**Conspiracy Theories** The Zone is awash with wild theories about the real cause behind the initial explosion, the creation of the Exclusion Zone and what the Government scientists are really doing there. Here are a few of the more popular and enduring. **The Alloy Engine** The original explosion was in fact a crash landing of some kind of alien vessel. The vessel contained a device known as the Alloy Engine, a form of automated factory that creates new materials out of whatever it can find around it. The Government has captured this engine, which may or may not be sentient but in its periodic attempts to escape some of the anomalous materials it creates have been released into the Zone, out of Government control. Those who believe the Alloy Engine is sentient also believe it is here purposefully and has clear goals in mind. **The Protean** The vast majority of conspiracy theories concern what the Government are doing in the Zone and why it needs such a vast exclusion zone to conceal it. One of the most popular topics tends to be the creation of some form of super soldier. The Protean is supposedly the final product of an attempt to create a stealth soldier. Accounts vary as to whether the stealth ability was applied to the test subject or their suit first, but they all agree on the end result, a human being capable of shapeshifting. No-one is clear how it happened but the consensus is that the Protean is loose in the Zone, pursuing their own agenda. A great deal of Government resources are being expended on his recapture, but to no avail. As to the Protean's agenda, none can say. **The Next Nation Project (NNP)** One abiding rumour is that the Zone houses the Next Nation Project, a Government plan to prepare for an extinction-level event of some kind. Somewhere within the Zone is the access point for a vast underground network of housing, hydroponic farms, scientific installations and power plants. The Exclusion Zone itself is under a subsidence risk due to the works below, hence the barriers. This rumour is often dismissed because it offers no explanation as to where the unusual phenomena of the Zone originate. **The Balrog** Often cited in conjunction with the Next Nation conspiracy is the Balrog. To be clear, no-one seriously believes there is a Balrog below the Zone, but it is believed that the people excavating for the Next Nation Project unearthed something untoward and that all the strange phenomena in the Zone originate from whatever it was they dug up. The exact nature of the Balrog varies from person to person, but it is usually alien technology or something left behind by previous advanced civilisations such as Atlantis. **HAL** It has long been rumoured that effective AI has been a goal of the Government. It is believed that the Calder Hall explosion was actually caused by the rupture of the cooling system for a 1st gen AI. Since then work has continued apace and there is now a 4th generation AI running most of the Government work in the Zone. Some tie this rumour back to the NNP and say that the AI is being built to run the new underground city. Others claim the AI has gone rogue (hence the name) and there is a desperate fight amongst Government scientists to get it back in line. This theory has also spiralled off into discussions about cyborgs and androids under AI control and control chips in freelancer's brains. **Malcolm** This theory is at least partially rooted in verifiable fact. Malcolm was a legendary freelancer in the early days of the Zone's existence and an avid explorer. His goal was the true secrets to be found at the heart of the Zone and the science concealed in dozens of hidden labs. He disappeared around 8 years ago, and whilst most freelancers believe him to have died on some quest into the depths of goodness only knows where, some maintain that Malcolm was a peerless guide and scout, and a veritable one man army in combat. That he should die in so simple a fashion seems unlikely and no body has been found. The exact fate of Malcolm is a source of many theories, including his ascension to godhood, becoming a being of pure energy or merging with the 4th gen AI to become a living computer. Malcolm's current activities and motives vary from person to person and veer wildly between the benign and the downright apocalyptic. **The Inside Out Man** Those who study the anomalies of the Zone tell many tall tales of the effects they can have, but one of the most enduring is that an anomaly exists that can turn a person inside out. Some of the wilder versions of this story maintain that a freelancer exists who has experienced this phenomenon and somehow survived the experience after extensive reconstructive surgery.