Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 141: Warping

The Hope was already done preparing for its next warp.

They had stayed at this same spot for several years, and those years weren’t spent idling . This was the period when mankind truly became a space civilization, when mankind gained the ability to flourish in space.

For many, the Hope was a completely different entity from the Hope of 6 years ago. In fact, if they were to return to Earth now, the Hope would not be a last desperate measure at escape but an armored spaceship competent enough to blow up Earth itself!

And the Hope wouldn’t even need to land! By activating the creator’s particle, mankind’s technology would be undone just like that!

In other words, the Hope had finally come into the title of a spaceship, and not a just a metallic casing ferrying humans through space.

Of course, other than these physical changes, mankind’s knowledge about the cosmos had a drastic increase too, and they had learned one cruel yet eternal truth about the cosmos.

There was no peace in space!

Even if there was a time of peace, it was a precarious peace between two equally powerful civilizations, like the short encounter between the junkyard civilization and the space merchants. It was a peace brokered upon trade and profit because God knows things wouldn’t end well for that pair of Cosmic Adapters traded away by the junkyard civilization.

After the designated 3 days, all of the operational units had returned to the Hope, carrying resources from the junkyard with them. There was such a great salvage that empty residences had to be converted to warehouses to store metallic tablets, heavy water, chemicals, and solid hydrogen oxides… These hydrogen oxides were the alien civilization’s way of effectively storing a huge amount of water. Stored in their solid state, the hydrogen oxides had a smaller volume when compared to liquid or gaseous hydrogen and oxygen of similar mass. They stored well in this state and could be broken down and compounded into water, hydrogen (for the reactor), and oxygen (for mankind) when necessary.

These resources filled the Hope, and their amount was 8 times the amount they had when they left Earth!

Of course, this couldn’t be accorded to the additional supplies alone. The 8 times increase also accounted for the added weight coming from the new metallic armor added to the Hope’s surface and the 2 additional layers that had been added to the Hope.

Other than that, the Academy had come forth with a crazy proposal. They wanted the Hope to add an additional 8th level, a level that would be longer and wider than the Hope itself to house an electromagnetic large hadron collider that would be used to study the theories that would be later revealed as their technology continued to improve. The scientists swore that without the collider, it would be impossible for the Hope to dream of entering the fifth revolution!

Yao Yuan rejected their proposal outright!

Yao Yuan had seen for himself the broken pieces of such hadron colliders during his expedition into the alien battleship. Even though they weren’t intact, pieces of them were already 1/4 the size of the whole battleship. In other words, the collider would be larger than the Hope itself! It was preposterous!

In any case, the junkyard had supplied the Hope with more than enough supplies, and it was finally time to bid it farewell. At the late evening of the fateful day, many gathered by the window, looking at the junkyard, praying. There were tears because this was the graveyard for their many families and friends.

Then, space warps… Coordination, the nearest space body to the Hope was about 40 light-years away… Coordination, 20 light-years… Coordination, 26 light-years… Coordination, 9 light-years… Coordination, not in any galaxy… The external cabin came in and out of the Hope as it warped, and because the Hope could warp more than 10,000 times and could survive for more than 1,000 years without stopping, they only stopped for 1 day after every warp for the purpose of cartography.

Just like that, in 2 months alone, there were more than 60 warps… Staring at the game over screen of Starcraft 3, Xiao Niao sighed. "This is just ridiculous. Ever since we watched the video on the destruction of the battleship fleet, this game has gotten more and more unreal for me."

Qiu Qiu and Dan Dan beside him though were happily enjoying the game. Qiu Qiu even reprimanded him, "Why are you being so serious? This is just a game after all. Plus, if you put the events from that video in this game, wouldn’t that make this even more unreal? Reality’s often stranger than fiction, man."

Xiao Niao sighed audibly. "It is unreal, alright. No one expected a robot, an incredibly powerful one at that. It was not even a war. It took the robot less than an hour to completely wipe out a civilization."

While munching on a bag of chips, Dan Dan asked, "Now that you mention it, why is the presence of a robot such a surprise? You, the scientists, and even the captain seemed so taken aback when the thing changed into a robot. But shouldn’t that be expected? All of the greatest weapons in movies and anime are robots."

"…It’s improbable." Xiao Niao continued, with obvious frustration, "First of all, shapes or forms have no meaning in a vacuum. There is not air or gravitational resistance, so the technology can take on any shapes it wants. With their technology, this civilization could very well not design a humanoid robot, and in fact, just a sphere might even be better. Think about it, which would fare better in space combat, a ball or a robot? A ball has a smaller size and can fire out bullets from all sides. A humanoid robot, on the other hand, would be hampered by its two hands because that would be where the weaponry was concentrated. You could argue that it could open up its body to reveal more weapons, but in that case, what’s its difference from a ball? Why go through the added trouble?"

Qiu Qiu thought and retorted, "You mentioned arms, right? That gives the robot an upper hand in close combat."

Xiao Niao snorted. "Based on the aliens’ technology, if they had gone with a sphere, the sphere could have easily extended into multiple arms. Who would have the upper hand in close combat then? If you’re thinking the humanoid robot is meant for ground combat where gravity plays a role, then wouldn’t a spidery robot makes more sense? Or one of those that have a track frame. No matter how you see it, a humanoid robot is not the best choice for a combative role.

Finally, let’s just say the race is particular about the humanoid shape, they’re in love with it, but they still need to consider the most crucial element: its control system."

Xiao Niao paused to look his friends in their eyes. "You 2 are also Homo Evolutis. Let me ask you a question: when you first piloted the Space Combat Jet, didn’t it feel like it was a bit hard to control?"

After the pair nodded, Xiao Niao quickly added, "That’s right. Now a humanoid robot is more than controlling its direction and weapons, the pilot has to take care of its 4 appendages and so much more. Do you think a simple combat stick could manage so many nuances? And let’s say it can; does mankind have such perfect hand-eye coordination to master it? The answer is a big no! On the battlefield, a misstep could mean death! So it is highly improbable that a humanoid robot would appear in space combat."

His friends were speechless, overwhelmed by his argument, but after some time, Qiu Qiu asked, "Then why did that civilization go with a humanoid robot? Could it be a pilotless AI?"

"…A cybernetic cerebral linking matrix."

Suddenly, this phrase appeared on the trio’s pc screens. Unbeknownst to them, the player ZERO had entered their server, and it was ZERO that had sent over this phrase.

Xiao Niao turned his body around to peer out of their private room before replying, "Please, Noob, this is not something to joke about. What cybernetic cerebral linking matrix? You’ve watched too much sci-fi."

"I’m not a noob, and my answer is correct. Might I add, the Zerg is not correctly portrayed by this game!"

Xiao Niao laughed insolently. His mean streak surfacing, he typed, "Then, Noob, what is the real Zerg like?"

"…To be precise, the Zerg should be called a genetically stress-mutated alien race, a race without a fixed set of DNA, a group of hive-like organisms that are formed by an accumulation of bacteria. The whole race shares a unified purpose, and they are the second greediest race in the cosmos. Their current technology level is unknown, but based on their growth rate and ability to absorb technology, the safest extrapolation puts them at the rank of a Level 9 civilization…"

Xiao Niao laughed even louder, inputting his retort before ZERO could finish typing. "Hey, Noob, it’s time for your medicine."

"…What medicine?"

"Your mental medicine of course, LOL"

"…I swear I’ll let you witness this Zerg with your own eyes… And I’m not a noob! I’m not on mental meds!"

After that, ZERO disconnected…