The scientific research ship made by the Empire is a spaceship with a complete extreme environment adaptation mechanism and a complete set of basic laboratories, and can be replaced with special laboratory modules at any time as needed. Scientists of the empire with a small number of soldiers can go to any environment and complete any experiment they want, which of course includes the weird things collected by on-site analysis: many times, the imperial scientists have no patience to send these samples back to the rear for research , but chose to start their work on the front lines. The scientific research ship sent by Tavel is the latest model. The main laboratory on it is a sample analysis center that can analyze the structure and xìng quality of any substance. This center can carry out thousands of analysis items. From physical properties to internal structure to energy spectrum, even when connected to the imperial database, you can also query the "registry information" of samples around the world. It can be said that Tavel has frantically packed all the functions she wants. into this boat.
The good news is that less than one-tenth of the fusiform unidentified objects we found were used for the above functions.
The "space shuttle" with a long axis of 5.5 meters, a black body, and red light at both ends is now quietly floating above the gravity-free platform of the analysis center, slowly rotating on its own axis under the action of the traction force field, several Small probes are busy flying around it, using scanning beams or other powerful-sounding things to check the opponent's structure bit by bit. Unlike the crystal ball with a diameter of one kilometer before, this black shuttle Most of the structure can still be scanned directly - although the scanned image is still confusing. Around the zero-gravity platform, there are assistant technicians who are busy. These researchers in white robes seem to have fallen into a serious disagreement. They are divided into three or four camps to debate fiercely and express their opinions. The four camps are also reorganized at any time. Two scientists who stood on the same point of view one second will stare at each other the next second. Two technicians who were refuting each other one moment may now reach a consensus. They have different debates There is more than one point of disagreement, and each point of divergence produces several different viewpoints, and these different viewpoints are completely unsystematic. It is almost impossible for two assistant technicians to stand in the same "camp" from beginning to end. I have been listening to it for half an hour. These scientists are debating something very profound, and my feeling has changed from "what are they arguing?" to "what are they arguing now?"…
"It feels like there will be endless quarrels for a while..." My sister, who was as confused as I was, smiled troubledly, and turned his head to look at Tavel's mass projection. As the highest-level researcher on the scene, Tavel did not participate in these assistants. In the discussion, she was frowning and thinking about herself, but she quickly responded to her elder sister's words: "Oh, it's okay, those of us who are engaged in research, it's commonplace to argue about experimental projects. The generation of implementation plans is accompanied by the execution of ten times the plans—but today’s situation is indeed a bit special, we have never seen such a strange thing.”
"I found the thing, and it is theoretically related to me, but I can't see what it is at all," I said with a frown, looking at the black shuttle slowly rotating on the weightless platform, "It used to say a few words when it was wrapped in the big ball, but now that the ball is gone, it also fell silent. Do you think I broke something?"
"No, probably not," Tavel shook his head. "This is not the result of data analysis, but the judgment of the subordinates based on experience and intuition. This fusiform object is obviously a man-made product with high technical content, and The crystal spherical shell with a diameter of one kilometer should be similar to some kind of armor, and its function is to provide protection for the spindle-shaped core. According to what you said, this combination first authenticated you, and after confirming your After the identification, a notice was given to inform you in advance that it will remove its shell. Everything shows that the whole process is in the predetermined procedure of this combination, including the rupture of the thick shell, which must be precisely designed The result. Such a high-tech thing will not be broken in a simple shelling program. As for the reason why we cannot read the information sent by the black shuttle now, it may be that its kernel uses a different shell The identity authentication method, and we don’t know what this authentication method is for the time being. Theoretically, it is like this”
"Hei Suo? That's a good name, quite interesting." Lin Xue said casually.
"Artistic conception? I don't know what artistic conception is. I named it because it is very dark and looks like a shuttle." Tavier answered frankly, so the eldest lady almost choked: "You...forget it, scientific research is like this .”
"The authentication method," I thought for a while, "it seems that it still has to fall on me. It seems that only I can get in touch with this thing."
"Yes, in theory, but I don't recommend you to try a second time immediately. Before we know the origin and function of the black shuttle, there is a certain risk in letting you contact it rashly, and this risk cannot be seen to a value that matches it."
"But the problem is, if you want to know its function, I'm afraid the premise is to pass the certification." I pointed at the black shuttle with my chin, "You have tried it just now, the black shuttle has a self-destruct function inside, forcibly destroying the shell or increasing the scanning intensity It will lead to a sharply enhanced energy reaction at the core of the thing, and at present, the existing dismantling technology of the empire cannot bypass this self-destruct lock that cannot even explain the principle."
Tavel refuted my less rigorous statement: "Whether the energy response is a self-destruct function is still to be discussed. After all, after we stopped disassembling the shell, the energy response dropped to normal readings again. Although this is not a high-end technology. , but as a self-destruct device, it’s a useless design—like designing a bomb to recover all the fragments after it explodes. In theory.”
I waved my hand: "Okay, okay, let's not talk about this. You test it first, and if you confirm that it doesn't have any abyss reaction, I still have to try to communicate with that thing again. As long as it's not an abyss, it should be fine, yes Bar?"
Tavier bit her lip, as if she had made up her mind. She finally nodded after finding that Sandora next to her didn't dissuade her: "Okay, but please don't touch this thing until the full scan is over."
It can be seen that Tavel's level of vigilance against "Black Shuttle" is not as high as usual. Part of the reason for this vigilance may come from the "suspected origin" of Hei Shuo: that thing was issued in the world management system. After the false police report, those objects that appeared in the abyss response police report area, according to relevant regulations, such objects should be classified as temporary Class A dangerous goods. The other part of the reason is the technical content of Hei Shuo itself: there are indications that Hei Shuo's technical content is sufficient to challenge the Empire, and even challenge the Protoss. Although it is not certain that this thing can surpass the existing technology of the Empire, it is only Its operation method that confuses Xiling technicians is enough to explain its possible technical level. And this made Tavel, who is the chief scientist of the empire, feel a heavy pressure.
Not only did I think of this, but even my elder sister could think of this. She looked at the black shuttle that was being scanned in all directions, and frowned: "Tavier, how high-tech do you think this thing will be? Manufacturing it Will the people in this world be a technological race as strong as the empire?"
Tavel didn't shy away from this question. She nodded frankly: "From the perspective of the material strength and internal energy flow of the Black Shuttle, the race that made it may not necessarily be stronger than the Empire, but it is very likely that the strength is comparable. The operation of this thing The mechanism and the energy used make people feel inexplicable, and it is a product that is completely different from any existing technology tree, but after the preliminary simulation, the host judged that the empire can use psionic technology to create equipment similar to it. This It means that it comes from a maker as advanced as the Empire, but not of magic, technology, or gods."
"In this way, it is impossible to be a fallen apostle." Sandora whispered.
At the beginning, she guessed that Hei Shuo came from the Fallen Apostle—because that thing might come out of the abyss, and as far as we know, apart from the empire's "Deep Dive Plan", the only thing that would throw artificial objects in the abyss is The "great cause" of the fallen apostles is over, and Sandora suspects that Hesuo is some kind of detection equipment newly made by the fallen apostles. And judging from the technical content of the latter, this guess is reasonable. It’s just that after Tavel’s research, the technology tree used by Hessuo does not belong to any known record information in the imperial database at all—it comes from a third party.
"Will there be such a super civilization in the void, and neither the Protoss nor the Empire knows anything about it?"
sister asked, frowning.
Tavel was silent for a few seconds, and said uncertainly: "Theoretically, due to the infinity of the void, any guess, as long as it is put forward, is possible. But in fact, apart from the two major protoss and the empire, the fourth The probability of the existence of civilization is basically zero. According to the information projection theory in the void and the information disturbance model between many worlds, any civilization that is strong enough to a certain level will have an information impact on the range of the void that it can involve. The most obvious The most famous example is that due to the existence of the Protoss, most intelligent species in the multiverse have evolved into humanoids, and due to the existence of the Xiling Empire, almost all civilized civilizations in the Void Quadrant that the Empire has touched will simultaneously produce 'mysterious ' and the concept of 'technology': Even if they can only study natural science, they will have a yearning for 'magic' through fantasy works, even if their world is only magic, they will also imagine 'technology' things, This is the influence of the Xiling Empire on the multiverse during its heyday. The scope of this influence is explained by a very complicated mathematical model, but you only need to know the simplified version of the description, that is, the limit range of information influence is equal to its The furthest distance that the direct product of the corresponding super civilization can reach. This arrival can be physical contact, or some kind of non-contact observation method.”
Sandora seems to be worried that I can't understand, so she gave a simple example: "Using the empire as an example, wherever the scanning range of the Garden of the Dead is spread, our influence on the information of the ordinary world can be affected, within our line of sight In all worlds, the two concepts of 'technology' and 'mystery' will appear at the same time, even if only one of the technology trees can be truly established in that world until its extinction."
"Then the black shuttle in front of me..." I figured out the meaning of Tavel's words, "Since it can appear in front of our eyes in a physical form, it stands to reason that the information about its creator should have radiated into the Protoss territory long ago. "
Ilsen immediately took up the conversation: "The world management system can monitor similar information disturbances in real time. I am sure that this universe has not been modified by high-level information until now—oh, except for the influence from your empire."
In other words, if Tavel's mathematical model is correct, at least within the scope of common sense, the fourth civilization does not exist at all.
Since the creator of the Black Shuttle has sent this thing to us, it is equivalent to a connection with the territory of the Protoss. If the creator is a civilization as powerful as the empire, then the world management system will definitely detect the world Distortion within the range, if no distortion is detected, then the creator of the Black Shuttle must not be a super civilization. It's that simple.
But the structure of the Black Shuttle itself shows that the technical means used to manufacture it are at least on par with the Empire.
"Remember, it might have come through the abyss," Bingtis pointed at the gravity-free platform, "although it doesn't respond to the abyss now, when it appeared, 123's world management system reported the police. False Police report? I don’t think so. Maybe it was a real police report. The door of the abyss was indeed opened, and then such a thing jumped out of it, and then the door of the abyss was closed instantly. That door is for this thing Send it out."
Will the gate of the abyss be closed automatically like this? Bingtis put forward a very novel and challenging statement. Anyway, in my impression, the gate of the abyss has always done all kinds of evil, except when it was blown up by us, it never voluntarily closed the door, but Bingtis believes that there was indeed a gate of the abyss that was opened for a short time at that time, just to put Hei Suo Sent to 123's world—the purpose is unknown, not even malicious.
Bingtis saw that everyone was lost in thought, so he reminded the second point just right: "In addition, you have heard voices from the depths of the abyss. More than once. Think about the deep dive plan, and think about Chen's childhood... Chen's Human childhood, the voice he heard."
All the people at the scene who knew these things were awakened by Bingtis' words, and all the things were connected in an instant, as if a bolt of lightning pierced the dark night sky.
"There is really a world at the bottom of the abyss..." Tavel said blankly, his voice seemed to be sleepwalking, "There is even a super civilization, they... are also launching detectors, and one of them has successfully arrived!"
"It's just a guess," Bingtis patted Tavel's shoulder, "in theory, right?"
"A brand new field!" Tavel suddenly woke up from a stunned state, with an excited look on her face: When we felt pressure, the only thing she could think of was the research challenge that made her excited and inexplicable. How should I say it? Well, as expected of the scientists of the empire, they are all runaway types in their bones.
I felt dizzy in my head, and I didn't even know how the topic gradually changed to whether there was a super civilization at the bottom of the abyss. But no matter how unreliable this guess is, it is still a possibility.
In the era of the old empire, the Deep Dive Project heard the "voice" from the bottom of the abyss.
Seventeen years ago, I even had a suspected experience of having a direct dialogue with the bottom of the abyss.
There are various indications that there is a huge difference between the depths of the abyss and what we see on the surface, and the depths of the abyss present an extremely peaceful state.
The black shuttle in front of us triggered an alarm from the world management system when it appeared. It is believed that the gate of the abyss opened at that time.
And this black shuttle is inextricably linked with me—this reminds me of that conversation seventeen years ago.
I shook my head vigorously, put these messy things aside temporarily, and looked at Tavel: "Do you think the maker of the black shuttle is a threat to the empire?"
"The subordinate is just a scientist, not a strategist," Tavel replied frankly, "but the subordinate can judge based on the information at hand that the other party is not a threat now."
"Oh?" Elder Sister raised her eyebrows.
"It's not easy for them to send this detector here," Tavel pointed at the black shuttle, "This detector is protected by a protective layer with a diameter of one kilometer, but that protective layer should only be part of a larger system : It is used to protect the core, so there will be more supporting devices outside it, such as the abyss drive engine, navigation device, peripheral shield generator, or other things that can make it advance from the bottom of the abyss to the surface No matter what the principle and function of these devices, they should exist. However, we did not see these devices."
"So they should all be destroyed during the 'floating' process, right?" Sandora nodded and said, "That's right, it is impossible for a complete detector to consist of only the core and the core protective shell. The previous one There should be something outside the big sphere, but it has been destroyed after staying in the abyss for too long. Ah Jun, you also mentioned what the sphere told you, its system is offline, that is, It has no way to establish a connection with its own starting point... There are indications that the detector in front of us is also an imperfect experiment. Therefore, even if there is a super civilization in the depths of the abyss, they will not be stronger than the empire, and it is even more unlikely Come out of the abyss."
Tavel showed an expression of approval, and added: "The deep submersible ships of the old empire era once dived to the 'depth' near the calm zone, but the manned deep submersible ships did not have a final core that could be ejected, so in the end Stopped in front of the calm zone, and this probe seems to have absorbed the experience of the old imperial deep submersible ship. It is unmanned, and may have abandoned all its peripheral equipment to allow this core to reach our world... It feels… ”
"Looks like an experiment conducted by both parties?" the sister said casually.
Suddenly, two words flashed across my mind like lightning:
bridge! (To be continued. RS