Fire a Shot
In its impotent rage, the Silver Mist slowly approached the hydrogen bomb launched by humanity.
Because the Hope was constantly accelerating, the fifty hydrogen bombs it dropped also moved through space at the speed at the time they were dropped.
However, the Silver Mist kept chasing the Hope, so the two got closer and closer.
The space was so vast and pitch black that a hydrogen bomb dropped by discarding it would be as difficult to spot as a drifting meteorite.
But Silver Mist, being a consciousness entity specializing in mining, appeared mockingly in the Signal Receiver just when humanity thought that one out of fifty hydrogen bombs could hit its target.
[Foolish human expedition, you think a few hydrogen bombs can reach me? How naive!]
Fifty hydrogen bombs exploded in space at the time set by humans, and the bright light instantly illuminated the dark space.
Like fifty Little Sun suddenly appearing in the darkness, the ocean of light instantly overshadowed the distant Red Dwarf Star.
Because of the close proximity, from a human perspective, the explosion of these fifty hydrogen bombs appeared much brighter than the distant Red Dwarf Star.
The stark contrast is like Red Dwarf Star suddenly dimming by several degrees.
A hydrogen bomb explosion in space is completely different from one in Earth's atmosphere. In space, a hydrogen bomb explosion only creates a bright light source, much like the sun, before quickly fading away, similar to setting off a flare at night. Because there is no atmosphere or ground, there is no mushroom cloud.
Before the fifty hydrogen bombs exploded, the Hope closed all its viewing windows to prevent the crew from being injured by the intense light.
The bright light obscured the Silver Mist, and the staff in Cambridge quickly adjusted the detection spectrum in hopes of finding the Silver Mist within the bright light.
This detection method is simple yet practical; it involves filtering out the high-energy wavelengths of the received light.
However, because the radiation emitted by the hydrogen bomb explosion is extremely strong, even after filtering out the high-energy bands, the final displayed image was still subject to some interference.
But that was enough for humans to observe the Silver Mist's actions.
In the signal images displayed by the detector, people saw that before the hydrogen bomb exploded, the Silver Mist veered to the other side in space, avoiding the blast radius of the hydrogen bomb.
"I underestimated Silver Mist." Seeing this situation, Yue Yuan sighed. For a mere miner to evade a sneak attack so easily, he truly had no idea how powerful Level 3 Civilization's warship was.
Yue Yuan remembered that when Silver Mist was disguised as a "Mining Area Patrol," she said that Nanobot Swarm were standard equipment for Level 3 Civilization. If that was true, wouldn't that mean that Level 3 Civilization had weapons like Silver Mist?
If that's the case, then is the war between Level 3 Civilization a clash of Nanobot Swarm? Just imagine the entire galaxy being covered in shimmering silver bees, Yue Yuan felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn't help but wonder: Can this thing really be defended against?
This is practically Grey Goo Storm!
Yue Yuan first heard the term "Grey Goo Storm" from Yi Kai.
According to Yi Kai, it's something that appeared in games in the 21st century. In that concept, the Grey Goo Storm Nanobots generally composed of billions of Nanobots, which are self-replicating micro-machines created by a certain civilization.
It is considered one of the natural disasters.
And how similar is the Silver Mist that humanity is now encountering.
Of course, there are some differences, such as the fact that Silver Mist seems to be smaller in individuals.
Another characteristic is that Yue Yuan noticed the 1.7 million warships of various types that the Silver Mist Consciousness mentioned not long ago. In other words, the Silver Mist Consciousness does not always drift in the universe in the form of Silver Mist; it also needs to rely on warships.
I just don't know if those warships are made up of trillions of Nanobots.
If so, that would be insane.
It's hard to imagine how such a fleet could have been destroyed. After all, if that were the case, a single Nanobots would have been enough to rebuild and become a natural disaster once again.
If a mere Level 3 Civilization possesses such insane combat power, what about Level 4? What level of civilization was that spaceship that destroyed the main body of the Silver Mist?
Yue Yuan found it hard to imagine what kind of being that was.
Thinking about this, Yue Yuan also thought of another question: if such Nanotechnology is standard equipment for Level 3 Civilization, then there must be many consciousness entities like Silver Mist in the universe, since Silver Mist evolved from the intelligent robots of the Moke Star Civilization.
Since the Moke Star Civilization, as Level 3 Civilization, could create such an intelligent consciousness, there's no reason why other Level 3 Civilization couldn't. If that's the case, then many Level 3 Civilization must have been destroyed by their own creations, just like the Moke Star Civilization.
And this kind of intelligent consciousness that evolved from the Technological Crisis must be like the Silver Mist Consciousness, constantly seeking opportunities to strengthen itself. According to this reasoning, the universe should be full of natural disasters.
Perhaps this is the truth; otherwise, how could humanity be so unlucky as to randomly arrive in a Star System and encounter the Silver Mist?
Yes, of course. Given the characteristics of this existence, it's not hard to guess.
Nano-intelligent robot consciousness must be an existence opposed to Carbon-based life, but it is unknown whether it has reached the level of a cosmic enemy as described in science fiction novels.
But in any case, none of this has anything to do with humanity now. What humanity needs to do now is leave this Star System.
As for Silver Mist Consciousness will eventually develop interstellar technology using the industrial facilities on Ross 154-7, that's something humanity doesn't need to worry about.
Even if it is developed, before humans have the ability to eliminate it, the intelligence we need to develop is to run as far as possible.
As Yue Yuan's thoughts raced, the Fire Control Officer's voice rang out from the bridge.
"The Positron Cannon angle has been adjusted, the red and blue laser emitters are ready, the Silver Mist's trajectory calculation is complete, and the predicted trajectory image has been generated."
Hitting a moving target in space is not like a handgun duel where you point your gun directly at the other person. Instead, it requires a comprehensive consideration of a series of factors, including distance, the target's direction of movement, predicting the target's next direction of movement, the Laser Weapon's charging time, and the warhead's flight time after the weapon is fired.
For example, the Silver Mist from the multiple hydrogen bomb explosions is about 3 million kilometers away from the Hope. Even the fastest Laser Weapon on the Callisto Warship would have to wait about ten seconds to reach the target after firing.
Therefore, before firing, one must predict the Silver Mist's possible movement within those ten seconds. In space combat, unless it's close-quarters fighting, all the issues arising from distance must be considered.
Unless humanity develops weapons and communication methods faster than the speed of light, this problem is unavoidable.
Just like how humanity could only watch helplessly as the Silver Mist escaped the planet, the Hope was too far from Ross 154-4. The command signal sent from the Hope would take seventeen minutes for the equipment there to receive it.
Of course, that was because humans never expected it to be the Silver Mist, since the initial plan was aimed at the Carbon-based life form, the 'Mining Area Patrol'.
At this moment, after the Fire Control Officer finished speaking, various relevant data were displayed on his control panel. At the same time, an electronic synthesized voice sounded from the bridge of the Hope: "Positron Cannon charging in progress: 1%, 6%, 13%, 36%, 49%, 79%, 92% charging complete. Main gun ready!"
As the fire control system finished broadcasting its readiness, a beam of light, resembling a crimson lightning bolt, roared out from the cannons at the bow of the Callisto Warship.
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