Direct organic entry into the lattice is impossible. Operators stay physically outside the incident zone, under suspension, and project an encoded neural image into Sector 7 through Project T-Link. What appears inside is a checksum of identity, intent and surviving body telemetry, drawn as a suit.
Since 14:22 on 18 June 1993 the bridge has been bidirectional. Sensations, injuries and foreign memories met inside Sector 7 write back into the Operator's neural pattern.
Callsigns
Every returned sensation is treated as untrusted data. Operators must not answer voices using their callsign unless the source is authenticated on the live channel. The standing order for the black-box archive is explicit: if the archive transmits your own callsign, do not answer. Your live channel is already authenticated.
Outcomes
A projection ends at the extraction hatch, when the link collapses, or when the bridge cannot verify the Operator. At zero SANITY the system reports PURGED. Whether that is death, erasure, displacement or assimilation is not known. Medical's open question is what wakes up if the projection disconnects.
At least one Operator got out of Sector 7 on a containment run. That survivor is the reason the site was later judged recoverable.
Technicians and armed operatives
The Operators of the original containment runs were technicians, sent to calibrate Nodes and climb out. The Armed operatives of the later perimeter operation were trained to fight.
See also
Records cited
- LP-MAN-1993-S7, section 1
- The setting bible, section 4