Zhang Yuanshan began piloting the spaceship back. Both the small spaceship and the Wind Master could travel at a thousand times the speed of light. Moreover, this small spaceship had carried out many missions during JD3 without ever encountering any problems. However, at this moment, a problem still arose. It was still ten minutes at 500 times the speed of light. Along the way, Zhang Yuanshan had switched to manual control and made various adjustments to the spaceship, but the speed still could not be increased.
For safety reasons, the previous exploration spaceships had never used warp drive. Zhang Yuanshan was full of doubts. Without saying a word, he switched to another spaceship. Twenty minutes later, he returned to Earth Two. He switched to another spaceship, and it took another 20 minutes.
Zhang Yuanshan realized that things were definitely not simple; it was impossible for all these small spaceships to malfunction at the same time. He hurriedly ran to the Science City and found Academician Zeng and his group.
"Distinguished academicians, a problem has arisen. I just tested three small spaceships, and the results are the same as with the Wind Master: their speed is only 500 times the speed of light. These small spaceships have carried out missions many times before, reaching speeds of thousands of times the speed of light, and they are well-maintained. I guarantee with my integrity that it is absolutely impossible for these spaceships to malfunction simultaneously."
"What?" Zhang Yuanshan's words caused an uproar among the academicians. It was understandable if the Wind Master had hidden design problems, but these small spaceships were mature products that had carried out many missions. How could their speed be cut in half here?
"Could the problem be with the spacecraft?" Academician Zeng frowned deeply.
"Commander-in-Chief, you should rest now. I know you've been busy for a long time. Leave the rest to us."
"Okay, Academician Zeng, you all need to get more rest too. You're working much harder than I am."
After saying that Zhang Yuanshan turned and left the Science City.
" Little Liu, come here for a moment."
"Academician, what's the matter?" Academician Liu Bo, who was busy nearby, ran over.
" Little Liu, inform everyone to temporarily suspend research on the spaceship. I don't think the problem lies with the spaceship itself. Think about it, besides the spaceship itself, what other factors could affect its warp speed?"
"Well, the factors affecting a spacecraft's warp speed are nothing more than its mass and size, engine power, and to be more specific, energy supply, engine design, etc. Academician, could it be that the Nebula Region has too many different celestial bodies, complex gravity, and chaotic space, leading to a decrease in engine efficiency?"
"This could be the reason, or it could not. We need specific data. However, I don't think this is likely the cause of the Wind Master' and the small spaceship's decreased speed. The space in the Nebula Region is very chaotic, and various celestial bodies have a significant impact on space. But we have observed this test route many times, and the space is relatively stable, especially the route at the first three detection ports, which has been rigorously measured. However, since you raised this idea, we will still remeasure the gravitational distribution and spatial curvature here."
"What other reasons could there be? By the way, Academician, could there be some extreme celestial bodies hidden nearby that we just haven't discovered yet? Sigh, never mind, that's impossible."
"No, that's a good idea too. Actually, both of your ideas lead to the same conclusion: gravity and space. So, let's first figure out the gravity and curvature around the flight path. We must measure the gravity data at each key point in the field before considering other reasons."
Extreme objects, namely massive, high-density celestial bodies such as dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes, would severely affect the surrounding airspace. If they were hidden in the airspace near the flight path, they would definitely affect the speed of the journey. However, neither Academician Liu nor Academician Zeng believed this. The best explanation was that Earth Two was constantly falling towards the star, no matter where Earth Two was in its orbit around the star.
If there were an extreme object nearby, when the star is between Earth Two and the extreme object, Earth Two's falling speed would increase. When Earth Two Earth Two is between the star and the extreme object, its falling speed towards the star should slow down or even stop, and it would fall towards the extreme object instead. This situation has never been observed in more than 60 years.
Moreover, the first batch of small spaceships had already roughly searched this airspace ten years ago and did not find any extreme celestial bodies. It is impossible for an extreme celestial body to appear in this airspace in just ten years, whether it is newly formed or moved here.
Academician Zeng tried his best to convince himself that although the probability of any of these possibilities was very small, the universe was so vast that anything could happen, and perhaps an extreme celestial body would suddenly appear here.
Dozens of small spaceships took off from Earth Two, heading in various directions. These small spaceships would meticulously search for potentially hidden extreme celestial bodies near the flight path, measuring the gravitational distribution and spatial curvature at key coordinates. After completing their mission, they would continue with the second task: finding a new planet as a resource planet. Earth Two's resources not only could not be completely depleted, but also needed to be replenished. The first batch of small spaceships also undertook the task of finding planets, but unfortunately, due to concerns about the Fish Horse Star People warships entering the Nebula Region, only a few were launched, and they all traveled at low speeds with conventional power. To date, no usable planets have been found.
If a planet is found nearby, the Wind Master warships can slowly transport it using warp drive. If that doesn't work, the robots can clean it a few more times. Currently, there are only 5 million warships, which is still a long way from the 20 million mark. The academicians have basically confirmed that the Wind Master are not faulty, so the construction speed must be maintained.
The third mission was also to fly out of the Nebula Region and check from all directions whether the Fish Horse Star warships were still guarding the perimeter. The Fish Horse Star People must know that humans had hidden in the Nebula Region, but they hadn't followed. For the Fish Horse Star People, entering the Nebula Region might be risky, and perhaps guarding the outside was easier. After all, humans couldn't stay in the Nebula Region forever, nor could they stay until their technology reached a level where Small Star Sector Advanced Civilization could contend with them before coming out.
However, Hu Yu thought differently now. If the Fish Horse Star People were really outside, he might actually be able to survive until the Small Star Sector Civilization could leave. Otherwise, going out would just be suicide, so why bother? Anyway, this Nebula Region was rich in resources. Although there were many inconveniences, industry was slowly catching up. Apart from building warships, other aspects could be gradually solved using industry and technology.
Since there's no rush, there's no need for the small spaceship to engage in warp drive. Too much matter would overload the warp engine, potentially causing it to break down before even leaving the Nebula Region. The Wind Master was already badly damaged by the absorbed matter after only a few days of flight; the small spaceship is far less Wind Master and cannot withstand such strain.
After completing their mission of searching for planets and extreme celestial bodies at 0.2 times the speed of light, these small spaceships will continue their journey towards the edge of the nebula. Just before reaching the edge, they will slow down again to a snail's pace to avoid attracting the attention of the Fish Horse Star People, provided that the Fish Horse Star People warships remain outside.
A month has passed, and no extreme objects have been found near the flight path. The gravitational distribution and spatial curvature measured again are very complex, but they are already very good for this nebula and not enough to affect the speed of the Wind Master. The possibility of the existence of extreme objects can be ruled out.
This time, both Academician Zeng and Academician Liu had furrowed their brows, their foreheads deeply lined with wrinkles, like sand dunes swept by a flood.
Warship malfunctions and anomalies have been ruled out, the existence of extreme celestial bodies has been ruled out, gravitational anomalies have been ruled out, and spatial chaos has been ruled out. What else could affect the warp speed of warp drive? Unless there is an invisible giant hand in front of the warship that is holding it back at high speed.
"Academician, is there something fishy going on?" Liu Bo had almost pulled his hair out; on the verge of collapse, he finally uttered one last question.
"Sigh, maybe," Academician Zeng said with a wry smile.