The Pegasus Device (aka simply Pegasus) aka Particle Accelerating Space/Time Transporter v.1 is a time machine, able to send an agent through a tunnel in the space/time continuum to any moment in history.
For security reasons, Pegasus has been programmed to allow agents to travel only to the location of any detected temporal rip or to a time 200 million years in the past, where a Historical Log disc containing the known history of the world has been planted. This disc is meant to serve as a reference tool in case history should be altered.
The device uses a magnetic torus much like that of a fusion reactor to contain the immense gravitational forces generated when sending an object through time. The device also contains the first neutrino matrix accelerator for use with the FTL engine.
The particle acceleration process creates an excess of energy, which Pegasus stores for use in maintaining a homing signal, or "lock," on the agent. The further back in time the agent travels, the more energy Pegasus needs to expend to maintain the lock. In addition, any use of the BioSupport Suit's protective features constitutes a further drain on this energy supply. In order for an agent to return to the present, there must still be a small amount of energy left for the recall process to work; otherwise, the agent could become stranded in the past. The counter at the top left of the interface's main view window lets the agent know how much energy remains.
History[]
After seeing Elliot Sinclair's time bending experiments, the government contracted the accomplished physicist to build the first time travel device.
The prototype was built however, after its maiden usage, the project was scrapped because of mounting concern by the officials. Pegasus was dismantled and secretly reconstructed in the Temporal Security Annex, a top-secret government facility established for the purpose of safeguarding history from sabotage.
With the invention of the JumpSuit, Pegasus became obsolete and was dismantled in the August of 2325. Its huge generator was destroyed, and the smaller core elements put into storage in a secret location.
Behind the scenes[]
Tommy Yune designed the Pegasus partially inspired by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory experimental fusion reactor, namely the tokamak's torus-shaped magnetic containment field, which in Pegasus creates the central gravitational singularity to propel the user back in time. Yune acknowledged that gravity is a realitevly weak force to create a singularity.[1]
There is little information about the early history of Pegasus. It is not known who made the maiden voyage or what time period was visited. It is possible the the first voyage was made to the prehistoric period, in order to establish the TSA installations and the Historical Log archive.