From: Kóris Marukanin (Director of Surreal Research)
To: Irreality Vault (All Staff)
Subject: Inappropriate usage of cystal universes
Priority: Immediate
Security: IRREALITY INTERNAL SURREAL
I should like to begin by once again congratulating Reizei Chíra’s team on their successful creation of a syntropic cystal universe. While further experimentation has demonstrated the necessity for a great deal of additional work to combine syntropy with time’s arrow moving in its customary direction, the magnitude of this achievement cannot be overstated.
However, I must also take a moment to remind all staff that while the construction and maintenance of cystal universes is an innately expensive business, those of a syntropic cystal universe is even more so. If the work of our infrastructure department has escaped your notice thus far, please be advised that the routine operation of the Vault consumes quantities of antimatter perhaps best expressed in terms of moonlets.
This being the case, please cease forthwith and do not resume the practice of using experimental syntropic universes, of any volume, as a means to repair broken items. This is literally multiple orders of magnitude more costly, in terms both economic and cosmic, than the most ostentatious normal repair process imaginable.
I am a reasonable sophont. I will consider applications for syntropic repair of unique and irreplaceable historical artifacts or one-of-a-kind Precursor archaeology. I will even see if it is possible to work damaged items of great sentimental value to their possessors and which wouldn’t survive normal repair processes into the existing experimental schedule.
But even if it was your favorite esklav mug that you knocked off the console, and you know who you are, put down the irreality engine and just take it into town.
Kóris Marukanin
Director of Surreal Research
That… is a lot of antimatter. Assuming it consumes a moonlet (say, 2 \times 10^{15} kg, about the mass of Avétal - which seems to be the smallest moonlet with a stated mass) per in-'verse year (3 \times 10^{7} s), that’s a power consumption of 1 \times 10^{25} W, or 3% of the luminosity of Sol. And since most bodies listed as “moonlets” are more like 1 \times 10^{20} kg, this seems like it’s from a future where the Empire is a Kardashev two point something civilization. Or they’ve discovered a way to generate energy at large scales that doesn’t involve stars doing fusion. Or they’ve discovered a way to generate antimatter more efficiently than E = mc^2 and the conservation laws suggest is possible.
You remember the Cirys bubble at Esilmúr, right? Close to its entire output goes straight into farming antimatter in bulk and stocking it in ice-giant-sized balls. Kardashev 2 it is, and this is precisely the sort of application Esilmúr was designed to feed.
And, I note, a non-orientable wormhole generates antimatter from matter at 100% efficiency, operating costs notwithstanding, because of CPT constraints. (See physicist explanation on this page, 'bout ⅔ down.)
I suppose I’ve one last quibble I could make, which is that most moonlets whose masses are stated are rather larger, at 10^{20} kg or so, or they consume more than one moonlet per year, but I suppose the good director here could be using “moonlets” as hyperbole (or you the author have translated the in-universe intent into hyperbole)
Also, aren’t non-orientable wormholes not possible under currently known physics?
Wikipedia says:
But I think we do have concrete evidence of CP violations: CP violation - Wikipedia
On the former, it is indeed possible that the Director carefully selected his definition of moonlet to aid in reining in his mad scientists.
On the other hand, he’s got some wiggle room. Esilmúr isn’t what you might call a small manufacturing site, and along with weylforges and Qechra, the Irreality Vault is one of their top three customers.
On the latter, I don’t have the physics background to argue it myself, but when I have to choose between Wikipedia and Luke Campbell on the topic of wormholes, I generally go with the latter.
(If it turns out I chose poorly, well, it’s a good thing I didn’t say that somewhere canonical, now isn’t it?
)
I would so take advantage of the offer on items that wouldn’t survive normal repair processes getting added into the existing experimental schedule…
Though I don’t think “my favorite esklav mug” would qualify, “my ceramic trophy for best song, made by a now-deceased friend” probably would qualify for syntropic repair.