Deep Space Claustrophobia

The current conditions of space matched astronomers' previous estimates. Interstellar Dust was everywhere, the residual ashes scattered after Supernova Explosions.

Although the temperature of this Interstellar Dust had dropped, it still traveled at considerable speed. In the near future, it would move ever slower and grow increasingly sparse.

Scientists had calculated that the Interstellar Dust in humanity's current region still traveled at roughly 2% of the speed of light. However, it was already quite sparse, well within the Hope's tolerance range.

Under these circumstances, humanity had taken this factor into account when choosing its course, so the situation differed somewhat from what Gan De had described before. Not only would Interstellar Dust not become an obstacle to the Hope, it had become a force propelling the spacecraft forward.

This was another benefit brought by the Hope's sturdy outer hull materials.

Of course, because the Hydrogen Element scattered throughout space was already rather sparse, this thrust was not significant—but something was better than nothing.

And so, the Hope rotated as it slowly accelerated toward its destination.

Thirty years later, it would reach its maximum speed—1% of the speed of light—before entering its inertial flight phase. Its engines would not restart until it was nearing its destination, after which it would spend another thirty years decelerating.

For humanity as it now stood, 9.545 light-years was undoubtedly an impossibly long journey. If they had any other choice, humanity would never have set out into the stars at this time. Before the vast distances between stars, the 1% light-speed travel they had once taken pride in was truly insignificant.

Everyone knew this voyage was one-way. Everyone knew the road ahead was strewn with thorns. Yet no one retreated.

The Hope broke free of Callisto's Gravity and slowly sailed into deep space.

People watched as, in the images relayed by the external cameras, the planet called Callisto gradually grew smaller and dimmer before finally disappearing into the dark cosmic backdrop, leaving no trace behind.

"Goodbye, Callisto!"

Everyone silently murmured their farewells in their hearts.

They knew that once they left, it would be forever.

After giving voice to their feelings, people began following the New Government's plan and headed for their assigned Hibernation Pods.

For this long voyage, humanity had made extensive preparations during the forty years they had spent waiting. But due to technological limitations, there was no way to let everyone sleep for a thousand years at once.

Human hibernation drugs came in two forms: short-term and long-term. Anything under three years was short-term, while anything beyond that was long-term. Yet even long-term hibernation could not put someone to sleep for a full thousand years in one go.

Not only could the drugs not last that long, the equipment could not operate continuously for a thousand years either. Therefore, humanity could only solve the problem through multiple periods of long-term hibernation.

With humanity's current technology, the theoretical maximum duration for a single hibernation was one hundred and eighty years. But to be safe, none of the long-term Hibernation Pods would be set to the maximum. Instead, their durations ranged from thirty to one hundred and seventy years.

This had been arranged with the Rotation System in mind.

After waking, the rotating technical staff could use the three-to-five-month recovery period to inspect and maintain the equipment, thereby ensuring the safety of everyone's subsequent hibernation.

The rotating technicians not only had to maintain the Hibernation Pods, but also deal with any faults the Hope might develop during the journey.

Nearly a thousand years was simply too long.

Even the most advanced and durable equipment could not guarantee that it would run for a thousand years without a single malfunction.

To address the various problems that might arise during the voyage, humanity had not only adopted a rotating hibernation system, but had also backed up every type of equipment aboard the Hope.

Take the nuclear reactors supplying the Hope with Electric Force, for example. There were two of them, one in use and one in reserve. There were many such active-and-backup designs, all prepared for this long voyage.

Second by second, people entered the Hibernation Pods in batch after batch, while the lights in the Hope's Living Module went out one by one.

No human could withstand the erosion of a thousand years.

Yue Yuan could not either. Though he had inhaled that Red Gas, he could live for five hundred years at most. A thousand years would be enough for him to die twice over.

So he, too, had to enter hibernation for this voyage.

However, unlike the ordinary people, he did not enter hibernation immediately. He would do so only after the spacecraft's acceleration phase was complete.

The spacecraft would accelerate for thirty years, which happened to be when the first group of hibernators awakened to take their shifts.

By the time the first hibernators awoke, the young technicians who had remained with Yue Yuan to oversee the spacecraft's thirty years of acceleration had all reached their fifties or sixties.

Yue Yuan himself had suddenly become over ninety.

According to the plan, the first group of awakened technicians would remain at their posts for ten years. Then a second group of technicians would awaken to take over their work, while the first group entered a long hibernation lasting one hundred and seventy years. This rotation would continue until they finally reached their destination.

The voyage plan's Rotation System also had to ensure, as much as possible, that the personnel on duty would not die of old age due to excessively long shifts.

There was no helping it. Humanity's population was simply too small now, while the birth rate during the voyage would be pitifully low. Other than those who remained awake during the first thirty years, who might possibly marry and have children, there would basically be no newborns during the rotation periods. After all, each shift only lasted ten years—far too little time.

Therefore, every human life was precious.

Time flew by.

Thirty years had passed since the Hope set sail. Today, after writing his final voyage journal entry, Yue Yuan would enter hibernation as well.

After turning off the camera that recorded his voyage journal, Yue Yuan walked through the deserted corridors from his room to the control center.

When Yue Yuan arrived at the control center, he saw only a few people on duty, making the place seem especially desolate. But he had grown used to it, so it was no problem.

He also knew that the personnel on duty had nothing major to handle at this point. Aside from essential manual positions, nearly everything else had been handed over to Intelligent AI programs.

Yue Yuan understood all this well. Thus, after arriving at the control center, he paid no attention to the few seemingly idle personnel on duty. Instead, he casually walked up to the large screen in front of the captain's seat and said, "Tianhe Light, activate the external cameras."

"Understood. Connecting you to the external visual feed. A friendly reminder: there are currently no planets near the Hope's location. The external view will show sparse stars, one of the causes of human Deep Space Claustrophobia. Would you like to proceed?" replied a highly realistic synthesized electronic voice.

The Hope's Supercomputer was called Tianhe Light. Because its designer had difficulty naming things, the Intelligent AI designed based on the Tianhe Light Supercomputer was also called Tianhe Light.