Hibernation Underway

Yue Yuan had merely proposed the general direction of the plan based on Xu Zhenyi's idea at the time. He had not participated in drafting the actual detailed plan. After it was completed, he had reviewed it carefully, but calculation processes such as whether energy consumed by certain factors had been taken into account were not reflected in the plan.

What Yue Yuan feared now was that the scientific team had failed to take this period of time into consideration.

Gan De did not need to explain further. With Yue Yuan's strong scientific literacy, he could already think of many crucial points involved.

For example, if they were to hide behind Callisto to avoid the mass ejection from the explosion of the Centaurus Trinary Star System, they had to ensure that the spacecraft remained on one side of Callisto the entire time.

Although Yue Yuan could not calculate the precise scientific parameters, he understood that accomplishing this would not be simple.

Since orbital motion necessarily meant orbiting Callisto, they would need a sufficiently high orbit if they wanted to hide behind Callisto and avoid that wave of impact. The orbital radius had to be calculated precisely to ensure that, during the period when the strongest impact swept past, the spacecraft would happen to be behind Callisto.

If there simply was not enough time, they would also need sufficient fuel to propel the spacecraft, allowing it to temporarily alter its orbit and remain behind Callisto.

"Rest assured, Chief. We have the Astronomical Observatory's observation data, and it has all been taken into account," the main person in charge of drafting the plan replied. "In the plan, the period from the spacecraft's completion to the arrival of the impact was calculated according to energy consumption during hibernation. As for why the departure time has not been specified, that is because—"

"Good. Well done. I understand what you mean." Yue Yuan let out a sigh of relief, then pressed his hand down, indicating that he understood and there was no need to continue.

The departure time would naturally depend on the timing of the relocation after everyone awakened from collective hibernation. As for what kind of relocation it would be, naturally, it meant all of humanity moving into the spacecraft.

Yes, even after the spacecraft was completed, they could not board it immediately. They would need to hibernate on Callisto for more than twenty years and wait until the mass-ejection impact from the Centaurus Trinary Star System had passed before moving aboard.

Logically, humanity should have entered hibernation first and waited until the mass-ejection impact had passed before building the spacecraft. That would have been safer, but humanity's technological level gave them the confidence to reverse the order.

Four-point-three light-years was far enough away. By the time the mass ejection reached them, it would already be extremely diffuse. With humanity's current Materials Technology, Callisto only needed to block it slightly for the spacecraft to remain safe.

For that, they had to thank Xu Zhenyi's team for their contributions to Material Science since the disaster began. The environment and the need to survive had enabled humanity to make breakthrough progress in Gamma Ray-resistant materials and shockwave-resistant structural design.

It was one of the rare technologies that had advanced by leaps and bounds amid so many technological regressions.

"If there are no further questions, then please vote on the plan." Seeing that the meeting had nearly run its course, Yue Yuan directly announced the final procedure.

There was no suspense in the result of the vote.

Of the 8,104 attendees, 8,102 voted in favor, while two abstained. It was effectively unanimous.

Normally, an ordinary planning decision would not require an expanded meeting and a vote, but this plan was of enormous importance. At the same time, in order to make up for any omissions, a full assembly vote had been held.

After the plan was approved, the next tasks fell to the Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Education.

The Propaganda Department would promote the necessity and importance of the plan throughout humanity, while the Ministry of Education would begin training people in the supporting skills related to the plan.

Naturally, the active cooperation of the other departments was also indispensable.

Over the next six months, humanity would complete all preparations for the Hibernation Plan, including who needed to hibernate, how many years they would hibernate, how many times they would awaken, determining equipment maintenance personnel during that period, safety measures, and how the New Government would operate.

Under the leadership of the New Government, all of human society was brought under unified coordination.

Half a year later.

By then, Callisto Base had completed all preparations. Aside from the supporting factories related to spacecraft construction, nearly everything had entered a semi-dormant or fully dormant state. Brand-new Hibernation Pods had been neatly installed in room after room of hibernation chambers, and people waited for the hibernation countdown to reach Zeroing.

"Professor, I've been thinking about this paper. Could its main argument and several subarguments be structured like this? Also... and... If you think the suggestions are workable, perhaps it could be published before hibernation."

"Wen Wen, your hibernation chamber will start admitting people in a little over three hours. Everyone else is already heading over, and you still have time to think about this? I think you should hurry up and get ready. The paper can wait until you wake up."

"I'm already prepared. Besides, the Hibernation Pods are assigned by number. What difference does it make whether I go a little earlier or later? If I wait until after hibernation to publish it, that will be thirty years from now."

"Thirty years? I remember you being assigned to short-term hibernation. How did it become thirty years?"

"Thirty years. Xiao Yu is the one assigned to short-term hibernation. You remembered wrong, Professor."

"Is that so? I'm getting old, and my memory is a little unclear. In that case, go ahead and publish it."

As Ma Dongzhen walked toward the outside of the base, he heard many conversations before hibernation. Some people embraced in farewell, some offered earnest instruction, and some sighed over the passage of time. But this was the first time he had heard someone still worrying about publishing a paper before hibernation.

He did not stop, however. He merely sighed inwardly that the New Government did not support idlers, then continued toward the airtight compartment leading outside the base.

Unlike the others, Ma Dongzhen was not going into hibernation. He was going into space.

After several years of effort, Ma Dongzhen had successfully gone from being an ordinary worker to becoming a remote machinery operator under the Engineering Department.

In the New Humans family, being a remote machinery operator was already a decent job, but Ma Dongzhen was not satisfied. Especially after the "White Paper on Application Standards for Life-Extension Technologies" was released, he had found a new goal.

Without any unexpected circumstances, an ordinary remote machinery operator like him would have had little chance, because the application standards stated that priority would generally go to scientists or those who had advanced human technology.

But this spacecraft construction assignment gave him an opportunity. As long as he accumulated enough contributions during the construction of this spacecraft, he could obtain a future usage slot.

Once he obtained that slot, it would mean a guarantee of a long life. Even if he did not live to see the technology mature, he would be frozen when old age approached.

The temptation was simply too great. Ma Dongzhen could not refuse it, so he voluntarily signed up for the spacecraft construction work—the kind that did not involve hibernation.

There were many people like him, most of them tempted by the "White Paper on Application Standards for Life-Extension Technologies," so the competition was fierce.

The New Government had even been forced to use capability assessments to eliminate the surplus candidates, rendering the rotation rehearsal in the Hibernation Plan useless.