomes Linear Exchange of Absolute Position, aka LEAP, and is immediately put into production.

A new era of space travel had begun.

Technical
Linear Exchange of Absolute Position (LEAP)

The LEAP system operates by saturating an object with harmless Nueon particles. A translocation field is generated surrounding the object exciting the Nueon particles and disrupting the harmonic bond within the objects atoms. The translocation field is then collapsed forcing all matter inside, out of the boundaries of our universe. Following Hawking’s law of Quantum Continuity and Inter-Universe Resonance the object instantaneously shifts back into our universe, only at a different position in space. The intensity of the field before collapse determines the relative distance of the “LEAP”, with the point of collapse determining the leaps directional vector.

Generation 1
The first LEAP gates are put into service on September 13th 2074 and successfully transport a Boone shuttle and its crew from Earth orbit to just inside the Mars orbital plane. The 78 million kilometer journey took approximately .3 seconds. Within the year EDI was positioning LEAP gates throughout the solar system dramatically cutting the long term costs of maintaining the EDI detection network as well as allowing for expansion far beyond its current range.

Generation 2
LEAP travel made moving around the solar system almost as convenient as taking a weekend drive. Both Venus and Saturn had become popular vacation destinations with luxurious space station resorts. Mars was home to the Besbool research colony on its surface and the Martian Academy of Astronomy in orbit. Thousands of people used LEAP gates on a daily basis. But perhaps most vital, and heavily traveled, was the gate system linking the Titus mining colonies to Earth.

The steady supply of Helidyte from the Titus asteroid field gave new life to the tech sector. Companies no longer restricted by Helium shortages were able to realize the true potential of both XEM and QS reactors.

On July 14th 2129, Quandry Industries and Stellar Systems introduce the second generation of LEAP technology. The new gates generated larger LEAP fields allowing for the transit of larger ships and boasted a substantially increased range. The most advanced generation one gates had a max range of roughly 100 million kilometers. However, thanks to more powerful QS reactors, and more efficient methods of generating Nueon particle fields, Gen 2 gates had an astounding range of 1 billion kilometers. This would reduce the number of LEAPs between the Luna Chorda Moon base and Titus from 58 to just seven.

The extended range was also a boon for scientific endeavors. The WSO was already planning a number of new research outposts, as well as the Hawkings Bridge. Named after the late John Hawkings, the father of LEAP technology who died in 2098, the bridge was to be a series of gates that would extend to the very edge of the solar system and beyond. For the first time in human history since the Voyager 1 in 2015, 11 billion kilometers was within reach.

Generation 3
April 16th 2145, Stellar Systems successfully tests the prototype for their third generation LEAP technology. The new system has two key advantages over previous versions. The first is an increased maximum range of 1 lightyear. The second was Dr. Candice Schwedock’s nueon particle sink.

Until now it was not possible to LEAP the Nueon particle source and the target object together. Variations in particle saturation between the two would result in endpoint divergence. Simply put, the target object would not exit the LEAP in one piece. Sections with differing nueon saturation would literally exit in different locations. The Schwedock’s Nueon sink regulated particle density so that a ship or station could generate a LEAP field around itself eliminating the need for an external gate.

With a large enough power core a LEAP field could be extended far enough around the source to affect everything in the surrounding area. Essentially turning the host ship/station into a massive LEAP gate. The downside was that increased power needs of the nueon sink meant longer cycle times between LEAPs and only vessels with very large power cores would be able to utilize the gate-less technology.

The ability to LEAP an entire command station with an accompany support ships opened new defense strategies for the EDI. The WSO was however more focused on the increased range. The organization was eager to explore deeper into the galaxy. A notion that worried many people.

Generation 4
Generation 4 LEAP marks the most significant shift in the technology since its invention. Using new improvements to particle sinks and reactor technology the new LEAP system, branded “Limitless”, promised to eliminate limits on LEAP travel. The drive had been tested up to 5 million light years, but unlike previous LEAP systems that had a maximum power capacity, Gen 4 did not. This meant that as reactor technology advanced, or as new power sources were discovered, LEAP ranges would potentially be limitless.

This enormous performance increase was almost entirely due to a new method of managing power generation in QS reactors, pioneered by Dr. Bo Kauppinen, called Arc Folding. The method effectively increased reactor efficiency by 300%. The downside was increased fuel consumption, and greatly increased LEAP charge times. For a maximum LEAP it might take up to 72 hours to generate sufficient power.

News of the new LEAP technology however, did not help consolidate an increasingly divided public opinion. While WSO supporters were aglow with excitement over opening new territory and access to more potentially habitable worlds. The opposition saw a greater threat than ever before. Tragically, two days after Gen 4’s announcement, the home of Bash Quandry is bombed killing the 109 year old founder of Quandry Industries, the parent company behind the production of LEAP technology.

At a public memorial service, Quandry’s son and successor, Galileo Quandry, tells the media that the murder of his father would not restrain the company’s ambitions. “If my father taught me anything it was when people blindly fear doing something, it’s exactly the thing you should be doing.”