"A thousand years?" Despite having a premonition, Qingmu was still startled. After all, he had seen this person not long ago. How could he suddenly become the Mummy from a thousand years ago?
Situ explained, "We know too little about the spatial structure of Ramla. Perhaps there are some Spacetime Stasis Zone where space doesn't flow and the speed of matter movement slows down."
"If the movement of matter slows down, shouldn't people live longer?" Petru said.
"No, the human body's metabolism doesn't change, otherwise people would die. The decay rate of particles in the Spacetime Stasis Zone also doesn't decrease; their movement speed relative to spacetime only slows down," Situ said.
"Still hard to understand." Boris walked up to Halsey's body, bent down, and carefully examined the gruesome mummified face.
"You all spend most of your time at sea, do you know the deadly shadows of the ocean depths, where the water is stagnant?" Situ asked.
"I know that about two to four thousand meters below the surface of the North Pacific Ocean, north of 32°S latitude, there is a shadowy area stretching for thousands of kilometers, where the seawater is said to have been trapped for thousands of years," Ivan said.
Boris was about to reach out and touch Halsey's clothes when he was taken aback by Ivan's answer. As a veteran submariner, he was naturally very familiar with the underwater conditions, but he had never heard of this before.
"Hey, Ivan, where did you hear all this nonsense? I bet the instructors at the Kuznetsov Naval Academy never taught this, and our submarines can't even go two thousand meters deep."
"You should read more Nature magazine, Boris," Ivan said. " Mr. Stone, I don't think it should be called a death shadow, because there are a few creatures there, just with very low oxygen levels."
Situ nodded. "You're right. Species can certainly reproduce there, as long as they adapt to the environment, but that's not my point. The point is that the seawater there is stagnant. Although it's integrated with the entire Pacific Ocean, it has clear boundaries. For centuries, the seawater there has been still, with almost no vertical movement. It circulates within its own space and never exchanges with the seawater outside."
Oceanographers call it the Shadow of Death.
If a whale that loves to drift accidentally enters that area of the ocean, it will drift in that shadow forever unless it chooses a direction and swims up to the surface. Of course, whales need to surface to breathe, so this won't happen.
"You mean, such spatial shadows also exist inside Ramla?" Qingmu asked.
"Theoretically, such spatial shadows must exist in the universe, but we cannot visually distinguish such places because they are connected to other spaces, like the shadow of death on the seabed. However, they have clear boundaries, both connected to and isolated from the outside world, making them very mysterious places."
Situ walked slowly to the window, stretched out his hand and wiped it on the window. The blurred glass did not become clear, but left a scratch, like the word "" written with a brush.
"Compared to the vast universe, humanity is still merely a reptile clinging to Earth, never truly leaving the planetary surface, and naturally has no chance to encounter such spatial shadows. When humanity begins to pilot spaceships and conquer the stars, it will certainly encounter ' Stasis Space ' frequently. Of course, at that time, human spaceships will certainly be able to break free from static constraints, provided they have sufficient power and obtain precise spatial curvature. However, with current technology—like this warship—if it falls into Stasis Space, its power will never be enough to escape it, just as we cannot escape the gravity of galaxies."
The space tunnel of the Ramla Ant Nest is constantly twisting through the universe and could appear anywhere in the Milky Way at any time, naturally increasing the chances of falling into Stasis Space. Once we encounter it, besides waiting for Ramla to throw us out, all we can do is wait."
"So you'll just wait until you turn into the Mummy?"
Ivan recalled the endless days and nights on the submarine—the cramped space, the cold machinery, the silent radio waves, and the endless waiting... surrounded only by seawater. Many officers and soldiers suffered from depression, and some committed suicide because they couldn't bear the eternal loneliness of being isolated from the world.
"Yes, they were lucky to turn into the Mummy, which means the environment of that Stasis Space was pretty good," Situ said. "Although people who enter the Stasis Space don't feel anything, as long as they have enough supplies and a normal environment, they can live as before, just like you did on the submarine. However, the key to the Stasis Space is the word 'static.' It is not affected by gravity, its spatial position changes very little, there is almost no acceleration or deceleration, and the rate at which energy is exchanged between matter inside and the outside world is very slow."
So although its internal time is normal, its time is compressed to an extremely small extent when we are the observers. Because we are constantly accelerating or decelerating relative to it, when we meet it, perhaps decades have passed for it, while only a few hours have passed for us.
We don't have the equipment to know if it was ever in a special radiation field, but judging from the changes in the body and clothing of Lieutenant Colonel Halsey, even if it was in a place with abnormal radiation, it would have taken at least several hundred years to become like this.
Judging from the surface of the hull, it was not subjected to electrochemical corrosion from seawater, and the cabins were not damp at all, indicating that the ship had been in a place far from the ocean for a long time.
Its surface resembles a weathering phenomenon, but the traces are not obvious, indicating that the airflow there is slow or the particle radiation is weak. It is entirely the silent destruction caused by time. Therefore, when we observe it from a distance with a telescope, we cannot see anything wrong with it.
"This ship must have accidentally fallen into Stasis Spacetime, drifted through spacetime for thousands of years, and then been captured by one of Ramla's spacetime strings or spatial tunnels and pulled out."
"So that means the ship is definitely unusable?" Boris felt a pang of regret, especially regarding the two Apache. He had flown submarines for many years but rarely had the opportunity to handle aircraft, only flying Mi-2 for a client after retiring. He had always wanted to try out Mi-4 or a more advanced helicopter.
"The energy is definitely depleted. You'd better not touch the weapons on the ship; it's not safe," Situ said. "But such a large ship can serve as a base for us; it's much better than living in the open woods. Ivan, go check if the gangway is rusted and if it can be lowered manually. We can't have to climb up the rope every time."
Ivan agreed and led Boris out of the command room.
"Let's go out too," Situ said.
"Why don't we check out the other cabins?"
"There's no power, and the lower compartments are pitch black; we can't see anything. We need to find some torches."
They went to the ship's side and leaned against the railing. The lifeboat they had come in on was below, and the people on board were craning their necks, eagerly awaiting news from above.
"Madam, don't worry, we're trying to figure out a way to get you aboard!" Petru shouted towards the small boat.