Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 410: Arrival and New Solar System

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Half of the Academy still maintained a hesitant perception regarding the usage of the star path. They believed it was too dangerous, at least by humanity's current standards.

However, the other half of the Academy believed that the star path was the most suitable connection between galaxies. After all, it was a mature path trodden by many space civilizations already.

"Then how are we going to defend ourselves against the high speed of various ions inside the star path?" a physicist asked Silewei. "Do not try to use scientific terms to befuddle the fact, I'm also a physicist. If we really speculate using the data from the surveillance, the moment a lifeform enters the star path, it will be evaporated like it was trapped inside an oven! Furthermore, time is relative. Since the passage of time is 60,000,000 times faster inside the star path than outside, doesn't this mean that we will need to move from one speed of time into another speed of time when we enter this star path? We will be destroyed from the different time flows!"

The arguments between scientists were harsh, as were all academic debates. The weapons of choice were factual data and experimental conclusions. This was even more severe than political or religious debates because if one did not hold their ground in terms of research, then what was the point of doing science?

"Therefore, we cannot enter the star path just like that. Think about it this way: can a prehistoric car use a super high-speed highway? Or to borrow another analogy, can an ant move at the same speed as other modern vehicles on the highway?"

"That is why we need a 'vehicle' that can ride on this star path highway," Silewei said with a cunning smirk. "A 'vehicle' that can not only reach the maximum speed of this highway but can also protect us from being damaged by the high speed."

"Vehicle? What kind of vehicle can ferry us humans across this star path? The Hope is not a good candidate, it is too unwieldly. Wait…" This scientist was not a normal scientist, he too was one of the traditionally-trained scientist who left Earth alongside Silewei. Instantly, he gasped in surprise. "Are you talking about space? Warp drive?"

"That's right! I am indeed talking about warp drive!"

Humanity still hadn't completely dissected warp drive's operational theory, but from known information, warp drive was indeed a technology that could only mastered by level 4 space civilization. For some reason, it was leaked into the hands of level 2 and 3 space civilizations. Even though its function was greatly simplified and its proficiency not even one over one hundred of the actual warp drive, it was still the only method available to low tier space civilizations to break through the speed of light.

The so-called warp drive didn't refer to the spaceship breaking through the limitation of light speed itself. From this perspective, light speed was indeed a limiting barrier. It was impossible to break through light speed in physical space, and whether this was something doable for high tier space civilization or god tier space civilization was still unknown.

Warp drive utilized the power of science to distort the space behind the spaceships, causing the space distortion rate in front and behind the spaceship to be different. This led to the formation of the "forward movement" of space. In other words, the spaceship itself was immobile, but the space the spaceship was in had moved. Imagine it as the space the spaceship was in was "cut out" and moved while the spaceship remained immobile in it.

According to Silewei, this piece of cut out space would be the vehicle humanity would use to ride this star path. Since this space didn't count as the space inside the star path, there wouldn't be any interaction between the space itself and the star path. When the space entered the star path, the star path would act as a conveyor belt and "move" this space to the other end of the star path at 60,000,000 light speed. This was the answer given by Silewei.

The star path was indeed dangerous, but with the suitable method, it was truly the most efficient way of travelling through the cosmos for low and middle tier space civilizations!

The argument lasted for a month, and they were now one month later…

The Hope was already on the edge of another galaxy, and quite far away from the star path.

"Space radiation gradient normal…"

"No gravitational response within the radius of 10 light seconds…"

"Creator's particle scanning system normal."

"Triangulating the spaceship's location, siphoning more energy to the central mainframe…"

"Surveillance of star location completed, sending information to the central mainframe…"

Due to the huge distance between the two galaxies and the uncertain speed inside the star path, the Hope didn't quite know when they were bounced out of the star path. They were even still in warp drive state. In fact, the Hope didn't even know where they were now. According to calculations, they wouldn't need more than a month to cross the star path using warp drive, but beyond that, the Hope really couldn't tell when they left the star path, when they entered normal space, and how long they had been travelling through normal space using the warp drive engine.

Therefore, after exiting warp drive, the Hope immediately activated all of its surveillance devices. They wished to check whether they were in a new galaxy by using the surrounding stars and other solar systems as basis. Of course, this was to detect whether there was potential danger from other space civilizations as well.

The calculation process was very complicated, even the Hope's AI needed about 8 hours to complete it. The wealth of information would freeze old Earth's supercomputers instantly. However, the result was exciting. It was confirmed that they were on the other end of the star path, in a new galaxy.

The Hope was currently still at the edge of the galaxy. According to surveillance, this galaxy was at least 10 times bigger than the one they were in before.

"Then… we shall discuss the future development of humanity."

After obtaining the surveillance result, Yao Yuan instantly called the Hope's high officials, about 300 of them, to attend a large scale meeting. There were government workers, people from the House of Representatives, and representatives from the three main factions in attendance.

"We can use space warp, but now we know space warp not only has its randomness, it also enables super long distance travelling. The current system we're in is already so far away from the Milky Way that we cannot even tell where it is. In the future…" The moment Yao Yuan thought about the prerequisite to become a level 9 space civilization, his brain started to ache.

"That is not important for now." Yao Yuan sighed and pushed the thought out of his mind before continuing, "Therefore, space warp is not a suitable space travelling method. At least until we can master controlled space warp, space warp should be treated as our last resort. We have the warp drive technology and can travel between galaxies. Furthermore, we do not have a mother planet and no branching ships. Even though this is a sign of weakness, it also means that we can grow without inhibition… and speaking about that, I wish to ask everyone here, what shall our next direction of growth be?"

After Yao Yuan finished, the room started to get busy with conversations. In fact, before the meeting was called and they were still in the warp drive, the people all over the Hope had been talking about this topic.

Using the space warp to conduct random jump had the least support. After all, no one could guarantee what would be at the other end of the warp. That was an option that was open to humanity after they were starved of any other choices. Space warp was treated as the last means to escape by about 80 percent of the Hope. Unless they came up against an impossible enemy or a tragic cosmic catastrophe, space warp was not an option.

What about other ideas?

Some believed they should go search for a Shelter. Since no one knew of humanity in this new galaxy, the situation at the earlier Shelter shouldn't repeat itself. As long as humanity kept to themselves, there shouldn't be too huge of an issue.

Others suggested that they use Yao Yuan's power to look for life-preserving planets. Even if they could only stay there for three years, those three years would be like life in paradise… After all, many babies on the Hope hadn't even seen blue sky outside of movies and animation!

However, the majority's choice was…

"The Home Base Creation White Manifesto."

"Search for an isolated solar system and settle there. Using the materials provided by the solar system, humanity will focus on creating a new mothership, Kun Lun… At the same time, using Kun Lun as the base, humanity will create its own Shelter, and after that, if possible, manipulate the birth of a life-preserving planet using the wealth of cosmic adapters available to humanity.

"At the same time, improve humanity's military force by expanding the number of Defense Unit soldiers, increasing the training of the Black Star Troopers, and increasing the functions and number of Space Combat Jets. The main purpose is to ensure that humanity can stand up to any level 2 space civilization!

"The name of that cosmic system will be…

"New Solar System!"