The stars, but they become the gray wind

"I'll go look for this. He and I are old acquaintances..." Aleida saw a very familiar name among those documents, an old friend with whom she had a friendship of several decades but had not seen for a long time.

...II Age VIII Jiushanliu IX...

In Wenchang, Hainan, China, a huge white rocket is standing on the launch tower. As the countdown ends, dozens of first-stage engines spew out blue flames, dragging white trails, and the rocket slowly rises into the air.

On the beach in the distance, many tourists gathered here to watch the rocket launch. A hooded girl sat on the steps away from the crowd, silently watching the crowd who were observing and photographing the moment of the rocket launch with great interest.

The current time point is 2003 in this world. Thanks to the intensity of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, which far exceeded that of the other world, countries in this world have invested unimaginable resources in the aerospace field since the Cold War and the new century. In order to obtain profits, the technology originally developed for the aerospace field has also begun to spread rapidly towards the civilian field at a level far exceeding that of the other world. As a result, this world has already possessed an economic and technological level comparable to that of the 20s of the 21st century in the beginning of the new century in 2003.

The girl calmly watched the people on the beach holding telescopes, cameras and other cameras, pointing the lenses at the rocket that was taking off. The fairing on the head of the rocket was loaded with the Chang'e 20 unmanned cargo spacecraft, which was responsible for transporting the third batch of scientific research and mining equipment, as well as a new generation of lunar lander to the lunar base.

A few strands of long purple hair appeared under the girl's hood. Everyone passing by her ignored her as if she didn't exist.

While watching the rocket taking off in the distance, the girl was chatting in her mind with her companions on the other side of the solar system.

"This world's Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan was built decades earlier than ours."

"The launch site was built in 1987 and has since undergone several large-scale infrastructure upgrades and subsequent expansions."

"And their first lunar landing spacecraft and lunar base were also headed for the moon from here just a few years after the launch site was built."

"Did that clause not come into being because of the existence of the Soviet Union, and its continued export and popularization of aerospace-related technologies for civilian use in order to maintain its own economic growth?"

"Because if we don't sell commercial and civilian aerospace technologies to other countries, will the market be taken away by our competitor, the Soviet Union?"

"Well, it's a good thing that the Wolfe Amendments, which hindered humanity's unity, cooperation, and unification in the field of technology, were aborted."

"So... how can they in this world develop so rapidly in the aerospace field and other areas? They're almost approaching the level we'll reach in our time, nearly a decade later."

"But the thing that just took off was the Long March 9?" Yuki's voice came from the purple-haired girl's mind.

"Although the technological development in this world is faster, it is indeed a bit beyond imagination."

"Haha, North Korea and Iran in this world have chosen to abandon nuclear weapons and instead focus on developing aerospace technology, not to mention here."

"They have a much better development environment than the other side of the world. To ensure their investment in aerospace doesn't go to waste, the two superpowers are desperately trying to accelerate the civilian and commercialization of aerospace technology, selling supporting industrial systems to second- and third-world countries. This keeps the pie growing over the long term. With this growth, even if there are various conflicts, they can temporarily put them aside. Although the ultimate goal of planetary unification is still a long way off..."

"Are you really going to give it a push?"

"Since it could lead to a better outcome, why not?"

"If the people of this world can prove they are willing to abandon their old prejudices and flaws..."

"Prove... that I am worthy enough to reach for the stars as a unified whole, to turn my ideals into reality."

The purple-haired girl commented as she looked at the tourists on the beach who were still in high spirits.

Aleida came to the door of the house she had not visited for a long time and rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?" A hoarse voice came from the microphone above the doorbell.

"It's me, your old friend Aleida, I wasn't sure if you were?"

"come in."

The door lock made a click, and Aleida gently pushed open the door and walked into the house of this old friend whom he had not visited for a long time. As soon as he entered the door, he saw a whole row of glass cabinets neatly arranged against the wall. The cabinets were filled with piles of various assembled models, including rocket and spaceship models, as well as humanoid robot models that were very famous in various animation and literary works.

"Wow, it looks like someone has become a plastic surgeon?"

"What brings you here?" The man Aleida was familiar with was sitting behind the table, fiddling with the model he was assembling.

"There's something I want to show you."

"Hold on."

Aleida looked around the room, then turned around and found a very familiar model on a table by the wall. She reached out and was about to pick it up to take a look when Bill, who was assembling the model behind the table, suddenly widened his eyes and shouted excitedly.

"Hey! Put it back! Don't touch it!" Aleida's action seemed to touch Bill's pain point as a rubber master, and the other party suddenly became excited.

"OK..." Aleida had no choice but to put the model back to its original place.

"Sorry... I just don't like people touching my models." Bill realized that he had lost his composure and controlled his wheelchair from behind the table to Aleida. Since the indiscriminate terrorist attack, his legs have been permanently disabled and he has to stay in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Aleida also suffered a great blow because of the terrorist attack. The two friends who were originally good friends have not seen each other for many years because of the impact of that incident.

Aleida took out the project plan for the Explorer robot from her briefcase, and Bill browsed through it and commented on it.

"I know this. It's indeed a fascinating scientific research project, but I thought the new director of the space agency canceled it due to funding issues."

“We are going to do this through private investment…”

"We?" Bill looked puzzled behind his reading glasses.

"Wait, you quit? You're going to do this with Kelly?")

"And Dave."

"Look... I know this sounds far-fetched, but Dave and Kelly still own a significant amount of the company. All it takes is a few more shareholders to agree and we can regain control."

"Is this why you came to me? For my shares?"

"This is a great opportunity to do pure scientific research without being distracted by all those pesky political factors."

"Okay, stop selling me!"

"I'll sign it, you just leave quickly..." Bill, who was sitting in a wheelchair, looked obviously unhappy.

"Bill...I'm sorry I haven't come to see you for so long. It's normal for you to be angry with me. I completely understand."

"I'm not angry, really not."

"I don't want to see anyone else in this state." Bill looked down at his crippled legs.

44 light-years away from the solar system, in a rare quadruple star system, a glass eel-style spacecraft completed its jump next to the outermost red dwarf star of the quadruple star system.

"This star's brightness is so low..."

"And... the orbits of the stars and planets in this galaxy are too weird, aren't they?" Zao Chiran observed the nearby red dwarf star and the peculiar orbits of the other three stars in the galaxy.

"By the way, what is the name of this galaxy?" Zao Chiqi asked the ship-borne artificial intelligence and several glass eel companions around him.

"It seems to be called the Andromeda Galaxy?" A glass eel answered after checking the star map.

"The one we see before us seems to be the companion star, Tiandajiangjun 6B?"

【General Tianda 6】

【Type: Quadruple Star System】

[A star spectrum type: F8V yellow-white dwarf]

Age: 31.5 billion years

【Mass: about 1.3 masses of the parent star of the sky star】

[The star was detected to emit a large amount of X-ray radiation]

…………

The ship-borne general strong artificial intelligence will organize and arrange the first-hand scanning and observation data of the four stars in the galaxy one by one, and display them in front of Zao Chiran.

[There are four gas giant planets in this system, and the d star in the fourth orbit is located in the habitable zone of the star.]

"Aim the ship's primary scanning and detection equipment at the gas giant in the fourth orbit. I want to take a look at its satellite system."

[Received, executing...Observed target abnormality.]

"Abnormal? What's abnormal?"

[There are a large number of man-made objects in operation in the synchronous orbits of several giant planetary satellites. Based on my judgment, the probability that these man-made objects are facilities of a space civilization is 100%]

"Ah? Show me the picture!"

An observation picture of the satellite system of the gas giant planet located in the fourth orbit was projected in front of the glass eels. This gas giant planet has more than twenty massive satellites and countless irregular small-volume and low-mass celestial bodies orbiting the current planet. What appeared in front of Zao Chiran was that a considerable number of these satellites had several momentum ropes in their synchronous orbits that were constantly rotating around the satellites' synchronous orbits, each of which was more than thousands of kilometers long.

These facilities are so familiar to Zao Chiran - the skyhook, as an interplanetary transportation facility, is the most commonly used infrastructure for a civilization that has just entered space, whether it is to lift cargo and payloads to higher orbits or to conduct interplanetary transfers. In the analysis of the spacecraft's first observation data, at least fifteen of the 20 large-mass satellites have one or more skyhook facilities above them, which are constantly lifting cargo from the planet's low orbit to a higher orbit or throwing payloads to the skyhook in other satellite orbits like a catapult.

"Wait, what is this?" Zao Chiqi noticed that the momentum rope on one of the satellites was obviously different from the other skyhooks operating at the synchronous orbit altitude. The length of this momentum rope was several times that of the other skyhooks, and its lower end had obviously extended into the atmosphere of the massive satellite below.

[Space elevator, confirming that the lower end of the facility is fixed to the ground in the equatorial region within the atmosphere of this massive satellite.]

The total height of the space elevator is 2.5 kilometers. Judging from its structure, it should be a tension type.

"It seems that this galaxy not only has civilization, but also a civilization with a very high level of development..." analyzed a glass eel next to Zao Chiqi.

[Multiple high-temperature plasma tails were observed within the satellite system of a gas giant planet, moving away from the gas giant planet. These may be spacecraft built by that civilization.]

"High-temperature wake? At this distance? Could it be a torch ship?"

[Analysis of the ejecta is ongoing... confirmed to be methane and hydrogen. The plasma tail is approximately 30 kilometers long. Based on heat analysis and power calculations, preliminary estimates indicate that the power of each of these spacecraft is approximately 2040 terawatts (TW).]

"This power...isn't it quite small?"

[Based on my judgment, the thermal radiation from these spacecraft can reach this power, which means that the civilization in this galaxy is at least a Type 1 civilization or higher, and may already have the ability to develop an entire star system.]

"Wow, it looks like we won the jackpot..."

"Since we came to this universe, we have randomly sent out so many superluminal unmanned exploration ships from the center of the Milky Way to the surrounding areas. The intelligent life we ​​found is either just learning to use tools or has not even formed the most basic civilization. On more habitable planets, we even found only a bunch of very primitive microorganisms. We have won a jackpot!" Zao Chiqi felt so happy that he wanted to sing a song. For glass eels, when they are in high spirits or excited, the sounds they make will sound like singing to outsiders.

"Could this be what they call winning the grand prize by drawing a card?" A glass eel grabbed Zao Chiqi, who was jumping up and down with joy, and asked it to calm down.

[More observations and analysis are underway. Given the scale and level of development of this civilization, it should generate a large amount of radio waves and communications throughout the galaxy. I'm monitoring it and will send you the resulting intelligence later.]

[Also, I observed something moving at a very high speed slowing down towards our star.]

"spaceship?"

[No... Based on its appearance, it doesn't look like a spaceship. This spacecraft is made entirely of fuel tanks, and its payload is likely only a dozen tons. Our companion star is at least a light-year away from the gas giant's satellites. It's traveling at 1.6 times the speed of light and is decelerating towards the star's orbit.]

[It is very likely an unmanned probe or unmanned exploration ship.]

[Based on its current speed and position, this probe or unmanned ship has entered the final deceleration phase and will soon be orbiting the star. Based on this speed and position, its maximum speed may have reached nearly 10% of the speed of light.]

[The spacecraft also has a folded laser sail structure on its surface, and it is likely that this speed is achieved through a combination of laser and fusion torch engines.]

[Analysis shows that the vast majority of the spacecraft's mass is composed of deuterium and helium-3 fuel. The observed exhaust velocity of the plasma tail produced by the deuterium-helium-3 reaction at the tail of the spacecraft exceeds 8.5% of the speed of light.]

"What about the thrust data?"

[1000000N, the observed thermal radiation power emitted by this spacecraft has reached over 85 terawatts (TW).]

"With that kind of power... this could be a Type 1 civilization with a fairly advanced level of development. Even if it's just a probe or unmanned vessel with a payload of only a dozen tons excluding fuel, being able to accelerate it to 10% of the speed of light would already be considered a highly advanced interplanetary civilization."

"I've really hit the jackpot... Oh, right, send a message to the Gate and the home planet, and also notify us and the Sky Star unmanned exploration fleet in the nearby universe."

[The report has been sent and a reply has been received.]

"So fast?"

[The reply message came from a very close place, only 44 light years away from our location.]

"So close? Which Sky Star spaceship or ships are coming here?"

[The Ultima Thule, they also discovered a civilization with a development level of 0.7 in a galaxy 44 light years away.]

"Looks like we're pretty lucky, aren't we? We're able to discover two fairly advanced civilizations so close together."

"Okay, it's time for us to take a closer look at that unmanned exploration ship. If possible, I'd like to gain a deeper understanding of this civilization or even have direct contact with it." A glass eel floating in front of the analysis table waved one of its tentacles excitedly.

Solar system, Jupiter Trojan asteroid belt, Fantasy Light, Renlong sent a message to the allied research vessel 44 light years away, and carefully checked the known information about the civilization discovered by the glass eels in the Tianda General Six Star System 44 light years away.

"A negative skyhook transport system has been established on more than a dozen satellites of today's giant planets. One of these satellites even has a 2.5-kilometer-long cable-type space elevator with a thrust of 1000000 Newtons and an exhaust velocity of 8.5% of the speed of light. Using laser sail hybrid propulsion, the maximum speed could reach 10% of the speed of light. And a deuterium-helium fusion torch ship with a total power of nearly 90 terawatts?"

"Zao Chiqi and the others really won a big prize and prepared a big surprise for us."

"And... so close?"

"Isn't this too much of a coincidence? Civilizations are quite sparse in this universe's Milky Way galaxy, and even fewer have developed beyond Type 1."

"44 light-years! That's a distance not only within the universe, but even within the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. These two places are practically face-to-face, right?"

"So, two civilizations with fairly high levels of development emerged in such close proximity?"

"This is really... interesting."

.........

"Understood, received. General Tianda Six?"

“This is really a surprise.”

A purple-haired girl with a hood was walking on the white beach. The waves kept hitting the wet and soft sand. The purple-haired girl looked in the direction of General Liu of the Sky Sky.

"Based on the current information, this is most likely a civilization that has been born in the satellite system of a gas giant planet, and its level of development is extremely high. Conservatively estimated to be a civilization above level 1.0." On the Fantasy Light, Renlong talked with Calisi on the communication channel about the known information about this newly discovered civilization.

"I understand. The sky hooks scattered throughout the satellite system and the space elevator on that massive satellite alone indicate that this civilization is definitely quite advanced. Let's have Zao Chiqi continue to observe this newly discovered civilization. If necessary, direct contact would be best. This would also give Chi Chengsan in the other universe some good news."

Chapter 179 The Protector Federation of Teia?