Detouring, also known as instantaneous travel or faster-than-light travel, was an ability first discovered by the various research teams of Lusitania, while it was under the impending threat of the Second Xenocide. The ability was first achieved by the sentient computer program Jane, who was able to leverage the unique properties of her aiúa and her vast computer network to move an object Outside of the universe and back within, at any desired location, without it disintegrating.[1] This method of travel did not have an official name, but was later nicknamed "Detouring" by Petra 'Little Mum' Delphiki, when the topic of a name came up. This was not considered an official name, but was adopted as the de-facto way to refer to the process.[2]
This ability allowed for, essentially, teleportation across the universe to anywhere the user desired. Most notably it was used during the threat of the Second Xenocide to evacuate thousands of Humans, Pequeninos, and Formics to a variety of newly found habitable planets to avoid destruction by the Lusitania Fleet, and for the exploration and subsequent evacuation of Nest during the Descolada Project.[1]
Those who had the ability to Detour themselves were called Detourers or Travelers.[2]
Mechanism[]
An aiúa who is sufficiently "strong", and is aware of the Outside, can cause their body and nearby objects (which is to say, any philotes that are subject to their authority) to instantly exit the Universe, as an act of will. They can then cause the transported objects to re-enter the Universe at any location that they are familiar with, or a location with a known relative position to a place they are familiar with. The objects can re-enter with the appropriate velocity to be stationary relative to their destination. Both of these steps are instantaneous, with the only delay being how quickly the mind of the aiúa can respond.
The process is inherently risky, as outside of the Universe, philotes are not subject to the laws of physics and will immediately disincorporate if those laws are not enforced by a strong aiúa, who is deliberately intending to do so. To maintain this state beyond a very small number of people or objects requires more capacity than any one aiúa has, and thus it is only possible for Jane, who needed to utilize the memory and processing power of a large portion of the Hundred World's computers to maintain physics for the transported objects. Once Jane incorporated the Pequenino Mother Trees into her network, she was able to do this much more efficiently, as the structure of the Mother Trees could be leveraged for incredible amounts of memory and processing power.
It is possible that individuals with a strong aiúa and who were aware of what was happening could resist being transported against their will. It is also possible that they could simply choose to re-enter instantly where they had left, rather than be taken to the original destination.
Transporting individuals with strong aiúas made them familiar with the sensation of detouring, which equipped them to attempt it themselves.
Jane was capable of monitoring the motion of her associates through her philotic connection to them, and either transporting them to a place she desired, or preventing them from instantly disincorporating.
Creating objects in the Outside[]
If a passenger with a strong aiúa was taken to the Outside and stayed there for more than a moment, they could create new matter and even new people directly from their minds; pulling in philotes from the Outside and subjecting them to the authority of their aiúa. This required Jane to exert substantial effort to incorporate the created entities into the physics of the transported objects, though it appears that she could not decline to do so without releasing her control. Living people created by this process were all governed by the same aiúa, though they had separate minds, resulting in the aiúa subconsciously allocating its attention to the lives it found most interesting.
Travelers[]
Jane was originally the only being capable of instantaneous travel.[1] It was eventually discovered that anyone with a strong enough aiúa could at least manage to transport themselves, as long as they were familiar with the feeling of going Outside. This meant that transporting strong aiúas carried the risk of them figuring out how to transport themselves, though the only known case of this happening was Brussels "Sprout" Deplhiki. Travelers could bring small to medium size objects with them, but could only safely bring passengers if they had a sufficiently strong philotic connection to them, and paid careful attention to make sure they survived. If they tried to transport someone outside of these criterion, or to transport too much at once, it was very likely that the passengers or transported objects would be disincorporated when they went Outside.[2]
The Hive Queen of Shakespeare explained to Jane that very few individuals possessed an Aiúa strong enough to Detour, but the frequency of such individuals varied by species. Aiúas of this character were common in Leguminids, but rarer in humans. However, most beings capable of detouring would only be able to transport themselves, and be unable to bring any passengers with them. The fathertree Human explained that Pequeninos only achieved the relevant strength in the Third Life, when they had no more need for movement.[2]