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Hyperspace
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== Use == While mainly designed as means of fast space travel, occasionally, some writers have used the hyperspace concept in more imaginative ways, or as a central element of the story.<ref name=":3" />{{Rp|72β73}} In [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s "[[Technical Error]]" (1950), a man is laterally reversed by a brief accidental encounter with "hyperspace".<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Pickover|first=Clifford A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOUiWjsgue8C&dq=%22Technical+Error%22+hyperspace&pg=PT205|title=Surfing through Hyperspace: Understanding Higher Universes in Six Easy Lessons|date=2001-05-17|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-992381-6|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp||page=177}} In Robert A. Heinlein's ''[[Glory Road]]'' (1963) and [[Robert Silverberg]]'s "[[Nightwings (novella)|Nightwings]]" (1968), it is used for storage.<ref name="Westfahl2005" />{{rp|405}} In [[George R. R. Martin|George R.R. Martin's]] ''[[FTA (novel)|FTA]]'' (1974) hyperspace travel takes longer than in regular space, and in [[John E. Stith]]'s ''[[Redshift Rendezvous]]'' (1990), the twist is that the relativistic effects within it appear at lower velocities.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />{{Rp|72β73}}<ref name="Stableford20063" />{{Rp|238β239}} Hyperspace is generally unpopulated, save for the space-faring travellers. Early exceptions include Tubb's ''[[Dynasty of Doom]]'' (1953), Fearn's ''[[Waters of Eternity]]'' (1953) and [[Christopher Grimm]]'s ''[[Someone to Watch Over Me (novel)|Someone to Watch Over Me]]'' (1959), which feature denizens of hyperspace.<ref name="Stableford20063" />{{Rp|238β239}}<ref name="visual" />{{Rp|75}}<ref name=":6" /> In ''[[The Mystery of Element 117]]'' (1949) by [[Milton Smith (author)|Milton Smith]], a window is opened into a new "hyperplane of hyperspace" containing those who have already died on Earth,<ref name=":8"/>{{Rp||page=181}} and similarly, in [[Bob Shaw]]'s ''[[The Palace of Eternity]]'' (1969), hyperspace is a form of [[afterlife]], where human minds and memories reside after death.<ref name="Westfahl2005" />{{rp|405}} In some works, hyperspace is a source of extremely dangerous energy, threatening to destroy the entire world if mishandled (for instance [[Eando Binder]]'s ''[[The Time Contractor]]'' from 1937 or [[Alfred Bester]]'s "[[The Push of a Finger]]" from 1942).<ref name=":6" /><ref name="Stableford20063" />{{Rp|238β239}} The concept of hyperspace travel, or space folding, can be used outside space travel as well, for example in [[Stephen King]]'s short story "[[Mrs. Todd's Shortcut]]" it is a means for an elderly lady to take a shortcut while travelling between two cities.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Nahin|first=Paul J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NfJDQAAQBAJ&dq=hyperspace+wormhole&pg=PA85|title=Time Machine Tales: The Science Fiction Adventures and Philosophical Puzzles of Time Travel|date=2016-12-24|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-319-48864-6|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|85|page=}} In many stories, a starship cannot enter or leave hyperspace too close to a large concentration of mass, such as a planet or [[star]]; this means that hyperspace can only be used after a starship gets to the outside [[Planetary system|edge of a solar system]], so that it must use [[Spacecraft propulsion|other means of propulsion]] to get to and from planets.<ref name="visual" />{{Rp|76}} Other stories require a very large expenditure of energy in order to open a link (sometimes called a ''jump point'') between hyperspace and regular space; this effectively limits access to hyperspace to very large starships, or to large stationary ''jump gates'' that can open jump points for smaller vessels. Examples include the "jump" technology in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' and the star gate in Arthur C. Clarke's ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968).<ref name="Westfahl2005" />{{rp|404}}<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Grazier |first1=Kevin R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9VECgAAQBAJ&dq=babylon+5+hyperspace+jumpgate&pg=PA231 |title=Hollyweird Science: From Quantum Quirks to the Multiverse |last2=Cass |first2=Stephen |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-15072-7 |language=en}}</ref> Just like with the very concept of hyperspace, the reasons given for such restrictions are usually [[technobabble]], but their existence can be an important [[plot device]].<ref name="visual" />{{Rp|74β76}}<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|554}} Science fiction author [[Larry Niven]] published his opinions to that effect in ''[[N-Space (short story collection)|N-Space]]''. According to him, an unrestricted FTL technology would give no limits to what heroes and villains could do.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Niven |first=Larry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IX98QgAACAAJ&q=0312850891 |title=N-space |date=1990 |publisher=Tom Doherty Associates |isbn=978-0-312-85089-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|554}} Limiting the places a ship can appear in, or making them more predictable, means that they will meet each other most often around contested planets or space stations, allowing for narratively satisfying battles or other encounters. On the other hand, a less restricted hyperdrive may also allow for dramatic escapes as the pilot "jumps" to hyperspace in the midst of battle to avoid destruction.<ref name=":5" />{{Rp|557}} In 1999 science fiction author [[James P. Hogan (writer)|James P. Hogan]] wrote that hyperspace is often treated as a plot-enabling gadget rather than as a fascinating, world-changing item, and that there are next to no works that discuss how hyperspace has been discovered and how such discovery subsequently changed the world.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hogan|first=James P.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO0QPvU7pqkC|title=Minds, Machines and Evolution|date=1999|publisher=Baen Books|isbn=978-0-671-57843-5|pages=|language=en|chapter=Discovering Hyperspace}}</ref>{{Rp|107β108}}
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