Warp Theory: A primer in FTL drive systems.

Two types of time disruption occur in faster than light (FTL) space flight; virtual and actual. Actual time dilation is the difference between the relative 'speed' of time within the warp field and time measured outside the field. Virtual time displacement is the apparent change in time resulting from moving into space over distances so vast that your point of departure appears to move backward in time and your destination seems to move forward in time by an equally great distance.

Virtual time displacement is the one that cannot be solved at present and the simpler of the two to describe, so I'll start there. Since light moves at a constant velocity, moving faster than light will require light which leaves your point of origin at the present time to have to catch up with you. That means that you could see yourself leaving port by stopping at the right point and using a powerful enough theoretical telescope. If your departure was broadcast to your destination, about a light week into space, you could watch yourself leave your point of origin almost week after you arrived at your destination!

Since higher life is also social life, this displacement has a real effect on the mental state of star age (Ketueen) races. When you arrive at your destination, only hours after you leave port, a week would appear to have passed even though you did not really slip through time. The real displacement is that your only contact between these points will have been limited to light speed limited communications. This means less in the age of subspace radio, however, radio doesn't correct for your vision.

You see your point of origin moving back in time as you leave and your destination moving forward as you approach it. At one time, this form of isolation posed a mental health threat to colonists. They would sometimes look out into space and see a time before their home star was created. Radio wasn't fast enough to counter this effect.

Actual time disruption results in the dilation of time within the cabin of your ship as a result of it's forward momentum. We reduce this by compressing space along isolinear channels between navigational points so that we can move through space at sub light speeds while covering light-years in seconds. This dilation cannot be completely neutralized because the ship will be moving and ANY velocity results in this effect. N-Stable drive compensates better than the I-Fix system, but the dilation is still there.