Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 169 - 170 The Second Exploration Plan

Chapter 169: Chapter 170 The Second Exploration Plan

Chapter 169: Chapter 170 The Second Exploration Plan

Zhang Yuan paused for a moment, then added a few more sentences, “Science is the primary productive force, and technologies related to dimensions are likely to exceed our level by more than one grade.”

“I can hardly imagine how advanced the technology of the civilization that created this High-dimensional Fragment is… So, we may gain significant insight from it, but we also might risk a lot for nothing, considering the vast technological disparities.”

Everyone hesitated a little as they weighed the opportunities and challenges brought by the High-dimensional Fragment.

Amidst this silence, suddenly, a different voice rang out in the meeting room, “No, we can’t give up! A technological creation of a civilization with such a high level is too important for us! We must study it…”

It was a young physicist named Zhang Yingbo, who seemed a bit shy under everyone’s gaze at first, but soon his voice grew louder as he expressed his true thoughts, “We indeed have many technological legacies from Earth Civilization, enough to occupy us for hundreds of years…”

“And then what? As everyone knows, Earth Civilization has not seen any new theories for a very long time!”

“We’ve been choked!”

“In the field of natural science, the small and medium fishes in the pond have long been caught, and what remains are the big fish that nobody can catch, including not just those on Earth, but us as well.”

“Now, one such big fish is presented before us, whole and intact.”

“If for the sake of momentary safety, we give up this tremendous opportunity, I believe we will be safe for a moment but regretful for a lifetime… Our descendants will forever regret today’s cowardly decision.”

The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds, then erupted in noise—actually, many scientists shared the same thoughts, including Zhang Yuan, who simply hadn’t spoken up.

“I agree with the doctor’s opinion.”

“I agree as well.”

Even at the potential cost of lives, the immense curiosity and the possible benefits seemed to dwarf that risk.

Three hours later, after a heated discussion and a series of votes, the decision to preserve the Fragment and proceed with a second exploration won by a narrow margin.

To prevent it from suddenly acting up, it could only be left in the outermost living area. Anyway, as long as it didn’t consume important parts like the engines, the loss of some living area structure was not a big deal. The living area had a tightly sealed honeycomb structure, so even if a few outer rooms broke apart, the inside could still be used normally.

And so, under everyone’s watchful eyes, an exploratory robot slowly entered the room, then carefully picked up the Fragment.

Zhang Yuan’s eyes widened as he watched the screen intently, his heart rate quickening.

Fortunately, nothing happened.

All was calm…

Captain Zhao wiped the sweat from his face, “Well, it seems that ordinary touch doesn’t trigger it… Let’s move this High-dimensional Fragment to the neighboring Area N, and we’ll repair the cavity in Area M… Then we can research it, or conduct a second exploration activity.”

Afterward, everyone freely used their imagination, proposing hypotheses and preparing relevant proposals for the unknown, which was better than preparing nothing.

“So, everyone, what I want to ask is, where does this High-dimensional Fragment come from? What is its purpose? How can we reactivate it, and do you have any more thoughts?”

Another scientist stood up and said, “I think there’s a high probability it is related to the Eta Carinae 2 Supernova explosion.”

“Look everyone, this high-dimensional fragment looks just like a piece of broken glass. Why does it look like a piece of glass and not some other shape?”

“Like, why isn’t it a sphere? Why not a cube?”

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The question seemed rather nonsensical.

The scientist explained, “As everyone knows, spheres, or ellipsoids, are not only aesthetically more appealing but also possess better mechanical properties. Even if an alien civilization’s aesthetic standards are not the same as ours, their mathematical concepts must be far more advanced… they couldn’t possibly be unaware of these principles. I simply cannot fathom any good mechanical properties of a piece of broken glass.”

“So, we can boldly hypothesize that near Eta Carinae 2, there might be a large-scale project of a supreme civilization!”

“It was because of the supernova explosion that it was destroyed, hence these fragments that look like broken glass…”

“Plus, its mass is extremely small, so it can move at speeds close to the speed of light in the universe, and it just so happened to collide with our spaceship. Due to its small mass, its kinetic energy is also not great… which is why we encountered it.”

Zhang Yuan nodded, this hypothesis sounded like a fantasy, but it seemed to have no significant loopholes…

The only oddity was, why would a super civilization build their project near a supernova.

In fact, the question itself was not very nutritious, even if people knew there was a supercivilization artifact near Eta Carinae 2, so what? It’s 7,000 light-years away from humans and has already been destroyed; at most, it could be treated as a piece of gossip to listen to, without any possibility of actually going there to take a look.

Lin Xuanyuan stood behind him and whispered softly, “If that’s the case, if we can find a second piece of high-speed moving glass, it could prove this hypothesis.”

“Relics of a super civilization…” she started to daydream quietly, “I wonder what the daily life of other civilizations is like… whether it’s the same as us humans.”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile, “Finding a second fragment, the probability is too small; even a black hole of such a large mass, distributed over a scale of 7,000 light-years, is too sparse to be found. That we could encounter a high-dimensional fragment is already an incredibly lucky event. Moreover, if we were hit by multiple high-dimensional fragments, our spaceship would be doomed.”

Such gossip-worthy content could be guessed at, but the most important issue was the second question, how to stimulate this high-dimensional fragment?

Because humans only observed the activation twice, and the samples were too scarce to draw any regular conclusions.

Some people believed it had to do with the fragment’s speed; if it were accelerated to an extremely high velocity, perhaps it could be activated; some thought it was related to energy or temperature; others felt it might have to do with specific time points.

Anyway, without clear experimental results, there would be no meaningful conclusion.

…

A day later.

The high-dimensional fragment had been transferred to a spacious hall in Area N, firmly monitored by various instruments, and many physicists were studying it, risking their lives.

Meanwhile, a solemn funeral was held in Area A.

Although Zhang Yuan had escaped from the high-dimensional space, the other two soldiers theoretically had no chance of survival.

This was the first case of death in the line of duty on the spaceship, and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Zhang Yuan had always felt that awarding a “first-class merit” to the deceased did not mean much. But at this moment, he understood that, in fact, these kinds of honors were given for the living to see…

This serious ceremony was very important for a civilization. It was not enough for a person to only have this life; living solely in the present wasn’t sufficient either. He should also possess poetry and ideals.