The stars, but they become the gray wind

"This thing is absolutely the real deal. It's even more outrageous than flare engines like the Epstein engine. Even the 300 km/s exhaust velocity of a nuclear melon seed engine pales in comparison to this thing. To put it bluntly, a 300 km/s nuclear melon seed or a flare engine using 90% military-grade enriched uranium and 1.5% of the speed of light would look like a child's toy next to this thing. Computer simulations show that the amount of antimatter fuel this thing carries is unacceptable for a Type 1 civilization."

"So your judgment is..."

"Based on the spacecraft's volume and the total volume of its fuel tanks, the 500 grams of antimatter that exploded is equivalent to approximately 0.05% of its total storage capacity. In other words, when fully loaded with fuel and propellant, the total delta-V is incredibly high."

"Based on the analysis of the outer shell's materials and the computer's calculation of the probe's energy output, we conservatively estimate the civilization that created it to be between a Type 1.5 and Type 2 civilization."

"Carrying and consuming such a huge amount of antimatter is far beyond the tolerance of a Type I civilization. We'd better be cautious. The technical level of the manufacturer of this detector is definitely not low. The most conservative estimate is that it is an interstellar civilization above Type 1.8." Renlong frowned and said seriously.

"Speaking of which, have there been any results from the observation and investigation of the probe's trajectory?"

"Yes, there is... The deep space exploration network, which just started operating not long ago, has detected several traces of gamma-ray jets bombarding celestial bodies within the solar system. It seems very likely that the gamma-ray jets hit some celestial bodies such as rogue asteroids."

"The most obvious gamma-ray jet trace discovered so far is at least tens of thousands of kilometers long. The energy output of this thing is simply astonishing."

"Or to be more precise, this thing barely slowed down when it entered the Earth. It could be said to have crashed headfirst."

"Based on the existing observational data, I've made some speculation about its orbit. It's very likely that it's in an elliptical orbit around the sun with a high eccentricity. The farthest point of the original hotspot is in the Kuiper Belt, and the closest point is near the orbit of Jupiter."

"It spends almost its entire orbit in the outer solar system?"

"So, it somehow changed its trajectory and docked with the Earth?"

"Yes, obviously, its speed is too high to be captured by the Earth's gravity."

"We don't know yet how this probe created the disaster." I think we'd better ask Cabot about this.

"Perhaps Miss Cabot knows something about this detector?"

"You mean she already knew about this detector?"

"Just been hiding it from us?"

"That's pretty much what I'm trying to say. Cabot definitely wasn't telling us the whole truth."

"I agree, but the key problem now is that we still can't find Miss Cabot." At this moment, Carlisle suddenly remembered that during this period, she often couldn't see Miss Cabot.

"By the way, where is Miss Cabot?" Carlisle asked in confusion.

Under a palm tree on the coast, Charlotte looked at Yuuki, who seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere. She was very curious about the changes in the atmosphere on the island in recent times and wanted to find out the reason.

"Ms. Yuki...can you give me some time?" Charlotte asked politely and friendly.

"Oh, I understand. What's been going on on the island recently? Right?" After seeing Charlotte's puzzled face, Yuki immediately understood the question in Charlotte's mind.

"The reason the atmosphere on the island has been so tense these past few days is because we've launched large-scale space industry development, and we're striving to perfect the system in the shortest possible time."

"The shortest time? I don't understand, is that right?"

"Yes, that's right. Could it be...something happened somewhere else..."

"Something that took none of us by surprise crashed into the wilderness of the Tunguska River in Siberia. The origin of that object was not simple."

"Based on our analysis, that object is most likely some kind of unmanned probe, and the level of its manufacturing is quite advanced."

"Under the premise that we are not sure whether the probe represents some kind of danger, and limited by the urgency of the situation, we can only start the space industrialization and improve it as quickly and efficiently as possible." Yuki explained to Charlotte beside him.

Chapter 108: The Truth About the Origin of the Probe (5000 words)

"This matter is very complicated... Miss Charlotte... Anyway, the object that hit the Tunguska region was not a meteorite..."

"Because of that thing... our original plans have been disrupted. We originally had ample time to wait for the civilization on this planet to develop to a sufficiently advanced level. But now, with uncertainty about the origins of the object that hit Tunguska and whether it could pose a threat to us, we no longer have the time to wait for the civilization on this planet to spend decades or even hundreds of years entering the interstellar space. Under the current circumstances, the most rational choice is undoubtedly for us to take action ourselves and establish a complete industrial system for the era of interstellar civilization."

"So... as you can see... in the near future, we will invest all our current resources and production capacity into the construction of space industrialization." Yuki explained to Charlotte considerately.

"What exactly is that thing?" Charlotte asked in confusion. She was very curious about what could have made these four beings, who in her eyes were almost omnipotent, so nervous.

"If you really want to know... come with me." Yuki waved to Charlotte to signal her to follow him. Up to now, Renlong has carefully examined the dozen or so pieces of debris found at the scene, and based on this, he restored the original shape of the probe and possible propulsion power. However, the antimatter explosion that destroyed the probe itself almost completely destroyed the internal structure and various equipment of the probe. Even though Renlong had scanned the explosion site, he did not find any fragments left by the internal equipment of the probe. Coupled with the recent large-scale space infrastructure construction, Renlong was almost doing two things at once, supervising the construction of infrastructure in orbit and the research on the fragments of the probe shell in the laboratory.

.........

After leading Charlotte to the door of the laboratory on the island, Yuki pushed the door open and walked into the laboratory very familiarly. Inside the laboratory, several cables extending from the scanning equipment were connected to the back of Renlong's head, and the white-haired dragon girl's eyes were fixed on a large number of screens in front of her.

"How is it? Have you made any new discoveries about this pile of fragments?" Yuki walked forward, carefully browsed the scanning data displayed on the screen, and asked Renlong beside him.

"Yes... but not much... The material it's made of is, just as I expected, a hadronic material very similar to color-nuclear material. It's a pure strong interaction material, a macroscopically integrated structure constructed from elementary particles. There are some issues with the details, though. The creators, when manipulating the quark arrangement, clearly didn't modify the color and flavor of the quarks that make up the material, making it inert to antimatter... Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that the detector's creators couldn't do that."

"As I said before... compared to our relatively sophisticated color-core materials, which are directly arranged with quarks and then printed as a whole, the other party's method of manufacturing hadronic materials seems a bit 'crude'."

"But this doesn't mean their technological capabilities are backward. On the contrary, they've mastered the use of antimatter and created this pure strong interaction material. Their technological level should not be underestimated. There's no doubt that the creator of this probe is a highly advanced interstellar civilization."

"And since they can produce this strong interaction material based on the quark confinement effect, there is no reason to believe that they can't handle things like dilute degenerate matter, which has lower technological requirements."

"Apart from the possible technological level of the other party inferred by this detector, have you discovered anything else?" Yuki turned his head and asked.

"It's a shame... I'd like to find more... But since the probe's internal structure is almost completely destroyed, we won't be able to get more information or clues about the civilization that built it... Unless..."

"Unless we find this civilization ourselves?" Yuki continued Renlong's words.

"That's right... Assuming that within the next period of time, we can confirm that the solar system and the surrounding areas are safe, and that this civilization has not launched anything else into the solar system, then I think we can start considering actively seeking them out."

"Building a spacecraft capable of interstellar travel... Speaking of which... how's the construction of the orbital dock going?"

"Currently, only the framework of the orbital dock facilities attached to the 12 space stations has been built. Major resources are being concentrated on the transport tracks for the skyhooks. It will take approximately two weeks for the 12 space skyhooks, the first phase of the project, to be completed and operational for payload delivery to geostationary orbit."

"By then, our orbital transport capacity will have increased dozens of times. During this period, we will also begin to improve the ground base station construction of the space elevator facility, facilitating the subsequent extension of the lower end of the Skyhook of the first phase of the project further into the atmosphere and completing the connection with the ground base station to form a complete space elevator facility."

"I understand that. The Skyhook is, after all, one of the preliminary projects for the space elevator... But... how long will it take to build all 12 space elevators based on the Skyhook?"

"Not much... at most in half a year, you'll see a quarter of the space elevators completed and operational. By the way, I've already thought of the locations for the ground base stations for these three space elevators."

"They are the main peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, known as the Roof of Africa, the main peak of the Andes Mountains in South America, and Taylor Island in the equatorial region where we are."

"So you just looked for the most convenient place? (7) Lin Ba Ling is Liu Qi Qi Yan." Yu Cheng opened a holographic projection of the world map, marked the three places one by one, and asked Ren Long curiously

"Let's not talk about Taylor Island first. It's our base and home, so a space elevator is a must. As for the other two locations, we originally planned to build mass accelerators on the mountains. But if we simply want to quickly improve the space industry system with sufficient transportation capacity, it's obviously more appropriate to build ground base stations for the space elevator here."

"I see... Also, where is Carlisle? Shouldn't she be in the lab right now, helping you analyze these fragments?"

"She... had been staring at these fragments, looking lost in thought. It seemed like she had thought of something and said she wanted to step away for a while to figure something out."

"Um...excuse me...can you explain it to me? I still don't quite understand." After hearing this, Yuki turned his attention back to Charlotte, whom he had brought to the laboratory. Listening to the conversation between the two, Charlotte was still confused.

"Ah... I forgot Charlotte, you don't know the details of what happened yet. Please sit down first, I will explain it to you in detail." Yuki pulled a chair over for Charlotte, motioned Charlotte to sit down first, and began to explain to Charlotte in detail what happened in Tunguska bit by bit.

On a remote and deserted beach on Taylor Island, the previously elusive Cabot sat on a rock by the sea with his eyes closed.

While he was resting, he heard a rustling sound of footsteps behind him. Feeling someone approaching him, Cabot slowly opened his eyes.

"If you have any questions, just ask... I'll do my best to answer them for you."

Cabot didn't turn around to look at the person behind him, but just said it very calmly.

"You knew about that detector... a long time ago?" The purple-haired girl narrowed her eyes and asked Cabot, who had his back to her.

"Well, I do know, but that's not what you want to ask, right?"

"You've been hiding something from us, right? Including the detector?"

"That's right... I didn't tell you everything... Of course, including the news about the detector." Cabot replied with a rather calm expression.

"Well... okay... since you don't want to say it... forget it." The purple-haired girl behind Cabot sighed when she heard this.

"Oh... I thought you would start asking me questions next." After feeling the emotions and reactions of the purple flower girl behind him, Cabot, who had always had a very calm expression, finally showed a look of slight surprise.

"If you don't want to tell me, I can't help it, right?"

"After all, you are the Star Governor of the Combined Fleet. We are just your subordinates who were brought here to play with you and train you. If there is something you don't want us to know, then there is absolutely no possibility or opportunity for us to know."

"But this time... I do have something I want to know from you."

"Is it about the probe?"

"Indeed... While studying the debris, a possibility occurred to me. Since you knew about the existence of this probe from the beginning but didn't alert us, it means you don't consider this probe and its still-unidentified creator to be a threat to us."

"You've been appearing and disappearing so often lately, which in itself is suspicious. And that's what's puzzling me... If a senior governor of the Combined Fleet wants to do something shameful without telling her subordinates, then there's absolutely no chance for us, the underlings, to discover it."

"And you... seemed to be deliberately letting us discover your frequent and mysterious disappearances. This time, the probe blew a huge crater in Tunguska, which forced me to think of more things."

"A single probe couldn't possibly pose any threat to a member of the Combined Fleet. Yet, this member of the Combined Fleet frequently appeared and disappeared before the probe's fall, and deliberately revealed his whereabouts and clues to his subordinates. So, the question arises: is this Senior Star Governor of the Combined Fleet trying to make his subordinates realize that his recent strange behavior is related to the probe?"

"Snap, snap, snap." Capote turned his head, smiled and clapped his hands.

"Well said, you are indeed my subordinate. You are right. I do want you to connect my recent strange behavior with that detector."

"So, what's so special about that probe? Why would a senior star governor of the Combined Fleet take the initiative to go to such lengths and even resort to such a prank?"

"The reason... is actually surprisingly simple..."

"Oh... can you tell me about it?"

"Because the intelligent species that created this probe is my creation. To be more precise, it is the creation of me and several other members of the Joint Fleet."

"You could even say I put a lot of effort into creating this species and civilization..."

"I see...ah...wait a minute!" Carlisle agreed calmly at first, then immediately realized the astonishing amount of information contained in Capote's words.

"You said you created the civilization that built this probe??!"

"Indeed... This probe was created by me and several other members of the Combined Fleet. If you must define it, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they are actually your sisters."

"If you're worried that this civilization might pose a threat to you, that's completely unnecessary. Although their technology is quite advanced, they are not a warlike species."

"Another reason they pose no threat to you is that they are your sisters. Their life forms and the logic of their civilizational development differ from humans'. Unlike humans' historical inertia of exploiting and oppressing their fellow humans or other races to gain greater wealth and productivity, they are, in principle, programmed with an underlying logic that they will not harm sisters like you who share the same roots. Concepts like colonial plunder or the invasion of less developed nations by advanced nations in human history are nonexistent and incomprehensible to them."

"When I and the other members of the United Fleet first created them, our goal was to create a completely utopian social structure, from the primitive social stage in the early stages of civilization formation to the final stage of interstellar civilization."

"Ever since they evolved intelligence and formed civilization, they have embarked on a completely different path from human civilization. Things that are common in human history are negative concepts that they cannot understand and have never appeared in the development of their own civilization."

"As for what has happened in human history, I think you should be very clear about it."

"Haha... I'm quite clear on that. The history of humanity, stumbling and advancing in cycles, filled with blood and tears, is nothing more than a mountain of shitty code that has accumulated over thousands of years."

"The various social inertias accumulated over thousands of years have led to society tending towards stability rather than progress most of the time. Every time a new era and productivity structure arrives, humans always make similar mistakes. Almost every time, they are never prepared to cope with new technologies and production relations, and always appear to be in a state of panic.

Kalisi was well aware of the mistakes that had occurred over and over again in human history, as well as the destructive effects of each almost completely blind development when new productive forces and production relations emerged. Kalisi knew very well that these problems often came from various negative long-term inertias accumulated within various societies and countries over decades, hundreds of years, or even thousands of years of human civilization. These long-term inertias were like the vicious bugs that existed in the shit mountain code for many years and could not be deleted, causing continuous chaos and destruction in the process of civilization development.

The impact of new technologies brought about by several industrial revolutions has almost always caused a huge wave of unemployment and a further widening of the gap between the rich and the poor in society, as well as the economic crisis often caused by uncontrolled capital. In Carisi's own world, these problems have never been fundamentally solved in the 200 years since the Industrial Revolution, but have become long-term historical inertia. Even a considerable number of people take them for granted.

"Do you remember a hypothesis you once had?" Cabot asked suddenly.

"Besides insufficient productivity, perhaps there is another reason why human civilization cannot solve these problems..."

"As a civilization born in a natural state, from the moment we evolved intelligence and formed civilization, the entire human population has not had a very clear goal with clear methods and steps to achieve it."

"In order to unite more human groups, humans have had to create one fictional concept after another, narratives like religion and nation-states."

"But these narratives, without exception, fail to set a sufficiently clear goal for human civilization as a whole on a scale of centuries, millennia, or even longer, nor do they provide methods and sufficiently detailed steps to achieve this goal."

"So, let's assume that an intelligent species, upon forming a civilization, was given a sufficiently clear and well-defined goal. Everything it did over thousands and tens of thousands of years was geared towards achieving this goal. Furthermore, this civilization developed without any long-term historical inertia that could negatively impact its future. It never formed any narratives like religion, ethnicity, or nationhood. Due to external forces, it also lacked any so-called historical limitations. A species in which every individual possessed a vision that transcended their time, the ability to plan and act, a race that was unified from the very beginning."

"Then such a species will, in the process of development, be free from all the inherent flaws of human society. The vicious problems in human history will simply not exist for them."

"They will also be free from the stains that are so common in human history: wars, famines, plagues, the exploitation and oppression of the majority by the minority, genocide, racial discrimination, and so on. For them, none of these will exist."

After hearing Cabot's account of a hypothesis about his past, Carlisle was silent. After a long while, she responded to Cabot in front of her.

"But... the conclusion I and others reached at the time was that if such a species existed, then unless they had a social structure similar to a Gestalt hive consciousness, just like the planet Gaia in the base, completely abandoning their individual consciousness, otherwise, is it really possible for such a social structure to form?"

"The reason why the human species has so many problems is that the uncertainty of evolution and civilization development under a completely uncontrolled natural state has caused countless defects in human individuals and society, making it difficult for human society as a whole to enter a more ideal social state."

"But these are variables that can be manipulated through human intervention. Let's assume that such a civilization has been secretly influenced by us since its inception. From the very beginning, their entire species has been a unified whole with a clear, long-term goal. And this entire whole's ultimate goal, from the very beginning, has been to build a utopian society where every individual can achieve self-realization. Throughout the thousands and tens of thousands of years of development, this entire species has never engaged in blind development or groping. They clearly know what they need to do at every step, even knowing every detail of what needs to be done next."

"At the same time, this species possesses technology and power that is godlike to other civilizations. This civilization is now waiting for you sisters, whom you have never met, at the end of the stars..."

Cabot looked meaningfully at the silent Calisi with his eyes emitting a faint blue light.

"That detector... belongs to the 'them' you mentioned?"

"Having completed a utopia of extreme advancement and abundance, what else could they desire?"

"Space...? The final unknown territory and frontier..."

"Any intelligent life form is curious, and they are no exception... They have had clear goals since the birth of their civilization—goals set for them by us, their creators. After completing almost all of these goals, only one remains, the one and only one they may never achieve even if they spend an infinite amount of time—to understand all the unknowns in the universe."

Chapter 109 The Smoky Steam World: Chapter 91 was rejected, please send the reader group number

The answer to the group question is the title of this book

The original version of the deleted chapter is placed in the group file

Chapter 110 Spacecraft Manufacturing Theory (5000 words)

"The universe... the final unknown frontier pursued by all intelligent life..."

"As sisters born on the other side of the stars, unlike you, I left something in their genes that gave their entire civilization an almost fanatical and abnormal curiosity about the universe."

"Evolution pointer, inertia spiral..." With a faint blue light flashing in his eyes, Cabot uttered a string of words that made Calisi feel surprisingly familiar.