Talk:Sunbeam/@comment-34434007-20180122151546/@comment-27070873-20180123215931

I don't think its a plot-hole. Most quarantine proceadures, in real-life, block all entrance as well as exits. In an unknown situation, whenever the aliens made thet QEP, they were likely desperate and at the last resort. The chances of a ship arriving that happened to be the right kind of research vessel with the right equipment is slim, more likely a hapless vessel, like the three human ones that reached it, would land on the planet and if they had a chance to leave, spread this infection far beyond the planet.

Given that the PDA indicates that the gun is attempting to hail incoming vessels, and warning that "unidentified" vessels will be fired upon, presumabely their own species would be able to avoid the area if they are not prepared or give the proper authorization so they can land. I don't think they planned on an alien species landing hundreds of years later. The unfortunate human vessels can't receive the signal and thus are treated as hostiles, since they are ignoring directions (I remember when I went out fishing and heard, over the radio, a destroyer informing vessels to maintain a minimum distance, when one vessel squandered in they got a series of harsher commands to move away before finally the destroyer threatened them, at which they moved away).

As for the debris field, the Sunbeam, by all accounts, has an inexpierenced pilot and they lack the ability to really pick up anyone to begin with. Once they arrive, they probably saw how bad things were and made the call that the chances of them passing the debris field, entering the atmosphere, landing, picking-up anyone, taking-off, avoiding the debris field again, was too slim.

Local threats probably just refers to things within scanning range or unnatural occurences. If there is a debris field, or an asteroid field, the rocket still has to take off and as counter-productive as Alterra can be, they still have to function to be useful as a survival tool. I assume most survival situations involve lifeless rocks in deep-space, where debris and micro-objects are common.

As far as taking off, while the rocket is smaller, it is also much slower and going to be in range of the QEP the entire time during the launch sequence. There is no way for there to be enough time to take off and get to the necessary escape speed before the QEP locks on to the rocket and takes it out.