Crossing the Spiral Arm
Cross-arm
Humanity has traveled two thousand light-years through the Starry Road in about three hundred years, at ten times the Warp light, with all the extra time spent replenishing resources and energy.
Upon arriving at the so-called "Ferry Crossing," to be on the safe side, humanity deployed its Sky Survey Telescope Array and all probes, pointing them towards the Perseus Arm to measure the stars along the way. Then, they calculated the distances between each star and planned their flight path.
This is a route that is more than four thousand light-years long. There are indeed many stars distributed between the two spiral arms, but they are extremely sparse, much sparser than humans have described before. Take the two stars closest to the location of the human Great Fleet towards the Perseus Arm at this moment, for example. The distance between them is 170 light-years, and the distance between stars becomes more and more distant as you go further ahead.
Some stars are so far apart that they exceed the limits of human travel technology.
Therefore, although there are stars ahead, in order to avoid getting into a dead end, humans must measure all the stars between the two spiral arms in this direction and then plan as many Star Path as possible.
However, the reality was not as expected. After exploring these stars one by one, humans discovered that there was only one feasible Star Path. Other routes were either too far apart from the stars or were simply dead ends, meaning there was nothing ahead with no stars.
What troubles humanity even more is that there is a section of this only possible Star Path where the distance between the two nearest stars exceeds 500 light-years, estimated to be around 550 light-years.
This already exceeds the maximum distance a human fleet can travel in a single voyage, but the good news is that there is a Hydrogen Molecular Cloud in that area. Humans might be able to collect this Hydrogen Molecular Cloud to obtain some substances to replenish their energy. This is theoretically feasible, but risky. If something unexpected happens, the Great Fleet could very well perish there due to energy depletion.
That location is still in the latter half of the Star Path.
Scientists have proposed a solution: they believe that the fleet's normal speed can be accelerated to 50% of the relative speed of light, and then the entire fleet can be allowed to travel 50 to 60 light-years by inertia before Warp can be initiated to traverse the remaining distance.
This method seems feasible, but they overlooked one problem: the way human fleets calculate resource consumption for the supposedly limited range of 500 light-years per trip. It's important to understand that this calculation includes not only Warp Speed Travel but also acceleration and deceleration during conventional travel.
Therefore, using Inertial Navigation to make up for the distance would require far more than fifty or sixty light-years; considering the time and energy consumed by acceleration and deceleration, it would be roughly over a hundred light-years. Drifting one hundred light-years at fifty percent of the relative speed would be two hundred years, and we would also need to factor in the time required for human life and production during that period.
This adds up to another expense.
Fifty light-years more than the distance of "one tank of gas" is blocking humanity's path forward. Without solving this problem, humanity will not be able to complete this trans-rotor voyage.
This is unacceptable. We've already seen our destination, and this is the only path we can take now, because if we go any further, we'll reach the end of the Orion Arm, where it's impossible to cross to the Perseus Arm.
Therefore, the only way to find the location of the Small Universe marked on the star map is to go through here.
But how do we solve the battery life problem?
The most direct solution is to improve navigation technology and solve the problem completely. However, technology cannot be improved overnight; it is a gradual process of quantitative change leading to qualitative change, and there is no way to rush it.
In response, the New Government proposed a feasible solution: relay-style navigation, similar to aerial refueling in the Earth Era to extend aircraft range. However, there are some differences. In the Earth Era, aerial refueling was conducted within the aircraft's own operational range, and the mothership could return to its ground base after refueling.
But humans can't do that now. Humans need to cross rotor arms for navigation, and once they go, they won't return. So, motherships used for "aerial refueling" are no longer needed; they can only be used as "refueling stations"—disposable items. Because taking these motherships along would only increase the fleet's energy consumption.
Therefore, humanity plans to first build a batch of large transport ships, fill them with the Antimatter produced in one of the two Star System 550 light-years apart at the edge of the spiral arm, and then have them sail towards the other side. After traveling about one-third of the distance, they will shut down their Warp Engine and stop there to wait for the subsequent Great Fleet.
Once the Great Fleet catches up, they will use the remaining Antimatter from these transport ships as "fuel" to replenish their supplies. Then they will embark on Star Path, crossing the two most distant stars, thus reaching the opposite Star System and achieving the goal of crossing the spiral arm.
As for those transport ships, needless to say, they will definitely be abandoned in that void.
This is a highly feasible plan, and it is currently the only method that allows humans to cross the Perseus Arm.
If it's feasible, then let's do it.
This plan, along with humanity's next step of heading to the Perseus Arm, was first discussed by Yue Yuan at the New Government's conference. Once it was finalized, the entire human fleet set off without hesitation towards that sparsely populated area.
After several unsuccessful attempts, humanity arrived at the most distant Star System according to the planned route and began the relay voyage plan.
Through the data transmitted by the telescope array, Yue Yuan quietly observed the stars on the Holographic Screen, while occasionally glancing at the large transport ships busily mining resources and loading supplies on the adjacent screen. These transport ships were loading Antimatter produced in the Antimatter Factory onto their own ships. Once the ships were full of Antimatter, they would embark on their Starry Road, waiting for the Great Fleet to arrive and claim it, before being abandoned by humanity.
Looking at the bustling factory and the fleet of transport ships, Yue Yuan suddenly felt a sense of emotion.
"Perhaps, those so-called Civilization Ruins, traces of Alien Civilization, or artifacts found from Alien Civilization also include spaceships that have been abandoned like ours now!" Yue Yuan muttered the above.
Abandoned spaceships will become space debris, and perhaps they will be discovered by other civilizations. It's unknown whether, if a civilization were to discover these abandoned human spaceships, they would be amazed by the efforts humanity, Unknown Civilization to them, made to cross the spiral arm.
Tens of thousands of transport ships loaded with Antimatter set sail, and the human Great Fleet continued to mine and produce Antimatter after their departure to replenish the Great Fleet's fuel. Once resupply was complete, the Great Fleet would embark on the most difficult part of crossing the spiral arm.
Once we cross this Star Path, humanity will have successfully crossed the spiral arm. After all, there are no stars any further away, and humanity will no longer have to worry about supplies.