PENSÉE

About 200 years ago, ships no longer jumped into the Tully system from Yucaipa, the only route to the rest of human space. Ships that tried to jump to Yucaipa were never heard from again. Nobody knows exactly why. Theories abound, ranging from novas to aliens an act of God to the hyperspace analog of an earthquake. Most of the robot controlled comm-boats continued along their programmed routes and jumped out of the Twelve Worlds. Others were captured and reprogrammed. The effect was that communications between the planets were cut to a trickle. The Twelve Worlds lost access to cutting edge technology, produced outside the underdeveloped Rosetta Sector, and spent some effort trying to regain it.