Hao Ren froze when he heard the Data Terminal's report. "A drone swarm? What did they discover?"
"One group of drones from the L-B-35 exploration sequence discovered traces suspected to have been left by a primitive faster-than-light engine along its patrol route. Judging by how much the traces have dissipated, they were left several decades ago."
Hao Ren immediately grew serious. "Several decades ago? Are you sure?"
"Everything reported by the drone swarm has undergone rigorous calculation. It is highly unlikely to be wrong." As the Data Terminal spoke, it projected the detailed information reported by the drone swarm. "The swarm believes we may have found surviving exiles—the kind who still retain a highly advanced civilization."
Hao Ren watched the images projected by the Data Terminal with rapt attention. The screen showed a vast expanse of space, with unfamiliar nebulae and cosmic scenery glittering in the distance. Between those starlights, one could see a faint, distorted, discontinuous band. The band itself had no color, but it altered the surrounding light like a lens, making it observable. The Data Terminal explained the phenomenon on-screen: "Primitive faster-than-light engines propelled ships by altering the curvature of space. However, because the technology was immature, these engines could not restore the curvature of space near the points where the voyage began and ended. As a result, they left behind distorted lenses like this after entering or leaving hyperspace. These lenses usually took anywhere from several decades to several centuries to dissipate on their own."
Hao Ren had seen several advantages and disadvantages of primitive faster-than-light engines in other technical documents, so he had a rough idea of the "lens trails" mentioned by the Data Terminal. He also knew that in many low-level civilizations, people tracked target ships by following newly formed distorted lenses—mercenaries and pirates