Ekti

In the Saga of Seven Suns novels written by Kevin J. Anderson, ekti is a fictional allotrope of hydrogen which is used to power the Ildiran stardrive, the only feasible method of interstellar travel at the start of the series.

Ekti is harvested from gas giants as their atmosphere is mostly Hydrogen. Hydrogen, being the most abundant element in the universe, can also be found in interstellar nebula as well as planets close to and farthest away from the Sun. To extract the Hydrogen which in turn is converted to Ekti large Skymines are used. These plants are usually manned by Roamers, but occasionally by Ildirans and the Hansa. In extracting Hydrogen from nebula large Nebular Skimmers that slowly collect the Hydrogen for transport to be converted into Ekti. However when the Hydrogues released an Ultimatum against sky mining, many Roamers found other ways to produce ekti. Kotto Okiah an adventurous engineer for the Roamers found many different ways to extract hydrogen, including a volcano world of Isperos.

The concept of Ekti in the Saga of Seven Suns series remains problematic: hydrogen, because of its ability to only form one chemical bond, makes Ekti chemically impossible.