Hello all, Ric here with a quick video on Wormholes! Or more specifically, artificial ones.
Wormholes are of course are created from a fold in spacetime at the point where the fabric of reality
meets itself. This creates a bridge between the two points, allowing for near-instantaneous travel
from one point to the next and most wormholes that occur naturally are short-lived or always in
motion. This can be taken to mean that the space time continuum is always in motion, responding
the effects of gravity and rippling with warp drive and all sorts of other subspace phenomena.
Artificial wormholes however are a different story and for the longest time, the only known
stable wormhole, the Bajor-Idran one from Deep Space Nine, was eventually revealed to
also be artificially created. This wormhole was formed through unknown means by extra-dimensional
beings, known to the Bajorans as the Prophets and interpreted as “Gods” by their faith,
sending through prophetic crystalline orbs, many of which ended up on Bajor. These beings existed
beyond time, but also declared themselves to be “Of Bajor”, suggesting that they had an interest
in protecting that world, maybe out of curiosity for linear lifeforms. Their motives are never
really explored, beyond this apparent desire to understand and preserve, and they have an easier
time communicating with creatures of our realm when those creatures enter into the wormhole.
Presumably then, if the wormholes is a connection point between two locations, then these wormhole
aliens dwell in the space in-between, using the crossing to peer into the normal flow of space
time. As for how the phenomena stays stable, Starfleet suspected Verteron particles played
some key role in maintaining its structure against the randomness that normally plagues natural ones.
Verterons are faster-than light particles that can disable warp fields, but do seem to attract
the apertures of wormholes, as Voyager found out in 2373, temporarily providing stability to them.
Naturally, Starfleet has a vested interest in wormhole technology for its practical use
at crossing vast distances in no time at all; something the exploratory agency is
in increasing demand for, as they continue to push the bounds of what is known and mapped.
Messing with Warp inevitably lead to the exploration or wormhole phenomena,
such as the accidental creation of them by a faulty drive. Such accidental wormholes however
are not usable, and are wholly destructive to a vessel, but it does show that they are
possible. The most promising work was in 2372, when a Federation Trill Scientist, Lenara Kahn
put together a theorised method for generating one and it was field tested that year. Such a
wormhole began with manipulating subspace before bombarding its with magnetised particles, creating
a specific subspace distortion. This could then be manipulated into forming an actual wormhole,
but initial tests failed to carry a probe through when tetryons interacted with its
shields. This produced a shockwave of gravitons, gravity manipulating particles that damaged the
USS Defiant. But it was progress nonetheless. One of Starfleet’s biggest successes in wormholes
was on a microscopic scale with the MIDAS array, a galaxy crossing communications satellite that
used an existing pulsar to form one, and only for a brief although routine interval.
Ship size wormholes were still elusive. There have been numerous other theories in the
following years to produce wormholes, both using natural resources and completely artificial means,
but most involved the same principle, messing with subspace, then applying a lot of gravity,
kind of in a similar vein of science as warp drive.
In the 30th century there was the Vulcan SB-19 experiment to created FTL without warp, and that
looked like a wormhole or some gateway technology, but how it works was not revealed in full.
Spoilers for Discovery season 4 now, which is probably also going to horribly date this video
due to speculation. So I’ll give you a couple of seconds… there.
The gravitational anomaly that is cropping up was recently revealed to be a product
an artificial wormhole after a smaller one was recreated in laboratory conditions.
The calculations behind creating one are solid and all that was required was more power. Far more
than could be produced by a 32nd century starship, approximately the power of a hyper-giant star.
Omega molecules could provide such a power source on a physically smaller scale, or some other
super-advanced energy tech and Starfleet went through its list of powers that could feasibly
create artificial wormholes on such a scale as the Dark Matter Anomaly. They did not think the
Metrons, Nacene or Q were responsible, all very powerful species in their own rights and they even
name-dropped the survivors of the Iconian Empire, which, unless something else is added to the lore,
would be a soft nod towards Star Trek Online’s climactic events in the 25th century. Nice.
Either way, the formation of an artificial wormhole is not an unknown science, and even
The UFP was getting somewhere back in the 24th century. Considering that when wormholes creation
goes wrong, we get massive gravitational effects, it could even be that the DMA is a mistake,
or perhaps a weaponised version of formerly benign research. We are likely seeing one
end of an artificial wormhole open up, disrupt gravity and space time around it for lightyears,
then snake around a bit before closing and reopening elsewhere. If it is a wormhole,
then I doubt the end causing the destruction is the point of origin, and that whatever lies at
the other side is opening the rifts, sat atop a monumental power source. Maybe it even dwells
beyond regular space time, like the Prophets. So for now, that is all I have on artificial
wormholes in Star Trek, at least until Discovery adds some more to this lore,
Thanks for watching, I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you later for another video! Goodbye!