Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 539 - 536: Despair and Bright Tomorrow

Chapter 539: Chapter 536: Despair and Bright Tomorrow

After a half-day discussion, in most plans, two War Stars are necessary to complete the mission—one to observe and the other to shorten the time of the neutron star collision.

There are also a few plans that require only one War Star. However, such plans reduce the industrial workload while imposing extremely high technical demands, undoubtedly increasing the difficulty.

In any case, if all plans are implemented smoothly, the amount of data observed will depend on each party’s capability. Everyone will head to different Constant Stars for refuge to avoid any one party completing the Curvature Technology first and subsequently dominating and bullying the other with technological superiority.

It would also be great if cooperation between each other could be strengthened.

All kinds of discussions over and over again gave Zhang Yuan a headache. There were too many contingency plans, and even the specific models for some screws had many different scenarios that had to be understood clearly.

There was no choice; the matter was too important to allow for any negligence.

The two civilizations’ industrial systems and mechanical standards are different and not completely complementary. Apart from some interchangeable universal parts, each had to do its own thing.

The Tos Civilization was responsible for building 15,000 engines, and the New Human Civilization was also responsible for manufacturing 15,000 engines. With this division of labor, as long as the propulsion force of the engines was acceptable, it would suffice.

"If we really have to build two War Stars, a large amount of machinery will need to be relocated later on. Both parties will work together to construct another one... The entire construction period is estimated at around three thousand years. If we hurry, it will still take over 2000 years."

That was about all that was discussed at this meeting.

After the meeting, both parties left with their thoughts, the atmosphere slightly silent, with hardly any sound of interaction.

A three-thousand-year industrial plan lay before them!

This feeling of never reaching the end in one’s lifetime does not inspire great ambition.

On the contrary, it’s a heavy sense of burden because humans would still not see the end of it even if they spent a lifetime, and even if they were reborn through the Transcendent plan and then died again, the end would still not be in sight...

This was, in fact, a form of despair, even though people had made a lot of mental preparation beforehand.

The Tos People could accept it a little better because their lifespan is much longer than that of humans... but it’s only 1,500 years at most.

Zhang Yuan, speaking into the headset, said to Zhao Qingfeng beside him with a wry smile, "It’s a good thing we only have one partner. If there were multiple, it would be an utter mess..."

"We still have to worry about whether their Planet Engines will meet standards and whether they will be completed on time and in the required quantity. If they really don’t pass muster, we’ll be in for a long and difficult dispute."

"Even, warfare is not impossible, over this matter. We’ve put almost everything on the line, and we cannot afford to fail."

Zhao Qingfeng spoke with a forced smile, "God knows, they might also be worried whether we will drag our feet... We are a short-lived species, only able to live five hundred years. Their lifespan is one to two thousand years, which makes policy continuity much easier for them."

Old Zhao, as a senior leader in the power department and a key scientist in this area, did not have the luxury of just going through the motions like Zhang Yuan; he felt a heavy burden under enormous pressure.

Zhang Yuan’s work wasn’t unimportant, but in the large span of time to come, it was inevitably going to be marginalized, with very limited resources allocated.

This was also the price that the New Human Civilization had to pay in pursuit of Curvature Technology.

Zhao Qingfeng thought of the crucial point, his face gradually becoming somber, "Ah, let’s be a bit more optimistic. The Tos Civilization should be reliable. At least they followed us here, spending a huge number of AmiBa Points; they can’t afford to fail either. The chances of them dragging their feet from the beginning are low."

"What worries me most is the immensely long construction period. Three thousand years—that’s far longer than the lifespan of a generation. Who knows what could happen in between?"

"Especially when doing the same work every day. The vast majority of our productivity will be allocated to this, squeezing the development of other disciplines. Don’t tell me we can still conduct research haphazardly as we do now, researching whatever we want... Those days, too difficult."

Zhao Qingfeng shook his head and said no more.

"On the other hand, if the Tos People truly cannot complete this task, what should we do? Should we help them finish it, or should we fight and make them leave this place?"

"If we don’t complete it? What if there’s a coup? Do we get kicked out?"

When the group returned to the Mother Ship, they found the entire Central Square lit up and festive, with crowds filling the Observatory.

The common populace, unburdened by the worries of the civilized elite, was brimming with celebratory spirit. To the ignorant there is no fear; in their eyes, the two neutron stars seemed close at hand, and Curvature Technology felt within reach.

In this atmosphere, people even began to cheer spontaneously!

Toy models of the planet engines were hot sellers, and the trending topics on the network were all about these subjects.

Zhang Yuan eavesdropped for a moment on some professors excitedly discussing which mechanism should be used, even dreaming of shearing the angular momentum from the neutron stars and considering various plans.

People seemed to generally overestimate their will, immersing themselves in the noble passion and valor of struggling for a great cause...

At this moment, indeed, people were filled with lofty ideals and beliefs.

Zhang Yuan looked out at the starry sky beyond the curvature bubble. As the speed of Curvature Navigation gradually slowed, that part of the sky became clear.

People were extremely exhilarated at this moment, willing to strive for it their whole lives, which seemed like a good thing...

...

On the central big screen in the square, current astronomical observations and various scientific proposals were being introduced.

The colossal planet engines, indubitably an essential project for every plan. Each engine was as massive as Mount Everest, extending at least 30 kilometers into the ground, capable of shooting brilliant, hundreds of kilometers long plasma pulses toward the sky.

This planet engine technology was acquired through the exchange of New Civilization History with a Fourth-level Civilization. The technology was fairly mature and ready to use. The Tos Civilization also used this technology, of course not for free, but through a mutual exchange of technologies.

However, the working medium required by the planet engines became a big problem, with this crude contraption needing to eject several hundred tons of plasma per second!

Several hundred tons! With 30,000 planet engines, that’s a million-ton magnitude per second!

Since the metallic planets targeted for future landing had little hydrogen, it was impractical to transport nuclear fuel from a distant Jupiter-like planet. Such a fuel transportation project would be hundreds of times more massive than the construction of the planet engines, which humans could not afford.

To solve this issue, scientists planned to create Quark Energy chambers inside the metallic planet.

Quark Energy, the most outstanding achievement of subatomic science at the moment, can convert 60% of mass into energy. This tremendous energy could turn powdered ore into plasma, which could then be used as the working medium to be ejected from the planet engines.

"So, the ejection medium for the planet engines is all ore! We’re going to level entire circular mountains to serve as the medium."

"Through the Quark Energy engine chamber, any element can be turned into plasma!"

Viewing the introduction on the big screen, and the computer simulations of the planet engines as large as mountains, many people suddenly felt an immense rush of grandiosity.

People longed intensely for the day when all the planet engines would be constructed...

Selected from the Virtual World, Ding Peng murmured to himself, "This truly is... an era to yearn for!"

This was the first time he felt so strongly integrated into the mood of the era, deeply sensing what people were cheering for.

He also bought a model of a planet engine, playing with it in the palm of his hand...