The existence of @The Silence is not public knowledge.
Only a small number of senior government officials, military commanders, intelligence officers, corporate directors, and carefully selected researchers possess meaningful information about it. Most of these individuals know only what is required for their immediate duties. Records are divided between isolated archives, protected by the highest security classifications, and frequently concealed beneath unrelated research programs.
The only significant exceptions are those who encounter a Silence phenomenon by accident. Some had no connection to any government, military, or research program before their exposure transformed them into @Resonants. These individuals may discover the existence of @The Silence through their own altered perceptions long before they understand what happened to them or why powerful organizations have suddenly taken an interest in their lives.
Personnel sent to investigate @The Silence incidents are often given incomplete explanations. They may be told that they are examining an experimental reactor, an unknown mineral deposit, a Martian prototype, a Terran surveillance device, or a dangerous industrial contaminant. Witnesses are discredited, detained, recruited, or made to disappear when secrecy cannot be maintained through ordinary means.
The general population remains unaware that humanity has encountered evidence of another intelligence.
Rumors nevertheless persist. @Belter miners speak of silent objects hidden inside asteroids. @Pilots report impossible signals beyond established shipping lanes. Scientists exchange censored fragments of unexplained research, while conspiracy networks claim that @Terra and @Mars are concealing proof of alien life. Most such stories are dismissed as radiation sickness, sensor corruption, spacer superstition, or political propaganda.
Some of them are true.