Crystal Belt

In between planets 7 and 8 in the solar system of Tioata is a huge asteroid belt. Each rock in the belt is made of different kinds of translucent crystal and they're all almost perfectly spherical. It is unclear whether this is a natural formation or something created by a proto-civilization, but most scholars on the matter think it's the latter due to their homogeneity. A recent work published by the leading scholar in the field, Nikau Ari, has given this belt a new significance due to their theory on the belt's sentience. Due to the crystal's translucent nature, Nikau argues that they have the ability to take in photons from the sun, process them through trillions of tiny channels, and output them towards other crystals in the belt. Over the course of the observation period, Nikau and their team set up hundreds of satellites in the crystal field that could intercept the photons flying from asteroid to asteroid. The satellites also reproduce the signal and send it on its way again so as to not interrupt any complex workings of the system. All of the photon patterns were interpreted by the ship AI, Without Music, and as of the publishing of the work on the subject the pattern of communication is still unclear, but it has been determined by Without Music that there is some sort of intelligent interpretatin happening by each asteroid.