PFC Chapter 30: Finding a New Home
Chapter 30: Finding a New Home
In the 92nd year of the Galactic Era, Academician Moore of the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences proposed the concept of modular manufacturing. Based on this modular idea and the mass production of energy crystals, humanity on Earth rapidly invested in the modular manufacturing of interstellar warships. The idea behind modular warships is to first produce the various components of the warship, with each component equipped with at least a low-power energy crystal, an intelligent energy body, and an anti-gravity component. Once all the components of the warship have been manufactured, they will automatically assemble and seal themselves in mid-air. This eliminates the need to build large shipyards, which is particularly beneficial for humanity in rapidly building warships and enhancing combat power on the battlefield.
Modular manufacturing of warships has dramatically increased the speed of warship production on Earth, leading to a surge in the number of warships. Furthermore, modular teleportation rings or portals can be easily manufactured. Warships no longer need to tow a large portal during interstellar travel; portal components can be packaged inside the warship and then self-assembled upon arrival at the destination. Through portals, humans can also teleport individual warship modules to the other side, where the warship can then self-assemble, facilitating the rapid and convenient transfer of warship formations. Moreover, the extra-large warships currently under construction are no longer limited by the size of teleportation portals.
Humanity on Earth gradually dismantled and modified existing warships, with most adopting modular manufacturing methods. A portion of warships retained their original architecture, primarily for special purposes such as deceiving the enemy and exploring space.
If humans are willing, not only warships, but all kinds of equipment and weapons can be quickly miniaturized, modularized, manufactured, and self-assembled, to the point where they can be as big or as small as they want.
Teleportation rings or portals no longer need to be placed near stars for energy; they only require energy crystals for power, thus greatly reducing the limitations of their application. The result of this development is that teleportation portals of all sizes are now scattered throughout Earth's near-Earth space and on Earth itself.
Humanity on Earth has gone a step further, envisioning the democratization of teleportation portals. If a person carries an invisible small teleportation portal and then transmits things through it, that would be like Sun Wukong's "transformation" in Earth's mythology, creating something out of thin air!
The integrated application of energy crystals, modular manufacturing, and intelligent energy bodies has resulted in the moon being equipped with a super weapon: lunar-based intelligent energy warships. This super fortress can launch intelligent energy light bullets at targets dozens of times in a row, each capable of destroying a planet or even a star. Extra-large modular warships have also been built, which humanity calls the Continental Extreme Warships; a total of 20 were constructed within ten years.
Humanity on Earth has taken an almost superhuman step forward, developing modularly manufactured teleportation portals, some of which are extra-large. These extra-large portals can transport planets, and extra-large portals, along with various other large portals, have been deployed near the Moon in preparation for any eventuality. Super-large portals for transporting stars are currently under research!
The rectangular metal box and the translucent metal sphere from the "Metal Civilization" project also took the Academy of Sciences a lot of time and manpower to complete.
The rectangular box-shaped metal is extremely dense, a density typically found only in the cores of stars in their later stages of evolution, such as white dwarfs and neutron stars. Inside the atoms of this rectangular box-shaped metal, the electron shell structure has been destroyed, leaving only bare atomic nuclei and free electrons that have broken free from their original probabilistic orbits.
Quark transmission microscopy analysis of a rectangular metal box revealed a thin, luminescent chip on its bottom. Scientists struggled to open the box, eventually modifying a smart energy projectile to forcibly slice through the dense metal, obtaining the thin, luminescent chip. Powerful photon computer simulations and analysis of the chip yielded a startling conclusion: it was the logbook of a warship from a "metal civilization."
Humanity on Earth obtained a great deal of information from the navigation log of the warship "Metal Civilization".
This "metal civilization" originated from M42 in the Orion Nebula, recorded during Earth's epoch, approximately 5625 light-years from the star Astraea (calculated at the speed of light in our space, 4c0; unless otherwise specified, light-years will be calculated at the speed of light in our space). The logbook reveals the different civilizations the warship visited, their wars and collaborations, particularly mentioning cooperation with the Thorian gods to fight against the "Light-Descent Civilization." Importantly, the logbook explicitly states that the speed of light in the region where M42 is located is still 4c0, meaning that the region where M42 is located is also within the same light-speed plane of space!
Further analysis was conducted on the methods and propulsion systems used by the "Metal Civilization" to navigate such a long distance. Of course, various analyses were also performed on the different civilizations encountered by the "Metal Civilization" warship. Judging from the civilizations encountered by the "Metal Civilization," its status among them seems to be relatively high.
The translucent metal spheres of the "Metal Civilization" are still being analyzed, and there isn't much useful information yet.
In the 132nd year of the Galactic Era, the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences held a general meeting of all academicians, which was attended by high-ranking officers of the Federation Fleet and the head of the Federation government.
Dean Wen of Civilization spoke first, “Ladies and gentlemen, we humans on Earth have indeed achieved remarkable success in such a short time. However, I have been pondering this: our travel speed is still too slow. Compared to the Milky Way and the universe, even with some degree of faster-than-light capability in this space, I personally feel it is still not fast enough. While portals are fast, we need to transport them to the other side. Wormholes are also fast, but we don't know where the landing point is, and we cannot currently determine the location for navigation. Another important issue is that if the distance is far enough, our long-distance communication will also become a problem. With current technology, our long-distance communication can be achieved within 210 light-years of the speed of light in this space without any problem, but how can we achieve long-distance communication beyond 210 light-years? In other words, directional long-distance travel and long-distance communication are two major challenges currently facing humanity.”
Everyone fell into deep thought. Just as the Dean of Civilization said, the range that humans have reached so far is indeed too small. Directional long-distance navigation and long-distance communication are indeed two difficult problems.
"Everyone, I personally believe that these two problems do indeed need to be solved, but we need time. I want to remind you of something," a young man, Academician Tu Sen, said, "In the pre-Earth era, our ancestors discovered that Gliese 667c in the constellation Scorpius on the original Earth had seven planets, three of which were super-Earths. Gliese 581 in the constellation Libra had six planets, and the fourth planet closely resembled Earth! Therefore, for the sake of our future human development, we should explore for life in these two not-so-distant star systems. We must find suitable Earth-like planets. In the past ten years or so, much of the resources of the new Earth have been exploited. If the population explodes in the future, the new Earth will not be able to support it."
"Yes, Academician Tu is right. This is indeed something we need to consider now. We should begin exploring Earth-like planets. Observations a few years ago showed that the three super-Earths of Gliese 667C are larger than our predecessors observed. However, both our ancestors and we have discovered that the Gliese 667C star system has emitted relatively strong signals, meaning that this star system may harbor intelligent life. Everyone, if we are to explore it, we must be prepared for a collision or even war with this star system civilization!" The current Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Fleet, Monkwell, expressed his concerns.
"Then let's vote."
The voting results showed that more than two-thirds of the respondents indicated their willingness to explore. Thus, the Gliese 667 three-star system and the Gliese 581 exploration plan were ready to be implemented.
The reason why humans on Earth need to find new habitable planets is twofold: on the one hand, there is the pressure of resources and population, and on the other hand, there is an inherent nature of civilization, namely, expansionism.
Three days later, after rest and refitting, the Earth Expeditionary Fleet's various modular warships arrived near Rutan Star via a portal near the star Asclepius 5. The newly manufactured six continental super-warship modules and twelve intelligent energy warship modules were also transported over and then assembled independently. Each warship also carried its own portal module. The fleet also deployed several large and medium-sized portals near Rutan Star. A few days later, the vast Earth human fleet departed from Rutan Star, splitting into two sub-fleets, the Alpha Fleet and the Beta Fleet, heading towards the Gliese 667 three-star system and Gliese 581 respectively. Humanity's detour was solely intended to conceal the location of their homeworld.
阿尔法舰队和贝塔舰队的战力和物资基本一样，两个舰队的战力都是：3艘大洲极大力神号战舰（每艘战舰1060公里长，能毁灭大型质量恒星）、6艘国家级开拓者号智能能量体战舰（每艘战舰740公里长，能毁灭中型质量恒星）、16艘省级太阳号狙星舰（每艘战舰480公里长，能毁灭小质量恒星或大质量行星）、40艘市级天参号狙星舰（每艘战舰160公里长，能毁灭一般行星）、90艘县级天狼号狙星舰（每艘战舰70公里长，能毁灭小行星或者卫星）、220艘镇级鲁坦号狙星舰（每艘战舰18公里长，能毁灭大型战舰）、800艘市级巡航母舰（每艘战舰160公里长，能毁灭大型战舰）、2400艘县级巡洋舰（每艘战舰70公里长，能毁灭大型战舰）、6200艘镇级护卫舰（每艘战舰18公里长，能毁灭中型战舰）、6万艘村级突击舰（每艘战舰6公里长，能毁灭小型战舰）、20万艘飞碟、4600万艘无人飞机。
Rutan is 82 light-years away from the Gliese 667 three-star system.
Rutan is 104 light-years away from Gliese 581.