The atmospheric particles

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Appears in: Descent

The atmospheric particles are regularly spaced particles suspended in layers in the upper atmosphere of Calima, detected as the ship enters orbit.

In Descent (2258)

How it works

Spoilers for Descent

When the ship's instruments focus on The columns, an electromagnetic wave leaves them and spreads almost instantly through the particles up to the ship's orbit; then every particle in the nearest layer is excited at once, and the ship is cut in two along it. Physicists speculate that the particles act like the ship's own nanomesh, which would mean a structure of incredible complexity on a planetary scale, able to stay inert on standby.

Afterwards they jam radio: any signal beyond a few hundred metres meets interference within microseconds, which keeps the survivors from reaching the surviving satellite. According to the preliminary reports Raina cites, they are molecules of Gadolinium-128, an isotope whose stability should be physically impossible, and the same isotope as the The black fluid.

Quotes

Several annotations made later indicated the readings of various instruments: in a schematic visual context, Kurt watched as an electromagnetic wave emanated from the columns when they were analyzed and propagated almost instantaneously through the suspended particles of the atmosphere to the low orbit of the spacecraft.

The ship had instantly split in two, sliced cleanly through the section drawn by the particle layer.

Spoilers for Descent

They are Gadolinium-128 molecules in suspension, an isotope whose stability should be physically impossible.

Sources