The fleet traveled silently through the void for more than thirty years. The few asteroids accompanying it had been completely used up: all useful materials had been mined and extracted, then sent to the fleet to replenish its supplies. The useless rock and soil left behind could only be discarded, becoming interstellar junk.
After thirty years of travel, the fleet had begun to grow old and dilapidated. The Polaris's key components had been replaced several times, and other parts prone to wear had been consumed in even greater quantities. Although the fleet was traveling through the void, it faced a constant onslaught of cosmic radiation. Combined with the intense acceleration, this meant that virtually the entire fleet needed maintenance every day. Electronic equipment in particular suffered a higher rate of failure, and both the Polaris's own equipment and that used by the public had to be replaced at an extremely high frequency.
Research into materials needed to be accelerated. Once they reached Tau Ceti, if there was a suitable planet, they would have to build new armor protection for the fleet. Current steel, alloys, and the like were far too fragile. Neither the J-90s that fought in battle nor the Polaris that carried the people could withstand a direct hit from a single high-yield conventional TNT bomb.
If they could not develop sturdier materials, how would humanity's warships withstand attacks from alien civilizations in interstellar wars that might occur in the future? Hu Yu pondered the question silently.
Materials, weapons, warp travel, fleet expansion, and so on-a whole series of problems needed to be solved, and all of them required a planet to serve as a base. Tau Ceti had five planets in all. If they had not been occupied by an alien civilization, humanity might be able to spread its wings and flourish there.
That was also what Hu Yu feared most now. If Tau Ceti was occupied by another civilization, and it was a Star-Level civilization, then the fleet would have no choice but to divert to UV Ceti with its remaining energy. But UV Ceti was a massive star, many times larger than the Sun. Because of its immense size, it had a powerful effect on its surroundings, making small planets difficult to detect. Going to UV Ceti would be no different from gambling. For now, he could only hope that Tau Ceti was a planetary system without a civilization, and that even if it had one, it was below the Star-Level.
Aside from handling the fleet's countless affairs, big and small, Hu Yu usually spent the rest of his time standing by the thick viewport, quietly watching the stars. Compared with the boundless starry sky, the fleet moved more slowly than a snail. The stars, unchanged since time immemorial, hung motionless in the heavens.
On this day, Hu Yu stood by the viewport as usual, gazing absentmindedly at the stars.
"Old Hu, Old Hu, come and see! Pathfinder 1 has reached Tau Ceti!" Chief of Staff Wen Zhonghua shouted excitedly. The Pathfinders were small, high-speed unmanned craft launched when the fleet had set off again. Eight had been launched, named One through Eight.
"Really?" Hu Yu asked excitedly, immediately running to the large screen to see for himself.
"Really. Look, Pathfinder One has already begun transmitting images. This should be Tau Ceti's Number One Planet, filmed by the Pathfinder from a distance of 500 kilometers. The environment is extremely harsh, and it doesn't look as though any civilization lives there."
"Daytime temperatures exceed 800 degrees Celsius, while at night they drop below minus 200. But it takes two weeks to complete one rotation, so we have plenty of time for mining operations," Hu Yu said, looking at the data sent back by Pathfinder One.
"It's not the ideal planet for construction, but the best news is that there's no sign of any other civilization having set foot on it. Even if there is one, it's either Planet-Level or hasn't reached the level of civilization at all. Let's wait a little longer. When the Pathfinder entered orbit around Tau Ceti, the other planets happened to be on the other side, so Number One Planet was the first to be observed. But the other Pathfinders will soon reach the other planets, and we'll have news back shortly."
"All right, we'll wait."
Everyone was tense to the extreme. They silently prayed that there were no other advanced civilizations at Tau Ceti, while also dreading the appearance of one. The moment that would decide their fate had arrived. Everything depended on the information the Pathfinders sent back.
Two hours later, Pathfinder Five finally reached Planet Five, the farthest planet, and clear images were transmitted back to the fleet through quantum communication. With that, the preliminary survey of all five of Tau Ceti's planets was complete. Five of the eight Pathfinders had each surveyed a planet, while the other three flew toward the more distant outer reaches of Tau Ceti to investigate.
"That's great, Old Hu. We can be fairly sure now that Tau Ceti is a pristine planetary system, untouched by any civilization. There aren't even signs of life. We can finally rest easy, right?"
"Ah." Hu Yu let out a long breath, the weight finally lifting from his heart. A smile appeared on his face despite himself. "Zhonghua, release the satellites according to the plan."
"Understood."
When the fleet had decided to head for Tau Ceti, Hu Yu had ordered its engineering department to use resources from the accompanying asteroids to manufacture several billion small satellites. The propulsion carried by these satellites was only enough to slow them down once they reached their designated positions, and they had no particularly powerful functions. They simply detected moving objects within tens of thousands of kilometers and reported any anomalies back to the fleet. Because they were so simple, they could be made very small, only the size of watermelons.
Their small size and simplicity were also why the fleet had been able to manufacture and store such an enormous number while traveling. Now, at last, it was time to use them.
The satellites were launched using electromagnetic rails. Since the fleet was maintaining a speed of 0.3 times the speed of light, the additional acceleration from the rails brought the satellites' speed slightly above 0.3 times the speed of light. They would be distributed within a radius of one light-year around Tau Ceti.
Had the fleet's resources not been limited, Hu Yu would have wanted to manufacture even more satellites and distribute them over a wider area, giving himself more warning time and more accurate information. Then, if another civilization visited Tau Ceti, he would have enough time to respond. As things stood, a mere few billion satellites were responsible for providing early warning across a spherical region of space with a radius of one light-year. Even if another civilization's fleet arrived, the chances of detecting it would not be very high.
For now, he could only take things one step at a time. Once they reached Tau Ceti, he would find a way to launch more early-warning satellites. After all, they might have to stay at Tau Ceti for a very long time. According to Hu Yu's plan, they would fully assimilate all the technologies in which they had made breakthroughs so far, and build a large number of warships and new residential spacecraft. Hu Yu even wanted to discuss with Academician Zeng whether they could propel one of Tau Ceti's planets on an interstellar journey.
The satellites poured out of the fleet like a swarm of locusts. Yet once they entered space, they were like a handful of salt scattered into the sea: they vanished without a trace in an instant, without raising so much as a ripple. The universe was simply too vast.
Several hours later, the Pathfinders completed their preliminary survey of Tau Ceti and sent back confirmed information: there were no signs of any civilization at Tau Ceti. Hu Yu could finally set his mind completely at ease.
The most important task now was to use the information the Pathfinders had sent back about Tau Ceti's five planets to devise the most suitable mining and construction plans. How to establish mines, what kinds of factories to build and where, what equipment and components to produce and in what quantities, how to build the new fleet and how many ships to construct, and the maximum and minimum lengths of their stay at Tau Ceti-all these questions had to be resolved before the fleet arrived. Then work could begin immediately upon arrival, without wasting a moment.
At the end of 2285, the enormous Tau Ceti had appeared before the people's eyes. Its fiercely burning flames illuminated the entire planetary system, and once again people felt the warmth of a star. Tau Ceti was slightly smaller than the Sun, but that did nothing to diminish her power and majesty. Blazing sunlight filled every corner of the Tau Ceti System.
At the sight of Tau Ceti, people felt as though they had returned to the Solar System. The sunlight was so beautiful, so familiar. Anyone who had not spent a long time drifting through interstellar space could not understand how these wanderers felt at that moment. It was as though children who had been away from home for years had returned to their mother's embrace.
The fleet had reached the orbit of Tau Ceti's Planet Five, a rocky planet slightly smaller than Earth that revolved slowly around Tau Ceti. Planet Five was about seven astronomical units from Tau Ceti, roughly equivalent to a position between Jupiter and Saturn. It lay in a region of perpetual cold and stillness, with temperatures remaining below minus 150 degrees Celsius. According to the data collected beforehand by the Pathfinder craft, Planet Five had tremendous mining value, the greatest of any planet in the Tau Ceti System.
Because the Tau Ceti Planetary System was relatively poor in metals, very few mineral deposits had been found on Number One Planet through Planet Four. Planet Five, by contrast, had an extremely high metal content, completely different from the other four planets. According to Academician Zeng's analysis, Planet Five most likely had not originally belonged to Tau Ceti, but was a planet from elsewhere.
After ten billion years of development, the Milky Way had long since become very stable. All planets belonged somewhere, and wandering planets were exceedingly rare. But according to the Destroyer, countless interstellar wars had occurred two million years ago, and innumerable stars had been blown apart. That would inevitably have left a number of ownerless planets wandering through the Milky Way. Most of them traveled too fast to be captured by other stars and could only crash headlong into them under their powerful gravity, becoming part of the stars. Only a very few lucky ones managed to enter orbit around a star and become new members of its system.
If Planet Five was a wandering planet, that would neatly explain why its composition differed so greatly from the other four. But the question was unimportant. Whether it was a native meant nothing to Hu Yu. What he needed was a large quantity of minerals-the more the better, and the greater the variety the better.
Hu Yu ordered all the J-90s to leave the Polaris and fly above Planet Five. Planet Five had no atmosphere, but that did nothing to impede the J-90s. They had originally been designed for interstellar flight, with no consideration given to aerodynamics. Eighty thousand J-90s flew to Planet Five and dropped a dense barrage of fusion bombs.