=Gates and Communications= 
**Posted by:** Starlink, Comms Hacker <Info Msg Rep>
Because the wormholes that the gates create are theorized to fold space-time together, they allow for a form of faster-than-light (FTL) travel. What this means, of course, is that gate travel exceeds the speed of standard electromagnetic communication channels, such as radio and laser commlinks. If a gatecrasher leaves from the [[Vulcanoid Gate]], stepping through to the [[Martian Gate]], and a radio message is beamed outside of the gate from the [[Vulcanoids]] to [[Mars]] at the same time (the physical distance being close to 12 light minutes), the gatecrasher will arrive approximately 12 minutes before the radio message. This is not time travel, it is merely a consequence of the vast scales involved in communicating across space. The same result can be simulated using FTL quantum-entangled communicators.
The unknown ﬁelds at the mouth of each wormhole prevent electromagnetic communications from passing through. What this means is that even if a gate is open, connecting Mars to an exoplanet, for example, you could not send a radio signal through the gate in the same manner as you can send a gatecrasher. The only way to achieve FTL communications using the gates is to pass some sort of physical link through, such as a ﬁberoptic cable. It is thus possible to pass a cable through the gate, connected to a repeater or similar communications device on the other side, so that data passed through the cable and the gate may be broadcast once reaching the other side. Most colonies and exoplanets with regular traffic have a repeater stationed at the remote gate for exactly this purpose.
==Exoplanet Mesh Networks== 
Every colony has their own local mesh network, but by its remote nature this mesh is isolated from the networks of the solar system back home (or other exoplanets). Any messages or other data to be sent back to the solar system (or to any other transhuman settlement in the galaxy) is simply queued up. When the periodic wormhole connection is made back to the solar system, these messages are passed through (via a physical cable connection). Likewise, any messages to that colony are saved up and stored at the gate, and passed through when the next scheduled link is made.
This means, however, that whoever controls the gate has the capability to intercept, scan, and even ﬁlter or censor unencrypted communications that pass through these channels. Pathﬁnder is known to do this, censoring any news from its colonies that it deems too negative, as well as cutting out anything subversive or pro-autonomist.
Occasionally exoplanet colonies will open connections to each other, so in this manner the choke-point of information at the solar system gates is bypassed.
==Getting Used to Isolation== 
One problem that plagues many newbie gatecrashers is the lack of deep mesh access. When you walk through that gate to a new alien world, you will ﬁnd yourself suddenly deprived of the immediate access to information you have been used to for much of your life. Your mesh searches will be limited to the local network carried by you and your team, and whatever data sources you happen to bring along. Now, this is not always problematic, given the capabilities of modern electronic storage. Many gatecrashing teams are careful to bring along storage units with detailed archives on important topics that are likely to be of relevance to the mission at hand. Even so, there will be many information queries that you will be unable to process thoroughly, given restricted resources.
Similarly, you will be cut off from real-time interaction with your social networks. This means that any positive or negative scoring will be queued up until you regain connection with an established mesh network and they can propagate through the social network. If you happen to run across or interact with other transhumans, you will be unable to access their full socnet records, and will have to make do with whatever proﬁles they make directly public.

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