Ladder

A device that temporarily establishes a tunnel through the Between to connect two points. The points must generally be relatively close—the average range is two kilometers, although this varies depending on the power of the initiating Ladder. The most powerful Ladders can extend hundreds of kilometers. These long distance devices are generally only found on capital ships or space stations (or on the surface of a planet). Ladders cannot penetrate shields, meaning that hostile boarding is not possible until they are down. What is more, the target vessel's ladder must be located by the aggressor's scanners before the connection can be established. This may involve overcoming countermeasures designed to disrupt scanning. The connection needs to be made between two Ladders. That is, a ship cannot build a Ladder between itself and a random point. To avoid having people asphyxiate while traveling though the between, Ladders commonly have built in systems to make the tunnel habitable. Furthermore, Ladders normally have a system to propel the passengers from one end to the other as though they were sailing a Thread. When entering a Ladder, people appear to evaporate like heat waves as they phase into the Between. They will experience a few seconds of vertiginous freefall as the are carried along the bridge (the feeling is the same regardless of their actual trajectory—ascending feels the same as descending). Finally, they will reverse the initial process as they phase back into First Space appearing within two meters of the beacon at their destination.