Chapter 915: The Receding Quasar |
Each transport instrument was equivalent to a point. The lines connecting these nearly one hundred billion points together formed a dense, enormous net that completely enveloped this violent quasar, whose diameter was nearly one light-day. In Xiao Yu’s simulation equipment, the image of this quasar had turned into something like a gigantic cocoon.
These nearly one hundred billion points would act together, ultimately completely separating this enormous quasar from the visible universe, sending it into curvature space, and then pushing it forward within curvature space, away from where Xiao Yu was located.
“Star stream flow monitoring normal… an outer star stream will deliver a dwarf planet with lunar-level mass in thirty seconds. Based on the gravitational influence of this celestial body, the quasar transport instruments will make fine adjustments… quasar energy eruption frequency normal. The next energy eruption is expected in twenty-one seconds. The quasar transport instruments will make the following fine adjustments…”
Each transport instrument had tens of millions of miniature propulsion devices on it. These tens of millions of miniature propulsion devices were responsible for adjusting each individual transport instrument, while the nearly one hundred billion transport instruments together formed this enormous network system.
Because of the immense gravitational influence, this quasar and the accretion disk around it, though bright, had always remained in a blurry state where no details could be distinguished. Now, after these quasar transport instruments were activated, that blurriness intensified even further. In Xiao Yu’s optical observation instruments, this enormous quasar began to flicker continuously, like a star viewed through an atmosphere, and the flickering frequency was extremely high.
A high-intensity light source flickering at an extremely high frequency was an enormous burden for optical instruments. Just like stones in a desert eventually crack into rubble and form a stony wasteland because of the huge temperature difference between day and night, fluctuations in brightness could also inflict this kind of damage on optical instruments. In that instant, at least several hundred thousand of Xiao Yu’s optical instruments were damaged.
However, Xiao Yu had already anticipated this and had prepared a comprehensive response strategy. High-performance light-shielding films, adjusted by his enormous computational power, also began appearing and withdrawing at extremely high frequencies, doing everything possible to resist the damage these brightness fluctuations caused to the instruments. Even with several hundred thousand optical observation instruments damaged, there were still at least several hundred times that number continuing to operate normally.
This extremely high-frequency flickering of the light source was caused by changes in space. Its mass was too great. Even though Xiao Yu had manufactured nearly one hundred billion transport instruments, there was no way he could move it into curvature space in a single step. He could only achieve this goal through repeated attempts like this and through coordinated cooperation in tiny regions of space.
After roughly thirty seconds of this high-frequency flickering, the flickering frequency began to decrease, and the intervals between flickers grew longer and longer. After it appeared and disappeared one more time, it completely vanished from this region of the universe. And having lost its gravitational influence, this region of space also began rapidly returning to normal.
Aside from those two rapidly receding jets, what appeared before Xiao Yu was a deep darkness. The essence of gravity was in fact the curvature of space. After the quasar was moved into curvature space, its gravity was already cut off and could no longer be transmitted into the normal universe. And since the propagation of gravity could not exceed light speed, the distant companion galaxy, as well as the star stream, could not yet feel the effects of this enormous quasar’s sudden disappearance. So at this moment, such a bizarre scene arose.
The vast star stream was still rolling in. The infinite matter contained within it had originally been meant to gather into the enormous accretion disk under the influence of the quasar’s gravity. But now the quasar had suddenly disappeared. Because they were close enough, they sensed this gravitational change in an extremely short time. Having lost gravitational acceleration, they immediately began moving according to their own inertia. If they had previously been orbiting the accretion disk along nearly circular trajectories, then at the instant they sensed gravity vanish, they would fly off along the tangents to their orbits and begin uniform straight-line motion.
The huge star stream thus broke apart in all directions. The star stream was like a rushing river, but upon arriving here, it was as if it had flowed into the sea. It would no longer be affected by the gravity of any other celestial body. Here, it would become free.
“If I move the quasar far enough away, then after losing the influence of the quasar’s gravity, the mutual gravitation between these bodies themselves will gain the upper hand. I estimate they will eventually condense by themselves and form a miniature galaxy here. If there is enough interstellar dust, stars will also be born here, and life may eventually evolve there as well.”
The evolution of celestial bodies in the universe was just this wondrous. The quasar had already disappeared from the visible universe, the star stream had already scattered, and yet Xiao Yu’s attention remained fixed upon those nearly one hundred billion transport instruments.
The real-time communication equipment was reporting the conditions within curvature space in detail. Curvature space was like a spherical membrane. Inside this enormous membrane, normal space still remained. So the quasar’s operations would not be affected by this. It still had its rapidly rotating accretion disk, and from its poles, jets of extremely high energy were still being emitted.
This quasar had already been moved by Xiao Yu into curvature space, so naturally those two jets could not directly extend from curvature space into the visible universe. In fact, if that were to happen, it would mean Xiao Yu’s transport operation had completely failed. At that point, violent spacetime turbulence would trigger unpredictable consequences, and the entire quasar might even collapse. Xiao Yu, hiding nearby, would also have no hope of escaping.
To deal with those two high-energy jets, Xiao Yu had really put in considerable effort. Here, he created an extremely tough spatial maze model, using transformations of space to wear down the energy of these two high-energy jets. After their energy was exhausted, those materials would be scattered back into the quasar’s accretion disk. This process was like a powerful water pump in Earth’s era continually pumping water to a high place, and then at high altitude the water would turn into rain and fall back down.
Through Xiao Yu’s methods, this quasar had temporarily become an internal circulation system. No external matter replenished it, nor did any of its own matter escape into outer space.
Xiao Yu’s fleet remained where it was, quietly waiting there. The energy of a quasar was simply too immense. Even with nearly one hundred billion transport instruments sharing the burden, those instruments could not possibly endure for too long. The transport distance Xiao Yu had planned was two light years. This distance already exceeded the previously measured maximum escape distance between himself and the quasar, which had been 0.8 light years.
Up to now, under the effect of Xiao Yu’s transport instruments, this quasar had already been moved 0.1 light year. Since it could be moved at all, that meant Xiao Yu’s transport plan was already half successful. From here on, he simply needed to keep it going.
The transport instruments Xiao Yu had created with immense effort withstood the test of the harsh environment. Although their transport speed was extremely slow, less than one hundred times light speed, they continued operating steadily. Occasionally, a transport instrument would be damaged because it could not bear the tremendous pressure, but before it fully lost working capability, Xiao Yu would smoothly replace it with a reserve instrument, so that the precision of the entire system would not be affected.
The transport distance gradually increased, from 0.1 light year to 0.2 light year, then kept increasing, all the way until it reached 0.79 light year.
The maximum separation distance Xiao Yu had previously measured was 0.8 light year. In earlier experiments, no matter what method Xiao Yu used, the moment his fleet exceeded a distance of 0.8 light year, its direction of travel would be reversed, ultimately causing it to approach the quasar. And now, this quasar moving away from Xiao Yu was about to reach that same limit of 0.8 light year.
In less than an hour, the threshold that would determine whether Xiao Yu’s hundreds of years of work had all been for nothing would arrive. Xiao Yu’s mind could not help but tighten. In such a situation, there was no way Xiao Yu could avoid being nervous. For this plan, Xiao Yu had already spent more than three hundred years. If it failed again, Xiao Yu truly did not know what method he could try next.
The limit slowly drew closer, and Xiao Yu’s mind tightened along with the readout on the instruments. The reading changed bit by bit, getting closer and closer to the value of 0.8.
“0.79… 0.793… 0.796… 0.799… 0.82… huh.”
The reading on the instrument had finally exceeded 0.8. And Xiao Yu did not detect any change in his own position at all. He was still safely staying where he was. The reversal rule had not taken effect again here.
“I finally succeeded…” Xiao Yu murmured.