ALIEN CRAFT ENGINES

THE IMPULSE PROPULSION ENGINE

We didn't have much data available, (during April, 1990) about the
"Warp Drive Operation" of the basic Rigelian Starships but The Air 
Force knows they work on the principle of PLASMA-ENERGIZED CONTAINED 
ANTIMATTER.  We get the secondary impulse engine system which serves 
for use at sublight speeds.  This fusion reaction is located aft of 
the main saucer command section and can propel the craft at speeds 
up to that of 75% of the speed of light.  The impulse drive system
works by channeling hot plasma energy exhaust away from the vessel.
This plasma exhaust is not the by-product of simple plasma matter
generated in a laboratory invironment, but high-energy plasma 
produced in a fusion-reactor containment system.  Huge amounts of 
the plasma are first accelerated to high velocities along a ring 
of magnetic coils, and then injected into the space-time driver 
coils, the central component of the impulse engine system.  These 
coils produce a limited distortion of the local space-time 
continuum, (not unlike that of a local stasis field) and further 
accelerate the energy and speed of the impulse engine plasmes to 
near relativistic speeds of their escape.

THE SPEED GEAR DRIVE PROPULSION ENGINE

The main propulsion system of the most common "Mother Ships" is 
the FIF-2M, Multi-Field Speed Gear Drive.  Under Normal operation,
the FIF-2M Speed Gear Drive System can propel the cruiser at a 
speed of eight (8) Speed Gear, that is 8 X 8 X 8 X 8 X 8 X the 
Earthian Speed of Light, with emegency speeds of Speed Gear 
nine (9) and beyond.  At the heart of this massive drive system 
is the MAGNIUM Crystal assembly, which controls the 
matter/antimatter colisions.

  They call "MAGNIUM"........MMGNIUM....or...

Magnium is the only material yet discovered that can withstand 
exposure to antimatter particles for limited periods of time.  
Because of its unique crystaline structure, Magnium can hold 
antimatter suspended in the empty spaces between its atoms with 
only negligible annihilation of either Magnium or antimatter 
atoms.

If a crystal is defective, its structure will permit too many 
antimatter atoms to touch the normal atoms, thus degrading the 
structure of the crystal itself at a measurable rate.  This is 
known as Magnium decrystalization.

The Magnium crystal is housed in an armored cradle of MEGAPLASTIUM, 
(or, in alien language, MMGPLTUM" or                         , the
hardest substance known to the civilized races.  During normal 
operations, matter and antimatter are introduced into the Speed Gear 
engine core through separate plasma injectors.  The Magnium crystal 
assembly is placed directly in the path of the two matter streams, 
which would otherwise collide with an explosive release of energy.
Instead, particles of antimatter slip through the face of the Magnium
crystal housed in the assembly block, the antimatter atoms splitting 
apart in reaction to the Magnium atoms, then recombining in a 
high-energy combination.

These newly combined atoms receive additional energy charges as they 
pass from one crystal to the next in the assembly.  Naturally, a few
atoms of Magnium and antimatter will collide on the crystal's surface, 
but a surrounding magnetic coil contains the energy and radiation 
from these collisions.

The streams of Magnium, energized antimatter coming from the Magnium 
crystal assembly, now split into separate plasma streams that are 
magnetically channeled along power transfer nacelles, the modified
antimatter streams, which results in mutual annihilation and the 
release of enormous energy.  A by-product of the destruction of
Magnium, energized atoms of antimatter is the release of unique
electromagnetic properties that produce the Speed Gear Field 
surrounding the Mother Ship.

All Speed Gear Drives Fall Into Three Types:

1.  Standard Speed Gear Drive units create a single Speed Gear Field 
that surrounds the ship as it moves through space, allowing it to 
move at speeds in excess of the Earthian Speed of Light.

2.  Trans-Speed Gear Drive systems create a similar field, but 
improve on the original design by projecting portions of the Speed 
Gear field ahead of the ship.  This creates a natural multiplier 
phenomenon, increasing speeds with only minimal increases on energy 
costs.

3.  Multi-Speed Gear Drive system.  The so-called Mother Ships 
combines both the above systems to create a Multi-Speed Gear Field 
engine design.  Though the Mother Ship is not a true Trans-Gear Drive 
vessel because of its size, its Speed Gear system does have 
advantages over alternate Speed Gear Drives.

The Mother Ship Speed Gear Drive functions through a pair of separate
Speed Gear Drive units along each outboard engine housing.  Each of 
these four (4) units projects its own Speed Gear Field ahead of the 
vessel as it moves through space.  These fields overlap, which 
results in high Speed Gear speeds for a vessel the size of the Mother 
Ship, as well as, for most instantaneous shifts from sublight speeds 
to Speed Gear speed.

It also makes possible near-instantaneous jumps to higher Speed Gear 
levels without the need for magnetic containment build-up time.  In
older generation Speed Gear Systems, the matter-antimatter intermix
temperatures within the Speed Gear Engine units had to be carefully 
recalibrated to accept higher pressures before the vessel could 
move from one Speed Gear level to the next.  The time needed to
increase the strength of the surrounding magnetic containment 
fields could require, from several earth seconds, up to several 
earth minutes.

END