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Verse:Qu: Difference between revisions
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At night, dimmer lights can be seen from the ''ukana'', and an apparent moon-cycle is simulated. This moon-like light is known as ''aila'' and although it does not display crescent and gibbous shapes, its timing and brightness changes throughout the month similarly to that of the Earth's moon. | At night, dimmer lights can be seen from the ''ukana'', and an apparent moon-cycle is simulated. This moon-like light is known as ''aila'' and although it does not display crescent and gibbous shapes, its timing and brightness changes throughout the month similarly to that of the Earth's moon. | ||
=== ''Xuoho'': | === ''Xuoho'': tunnels between tubes === | ||
[[File:Qu_tube_long_section.png|500px|thumb|right|Fig. 2. Long section of two consecutive ''vuqu'']]Travel between tubes is possible thanks to a network of tunnels called ''xuoho'' [ʃwòhó] that link the tubes with other tubes, as seen in figure 2. These tunnels connect the hubs of consecutive tubes and tunnels branching from nodes half way between consecutive tubes radiate out towards the hubs of parallel tubes. | [[File:Qu_tube_long_section.png|500px|thumb|right|Fig. 2. Long section of two consecutive ''vuqu'']]Travel between tubes is possible thanks to a network of tunnels called ''xuoho'' [ʃwòhó] that link the tubes with other tubes, as seen in figure 2. These tunnels connect the hubs of consecutive tubes and tunnels branching from nodes half way between consecutive tubes radiate out towards the hubs of parallel tubes. | ||
To reach the opening into the tunnel, one must climb around 3 kilometres up the end wall of a tube, known as a ''makio'' [màkjó]. Most ''makio'' are near vertical, although many have comparatively easy paths up to the hub. With increasing altitude, the force of centrifugal gravity decreases, making the climb less and less strenuous as one makes progress. Despite the gradual decrease in gravity, the climb is perilous. The rotation of the tubes causes a strong vertical coriolis effect, causing whirlwinds looking like lazy horizontal tornadoes to stretch along the tube and sweep over the end walls. Many convenient climing paths are relatively sheltered in grooves in the end wall, and over the years, people have carved steps and handholds into often-climbed walls, but climbers in exposed positions, if caught by a whirlwind unawares, can easily by sucked off the wall and fall to their deaths. | To reach the opening into the tunnel, one must climb around 3 kilometres up the end wall of a tube, known as a ''makio'' [màkjó]. Most ''makio'' are near vertical, although many have comparatively easy paths up to the hub. With increasing altitude, the force of centrifugal gravity decreases, making the climb less and less strenuous as one makes progress. Despite the gradual decrease in gravity, the climb is perilous. The rotation of the tubes causes a strong vertical coriolis effect, causing whirlwinds looking like lazy horizontal tornadoes to stretch along the tube and sweep over the end walls. Many convenient climing paths are relatively sheltered in grooves in the end wall, and over the years, people have carved steps and handholds into often-climbed walls, but climbers in exposed positions, if caught by a whirlwind unawares, can easily by sucked off the wall and fall to their deaths. | ||
Nearing the hub, the attachment of the ''ukana'' can be clearly seen. There is a stretch of ukana near each wall that does not emit light at all. Nevertheless, most climbs occur around dawn on the eastern walls, while the ukana beams its light away towards the west. Sunlight first hits the eastern wall at midday. With the hub in sight, the opening to the tunnel can usually be located by watching for bats or swiftlets which migrate between the tubes. The opening is usually reasonably wide, although some tubes have very tight holes to squeeze through. | Nearing the hub, the attachment of the ''ukana'' can be clearly seen. There is a stretch of ''ukana'' near each wall that does not emit light at all. Nevertheless, most climbs occur around dawn on the eastern walls, while the ''ukana'' beams its light away towards the west. Sunlight first hits the eastern wall at midday. With the hub in sight, the opening to the tunnel can usually be located by watching for bats or swiftlets which migrate between the tubes. The opening is usually reasonably wide, although some tubes have very tight holes to squeeze through. | ||
At certain times of the day, the wind races through the | At certain times of the day, the wind races through the tunnels. Consecutive tubes are apparently always out of phase in their day-night cycle and as one tube warms up and its air expands, the tunnels act like valves on a pressure cooker, allowing the air to rush into the neighbouring tube, where the cooling air is beginning to take up less space. Because of this wind and the lack of gravity, those who lose their grip in the tunnels may end up blown out away from the end wall, gradually begin to fall and end up thrown diagonally against the outside of the tube by the rotational forces. | ||
Entering the tunnels, there is a smooth line in the rocks where the rotating tube attaches to the non-rotating tunnel. From this vantage point, one can observe the rotation of the tube, which takes about two minutes to make one revolution. The inside of these tunnels is described as being like a breezy, weightless cave. The air is filled with echolocating bats and swiftlets. It is not known if they breed in the tunnels or simply migrate through from one tube to the next, experiencing an eternal day or night and taking advantage of windblown insects on the way. Their droppings are mostly cleared by the winds, but the walls are coated with bioluminescent, filamentous fungi, which trap and feed on what they can. | Entering the tunnels, there is a smooth line in the rocks where the rotating tube attaches to the non-rotating tunnel. From this vantage point, one can observe the rotation of the tube, which takes about two minutes to make one revolution. The inside of these tunnels is described as being like a breezy, weightless cave. The air is filled with echolocating bats and swiftlets. It is not known if they breed in the tunnels or simply migrate through from one tube to the next, experiencing an eternal day or night and taking advantage of windblown insects on the way. Their droppings are mostly cleared by the winds, but the walls are coated with bioluminescent, filamentous fungi, which trap and feed on what they can. | ||
==== Navigation within | ==== Navigation within a tunnel' ==== | ||
[[File:Qu_Tube_Matrix.png|700px|thumb|right|Fig. 3. External lateral view of the ''vuqu'' matrix; artist's impression.]]When heading straight ahead to a consecutive tube, the path is generally short, only a few hundred metres long and fairly easy to navigate owing to the tell-tale breeze and thick layers of bioluminescent fungus on the walls giving off a dim blue-green glow. Travelling to a parallel tube is much more difficult. To get there, one must find the 'node' half way between the consecutive tubes. Six additional | [[File:Qu_Tube_Matrix.png|700px|thumb|right|Fig. 3. External lateral view of the ''vuqu'' matrix; artist's impression.]]When heading straight ahead to a consecutive tube, the path is generally short, only a few hundred metres long and fairly easy to navigate owing to the tell-tale breeze and thick layers of bioluminescent fungus on the walls giving off a dim blue-green glow. Travelling to a parallel tube is much more difficult. To get there, one must find the 'node' half way between the consecutive tubes. Six additional tunnels radiate away from a node. The closest parallel hubs are around seven kilometres away. In these long tunnels, there is less wind, less fungus and thus less light. Knowing which path to take to get to a particular tube is also challenging, as the rotation of the tubes shifts the apparent orientation of the six tunnels radiating away from the node, making it very difficult to know which tunnel leads where. Furthermore, after many kilometres of awkward weightless travel, a tunnel may turn out to blocked and be a dead end. | ||
Although the tubes have never been seen from the outside, the knowledge of the structure of the | Although the tubes have never been seen from the outside, the knowledge of the structure of the tunnels leads to the conclusion that the tubes are arranged in a vast matrix of both parallel and consecutive tubes as illustrated in the figure 3. at right. The number of parallel tubes in any one parallelum is not known, nor is the number of consecutive parallela, and many Goqu believe that this matrix is infinite in all directions. | ||
[[File:Qu_tube_access.png|250px|thumb|right|Fig. 4. Access to | [[File:Qu_tube_access.png|250px|thumb|right|Fig. 4. Access to tube to the west of nodes in the tunnel network, a hypothetical map designed by an artist.]]Figure 4. shows a hypothetical map of access points to 'vuqu' to the west of the tunnel network within a particular interstice. Black lines represent known tunnels. Yellow dots represent nodes with access to their western ''vuqu''. Red represents nodes with no access a ''vuqu'' to their west. While it is logically possible that there may be gaps in the matrix of ''vuqu'', there is no way that the absence of a ''vuqu'' could be proven and many instances where a gap was presumed have later been found to contain a ''vuqu'' to which no one knew the way before. Many ''vuqu'' are inaccessible from one end but accessible from another. For example, the 'vuqu' behind a red node on the map in figure 4. may be accessible from the other end and a similar map drawn for the interstice at its other end could have an entirely different layout. Some ''vuqu'' may have an unscalable wall (''makio'') at one end. In others, climbing the ''makio'' is possible, but there is no apparent opening into the network of tunnels. The tunnels themselves are blocked in many places. In some cases, the only way to travel from one tube to one of its immediate parallel neighbours may be to travel through several consecutive ''vuqu'' before shifting to a parallel ''vuqu'' and travelling all the way back through consecutive 'vuqu'. The Goqu summarise parallel ''vuqu'' of this nature as ''ei mie kuaqa'', 'close yet far' and new routes and new 'vuqu' are occasionally discovered, making it clear to all within Qu that their world is much larger than what they know of it. | ||
== Weather and climate == | == Weather and climate == | ||