Star Empire

In the void range swept by the crystal energy information wave, a huge unknown object appeared in the void that should have been uniform in the display.

With the help of an auxiliary computer, this inexplicable shadow was quickly marked, the boundary highlighted and enlarged. A new holographic display was activated to host the close-up of this section.

In the zoomed-in image, this pure black unknown existence is shown as a strangely shaped and extremely distorted "polygon".

The pure black color seems to represent the door to the bottomless abyss. However, for the people surrounding the holographic projection, the visual stimulation will no longer bring much shock.

What really frightens them is that the display color of this unknown polygon during information detection is pure black, which means that the owner of this color block - that is, the unknown thing floating in the void can swallow the scanning wave. ——Directly swallow the scanning wave built by crystal energy and completely devour it.

When the Ark Fleet fell into the void, there was only loneliness and silence accompanying the Ark Fleet for a long time - a silent radar screen, a silent environment, like a self-disciplined machine, which had to maintain only a low level when resources were limited. degree communications fleet.

It's not like the empty void has given this fleet loneliness and silence, but rather it seems like the appearance of this fleet has disturbed the original sense of nothingness in the entire environment.

But now, this piece of black that was suddenly noticed made alarm bells ring in everyone's hearts.

"What could this be?" Vidoville looked at Cavinriel seriously, "This kind of symbol... could it be a void spaceship, or something like a fragment of the world?"

"No, or it is basically impossible." Cavernrel immediately denied, "Based on the current void "distance" and the overall amount measured by the information intensity displayed by the target, it is almost impossible to be a The ship is too "huge". No, it's not the volume. The non-response zone is interval-wide. This shows that the original body that caused the darkness itself has a complex, even chaotic order frequency, so that it can cover such a large area. The range. For the spacecraft, this kind of order field is too unstable and the frequency is very chaotic... From our current point of view, it is absolutely unnecessary."

"Can it be traced to its origin?" Vidoville asked.

"It's difficult, Your Excellency." Cavernrel pointed to the bubble that had stopped spreading in the previous holographic projection, "That is the maximum range we can "see" in the void, and it is currently manifested in this weird The nature of the polygonal body is very strange. It can be seen by us simply because there is a darkness under the light that should not exist."

"Cavenriel, can you scan it again?"

"Yes, but we need to wait a moment, Your Excellency. The fleet is now starting the void engine and preparing to move to the next estimated void coordinate. We need to wait until the information shift is completed before we can set the initial coordinates for the new scan."

"I have a bad feeling." Zhai Cahir looked at the twisted black shadow in the holographic projection for a while and then quickly looked away. The blasphemous lines on the back of his neck and wrists seemed to hurt a little at some point.

"Just looking at this strange shadow displayed by holographic projection, I feel a strong sense of uneasiness in my heart, and...inexplicable mania."

"Increase the flow of crystal energy...be prepared to deal with all possibilities. The spacecraft enters the first level alert state, reminding all members to arrive at the nearest stable station immediately and stop moving - ordering all battleship liaison officers and calibrators to appear in the highest accuracy state If there are any deviations or signs of deviations, send a warning immediately!”

Within the hull, all levels of alarm transmission methods operate together. After the preset guidance process is completed to evacuate the free members, all channels inside the spacecraft begin to be gradually blocked in sections.

Hundreds of heavy partition doors were pushed out from the walls of the ship. The multi-layered locking bite mechanism and the crystal energy floating on the armor sealed all actual passages as much as possible. And like blood, the defense system of crystal energy guide rails spread throughout the ship was also set up.

"The fleet structure blockade has been completed simultaneously, waiting for instructions." In a somewhat depressing atmosphere, the proofreaders remained motionless on the huge ring-shaped console surrounding the mathematical rate core.

…

While everyone was waiting, the perpetual clock counted for about an hour. With a slight buzzing sound, the mathematical rate core and four large crystal rails directly under the dome slowly dimmed. The stop of the golden light flow represented the external signal. The output information offset has stopped, and the fleet has reached the next expected void coordinate.

"About an hour, the moving distance this time is not very large." Cavinriel looked at the golden crystal carrier above the newly added void coordinate shunt data connection slot. At this time, there were multiple beating bright light groups in the crystal. . In the interactive light flow, these cores emitting golden light slowly spread out inside the crystal, and the brightness of the crystal increased slightly than before.

"The coordinate recording has been completed, and we are ready to conduct another broadcast scan." Cavinrel ordered.

"Roger, Science Officer, the mathematical rate core is matching the current coordinates and the counter-trend equation required for broadcast." In the emotionless response of the shipboard computer, the partial constraint shell of the mathematical rate core began to change its own movement mode, and a group of Independent golden light streams converge along the crystal rails and their branches at the bow and the broadcast release devices at the upper and lower ends. The light group expanded, merged, and spread, creating another ripple in the void.

In the control hall of Ark No. 1, Cavinriel turned off all the analog display parts of the holographic projection, leaving only the most intuitive visual part. Under the gaze of everyone, the disharmonious shadow appeared again in the translucent bubble expanding in the void.

"This time... it's actually closer than the previous scan showed?" Cavinrel instantly became nervous, "That object is "moving" in the same direction as us in the void, and its speed is faster than our sailing speed. .”

"I don't like it. That weird shadow gives me a weird feeling." Zhai Cahir seemed to have made up his mind and glanced at the shadow shrouded by the bubbles, but after just one glance, he quickly changed his The sight was withdrawn from there.

"Zhai Cahir, did you see anything?" Weisruifan was worried and a little curious at the same time. "Ever since you discovered the unknown object, your state has not been normal."

"No, I can't see any direct information from this holographic display. After all, this is just a projection simulated after a lot of disassembly and model translation, and there is a void environment between it and the actual object. If there is no feedback from the crystal energy information wave, we will actually discover an unnatural black barrier area just because of the lack of signal, but we have no way of knowing what that black barrier area is - at least for now."

"But... is there anything that can directly swallow the scanning wave composed of dissolving crystal energy... and I don't know why, it doesn't give me a good feeling..." After staring at the black pattern that was briefly frozen, After a while, Vidoville decisively withdrew his attention.

"But I have a guess... that... there may be... a continuation of the previous disaster." Cavernril's face turned a little pale. "Although there are only speculations...but the records saved by General Caloust once showed that...at that time, when the cosmic radar array was scanning the disaster coverage area...it was all blind spots."

"This..." Vidoville suddenly recalled the federal citizens who were constantly twisting and mutating in collapse and madness before the long wall was blocked, and recalled the few cracks captured in the long wall of the warped world - that It looked like eyes full of malice, recalling at the same time the indescribable disaster when the Ark evacuated the universe, the boiling and out-of-control crystal energy vortex, and the zero-point vacuum wave of pure energy that could annihilate everything. Together they form a final starry sky scene that reveals a sense of madness, distortion and grandeur.

"It has been ensured that the Ark fleet is in a high alert state, personnel restraints have been completed, and all non-permitted transmissions are locked...Cavenriel, and Kalost, significantly changed the Ark's course and enhanced the output of the power furnace to conduct a non-directional long-distance High-speed void deflection! Let's try to avoid it!" Vidoville synchronized the order to Cavinriel beside him and Kalost who was monitoring the power cabin section, and received feedback quickly.

Behind Vidoville, the mathematical rate core flashed again, and the light was brighter than the load state after increasing the power several times before. Its shell also expanded slightly outward to suppress the boiling high-frequency crystal energy in the central area. A pure mathematical rate environment of non-material states transformed by slight decay.

"This message is broadcast to everyone in the fleet. The fleet is about to carry out a large-scale "orbit change" operation. This time it is a virtual point jump. All movable equipment is automatically locked. All members are asked to be prepared for impact. The relevant information anchor has been activated. , please be prepared. This broadcast will be repeated in one minute, and the command jump will begin in five minutes."

The emotionless synthetic voice of the shipboard AI once again echoed in everyone's mind. At the same time, Vidoville discovered that everyone's waist, including himself, was connected to an information transmission guide rail. golden locks, and the feet are wrapped by a layer of halo that seems to have substance. Victorville tried to move but found that his body seemed to have solidified and was fixed here, and he could no longer move an inch.

"Cavenriel, this link blocking measure..."

"It will only be used in the most urgent circumstances - it takes effect safely by directly binding the entire information body - its shape can even be determined arbitrarily! As long as there is no problem with the binding equation, then the method It doesn’t matter what shape it is!”

"The compensatory information correction connections of the members have been completed, the mathematical rate core has enhanced the overall coordination control, and the spacecraft has begun to move."

As soon as he finished speaking, Vidoville felt that his body seemed to be swept by an invisible force. This force seemed to transcend the limitations of time and space, at all times, in all directions, and even in the body at the same time. He was tearing himself apart from his body and soul, but with the flash of the lock, this strange feeling was soon relieved by most of it.

Soon, the spacecraft began to tilt, and bursts of tooth-grinding sharp sounds and heart-stopping rumblings came from deep in the floor of the control hall, echoing under the dome, as if there were ten thousand thunders and two thunderbolts at the same time. Thousands of pieces of foam plastic were being rubbed violently together, making a loud noise that lasted for a long time.

Such an unstable jump is a theoretically unstable method of void navigation, and Vidoville and others have no choice but to use it here. The actual effect of this type of jump is that it does not perform any target-directed jump, but only Suppress a sufficiently large wave of simulated distortion, and then let the instantaneously changing representation of the order field drive the fleet to fly. As for where it will fly, it can only be left to fate. At the same time, this way of sailing actually consumes the spacecraft quite a lot. Calculation resources and information body carrying capacity are both limited.

…

After an excruciating seventy-two hours, the annoying noises and the uncomfortable feeling that seemed to tear me apart from the plane of existence finally gradually faded away. As the attitude of the spacecraft slowly corrected, everything finally returned to normal, or "normal".

"..."

After the shipboard AI lifted the lock-like security measures, Vidoville was so disoriented that he couldn't tell the difference between the floor and the ceiling. Looking around, except for himself, it seemed that Ikarim and Vesrifan's They were in pretty good condition, but Cavinriel and the others, including the operators on duty, were almost all swaying on the ground or on the operating chairs. From a distance, you might think that their bones had been removed.

"Caven... Riel, please explain, this is just a semi-virtual point, is the stability so bad?" Another wave of dizziness hit, and Vidoville was very sure that his head was 30 million years ago. There would be no physical problems, and there could only be one explanation for the dizziness: problems at the soul level.

"Uh...AI, help me first." With the help of several streams of light, Cavinriel stood up with difficulty and shook his head vigorously.

"We have just adopted a navigation mode that consumes more energy but can carry out high-speed and long-distance navigation. The main task of the mathematical rate core...the main task is to correct the information representation of the spacecraft. In such a state, as an independent The soul is an aggregate of additional information that cannot be viewed as a whole with the spacecraft, that is, we..."

"Virtual point jump...Theoretically, it is impossible to obtain enough information offset from the regular environment as usual. This is the current lack of our technology. Therefore, we need additional compensation corrections, the Archon, and the waist information ring The buckle is to increase our overall stability - it's all continuation of ergonomics, actually - it's all fine, but the equipment looks a bit strange now, but it's good if it works, after all..."

After trying to survive a moment of dizziness, Cavinrel remembered that this was just a little bit of biological feeling that was left in order to comply with federal law and the biological parts must be preserved. A long time ago, he no longer needed to absorb resources from the outside like ordinary creatures.

After confirming that he was indeed alive and well, Cavinrel tried hard to adjust his posture to be more dignified, and continued to explain to Vidoville as if he was squeezing out toothpaste:

"The discomfort you just felt is caused by the inability of your own overall information to produce corresponding deviations in time. This discomfort is caused by the inability of the entire information body to keep up with the deviation, or the danger is that the information body Disintegration comes from all directions and all levels, from body to soul, to memory and history, etc... This is the current situation - our observation records are limited, and we must first ensure the corresponding results."

"So, we need to make compensation corrections. You, Sir Weisrifan, Ikarim, and almost all non-old military members. Your souls have not yet undergone the most advanced crystal energy fusion. I personally have not It is not recommended to always perform such an operation, otherwise we may accumulate a lot of expression anomalies ourselves. When the amount of soul information is small, this discomfort will be lighter, and we will..."

"You guys need to rest for now." Vidoville watched as AI helped up the other people who were lying on the ground one by one, while he went to greet Vesrifan and Ikarim.

"Ikarim, please make another broadcast to see if our "void maneuver" has left the path of the unknown object." Vidoville set up Vesrifan and Ikarim and rushed to make arrangements. The next task.

"Understood... I understand, I will execute it immediately." Icarim struggled to activate the input terminal of the mathematical rate core, calibrate the coordinates, and compile the equations. The light of crystal energy disappeared at the boundary between order and chaos, and once again provided support for the fleet in the void. Broaden your horizons.

In the void, the pale golden bubble containing the light of crystal energy expands again. The high-frequency crystal energy stored inside the information body when the information is combined supports the "order field" of the information itself, while the remaining parts are faithful to You have to execute the command of the counter-trend equation and constantly push yourself away from the initial coordinates.

Information drifts in the void, constantly changing its own coordinates. Wherever it passes, there is only a faint golden light in the "field of vision", and beyond the golden light, there is an ultimate dark realm without any order or law. .

——Theoretically this should be the case.

During the expansion process of the cavitation bubble, part of the information group crashed into a huge twisted unknown object. At the moment of contact, the high-frequency crystal energy of the information wave itself flashed instantly, and the ever-increasing golden light flow surged through the unknown object. The black tide competed with the black and red patterns, but this was only a temporary brilliance. After the crystal energy of the information wave covering this area was exhausted, the entire set of information quickly disappeared into the sea of ​​chaos.

…

"Your Excellency, the unknown objects still exist, and... they are still getting closer to us!" Looking at the huge black projection in the bubble, Icarim also felt a sense of fear in his heart, and a heart palpitating without a source quickly appeared in his heart. A "low temperature zone" formed in his chest, causing his calmness and rationality to evaporate quickly like a comet above the equator of a star.

"What?" Before Vidoville could react, Cavenriel and Zhai Cahir endured the discomfort from the depths of their souls and climbed to the vicinity of the Mathematical Rate Core. When they saw the man who was constantly getting closer to the fleet, After the distance between them was no longer a shadow in the entire bubble, but a dark "projection" that was enough to blind the field of vision of the crystal energy detection wave, I felt another throbbing in my heart.

When Zhai Cahir once again tried hard to see the unknown twisted patch, a heartbreaking tingling sensation hit him from his right hand and the back of his neck. The moment he subconsciously covered the back of his neck, he I remembered what it was.

"That is indeed pollution! The pollution phenomenon of unknown origin that destroyed our universe!" Zhai Cahir gritted his teeth and gathered purple arcane energy on the back of his neck, using the burning of these purple illusory flames to relieve himself. The pain at the old scar, "I asked why not only the crystal energy ripples can only be seen in the blind spot, but even when I look at it, my own will begins to loosen, Ikarim...confirm again!"

"Yes Yes!"

This time, after the crystal energy scanning wave completed the synchronous entanglement of information and sent it out, the image displayed by the holographic information projection experienced a huge fluctuation. The originally extremely accurate projection interactive interface flashed, and dense white noise specks seemed to be passing through the storm. Generally raging on the constantly distorting golden window, Ikarim had to inject more crystal energy into the mathematical rate core to enhance the anti-interference ability. After the image finally stabilized, it was not just used to detect new information release methods. View” section, even the old navigation system that is still running captures some information.

It seems that the information feedback generated by the black shadow body is somewhat familiar, as if it is a fragment of the world.