The stars, but they become the gray wind

[Also… the stargate adjacent to where your probe came in leads to another red dwarf companion star in your galaxy. One of our research vessels discovered the sub-light-speed unmanned probe you launched there. It's currently in the cargo hold of our research vessel. Do you need me to return it?]

"It's not necessary for me. The creators' words may have some important meaning to them. Considering their thoughts, I think the best option is for me to send a ship over and transport it back myself."

[Understood... It's currently in the same star system as our research vessel, connected to Star Gate 1372. Star Gate 1372 is located at the Lagrange point of the fifth planet in the star system, less than six astronomical units from the third planet where the research vessel Rover is located.]

Thank you. This distance is not difficult for me and the creators. I will send a fleet through here to the 1372 star system to transport the unmanned exploration ship back and visit this civilization that has the same origin as us.

[As for this detector, leave it here for now and use it as a communication relay station between us.]

A moment later, the general strong artificial intelligence for social management of Theia, which had completed the communication with the wormhole hub core station of the glass eel, went offline and uploaded the communication records between the two parties to the interstellar system communication network of the Theia civilization. The information transmitted at the speed of light will be known to all Theia people in a few hours.

.........

"Sure enough, superluminal technology is far more difficult than we imagined." Moia studied the communication records between the core station management artificial intelligence of both parties and its own general artificial intelligence, as well as the various discussions on the interstellar communication network about the existence of alien civilizations and this contact.

"I think we're pretty lucky. At least it proves that superluminal technology is feasible. It just forms a closed timelike curve, causing catastrophic effects that break the law of causality."

"At least it's better than being trapped below the speed of light from birth to death, right?" A friend who was also carefully reading this exchange record had some different opinions on this matter.

"Right now, the longest delay for communication from one end to the other within our galaxy is several hours. So, what if we reach the stage of interstellar travel in the future?"

"I can't stand the situation where a single communication can take years or even decades. By the time you get a reply, even the most delicious sulfuric acid gasoline will have gone bad."

"At least it proves that by creating an artificial wormhole through superluminal negative energy flow, we can indeed cross the entire galaxy in a very short time."

"In this regard, as a civilization that has entered the star system stage, it is quite something we should be happy about."

"But there are two other things that are equally surprising."

"The lost unmanned exploration ship and the true origin of life on our home planet? I'm a little curious about that galaxy called the solar system."

"It's truly fate that the research vessel that discovered our probe happened to be traveling to the galaxy where life originated on our home planet."

"Now that I know it, I really want to visit that galaxy."

"If the total distance is several dozen astronomical units, given our ship's endurance, it should be no problem. Besides, it seems like we're not the only ones who want to go this time."

Moia has seen many applications submitted by people on the communication network within the star system, wanting to join the transport fleet to the solar system.

"As expected of a highly prosperous and unified civilization that has entered the star system stage, there is almost no tendency towards external military expansion and aggression, and there is absolutely no hostility towards other alien species." Yuki threw down the data terminal in his hand, which was displaying various communication information on the Theia Civilization Economic Communication Data Network.

"Rather, this is the behavior of a mature interstellar civilization. For a civilization that can efficiently utilize and allocate the resources within its own star system, there's no need for external expansion. Living space and resources a few or even dozens of light-years away are meaningless to them. The sole purpose of interstellar expansion is to reduce the risk of extinction from large-scale astronomical disasters or other causes."

"Unlike Earth today, upon learning there's a quasi-Type II civilization within 50 light-years, their first thought is the possibility of invasion by this more advanced civilization. Ultimately, they're judging others by their own standards. Human society's own history is riddled with instances of economically or militarily powerful forces oppressing, aggressing, and exploiting the weaker, instilling in us, as a species, a tendency to view others with malice."

“If humans don’t change this terrible nature, it will be difficult, or even impossible, for them to become a truly mature interstellar civilization.”

"If there are new benefits and good things, they will claim sovereignty, take these things for themselves, and then go back to killing each other for these little benefits, bringing their own civilization to the brink of destruction."

"The survival of a civilization and species shouldn't be based on unprovoked fighting and hostility towards one's own kind for the sake of petty gains. Any war or conflict among humans is tragic and meaningless."

"Humanity must first resolve its own internal problems. There are countless contradictions within each individual human being, and these contradictions cause endless internal friction. We can't even focus our own strength. Without this focus, we can't fully utilize our potential. If we want to reach for the stars, we must first change ourselves."

“Even artificial intelligence understands love and compassion better than humans as a species.

"We've given humans an opportunity, but whether they can seize it depends on them."

"They explore and head for the stars, but they can avoid repeating the countless mistakes they made on Earth and engaging in pointless conflicts."

"We still have hope for the humans on this planet, but if they can't grasp it, don't blame us for being ruthless in our efforts to make civilization fade and decay."

…………

One month later, near the star gate of the Tiandajiangjun 6A star system, a space station with a giant centrifugal wheel with a diameter of several thousand meters was operating busily at a distance of only one light second from the star gate. This space station was moved here directly from the L3 Lagrange point of the Tiandajiangjun 6a-1 planet. This automated space station was simply and crudely equipped with multiple large fusion torch engines and moved to the vicinity of the star gate for use as a transit station to other star systems.

[Transport Ship No. 937 has completed fueling, and all ships of the Star System Exploration Fleet No. 1372 have been prepared.]

After the last fuel transport ship left the space station's spaceport, more than 900 fusion torch ships of various types formed a fleet outside the space station and prepared to set sail for the solar system, the origin of life on their home planet.

Thousands of deuterium-helium-3 or pure helium-3 fusion torch engines ignited simultaneously, ejecting plasma tails thousands of kilometers long. This transport fleet, with a total power over 2000 times greater than that of current human civilization, passed through the stargate and headed for the other side of the solar system. (Note 1)

Note 1: The engine output power of a spacecraft of the Theia civilization is between 50TW and 600TW. For reference, the total power output of the current 0.73 type human civilization is about 14TW. Taking into account the power of various unusable waste heat, it is at most about 18TW. Even if the power of a single torch spacecraft of the Theia civilization is taken as the lowest value of 50TW, the total power is 46850TW, which is approximately equal to the total output power of 2603 human civilizations.

Chapter 201 New Ship Arrived (6000 words)

At the edge of the Tianda General Six A star system, 937 torch spacecraft with a total power equivalent to tens of thousands of times the total power of human civilization were divided into several batches and passed through the anchor wormhole in the center of the star gate in a dense formation. Although these 937 spacecraft basically did not carry any weapons, the thermal radiation emitted by the plasma wake of this fleet alone was enough to blow away the entire Earth's atmosphere.

The spacecraft flying in formation passed through the slow space wormhole hub at a speed of 300 kilometers per second. For this journey with a total distance of less than six astronomical units, the fleet did not need to accelerate to the maximum speed. 937 spacecraft passed through the wormhole hub at a lower speed of one thousandth of the speed of light, and the acceleration was maintained at close to 1G. For most of the Theians whose home planet has a gravity environment of about 0.8G, this was not a gravity acceleration that would make them feel particularly uncomfortable.

Moia Rock observes the artificial space where the wormhole hub is located through the spacecraft's external sensors and scanning equipment.

“It’s like a miniature universe that exists independently of the three-dimensional main universe.”

"It's better to say this is an artificial universe with a diameter of 100 million kilometers..." A friend on the same ship shrunk the simulated hologram of the entire space to the size of a palm.

"This space is completely separated from the three-dimensional macroscopic universe at the 11-dimensional supermembrane level. The wormholes at the edge of this space connect this space with the various galaxies in the original macroscopic three-dimensional universe."

"The exits of all wormhole pairs are connected to this space. As long as you transit through this space, you can reach any corner of the universe connected by the wormholes in this space in a very short time."

"This artificial microcosm seems to have a significant difference in spatial potential energy between this two universes and the macrocosm we live in. They use the different gravitational potential energies between the two universes to generate zero-point energy, which powers the devices within this space."

"There is such a method?" Moia Rock was surprised.

"From a theoretical and engineering perspective, it's certainly feasible. But in practice... who knows how they created this artificial space?"

"It is said that this space was created by a computer using a closed time-like curve formed by dragging the entrance and exit of one end of the wormhole at a speed close to the speed of light."

"If that's the case, then this method is really quite cruel..."

"After all, the boundary between the future and the past has been completely broken. Wouldn't that kind of thing make the law of causality no longer exist?"

"However, the physics system we have developed so far does not allow for the existence of wormholes and warp speeds, which are methods of effectively transmitting information or matter faster than light. Within the light cone, everything is fate."

"But if they can truly create a closed time-like curve computer, a machine that breaks the law of causality, then... please think carefully... to what extent can they achieve this?"

"For example, using macroscopic CTCs, infinite information, energy, and mass could be accumulated at a single point in time and space within the universe, creating a black hole equivalent to the diameter of the observable universe, instantly destroying everything within the entire observable universe."

"This thing represents truly infinite computing power that surpasses Turing machines, right?"

"No, it seems that this computing power is not unlimited in actual use."

"Why, I don't know much about this."

"It's simple. A macroscopic CTC computer also requires hardware. During its infinite calculations, it will always fail due to various low-probability events, such as tunneling. If a problem is calculated with a number of cycles far exceeding the expected failure rate, it will most likely fail on the spot.

"Based on the data they sent and our physics system, for some unsolvable problems, this macroscopic CTC computer created by wormholes, while theoretically possessing unlimited computing power, is limited in its data storage capacity. During the calculation process, a large number of virtual particles are generated, which continuously circulate and accumulate in one place, causing the wormhole to be destroyed and forming an uncontrolled massive black hole."

"To put it simply, when a macroscopic CTC computer created using a wormhole is calculating certain unsolvable problems, it could cause the computer's circuit board to run into a manure pit. This event, which is originally so low in probability that it is almost impossible, becomes possible, and then an accident will occur, causing the computer to crash and become inoperable."

"Well...if used carelessly, it could potentially cause a computer crash due to a closed timelike curve, leading to some astronomical disaster."

"If the plane really exploded, wouldn't it be too terrifying to create a black hole the size of the observable universe?"

"So, for safety reasons, they apparently wouldn't normally allow a closed time-like curve computer to calculate unsolvable problems that might cause the computer to explode into a black hole."

Just as several people gathered in the cockpit to talk and chat, the fleet that the Rock was on had traveled more than 30 kilometers in the wormhole hub space. At this time, the fleet's sensors observed that a spaceship with a long axis of more than 20 kilometers entered the slow space from a star gate below it. However, after entering the slow space, this spaceship did not choose to use a working fluid engine to slowly crawl over the 100 million kilometers like the fleet of the Theia civilization.

From the perspective of the Theia fleet, they first noticed that the surface of the spaceship began to emit blue light, and the light emitted by the entire spaceship showed a brief but not drastic blue shift. Then the spaceship almost instantly appeared in front of a star gate in the crystal wall at the other end of the space, and then hurriedly passed through the star gate and disappeared in the wormhole interface like water waves.

"Just now...what was that?"

"Computer, bring up the footage just now and calculate how long it took for that ship to disappear from one end and suddenly reappear at the other end?"

[In 1.5 seconds, the straight-line distance between where the spacecraft disappeared and where it reappeared was approximately 90 kilometers.]

"Hiss... 2 times the speed of light... In other words... that was... warp speed?"

"And with such a short distance... aren't they afraid that the high-energy particles and Hawking radiation accumulated at the front of the warp bubble will explode in this space?"

"It seems they've solved the problem of Hawking radiation and gamma-ray bursts caused by high-energy particles that accumulate at the front of the warp cannon during faster-than-light warp travel. At least when that ship reappeared just now, I didn't detect any signs of gamma rays or Hawking radiation being emitted from any of the ships."

"How...how did they do that?"

"Who knows? It's said that they obtain superluminal negative energy flow by extracting naked singularities from the black hole's event horizon. According to our physics system and cognition, to achieve superluminal speed, one must break through the black hole's event horizon. However, breaking through the event horizon itself is equivalent to achieving superluminal speed."

"So, obtaining superluminal negative energy flow through a naked singularity is essentially a chicken-and-egg problem. If you want to go superluminal, you must first be able to go superluminal."

"For us, the same thing applies... if you want to create a macroscopic CTC, you first have to be able to travel faster than light. If you want to travel faster than light, you have to create a CTC first. Who knows how they solved this chicken-and-egg problem?"

"With the development of science and technology, all traditional production relations will no longer exist. We may even no longer need each other, society, or civilization. In the vast universe, countless individuals who have achieved immortality will be like isolated islands, infinitely separated from each other, becoming the gods of the past. They will not even have any intersection until the end of the universe."

"I think this statement is a bit sensational." Kelly looked at the book that was being flipped through in the air by the other party using a tractor beam.

"Indeed, this is the social structure of our civilization, but none of us have ever truly become isolated islands. Through a technology that allows us to connect our thoughts and emotions, we still have very close communication with our compatriots."

"Through our shared network of minds, our memories, feelings, thoughts, and even a portion of our consciousness are interconnected. Throughout the history of our civilization, the concept of harming one another has never existed, because we personally experience the tangible and intangible feelings of our fellow human beings."

"But...this thing is a product of acquired technological transformation, right?"

"No...it's not the result of technological advancement, but something that has existed since the birth of our civilization. We cannot do or think anything that would harm our fellow human beings. Therefore, the wars and massacres in your history, as well as the endless persecutions caused by religion, so-called political factors, or other reasons, are simply incomprehensible to us."

"You're clearly the same species, yet you've been fighting, hating, and persecuting each other endlessly for thousands of years. Aren't your civilizational development patterns and genetic flaws too profound?"

"I'm sorry, humans have always been half-baked, but... from what you're saying, is your civilization something like a hive mind?"

"No, our civilization has a much stronger concept of the individual than yours. Our respect for individuality and gender is far superior to yours, even now, when our civilization first began to develop intelligence."

"From our perspective, your problem isn't just the shortsightedness of a short lifespan, but the endless suffering that comes with the development of your entire civilization."

"I'm sorry... maybe today's human civilization is indeed a little too bad and backward in the eyes of a civilization like yours that is far ahead, but I think it's better to be optimistic." As a biologist, Kelly is obviously not particularly good at philosophy, especially since the person she is discussing the philosophy of human history with is an alien.

"But you've overlooked a fundamental point: you're essentially one species. There shouldn't be any distinctions between you and me. This is the most incomprehensible point in our view."

"Those things you cling to—country, ethnicity, religious beliefs, ideology, conflicts of interest—in our view, or to use your words, are... all bullshit. We're all the same species, so why forcefully differentiate between them?"

"For a human like me, this is indeed a beautiful dream. If there is a chance, I would like to see it come true with my own eyes." Kelly smiled bitterly.

"Your species' developmental model, social structure, and flaws in biological evolution and genetics have trapped you in a vicious cycle where good people do bad things, bad people do bad things, and both sides believe they are doing it for the benefit of all humanity."

"Some people think what they do is right, while others think what they do is right. This is your biggest problem... You can't find a way to trust each other, and then... the meaningless fight continues endlessly."

"And what's even more incomprehensible is... you actually think that a long-term future can be built on this kind of violence-based structure?"

"This is perhaps the most outrageous point in your mistake."

"There's no trust between us, and we're constantly hating and being hostile to each other. That's why I'm not interested in your boring shit on Earth."

Kelly did not make any response to this, but silently recorded the content of the conversation between the two parties in the form of audio or text, and organized and summarized these conversations between herself and the alien intelligent life, which may have a profound impact on the earth and human civilization in the future.

…………)

In the zero-gravity dock of the Sky Star Orbital Ring, Aze and Mary took over the spacecraft that Yuki had customized for some special purposes.

The slender hull made of silver fully reflective mirror material floats in the zero-gravity orbital dock. An axial gun almost penetrates the entire hull. The gamma-ray lasers and multi-purpose ultra-relativistic particle beam weapons arranged in a phased array pattern on the hull surface make it impossible to see any turret design like the Salem on the entire hull surface. Since the entire hull is made of fully reflective mirror-like color nuclear force armor, this spacecraft can launch Gev energy-level gamma-ray lasers with a power of up to 1% of the sun's power and a variety of particle beams with extremely close to the speed of light from any part of the hull to any angle. According to actual needs, it can choose to launch corresponding protons, neutrons, antiprotons, antineutrons, or electrons or positrons as ammunition for relativistic particle beam weapons. The power of its directed energy weapon is enough to completely burn an Earth-sized planet in an instant.

"In fact, according to our standards, the power and various technical indicators of this ship are considered to be quite low among the superluminal spacecraft in the star system." Lina examined this small to medium-sized spacecraft with a long axis of less than 3,000 meters.

"In order to maintain a sufficiently strong gravitational deflection field, energy consumption in other areas had to be reduced. The power of the directed energy self-defense weapon was directly cut by more than two-thirds, and the output power of the directed energy weapon was reduced to only 3.75 watts. The performance is completely incomparable to the single 12 watt directed energy weapon on the Salem." (Note 2)

"A directed energy self-defense weapon can deliver a single burst of power up to 1% of a star. Pretty impressive, right?"

"Then you have to see what standard you're using. The output power of the directed energy weapons on this ship is close to our acceptable limit. According to the standards for self-defense weapons that a ship of this size can carry, anything less than this power is considered unacceptable."

"So... I heard that to compensate for the lack of power output in the directed energy self-defense weapon, Yuki also added four turret-mounted secondary guns to the design?"

"Yes, it's also a miniaturized version of the turret-type gravitational field acceleration railgun on the Salem." Lina clicked a few times casually on the operating interface. Inside the orbital dock, an area of ​​armor plates on both sides of the front and rear parts above and below the hull axis gun of the unnamed spacecraft slid outwards, and four huge turrets rose to the outside of the hull. The diameter of the gun mount of each gun in this turret was close to 80 meters, and the length of the gun barrel installed with the gravitational field acceleration rail reached a huge length of 400 meters.

"Here, this is it. A miniaturized version of the one on the Salem, with a caliber of 205mm. It can fire shells weighing hundreds of kilograms at a maximum speed of 192000 kilometers per second, or 64% of the speed of light. Its maximum rate of fire is 480 rounds per minute. If used as a close-in weapon system, it's barely sufficient."

"And to compensate for the lack of directed energy weapon power, that sister Yuuki also equipped the ship with a large number of relativistic missile launch units."

"However, due to its size, this ship is certainly no match for missile ships like the Utopian Light, which can carry hundreds of thousands of relativistic missiles. Its relativistic missile launch units total only 800, and it can't carry giant relativistic missiles like those on the Utopian Light and Salem, which have calibers of tens or hundreds of meters. The largest relativistic missile its launch units can accommodate is only around 15 meters. How would you describe that caliber? It's probably somewhere in between, right?"

"It's almost enough. A single shot can blow up a planet. Judging from the standards of a star system-level civilization, this ship is more than enough to be used as a super flagship." Aze felt his eyes twitching a little. He didn't know if it was because he had been in the environment of the Sky Star civilization for too long, but recently even the usually stable Yuki began to show a tendency to work miracles with great force.

"Actually, the reason this ship has such a severe performance degradation is ultimately because it's too small. My sister added some... uh, 'extra multifunctional components'? It's a bit of a stretch to cram all these extra multifunctional components into a ship that's less than three thousand meters long."

"Extra multifunctional component? What is that?" Aze asked curiously.

"The main gun is equipped with the ability to launch two entangled naked singularity bombs using a gravitational field. This device releases two naked singularities at close range. During this process, the two entangled singularities will generate huge gravitational waves, which can even completely destroy the event horizon of a massive black hole in a short period of time."

"However, in order to store a large number of naked singularity bombs used as artillery shells inside the spacecraft, this additional functional component takes up a lot of space."

"It directly took up a large part of the already limited redundant space on the ship."

"A naked singularity bomb used to destroy a black hole's event horizon... How come Yuki has fallen for this kind of miraculous power-generating thing?"

"By the way, this ship doesn't have a name yet. Have you thought of a name for it?"

"Naming... this is such a hassle... wait a minute, let me ask Yuuki?"

.........

"Ah...name...let me think."

"Got it! Let's call it Time-like Infinity!"

"Time-like Infinity? Are you sure it's called that?"