settled-reach/wiki/star-systems/GJ-875/index.md

The Narrows

GJ 875 | K-type | deep_frontier

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System Profile

Star	K5 · 46.1 ly
Bodies	0 habitable · 1 inhabited
Gates	2 aperture · through_route
Settlement	unsettled
Industries	metallic_ore
Exports	—
Imports	processed_food, electronics, consumer_goods, medical_goods, fusion_fuel, refined_metals
Population	—

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The Narrows is the gap between Paso Largo and Travessia — two hops of corridor with nothing in between except a K5 star, two gate apertures, and the automated systems that keep them operational.

The name was given by Paso Largo's freight crews, who transit the system regularly and have developed the habit of naming the places they pass through whether anyone lives there or not. The Narrows refers to the transit window: the two apertures are positioned such that the optimal transit path between them passes close to the primary, closer than most through-routes, and the gravitational gradient at closest approach produces a perceptible deceleration that freight crews describe as "the squeeze." The effect is minor. The name stuck.

Survey data from three separate assessment waves describes a system that is technically habitable and practically unappealing. The single rocky body in the habitable zone has marginal atmosphere, no surface water, and mineral resources that the survey reports characterize as "adequate for local consumption, insufficient for export viability." Each assessment concludes with a recommendation that the system be maintained as a transit corridor rather than developed for settlement. The recommendations are not wrong. They are also not the reason no one lives here.

The reason no one lives here is simpler: Travessia and Paso Largo are each one hop away in opposite directions, both are settled, and neither community has produced a population surplus sufficient to justify founding a daughter colony in a system whose only advantage is that it exists between them. The corridor's economics do not support a third community at this density. The Narrows is empty because it is unnecessary, and unnecessary systems on the deep frontier stay empty because there is no institutional pressure to fill them.

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Supply Dependency

Not applicable. No permanent population. Gate infrastructure is maintained remotely through automated systems with periodic servicing visits from Paso Largo's technical crews.

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Faction Notes

No institutional presence. The Assembly's deep frontier transit authority has the system filed under automated corridor maintenance. Paso Largo's freight cooperative handles the servicing contract and bills the transit authority annually. The billing has been approved without review for the last forty years.

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Silence Topic

The servicing crews from Paso Largo have noticed, over the past decade, that the automated gate diagnostics at The Narrows produce data logs that are slightly longer than equivalent logs at other automated through-routes on the corridor. The additional data does not correspond to any known diagnostic routine. It appears in a format that the standard monitoring software cannot parse. The crews have mentioned it in their service reports. The reports have been filed. No one has followed up.

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Narrative Hook

A Travessia-based communications technician, running signal calibration through The Narrows as part of a routine relay test, received a response to a diagnostic ping from a source that the system's transponder registry does not list.

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Calibration Note

The unsettled status at hop 14 on a through-route is consistent with the deep frontier's pattern of uninhabited transit corridors between settled communities.

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Celestial Bodies

Orbit	ID	Name	Type	Inhabited	Pop	Mass	Gravity	Year (d)	Day (h)	Atmo	Biome	Hydro	Economy	Settlement	Industrial
1	GJ875b	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.40g	18	20.2	none	barren	—	—	—	—
2	GJ875c	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.72g	140	26.2	thin	cold_arid	—	—	—	—
3	GJ875-belt	—	asteroid_belt	no	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
4	GJ875d	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.50g	440	26.8	trace	frozen	—	—	—	—
5	GJ875e	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.40g	1200	30.4	trace	frozen	ice	—	—	—
6	GJ875f	—	planet	no	—	terrestrial	0.30g	3400	36.2	trace	frozen	ice	—	—	—
7	GJ875g	—	planet	no	—	dwarf	0.11g	8800	23.4	none	frozen	ice	—	—	—
8	GJ875h	—	planet	no	—	dwarf	0.07g	22000	18.6	none	frozen	ice	—	—	—
9	GJ875-oort	—	oort_cloud	no	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Stations & Facilities

ID	Name	Type	Orbits	Population	Economy	Governance	Docking	Gate	Districts
GJ875-oort-S1	The Narrows Horizon	horizon	GJ875-oort	—	transit	—	major	yes	1

Topology

• Hop Distance from Gateway: 14
• Adjacent Systems: GJ 282B, GJ 684B