| rdfs:comment
| - Teleportation, as most people understand it, is the molecular dissassembly of a person or object at one location and their reassemply at another point almost instantaneously. Such a method of transport is certainly not new to the imagination, and has been a popular staple of science fiction since the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Unfortunately for authors, teleportation by that method is impossible, or at most impracticle. The molecular dissassembly process would effectively kill the original body, creating an identical duplicate of the original at the reassembly point, and while biologically indistinguishable, scientists still have yet to understand how the most minute variations in the brain affect personality and memory, never mind how to replicate them. There are als
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| abstract
| - Teleportation, as most people understand it, is the molecular dissassembly of a person or object at one location and their reassemply at another point almost instantaneously. Such a method of transport is certainly not new to the imagination, and has been a popular staple of science fiction since the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Unfortunately for authors, teleportation by that method is impossible, or at most impracticle. The molecular dissassembly process would effectively kill the original body, creating an identical duplicate of the original at the reassembly point, and while biologically indistinguishable, scientists still have yet to understand how the most minute variations in the brain affect personality and memory, never mind how to replicate them. There are also problems with transmission - the lightspeed barrier is as absolute as it ever has been, and transmission across star systems would take years or decades, and still require a reciever at the other end for reassembly. The only civilisation that has even come close were the Forerunners, and even their method was, while technologically advanced in theory and impressive in application, certainly less complicated. Rather than disassembly and reassembly, Forerunner translocation technology encapsulates the user or object in an extremely small-scale slipstream space field projected into this universe. The user is then physically moved through slipspace to the intended destination intact. Under normal conditions, slipspace is an environment that is extremely hostile to virtually all forms of life in this universe, and it is still not known how Forerunner translocation technology preserves the user in this environment, or whether it even uses slipspace as humanity knows it. What is known is that it is efficient, flexible, and incredibly fast - smaller distances, over dozens or hundreds of kilometers, may take only a few seconds at most. The secret to the Translocation Grid is its advanced manipulation of slipstream space, or at least one of many such dimensions. The sender node envelops an object or person standing upon it in an extremely small-scale localised contained slipspace field projected into this dimension. This field is manipulated to project the occupant back into our dimension at a reciever node, also enveloped in a small-scale slipspace field - the process is not instantaneous, but over the distances involved, dozens or hundreds of kilometers rather than lightyears, certainly may feel so. The method by which the Forerunners manipulated slipspace remains extremely difficult for the UNSC to replicate, and although the Covenant have had millenia to accomplish the task, even they have still made only limited successes in the field. For now, and in the near future, translocation technology is likely to remain an elusive, if attractive, endeavour. The effort that goes into constructing these translocation grids is considerable, encompassing entire planets, and with ranges extending further out into orbit. So far, these grids have only been observed in use on Forerunner Halo and Shield installations, but may have been more common than this would suggest; the hoverthrone of the Prophet of Regret utilised translocation technology in a limited capacity, primarily as a defensive measure, enabling the Prophet to evade potential threats to its life, or to confuse an assassin should one get past its Honour Guards. Exactly where the Covenant appropriated the technology from remains unknown, but the fact that it is not used more widely throughout the Covenant military indicates that this was either extremely recent, or that it is a well-kept secret. It may even be that the Covenant had little idea that the technology existed - given the fact that Covenant technology makes liberal use of Forerunner technology, Regret may simply have been tapping into the already present Delta Halo Translocation Grid. The Prophets aren't the only species known to use Translocation technology - the Gravemind, recruiting Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee to stop the activation of Delta Halo, also displayed proficiency with the technology, transporting them to the orbiting artificial planetoid High Charity and the Installation's Control Room respectively, likely improved by the capture of the Installation's Monitor, 2401 Penitent Tangent.
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