"Yeah, darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
and Explode into space"
- Steppenwolf, Born to be Wild
As par for the course in the shadowy world of Delta Green, the reality is somewhat different. ZIRCON was a bold Shan thrust to establish a clandestine constellation of satellites that would enable the parasitic Insects from Shaggai to teleport their hosts and equipment anywhere on Earth. Their system incorporates vitrified plutonium glass crystals, which are both literally and ritually purified using alien religion, rare metals, complex computers and electronic circuitry. Eventually, using this system, the Shan would shed this sphere and return whence they came, to the stars and beyond.
Teleportation via the ZIRCON constellation can take place via several mechanisms. Severn Aerospace has built several 40' communications trailers that incorporate a diesel fuel generator, a control station, and an iridescent crystalline "lattice" that becomes insubstantial when ready to receive or transmit.
Teleportation occurs soon after the crystals are "powered up" and everything begins to flash and spark with a strange almost colourless radiance. Travellers then step into the insubstantial crystalline maze, the dimensions of which seem to be about 12' by 12'. The arrival is more dramatic and unstealthy, taking the form of a bolt of iridescent lightning accompanied by a cloud of prismatic dispersing gases. No receiving facility is required for the transition to be completed, although a receiving lattice increases the chances for successful teleportation.
A smaller version exists which consists of a small portable computer, an eighteen inch satellite dish, and a tightbeam microwave antenna. Transition from this version to a location other than a crystalline receiving platform greatly increases the chance for some sort of transmission failure. The Shan certainly have several other teleportation devices, although they have not been catalogued as of yet.
Theoretically, any computer with the ZIRCON software and access to a transmitter can login to the satellite network and initiate a teleportation, even a "palmtop." It is even conceivable that the ZIRCON constellation's communications network is subject to the information warfare of a sufficiently advanced technology, such as MAJESTIC's Crystal Matrix Artificial Intelligences.
ZIRCON is capable of very limited teleportations. Basically, there is an inverse proportion between distance and mass. Small objects can traverse great distances, while large objects are more limited in range. This limitation can be overcome by the expenditure of strange trans-dimensional energies. This makes the teleportation less reliable.
The Shan teleportation rapidly induces focal motor and grand mal seizures in uninfested teleported human subjects. These side-effects occur more intensely if a Shan is present in the human brain, and can stun or cause temporary damage to the Shan. The effect on infested human teleporters is much more significant; permanent brain damage can result, resembling at random the morphology of almost any neurological disorder. Hallucinations, amnesia and flashbacks are common symptoms.
These limitations on the functional status of ZIRCON are gradually being engineered out of the system by clandestine orbital operations. Eventually, it is hoped that the ZIRCON constellation might teleport the entire Shan population and their templeship toward another star system by "bootstrapping" the entire network (functioning as an array) across interstellar distances.
Currently however, atmospheric holes in the ionisphere made by powerful rocket blasts or chemical laydowns from orbit are required for surface to surface or surface to orbit teleportations. The effective range of the ZIRCON constellation currently in place is about 300 miles, notwithstanding multiple "jumps." Naturally, each successful jump in a rapid series increases the chance for some sort of teleportation error.