Star Empire

...It is said——

The void has no boundaries.

According to some ancient theories, the void is endless and supreme. It is the source of everything and everything, past, present and future, existence and non-existence, all describeable and indescribable things, in this boundless ocean. , the universe is like bubbles floating in the waves.

For the void, the universe is small. No matter how huge the world of order is inside the world barrier, no matter how magnificent the birth and destruction of the universe is, it is just a frequency, or it may be the birth and destruction of a point. Just disappear.

However, for a civilization living in a world of order, the barrier built by that weak frequency is the strongest barrier to survival.

…

After confirming that the Fleet Order Field was completely separated from the world barrier, all remaining senior members of the federal government held a brief meeting and quickly made a decision: to change the era number and change the origin era to exile. Chronology.

The change in the name of the era not only clarifies the current civilization situation. The original home universe of the Star Federation can no longer survive. Now the remaining star civilization is drifting in the void in the form of an ark fleet, looking for a new home.

On the one hand, this is an attitude decision - our homeland has been destroyed, and we should not be too nostalgic about it anyway. The origin of the Star Civilization may not be as sacred as imagined.

On the other hand, resetting the era number also means that the Ark Fleet has been "out of touch" with the time in the original ordered universe. This needs to be made clear to everyone.

According to the updated information unified theory system, "time" is redefined as a vector whose speed and length can be determined by the speed and total amount of changes in information according to its trend. The "ideal content" fabricated by oneself to understand the world has become a real conceptual quantity. In other words, if the speed and degree of the overall evolution of the information aggregate are added or subtracted, then it can be regarded as controlling time.

In the home universe, the entire federation relies on three perpetual motion clocks placed in the deep space of the universe and made of information computer perturbation materials to cooperate with the information collection network to measure and calibrate time.

After the crystal energy vortex incident, further research from the perspective of information and information found that perpetual clocks are not only accurate watches, but under the influence of trace amounts of arcane energy in the information collection network, they are indeed moving. To a certain extent, the time of the Star Federation is restricted outside all inertial reference systems.

The clock slowdown effect that should have existed near massive celestial bodies did not interfere with the timers of space facilities anchored nearby. These sporadic phenomena that were finally noticed are the best proof of the above point of view.

It seems that when the two consuls left the warp space bubble to accept the question from the Odosil Council, a huge information fluctuation broke out in the crystal energy vortex in the blockade area, which caused the changes that were originally cut off from the main network. The weak perpetual clock is no longer able to provide time constraints for federal objects, and has to be reduced to an accurate watch again. After the invention of the mathematical rate device, under the expansion of artificial influence, it once again had the function of constraining time for the fleet to a certain extent.

During the first manned void navigation test, the role of a large number of consoles and operators in the control hall was to use the void information array to communicate with the spacecraft, and to manually calibrate various parameters so that the spacecraft could communicate with the home universe. Get to know docking.

Even if communication is temporarily obscured by information clutter in the void, the connection between the spacecraft and the void array is still maintained to an unexpected extent. This has been confirmed by Captain Albeck. This should also be the case. Although the spacecraft crossed the void, it was still able to connect normally with the original universe.

But now, this void fleet no longer has the basic point to calibrate with the original universe. According to the current theories and logical judgments of the Star Civilization, after breaking away from the world barrier, even with the protection of the order field, they have truly entered the area "outside of time". The fleet follows the time set by itself.

…

In the control hall of Ark No. 1, Vidoville was standing in front of the mathematical rate core emitting golden light and staring up, but now, his attention was not on this big golden ball with a strange spherical shell. But on the ceiling.

In the middle of the dome, corresponding to the mathematical rate core, a large crystal is floating slightly in a complex constraint array, and under the bright lights around it, it emits an ultra-high sound that cannot be captured by any vision. frequency fluctuation.

This is the remaining eternal clock in the third hexagram blockade. Now, with the auxiliary calculation of the mathematical rate core and the blessing of the order field power, it is the ruler of the entire fleet's time constraints and regulations.

"Zhai Cahir, Cavinriel, you two come here." Vidoville suddenly stopped the two chief scientists who had just completed routine inspections and were about to return to the standby position, "...can you use a more vivid expression? Used to describe the world of order, tell us about the current navigation situation of the Ark fleet?"

"Your Majesty the Consul, this...well, let me first explain the "speed" and "course" of the current fleet." Cavernrel organized his words slightly, "After the manned void exploration spacecraft returns, we Based on the data it brought back, the information difference between the two universe world barriers was analyzed, and based on this theoretical basis, the active void engine was further developed. Now, the information offset of the fleet is expanding the information difference just mentioned. In terms of physical coordinates, we are sailing along the extension line connecting the target universe and the home universe reached by the first void voyage."

"Regarding this part of the issue, Isendel and I conducted considerable arguments, and also used a considerable amount of calculation resources to conduct related model matching." Zhai Cahill took over the topic:

"After we left the blockade until now, I used the information perspective to examine this series of events during this period. The sudden collapse of the target universe and the unknown disaster that befell our universe are connected to a certain extent. Specifically, It seems that the disaster in our universe... may have "spread" along some path. Although the fact that the void exploration ship did not find any abnormal phenomena after landing in the target universe may seem inconsistent with the current conclusion, from the information connection Judging from the existence, there is no problem with the conclusion.”

After a brief pause, Zhai Cahill continued his speech: "Although I can't see clearly what happened, based on the amount of information released so far, I can confirm that this weird incident is by no means limited to Two universes... So if there is a chance, in the short term, it is best not to land in the nearby universe rashly, but to stay as far away as possible." Zhai Cahir's expression became a little strange when he said this, " Actually…we don’t need to care much about this part…”

"?! So, what is the distribution of the universe near us?" Vidoville asked.

"There was only chaotic clutter in the "direction" of the target universe, while in other "directions" there was almost absolute silence. Relatively stable information fluctuations had been captured, but that was near the world barrier. When the ultra-large void monitoring array was fully extracting the energy from the crystal energy vortex, the equipment was turned on to the extreme power. Now our detection capabilities have dropped significantly. The energy consumption of the system is too huge and has been damaged... Even though We still have them with us, and even if those devices were still fully functional, the current fleet wouldn't be able to provide enough power for them."

"So, our sailing area is very deserted?" Vidoville put his right hand on his chin, thinking about the current situation, "...This is forcing us to continue to make progress in such an extremely tense environment... …What is our ‘speed’?”

"Uh... if that's the case... Cavenriel, please answer it." Zhai Cahir poked the science officer next to him and retreated behind him.

"This... Well, Lord Victorville, let me tell you straight." Cavernelle looked helpless, "In the previous void exploration plan, the target universe and the home universe were almost close to each other. , according to the standard time we are still following in the order field, it will take us a week to complete the voyage that can be completed in "a few hours"."

"What?" Vidoville's brows instantly knitted together, "So slow?"

"...Our current technology is limited." Looking at the Archon in front of him, Cavinriel could only shake his head helplessly: "The former passive void engine could only rely on feedback information from the target world to adjust the information offset. Get closer to the target and make more precise corrections during the approach..."

"Then what?!"

"This approach is the same as the space resonance wave generator hub we once created in the universe, which is to let the destination provide power to "pull" the vehicle over. During that voyage, the two universes were so close that they almost touched each other. Together, since the "distance" is small, the feedback provided by the world as a destination can provide enough traction changes, no problem."

"But now, I'm afraid that we have the kind of ultra-large-scale array that was once placed on the world barrier, and we can no longer receive useful information feedback waves. This also shows that even the nearest other universes are quite far away from us. Distance. In this case, the passive void engine can be said to be useless - the relationship between our current mathematical rate core calculation level and the void jumping process... is very contradictory."

"Oh, okay, I understand." Vidoville shrugged and let out a long sigh, "Anyway, your results have saved our civilization without causing major interference to the operation of the entire ship. Under the circumstances, I hope you can spare your energy and continue to study solutions to the problems we face."

"Your Majesty, I can only... now advise you, and everyone we can take care of, to remember as much as possible what we still have... This is the only thing we can comfort ourselves with now... at least, We have completed the analysis of most of the information structure of our past world, and have technology that can solidify information and let it decay to produce the daily creations we need... The most important thing is... at least we are alive now... even if I don’t understand…”

…

For now, it seems that he is just alive.

…

"Alas..." Vidoville waved his hand gently and asked the two science officers to return to the standby position. He walked slowly along the golden crystal rails extending out from the floor to the console. This part corresponds to It is the mechanical coordination module of the fleet. Above the console, seventeen non-interfering projection screens are floating quietly. In each screen, there is a set of three views of the rotating spacecraft, as well as a large number of beating curves.

Seeing the arrival of the Archon, the operator in charge of this part was about to respond, but Vidoville reached out and gently pressed his shoulder to stop him. After pressing a button, a group of golden light began to appear out of thin air in the space and soon floated on the palm of Victorville's right hand. The light began to condense and soon transformed into a hologram composed of flowing light. .

"Vidoville? What's the matter?" The holographic projection of Vesrifan stood in the palm of Vidoville's right hand and asked as he looked at the "giant" in front of him.

"All ships in the entire fleet are in good condition now. What about the citizens? How is their condition?"

"I can only say that it's okay." Weisruifan replied expressionlessly, "According to the original expected situation, there is no problem with our actions at present, but after we make a series of decisions about the unified theory of information, After the decision was made, more and more things began to deviate from the original track, and I can’t explain why..."

"So far, we are under a brand-new environmental framework, which completely transcends the framework of any original theoretical module, so most people now are actually dominated by sensibility. But in any case, in the past years, rational thinking The module has still had a certain good impact on them, and they have been in the time distortion for more than two thousand years during the adaptation period, so the current situation is relatively stable. And now it seems that we still need to thank the former Federation One thing that civilization has given us is the intensity of life… I hope it still works.”

"Huh?" Vidoville raised his eyebrows slightly, "Why is this statement?"

"Because we have such a lifespan, we don't need to reproduce frequently. The entire civilization is currently living on this small ark fleet, and all our supplies will be completely cut off... It can only be said that the core of mathematical rate is A great invention, its existence can provide us with enough materials to survive - maybe you haven't felt it yet, but as time goes by, various problems will soon arise after leaving the entire federation. With a huge resource base, A radical break and disintegration would fundamentally change us..."

"At least for now, not having to reproduce offspring can not only save resources and maintain the strength of civilization, but more importantly, we can carry out and continue civilization. No matter how narrow the Ark is, how many individuals it accommodates can piece together what the Federation once did. fractals... they will not disappear as long as we survive."

Vidoville nodded and prepared to cut off the communication, but at this moment, the consciousness in the holographic projection suddenly experienced some strange changes: "Sorry... can you please come over... Oh, don't let more people know. …”

"Huh? Oh okay..."

…

In appearance, the seventeen Arks are almost identical. The huge thruster array at the stern and the arc shell like an elongated seed form the overall shape of the spacecraft. However, the internal structure of Ark No. 1 is still different compared to other Arks. It is different. Apart from the different redundant arrangements of some secondary compartments, the most important difference is that there is a corresponding "Bridge No. 2" "below" the No. 1 bridge. This is the current Ark Fleet. In other words, the location of the non-military information exchange center of Xingming Civilization is managed by Weiss Ruifan.

When the door to the control hall of the second bridge opened, what greeted Vidoville's eyes was a huge number of holographic screens. These screens were constantly refreshing. Many screens were just generated and were pushed to the back by subsequent screens. Obviously, the management now The energy required by hundreds of millions of people is much greater than maintaining the normal operation of these seventeen spaceships.

However, what surprised Vidoville was that there was no one in the huge control hall, and all the operators seemed to have evaporated in an instant.

"Weisrifan, you...?" Before he finished speaking, Victorville suddenly felt himself being lightly knocked. In his field of vision, his long golden hair spread out like running water. In his arms, a delicate body was sobbing softly.

"Oh... don't talk... just stay like this for a while, it'll be fine..." Weisrifan's voice was filled with tears. It was obvious that even now, she was still suppressing her emotional fluctuations. Vidoville kept the girl close to his arms, while he put one hand around Vesrifan's waist and the other hand gently patted the girl's back - in fact, he was also a little surprised.

Crying and...maybe called childishness, these elements have not disappeared completely, but looking at the person in front of me who dares to stand up to the quarantine zone when the main world of the Federation has collapsed and the building has collapsed. The powerful Archon who explained the situation to the survivors and arranged for them to board the ship... At this time, he lost all his energy and composure...

At the same time, under the influence of crystal energy, part of Vidoville's attention was diverted from the real world to soul perception. In this sense beyond physical contact, Vidoville felt the soul level of the girl in his arms. Fluctuating, in the brief soul resonance, Vidoville understood everything.

"Lil, are you...scared?" Vidoville asked softly in the girl's ear in an extremely gentle voice.

There was no answer, but now the two were hugging each other tightly, and Vidoville felt the girl nod slightly.

"Seriously, the current situation really exceeds all expectations. It's amazing that you can persist until now... I'm sorry that I can't do more."

Vidovel gently stroked Weisrifan's back, "It doesn't matter, including all the current Ark captains, the existing federal high-level officials, and me. Faced with such a situation, everyone will be afraid, but they can be afraid, we No, because we still need to be at the helm to keep this small fleet from being capsized by the waves of the void."

…

In the vast universe, billions of years of numbness have mechanized the federal top management agencies. For countless years, repetitive and meaningless events... have been repeated too many times in the diary - for such a long time, the rational thinking module adopted in order to maintain the understanding of reality as much as possible has long been chopped off everyone's , more active active thinking in a spontaneous nature, not to mention some more terrifying speculation that Vidoville can feel:

It may not be natural in the home world, and there may be something that may subtly affect everything in the entire civilization. The level of influence transcends everything, and any protection is undefended against such prying eyes, or even tampering. After hundreds of millions of years of life, consciousness and thought, how much of the true level of existence and development is left after all disguises are stripped away? What kind of existence should they originally be... Whose will do they exist as the basis for their existence?

After this thing had distorted its mind, actions, and understanding to an unknown level, a beam of crystal energy light from outside the world disintegrated the entanglement of the black thread. After all the seemingly absent interference faded away, The entire civilization may have truly become a child at some levels - outside of the fixed rules and regulations, the huge federal fleet is even difficult to mobilize in the face of huge changes...

Perhaps there is no problem with the system of the past being used to maintain civilization under the influence and suppression of certain possible existences, but... when the layers of fog are finally peeled away, I am afraid that many of the contents have turned into a laughing stock.

From now on, there is no stable conclusion as to where civilization will go and whether it can find the path lit by stars.

It took the Federation more than two thousand years to finally have the strength to try to contact the void while being disconnected from the main world. However, the reality was even cruel enough to kill Xingming, who had only half-stepped into the preschool, with just one kick. The Federation kicked out the world of order. Outside the world of order, there is endless darkness, probability shocks, and the knowable and unknowable.

Although the concept of void has long been mentioned by pioneers in civilization, only when civilization really enters the void can this faint light really feel a little bit of the surface - to use all your wisdom to guess the original model, Use your own narrow vision to try to understand how powerful this infinitely vast and infinitely dark ocean of probability really is.

All experiences and memories will probably continue to lose their effect - a small abnormal fluctuation in the world that deviates from the original world rules can drive the entire federation crazy, and now it's even completely reversed - Ark The little area where it is located can barely maintain the existing order. Outside the powerless order field, there is darkness and silence at the final level that is no longer comprehensible.

…

Does the Federation really have the ability to face all the unknown things in this endless ocean, as well as the future that may be absurd, unexplainable and unverifiable but may have been doomed?

And if you narrow your vision and look at yourself and the people around you who have the ability to preside over the whole...

To a certain extent, including myself, everyone who can lead the crystal energy research plan is a pioneer. What pioneers need is not only various basic mathematical modeling abilities and mapping construction abilities, they also need What is important is the ability to look at the issues of the new era with an independent attitude, and at the same time...perhaps it is novel and firm ideas that still have the ability to maintain calmness and comprehensive thinking after the collapse of the worldview.

Vidoville and Vesrifan don't know what the situation is like on other levels, but as far as they know the federation logs...

The higher the level of civilization develops, the harder it is for pioneers to appear and the more lonely they become. In the last few leaps, it is even difficult to form a team around the pioneers that can resonate with thinking. The large groups of modelers and screeners... are actually just It's just the resources in the calculation array.

It took hundreds of millions of years for the Federation to make all individuals in the whole relatively equal to the changes that occurred after the last explosive jump.

this time……

"Perhaps, I still have a few pioneers formed by individuals around me who either know someone, or were forced to come in due to circumstances..."

"For tens of billions of years, maybe even forever, it will never be equaled again. Over a long period of time... the entire civilization may even be equated to a certain extent with just a few of us..."

Feeling the girl burying her body deeply in his arms, and her thoughts suppressing her thoughts as much as possible, in this quiet little isolation area, the confusion that she had not faced for countless years was like a blowout.

…

What should I do? What should I think? How should I face different environments? What is right and what is wrong? Should the will I generate in different environments last? In the unknown attitude and undecided In this situation, what attitude do you need to face everything? And how to determine whether the attitude is reasonable? Does everything you see and think about must be consistent with the truth...

Clusters of violently fluctuating thoughts emanated from the two people's thinking organs. However, neither of them noticed that after these unstable thought fluctuations flowed through, the solid and shining crystal energy armor plates seemed to be covered. A shadow.

In the void, a small ship of order is struggling to break through the waves of virtual chaos and continue to move forward.