Chapter Eleven: Frustrations

Bill discusses FTL drive research frustrations with Garfield in virtual reality. Despite theoretical knowledge that faster-than-light travel is possible (via SCUT), Bill struggles to find a practical method for moving matter at superluminal speeds, with both wormhole and Alcubierre drive approaches stalled on the critical barrier of requiring negative energy or mass.

Bill and Garfield meet in VR while Bill works on upgrading a spare manny. Bill expresses frustration about the slow progress on developing an FTL drive. He explains that while SCUT proves the speed of light is not an absolute limit, the process for moving matter faster than light remains elusive. Bill has been focusing on two theoretical approaches: wormholes and variations on the Alcubierre drive, but both require negative energy or negative mass that he cannot obtain. Garfield mentions he's been talking to Hugh about the problem but has gotten nowhere definitive. Bill discusses his recent progress: he can now isolate and maintain microscopic wormhole pairs from cosmic foam for several seconds and separate them by kilometers, but any attempt to send matter or photons through them causes collapse. The Alcubierre drive approach is similarly blocked—there exist detailed theoretical designs from the early twenty-first century, but they contain a conceptual gap marked only as "warp drive goes here." Both men acknowledge the Casimir power source offers negative vacuum energy but is orders of magnitude too weak for the required energy levels. They conclude with the hope that Garfield's continued communication with Hugh might yield some helpful hint or direction.