The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Leave something on this planet that can keep the humans on Earth sane in the future." Renlong said, pulling a picture of the implementation in the underground factory in front of Aze.

"What is this thing? A giant bird of war?"

"And...this quantity...is so large?" Aze couldn't help but exclaimed as he looked at the pure white wing-shaped aircraft being assembled on the screen.

"There are twelve of them in total. Once they're in service, each one will have energy provided by the orbital elevator. As long as the orbital elevator and the automated underground factory on Taylor Island remain in place, these twelve giant military birds will bring long-term, stable peace to this planet. They will also allow the humans on this planet to learn to maintain their sanity and resolve problems more peacefully over the next few hundred years."

"Why does it seem like we're leaving and not coming back?"

"Because we are not sure... Although the high-dimensional space jump engine can cross the distance of 20,000 light years in a very short time, maybe we will not come back after leaving this planet this time. We must make full preparations to ensure that even after we leave this planet, the human beings in this world can choose a development path with lower cost." Renlong said earnestly.

"If they can develop to a high enough level of technology and morality in the future, then we can give them the facilities like the space elevator we left behind. But before that, we will keep these things safe and guide them to choose a less costly and gentler path of development."

"Perhaps one day in the future, they too will become an interstellar civilization, but for now, this planet still needs a celestial being like an organization that doesn't care about its own interests and can keep everyone rational, to maintain peace."

"That's why... we need to do some finishing work before we leave. With the automated suppression systems we leave behind, the civilization on this planet won't have to worry about being destroyed by man-made or natural disasters like nuclear war or asteroid impacts."

"And these 12 giant weapons birds are our 'Gundams', and they have become the sword of Damocles that constantly warns the entire civilization, allowing them to maintain long-term progress and innovation, rather than falling into internal friction and chaos."

"Besides that... there's another very important thing..."

"whats the matter?"

"So... those people... Charlotte, Anjie... are they willing to leave this planet with us and travel to an unknown world together?"

Note 1: The spacecraft in the Orion program carries thousands of small nuclear bombs. When the spacecraft needs power, it will release a nuclear bomb from the stern, followed by some solid discs made of hydrogen-containing plastic. When the spacecraft travels a certain distance, the nuclear bomb will explode behind the spacecraft, vaporizing the plastic discs and converting them into high-temperature plasma.

These plasmas will spread in all directions, some of which will catch up with the spacecraft and hit the huge metal propulsion disk at the tail of the spacecraft, thus propelling the spacecraft at high speed. The spacecraft is also designed with a shock wave absorption system that can store the energy of the collision with the metal propulsion disk and gradually release it.

猎户座太空船将有60层楼高,外形像颗子弹头,太空飞船尾部的推进镏龄児删斯八思盘直径将达41米,发射平台将由8个高达76米的发射塔组成。当太空飞船被发射升空后,太空飞船尾部每10秒钟就要爆炸一颗相当于2万吨TNT能量的小型原子弹,计划中,该飞船可以用125天飞到火星,用3年时间飞到土星。

Chapter 129 A True Interstellar Civilization Sister? (5000 words)

"I would like to invite a few of you... to go to the stars with us." In the living room of the white house, Yuki extended his right hand to Charlotte and others to invite them.

"Of course, let's make it clear first... I'm not sure if we'll ever come back after our long voyage."

"Calculations by Kalisi and Renlong regarding the time it would take for a high-dimensional space jump engine to reach its target indicate that even if the target galaxy lacks accurate positioning guidance, a high-dimensional space jump engine would only require two jumps at most to cross a distance of 20,000 light-years. The total time required to reach the target galaxy 20,000 light-years away would not exceed 72 hours."

"But based on the information Cabot provided and her expressed feelings, she might want us to stay there for the long term. So, after we arrive, we'll most likely choose not to return to Earth. Even if we do, it'll be only for occasional visits. Of course, if you choose to come with us, we'll naturally send you back if you want to return to Earth after the mission is completed. We'll also come back to see you frequently if you need us. If you don't want to leave, I won't force you. If you wish to remain on Earth, all the facilities on the island and in space will be handed over to you for safekeeping after we leave, and I'll grant you greater access to them and management."

"Then... may I ask... Miss Yuki, what will be the end of your journey?" Charlotte asked.

"It's most likely a created utopian civilization, right? We might not know their specific information and identities until we reach our destination. They were created by a group of members of the Combined Fleet, including Miss Cabot, and are the source of the probe that crashed in Tunguska."

"That probe that fell from the sky?" Charlotte said in surprise.

"Yes, that probe. Judging by the time, it was launched at least tens of thousands of years ago. Being able to accelerate a small probe to near the speed of light tens of thousands of years ago, this technology is truly... quite advanced."

"Tens of thousands of years ago? In other words..."

"Indeed... They've been developing for at least tens of thousands of years since the launch of the Internal Medicine Probe. We don't know much about their current technological level, but we do know that they're likely still stuck below the speed of light."

"But the fact that space travel is limited to speeds below the speed of light doesn't mean they're falling behind. On the contrary, due to the speed limit, they'll definitely improve in other areas. We have a theory that assumes the speed of light is unsurpassable. Therefore, civilizations will be trapped in the Local Bubble region surrounding their home galaxy for a long time. But even a Local Bubble, 1000 light-years across, is enough for a civilization limited to speeds below the speed of light to survive for billions of years, or even longer. The total amount of matter and energy within the Local Bubble is enough for one or more civilizations to develop to the level of a Type II civilization or above."

"As beings created by members of the Combined Fleet like Cabot, perhaps they should be considered our... sisters?"

"Huh?" Charlotte and Ange were stunned. This was the first time they heard Jiecheng mention that he was a man-made creature.

"Don't be so surprised... The four of us were created beings, created by that flaxen-haired Miss Cabot whom you've met a few times."

"And that civilization that also exists on the other side of the stars was also created by Cabot. The only difference between them and us is that it may have involved more than just Cabot in the combined fleet."

"And in terms of attention... I bet Cabot has invested far more energy and time in them than we have."

"This trip is literally full of unknowns, and as for safety... we will do our utmost to ensure your safety throughout the entire process."

"As for the society created by these sisters in Xunxing's pen, we know very little. We only know that it is a utopia that has been perfectly planned since its birth. If we want to know more, we can only go there in person."

"So... everyone... would you like to join us in exploring the unknown in the universe?" Yuki extended his hand again to invite.

…………

Earlier, in the bridge of the Grey Wind mothership in orbit, Kalisi and Renlong were checking the star map. Kalisi silently stared at the two points marked on the star map, which were far apart and opposite to each other. The starting point was the solar system, and the end point was an unknown galaxy.

"The coordinates of the galaxy Cabot gave me are approximately 22000 light-years from Earth. This distance is unimaginably long for the Alcubierre Drive, which means..."

"Does this mean... that we can only rely on jumping into higher-dimensional space?"

"And this is assuming there's no guidance equipment within the target galaxy that can provide precise positioning information. We're directly crossing 22000 light-years. If there were guidance equipment within the target galaxy, this wouldn't be a problem. If the Milky Way were filled with guidance equipment that could provide positioning for high-dimensional space jump engines, then even if the distance was nearly a million light-years, we could still reach the target's coordinates with a single jump."

"Even if a personal space jump engine can pull the spacecraft directly to the target, if the jump distance is too long without induced positioning during the process of returning to the three-dimensional universe from the high-dimensional warp bubble, errors will occur. Under normal circumstances, the single-time navigation distance of an unguided jump should not exceed 15000 light years. Otherwise, the error when the spacecraft falls from high-dimensional space back to the three-dimensional universe will increase exponentially."

"Is there no way to allow a spacecraft to jump longer distances in one go?"

"Yes, there are... but it requires some natural cosmic coordinate positioning devices other than artificial beacons. You should be familiar with pulsars and black holes, right?"

"I know... Both types of celestial bodies have very extreme environments and extremely strong gravity."

"Don't forget, gravity is the only one of the four fundamental forces that can act in higher dimensions than three and penetrate the 11-dimensional space-time membrane."

"In other words?" When it came to gravity, Carlisle had already vaguely guessed something.

"Extreme celestial bodies like neutron stars, pulsars, and black holes generate powerful gravitational forces powerful enough to penetrate other dimensions of spacetime. Like shining beacons in the universe, they provide us with a more precise relative positioning of the spacecraft's high-dimensional warp bubble and the three-dimensional universe, ensuring that we can precisely adjust our own coordinates before falling back into the three-dimensional universe."

"When we make a high-dimensional space jump, the spacecraft will completely break away from the three-dimensional universe it originally resides in, and the relative position between the high-dimensional warp zone cavitation spacecraft and the three-dimensional universe will become difficult to observe. At this time, we need artificial induction beacons in the three-dimensional universe to provide coordinate data to the spacecraft in the high-dimensional space through gravitational wave signals, or natural lighthouses in the universe that generate strong gravitational fields that penetrate other dimensions. The spacecraft can use the gravity transmitted to the high-dimensional space by these celestial bodies to locate its relative coordinates with the three-dimensional space."

"So... I suggest... I use this neutron star for positioning, crossing 20,000 light years in one go, and reaching the target directly."

Renlong zoomed in on one of the parts on the star map, which was the part close to the middle area of ​​the route planned by Kalisi, where there was a neutron star spinning at high speed.

"This neutron star can provide us with positioning, greatly reducing the various unknown risks that may arise during our journey."

"And more importantly, this neutron star is only 11000 light-years away from us."

"This distance is indeed... quite close. Perhaps it is indeed feasible. By the way... have you seen the report Mary recently made in her spare time after observing the target galaxy we are going to with an astronomical telescope?"

"Mary? She's observing that galaxy? How come I don't know?"

"That's a long story... Recently, when Aze was watching the stars with her at night, he asked Mary to point the telescope at that spot and conduct various routine optical observations. We made quite a few discoveries."

"Oh? What did you find?"

"Hmm...some interesting discoveries..." Kalisi swiped the location shown on the star map to the local bubble where the galaxy in the sky was located.

"Since we don't yet know the specific name of that galaxy, let's temporarily call the target galaxy of our journey the Alpha Galaxy. The Alpha Galaxy is 22000 light-years away from Earth. This means that the stars in the Alpha Galaxy we observe today are the light emitted by it 22000 years ago."

"220 years... That's a long time for a civilization. Human civilization only has a traceable history of over 7000 years. 00 years is more than enough time for a civilization to develop from the Stone Age to an interstellar civilization. And that's what I'm going to talk about next."

"The star in the Alpha System is a G-type yellow dwarf main sequence star very similar to the Sun. However, when Mary observed it through a telescope, she discovered something strange. For a star with a diameter and mass similar to the Sun, its brightness was unusually low."

"Its brightness is less than 40% of the sun, which is even lower than some red dwarf stars. This result is obviously problematic, as if something is blocking the light from this star."

"You mean... could it be... a Dyson sphere?"

"This possibility cannot be ruled out. If a civilization is restricted to traveling below the speed of light, outward interstellar expansion will become very difficult, and inward development and the construction of a Dyson cloud or Dyson sphere will become a more reasonable option."

"But...if my guess is correct...and the thing blocking the light from this star is really something like a Dyson cloud, then its scale is too large, right?"

"A Dyson cloud that blocks 60% of the star's light... This level of engineering can't be accomplished by simply dismantling a Mercury-sized planet..."

"But... if the construction time is extended to 20,000 years, it wouldn't be surprising to have this scale, right?" Renlong interrupted Carisi's thoughts.

"Oh...how do you know?"

"In our original world, the estimated time required to build a Dyson Cloud, assuming the availability of self-replicating machinery, was that the entire asteroid belt could be dismantled within 200 years, and the entire solar system's celestial bodies would be dismantled in no more than 1000 years. Even factoring in the time required for various orbital transfers, the entire project could be completed in under 1500 years. Furthermore, a Dyson Cloud doesn't generate revenue only after completion. Instead, as construction progresses, the energy generated increases exponentially."

"If we extend the timeframe to 22000 years, and consider the aerospace capabilities and speeds represented by a probe capable of traveling at near-light speed, I strongly suspect that all matter in not only the home galaxy but also nearby galaxies will have been disassembled and transformed into Dyson clouds or spheres."

"But...Cabot explained to me that the probe was able to accelerate to such high speeds because there were two Kerr black holes spinning at high speeds around each other near that galaxy. The probe was able to accelerate to near-relativistic speeds by constantly slingshotting around the two Kerr black holes."

"However, according to the observation results, the two Kerr black holes seem to have no accretion disks. Therefore, we cannot directly see the appearance of the two Kerr black holes through conventional optical observations on Earth. But I still simulated the conditions of the two black holes based on the observation data of gravitational waves and X-rays in that area." Calisi raised her hand and projected a holographic projection of the simulated operating status of the two black holes in front of the two people.

"Less than 0.5 light-years? So close?" Renlong marveled in amazement at the extremely close relative distance between the two black holes and the Alpha Galaxy.

"Yes, the relative distance between the entire star system and these two black holes is less than 0.5 light-years. I think this is why they can use those two black holes to accelerate the probe."

"If the distance is this...it would be a bit unreasonable if they didn't use this black hole during their space exploration." Renlong nodded after thinking about it.

"Besides this, have you found anything else?"

"Yes... The star distribution and matter density of the Local Bubble Universe, where the Alpha Galaxy is located... are somewhat too high compared to other areas of the Milky Way."

"In this region in particular, the proportion of neutron stars and white dwarfs among stars is much greater than normal. Within 50 light-years of the Alpha Centauri system alone, dozens of neutron stars have been discovered, and observations of these neutron stars have also yielded unexpected discoveries."

"The luminosity of these neutron stars seems to generally exhibit a very stable periodic variation. Specifically, a considerable number of them will experience slight periodic decreases in luminosity."

"Observation using the occultation method? Are there celestial bodies like planets around these neutron stars?" Renlong suddenly asked.

"That's possible, but the data I've seen using the space elevator's synchronous orbit telescope is a bit strange."

"What's so strange?"

"If they are planets orbiting neutron stars... the brightness variations of these neutron stars... are extremely regular... It's as if there are multiple planets orbiting at exactly the same distance and speed in the same orbit. Furthermore, data inferred from the occultation method indicates that all of these planets affecting the brightness variations of the neutron stars have almost exactly the same diameter. Even if there are multiple planets orbiting the same orbit, it's impossible for all of them to have exactly the same diameter."

"The only reasonable explanation is that these celestial bodies orbiting neutron stars are not naturally formed, but are some kind of man-made products..."

"But if it is man-made, the harsh environment near the neutron star is enough to cause huge difficulties or even catastrophic effects on stellar celestial engineering. If these celestial bodies we observe orbiting neutron stars are really man-made products, the engineering capabilities and technical levels should definitely not be underestimated." Renlong frowned and sighed.

"Those fragments of color-core material we collected from that detector earlier, although the manufacturing process was quite immature, are still truly hadronic materials made by directly utilizing the quark confinement effect. Considering that this thing was launched at least tens of thousands of years ago and has undergone such a long period of iteration and development, if they can mass-produce this kind of thing, then withstanding the extreme gravity and magnetic field environment of a neutron star may not be a problem."

"If that object blocking over 60% of the light from the Alpha Galaxy's stars is truly a Dyson Cloud, then we sisters are at least a Type 2.0 civilization. Neutron stars have an energy output at least hundreds of thousands of times greater than that of main-sequence stars. A civilization capable of developing stellar astronomical engineering on a neutron star is no longer simply a Type 2.0 civilization. If the celestial bodies orbiting the neutron star are indeed some kind of stellar astronomical engineering project, then our assessment of the level of development of this group of sisters we've never met must be at least a step higher."

"Even if they can only utilize a tiny fraction of the neutron star's energy, it's still at least equivalent to the energy output of thousands of main-sequence stars. That's at least equivalent to the combined power output of thousands of main-sequence stars."

"We sisters definitely don't look simple... Let's get together," Carlisle commented.

"Furthermore, after observing the anomalies around those neutron stars, I ordered all telescopes and observation equipment on the space station to conduct a rough observation scan of other stars in that area. We found that it wasn't just the stars in the Alpha Galaxy and the surrounding neutron stars. Thousands of stars within 300 light-years of the Alpha Galaxy were experiencing this kind of luminosity drop or abnormal periodic luminosity fluctuations. If this is what we're thinking..."

"The reason why the light emitted by thousands of surrounding stars is experiencing abnormal changes..."

"Are the thousands of stars around here blocked by Dyson Cloud-level astronomical engineering?" When Renlong thought of this possibility, he took a deep breath and stared at the Alpha Galaxy on the star map.

Chapter 130: The Abnormality of the Stars and the Decision of Charlotte and the Others (5000 words)

"And don't forget the speed of light. The scene we're seeing, as well as the unusual phenomena in Alpha Star and the surrounding galaxies, must have appeared at least 20,000 years ago."

"In other words, the thousands of stars we see now, which are suspected to have had a large amount of light blocked by stellar-level astronomical engineering, are the states of these stars 20,000 years ago." Calisi said to Renlong.

"So what is the current condition of these stars..."

"If you want a definitive answer... then all I can say is: I don't know."

"After all, after 20,000 years, no one is sure what will happen in the meantime."

"The only thing I can confirm is... among these stars exhibiting abnormal phenomena, the ones with the least light obstruction are the red giants and red supergiants. Their light is only obscured by about 10%. Among them, the red supergiant numbered Alpha 420 has a radius about 1200 times that of the Sun, a surface temperature of 3600K, a luminosity of about 11 times that of the Sun, and a mass 18 times that of the Sun. It is approximately 187 light-years away from the Alpha Galaxy, and its light is only obscured by 5%. This red supergiant has the least light obstruction of all the stars in the local bubble of the Alpha Galaxy where the abnormal phenomenon occurs."

"Hiss... red supergiants whose mass and size far exceed those of yellow dwarf stars like the sun are all blocked by 5%? What about other stars with more serious conditions?" Ren Long asked after taking a deep breath.

"The stars whose light is most blocked... well... these are them." Carlisle stretched out her right hand and drew a line at the star map, and dozens of red dwarf stars in the star map were marked out.

"These ten or so red dwarf stars have generally seen their luminosity drop by 80% or even over 90%. This means that if there are artificial structures like Dyson Clouds surrounding these red dwarfs, they would have already obscured over 80 to 90% of the star's area."

"The red giant I mentioned earlier was the mildest case, but the most serious is this red dwarf numbered Alpha 014. It has a mass equivalent to about 0.7 times that of the sun, a surface temperature of 4500K, and is only 26 light-years away from the Alpha system. Its luminosity has dropped by more than 98.02, which means that the entire star is almost completely encased by some kind of artificial structure."

"Even for a red dwarf star, which is relatively small in mass and size among main-sequence stars, completely encasing it in an artificial structure would require a massive engineering effort. Blocking 98.02 percent of the star's total light would be incredibly close to the efficiency of our original vision of a rigid Dyson sphere, which fully utilizes the star's energy... And this is the state of the star 20,000 years ago. I can't imagine what we sisters can achieve now... Is this truly an interstellar civilization trapped below the speed of light?" Calisi sighed with a rather grim expression. (Note 1)

"Based on what we've observed so far, can you roughly estimate the total energy output of their entire civilization?"

"Based on the currently observed data, and using the most conservative estimate of the scale and level of their civilization... it would probably be... a Type 2.5 civilization."

"Ah... this..." Renlong didn't know what to say at this time, because she vaguely felt that the civilization of these sisters whom she had never met might be "monsters" in the literal sense.

"At least thousands of Type 2.5 stars... This is too... terrifying, right?" Renlong was silent for a long time, then said this.

"If the space speed is just below the speed of light... and we can reach this level... if we sisters who have never met each other obtain the ability and technology to travel faster than the speed of light..." When Carisi said this, she was no longer brave enough to think further.

"A big expedition for the entire Yin-11?" Ren Long made a joke casually.

"If that's the case, then we can only pray that we sisters are pacifists. Otherwise, within a few thousand years, the entire galaxy may literally...become theirs."

"By the way, speaking of this, I remember an explanation of the Fermi Paradox."

"What explanation?"

"One explanation for the Fermi Paradox is that a galaxy like the Milky Way may only have one Type III civilization, because the existence of this one Type III civilization itself limits the possibility of the emergence of other Type III civilizations."

"Because the birth and evolution of a civilization is much slower than the development and spread of a civilization, backward civilizations can easily be integrated or become highly similar civilizations through convergent development after coming into contact with advanced civilizations." Renlong explained in detail to Kalisi.

"If you put it that way... I think I might have some idea..."

"A clue?"

"Why did Cabot insist on sending us, VI Ling Er Ni San Ba ​​Ba IV, across 20,000 light years for no apparent reason to meet a group of sisters we'd never met and didn't know each other well?"

"Think about it... our spaceship carries genuine FTL technology, right?"

"And if Cabot isn't lying, and our sisters' technological level is still limited to below the speed of light, then by going there, does that mean we're handing over FTL technology directly to them?"