The test drone glided out of the cargo bay of Uncle Lu's shuttle while Nico started to get the extra sensors set up so that they didn't have the second ship's hull to go through. The bay door faced the direction of the test, so they only needed to compensate for the energy barrier, and the data should be nearly perfect.
Once they were fully set up, Nico started the countdown timer, and then the Warp Drive on the drone engaged, sending it hurling out into space.
As predicted, the trip was a short one, but fortunately, the drone was intact when the shield modulation faltered and the warp field collapsed.
"What do we have for data on that? I will see if I can get the Warp Drive back online to bring it back to us, but if not, I have a recovery drone that can go get it." Nico explained to Uncle Lu and Princess Chen, who was staring at the displayed data in awe.
"Look at all that information. There is so much to know, and it's all new." The young noble girl laughed.
She had a data tablet in her hands, the same as all the Innu Researchers, and she was taking the best notes that she could, considering that she was still too young to have finished her basic schooling.
Nico suspected that she had actually used a learning device to finish it all early, but it wasn't her twelfth birthday yet, so the amount of information that she actually understood from a Warp Drive test was questionable.
The warp drive wasn't coming back online, so Nico sent out a recovery drone, which had it back for a thorough examination in only a few seconds.
"Well, ladies, what did we find? Does anyone have solid data on why the warp field collapsed yet?" Nico asked as she began to physically inspect the drone using her System Functions.
[Repair] would tell her if the unit was broken and how to fix it, if it was fixable, but it wouldn't tell her why it broke in the first place. That much was still up to her.
In this case, the Warp Crystals shattered. They weren't overloaded, the drone had barely reached warp five when the whole process ended, so it must have been some side effect of the modulation testing.
"I've got nothing here. I was in charge of the output rates, and they go from ten point two percent to suddenly nothing at all. There was no recorded power spike." One of the researchers noted.
"Same with the gravity sensors. The fluctuations were present but minimal. Much less than we had calculated as the maximum usable levels. Do you want me to start on a plan to mitigate them?" Another asked.
"Not yet. Save that until we figure out why it collapsed the crystal matrix." Nico sighed.
"Harmonic resonance." One of the others suggested.
Crystals would shatter when subjected to a certain frequency range. If the energy frequency of the Warp Field Generator happened to match a destructive frequency for the crystals, we should see a result like this." Uncle Lu suggested.
Nico smiled at him. "It's good to have you here. We're used to the yes or no style of 'did it blow up' testing methods. So, we forgot about simple things like the harmonic frequencies that can damage crystals."
"You can blame that on our little Princess here. She has an ultrasonic whistle to alert her guards when we're out in public, and the first one that we made for her shattered all the glasses in the dining hall when she used it the first time." The old scientist laughed.
"Well, that's sure to be memorable, at the very least. Now, we just need to exclude that range of frequencies from the process, as well as fields that will produce the opposite of that harmonic frequency, so that we don't get resonance that will collapse the field.
I will launch the drone again in three minutes after I have replaced the crystal matrix and modified the pattern." Nico informed them.
The second test launched smoothly and made it to warp twelve before it ran into an issue and exploded into space dust.
"Well, we can call that one not survivable. Start analyzing all your data, and we will see what we can do to prevent an incident like that from happening again. But first, does anyone see an obvious cause?"
Nobody spoke up, so Nico started her own data analysis along with the research team. The answer only took her a few minutes to find.
"I've got it. The change in frequencies was not compatible with the one before it, and the polarity of the field reversed, trying to take it from Warp twelve to Warp twenty-four in the opposite direction. The inertia tore the ship apart." She sighed.
"Well, we did at least get some good data. There are a lot of power draw fluctuations here, as well as gravity swings, motion changes that would make the experience extremely nauseating, and more.
If we spend a few days analyzing this, we should have enough data to at least get it to Warp 24 with a stable field and possibly to the next reconfiguration that would take it to Warp 48." Nergal suggested with hope in her voice.
If they could manage that feat, they would have one of the most incredible breakthroughs in Warp Field technology in centuries. That would definitely create a thesis paper worthy of a Doctorate from the University.
"Good call. Let's call it a day for the experiments, and we will finish up the analysis later. Today is a holiday, and we have guests, so we should show them around the World Ship. Tell me, Princess, is it your first time here? Many of my team members have only been here a few days, and they would love to have another person to explore with." Nico asked.
"This will be my first time here. It's been hard to get away from all the Royal Family training lately, so my dreams of becoming the next Uncle Lu have been put on hold." The little girl pouted.
"You know what solves that? A trip down the gravity slides into the waterfall pool. That will wash all your cares away for the evening."
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