Chapter 968: An Uncrossable Distance |
Waiting for rescue, for the current Divine Ark and Pegasus Civilization, was the only method left. But everyone’s hearts were heavy, because how long they would have to wait, and whether they could truly wait until rescue arrived after this long wait, were both unknown. The future was completely unclear.
Because the wavelengths of light and radiation entering the black hole would be stretched by gravity, all attached information would be lost. Therefore, Ares and Nordin could not detect anything happening outside. But the strange thing about the situation was that inside this soap bubble, Ares had actually discovered a somewhat inexplicable instrument. According to the inspection and judgment of the Central Research Academy of Science, they speculated that this might be a device capable of sending information to the outside of the black hole. Of course, this was only speculation. The truth was temporarily impossible to determine. But this was at least a sliver of hope, so Ares specifically arranged people to look after this instrument, continuously sending out distress messages through it, though they did not know whether anyone received them or not.
The current situation was still under strict lockdown. Most ordinary civilians did not know what exactly had happened at this moment, nor did they understand their own current situation very well. The upper levels of the civilization all knew about this matter. Almost every person who knew the current situation was deeply worried, except for those madmen in the Central Research Academy of Science.
Ares and Nordin used the word madmen to describe that group of fanatical scientists. After learning that they might already be inside a black hole at this moment, that group of mad scientists not only felt no worry about their own fate, but instead studied the situation outside the soap bubble every day with great enthusiasm through all kinds of strange and bizarre instruments. They said, “To be able to obtain the opportunity to study the internal situation of a black hole, what does it matter even if we pay with our lives?”
Under the support of this mentality, more and more technological data, and more and more strange phenomena, were discovered by them. For the time being, regardless of whether these phenomena could be explained or not, the data concerning these phenomena were all recorded in detail.
“A black hole has, without a doubt, already touched upon the origin of this universe. As long as we thoroughly study black holes, we can comprehensively and thoroughly understand this universe. Space is the carrier for all kinds of changes in all matter and energy, and it is also the carrier of the Rules followed within the universe. But the strange space inside a black hole has already separated Rules and space. The space here is pure, and Rules stand above space, only controlling the operational methods of matter and energy to a limited degree. Observing how space and Rules combine, and how they interact with each other, is very beneficial to our technological development. In fact, we believe that Level 8 Civilizations’ mastery of Rules was obtained by researching through black holes as channels.”
A scientist, full of fanaticism, loudly narrated his own viewpoint on the podium. Below the podium, Ares and Nordin both looked weary. Clearly, their interest had not been aroused. What this scientist said was certainly true, and this matter was indeed very important, but if the crisis before their eyes was not resolved, then nothing had any meaning.
“We have already observed many interesting phenomena, and this matter is one of them. Everyone knows that a singularity is infinitely small. After matter’s own gravity overwhelms the incompatibility repulsion between neutrons, there will no longer be any force capable of stopping the matter itself from collapsing. Then perhaps someone will have a question. How large exactly is a singularity?”
“How small is infinitely small? When we place a singularity under the observational instruments of a laboratory and truly observe it, what will we see? I believe quite a few people will be interested in this question. Before answering this question, we must first clarify a concept. That is, infinitely small does not refer to a specific range, but to a process. In other words, infinitely small means that the volume of this matter is continuously shrinking. Of course, because the spacetime inside a black hole is relatively strange and complex, the actual situation is far more complicated than this. But understanding it simply this way is not wrong.”
“Our mathematical models indicate that the shrinking speed of a singularity exceeds the speed of light. But at the same time, we also know that infinitely small and zero are not the same. This seems to be a mutually contradictory thing. It is like a cup in your hand. Its diameter is five centimeters. If it shrinks at the speed of light, it seems that it should completely disappear in an extremely short time, but the truth is not like this. Although the singularity of a black hole is extremely, extremely small, and it is continuously shrinking at a speed exceeding light, it will never shrink to the point where it causes itself to disappear into thin air.”
“And this leads to another phenomenon. That is, although this light, matter, and radiation are constantly approaching the singularity at extremely high speed, they can never truly come into contact with the singularity. To put it simply, it is like there is a pillar before you, only a few meters away from you. You keep walking toward this pillar, but you will never be able to arrive before this pillar. Your forward speed is one meter per second, while this pillar’s shrinking speed is two meters per second, so you will never be able to touch it.”
“So our conclusion is that the moment a black hole has just formed, just after it forms a singularity, its mass and energy have already been fixed. They will neither decrease nor increase. The mass of a black hole can certainly increase, but the matter and energy swallowed into its body will forever remain in the process of moving toward the singularity, and will forever be unable to touch the singularity.”
“Perhaps this is a very sorrowful thing. All matter is desperately rushing toward the singularity. The distance between them and the singularity is clearly very close, success seems within reach, and their forward speed is also very fast, yet they will never be able to reach the end. This is an uncrossable distance.”
A burst of whispering sounded below the stage. The matters this unfortunate scientist spoke of so violated common sense and logic that most people had no way to understand them. Ares was the first to raise his hand and ask, “All right. Such a matter is indeed marvelous. But I have a question. Using that pillar as an example, you said that the pillar’s shrinking speed exceeds my forward speed, so I can never come into contact with it. But the distance between it and me is unchanging. I can always finish walking this distance. My question is, according to the inference of this example, although I cannot catch up to the pillar, I should still be able to surpass it, right?”
“You have overlooked one thing, my leader.” This scientist smiled strangely and continued, “This is precisely the charm of physics. It can violate people’s usual cognition and make people feel that it is inconceivable, but behind it there is rigorous logic supporting it. My answer is, you cannot catch up to the singularity, and you also cannot surpass the singularity. The reason is very simple. The process of surpassing the singularity can also be said to be the process of moving away from the singularity, because during this process, the distance between you and the singularity increases. And I already said before, inside a black hole there is only one direction. All matter and energy approach the singularity and cannot possibly move away from the singularity. Therefore, this point of yours has already been negated by the prerequisite condition.”
Ares thought with slight confusion for a while, and only after some time did he nod and sit down.
“Perhaps, by making use of this untouchability of the singularity, we can develop some kind of device and equip it on our spaceships. That way, our spaceships would never be destroyed. All attacks would be unable to touch it, so how could it possibly be destroyed?” this scientist said. “At present, we have already begun research in related areas. Some models have already been built, and feasibility studies are currently underway. Perhaps in the future, this kind of device will be popularized on a large scale within our civilization, once again comprehensively improving the strength of our civilization…”
“Moreover, there is also the most important point.” This scientist continued in an emphatic tone, “This device’s research direction is merely an insignificant detail among the technological nourishment we have absorbed from inside the black hole. The interior of a black hole is like a natural treasure vault, within which endless wealth is hidden. More and even more astonishing principles and phenomena are currently being analyzed, and through these principles and phenomena, we can manufacture devices and instruments that we simply could not have imagined before. My compatriots, cheer. We must thank that existence who threw us into this black hole. If not for him, the time when we detected these treasures might have been delayed by several million years.”
This scientist continued his fanatical speech, while Ares and Nordin exchanged somewhat helpless glances.
“I admit that the prospects of these studies are extremely tempting. They even make my heartbeat accelerate, but the real difficulties are also placed before us. Scientific research is the matter of the Central Research Academy of Science. Leading our civilization out of hardship is our matter, and it is also our responsibility. We cannot refuse it.” Nordin said. “However, I very much doubt whether our civilization can once again smoothly walk out of this treasure vault that is full of treasures, and also full of crises…”
“I believe that we will definitely be able to walk out.” Ares said. “Xiao Yu has never disappointed us, has he? Perhaps at this moment, Xiao Yu is right around this black hole, fighting hard there to save us…”