Request for Debriefing Authorization 157-114-3: Approved
I recall having to tell this sad truth to another CMDR, so I shall recount it here.
Frame shift drives actually don't just allow you to travel to other star systems. They tear a hole in the fabric of reality and drop you into a parallel dimension at the set coordinates. It may seem ridiculous, but propelling an object such as a space ship over the vast distances of light years in a matter of seconds is virtually impossible from what we've determined with our current technology. It's much easier to instead, shunt the ship into a parallel dimension so long as the dimension isn't out of phase by more than a 1.45^-13 variance.
The frame shift's phase capacitors match the phase angle of the desired dimensional plane and nudge the ship through the extra-dimensional rift at the exact moment convergence. You see, we discovered years ago that there was an infinite number of parallel dimensions that vibrated within certain frequencies within the space that our universe exists. The frequencies are mathematically predictable and have, to date, never deviated from their normal state. This discovery prompted us to design an experimental device to shift your frame of reference into another one of these planes, in the hopes of understanding how all these planes are bound together.
What we discovered, was that the F.R.P.S.D. (or Frame of Reference Planar Shifting Device now commonly referred to buy its shortened name, the Frame Shift Drive) was only able to allow passage to locations of high gravitational concentrations. Under further review, it was found that the binding agent between these dimensional planes was gravity itself. With our vast galactic database, we were able to determine that the vast gravity wells of each galaxies' super massive black hole anchored these planes together on a universal scale. The further you traveled from the galactic core, the greater the phase angles of the vibrations. Alternatively as you got closer to the galactic core, the vibrations became far less perceivable until it seemed that there was almost a perfect overlap at the event horizon. The event horizon, a place where, from what we've observed, seems to exist at the exact location in all known planes.
With this information we were able to accurately project when a specific star in a specific plane, that was out of phase with our own, was to overlap our own plane at our current position. When this happens the FSD shunts the ship or object into the destination plane, giving the illusion of a great distance traveled once appearing at the destination star. The reality is though, that on a universal scale the ship or object never actually moved.
If this is hard to imagine, think of two pendulums one perfectly in front of the other and swinging opposite directions. They have an identical pattern of thousands of dots on each. Pick a dot on one and from a fixed view(important) looking directly at the pendulums, when they swing past each other, every dot on the opposite pendulum that your chosen dot perfectly overlaps is a suitable candidate for a frame shift. In the process of shifting your reference plane to that other pendulum, you, in effect, were able to choose your destination and instantaneously appear at a location other than the matching dot of your native pendulum, all while never physically moving at all. Of course in real life, there are an infinite (as far as we can tell) number of these pendulums and they don't swing but vibrate in all directions.
More recent advances in frame shift drives allow for greater selections of potential dimensional planes, by more accurately calculating phase variances further out of sync with our own. In essence, class A FSDs have a much larger selection of planes to choose from then a class E FSD due to the higher accuracy and smoothness in which the dimensional shift occurs. This gives higher class drives the ability to pick destinations further away from the starting point that lower class drives wouldn't have the phase variance tolerance levels to accommodate. Such is the reason that class A drive you just spent 1.5 million credits on will get you 10-15 light years further than your old unit. Your mass also effects this because, as I stated earlier, gravity is the binding agent between these planes. The more mass (and by extension, gravity) you have, the longer it takes to pass through the dimensional rift. Thus, a plane with a high phase variance that you could normally slip into, would already be out of sync with your position by the time you crossed over with a hold full of cargo.
Still don't believe me? Have you ever heard of stories of people trying to meet and even though they could swear they were at the same location, they were unable to find each other? What about the rumors of mining belts having subtle differences each time a miner jumps back into the system to resume his work? Or in your case... Entire star systems inexplicably missing?
There is a previously unforeseen consequence of all this frame shifting. The chances of a pilot returning to his native plane is nigh impossible. Differences between planes with low phase variances are negligible at most though. One would have to travel to the other side of the known universe to perceive any changes. While usually during the lifetime of being a pilot, the multitude of frame shifts one endures usually averages out to a mean variance of 1.13^-13, larger and larger variances are occurring yearly. As FSDs with larger ranges are being used, each jump potentially leaves the pilot at further point in phase variance from his reference frame than before.
When dealing with small reference frames, daily life is not compromised. I can be assured that when I return home each night to my wife from work (less than 10ly) I can rest easy knowing that, while she's not technically the same woman I left this morning, she still is my wife. She shares the same memories as me and she'd be quick to tell you that time I mentioned she should lose weight.... I digress though. The further one gets from his initial frame of reference, the stranger things become however.
One test we ran involved a 5 ton ship with a 150ly jump capacity. It never made it to it's destination. Not in our reference frame or any reference frame that we ran the test in at least. It also was a small step in verifying what we were already worried about. The fact that increasing ranges on drives are pushing pilots closer and closer to dimensional planes in which, you don't have to travel to the other side of the universe to notice differences. On more than one occasion we've had test pilots appear days after testing had commenced, claiming that there was no stations or in some instances (as you have found out my dear pilot) that entire star systems have disappeared. It was only by random jumping that they found their way back into a plane that we existed on. Not all were so lucky.
So alas, we're at a tipping point. Our economy would collapse without the FSD. However further need to push longer and longer jumps put pilots at risks that they have no idea exists. It's not until they find themselves in an alternate plane where none of us exist that they might realize something is wrong, and by then it might be too late. We're doing our best to improve the accuracy of the FSD phase variance calculation software, but I hate to imagine the number of pilots who will inevitably find out all to late that their lives have been sacrificed in the eternal economic struggle to conquer this tiny galaxy we call home, before we come up with a solution.
CMDR Thogapotomus
[FSD Research Lead, Ragnarok Station 113-Gamma]
I guess we are just all passionate about the game.
