The Ship of Theseus Maintenance Method

"The passage of time within the region was faster than outside. That meant the lifespan of equipment and instruments inside was many times shorter than outside. The Hui civilization that designed this region couldn't possibly have overlooked that. They had even applied the accelerated passage of time to medicine..."

It was not difficult to deduce why the equipment inside the region had remained as good as new and continued operating for so long. Physical evidence existed, and the information they had obtained was enough for the Collectors to analyze the logic and causality behind it.

Another Collector picked up the thread and stated the conclusion of its analysis. "So we can boldly speculate that the Hui civilization used some method to extend the service life of their equipment and instruments."

"But the materials used in those devices are still molecular-level materials, and air exists within the region. Eight hundred million years have passed in normal spacetime, while in this time-accelerated region, perhaps several billion years or more have elapsed. The natural decay of atoms is unavoidable. The equipment cannot possibly still look like this."

If equipment and instruments had been built from neutron-degenerate materials like the stargate, or even more advanced materials, then given the Hui civilization's technological level, they might have lasted for several billion years.

But if they were merely molecular materials, existing in a chaotic environment with air, they absolutely could not have lasted so long. Even technology akin to that of gods had to obey basic laws.

"So we can conclude that the Hui civilization did not extend the equipment's lifespan by improving material performance. They extended it through some other method, and only one method remains." The other Collector answered with certainty.

"Right. Only one method remains: external maintenance."

An instrument was a system made