Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

The doctor's words were not an exaggeration. The net growth rate of Terrans had already exceeded 2%, and was approaching 3%. That means an additional 50,000 people would arrive every day. This would not only put enormous pressure on Project Ark, but even if it succeeded, it would be devastating to the newly established colony if population control was not implemented in the future.

The reasons for this situation are varied. On the one hand, the mortality rate of Oripathy, which used to cause huge deaths, has now dropped by 80%. On the other hand, food prices have decreased, reducing the cost of raising children for families. In addition, countries have encouraged childbirth extensively in order to restore their population and labor force after the war.

A typical Terran family has 2-3 children. Even a typical lower-middle-class family like Cheng Shan's has 5 children, including parents and grandparents, making a family of nearly 10. In Terra, this is just a huge financial burden, but in the target colony, it could really drag everyone down to hell.

"So, I've gotten Lao Xia to develop a special formulation that can guarantee infertility for 5-10 years, which will be injected into the target when they awaken from hibernation." The doctor didn't care about any human rights issues that might arise from doing this; compared to everyone dying together, this level of sacrifice was nothing.

In fact, everyone who was preparing to board the Ark was injected with something similar, which is why the Doctor doesn't have children yet and probably won't in the future.

Their initial effects were permanent—because the Ark didn't allow too many living people to be brought on board. Apart from the last management and supervisory personnel like him to board, the rest were just brains and embryos.

This was also to avoid the depletion of the ark's limited resources due to childbirth. Although rules and laws could be used to constrain this, the early inhabitants believed that once they were on the ark, they would lose all the social constraints that made them human.

In a place like the Ark, no rules, regulations, or laws can restrain a person's instincts. Even if they can for a short time, it's only a matter of time before these constraints are broken during the long process of intermittent hibernation and awakening over 2000 years.

Once the breakthrough occurs, given the state of the Ark, it would be impossible to accommodate more newborns. Ultimately, this would only bring instability and would be meaningless. Moreover, as the beings who control the Terra civilization, everyone is worried that they might become dictators or do something they shouldn't for their own selfish interests.

Rather than trusting human nature, it's better to prevent them from having the opportunity and the incentive to think about such things in the first place. Therefore, their sterilization is almost permanent. Without offspring, there will be no stable career, which is almost inevitable from ancient times to the present.

Without descendants or heirs, it's uncertain whether everything you own will vanish after your death, and naturally, no one will pledge allegiance. Even if you possess absolute violence and force, without offspring, your rule will still end after one generation. Therefore, some people developed the technology for immortality, but that's another story.

"The fifth phase is to ensure the continuation of Terra's history, culture, and science and technology. Otherwise, we will only end up with a bunch of high-tech apes. If the target planet is not one that can be naturally moved into, the consequences of degenerating into high-tech apes are something we cannot afford."

Every life support system has its limits. Once all facilities and equipment are exhausted, and they can no longer restore industry and technology, they will face certain death.

"Therefore, I have no way to address the fourth stage; I can only entrust it to future generations."

Because no one knows whether the first three stages will be successful, and even if they are successful, he probably won't live to see it. And if they are successful, then how to give birth normally in a place with different gravity, atmosphere and temperature, and ensure that the newborn can grow up smoothly, is really left to future generations.

Only when you actually get there can you understand what kind of challenges you will face.

"However, in the fifth phase, Kal'tsit, it's time for you to fulfill your mission."

"Hmm!" Kal'tsit nodded with her arms crossed. The purpose of creating immortal beings like her was to be a living library, a living dictionary, a guide who knew everything. Well, due to some reasons, she did not know as much as planned, but there was still a possibility of making amends.

"That's roughly the plan. You can ask your questions now."

"Um, I don't want to be too rude, but Kazdel's plan to colonize extraterrestrial space isn't necessarily bad, but..." Old Chen carefully chose his words, "...isn't it a bit too ambitious?"

Brothers, everyone acknowledges your strength in the aerospace business, after all, there are spacecraft taking off and landing at the Longmen Landing Site every day, which is something that can be seen with the naked eye.

There's also the space tourism business. The space city project currently under construction is being touted as a potential colony, but now you're telling everyone that this space city can also be used as a colony ship to colonize outer space? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? Although it certainly has that Colombian company's sham funding scheme vibe.

Columbia is already somewhat regretting the space city project, as investment continues to soar while returns remain elusive. Even the previous space station tourism project doesn't seem to be as profitable as expected, given the high operating costs.

So, I can understand why Kazdel is trying to come up with some other gimmick to keep investors calm, but... isn't it a bit too much to be making promises one after another while you're still drawing up the first one?

"No, I'll explain the specific reasons later. Are there any other questions?"

"My question is, how much money will it cost?" the Ursus representative asked. "What is the success rate of developing extraterrestrial capabilities?"

He didn't ask what the benefits were, because the benefits were immeasurable. A completely new land, a completely new world—you ask what the benefits are? Benefits are everywhere!

The Ursus people are most enthusiastic about expanding their living space because living in such a desolate place, no one wants to move to a different place more than they do. However, all of this is based on the premise that the plan has a chance of success and that the investment is bearable.

"Based on the existing resources, we need to increase them by less than double, but more importantly, we need to increase the population, the colonists' population," the doctor said, pointing to some cabins on the ark.

"These places will be specifically for the colonial governors and other officials dispatched by various countries. These others will be part of the space city project. In fact, this colonial plan is a long-term plan, and it is also possible to operate them as space cities temporarily."

After all, plans can't keep up with changes. The space villa area can't be sold out, and not all the powerful and wealthy like it. So let's settle for second best and arrange VIP cabins for them. They won't have to squeeze into the launch area with those commoners. Moreover, they will be the first to be deployed to the New World. The doctor guarantees that all of the above promises are true.

He just didn't say that it would be deployed in the same place as the colony facilities, so even if these people supervised the construction and testing process, it didn't matter, because when the time came, all that was needed was to launch these "big shots" to a place far away from the colony—as for whether they could survive on a strange planet, that was not the Doctor's concern.

"We believe this plan can be considered in the long term, but in principle we can cooperate on the selection of personnel for hibernation." Colombia is not very optimistic about the Ark colonization plan, but they are willing to help select personnel for hibernation.

For Colombian capitalists, it doesn't matter if the plan fails or is ultimately abandoned, as long as the hibernation technology is real.

A wealthy person with a terminal illness wants to immigrate to the future; an elite who is afraid of helium flashes does not want to live in fear and anxiety in a cramped shelter; the vast number of unemployed people and skilled workers are a huge burden on governments and businesses, but it would be a headache if they all disappeared, so it would be better to freeze them and thaw them when needed.

Even for the Colombians and Victorians who knew about the solar crisis, hibernating in the sky city seemed like a way to seek refuge, and even felt safer than hiding underground.

“Alright, since everyone agrees, then Kazdel will proceed with this entire plan on his own.”

“Alright then,” the Victorian envoy shrugged. If this powerful neighbor was willing to expend its national resources on such a far-fetched idea, they would certainly give it their full support.

Chapter Ninety-Four: Life and Death

Chapter Ninety-Four

The transfer of hibernating humans actually began a little earlier. Those green hibernation pods housed selected Kazdel people. Since other countries were unwilling to take risks, they decided to use their own people first.

Since the awakening order also starts from the hibernation order, those who awaken first will certainly face a harsher environment. However, they also have more abundant resources: almost unused resources; the complete constellation of Capricorn; complete industrial cores at all levels; a large reserve population; and most importantly—a blank planet.

Those who awaken later avoid the risks and hardships of pioneering, but it also means that the right to awaken, and who is awakened, is in the hands of the pioneers.

Moreover, upon awakening, they either face a stable world where the power structure has been almost completely divided up and a stable rule has been established, or a tragic world where their predecessors have all failed and they need even more scarce resources to survive.

"Don't be afraid, just take a nap. When you wake up, you'll be on another planet," the nurse said gently, inserting a soft tube into the hibernator's arm. The pale white liquid slowly flowed into the veins. "But will I really wake up?"

"Yes, don't worry." Drowsiness kept rising, and more protective fluid entered the blood vessels. These special substances would penetrate into the cytoplasm and cell fluid during hibernation, combining with water to keep the cells in a state of freezing and dehydration, preventing damage to the cell structure due to water crystal precipitation.

When awakened, it releases water again, allowing the cells to rehydrate as the revival process progresses. This solves the two biggest problems of hibernation: how to protect human cells from rupture at low temperatures and how to prevent cell damage during the warming and awakening process.

In addition to protective substances, there are also a small number of nano-repair mechanisms, which are responsible for protecting the brain, brain cells, and neuronal structures from atrophy and stimulating the nervous system to resume function after hibernation.

The hatch slowly closed, and the green hibernation liquid, like oil, submerged the human body. Then, a layer of white frost quickly condensed on the outer wall of the hatch, and the liquid inside solidified into a green amber-like gel, completely obscuring the figure inside.

The processed hibernation pods were sent to the loading area and secretly transported to the launch site. Next, they were taken to the Ark aboard the Ghost Shark, installed into the prefabricated power supply frame, and then transported by the engineering team to the transport ship's hull compartments for layer-by-layer installation.

The entire structure of Europa is divided into four parts. The central part is the cryogenic zone, where countless hibernation chambers are neatly arranged on the ring-shaped walls. The central part contains the main control unit, nuclear fusion power generation equipment, and various electronic devices.

On the outer side are the transport tracks, with the control hall and deployment hall on either side. The former is staffed by administrators and a small number of personnel, and houses the command center, communications room, and other administrative and command facilities. The latter is where the colonists depart, containing a small docking bay, airdrop pod installation lines, and even a medical room for examining hibernators—essential facilities such as these.

The top outer ring area contains various functional devices, including antennas, radar, and even some attitude control equipment. However, the largest part consists of two ring shield structures.

Within the entire Tower Titan structure, the largest components are the central elevator and hibernation system that connect the six levels of cabins. Its code name is "Beanstalk," while the two levels above and below are named "Mather Goose" and "Harp," respectively.

Their names are quite similar to their functions: the former is responsible for "laying eggs," while the latter is responsible for calming and controlling the former. The entire Tower II is codenamed "City in the Clouds." All these names are derived from fairy tales. [Jack and the Beanstalk]

The control bridge, shaped like a corncob, slowly entered through an opening at one end of the cabin. Surrounded by drones and engineering vessels, this behemoth passed through the dark cabin, the walls of which were completely dark, with only a faint green halo at the very end.

As the control bridge slowly descended, the docking devices at the ends made contact with each other with a heavy thud, and the eight mechanical latches that had opened like spider claws automatically closed.

Next came the installation of cables. Around the corn cob were cylindrical containers filled with water, coolant, and fuel, while the generator was located in the core area.

At the top of the corn cob are numerous control lines and a jumble of equipment. Workers float in this space, assembling slender elevator frames onto the ends of the corn cob. At the bottom, thick cables radiate outwards from the base of the corn cob. The processing host and life monitoring system between these cables are the root nodules on the bean's root system.

The slender elevator bridge extends upwards continuously, even passing through the top hemispherical "harp area (H area)" and penetrating into the main frame of the ark. However, the elevator bridge is now just an empty main shaft.

This is a double-layered elevator. The outer layer is a ring-shaped platform with adjustable height, which will be equipped with robotic arms in the future. These arms will be used to retrieve specific hibernation pods and move them up and down to the uppermost harp area or the lower goose area (M area). The inner layer consists of a freight elevator and two personnel elevators for traveling between H area and M area, as well as for maintenance personnel.

In the harp section, the spacious hall is filled with scattered cables and various boxes. The elevator shaft is just a central circular opening. According to the division, the harp section is divided into multiple fan-shaped cabin areas named according to the musical scale, which are connected to the central elevator by a circular corridor.

These compartments include a command room, briefing room, monitoring center, manufacturing station, duty room, etc., totaling 22 compartments, which can accommodate up to 4 teams of personnel for rest, work and daily duty.

With the control bridge installed, the power system of the entire transport area began to be switched on and powered on in sequence. First, the control bridge itself was switched on, then the hibernation area switched from emergency power to main power, then the harp area, and finally the mother goose area.

Once the entire transport area was lit up, the workers began to move the elevator car, lift, robotic arm, and other equipment in for installation, because without electricity, these devices couldn't even be tested.

Under the high-powered industrial lights, the entire transport area no longer resembles a lifeless ancient tomb. The surrounding walls are covered with countless pits, enough to make someone with trypophobia faint on the spot.

The elevator installation work is not long, only a day or two. Although this elevator is a bit long, nearly 4 kilometers in length from the bottom, it does not need to consider the problem of bending due to gravity. In fact, during installation, extra-large modules can be directly spliced ​​together, and the elevator itself does not need to resist gravity.

Once fully assembled, the Ark would be a colossal behemoth even by Covenant ship standards, with a total length of 9.8 kilometers. Although most of its length is on a slender "bean stalk," it is still a terrifying thing beyond the imagination of the Terrans.

The diameter of the "bulbil" area at the head is 1.9 kilometers, and it will be about 2.2 kilometers if the final edge-like orbital port is completed. Compared to the initial large-headed mushroom, the entire ark now looks more like a thin bean sprout, which is why the doctor named the two large areas "bean stem" and "bulb".

Not only do they look alike, but in a sense, they also symbolize the same thing. The thin "bean stalk" at the back is a new life sprouting from the "bulb" at the front, and the bean stalk is the new hull built by the modern Terrans using Covenant technology, while the bulb is the hull that the First Men had completed most of.

All relevant personnel felt that this name was very fitting for the actual positioning, historical significance, and role of the spacecraft, so the official name was decided.

The freight elevator lowered a stack of frames holding hibernation pods and placed them inside the loading ring platform. Under the action of the automated machinery, it was like loading a drum. Through the hollow metal structure on the side, you could see that the inside was quickly filled with a circle of green canisters. Then, the robotic arms fixed the hibernation pods one by one into the gaps in the inner wall.

Once an arc-shaped wall is filled, the walls will shift and protrude, allowing the outermost layer to protrude for further installation. The entire bean stalk structure is composed of layers of hibernation chamber walls, mounting frames, power supply systems, etc., much like the structure of a roll of paper.

A single layer of such a ring wall can accommodate a total of 324 million hibernation chambers, which decrease in size from the outside to the inside. Each layer, including the equipment group on the back, is about 7 meters wide. Considering the necessary space for movement, it actually occupies an average of 10 meters. There are a total of 30 layers. Finally, the central space and the outer shell together account for a total thickness of about 80 meters.

In other words, the stalk of the Ark can only carry a maximum of 97.5 million people. That means only one-tenth of the entire population of Terra can have a ticket to escape. And this doesn't even take into account the storage of animal and human embryos frozen in smaller containers at the bottom. In reality, the total number of people that can be carried is less than 90 million, which is still an exaggerated number compared to the original capacity of the Ark.

Meanwhile, on the main body of the Ark, apart from the necessary supplies, approximately 2000 to 4000 million hibernation pods can be squeezed into the outer ring area. These areas will also be used to appease the Terran elites and upper class by occupying their accommodation areas.

If it weren't for the desire to prevent them from causing trouble throughout the entire plan and ensuring that no one could escape, the doctor would never have arranged cabins for them, especially cabins with huge areas and individual small ecospheres.

Each of them boarding the ship means taking away at least 100 to 200 ordinary people's spots, because their luxury cabins can stack at least 100 hibernation pods. For their sake, the doctor had to give up nearly 200 million people—to ensure that the remaining people could board the ship effectively.

"Can we cram in more?" The doctor's eyes were bloodshot. The Ark's transport area had already begun loading, and the number of loads was much smaller than estimated.

"No, if we increase the carrying capacity further, it means that we will need to increase the life support system, hibernation support system, and deceleration engine. In other words, the entire ark will not be able to escape."

Old Xia said that this was completely wishful thinking. Transporting people is not easy. You should know that a 4-kilometer-long bean stalk cabin is a heavy aircraft carrier even in the Star Alliance. Moreover, it would take sacrificing most of the facilities, including combat power and armor, to accommodate so many people.

In other words, theoretically speaking, the Covenant would need 10 ships of this size to transport the entire fleet at once, and those would have to be corn-class ships. If it were regular ships that needed to be used for long-distance travel, the number would need to be more than 20 times, which is simply impossible to find.

"Then what about the main body of the ark?"

"Won't they die anyway if they can't escape?" Old Xia retorted, noting that the Ark jettison capsule wasn't as comfortable as a regular landing capsule launched from Titan.

"Cheat code?"

"You want them to just die on the way? Hibernation isn't invincible."

"But it's better than certain death. We can add another ring, remove the necessary equipment from it, and load more hibernation pods."

"Then there won't be enough supplies and manufacturing ports. People will be crammed up there and unable to get down, which is the same as before, unless you think your colonists can use spacecraft to replenish materials and supplies before the batteries run out?"

Where are the weapons bays?

"Are you crazy? The detection report for the target planet hasn't come out yet, and even if it does, there's no guarantee that there aren't dangerous life forms on the ground. Even if we take a step back and assume that Taegis isn't equipped with weapon systems, how are you expecting the administrators to remotely control the operators below and provide necessary support to the ground?"

"And you don't really intend to launch people out of the air using missiles, do you?"

"Isn't that possible too? With Agor's technology?"

“Agor’s deep-sea escape pod…you…never mind, you do it yourself.” Old Xia handed over the tablet. “Let’s make plans early while the ring-belt equipment and internal structure are still installed!”

Agor's deep-sea overpressure escape pod can indeed be launched manned, and given the physique of the Agor people, there is no problem placing it on the outer ring. Even non-Agor people can use it; simply select the strongest warriors, apply their Ocean Project products, and place them on the outer ring with minimal equipment to maintain their vitality.

This means that some Agor and Sarkaz warriors will move to the outer ring area, and the vacated spaces will be available for Saidian to enter.

This is not the sacrifice of one or two people, but the life and death of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

"Based on this calculation, assuming the ring width is 200 meters, you can fit another 13.35 people inside, but no more. Even if you fill the rotating cabins and planting pods used for cultivating plants and providing food for the colony in its first year, you can still fit a maximum of 300 million people."

"That's a full 3 million people!" That's equivalent to having 300 Dragon Gates stacked on top of each other and still having some left over. The lives of a million people could be sealed with just a single stroke of a pencil. The pressure is simply too immense.

"Even if you bring nothing but people, and the Ark Project doesn't need to consider any political influence on Terra, you can only cram in a maximum of 3 million people. That means that 2 out of every 3 people on Terra will be waiting to die. And with the current population growth rate, it won't be long before 3 out of every 4 people are waiting to die."