Won't Stay Gone
The flashing bright spots on the screen represent the location of the Silver Mist, while the background map of the entire screen is a panoramic view of the Ross 154 Star system.
Yue Yuan saw that the bright spot of Silver Mist that represented the detection of mankind was approaching Ross 154-5, a large Gaseous Planet that was almost the same size as the Main Sequence Star, at an increasingly faster speed.
"Gravity Slingshot? No, the mass of the Silver Mist is so small, it shouldn't be used to make Gravity Slingshot." Yue Yuan immediately rejected the idea that popped into his mind.
"It seems like we're using the magnetic field of Ross 154-5 for acceleration!" The technicians were rapidly inputting various parameters while simultaneously calculating using the 'Tianhe Light'.
"It's not just a possibility, it is." Another voice rang out. It was from Science Officer at one of the positions on the circular control panel. Her eyes were fixed on the computer screen in front of her. "The Silver Mist is using Ross 154-5 to accelerate rapidly. In the Microgravity Environment of space, it can travel freely. According to the data, as long as it is not captured by the Planetary Gravity, it can reach anywhere in the Star System."
"The calculation is done. Eight hours and eighteen minutes. After eight hours and eighteen minutes, this Silver Mist will reach Ross 154-7. Commander Yue, we need to speed up."
There is no single person holding the position of bridge Science Officer on the Hope-class ship. The one speaking now is from the military system, hence the title "Yue Yuan" for Commander Yue.
"Notify all crew members of the Hope. The Hope is preparing to enter the re-acceleration phase. Everyone should be prepared to prevent a sudden increase in Gravitational Acceleration. Countdown: three minutes." Yue Yuan did not hesitate and immediately ordered the communications officer to make an emergency broadcast to all crew members of the Hope.
We already knew that Silver Mist could use magnetic fields to fly, but we never expected that Silver Mist would become even more dangerous in space.
At that moment, Yue Yuan realized that humanity seemed to have unleashed a demon.
"Commander, based on the current data, we should fly directly out of the galaxy, because the further out we go, the weaker the magnetic field of the Star System becomes, and the Silver Mist should not be able to catch up with us."
"Should?" Yue Yuan was somewhat dissatisfied with this choice of words.
The Science Officer immediately replied, "The final speed of the Silver Mist, accelerated using the Ross 154-5 magnetic field, has been calculated. If it doesn't continue accelerating, then its closest possible distance to us will be three million kilometers. After that, we hope our spacecraft will surpass its speed, and then the distance will increase until we eventually shake it off."
Is it possible for it to continue accelerating?
"Impossible. We've already taken into account the magnetic field of Ross 154-7. Even if it uses the magnetic field of Ross 154-7 to accelerate again, it still won't be able to catch up with us. And Ross 154-6 is on the other side of the Main Sequence Star, so the Silver Mist can't utilize its strong magnetic field."
Whew! Hearing this, Yue Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief.
It was really a close call. In fact, after the Silver Mist reappeared, Yue Yuan had thought about blowing up the factories and bases on the surface of the planet Ross 154-7 and its satellites. However, he was really scared by the persistent Silver Mist, so his first reaction was to order the Hope to be launched and escape.
Unexpectedly, this action saved the Hope's life.
Yue Yuan also understood the data displayed on the large screen in front of him. If he had hesitated and blown up the base and factory first, the Hope would definitely have been overtaken by Silver Mist during the acceleration phase.
Sure enough, hesitation leads to defeat.
Fortunately, the Silver Mist Consciousness probably doesn't yet know the true level of human technology; otherwise, given its Telecommunication Scam nature, it wouldn't have so blatantly revealed its purpose.
With this in mind, Yue Yuan turned around and walked back to the captain's seat. He then pressed the button on the right side of the seat, extending the acceleration buffer protection device from behind the seat to secure himself to the chair, preparing for the Hope to accelerate again.
After completing all these actions, he had 'Tianhe Light' translate and send a message to the Silver Mist Consciousness. He gathered his emotions and then spoke in a very helpless and frustrated tone, "Alas, we hate you very much, Silver Mist Consciousness, but as you said, we can't escape now. We regret our past actions and should not have responded to you in the first place."
After learning that it was the Nanobots consciousness that was behind it, Yue Yuan and other experts discussed it and decided to translate the Nanobots consciousness as the Silver Mist Consciousness.
"But there's no going back in life. We know we're going to die, but before we die, we have some very curious questions. Would you be willing to answer them?"
Without waiting for a reply after sending the message, Yue Yuan directly asked a question that even human scientists would be curious about, "It's like this, since your goal is to escape, why did you dismantle the landing craft we used during our first landing? We were thinking, wouldn't it have been better if you had just used those transport craft back then?"
As the Silver Mist drew closer, the speed of replies became shorter and shorter.
Heh, why would I tell you?
The Silver Mist Consciousness's answer was just this one sentence, very brief, which could be considered a refusal to answer, a stark contrast to its previous willingness to answer every question.
When this message was transmitted back to the Hope, Yue Yuan, who was at the front, immediately changed the large screen from displaying a single image to displaying multiple split screens.
Then, the portraits of scientists, sociologists, and experts from various fields lit up on the split screen.
Because the Hope is accelerating again, everyone is now secured to their seats with seatbelts to avoid being thrown out and injured.
Seeing this, Yue Yuan couldn't help but recall Xu Zhenyi's idea of an Acceleration Buffer Fluid, the Deep Sea Acceleration Fluid he had learned about from novels when he was a child. If such a liquid really existed, then when the Hope was restarted, it could immediately push the Fusion Engine to its maximum capacity, without having to consider the limits of human acceleration as it does now.
Humans do not currently possess this imagined liquid at all.
Yue Yuan recalled that Xu Zhenyi, a leading figure in the field of advanced materials, had discussed this idea with Yi Kai, who was involved in Life Science, but Yi Kai scoffed at it.
Yi Kai believes that developing such a buffer solution is a complete waste of time; it would be more worthwhile to spend that time thinking about how to strengthen the human body itself.
Xu Zhenyi insisted that such Acceleration Buffer Fluid was achievable. He used the example of humans emerging from the ocean to persuade Yi Kai, but Yi Kai still stuck to his own opinion.
The two argued back and forth for an entire afternoon, each sticking to their own version of events, and in the end, neither could convince the other.
"Chief, although the Silver Mist Consciousness doesn't tell us, its silence is as good as its words." At this moment, a social researcher on the split screen interrupted Yue Yuan's thoughts.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Yue Yuan refocused his gaze on the split screen and asked a question. The purpose of connecting the scholars to the large screen was to pool their wisdom and efforts to analyze the intentions of the Silver Mist Consciousness, since the wisdom of one person is bound to have some omissions.
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