mynovelweb Chapter 185: The Wandering Planet
Chapter 185: The Wandering Planet
Many people in Tiancanwu panicked at this sudden phenomenon and shock. Riots and unrest began to break out in some cities.
Lacking the gravitational pull of the star Asclepius, the planet Asclepius, like a spinning top thrown off course, began to drift through the dark interstellar space.
The Imperial fleet, in a synchronous orbit with the planet Triton, placed artificial mini-suns at the two ends of Triton's diameter. Triton's rotation speed began to slowly decrease.
President Thomas ordered martial law and curfews to be imposed worldwide, and that supplies, energy, and housing be rationed globally.
In order to conserve limited resources, the government introduced a policy that encourages people other than those in essential jobs to choose deep hibernation technology.
All forms of energy generation from the five planets must be considered and fully utilized, such as geothermal, hydropower, and wind power.
Although the surface temperature of Asclepius has decreased somewhat due to the loss of its star, the presence of an artificial mini-sun has prevented a rapid drop. If the planet's surface temperature were to decrease quickly, human activities on its surface would certainly be severely affected.
The Earth Empire also convened an emergency high-level meeting.
Unless humanity chooses to succumb to its own folly and perish, remaining on this planet, we must find a way to reach a place with stars. Given that the Milky Way has already disappeared, our most pressing task, besides survival, is to reach a place with stars. The closest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, which is approximately 25,000 light-years away from Uranus.
Twenty-five thousand light-years is an extremely long distance, even for humans who can travel at near the speed of light.
Theoretical calculations show that it would be impossible to put the entire world's population and its supplies into a deep hibernation using a fleet, mainly because the fleet would not be able to replenish its supplies and energy along the way.
The only remaining option is to utilize the resources and energy of the planet Asclepius itself. Using Asclepius's current initial velocity, planetary engines can be installed to slightly alter its course and propel it to the Canis Major dwarf system. The thrust and placement of these planetary engines are crucial for reaching the Canis Major dwarf system as quickly as possible.
The scientists of the Earth Empire envisioned designing planetary engines that could enable wandering planets to travel at half the speed of light. Even with half the speed of light, it would take humanity at least 50,000 years to reach the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.
The question now rests on the effectiveness of deep hibernation technology, spanning over 50,000 years. Scientists have therefore considered the large quantities of superphoton quark cryogenic insulation material already produced. If hibernation pods utilize this material, maintaining human hibernation for 50,000 years should be no problem.
The Earth Empire government announced to all humanity the plan to propel Tristan 5 to the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy using planetary engines and to induce absolute deep hibernation for humanity, and the riots and unrest gradually subsided.
Humanity in the Earth Empire, united as one, began racing against time to engage in large-scale production and construction, and also invested heavily in intelligent machinery and robots to assist humanity.
In 2355 AD, five thousand enormous planetary engines stood atop Triton. The energy for these engines, and for the planet's equipment, came almost entirely from geothermal energy generated by magma within the planet. The maintenance and operation of the engines relied primarily on super artificial intelligence and intelligent robots.
All of Earth's spaceships and warships are stacked on top of each other in a massive cavernous warehouse on the planet Asclepius. The warships are coated with a superphoton quark cryogenic insulation material to prevent them from deteriorating over tens of thousands of years. Of course, all equipment, machinery, computers, and other devices deemed important by humanity are also coated with this superphoton quark cryogenic insulation material.
After almost all of humanity entered a state of absolute deep hibernation, the planet's super artificial intelligence computer pressed the start button for the planetary engines. Trisolaris, this wandering planet, began to deflect and accelerate under the thrust of five thousand enormous planetary engines. The engines' power output increased, and Trisolaris's speed increased until it finally reached a constant speed of 63% of the speed of light. At this speed, it would take approximately 39683 years to reach the Canis Major dwarf system.
The five planets of the heavens, laden with Earth's humans and their belongings, have truly become a fast-moving, wandering planet in the dark interstellar space.
On this wandering planet, only intelligent machines, robots, and a few imperial scientists remain active. These scientists primarily research complex technologies yet to be completed, as well as long-term technologies suggested by Zhou Yuan, such as quark-photon engines, consciousness storage/transplantation, the "Halo Garden," hyperspace travel, the Sky-Sniping Arrow, the Heavenly Bowl, galactic drive, and the Great Gravitational Source. Zhou Yuan, of course, had already provided detailed information on these technologies. The empire only allows these scientists ten years of service. After ten years, they must enter absolute deep hibernation, and then the next batch of scientists will be automatically awakened to continue the research of the previous batch. Each scientist's maximum research time is eighty years. Through this continuous iterative research by scientists, the Earth Empire, even while wandering in interstellar space, never forgets its mission—to develop high technology.
To the astonishment of the scientists involved in the research and activities, Zhou Yuan and Panna, these two so-called superhumans from MATRIX, had been working and living alongside dozens of batches of scientists throughout their centuries-long interstellar journey. Zhou Yuan and Panna seemed to defy the laws of this virtual universe; they didn't need to hibernate, and crucially, their appearances remained unchanged—they were still so young. Chu Xiaolu, on the other hand, awoke from hibernation every hundred years, each awakening lasting approximately a week. During this week, she enjoyed the company of Zhou Yuan and Panna.
After wandering the five planets for five hundred years, Zhou Yuan and Pan Na seemed to have grown tired of this interstellar wandering life, and subsequently entered a deep hibernation, waking up once every thousand years. Chu Xiaolu naturally followed the three's agreement to wait for a thousand years.
In 12355 AD, 22355 AD, and 32355 AD, every ten thousand years, most of Earth's humanity is awakened from absolute deep hibernation. They perform manual maintenance, parts replacement, and reproduction of planetary engines, various devices, and intelligent robots on the rogue planets. Each awakening and working period lasts ten years. After thirty thousand years of iterative research and collaborative efforts by many scientists, the various high-tech technologies and weapons proposed by Zhou Yuan and the scientists are theoretically perfected and have passed calculation simulations. They are just waiting for the arrival of the planet Trisolaran in the Canis Major dwarf star system so that Earth's humanity can use the resources there to manufacture these high-tech devices. In these thirty thousand years, ten consciousness storage/transfer systems have been developed. Approximately fifty thousand important figures in the Earth Empire have undergone consciousness scanning and storage, and preparations for future planetary colonization have been completed.
The rogue planet Asteroid Tensor could be said to have saved the lives of humanity on Earth, while the technology of absolute deep hibernation has relatively extended human lifespan and provided time for the development of high technology.
In the year 42040 AD, after nearly 40,000 years of interstellar travel, the planet Trisolaran finally entered the Canis Major dwarf system. Many scientists in the Empire began to awaken from their deep hibernation and return to their respective work.
First, they activated the long-range "Sky Eye" system to search for habitable Earth-like planets in the Canis Major dwarf system. After nearly a month of searching and analysis, these scientists identified a blue planet a thousand light-years away, a planet similar in size to Earth.
Scientists activated the backup planetary engines, allowing Asclepius to slowly change course and head towards the blue planet a thousand light-years away. Because the course needed constant correction during the journey, scientists took turns monitoring the process, working with artificial intelligence to adjust Asclepius's trajectory. This constant course correction was necessary to prevent Asclepius from encountering stars or other celestial bodies along its path.
Because of the continuous corrections to the celestial orbit, it took almost a hundred years longer to reach the blue planet than originally planned.
In 43801 AD, some of the planetary engines on the planet Triton began to shut down, and Triton began to slowly decelerate.
In 43804 AD, Anossa entered the gravitational field of the star to which the blue planet belonged, and Anossa continued its journey toward the star.
In 43806 AD, all hibernating humans were awakened and began preparing for their respective tasks.
In 43807 AD, the planet Asclepius began to accelerate under the gravitational pull of this star. The on/off states of some of Asclepius's planetary engines began to be adjusted appropriately, and Asclepius began to orbit the star in a spiral, gradual motion.
In 43809 AD, the planet Triton reached a point of gravitational equilibrium between its star and the blue planet. Triton and the blue planet began to orbit the star in concentric and synchronous motion. In the same year, the Earth Empire fleet began to terraform the blue planet's climate and environment.
In 43831 AD, the terraforming of the Blue Planet was completed, and humanity began large-scale migration, subsequently engaging in large-scale production and construction on the Blue Planet.
In the year 43882 AD, the blue planet became another "Earth," and humanity regained its vitality. Based on nearly 40,000 years of interstellar travel technology, human technology and military strength took another giant leap forward. Some elderly, dying, or seriously ill individuals who had made significant contributions to human survival and development were reborn through consciousness storage/transplantation and kelon.
In the year 44081 AD, two hundred and fifty years after humanity migrated to the new Earth, humankind finally succeeded in achieving three important high technologies: hyperspace communication, hyperspace travel, and the construction of a stellar-scale "Halo Garden".
Humanity on Earth did not rush to leave the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, but continued to develop technology in silence. This was because their great mentor and eternal god, Zhou Yuan, had said that only when humanity achieved the four weapons of galaxy drive, galaxy-level "light speed barrier", Sky Sniper Arrow and Heavenly Bowl could humanity leave the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy and awaken Zhou Yuan, Pan Na and Chu Xiaolu, who were still in deep hibernation.
In the year 44831 AD, a thousand years after humanity migrated to the new Earth, Zhou Yuan, Pan Na, and Chu Xiaolu were awakened from absolute deep hibernation by the humans of Earth.