As of the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, both the devices on Reach and Onyx have been destroyed, with the fate of the Earth device unknown. However, this technology was highly expensive and as a result there were only three such launchers in existence by 2552: one on Reach, one on Onyx and one on Earth. The strength of this system was the probes' ability to precisely home in on the designated target and securely deliver the message to the recipient. The UNSC also developed a piece of technology known as the Slipspace COM launcher, which sent independently guided probes through slipspace as fast as any UNSC starship. At the time of the establishment of the Cole Protocol in 2531, while unable to send messages through slipspace itself, the UNSC was able to use a form of slipspace manipulation to obfuscate radio transmissions sent from Earth centuries earlier in order to prevent the Covenant from using the signals to triangulate Earth's location. On the other end of the ship's slipspace journey, the message would be relayed to the intended recipient. īefore the advent of superluminal communications, most human long-range communiques were carried on the shipboard memory of starships such as automated freighters. These messages are sent through Waypoint, a UNSC communications network similar to the 21st-century Internet. Human civilians were able to use slipstream packets by September 2552. This system may be related to a form of communication known as "slipstream packets", which are, in essence, recorded audio messages, rather like letters. UNSC Infinity's superluminal communications capability includes 16-channel "slipspace wavecom datalinks". Such communicators can be built compact enough to fit into man-portable communications kits. The UNSC's discovery of Forerunner technology on Trevelyan in early 2553 enabled even smoother information transfer and the capability for ships to maintain communications while in slipspace this technology was installed on the UNSC Infinity and select ONI vessels. Using Forerunner technology, signals can instead be carried across slipspace, allowing colonies and even starships to remain in contact at much faster speeds. The energy required to open a wavespace link is immense, however, bandwidth across the relay is limited, and signals carried in wavespace are prone to distortion the further they travel, limiting their effectiveness.
#SUPERLUMINAL TEETH SERIES#
By the final years of the Human-Covenant War, however, the UNSC had developed technology enabling them to tap into wavespace, a dimensional realm similar to slipspace, to carry messages across short interstellar distances along a series of relays and retransmission stations, allowing colonies and ships to be connected in virtual real real time. For much of their spacefaring history, humanity and the UNSC were reliant on starships to carry information across interstellar distances.