Warp Engine

"Mm, the Force Field Manipulation device." Yu Nanfeng nodded, then walked toward the component he called the Force Field Manipulation device.

"This thing." He pointed at it. "This was the thing we had no idea what it did at first."

"Later, after we dismantled the broken one and considered its structure and possible function, along with our speculation about that Alien Civilization, we suspected that this engine was a Warp Engine, and this device should be the Warp Field Generator."

Yu Nanfeng turned to face Yue Yuan and Liu Miyan and continued at length, "If we guessed right, if our theory is correct, then the Warp Bubble, or the Warp Field, is generated by this thing—though we don't know how it generates a Warp Field."

"Didn't you say you were judging based on whether our theory was correct? How could you not know?" Yue Yuan asked strangely. Wasn't that a contradiction?

Yu Nanfeng patted the engine's outer casing. "Because our theory can't fully explain it. Our theory's explanation of Warp Speed Travel is incomplete, so we can only speculate. If we want to determine whether this engine really is a Warp Engine, we'll only know after actually testing it."

They could dismantle it and replace parts, yet they said they could not explain it. That made Yue Yuan even more unwilling to accept it. He stepped forward and swept his gaze across the massive engine. "Can we copy it by following its structure?"

"No!" Yu Nanfeng answered decisively, without a moment's hesitation.

Seeing Yue Yuan hesitate as if he wanted to say something, Yu Nanfeng seemed to understand. He explained, "Commander, what we dismantled was the nozzle section, and the parts we replaced were also damaged parts from the nozzle section. As for its core components and precision mechanical structures..."

At that, Yu Nanfeng let out a long sigh and pointed toward a corner of the basement not far away.

Yue Yuan looked in the direction he indicated and saw a pile of mechanical components, circuit elements, and all sorts of unfamiliar alloy parts.

He slowly approached and took a closer look. There was quite a lot of stuff piled there, though it was arranged rather messily.

"What is this?" Yue Yuan turned back and asked.

"An engine," Yu Nanfeng answered. "The broken engine we dismantled. We originally wanted to put it back together, but after reassembling it, we found that there were always some parts left over."

Heh! Was this the legendary case of taking something apart and being unable to put it back together?

Yue Yuan's face darkened. He had heard of something like this when he was young: someone who thought he was very handy had a broken phone and took it apart to fix it himself, only to discover several extra parts after putting it back together.

He had thought that sort of thing was just a legend. He never expected to witness it for real today.

"Didn't you use computers to record the process when you dismantled it?" Yue Yuan asked curiously.

That should not have happened. With Human Civilization's current technology, they could use cameras to record everything and scanning technology to construct a 3D model of the object. How could there possibly be leftover parts?

Yu Nanfeng spread his hands, as if to say they were not that stupid. "Those were parts that had already fallen off due to breaks and deformation. We don't know where they were supposed to go. As for copying it by following its structure, as the Commander suggested, that's even more impossible. We simply don't have that kind of industrial capability. It's like wanting to imitate a gourd but not having a pen."

"All right. You just said we would only know after testing it. How do we test it?" Yue Yuan asked again. He was thinking that if this thing could really be started, perhaps they could install it on a spaceship.

They could not build it or copy it, but surely they could still use it!

It was like an ordinary person getting hold of a gun. He might not know how to make one, but after figuring it out for long enough, he would still know how to use it.

"We can't test it." Yu Nanfeng pointed at a discus-shaped object beside the platform where the engine was placed. "This is its fuel storage device. It has some kind of unknown structure we've never seen before. It isn't a fully mechanical mechanism, and it also comes with an autonomous control system. We have no idea how that system works, so we don't dare force it open."

"You mean we need to decipher its control system first?"

"Yes."

"Have Li Zenglu and Chen Haiyu looked at it?"

Li Zenglu was the most specialized Quantum Computer expert among the surviving humans, while Chen Haiyu was a leading figure in traditional computers and AI. That was why Yue Yuan asked.

"It isn't Quantum Computer technology," Yu Nanfeng answered. "Dr. Chen said this system isn't some highly advanced Intelligent AI, but its algorithms are completely different from our computer systems, so we have no way to crack it in a short time. Still, he said before that it doesn't actually need to be cracked. We only need to figure out how to use the system. He should have been looking for its operating codes during this time."

"This thing is more than twenty thousand years old, isn't it? Does it still have power?" Yue Yuan murmured as he looked at the protruding section on the huge, seven- or eight-meter-tall iron disc.

That part was probably where the system Yu Nanfeng mentioned was located.

"Yes. Maintaining its electrical signals doesn't require much power." After a pause, Yu Nanfeng showed an admiring expression. He looked up at the huge disc-shaped object and continued, "We suspect there is still fuel inside, but we don't know how to use it. More than twenty thousand years... This thing has actually remained operational for over twenty thousand years. It's truly unimaginable."

It really was unimaginable.

A system on nothing more than a storage device had operated longer than the entire history of Human Civilization. What level of technology would that take?

For a moment, the three of them fell silent, all immersed in the shock of their imagination.

"You just said... this thing is a fuel storage device. Have you figured out what fuel it stores?" Yue Yuan patted the huge iron disc again, but it felt as solid as a wall, without the slightest echo.

"If we guessed right, it should be Antimatter." Yu Nanfeng did not answer. Liu Miyan did instead.

"A guess?"

Liu Miyan casually pulled over an iron plate and sat down. "Yes. With our technology, we can't break open this damn thing at all. Naturally, we can only guess what's inside. According to our existing theories, the minimum energy level needed to drive a Warp Engine is Antimatter."

"And to store Antimatter, we would at least need to achieve the Grand Unified Theory within our theoretical framework. In other words, the civilization that originally owned this spaceship was at least one that had mastered the Grand Unified Theory. So right now, we have no idea what technology they used to manufacture this fuel storage device."

It seemed the idea of installing this engine on a spaceship had fallen through. Yue Yuan sighed inwardly.

In theory, humanity was indeed capable of creating anti-charged particles now, but true Antimatter was impossible, because even if they created it, they could not store it.

Just as Liu Miyan had said, they needed a grand unified force field to truly store Antimatter, because Antimatter carried no charge and could not be contained with a magnetic field.

What magnetic fields could contain were anti-charged particles, such as positrons and antiprotons—particles kept separate from one another.

How about a wave of investment? We're almost at a hundred.