Chapter 107 - 107: Testing (1)
On the escort ship, aside from Zhao Yu, there were over a dozen robots responsible for piloting the spaceship.
Standing by the rear window of the spaceship, Zhao Yu watched as their defensive line receded into the distance. A tinge of regret crept into his heart; perhaps he had acted too hastily.
Yet, he quickly shook his head, casting aside such distracting thoughts.
“Only I can handle this. If I don’t go, war is inevitable. If I go, there’s a slim chance of survival…”
“Besides, this escort ship has a laser defense system. It should hold up for at least three minutes…”
His current journey was not entirely defenseless. The ship’s laser defense system was capable of fending off some attacks.
In addition, he had agreed on an escape route with Uncle Da.
After both sides negotiated, as long as his ship made the corresponding maneuvers, all base points facing them in the first defensive line would unleash their strongest laser beams.
Given the changes in time and position, they would create a safe passage for him to withdraw.
The only thing he needed to do was endure for three minutes. By then, the dense laser beams from the first defense line would arrive.
Zhao Yu lingered at the stern for a long while. When the first defense line was no longer visible to the naked eye, he finally left and returned to the control room.
The entire forward route had been preset by Uncle Da, and was managed by the robots. There was no need for Zhao Yu to worry.
Also, the translation system for communicating with the aliens was all set. Zhao Yu only needed to speak, and it would automatically be translated and transmitted.
On the wide screen at the top of the control room, a countdown was displayed. It showed the time until the rendezvous with the scouting ship from the Moro Fleet—12 days remained.
“12 days left to prepare…”
Zhao Yu left the control room and went to the reading room, resuming his reading of the science fiction novel.
Earth-Xiadu Base.
“We’ve received news from Yuean City again…”
“Chen Xiao reports that Zhao Yu has traded both the second and third generation nuclear fusion technologies with them…”
“What?”
The council members were shocked.
After discussing with the wise men present, they arrived at a conclusion.
“The aliens on the moon are about to leave, and our planet is facing destruction. Zhao Yu is trying to save himself, so he’s helping Yuean City within his power…”
“So, Zhao Yu hopes that we can find a way to counter the aliens by studying the second and third generation nuclear fusion technologies…”
“Right now, we should urgently gather nuclear experts to ask how they can acquire the key technology under these circumstances…”
“The most important thing is to get the vital information related to nuclear fusion back here through people like Chen Xiao who aren’t experts…”
12 days later.
The escort ship carrying Zhao Yu arrived at its destination.
A vast and silent expanse of space.
At a distance of 150,000 kilometers, the shuttle carrying Milo and Seth had also stopped.
The scanning devices on both ships had detected each other.
This distance is the furthest at which real-time messages can be exchanged. For their first encounter, both sides kept a safe distance.
“Ding-ding!”
Inside the control room, the communication system sounded an alert. The automatic translation program synchronously projected the incoming message onto the screen.
“Greetings, Pangu Civilization. We are from the Glen Civilization…”
Zhao Yu moved closer to the microphone and responded clearly and articulately.
His reply was naturally edited by the translation program and sent out.
150,000 kilometers away, on the shuttle, Milo was in the command room looking at the results displayed by the scanner.
“The propulsion system on the other ship is a fusion of nuclear and electromagnetic technologies, characteristic of late stage Type 1 civilizations…”
Miro directly said: “Ask them what’s going on. Why is their ship only at this level?!”
Seth beside him wasn’t in a hurry, allowing Milo to give orders.
A moment later, a translated message appeared.
“This is the most advanced ship we have…”
“Nonsense!”
Miro was so annoyed that he was scratching his head, “They clearly have a Type 2 civilization level, but they’re pretending to be Type 1. Shameless!”
“Tell them, if they continue to pretend to be Type 1,1 will fire!”
“Stop!”
Seeing Miro about to act impulsively, Seth quickly stopped him and said: “Don’t bother yourself, Milo. Let me handle these small fries…”
With the difficulty in probing, Miro knew he had to step aside. He murmured a few words, made himself comfortable in a chair, but kept his eyes on the scene.
Seth, seeing this, came to the forefront. He took out prepared data and said: “Tell them we would like to exchange scientific and technological knowledge with them…”
“They’ve agreed…”
After a brief introduction about particle black holes, Seth posed the first probing question.
“We’ve discovered that virtual particles are constantly being created at the event horizon of the black hole…”
“But particle black holes created by vacuum quantum fluctuations would annihilate immediately due to mutual attraction…”
“However, if we separate a particle and drive it into the third rotation zone with light cones, a tiny anti-matter universe would be formed…”
“We’re wondering what would happen if we push an anti-particle with a negative baryon number into the fourth rotation zone…”
These questions, painstakingly selected from Seth’s intense study of particle black holes over several days, were intended to probe the other side.
Soon after, a message came back.
“I’m sorry, but as a foreign affairs officer, I can’t understand such profound things…”
A moment later, the news came back.
“I’m sorry, I’m just an external affairs personnel. I don’t understand such profound things…”
Seth was stunned. He looked at the thick stack of data in his hand, feeling like his efforts had gone in vain.
But soon, another message came.
“However, I would suggest being careful when experimenting with particle black holes. They’re unstable and reportedly prone to explosion in the third state…”
Seth’s eyes widened, he looked at everyone excitedly and said, “Did you see that?”
“What?!”
“I asked a probing question and sure enough, we got something!”
Excited, Seth continued: “Particle black holes have four states, and they know that the third state could explode. According to our database, to study the third state of a particle blackhole, one must have a technology level of at least 2.5…”
After figuring out how to communicate, Seth simplified the professional terms, using language that the public could understand.
No matter what he asked, Zhao Yu’s responses exceeded his expectations.
Even the principles and effects of their most cutting-edge technology were touched upon in Zhao Yu’s responses.
The more they talked, the more nervous Seth became.
“We’re in trouble. Their tech level is definitely not lower than ours. If we keep asking, we’re going to expose our secrets!”
Seth knew he had messed up. If their secrets were revealed, they would be hunted down, not the other way around.
In this critical moment, he suddenly said, “Quick, bring me the documents on my desk in my room!”
Those were scientific conjectures, which he thought he wouldn’t need. But now, he had to bluff with them.
Only in this way, could they make the other side believe that their tech level was higher than 2.75, and possibly even reaching 3.0..