The stars, but they become the gray wind

The rate of CNO is proportional to the 17th power of temperature. This condition ignores the fact that the rate of CNO cycle has a limit. The reaction rate is proportional to the 17th power of temperature only below a certain temperature. When this temperature is exceeded, the reaction rate will not increase, but may decrease instead.

This temperature is about 450 KeV, or about 45 billion degrees.

It is no exaggeration to say that the CNO cycle is more than 9 orders of magnitude higher. If it can be achieved by technical means, it is undoubtedly top-level technology.

(The first volume is about to end, and the second volume will officially start the story of going to heaven, as well as new characters.)

Chapter 105: The Tunguska Explosion (6000 words)

At 6 o'clock in the morning on June 30, 1908, Yuki yawned and opened the bedroom door, intending to cook some breakfast herself, but when she arrived in the kitchen, she found that there was already someone inside.

"Hey, are you awake? Good morning." Aze, who was standing by the stove in an apron, looked at Yuki who was yawning and walked into the kitchen and greeted him.

"What are you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep this morning, so I got up and made something to eat... I stayed up late playing with Mary last night, and since we've become Grey Wind, we hardly feel tired anymore. Even if we do feel tired, it's just a simulation by the nanomachines. We can clear this state anytime we want."

"I think it's still early, so I got up and prepared some breakfast in advance."

"I thought you didn't usually cook?" Yuki said, leaning against the kitchen door with his arms folded over his chest.

"How could that be? As a caring sister who's good at comforting other girls, how could I not know how to cook?"

"That's right. After all, as a big sister with a lesbian vibe, it's only natural for you to cook for the girls, right?" Yuki came forward and rubbed his hands with a smile on his face.

"So could you make me some of Aze's special yuri breakfast too?"

"Of course you can, but could you please not speak in such a weird tone? It makes me feel a little creepy..." Aze felt a little creepy when he heard the coquettish words coming out of Yuki's mouth.

"OKOK, I can't wait to try the special breakfast you made, Aze." Yuki gave Aze a thumbs up and said.

"Come to think of it, Xixi and Renlong seem to be hiding in the heavy element fusion reactor in the mantle every day, practically staying underground the entire day. They're like Jiuba."

"Yeah, they've been tinkering with that heavy element reactor underground almost every day lately. I haven't asked them specifically what they're doing, but judging by the massive amount of energy consumed on the island, I know they're definitely working on something underground. They're almost draining all the electricity from the cold fusion reactors on the surface."

"Even if the fusion of heavy elements beyond iron requires energy, the energy consumption is excessive. Even with the two newly built deuterium-deuterium fusion reactors, our energy reserves are almost depleted. The helium-3 produced by the two deuterium-deuterium fusion reactors is all transported underground. Judging from this, they must have a major project in the mantle using that heavy element fusion reactor."

"It's probably some spectacle again?" Aze muttered softly after hearing Yuki's little complaint.

"And it's not just the two of them. I haven't seen Cabot much lately. I've noticed she's often not on the island. I don't know what she's been up to."

"Really... Why does it feel like everyone is doing some big private things lately?" Yuki sighed, holding his cheek while looking at the rising sun outside the window.

"Okay, okay... stop complaining... I'll make you some multi-grain pancakes." Aze patted his old friend Yuki on the shoulder and advised him.

"Thank you very much. Remember to put two more sausages, an extra egg, more pickles, and don't put the chopped green onions."

"Don't worry, the taste is guaranteed to satisfy you!" Aze, wearing an apron, said confidently, patting his chest.

In the elevator car connecting the mantle and the ground, after staying underground for several days, Renlong and Calisi finally decided to go up for some fresh air. The two of them walked into the elevator, activated the magnetic locks on their feet, and felt the acceleration generated by the rapid rise of the elevator. The two chatted leisurely in the elevator.

"What do you think we should do next?"

"After all, there's no threat on this planet. We've been having a pretty leisurely time lately. Apart from building something occasionally, it seems like nothing important has happened." Calisi glanced boredly at the display on the wall of the elevator car. The display was showing various operating data of the elevator. For example, the elevator was now ascending at a speed of 2000 kilometers per hour, the acceleration in the elevator car was 5.5G, and the value of the string of numbers after the negative sign on the altitude meter was constantly decreasing.

"Now that we have the mass accelerator, why not also improve the skyhook as a supporting facility?" Ren Long

Proposed.

"Skyhook... I don't object to building this, but..."

"As you know... the reason for the Skyhook is essentially due to the limitations of materials science and engineering. It can't support a longer and larger structure like a space elevator, so the Skyhook was chosen as a compromise solution..."

"With our current level of materials science... it feels a bit strange to have to come up with this kind of compromise solution..."

"If we really want to build one, I think we should just build a space elevator in one go."

"Forget about a cable-type space elevator with a length of 100,000 kilometers. Even if it's a tower-type space elevator made entirely of rigid materials and only 36000 kilometers high, it wouldn't pose any technical or engineering challenges for us, right?"

"You do have a point, but... the Skyhook doesn't necessarily conflict with the space elevator. In fact... the Skyhook could even serve as a preliminary project for the space elevator, with the lower end of the Skyhook gradually extended further into the atmosphere and connected to the top of the space elevator's ground base station."

"Essentially, the portion of the space elevator in space is a cable that continuously extends downward during construction. So, it's entirely feasible to use this unfinished cable directly as a skyhook, isn't it?"

"Before the space elevator is built, could we use it as a skyhook? That's a good idea. Both are essentially momentum-exchange cables. Leaving aside the complex rotating skyhook, a non-rotating one could even be used as a truncated space elevator, with the lower end not entering the atmosphere below the Kármán line, but rather at an altitude of approximately 150 kilometers. The center of gravity and counterweight of the entire skyhook would be in a higher orbit, allowing SSTO spacecraft like the Valkyrie to dock with the lower end of the skyhook at a relatively low speed, at an altitude of 150 kilometers. The payload would then be pulled upwards along the skyhook's cable. While the transport efficiency would be lower than that of a complete space elevator, the advantage would be that the engineering effort would be smaller, and combined with the projection capability of a mass accelerator, the construction of the space elevator could be further accelerated."

"Hmm... Such an ingenious plan does have a kind of technical beauty. Maybe it's worth a try." Carlisle touched her chin and thought.

"Any sufficiently spectacular wonder is built with extremely sophisticated methods, and behind it all lies a precise beauty of technology." Calisi exclaimed as she felt the acceleration of the motor gradually stop, and the altitude display next to her also prompted that the two had reached the ground.

As the elevator door slowly opened, the cool morning sea breeze blew into the elevator car. Looking at the sun on the distant horizon that had not been seen for several days, Calisi took a deep breath of the fresh island air very comfortably.

"It seems like Aze made breakfast himself. How about we go and try it?"

"OK……"

Renlong and Carisi walked out of the elevator side by side, intending to return to the residential area and enjoy the breakfast made by Aze while it was still early.

Just as the two of them were leisurely returning to the residential area and passing by the white house where Charlotte and others lived, the gate of the courtyard of the white house was pushed open. Dorothy walked out of the courtyard, stretching lazily, and just saw the two people coming towards her.

"Good morning...Ms. Carlisle, Ms. Renlong." Dorothy greeted the two happily.

"Morning...Miss Dorothy, you're up so early too?"

"Uh...well..." Dorothy looked guilty when she said this.

"I drank too much at dinner last night and fell asleep right on the table... and then I slept until just now." Dorothy said a little embarrassedly.

"Aren't nanomachines supposed to help you sober up? How much did you drink? Theoretically, the nanomachines in your body should keep you from getting drunk even if you downed 20 bottles of vodka in a row, right?"

"Uh... this... hehe..." Dorothy poked her index finger guiltily, not knowing how to answer. She relied on the nanomachines in her body to decompose alcohol, and because of the excitement about Angel and Charlotte's affairs, she drank no less than 60 large bottles of vodka with an alcohol concentration of more than 90% last night. Facts have proved that even with the help of nanomachines, there is a limit to the sobering effect. After Dorothy guzzled dozens of bottles of wine, the nanomachines in Dorothy's stomach finally reached the limit of decomposing alcohol. Dorothy also felt drunk for the first time in a long time, and finally fell asleep on the table unconscious.

"You... even if there were nanomachines that could completely repair the damage done to your body by excessive alcohol consumption, drinking too much isn't good for you."

"Uh...I see...I'll keep this reminder in mind."

"By the way...Aze made..." Just when Carlisle was about to invite Dorothy to try the breakfast made by Aze, a series of red warning messages suddenly appeared in the vision of Carlisle and Renlong without warning.

"?!!"

"This is?!"

"What happened?" Looking at the two people who were just chatting happily with her, their expressions suddenly changed drastically. Dorothy keenly felt that something bad might be happening.

"Sorry, Miss Dorothy, we may have to talk about breakfast later. We have a problem here." Renlong stared at the alarm information in his field of vision, frowned and looked up at the sky.

Along with this alarm message, all anti-aircraft firepower on the island entered the highest alert state, the eight Stonehenge artillery pointed their fire at the sky, and all anti-aircraft radar early warning equipment on the island also entered full-power operation.

.........

Inside the aerospace operations center, Carlisle frowned as she stared at the red curve on the holographic display that passed over the Earth and eventually intersected with a certain area of ​​the Eurasian continent. Next to her were Yuki and Aze, who had been urgently summoned.

"What happened just now? Why did we suddenly receive a series of alarm messages?" Aze, who had just arrived, looked at the red curve on the display in confusion.

"Just now, our space warning radar and observation system detected something entering the atmosphere at a speed of 300 kilometers per second."

"300 kilometers per second? Entering the atmosphere? A meteorite?"

"Not sure, but it doesn't look like a meteorite or an asteroid."

"A normal asteroid enters the atmosphere at a speed of about 70 kilometers per second. This thing is a bit too fast, and there is obviously something wrong."

"Wait, since it has been detected, why not intercept it?" Aze asked.

"That's the crux of the matter... The area and angle at which this thing enters the atmosphere are beyond our range."

"Stonehenge covers an area with a radius of 1200 kilometers centered on Taylor Island, but that thing is beyond the range of all our weapons. Neither Stonehenge nor the missiles on the island can reach it. Its entire falling path is completely beyond our range. At most, it will reach the ground in about 15 seconds."

"Since we can't intercept it, what about the crash site? Have you confirmed it?"

"I'm calculating. The landing location of this thing should be...hiss...this..." After seeing the location of the falling coordinates, Renlong took a breath.

"The crash site is... the Tunguska River region of Siberia!"

"Shit! Damn, how could I forget the time today? June 30, 1908!" When he said this, Renlong suddenly remembered something that he had completely forgotten. After realizing his miscalculation, Renlong rubbed his temple with his right index finger.

"Is this the Tunguska event in this world? But the speed of this thing doesn't seem like a normal meteorite at all."

"It's impossible for a normal meteorite to be so fast due to the effect of atmospheric friction, right?" Yuki, who was the calmest among the crowd, walked forward, placed his hands on the holographic console, and stared at the images and data displayed on the console.

The console was displaying a photo taken by a drone at an extremely long distance. It was a fireball streaking across the atmosphere. At this distance, even the drone's recording equipment couldn't produce a very clear image of the object falling into the atmosphere, but Yuki still noticed that the shape of the object seemed a little off.

"This doesn't look like a meteorite, does it? If it is, isn't its shape a little too regular for a meteorite?"

Yuki zoomed in on the image on the holographic display and carefully observed the object in the image.

A few dozen minutes ago, after a long six-year orbit change, the probe finally entered an orbit closer to the earth. The hard work paid off. The scanning equipment and sensors of the probe indeed detected some sparse lights on the side of the planet that was not sunny. The six-year orbit change of the probe was not in vain.

"Information confirmed...traces of civilization observed on the planet's surface...activating additional analysis systems for detailed observation."

Just as the probe was turning from the planet's dark side to the sun-facing side and planning to conduct further observations of the planet's surface, its onboard scanning equipment and sensors noticed a very obvious huge "thing" near the junction of the planet's sun-facing and dark sides.

It is a "silver-gray ridge" that is clearly visible even from space.

The probe's sensors analyze this silver-gray "mountain range" on the planet's surface, which is more than 100 kilometers long.

"Analysis in progress... Analysis complete... Confirmed to be man-made... This object may be some kind of giant electromagnetic catapult for space launches... Solution: The object is 121 kilometers long and 8100 meters at its highest point. Confirmed to be built on the planet's equator... Analysis in progress... The technological level of this planet's intelligent species should be reassessed..."

"We've observed some kind of giant offshore platform facility surrounding this structure... Analysis in progress... Analysis complete: Three inverted trapezoidal offshore platforms are likely some kind of energy infrastructure. Large quantities of hydrogen and oxygen have been detected on all three platforms..."

"A massive aerial platform, over 1400 meters across, was observed in the upper atmosphere of the planet's northern hemisphere. Based on the temperature of the exhaust from its engine power unit, it's highly likely that the platform uses nuclear energy as its power source..."

"Several artifacts similar in structure to the giant platforms found in the upper atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere have been observed on the ocean surface near an ocean island suspected to be home to a massive mass accelerator facility... Analysis underway... Analysis complete, confirmed to be some type of giant atmospheric aircraft."

"The suspected SSTO spacecraft previously observed crossing the planet's Karman line is parked somewhere on the island... Analysis and comparison are underway... Comparison completed... Confirmed to be the SSTO spacecraft observed several cycles ago."

"Observational data is being compared... Combined with the suspected artificial large-scale muon fusion phenomenon observed on the planet's surface several cycles ago... We are currently assessing the technological level of the planet's civilization..."

"Assessment Completed... Twitter: This planetary civilization has mastered cold fusion technology... and possesses the ability to build mature nuclear-powered SSTO spacecraft for orbital transport and launch... They also possess the engineering and technical capabilities to construct at least one massive mass accelerator spanning over 100 kilometers... Multiple massive aerial platforms measuring a thousand meters or more have been observed in the planet's atmosphere, either in navigation or at rest... A detailed assessment of this planetary civilization's energy output is underway..."

"Assessment complete... It is estimated that the energy output of this planetary civilization may have reached Type 1 or above. The reason why the abnormal state of this planet and its surface civilization has not been observed in the past few hundred cycles cannot be confirmed."

"Communications self-test in progress... confirming interstellar communications are functioning normally."

"Energy reserve self-inspection in progress...Self-inspection normal. Remaining energy reserve confirmed to be 14.5%."

"Initiating transmission. The in-depth observation plan for intelligent life and civilization on this planet has been completed. It has been confirmed that the planet's intelligent species and civilization may have advanced to the space age, and their overall energy output has likely reached the level of a Type I civilization. Multiple massive artifacts have been observed on the planet's surface, one of which has been confirmed to be a massive mass accelerator... Several additional devices suspected to be energy facilities have also been observed."

"This civilization has been confirmed to be a planet-sized species, possessing preliminary space exploration capabilities, as well as complete space launch and space industry construction capabilities..."

"This machine's mission has been completed. The existence of other intelligent alien species in the Milky Way has been confirmed... May the creators prosper forever... This exploration machine's energy reserves are nearing their limit... Beginning final procedures, entering the planet's atmosphere to complete the final exploration mission... This machine's call is complete... Message sent... Estimated arrival time... 22271 lightspeed cycles..."

As the probe pointed toward its parent star and sent its final message, it began to rapidly change its orbit and headed straight for the planet's atmosphere.

After a long voyage of 20,000 light years, the scarred hadronic material shell passed through the atmosphere at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per second. Under the high-speed friction of the atmosphere, the 30-meter-diameter probe became a fireball across the earth's sky. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was because of the deliberate action of some mastermind behind the scenes, Miss Star Governor, the angle and path chosen by the probe to enter the earth's atmosphere were almost completely out of range of all Taylor Island air defense systems, including Stonehenge. At this time, the Alicorn happened to be in the Atlantic Ocean. Even the electromagnetic cannon with a range of more than 3000 kilometers was powerless against the probe that was rushing towards Tunguska at a speed of 300 kilometers per second.

After leaving a bright trail in the Earth's atmosphere, the fireball slammed into the desolate Tunguska region of Siberia. For the detector shell made of hadronic material, this impact seemed so insignificant. Compared with the detector's early method of directly colliding with stars to reduce its own speed when decelerating, this landing seemed so gentle. When it fell to the ground, the control system in the detector also actively turned off the magnetic confinement safety device of the antimatter fuel tank. Although most of the antimatter fuel had been consumed in the previous interstellar journey, the detector still stored less than 0.05% of the remaining antimatter hydrogen in the full load state. However, the remaining less than 500 grams of antimatter hydrogen turned into pure energy the moment it came into contact with the normal matter on the inner wall of the fuel tank. The antimatter that annihilated with the positive matter instantly blew the entire detector from the inside out. The outer layer of hadronic material was also directly destroyed in the process. With the light and heat produced by the annihilation reaction and the huge amount of gamma rays that followed, after losing the final restraint of the hadronic material shell, they were finally released into the outer earth's atmosphere. The strong light comparable to the sun illuminated the entire sky, and a huge mushroom cloud rose from the crash point. The shock wave and explosion accompanying the mushroom cloud cut off the trees within a radius of 2000 kilometers. The uncontrolled huge amount of gamma ray radiation produced by the annihilation of antimatter wantonly destroyed the surrounding environment. The energy released by this huge explosion caused by antimatter was equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of 2 million tons of TNT. The explosion was even recorded by seismic stations distributed throughout Eurasia, and the unstable air pressure caused was even detected and recorded by an inconspicuous automatic air pressure recorder in Albion, which had just completed the handover of power only a few years ago.

This explosion also marked the end of the group's leisurely vacation on this planet.

Chapter 106: Marching towards the Starry Sky!!! (5000 words)

"This situation looks really tragic..." The purple-haired girl in the fully transparent spherical cockpit sighed as she looked at the large area of ​​burnt trees falling down in a radiating pattern from the explosion center.

At this time, Kalsi was looking around near the impact point in the Tunguska River area of ​​Siberia. After the impact, several people quickly reached a consensus on the matter and immediately surveyed and inspected the impact point to see if they could find any clues. Kalsi volunteered to go to the scene to investigate in person. After driving an anti-gravity helicopter to the explosion site as quickly as possible, Kalsi did not choose to land immediately, but instead controlled the aircraft to hover over the explosion center. The aircraft detection system also detected gamma-ray radiation and X-ray radiation in the external air that were sufficient to cause a fatal dose. The red high-dose radiation alarm message flashed on the inner glass of the aircraft's cockpit wall. Kalsi frowned and turned off the alarm message in front of her, and ordered several accompanying drones to scan and inspect the explosion area, and transmit the images taken at the scene to the aerospace combat center on Taylor Island.

"The footage of the on-site situation has been transmitted to you. Did you see it?" Carlisle shouted to Renlong who was on the other end of the communication line.

"I saw it, the picture is very clear...but...this..." After seeing the picture transmitted from the scene, Renlong was speechless.

"This thing... shouldn't... be a meteorite impact, right?"

"Of course not... Have you ever seen a meteorite that emits ridiculously high doses of gamma rays and X-rays?" Carlisle said in a somewhat excited tone.

"If there hadn't been any neutron radiation or other radioactive substances detected at the scene, I would have thought it was the result of a nuclear explosion!"

"This thing isn't a meteorite at all! There's no way a meteorite could explode and disintegrate on impact and still release gamma and X-ray radiation that would stun you!"

"As far as I know, the number of things that can produce such a large dose of gamma radiation in a short period of time can be counted on one hand..."

"Aside from the unlikely possibilities of neutron star mergers, massive black hole jets, or supernova explosions, the only remaining option is... antimatter annihilation."

"You mean... that thing that fell down was a piece of antimatter?"

"I can't be completely sure, but based on the information we've observed, that thing must be at least 30 meters in diameter. If antimatter of this size and weight exploded in the atmosphere, the damage it would cause would definitely be far more significant."

"Judging from the scene, the power of the thing that exploded is at least equivalent to between 1500 and 2000 million tons of TNT. The total amount of antimatter that can produce this power should not exceed half a kilogram. Therefore, that thing is 100% not a meteorite made of antimatter." Looking at the sky above her head outside the cockpit, which turned orange because a large amount of dust was raised and thrown into the atmosphere in the violent explosion, Calisi curled her lips in dissatisfaction.

It has been eight hours since the impact, and the mushroom cloud produced by the explosion has long dissipated, but the follow-up effects of this devastating antimatter explosion are still continuing. The surface soil in the explosion center area has been vitrified under high temperature, and a large pit with a diameter of more than 200 meters has been produced. The permafrost soil far away from the Baoxin District has melted again under high temperature and turned into a swamp. More than 6000 million trees within 2153.2 square kilometers around the explosion center have fallen in one direction, and deadly gamma rays and X-rays are still raging in this uninhabited Siberian wilderness.

Dozens of drones were searching and scanning the area affected by the explosion, trying to find possible debris for analysis. Inside the spherical cockpit of an anti-gravity helicopter hovering in mid-air, Kalisi was carefully observing every image sent back by the drones searching in different locations and areas. The same images were also uploaded to the holographic display of the Tongtian Combat Center on Taylor Island. Renlong, Yuki, and Aze were all observing the images in front of them with serious expressions.

"Wait, what is this?" Renlong shouted, pointing at the image sent back by one of the drones.

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?"

"Drone 04's scanner... detected a fragment of what appears to be man-made material buried in the soil about a kilometer from the explosion center."

"Artificial debris? Mark the location of UAV 04!"