Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 1577 Cycle and Repetition

After experiencing pixel spaces with different rules, one can't help but wonder what conditions are needed to create a universe.

Just like when we were still at the sixth level of civilization, we directly used spatial cutting technology to cut out a piece of space and then enclose it, and then gave it the name of a microcosm.

Or perhaps it's like these pixel spaces, where one square space after another was created, containing so many spaces with different rules. Was its creator doing some kind of test?

After acquiring data from various spaces, scientists have come up with the idea that humans could use their technology to create a space or microcosm with its own editing rules.

The idea of ​​creating a universe has a long history, appearing in myths and legends such as Pangu separating heaven and earth, and God creating the world in seven days. In the technological age, scientists have also proposed similar hypotheses.

They even calculated the number of each type of particle needed, saying that 10^89 photons, the same number of electrons, positrons, neutrinos, antineutrinos, protons, and neutrons were required.

However, humanity now knows that the universe does not necessarily have to contain matter. When a space has no material manifestation, its timeline is hidden, which is what people often refer to as meaningless.

In the process of exploring pixel space, humanity has encountered spaces devoid of any matter. That space was small and tranquil, existing for countless years without a trace of heat death, because it had no matter at all. It wasn't until the arrival of the Lyra that its hidden timeline was activated, and only then did time begin to have meaning.

When the Lyra Dream departed, it once again fell silent.

In an attempt to explore the meaning of time, humans have entered and exited this space many times, but the result is just as human scientists have long said: time without matter has no meaning.

This conclusion has made many scholars feel very uncomfortable, because it is very different from their previous understanding.

However, as time went by and more and more pixel spaces were explored, the Lyra Dream arrived at a magical and unexpected space.

For no other reason than that the fact that the Lyra spacecraft discovered traces of life here is enough to make it seem miraculous.

Upon entering this space, the Dream Lyra continued to observe everything in a microscopic state, just as before, and discovered that there were signs of movement in the center of this space.

At first, humans thought it was a planet, but upon closer inspection, they discovered that it appeared to be a special life form.

After careful observation, humans discovered that this special life form was somewhat similar to Gaia, but also very different, because it had a physical entity. From its appearance, its body seemed to be composed of skin tissue covered with patches of oil film, and it had a clearly identifiable head.

It has eyes, but they are not human eyes; they are empty, like tunnels leading to nothingness. It also has a mouth, but it is also different from the mouths of normal creatures. It is a large, round hole with no obvious muscle contraction or expansion around the mouth, yet it can expand and shrink like the opening and closing of a pocket, as if it were the entrance to a dark abyss.

Its massive size is comparable to that of a star, and it is generally flat, with a body shape somewhat similar to that of the ancient horseshoe crab. It appears to have no limbs, but humans who have examined it at a microscopic level have clearly discovered propulsion-like structures on its body, or perhaps those are its hands and feet.

It has countless legs of various sizes arranged on its sides and back, resembling propellers.

After an unknown amount of time, the leg-like structures around the creature's body suddenly exhibited a magnetic thrust reaction. Then, its massive body moved slightly, and at the same time, a strange electromagnetic wave and tachyon signal emanated from its mouth, sounding like a roar or a mournful cry.

The people on the Lyra didn't know what it was calling, but most of them felt that it wasn't very intelligent when they heard such "calls".

I was thinking about whether to go out and send a message to see if we could communicate, or try the way I communicated with Gaia back then, but I was afraid that this thing might have some strange abilities, so I decided to continue to stay in the microscopic state and see.

"A special life form, huh? It doesn't seem to have any intelligence. Should we jump to a macroscopic level and try to communicate with it?" On the Dream Lyra, a colleague was talking to the life form in the void through a holographic projection.

"Yes, we've never encountered a life form in the pixel space before, especially one that looks like a single civilization. Maybe this thing even knows what the pixel space is all about!"

"Hey, communication doesn't have to take a macro form. We can continue to engage with it at the micro level. Look, the linguistic cryptographers are already analyzing the patterns in that message, but it seems there's no intention to engage in dialogue from above yet."

"Hey, don't you find it strange? As far as I know, there were many special life forms in our Milky Way galaxy back then, but we didn't encounter many during our long voyage. I almost forgot that such life forms existed in the universe. Now I've finally seen one. Isn't that just out of curiosity?"

"Hey, look! The latest detection data!"

As they spoke, everyone turned their attention to another holographic screen, which displayed the latest intelligence.

Upon seeing this, everyone became extremely alert, and even Yue Yuan, who was just about to replace others in the third-person observation mode, was surprised.

"Is there a problem with time in this space?" Yue Yuan couldn't help but ask as he looked at the latest intelligence.

The first mate of the Tianqin had clearly just spoken with several other scientists, and he immediately replied, "Yes, through third-person observation mode combined with other observations, we found that the flow of time in this space seems to be faster than in the universe. Look at that special life form; it seems to be growing continuously since we arrived here."

Isn't it normal for living organisms to grow larger over time? Yue Yuan thought to himself.

As if knowing Yue Yuan had this question, the first mate of the Lyra pointed to what was displayed on the holographic screen and said, "Commander Yue, look, this is its growth curve. After it grows to this point, it begins to shrink back. At first, we only thought that its shape was shrinking back, but later, the scientists who explored this space through the third-person observation mode said that time in this space seems to be constantly cycling, a closed timeline, as if the beginning and end of the timeline are connected. We still need to wait for them to observe and explore further to find out the specifics."

(End of this chapter)