“The situation is as follows.” Xiao Yu said, “Things are very unfavorable for us. Here are our ship loss rates versus the enemy’s over this recent period. Everyone, take a look.”
Xiao Yu sent a block of data to the computation terminals of all attendees. It showed that the two sides’ ship loss rates had shifted from the early-war figures of 3.25 to 10.79 to the current 4.17 to 9.85.
Everyone knew what that ant. After the data was distributed, a heavy atmosphere filled the conference room.
“The Pegasus Civilization’s technological progress has outpaced our original projections. Capturing the Death Flower Star System within the next one hundred fifty years will likely be very difficult.” a scientist said. “I recomnd using the Sphere of Death. The Sphere of Death has a lethal radius of about one light-hour. After it detonates, all carbon-based life within One Billion kiloters dies, those from One Billion to Two Billion kiloters suffer permanent trauma, and those from Two Billion to Five Billion kiloters suffer certain reversible injuries. My suggestion is that we launch a general offensive, attract as many Level 5 Civilization Alliance warships as possible, then detonate the Sphere of Death.”
“Do we really want to use a Sphere of Death on the Level 5 Alliance?” Xiao Yu beca conflicted.
The value of the Sphere of Death goes without saying. It is the bottom-of-the-chest trump card that can preserve one’s life. Up to now Xiao Yu had only two left. Once used, there would be no more. The Sphere of Death is manufactured with Level 7 Civilization technology. Xiao Yu has no way to analyze the embedded technology and produce one himself. Even the Sweepers likely could not manufacture it.
Xiao Yu had always harbored a faint concern regarding the Taihao Civilization, the Sweepers, the Guardians, and the several Alien Beast Civilizations in the Milky Way. He had a premonition that once he advanced to a Level 6 Civilization he would certainly clash with those entities. As a newcor to Level 6, he would not be a match for those old Level 6 Civilizations. In that case, the Sphere of Death would be the only thing that could save his life.
If he used a Sphere of Death here, then when he advanced to Level 6 he might face annihilation from that lack of one sphere.
Xiao Yu could not make up his mind.
At that mont, in a research facility aboard a Ho ship, a young scientist was busy at a mainfra with powerful computational capacity.
Before him hovered a three-dinsional image. The projector cast a star, suspended in midair.
This star was a scaled projection modeled on a real star. Using a simulation program he had written, the scientist reproduced on this virtual star all the properties of a real one, including mass, temperature, volu, gravity, radiation rate, and so on.
It was clear he was tackling a key research problem. He seed to have run into difficulties that were very hard to break through. Yet he showed no impatience. He remained calm.
He checked data again and again, revised data again and again, altered his line of thought. His fingertips danced across the input device. As data was entered, the star would occasionally undergo certain changes.
After a segnt of data was entered into the simulator and run, the simulated sun’s brightness suddenly increased greatly, its whole body twisted, and finally it exploded with a roar.
“Curvature space suffered destabilization from excessive radiative energy, leading to an unstable spatial storm that ultimately tore the entire star to pieces. Failure.”
He sat there, thought for a while, then entered another block of data.
This ti the star was not shredded, but it exhibited rapid irregular displacent, careening back and forth within the projector’s field like a maddened lion. Only after several minutes did it stop.
“Mutual interference between curvature space and stellar gravity produced a chaotic data stream, rendering results unpredictable. Ultimately, due to excessive energy load, the curvature engine burned out. Failure.”
He sighed, cleared the last input, pondered, and entered so other data.
“…Failure.”
“…Failure.”
In this laboratory he remained, continually entering new data, thinking after each failure, then entering new data again, and repeating. He worked there for more than ten days, leaving ti only for necessary rest and food.
At last, he succeeded. After an unknown number of rounds of thought and attempts, he input a latest segnt of data. Once it executed, the star beneath the virtual projection device began to move slowly. The slightly blurred space around it showed that it was now in curvature flight. Its even speed and stable posture proved its curvature flight was under control. It moved along slowly, like a little boat laden with hope.
As the star continued to travel smoothly, the young scientist’s mood gradually steadied. After more than ten minutes, under his control, the star disengaged from curvature space and ca to a stop.
“I did it,” he murmured, his voice growing louder as a look of joy surfaced on his face. “I did it!”
anwhile, in the conference room.
“He did it.” Xiao Yu, who had been weighing whether to use the Sphere of Death, suddenly ca to himself. Joy shone in his eyes. “Excellent, excellent, he did it.”
“What succeeded?” a scientist asked.
“It is Xu Junpo.” Xiao Yu replied. “He has successfully found a thod to put a star into curvature flight. I have just received his report. This is too good, simply too good. If we can transport stars, we can move one directly next to this system and detonate it, using the imnse destructive power of a stellar explosion to break the defenses of the Death Flower Star System. We could even directly control this star to ram into the Death Flower Star System to open a breach. Wonderful. With this technology, our chances of victory increase greatly. Even without relying on the Sphere of Death, we now have the confidence to win.”
The attending scientists looked at one another and saw delight in each other’s eyes.
“However, there is one point. The technology for putting a star into curvature space has only achieved a breakthrough at the theoretical level. To realize it, we will need to work even harder.” Xiao Yu said. “But the most important obstacle has been overco. I do not believe the remaining secondary obstacles will stop us.”
“Next, I am issuing the first technology that must be tackled. The environnt near a star is far too harsh, and to put a star into curvature flight certain specialized instrunts must operate extrely close to the star. These instrunts must be built from the toughest, most heat-resistant, best-performing materials. We do not yet have such a material. However, we already possess the manufacturing theory for it, naly hydrogen-atom polyr material. I require the Materials Science Institute to conquer this within five years and produce this material.”
The 90s Model Spaceship that still lies in the Asia’s hold was built from this hydrogen polyr material. So-called hydrogen polyr material is produced by direct manipulation at the atomic level, turning gaseous hydrogen into a solid substance. This substance is extrely light yet extrely tough. Heat resistance, ductility, flexibility, and corrosion resistance are all first-rate.
Corrosion is, at its root, a chemical reaction between substances. The atoms of hydrogen polyr material are fixed in place, with no way to bond with atoms of other substances. Naturally, no chemical reaction occurs and it is not corroded.
In fact, the prospects of this material go far beyond that. In Xiao Yu’s estimation, after ultimate developnt it could even be used to manufacture instrunts that function normally on white dwarfs or neutron stars. But before entering a Level 6 or even Level 7 Civilization, this material is out of reach.
“The second difficulty is energy supply. The energy required to put a star into curvature flight is enormous. Relying on external energy transport is extrely uneconomical, so we must consider sourcing directly from the star.” Xiao Yu said. “Energy Academy of Science, I require you within five years to develop the highest-efficiency solar equipnt and formulate a plan to maximize utilization of stellar radiative energy.”
A star is simply too enormous. The energy to put it into curvature space is astronomical. Transporting energy from outside would create nurous problems and uncertainties, far inferior to directly harnessing stellar energy.
“The third problem. The Space Academy of Science and the Institute of Physics will, under my personal leadership, carry out follow-up research on stellar curvature flight. Within fifty years we will transport a star to the Death Flower Star System and use it to break through the system’s defenses.”
“The energy released by a single stellar explosion. I would very much like to see how you plan to stop it.” Xiao Yu thought quietly. “Even with hundreds of millions of warships, you cannot withstand a stellar explosion.”
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