The stars, but they become the gray wind

The images played on the monitor seemed to be shot from the perspective of a spaceship. The content of this footage was the images before and after the formation and opening of a star gate in a certain galaxy. Before and after the formation of the ring-shaped star gate, the airspace around the area where the star gate was located was surrounded by no less than tens of thousands of spaceships of all sizes. These spaceships had different models and appearances, and their relative positions and distances from the star gate were also different. The sizes of these spaceships also varied greatly. Some were less than 100 meters long, and some had a long axis of more than 20 kilometers. These spaceships were like onlookers, observing the construction and launch of the star gate throughout the entire process.

The title of this holographic video is: Everyone in the galaxy who has received the news, come together to watch the entire process of building the stargate!!!

Live broadcast!!! I feel such a great sense of accomplishment after completing it!!!

"This... you have to understand... After all, for the entire Sky Star civilization, the completion of a stargate in each galaxy represents a new historical moment and commemoration. How can we not have some sense of ceremony?"

"And then they're calling all the spaceships in the galaxy to come to the scene and watch? Why is this scene like a crowd of spectators?"

"For the entire construction process of a project like this...it would definitely be more ceremonial if we watched it up close, right?" At this time, the protective door behind the three of them slid open to the side, and Lina walked into the laboratory.

"For such a memorable moment... we prefer to witness it up close... under the premise of ensuring safety, of course... If safety cannot be guaranteed, it would be better to witness it through a screen or something like that."

"The moment the Stargate activates isn't exactly safe. If a spacecraft made of conventional chemical bond materials were to happen to be on the axis of the wormhole in the Stargate's central area at the moment the new gate activates, it would most likely be blasted to pieces by the near-light-speed high-energy particle jet generated by the Stargate activation... although few of your ships have hulls made of conventional chemical bond materials."

"That's true... but speaking of which, I heard you've been away from home for the past few days studying the plants on our home planet?"

"Yes... We want to study whether there is anything special about the evolution of plants under the influence of the von Neumann self-replicator?"

"and then?"

"And then? And then my three views were severely impacted..." Carlisle said with a twitching mouth, pointing at the plant in the container in front of her.

"Sunward Warbler? Isn't this a very common plant on the surface of Sky Star? What's wrong?"

"Common? You call plants containing stable magnetic monopoles common?"

"Yes... Although the evolutionary history of this plant on our home planet is not very long, it is indeed a common plant on the surface of Sky Star."

"I don't think plants containing stable magnetic monopoles can be called common, right?" Carlisle knocked on the transparent container in front of her and said in disbelief.

In the world where Calisi originally lived, whether it was mineral meteorites, high-energy accelerators, or various complex equipment used to observe the universe, since the relevant theory was proposed, humans have never given up the pursuit of magnetic monopoles that only exist in theory.

However, repeated experiments and observations have disappointed scientists, and some have even concluded that stable magnetic monopoles cannot exist in nature.

But what is now presented in front of the three people is such a magical plant containing stable magnetic monopole material.

"The sun warbler gets its name because it always faces the star that the stars in the sky revolve around for most of the day." Lina explained the origin of this plant to everyone.

"This plant's appearance and evolutionary history isn't very long. It's only appeared on the planet Yiling Yiqi Si Wu (Four) Jue Si Tian Kong in the last 100,000 years. By our definition, it can indeed be considered a 'natural product,' but not entirely."

"Not entirely a natural product? What does that mean? Could it be a plant artificially synthesized through some technical means?" Carlisle asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Well... this has to do with the Tree of Life itself... Let me give you an example—a bird can fly, but it doesn't know how it can fly."

"Birds can fly, but they obviously can't understand aerodynamics.

So—a bird doesn't know about "aerodynamics," but it knows what to look like, how to design its shape, distribute its weight, and how to adjust and control it to fly. The same is true for the Tree of Life. For a considerable period of time, it didn't actually understand the specific principles of many things, but it knew how to use them. Take, for example, the nanomachines that make up its body, or controlled nuclear fusion. Initially, the Tree of Life didn't know the specific microscopic processes of nuclear fusion. It simply knew that heating and pressurizing a substance to a certain level would trigger it to release a large amount of energy. The same is true for our civilization's first heavy fusion reactor, built from the Tree of Life's own biological materials. The Sky People were responsible for helping the Tree of Life understand the specific principles of various things and their further applications during the development process, and the Tree of Life was responsible for turning these into reality.

"In the early days of our civilization, through our understanding of various natural and cosmic laws, the Tree of Life was able to understand the microscopic processes and specific mechanisms of various natural phenomena."

"The Sunward Oriole plant is also the product of a mutually beneficial process between us and the Tree of Life. One hundred thousand years ago, we proposed the existence of magnetic monopoles, which I had theoretically documented. Shortly after the detailed theory was proposed, the Tree of Life began utilizing its vast resources and energy to attempt to cultivate and create a special plant like the Sunward Oriole, which contains stable magnetic monopoles, in the natural environment of the Sky Star."

"As we subsequently refined our theoretical system, the Tree of Life, receiving all the detailed information we provided, ultimately succeeded in creating the original Sun Kite and allowing it to grow extensively on the surface of Sky Star, where its roots were distributed."

In a series of subsequent research experiments, we also verified that the theoretical magnetic monopoles do exist in the plants created and cultivated by the Tree of Life. Initially, the distribution of Sunflower Kites on Sky Star was not particularly large, and the magnetic monopole content in a single plant was only about 1% of today's. Today, the Sunflower Kites on the surface of Sky Star and the plant in front of you have a magnetic monopole content that is more than 100 times that of the early Sunflower Kites. The Sunflower Kites that are now growing and can be seen everywhere on the surface of Sky Star are the results of the Tree of Life and our continuous artificial editing and transformation.

You know, originally this plant and the stable magnetic monopoles it produces were a rare resource... The Tree of Life and we have spent a lot of effort to cultivate this plant, and only then has its magnetic monopole content been increased to the level you see today.

"Anyway... this is a stable, naturally occurring magnetic monopole. I have to say... as a 'big sister', the Sky Star civilization has a really high starting point..."

"A stabilized magnetic monopole... this is something countless civilizations dream of, and yet, on Sky Star, there are plants that produce this thing everywhere..."

"Let me correct you... these aren't just found on Sky Star. All planets that have been modified to suit the conditions the Sky Star inhabitants inhabit, and where sub-individuals of the Tree of Life's seeds have been planted, have plants like the Sun Kite, which contain large numbers of stable magnetic monopoles, growing on their surfaces."

"I think this is the most outrageous thing... Speaking of which... as of now, there are at least 5000 planets growing sub-plants of the Tree of Life, if not 10,000?" Yuuki asked Lina with his face almost touching the glass of the container where the artificially cultivated Sunwings were growing.

"Actually, it's even more than that. We're quite efficient at utilizing the material within a solar system. When constructing stellar projects, including the Dyson Cloud, we often don't need to dismantle every planet in a system. A significant number of planets can be preserved and transformed to be habitable."

"After you complete the transformation of the planet, it seems that not many people will live on the surface of the planet?"

"Indeed not... Most Sky Star people prefer to live in orbital habitats, or various space cities and giant space stations. For us, the surface of the planet after environmental transformation is more like a back garden that we only visit occasionally to enjoy and tour."

"Although I've heard that some of my compatriots would like to live on the surface of stars for a long time, they are basically a minority."

"Although a planetary surface with a Tree of Life sub-plant can also almost perfectly control the entire planet's crust, plate movement, and atmospheric environment, and the environmental transformation of the planet itself will leave behind a huge number of nanomachines to regulate the planetary environment, so most of the time living on the planet's surface is actually not much different from living in a space city."

"We like living in space habitats... It's more of a love for more advanced and sophisticated things, and the most crucial point is... our population is too scattered. Living on a planetary surface that is too vast would make the already small populations of various settlements and communities even more scattered. Living in a relatively concentrated space habitat can at least concentrate a larger population."

"If you really lived on the surface of a planet, you'd probably be lucky if you saw a few hundred people within a thousand kilometers of an entire continent."

"By the way, how many people do you have now?"

"There are probably over 1 trillion people scattered across more than 5000 galaxies, so on average each galaxy has a population of around 200 million."

"Isn't that too few? Compared to the Sky Star Civilization, which has over 5000 star systems, there are only a little over 1 trillion people?"

"Yes... After realizing that no matter how hard we try to increase the population or how much we squander it, we can't fully utilize the production capacity of the entire civilization, we basically don't care about population growth anymore. After all, the current Sky Star civilization doesn't need any population to maintain industrial production or scientific research and innovation. The strong artificial intelligences born from the main consciousness of the Tree of Life are fully capable of taking over all the positions and tasks that maintain the sustainable operation of civilization. In addition, the technology and industry of Sky Star civilization itself are completely unmanned, automated, and extremely decentralized. There is no need for us to be too demanding about the population growth rate. We can just let nature take its course."

"The industrial production capacity of each galaxy can actually support trillions of people to maintain the current level of utopian life, but the total population of each galaxy is only about 200 million. In fact, the population distribution of each galaxy is not uniform. Even in the mother galaxy, which has the highest population density of all galaxies, the total population of the entire star system is only a little over 50 billion, not to mention those colonized galaxies farthest from the mother galaxy, which may only have a few tens of millions of people in the entire galaxy." Lina spread her hands helplessly and shook her head.

"Your upbringing is truly enviable in every sense..."

"Perhaps Ms. Cabot isn't exactly qualified as our mother, but as a member of the Sky Star civilization, I'm truly grateful to her for allowing our civilization to develop and grow smoothly. Without her help and yours, we wouldn't have achieved what we have today."

Lina walked forward, raised her hand and touched the heads of the three people affectionately.

“???”()????

“???” (?)?

()????

Looking at Lina in front of them, who was stroking her head with both hands with a gentle smile, the three of them were full of questions and were a little confused.

"Uh...what is this?" Yuki asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"You are my younger sisters... and you have helped us, my older sisters, so much, allowing us to safely overcome the bottleneck of our development. Even though this was only an action under the command of my mother, you still came to help us from a long distance of 20,000 light years... so... this is a small token of my gratitude." Lina said as she leaned forward and kissed Carlisle on the forehead.

"Well?!!"

"And as younger sisters, you really fit in with the elder sisters' aesthetics. The Sky Star civilization has never been averse to that kind of relationship between sisters. If you want to be your sisters' partners, the other sisters and I don't mind." Lina said mischievously, squinting one eye.

"So...were we...being teased?" Caris raised his left hand and touched the spot on his forehead where he was kissed.

"And she was my blood-related sister...

"How can you flirt with your own sister like this?" Yuki complained to Miss Lina in front of him, who was full of the smell of a lesbian.

During the time when Yuuki, Kalisi and Renlong were immersed in studying plants, Luoying, accompanied by Elena and Aze, wandered around the Gray Wind mothership docked in the Orbital Star Ring Dock.

"Come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be any weapons on this ship?" Luo Ying asked as he was looking around on the mothership.

"If you mean official military weapons, this Grey Wind carrier is indeed not equipped with them."

"If you don't carry weapons, aren't you worried about getting into danger?"

"The enormous energy of a superluminal spacecraft can be used as a weapon, right?"

"For example, at the end of warp travel, instead of sweeping away the high-energy particles and Hawking radiation accumulated at the front of the warp bubble, they were launched directly forward. Even a planet would be torn to pieces."

"Well... that's true... but I still think it looks a bit awkward since my ship was originally designed based on a battleship architecture and has almost no weapons."

"Hmm... weapons... I guess it's not like we don't have any."

"Gamma-ray lasers, used to clear asteroids and micrometeorites, and to sweep away various types of thin interstellar matter in their path... I wonder if they can be considered weapons?"

"Hey, is there something like this on this ship? Why don't I see any laser turrets or other equipment on the surface of the spacecraft from outside? Is it a retractable device?"

"No, our laser weapons don't require a turret design. Since the entire hull is made of gamma-ray-reflecting color core materials and room-temperature superconductor materials, our gamma-ray laser is a phased array, capable of generating and emitting gamma-ray lasers from any location on the ship's surface."

"That's what's commonly known as being able to fire in any direction from any position on the ship, 360 degrees without blind spots."

"So fierce?"

"Don't be so surprised. The Sky Star civilization's ships, most of which are made of color-core materials, also possess the same capability. Through the use of room-temperature superconductor coils throughout the ship and the fully reflective color-core materials that can reflect gamma rays, they can also achieve 360-degree fire without blind spots. The only difference is the laser output power of the two types due to the energy output limit of the reactor."

"Speaking of which, those superluminal spacecraft currently being manufactured and operated on Sky Star all use naked singularity reactors extracted from the interior of black holes by collapsing their event horizons, right? Would there be any difference in their energy output?"

"The total amount of energy in a naked singularity itself is infinite, but depending on the mass of the black hole that served as its predecessor, the zero-point energy response of different naked singularities will also have different energy outputs in a finite time."

"While both naked singularities from planetary-mass black holes and those from true stellar-mass black holes can generate true superluminal negative energy flows to drive superluminal warp engines, the difference in their instantaneous energy output is significant."

"To use an analogy... it's like drawing water from a pool with an infinite total capacity. The naked singularity obtained from a planetary-mass black hole is like a very thin pipe drawing water from this infinite total capacity. Although the total capacity is infinite, the energy output is limited."

"A naked singularity extracted from a more massive black hole is like a thicker water pipe with a larger flow rate. Compared to a thin water pipe, it can naturally pump out more water from the reservoir in a limited time."

Note 1: In order to avoid the division of human civilization, living in space during the space age will be more common than living on the surface of planets.

Living in outer space is likely to be the first choice for colonization

I think the colonization of planetary surfaces is only an intermediate transitional process to complete the colonization of outer space.

The regional fragmentation and objective environmental differences brought about by the colonization of planetary surfaces are not conducive to unification and centralization (for example, the situation where people in the asteroid belt and Martians in the vast sky cannot survive under the gravity of the earth), and it is difficult to resist the space colonization forces with a trend of unification.

Note 2: A magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle in string theory and high-energy physics. If a bar magnet is cut in half, it won't have one half pointing north and the other south. Instead, each section will have its own north and south pole. In classical electromagnetic theory, magnetic fields are generated by electric currents and varying electric fields. A north and south pole always exist simultaneously, and magnetic monopoles don't exist. However, quantum mechanics predicts that matter with a single magnetic pole does exist. The distribution of their magnetic field lines is similar to the distribution of the electric field lines of a point charge, making them fundamental particles with a single unit "magnetic charge" (analogous to an electric charge). Known black holes and singularities in the cosmic context may be macroscopic manifestations of magnetic monopoles, but verification is difficult.

Magnetic monopoles are of great significance in both grand unified theories and superstring theory. Their discovery holds immense theoretical value, both macroscopically and microscopically. They not only explain the existence of dark magnetic monopoles in dark matter, but also the quantization of charge (why the charge of elementary particles is multiples of that of electrons) and the use of magnetic monopoles to catalyze proton decay. Their discovery represents a major step forward in our understanding of both fields. Planetary exploration and interstellar navigation are only the initial applications; in the future, the physics refined by magnetic monopoles will likely bring even more groundbreaking theoretical and practical value.

Chapter 151: Relativistic Missile Experiments and Closed Time-like Curve Computers (5000 words)

More than hundreds of small stargates were towed into the Kalyas star system by the tugboat's tractor beam. Compared with the large stargates over 1500 kilometers that transported these small stargates to the Kalyas star system, these small portable stargates with a diameter of only 14 kilometers are as small as ants in front of an elephant.

"From the process point of view... even if it is an experiment comparable to the creation level... this commotion is too big, isn't it?" Next to the star gate of the Kaillias galaxy, the Salem was quietly parked in space. Surrounded by holographic screens and various displays suspended around it, Kaillias was leisurely tasting the special drink in his hand while calmly evaluating the ongoing project outside. Next to the pink-haired elf girl Kaillias, the cat girl with long red hair obviously had some different opinions.

"Actually... originally we were planning to use a large stargate directly, but considering that large stargates and wormholes are more difficult to drag, and that it would take longer to prepare, we switched to a small stargate."

"It can only tow a 1000-kilometer-wide space structure. We don't lack large tugboats of this level, right?"

"It's not about the massive tugboats responsible for pulling the wormhole and stargate... The key is that this experiment requires very high energy levels. Using a massive wormhole would minimize the chances of accidents, but... if something goes wrong, the mess it creates would be incredibly difficult to clean up."

"Isn't it just a black hole and a gamma-ray burst? The worst that can happen to this thing is that the information density is too high, causing the region of spacetime where it's located to collapse due to gravity, turning it into a massive black hole, right? It's not like we don't have ways to deal with black holes now. As for gamma-ray bursts, that's even less of a problem for us. All of the space habitats on the star system of Caillias are now protected against supernova-level gamma-ray bursts. For example, the Salem's hull alone is guaranteed to remain intact and its crew safe even if a supernova explodes at extremely close range."

"Gamma-ray bursts aren't really a problem for us right now, and the problems caused by massive black holes aren't unsolvable either. But Sister Kylias, aren't you overlooking something?"

"what's up?"

"The massive black holes produced when this thing is running, even if we can eliminate them later, in the process, the gravity of these black holes will inevitably cause some interference to the movement of celestial bodies in the galaxy. Although this level of gravitational interference does not pose any threat to the space habitats within the galaxy, when there are a lot of massive black holes with orbits that may be completely out of control next to the planet, it is not good for the two habitable planets in the galaxy. Although it is possible to disintegrate the event horizons of these black holes and obtain a considerable number of naked singularities, which can be used as waste for subsequent utilization to obtain additional energy and matter, the interference caused to the habitable planets in the galaxy in this process is not a little bit. Although the sub-plants of the Tree of Life can control the geological and climatic environment of the entire planet, they cannot withstand the sudden appearance of a large number of massive black holes with completely uncontrolled orbits next to the planet. If you really encounter such a situation, the Tree of Life can only grope in the dark."

"But speaking of this...why not build this thing farther away? While the Kylias star system is certainly far enough from the mother planet, and there aren't many people in the entire system, wouldn't something this dangerous be more suitable for construction and operation in a system with completely unmodified habitable planets?"

"Well...it's a long story..." The red-haired cat girl obviously had something to hide.

"how do I say this?"

"Do you know who suggested placing this thing in the Kylias star system?"

"Who?"

"Our 'Mother' personally suggested placing this macro CTC in the Kylias star system, a mere 15 light-years from our mother star."

"Was it someone like Jiuqi San who suggested that Qi'er delete the zero? Why would they make such a suggestion?"

"If you ask me... my answer is: I'm sorry, I don't know either. But if it's our mother's advice, as a member of a more advanced civilization, I think it's best for us to follow her advice for once."

"And...our sisters also agreed with this suggestion..."

"Even they agree?" Kylias stopped his right hand holding the coffee in mid-air and asked the red-haired cat girl beside him with a look of surprise.

"Yes... That's their suggestion."

"What they said was: If Cabot suggested you do something like this, then it means she's definitely hiding something from you... and it could be something very important to your future, just like the probe you launched that we encountered on Earth... It will definitely have a certain degree of impact on your future."

"The above is what they said exactly." The red-haired cat girl imitated the tone of the foursome and reported to Kylias.

"That is to say? Our mother is hiding something from us. No wonder she put such a dangerous thing so close to us, manufacturing and operating it?" Kaelias nodded as if he understood something.

"Aren't you worried?" The red-haired cat girl asked, looking at her master's nervous look.

"Don't worry. There's nothing to worry about. Since it's our mother's suggestion, it must make sense. And I think the mystery will be solved soon. As long as this macro CTC is activated, at least within the scope of this universe, there will be nothing we don't know. I don't think the thing our mother is hiding from us is so profound that it doesn't transcend our universe itself. Since getting the answer is only a matter of time, why rush it?"

"Once this macro CTC starts running, we won't have to worry about whether our mother is hiding something from us."

"That's true, but there is one thing that surprised me a little." The red-haired cat girl began to mention the next topic to her master.

"what's up?"

"Well, everyone is actually very welcoming of the macro CTC being built in their own galaxy. No one seems to care much about the dangers that may arise during its operation and construction."

"Isn't the reason because even if there is danger, it can't threaten us?" The pink-haired elf girl was a little puzzled by this.

"It's just not a threat to us, right? If something goes wrong, it would be a disaster for the local galaxy's celestial environment. Endless gamma-ray bursts and a completely out-of-control pile of massive black holes running around would more or less have a considerable negative impact on the operation of habitable planets and gyrosphere clouds within the galaxy."

"At worst, we could build a few more Penrose spheres around those black holes, or create energy-harvesting coils to directly extract energy from the black hole's gravity and magnetic field, accelerating its evaporation rate. Perhaps we could even squeeze out more Hawking radiation before the black hole completely evaporates under artificial acceleration."

“But just think about it… it gives me a headache to think about how serious the subsequent impact of the uncontrolled relativistic jets created by these black holes might be…” Kylias tapped his head.

"We've used that stuff as propulsion and as experimental weapons for spacecraft. A relativistic jet with a velocity of 0.3C or higher is certainly impressive, but it's been practically useless to our civilization for the past 100,000 years, and we have no enemies. Besides using the relativistic jets of black holes as propulsion, we've had no enemies as weapons. At best, we'd find one or two completely desolate, uninhabited planets or asteroids, fire a single round at them, have some fun, and test the power of our weapons."