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Metric Bomb

Godtech weapon capable of destroying planets or stars with virtually no warning.

Golifa Nebula
Image from Steve Bowers
The Golifa Nebula, formerly the Golifa Triune, three stars in Perseus which were destroyed by a metric bomb during the Amalgamation Crisis

A metric bomb is created by enclosing each mouth of a Hayward class wormhole within a void bubble and dispatching the bubbles toward a target at nearly the speed of light. Both bubbles may be dispatched to the same target or each bubble may be sent to a different target depending on logistical and tactical considerations.

When the bubbles arrive at their target they approach as closely as possible to it and then destructively deactivate while simultaneously initiating a disruptive feedback cycle within the enclosed wormholes. Within a fraction of a second the wormhole implodes, releasing approximately 70% of its mass as energy into the surrounding environment before stabilizing as a small black hole.

Metric bomb technology is the product of advanced godtech, only available to S:5 entities and above.

Due to the mass of even a modest sized Hayward wormhole, the detonation of a metric bomb is tremendously destructive. A single nanometer radius bomb can release sufficient energy to fragment any planetary body up to and including a modest Jovian class world such as Jupiter in the Sol system. And a swarm of less than 200 bombs, each carrying a 300 nanometer radius gate, can release sufficient energy to destroy a star like Sol.

Perhaps even more terrifying than the destructive potential of a metric bomb is that it is almost impossible to defend against or even detect. Enclosed within its void bubble containment the bomb can accelerate almost instantly to nearly the speed of light. This allows the bomb to arrive at its target only a fraction of a second after its own gravitational 'wave front', greatly reducing or even eliminating the effectiveness of the gravitational interferometer based detection systems which are the foundation of the defense networks for most systems. Since a bomb can be launched with essentially no detectable energy release in electromagnetic frequencies, telescopic observation of the surrounding galaxy is also effectively useless.

Only archailect based detector systems linked by wormholes have the requisite sensitivity and 'lead time' necessary to both detect metric weapons at a distance and warn of their approach in a timely manner. Even these technologies are rumored to have difficulty dealing with metric armaments due to their tremendous maneuverability. In addition, the ongoing creation and deployment of wormholes, reactionless drives, and similar space-time engineering feats results in a constant background 'noise' of gravitational waves which may mask devices of a hostile nature. Indeed the only difference between a peaceful Void-drive linelayer and a solar system destroying metric warhead may be the intent of its operator.

There are only a few documented instances of metric explosives being deployed in combat, virtually all of them taking place during the war against the Amalgamation (Specifically during the Golifa Incident when the Amalgamation appeared to have taken simultaneous control of three Fourth Singularity intelligences occupying what was then the open star system known as the Golifa Triune, cf. Golifa Nebula). Since that period, there have been no known metric detonations of a hostile nature detected, although it is rumored that virtually all of the major archai, both within and outside of the Civilized Galaxy, maintain arsenals of such weapons in a modern echo of the ancient Balance of Terror that once gripped Information Age Old Earth.

It is notable that the Sephirotic forces did not use Metric Bombs during the war against the Oracle Machines, perhaps because they would leave no recoverable data behind after use.

The apparent absence of such devices being used in any capacity (for testing or otherwise) in the last 800 years has led some observers to conclude that some form of mutually binding treaty or agreement has been established among the archai that precludes the use of such weapons and classifies any attempt at use as grounds for war by all other parties. All requests for information or clarification directed to any entities of the relevant S-levels are summarily ignored.
 
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Appears in Topics
Fifth Toposophic - The Great ArchailectsMetric EngineeringMetric Weapons
Space-Time EngineeringTransapientech / Godtech / Clarketech
 
Development Notes
Text by Todd Drashner
Initially published on 01 March 2007.

 
 
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