Ok, I think I can answer this. A while ago I was in a bar in Moffitt City Station at Gilgamesh. As I sat down on a bar stool a drunken bum picked himself off the floor and sat next to me. He was a bit smelly but I was tired and continued to sit there. He said his name was Eddie Witten and he was an out of work astrophysicist or "asro fizzy cyst" as he pronounced it in his slurred speech.
He told me he would explain how the frame shift drive works if I bought him a drink. So I did so and this is what he told me.
He said, you know nothing can reach the speed of light in a vacuum, even neutrinos cannot quite get there. He told me that according to old Albert, (whoever that is) that as you approach speed of light your mass increases. It takes more and more energy to increase your speed. Finally your mass gets so high it would take an infinite amount of energy to get the additional speed to reach lightspeed. He added that the weird thing that also happens is that time slows down and your length decreases (he mumbled something about a "low rents contraption" or something like that) as you move faster. It only becomes apparent as you approach speed of light. However, you do not notice this yourself. Only others observing you see this strange thing happening. He said no matter what the speed of light in a vacuum always is the same to everyone but time and length do not seem the same! He said something about relatives that I did not catch.
So I asked, "Ok but tell me how the Frame Shift Drive works?" He barked at me, "I am getting there! Hold your Spindizzy!" "But first I have to tell you about brains." I asked him if he was making a comment about my intelligence and he replied,"Not BRAINS, Branes!" He then explained that our universe is just one of many. He told me to think of our universe as a big flat sheet and the other universes are other sheets above and below and on and on. There is a gap of "nothing" between branes. What the Frame Shift Drive does is move the mass of your ship and you just outside the brane of our universe into that space of nothing between the universes. I asked him, "How can I still see everything if I am up there in the brane gap?" He answered by saying that just your mass, not you move up there and it had to do something with somebody who was named Higgs who was Bow's son. I did not get that part. Anyhow he said since your mass is up there in the brane gap there is now no restriction on your speed.
I asked well what about supercruise? He said that would cost another drink. I called the bartender over and the sludge ordered a triple Indi Bourbon! After wasting it by downing it in one quick gulp, he told me in supercruise the frame shift drive only puts part of your mass up in the brane space. That is why you can run into things in supercruise but not in full frame shift. Then he passed out again and resumed his place stretched out on the floor.
So that is the answer. The Frame Shift Drive shifts the frame of reference of your mass to the brane gap. I have no idea if this is true or if he made this all up to get some drinks.
He told me he would explain how the frame shift drive works if I bought him a drink. So I did so and this is what he told me.
He said, you know nothing can reach the speed of light in a vacuum, even neutrinos cannot quite get there. He told me that according to old Albert, (whoever that is) that as you approach speed of light your mass increases. It takes more and more energy to increase your speed. Finally your mass gets so high it would take an infinite amount of energy to get the additional speed to reach lightspeed. He added that the weird thing that also happens is that time slows down and your length decreases (he mumbled something about a "low rents contraption" or something like that) as you move faster. It only becomes apparent as you approach speed of light. However, you do not notice this yourself. Only others observing you see this strange thing happening. He said no matter what the speed of light in a vacuum always is the same to everyone but time and length do not seem the same! He said something about relatives that I did not catch.
So I asked, "Ok but tell me how the Frame Shift Drive works?" He barked at me, "I am getting there! Hold your Spindizzy!" "But first I have to tell you about brains." I asked him if he was making a comment about my intelligence and he replied,"Not BRAINS, Branes!" He then explained that our universe is just one of many. He told me to think of our universe as a big flat sheet and the other universes are other sheets above and below and on and on. There is a gap of "nothing" between branes. What the Frame Shift Drive does is move the mass of your ship and you just outside the brane of our universe into that space of nothing between the universes. I asked him, "How can I still see everything if I am up there in the brane gap?" He answered by saying that just your mass, not you move up there and it had to do something with somebody who was named Higgs who was Bow's son. I did not get that part. Anyhow he said since your mass is up there in the brane gap there is now no restriction on your speed.
I asked well what about supercruise? He said that would cost another drink. I called the bartender over and the sludge ordered a triple Indi Bourbon! After wasting it by downing it in one quick gulp, he told me in supercruise the frame shift drive only puts part of your mass up in the brane space. That is why you can run into things in supercruise but not in full frame shift. Then he passed out again and resumed his place stretched out on the floor.
So that is the answer. The Frame Shift Drive shifts the frame of reference of your mass to the brane gap. I have no idea if this is true or if he made this all up to get some drinks.
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