Destiny authors and others, how did you figure out...

[SicOne]

...how transphasic torpedos work?

There is a thread over in Trek Tech right now (don't know how to cross-link them for you to see; mods, if you could assist?) where there is discussion on how transphasic torpedos work. I am of the understanding that is discussed in either one of the Destiny trilogy books, or in "Greater Than The Sum", all of which I have (other than Destiny book 3), but don't want to spoil the story as I work my way through the TNG relaunch to get to Destiny.

That being said, did one of you authors (or anyone else) discuss how t-torps work in a book, and which one(s), and help describe it here for us, or over in the Trek Tech thread, (or shoot us a page number(s) from the relevant book), that we may read on that specific topic alone and not have the main portion of the story ruined/spoiled by trying to skip through the book to find that information?

I don't mean to take you away from more intellectual pursuits, such as your own writing, yet this particular topic over in Trek Tech has generated quite a bit of response, and an explanation from more learned sources (i.e. the authors themselves) would be welcome. And, while you're at it, how does one avoid run-on sentences?..

Thanks much, folks.

 

[Christopher]

David Mack and I were both writing our books simultaneously, so we initially came up with our own separate explanations for transphasic torpedoes. Then we compared notes and hashed out a version that combined both so we'd be consistent with each other. Here are the relevant passages, first from my Greater Than the Sum, p. 48:

“A transphasic torpedo delivers a subspace compression pulse existing in an asymmetric superposition of phase states. If one subcomponent of the pulse is blocked by shielding, enough others will still succeed in penetrating to the target to ensure that the majority of the pulse is delivered. Each torpedo’s transphasic configuration is different, randomly generated by a dissonant feedback effect, so that there is no way for the Borg to predict the configuration of its phase states in order to shield against them.”

And from Dave's Destiny: Gods of Night, p. 138:

“They're based on creating dissonant feedback pulses in an asymmetrically phased subspace compression wave. ... Essentially, the torpedo spreads out the energy of the wave among multiple subspace phase states. When the Borg modulate their defenses against one or more phases of the compression pulse, they make themselves vulnerable to the remaining pulses. And the phase shifts vary randomly, so the Borg can't anticipate the transphasic state of one torpedo based on the previous one.”

As for how we figured it out... well, Dave came up with the bit about feedback pulses in an asymmetrically phased compression wave, so you'd have to ask him. As for myself, I figured that "transphasic" suggested something existing across multiple "phases" of matter or time or whatever, as seen in "The Next Phase," "Time's Arrow," "Deadlock," and the like. That suggested a weapon that existed in multiple phases at once, so that parts of it could pass through any shielding as if it weren't there. The random phase shifting was necessary to explain why the Borg couldn't easily adapt to the weapon.

Feel free to quote any of the above in the other thread.

 

[Ktrek]

That's quite an interesting reply Chris and much appreciated. I have read both of those references while reading the books but I guess I must not be too much of a thinker when it comes to the scientific aspects. I just accept what is written and move on to the story but it does make more sense to understand the how and why transphasic weapons would work. I'm always glad to read your explanations!

Kevin

 

[Corran Horn]

They work very well.

Thanks for asking.