the barrier
Names: the barrierDyson Alpha barrierDyson Pair barrier
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 15 (FOURTEEN)
Appearances
B1
B2
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 15The barrier around Dyson Alpha is 29.7 AU in diameter, emits low infrared, and blocks neutrinos, particles, most electromagnetic radiation and wormholes, but not gravity.
- Ch 15The barrier is an artificial rift in the quantum fields with no physical depth, and it reflected hysradar pulses like a mirror.
- Ch 15No activity, ships, or emissions were detected near the barrier, and Oscar thought it looked like a relic.
- Ch 15The barrier is impervious to everything except gravity; it shows no heat or momentum transfer, and epoxy bounces off it, as no atoms are present.
- Ch 15Scientists cannot explain how the barrier is generated, from where, or why. Crew theories are that it is defensive (confinement or protection) or offensive, weighted eighty/twenty in a sweepstake.
- Ch 15Gravitational readings show two gas giants and three small solid planets inside the barrier, one of them within the star's life band.
- Ch 15After the crew resumed their circuit, the hysradar began breaking through the barrier, which bowed inward as if hit by gas-giant-sized objects and then turned transparent.
- Ch 15The aliens may think the humans belong to the species that built the barrier.
- Ch 17The barrier around the Dyson Alpha star was switched off when the Second Chance arrived, by neither humans nor the Dyson aliens.
Connections
- includesthe hemisphereappears to be an extension of the barrier
- includesDark Fortress
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 15Hysradar sweep and approach to the barrier
At one light-month the crew uses hysradar, which is reflected like a mirror, then jumps to one million km above the barrier's equator and learns wormholes cannot penetrate it.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Mac's EVA to the barrier
Mac jets from the shuttle to the barrier, touches it, and spends forty minutes placing sensors. It is solid-feeling and impervious, with no further answers about its origin.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Barrier turns transparent
An emergency alarm wakes Wilson as hysradar shows the barrier bowing inward. He takes the ship to one million kilometers, and the barrier begins turning transparent.