Medical Report

The Problem with Hyper Space Travel.

 

For reasons that are still not clear to us, being in hyper space has adverse affects on the human body. Very seldom is it fatal. Occasionally serious physical and mental damage can result. But in most cases there are only various degrees of discomfort, with headaches and nausea being the most common.

Now that we have several decades of accumulated data, we can report;

About 40% of people experience no noticeable ill affects from time spent in H-Space.

Although the long term study of ship crews, does indicate that people in this category may develop “twitches”. These conditions are minor and in no way problematic.

About 60% of people will experience mild discomfort while in H-Space, for over 24 hours. Bizarre dreams are also a common occurrence. Most who suffer any ill effects will find they increase over time.

Thus most ships limit the duration of any jump to few days.

About 20% of people will develop headaches or nausea that become debilitating after a few days in H-Space. Although not a serious health problem, drugs can usually stabilize the person if necessary. It is strongly recommended that a full 24 hours between jumps in normal space be used to allow their metabolism to return to normal.

About 10% of people will be fine for a few days before the sudden onset of delirium. The body reacts with a high fever, although no infection can be found. In most cases regular medical treatment can stabilize the person until the ship returns to normal space.
As a subset of this group a small number will seem fine physically, but their minds will be deranged. Mostly they are docile but occasionally they may become violent. This is one more reason all star ships need a doctor, and the medical by needs a restraint bed.

Almost always the individual recovers fully in 18 hours. The 24 hour rest rule provides extra observation time, just in case the individual is among the 5% who have serious complication. With in this group are those who suffer some permanent damage or eventual death. That is right about 5% of all people who travel in H-Space will be seriously harmed by it.

The 1%. There is truth to the rumours that some people simply die once they enter H-space. About half of this number suffer a stroke or heart attack immediately upon entering. The other half die more peacefully in their sleep. Naturally the rumours have caused something of a fear of first time flying.

The department has kept quiet about this problem, while investigating it thoroughly. We need to find what commonality these people have, in order to screen them out in from future travel.

Early Indicator.

When the starship training program was in its third year of full operation, the discomforts of hyper space were known. However only a few serious side effects had been experienced thus far, by crews who were in H-Space for long duration.

The only indicator, at this time, of debilitating instant reactions was the case of crewman Zhun, who passed out whenever his ship jumped to hyper space. Although alarming, the medical situation was not serious, as he was revived and only reported mild dizziness for a few minutes after the experience. Never the less Zhun was removed from the starship flight list after three missions. Although he would volunteer to fly another two as part of a medical experiment.

The first sudden H-Space death.

In standard training all cadets make a few short jumps around the solar system, first as observer crewmen then as primary crew, with experienced officers as backup. It was on one such mission that cadet Kevin seemed to pass out as the training ship made its jump into H-Space. A few of the crew even joked that “we have another Zhun” before the doctor stepped in to examine him. Unfortunately Kevin's reaction was a massive stroke rather than a loss of consciousness. He was dead by the time he reached sick bay.

All training missions were put on hold for 3 weeks as a medical investigation was launched. But no preexisting condition was found that could explain cadet Kevin's death.

From that day forward, the first hyper space jump has become a frightening gamble for the individual. Although the odds of death are very low, it does happen. Of course humans being the legalistic creatures they are, now require anyone aboard a starship to sign the waver of risk agreement.

The frightening case of the Ketterry.

On its second voyage the colonial transport ship Ketterry was carrying 50 passengers. One woman died instantly in much the same way as cadet Kevin. Her daughter seemed to be healthy, but was clearly in shock over her mother's death, died in her sleep. A third passenger, no relation, experienced increasingly serious head aces. He was given sedatives but continued to exhibit agitation and stress, until he also died. Five other passengers experienced significant discomforts, made worse by the worry over the deaths. 

One man descending into panic, launched himself off in an escape pod, in deep space.
Although extremely alarming to the passengers crew, who seriously considered returning to Earth, instead of continuing to their destination. The events did give the doctor some valuable data to work with. The mother and daughter had suffered similar sudden brain fatalities, while the unrelated man had a experienced a different kind of chemical imbalance.

Naturally rumours about the Ketterry being cursed started to circulate. No one wanted to take their chances on it. Thus the ship was refitted as a cargo carrier, with only a minimum few cabins for passengers.