Inversion turns matter into antimatter, or vice versa. When antimatter collides with normal matter, both are annihilated and immense amounts of energy are released (generally in the form of x-rays and gamma rays).
Implications
In civilizations with Stringtech 4 or higher, electricity becomes much cheaper. There is no need to obtain special fuel, no need for high- temperature and high-pressure fusion chambers. Antimatter annihilation is orders of magnitude more efficient than obtaining energy from fusion.
Inversion technology can also be weaponized. The inversion beam is a standard firearm in high-tech militaries. These guns send out synchronized pulses of dark matter that pile atop each other to trigger inversion within a target, blowing it apart from the inside. These dark matter pulses travel harmlessly through normal matter until they reach their target, and can hit targets beyond the horizon.
Theoretically, one could build structures from antimatter just as one could from matter. People generally do not do this, as the need to separate these items from normal matter reduces their utility.
Limitations
Free energy does not mean freedom from its consequences. Every bit of energy created in an inversion process eventually becomes heat. Some planets swelter under the increase in global temperature that has resulted from their citizens’ energy choices.
Having free electricity does not mean that an unlimited amount of it is available in any particular locale. Superconducting circuits have a limit as to how much current they can conduct at once before they stop working, and newsfeeds often describe the failure of such systems as “spectacular” or “volcanic.”
One might imagine that there are some environments where people could not afford to destroy matter in order to produce energy – spacer ships, for example. In fact, this is not the case. Other energy sources like fission or fusion also produce energy in this way, but much less efficiently. When inversion technology becomes safe it is by far the most efficient way to generate energy.
Game Terms
Characters with Stringtech 4 or higher have access to inversion weapons, which can fire through walls at near light speed. The resulting energy release when antimatter and matter annihilate is very large, and substantial heat and destruction can result.
Core Tech: Stringtech
