Star Empire

"Please two of you temporarily cooperate with the scientific officer for testing. We will do our best to ensure your safety."

While Calouste was talking, Eskett and Torres also discovered each other. Their experience of life and death a few months ago and their luck in surviving life made them want to hug each other and cry at all costs. However, the next change in the cabin interrupted them. The ever-changing polyhedral terminal of the information computer was switched by the surviving lines, and a huge holographic information display covering the entire field of vision was opened in the hall where the two were. .

On the wall on one side, with a crisp cracking sound, the partially crystallized and fused covers were forcibly opened one after another. The manipulators containing various test instruments stretched out from the opened gap, and in the huge In the holographic information window, a man worthy of being respected by the entire federation was looking at the two survivors who were the first to wake up.

"Lista Eskett, Albert Torres, hello, I am one of the chief scientists of the Star Federation and an advisor to the military consul Vidoville, Stratus Cavenriel."

"As a soldier, I'm sorry to ask you to participate in the test under such circumstances, but now my argument for a set of conjectures has reached a critical part, so I ask you to cooperate with my work."

Cavinriel on the screen turned his eyes and looked at Eskett: "Lista Eskett, one of the surviving members of the Visrifan Archon's advance team, please describe in detail what you remember. Live, everything you can recall from the time of being in danger to now.”

"...Yes, Science Officer." Eskett cleared his throat slightly. After confirming that his thoughts were clear and that his mind and body were normal, he slowly began to find out that the spacecraft he was riding malfunctioned and was hit by abnormal radiation. The unstoppable crystallization reaction, failed first aid measures, as well as the severe pain in the coma and some of his abnormal changes after waking up were all revealed. When he described the previous contents, Cavinriel was just listening carefully, but when he said the next two contents, he almost made the science officer jump.

"You mean, after being exposed to unknown radiation and experiencing crystallization symptoms, you could clearly feel your soul while in a coma? And it's a feeling that can't be described in words?" After learning this information, the science officer He immediately showed great interest in this strange situation.

"Yes, science officer. In the coma, I felt that my soul had experienced great pain. If I had to find a way to describe that feeling, it might be the feeling of swallowing a quasar directly. "

When it comes to this painful experience, Eskett is reluctant to mention it too much - after all, that feeling may have exceeded the current limit of description in the Federation, but now it seems that she is becoming... more and more important.

"For a while, I really felt like I was swallowing quasars day after day, being burned by the accretion disk again and again, and being torn apart by the huge gravity. But later, I started to have some strange feelings, I seem to be looking at the world from a very high angle. This angle of view is so high that it exceeds the boundaries of time and space. From that angle, every detail of the universe seems to be displayed in front of my eyes..."

"...After waking up, I felt a different energy flowing slowly in my body, and I felt that there seemed to be some kind of change in my soul. After experiencing that feeling, I will This feeling is called "soul sublimation."

"And it can also resonate with these things that can cause crystallization to a certain extent?" Cavinrel lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked: "Can you control this "energy"?"

"I'm sorry, Science Officer. I can indeed resonate to a certain extent with the energy bodies in crystal objects, but after the resonance connection, those energy bodies will only approach my body, but will not accept my direct fine control... Although currently I haven’t experienced crystallization symptoms again due to these energies, but my body still has no way to make direct contact with them.”

"Wait a minute, science officer!" Albert Torres on the side suddenly interjected, "I tried to touch crystallized substances after waking up, and I didn't feel any discomfort! I think I can make contact with these energies!"

"By the way, speaking of this, I still want to blame you two." Cavinriel's attitude became serious, and a cold light suddenly appeared in his deep eyes, frightening the two of them: "How did you know this? Why did you conduct unplanned attempts on these dangerous things? Do you know that you have violated safety regulations?

"Excuse me, Science Officer. After waking up, most of our logic modules have malfunctioned, and our most direct memories of reality are related to the tragic accident a few months ago, so we may do There were some subconscious things that happened. We did violate federal safety regulations and we are willing to accept the penalty."

"Okay, they have just circled around the edge of death. It will be good if they can wake up and still retain consciousness." On the main side of the space station, Caloust couldn't stand it any longer. "The safety regulations also depend on the situation. They They were originally isolated because of the crystallization. They did not cause pollution to leak, so there is no problem. Besides, do I need to remind you who was the first person to violate the regulations? Whose decision was it that they were finally exiled? Survive the process?”

"I'm obviously just worried...what did I say just now? Really, I didn't feel it before. Why do I always feel weird talking to you when I'm doing business with you recently." Cavernrel shook his head, "First, let's test the soul. , you try it first to see if your soul can be uploaded to the security system."

Currently, in the Federation's material understanding, the soul can be said to be the only one that is certain. It is made up of pure data and information. The most important thing is that the soul can be uploaded and downloaded through the information collection network.

After the soul is stripped out, it cannot be observed by conventional means, but in a specific filter field of view, these light blue shadows can be seen, and their appearance is consistent with their physical form. After being extracted, they can freely enter the information collection network, so short-distance transfers within the space station, abandoning all material forms when the spacecraft is in distress, and sealing their souls in a solid memory are also ways to save themselves.

However, what is very strange is that once the soul has too many transmission nodes in the information collection network, it will be irreversibly damaged, and the information it contains and its self-consistent state will be affected. The Federation has not found out the possible existence inside the network through multiple experiments. The underlying protocol or system error causes harm to the soul. Therefore, people's plan for large-scale super-light transfer through the information collection network cannot be implemented for the time being.

Two robot hands placed a small black metal cube in their hands respectively. This was a portable terminal for soul uploading in an emergency.

Although small, they are also closely connected to information networks. According to common sense, even such a small terminal is enough for more than a dozen people to complete uploads at the same time. However, after the two started the machine, they immediately experienced an abnormal state:

"Alert, the bandwidth of the upload terminal is insufficient, which may affect the integrity of the soul upload. An emergency stop has been carried out." After a short period of operation, the two terminals sounded the alarm at the same time.

"Huh? What's going on?" Cavinriel is not an absolute expert in soul and network technology, but through the extremely broad channels for acquiring knowledge, he also knows the middle-level content of most technologies, soul and general Different from the data package, Soul does not support breakpoint resumption, so the stability requirements and bandwidth of Soul's upload and download terminal are very high. Once a task cannot be completely uploaded and downloaded within the specified time, these functions will be urgent in an instant. stop.

Even a small terminal is enough for more than ten people to upload and download at the same time. But now, the soul of one of them can overload and shut down a terminal with sufficient redundancy. This shows that either the data contained in their soul suddenly increases. , but the changes in the soul will directly affect the material body, and although they reported abnormal feelings, based on past experience, such changes alone cannot correspond to such a huge amount of information, so there is only one possibility left:

In their souls, completely unfamiliar new existences appeared. This new existence made it impossible or difficult for the information collection network to parse. During the forced compilation process, a large amount of repeated and complicated data was generated, and this part of the repeated data All are used to occupy bandwidth.

Just like the garbled code in the golden vortex part of the previous gravitational focus structure diagram.

Fortunately, the emergency medical module is worthy of its name. Inside it, similar important facilities have multiple sets of redundancies and are kept separately. Therefore, although the crystallized part has been continuously eroding the side walls in the past few months, , but it did not completely damage any function in the cabin. With the full work of the large-scale cluster soul terminal that came with it, the souls of these two people were finally uploaded into the current independent information collection network segment.

"The current feeling is very strange, and... there is an inexplicable... feeling as if an electric current is flowing through it." The dialog box that Torres suddenly popped up attracted Cavinriel's attention. According to the past rules, the soul has been packetized. The form should be completely closed after being uploaded to the network. It can only be downloaded and implanted into a new body after being unblocked and restored at the destination. But now, in the data network, they actually have consciousness and can interact with the outside world. It's almost like a personalized AI.

"Does Eskett have similar feelings?" When Cavinriel thought of this question, he immediately received a positive response, but this phenomenon also raised a question: spiritual communication is not strange, but even if The current federation does not value identity and status so much, and there are still walls of authority as isolation between different people. How did Eskett break through this supposedly airtight isolation measure?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Science Officer." Eskett immediately noticed something was wrong. "I heard your thoughts and answered subconsciously. I don't know why I broke through the permission wall."

"It doesn't matter, this matter is also recorded as an important discovery." Cavinrel asked Eskett to calm down:

"Since you still retain your self-awareness in the information collection network, I authorize you to try to move among the network nodes by yourself. However, if you feel any discomfort, even if there is a slight sign, you must stop and come back immediately."

"...This is too risky!" Kalost wanted to interrupt the science officer's train of thought. The souls of ordinary people are not only unable to maintain self-awareness in the network, but once the number of transmission nodes exceeds five, the damage will be irreversible. , even for those with high authority who have undergone complex strengthening, the number of transmission nodes is limited to seven...

"Continue to execute, and decide the scale yourself." Cavinriel just continued to order lightly.

“What should I do if the sample is damaged?”

"As long as this step is taken, everything will be solved in the most appropriate way!"

...But now, these original limitations and terrible injuries seem to disappear around them.

"Science Officer, we have conducted three and four node jumps respectively." Torres responded, "Do you want to continue testing?"

"Do you feel any discomfort?"

"No, moving through the network nodes feels as natural as walking down a corridor."

"Then continue to jump, the number of times... until you feel the first discomfort." When saying this, Cavinrel also felt a lot of pressure, but no matter how precious the sample is, sometimes it is inevitable A potentially destructive experiment needs to be carried out. In this regard, Cavinriel can only order the system to be prepared, and if the data of the two souls is damaged, it will immediately perform an emergency freeze and eject.

However, what surprised everyone was that after more than ten node jumps, the souls of these two people were still intact.

"This test is over, return immediately." Following Cavinrel's order, in the soul transfer hall of the emergency medical module, with a flash of blue light, the two empty material bodies regained their intelligence and vitality. .

"We will conduct two more tests. The next test is to check your special ability to that kind of "energy"." In the holographic projection displayed in front of the two of them, Cavinriel still looked calm and calm, but through the network , both Torres and Eskett felt the turmoil in the science officer's heart. Such fluctuations in emotions that were about to break through the threshold of independent logic appeared in scientists of this level, and they couldn't help but let the two take a breath of air; and they had been following the science Calost, who acted with the officer, felt it more clearly. If it weren't for the suppression by the logic component and the personality stabilization plug-in, Cavernrel would have broken through the ceiling long ago.

"General, please authorize me to use the Taloga-class spacecraft you brought with you at that time."

"Please submit justification for authorization."

"According to the federal bill Senior Scientist Security and Protection Act, when qualified scientists need to carry out emergency operations, they should fly at least a Taloga-class or higher-level spacecraft. The current situation is of very high value, and I must report to Vidoville Report to the two consuls, Vesrifan."

"Passed, granted temporary permission." After the authorization process, which seemed to only delay time, Kalost looked at the science officer who was already a little too excited, "Is there anything else that needs to be prepared?"

"Yes, prepare the spaceship for sailing immediately!" The excitement in Cavernelle's eyes was about to shine, "According to the newly obtained information, the key verification phenomena of the unified theory of information have been supplemented by hundreds. Thirty percent, regardless of the results of the next two tests, I must make a substantive report on this, and require the federal science agencies and the Odosil Council to immediately start dealing with the upgrading of scientific theories."

"...I will be ready for everything." Kalost gently patted Cavinrel on the shoulder, turned and left.

Cavinriel calmed himself down. In the medical cabin, the two souls re-integrated with their own bodies. In the process, Cavinriel confirmed that the two souls' body-spirit integration was much faster.

"According to your previous description, Eskett can resonate with the special golden substance in crystallized objects, but cannot completely control these energies, while Torres can touch mutated crystals without feeling discomfort. Is this accurate?"

"Exactly, Science Officer." The two responded in unison.

"Then, the next test is: Eskett, you try to separate the golden substance from the crystal again, and Torres, you try to see if you can control it, pay attention to safety."

"Yes." After the two of them finished speaking, they walked towards the bulkhead where the manipulator stretched out. This part of the bulkhead and the passage cover had previously been crystallized, but the crystals did not penetrate too deep. They looked at the crystals scattered on the ground. Broken pieces, Eskett stretched out a hand to them, and at the same time concentrated her mind, feeling the vague power in her soul and the faint resonance in these broken pieces.

Witnessed by Eskett, Torres, Cavinrel and many monitors, some light golden mist began to gradually precipitate from these crystals, forming a small group of material similar to dust clouds in the air, and began to slowly Floating towards Eskett's hand, the moment he saw this ball of golden energy, Cavinrel felt that his brain's processing speed began to increase. It seemed that there was extremely complex information behind these uncomplicated golden mists. Before the golden substances precipitated, this did not happen to the crystals in which they gathered.

Some equipment began to issue overload alarms, and Cavinrel had to activate some redundant resources to maintain the work of the high-dimensional interface. Over in the medical module, when the golden substance was about to touch Eskett's palm, Torres stretched out his hand. , trying to stop the golden clouds from continuing to move.

He did it.

After Eskett cut off the resonance, the golden substance did not convert the surrounding substances into crystals again, but attached to Torres' palm. However, at this time, Cavinriel suddenly asked a question:

"Esket, you can feel that your soul can resonate with these unknown substances, but your body cannot directly contact it. So how does your soul match your body?"

This question really stumped Eskett. After a short period of contemplation, Eskett raised her head and looked at Cavinrel with a little embarrassment: "I'm sorry, Science Officer, I can't explain my current situation either." I can only give a reasonable explanation for my state, and I can only say that there is no abnormality in the current matching between my body and soul."

"Well, well, I'm just asking." Cavernrel put this question behind him for the time being and began to remotely control the manipulators to replace the test terminals. The emergency medical module can not only be used for medical treatment, but also for all things with the word emergency. Everything can be dealt with appropriately here. Those robots are equipped with a variety of equipment, enough to deal with most emergencies.

What dissatisfied Cavinriel a bit was that these instruments were all low-power, and the observation of golden substances was very resource-intensive. It seemed that it might not be possible to obtain all the results this time.

After forcibly terminating the overload protection, results began to be read out one by one:

"Monitors and optical sensors, as well as visual inspection, can confirm that the material is emitting visible light, but there is no frequency and no photons are detected..."

"Weak gravitational field sensors confirm that these materials have zero mass."

"The comprehensive entropy sensor readings are abnormal, the information entropy index is found to fluctuate extremely strongly near the target, and the physical entropy value reading is zero."

"What the information entropy detector detects is a series of "spatial background probabilities" that are forcibly delineated when the microscopic level cannot be directly observed through the correct means. Theoretically, there is a possibility of fluctuations in this degree..."

Looking at the strange readings in front of him, Cavinrel looked extremely serious, "It seems that in the process of changes in these strange existences, the fluctuations caused by the unknown mutations of these sources cause the uncertainty of information entropy to fluctuate violently... "

"The physical entropy value cannot determine any valid reading... The material in this area is not any material that can be measured in our cognition!"

"The space stabilizer started operating to check the stability index... This substance has not yet been found to have any obvious destructive effects on space of any known type..."

"Wait!" Cavernelle suddenly interrupted the experiment. He suddenly discovered that a tiny "droplet" with an indescribable color suddenly appeared in Torres' palm, floating quietly near Torres' palm, and Under the action of the space stabilizer, such "droplets" are gradually increasing and slowly connecting together. After the space stabilizer goes offline, this process stops at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Comprehensive entropy sensor, detects two entropy values ​​of newly generated substances!" This time, Cavinriel could not care about his own image in the wild. In the holographic projection, the two Torres also saw the scientific officer who could become a dancing man. Actions.

"The reading is completed, the information entropy reading stabilizes and begins to decrease, the physical entropy value begins to appear and slowly rises - the Higgs stability field fluctuates, and the entity mass appears."

"Conduct a material test on the position where physical entropy increases!" Cavinrel's eyes almost burst out of fire.

"...Conducting material inspection, physical phase: gaseous state, element type: hydrogen, but some atomic structures are in an unregistered multi-nucleon state, the amount of matter is increasing - the Higgs field maintenance energy is being consumed, warning, abnormal Material constants, space energy field coordination, and environmental stability maintenance begin..."

"This..." Cavinrel could hardly believe the results in front of him. These results in front of him were also the phenomenon of demand for proof of the unified theory of information!

"Science officer, do you need us to do anything else?" Looking at Cavinriel who seemed to be getting further and further away from this world, Eskett reminded him. He remembered that the science officer needed to conduct three tests, but at present, it seems that Come on, he still has one thing to do.

"The last test needs you to complete it, Eskett." Cavinriel tried his best to suppress his inner restlessness. The impact of these discoveries on him has caused countless restraint systems to reach the overload line. It is foreseeable that , I am afraid that this bomb that has been suppressed by all efforts will explode soon.

"The golden vortex outside is the source of all abnormal phenomena. I will send you the relative coordinates between it and your location. Please try to sense whether the golden vortex can resonate with you like those crystals. I want to confirm." When saying these words, Cavinriel almost gritted his teeth and said each word out, for fear that one word would be missed by Eskett.

Eskett carried out Cavinriel's order, and out of habit, he turned around and faced the direction of the golden vortex. However, when he had just focused a little bit, an extremely huge impact passed directly from his soul to his body, knocking him to the ground.

"...How?" The questioning voice was already trembling.

From that moment of induction, Eskett could confirm that the material of the golden vortex was exactly the same as the pale golden clouds in Torres' hand, but the power of the golden vortex was incomparable. Before the resonance has begun, with just a little bit of sensory exploration, Eskett can feel that what is in front of her is an existence that she cannot understand at all. That feeling is extremely thick and powerful, and it is shocking. The extent is even far greater than the detonation core of a space annihilation bomb that looks directly into space.

"…agreed, Science Officer."

After receiving Eskett's affirmative answer, the science officer finally understood what the essence of the golden vortex was.

Some theories cannot be proven because no corresponding phenomenon can be observed in reality. Just like the ether theory - no matter how huge the scale of the experiment is and how close the accuracy is to the limit, there is still no phenomenon that can prove the existence of ether - although the ether theory eventually collapsed, the experiment-phenomenon correspondence mechanism related to it has remained in history. left deep enough traces.

Now, the Federation has reached a certain height, and the test conducted by Eskett...Cavenriel struggled to maintain his consciousness. He had just figured out that his approach did not seem to comply with the existing rules. No extreme equipment was directly used, and the experimental conditions were not set so finely. The eager actions also made the experiments very fragmented. However, no matter what the means, as long as it can be confirmed that several of the past observation records are not extreme but are from Unobserved phenomena are enough to prove the establishment of the theory.

After recording this last attribute with trembling hands, Cavinrel's consciousness became blurred.