The Quiet Zones
Another enigma of the Terragens sphere
Quiet
Zone in Lacerta
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The Quiet ZonesAnother enigma of the Terragens sphereQuiet
Zone in Lacerta
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Rumour has it that every once in a while a researcher using data from the Known Net discovers an anomalous stellar system. It might be nearly anywhere, from the edge of the Terragen expanse to the heart of the Inner Sphere, but what distinguishes it from otherwise similar systems is how little is known about it at close range. Often a Quiet Zone is claimed by some polity but has not been visited or developed. Somehow though explorers, scientists, and colonists will have bypassed it and chosen other targets, or experienced technical breakdowns or financial reverses, or have had disputes among themselves, and have never made the trip. Or perhaps someone has actually set out but has not returned. Somehow too the full power of the Argus Array has never been focused on that area, or if it has then the data that are available have been shuffled into mislabelled files. In the end, the existence of that particular zone or of Quiet Zones generally becomes just another rumour on the Known Net.
Transapient
sources, when questioned about these areas, may describe them in detail
(unconfirmed detail), or deny they exist, or declare that they are
off-limits parts
of the mysterious and near-legendary Seams (sometimes called the worlds
that fall between the boundaries of empire),
or simply refuse to give an
answer. A researcher who persists in publishing eir results may find
that those
results they are discredited, or that critical details that would
identify the
actual place are missing from the information they broadcast, or that
their
superiors withdraw their funding. In a very few cases, a suspected
Quiet Zone
is publicized, and sophonts go there, only to find what might be
expected:
another star system, usually quite dull and ordinary but occasionally
with some
interesting item in it such as a gardenworld,
or some megastructure,
or evidence of starlifting.
From to all appearances, such systems have
simply been missed by chance.
Most experts, and most
sceptical ordinary sophonts argue that Quiet
Zones are just what they appear to be: a statistical fluke, the far
end of the probability distribution. However, wild stories and
conspiracy
theories
abound: that they are secret transapient projects, systems in use by
xenosophonts, or even
reserves for Hiders.
Such stories and theories are remarkably persistent. Proponents of
these stories say that the few publicized instances of "Quiet" zones
are a fraction of the true total.
