Traces in the Dust

So far, everything has gone smoothly. In the coming period, humanity will continue to deploy Space Station platforms and resource Relay Station platforms as usual, and launch landing craft, engineering machinery, and data collection base vehicles to begin resource and energy extraction from Aldebaran-Kongming Star.

The Lyra, which was docked in orbit around Aldebaran-Zhongda Star, along with several other Mountain-Class Warship, also deployed equipment to operate on the planet.

The same thing is happening in the Asteroid Belt.

Just when humanity thought this time would go as smoothly as before, an image transmitted by a Probe Spaceship shattered the peace.

In an instant, everyone on the bridge of the Lyra entered a fast-paced state.

"Commander Yue, this is the image taken by the Probe Ship No. 7's onboard optical telescope. Astronomers have determined that this is not what a normal dust cloud should look like." A communications officer, seeing Yue Yuan arrive at the bridge, immediately displayed the image on the Lyra's large screen and then reported the basic situation.

Yue Yuan floated from the bridge entrance to the large screen, then skillfully activated his Magnetic Boots to land back on the bridge floor.

He looked up at the big screen and saw a cloud of dust on it.

Dust clouds are very common in space. They are floating dust and fine metal particles in the universe, mostly composed of Hydrogen Element. Under appropriate Gravity forces, these dust clouds gather densely together, appearing as clouds and mist. In Astronomical Telescope, they often appear colorful and dazzling, hence the name Nebula.

Of course, the reason they look so vibrant and colorful is because of the long exposure photography done with the telescope. The images on the big screen clearly didn't have that long exposure time, so they look quite ordinary.

However, the purpose of taking photos is not to appreciate their dazzling colors; as long as they contain useful information, that is enough.

After glancing at the screen, Yue Yuan noticed that this dust cloud was unusual. It had clearly been disturbed and looked significantly different from a normal cloud formed by Gravity.

No wonder the Probe Spaceship transmitted the images over.

Upon seeing this image, Yue Yuan was initially satisfied with the Intelligent AI of the Probe Spaceship. Its ability to detect and photograph abnormal dust clouds demonstrated that the AI possessed highly intelligent self-judgment capabilities.

"Have the Lyra's shipborne telescopes and probes been pointed at that star field?" Yue Yuan asked.

"The shipborne telescopes of the Kunlun-Class Warship and Mount Hua-Class Warship, which are located in the Asteroid Belt, have been pointed at that star region, and the Lyra is scanning the surrounding star region," the communications officer replied.

"Okay, connect me to Gan De Communications." Yue Yuan nodded. The response was acceptable. The detection equipment on the Probe Spaceship was smaller than that on the warship. To get specific information, Large-Caliber Telescope would be needed.

"Chief?" Gan De's image appeared on a split screen of the large screen.

"Yes, did you see the dust cloud image?" Yue Yuan didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

"Yes, our colleagues in the Astronomy Department are analyzing the images frame by frame." Gan De paused for a moment, then said with a serious expression, "We had 'Tianhe Light' dynamically reconstruct the shape of the dust cloud. Based on preliminary analysis, we believe it was most likely caused by something passing through it. And in the universe, there is only one thing that can pass through a dust cloud: a spaceship!"

"How much?" Yue Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, but on the surface he remained calm and composed. You can't tell the specifics from the image with the naked eye; you need a professional to use professional methods to reconstruct it.

The dust cloud image on the big screen now is the most primitive one, and not much information can be gleaned from it.

In fact, Yue Yuan had already guessed something when he heard the messenger's report, but he still had some wishful thinking until the final result was confirmed.

Now, astronomers have used the 'Tianhe Light' satellite to reverse-engineer the process by which the dust cloud formed this shape, so it must be correct.

"Please wait a moment, Chief!" Gan De said, turning back to discuss something with a group of astronomers. He then busied himself at a row of workbenches for a while before turning to look at the camera. "Four hundred and thirteen."

Following Gan De's words, the Astronomy Department's data was also shared with the Lyra at that moment.

Yue Yuan then saw that the blurry image became clearer and clearer with each frame of the screen, and the originally messy dust clouds gradually revealed traces of gaps.

At this point, the image looks as if it has been brushed.

The computer quickly marked information points on the dust cloud that the brush had passed through, and then displayed the corresponding numbers next to them: 413.

Four hundred and thirteen marks, some large and some small, represent four hundred and thirteen spaceships of varying sizes.

"Is there any way to determine the direction, speed, size of the warship, and level of civilization?" Yue Yuan's face was gloomy.

Gan De quickly replied, "Judging from the dust cloud trails, the fleet's course is at approximately a 90-degree angle to our direction of origin, and its target should also be Aldebaran. Further observation is needed regarding its speed, warship size, and level of civilization."

This is exactly what we feared. Even though humanity has tried its best to move towards areas with fewer stars, how could we still encounter aliens?

Could it be that these aliens think the same way as humans? Hearing Gan De say this, Yue Yuan's heart sank to the bottom.

However, he remained calm and asked the communications personnel on the bridge, "Has the order to Probe Spaceship on standby been sent out?"

"The moment the image was transmitted back, the standby command was sent out." The communications officer added, "Commander Yue, the Probe Spaceship's AI emergency avoidance program has this instruction."

Yue Yuan nodded, turned around and sat down.

He knew, of course, that the Probe Spaceship's AI had an emergency avoidance command, and that it would automatically enter a standby state with its thrusters shut down once it detected a situation that might involve aliens.

Yue Yuan was just worried that the AI might not recognize the discovery as an anomaly that could be related to extraterrestrials, so to be on the safe side, he asked an extra question. Now, hearing the communicator's answer, he felt relieved.

When the images were transmitted back, the relative distances between the dust cloud, Aldebaran, and the Probe Spaceship were already displayed.

The dust cloud is less than 0.75 light-years from Aldebaran, while the Probe Spaceship is 0.2 light-years Aldebaran. At this distance, the bright exhaust plume of the Nuclear Fusion Engine could potentially be detected, so shutting down the engine was to improve stealth.

Logically, at this distance, as long as there is Great Fleet's route, the bright exhaust plume should not escape detection by human Large-Caliber Telescope. However, this fleet was clearly in a state of constant speed with its engines off.

This discovery also allowed Yue Yuan to make a preliminary judgment on the level of civilization to which this fleet belonged.