"Mm, it's the weapons department's latest achievement. Actually, you already know about it: the antimatter bomb. Now that directional magnetic field line control technology has matured, antimatter can be stored perfectly. And with curvature engines to propel the bombs, attacks can be carried out faster than light. This will be one of our major killing weapons in the future. Alongside gravity bombs, laser weapons, and high-energy particle beam weapons, it brings our weapons systems to four types in total. That's barely enough at the stellar level. The only problem is that we have too few antimatter bombs. We manufacture antimatter one particle at a time, so accumulating a kilogram would take at least a year."
"That slow? Can't we speed it up? If nothing else works, we can build another super-large particle accelerator."
"There's no need. Now that directional magnetic field line control technology has matured, ordinary accelerators are no longer necessary. But there really is no way to make this go faster. We're accumulating it one particle at a time. How many particles do you think it takes to make a kilogram of antimatter? There's no way to speed that up. We're exploring other, faster ways to manufacture antimatter, but there won't be any major breakthroughs for the time being. Still, don't underestimate a kilogram of antimatter. It's dangerous enough to destroy an asteroid. In ordinary battles, we use it by the gram. And we'll be staying at Tau Ceti for a long time. If we manufacture a few dozen kilograms, that'll be enough for a war or two. Even after we leave Tau Ceti, we'll still be able to manufacture antimatter in the fleet. It can only serve as a strategic reserve, so it's best to conserve it as much as possible until a critical moment."
"All right, I was asking too much."
"No, given our current situation, we really do need a large supply of superweapons. We may not attack others, but that won't stop them from coming after us. And I suggest we don't use antimatter bombs unless we have absolutely no choice. But once we do use them, they need to deal a crippling blow."
"I understand. Academician, what direction will our weapons development take in the future? These few weapons obviously aren't enough. Should we also prepare some conventional bombs?"
"I don't understand warfare, but in interstellar battles, everyone is maneuvering at high speeds. Unless ordinary bombs are also equipped with faster-than-light engines, they won't be very effective. They should still have some use in establishing a defensive perimeter, though. The scientists in the weapons division and I have discussed the future direction of our weapons development, and there are several possibilities. One is a space bomb. It should be the most powerful, but also the most difficult to develop. There are also some unusual conventional bombs, but all of those will have to wait until the technology for curvature travel without relying on the Chong Element has matured. Otherwise, the little Chong Element we have won't be nearly enough to cover the consumption."
"What's a space bomb? Academician, please explain that too," Hu Yu said with a smile.
"A curvature engine can alter the structure of space. If we continue increasing the engine's power and bend space to its limit, our calculations suggest that space might shatter. If space itself shattered, any object within it would be utterly destroyed. A space bomb can be considered an enhanced version of a gravity bomb, but the difference in their power is like heaven and earth. They simply can't be compared."
"I suppose we won't see any results from that for decades. I can imagine how difficult it must be. Academician, thank you all for your hard work."
"Don't mention it. We're just doing our respective jobs. I only wonder how the leader, Minister Luo, and the others are doing, and whether they've found a suitable star system to settle in."
"Yes. More than sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye. I hope they're all safe."
"I hope so too."
Busy days passed one after another. In the blink of an eye, another forty-odd years had gone by, and it had been fifty years since they came to Tau Ceti. On this day, Hu Yu was giving his son Hu Yunhang a lesson. By age, Hu Yunhang was nearly a hundred, but he still had the youthful appearance of a man in his twenties.
By now, virtually everyone had undergone genetic modification. Any citizen who was at least eighteen years old, had no bad record, and had earned enough fleet contributions had the right to choose to use genetic medicine. Some people liked to keep a youthful appearance, while others preferred to look more mature. Overall, apart from some of the original elderly people, there were now very few old faces in the fleet. Hu Yu was happy to see it; it made the entire fleet look full of vitality. So when his son Hu Yunhang used contribution points to exchange for genetic medicine at the age of twenty-five, Hu Yu did not object.
Age no longer meant much anyway. A young woman you met might already be seventy or eighty, but calling her grandma would certainly get you scolded.
"Look at you, boy. You laze around all day while everyone else is busy. Can't you make your old man proud and do something worthwhile, anything at all?" Hu Yu said irritably.
"Dad, I swear to heaven, I've spent the whole day leading training, working myself to exhaustion. Can't I have a little peace and quiet when I get home?" Hu Yunhang retorted. He had grown older, but his temperament seemed never to have matured, remaining as young as his face.
"You're as lazy as a donkey at the mill. Your dad was already a colonel and regimental commander in his early thirties. Look at you: after all these years, you've only made it to major. If you ask me, half that rank is padding. If your corps commander didn't know I was your father, there's no way he'd have promoted you to major."
"Dad, times have changed. There's no war to fight right now. If there were, you'd see what I can do. I may only be a minor major, but I earned every bit of my rank. I was worried people would say I only got promoted because of my connections to you. Even our division commander said my military knowledge and combat ability are definitely good enough for a division-level officer."
"Boast, keep boasting. A division-level officer? You think just anyone can do that job? Why don't you say you can be a corps commander while you're at it?"
"That's because I haven't had the chance. Give me one, and I could do just as well as a corps commander." Hu Yunhang continued talking without restraint. Other people might be somewhat intimidated by Hu Yu, but Hu Yunhang wasn't afraid of him at all, and Hu Yu could do nothing with this son of his. Hu Yu knew his son well. For all he said, he was well aware of his son's hard work and talent. If he hadn't held him back, Hu Yunhang might really have become a division commander, but Hu Yunhang knew nothing about that.
Hu Yu's position was different. As the fleet's leader, he avoided gossip wherever he could, though that meant treating his son unfairly. Even if Hu Yunhang was a somewhat better soldier than he was, it was good to let his son gain more experience at the lower levels. It could only do him good.
"All right, all right. You two are bickering again. Can't you both be quiet for a while?" Xiao Xiao came out of the kitchen carrying a plate.
"Mom, it's all Dad's fault. He's always nagging. He doesn't act like a leader at all."
"How many times have I told you? Don't call me Mom. Do I look that old?" Xiao Xiao glanced at her son and scolded him with a smile. About the same age as Hu Yu, she had also maintained the attractive face and figure of a woman under thirty.
"All right, Mother. Is dinner ready? I'm starving."
"Hungry? Neither of you looks hungry to me. Why don't you skip dinner, go outside and argue for two hours, then come back and eat?"
"My dear wife, I'm educating our son here. Could you stop trampling all over my dignity every time?"
"Dignity? Do you want your dignity or your dinner? If you want dignity, go outside. If you want dinner, hurry up."
"Dinner, dinner." After all these years, Hu Yu could do nothing with Xiao Xiao either. Outside, he was the fleet's leader, but the moment he came home, his status dropped to the bottom.
"Brother Yu, how much longer are we staying here?" Xiao Xiao asked at the dinner table.
"We're not sure yet. It depends on the fleet's construction progress. If possible, we'll stay as long as we can. Why? Aren't you happy here?"
"It's not that. It's quiet and peaceful here. But haven't you noticed? Apart from work, we don't have any other activities now. Though these are unusual times and everyone is working hard, this isn't a healthy way to live."
"Hmm? Go on."
"Brother Yu, we grew up on Earth, so we have more feelings about life. People born in the fleet might not feel the same way, or not as strongly. If all we do is work, what's the point of our existence? Is it just to stay alive? If life isn't rich and colorful, what meaning does it have?"
"Mm, I understand what you're saying. It's just that right now we really don't have the means to provide everyone with better activities. But Xiao'er, thank you for reminding me. I really hadn't considered this before. I'll do everything I can to change the situation."
"Dad, what Mom said really is something we should consider. I'm not reporting over my superiors' heads; let's just treat this as family conversation. In our unit, apart from flying fighters, repairing fighters, discussing tactical theory, and so on, we have no other exchanges at all. I didn't spend very long on Earth, but I also know humans are social animals. Communication is very important to us," Hu Yunhang chimed in.
"Sigh, forget it. I'm done eating."
"What's wrong, Brother Yu?"
"This really is a problem. I'm calling a meeting right away. You two go ahead and eat."
Hu Yu put down his bowl and chopsticks, turned, and strode out of his home in the base, notifying the department heads to come to a meeting as he went. It looked like none of them could expect to enjoy a proper dinner. Although the day and night cycle on Tau Ceti's third planet was completely different from Earth's, with a day lasting fifty-seven hours, humans still worked and rested according to Earth time.
"General, what's so urgent?" everyone asked.
"Comrades, have you noticed something?" Hu Yu asked.
Everyone was completely baffled. They looked at one another, unsure what Hu Yu meant.
"Comrades, during our time at Tau Ceti, you've all worked hard, and your achievements are there for everyone to see. Our people have been even more diligent, working hard without complaint. But have you noticed that we rarely hear them laugh anymore, whether at work or in the residential base? Why is that?"
Hu Yu glanced at everyone and continued, "During our time at Tau Ceti, we've succeeded in slowly turning living, breathing people into machines. All anyone knows is work, work, work. Although these are unusual times and we need the people to work, when in all of history have humans ever stopped working? Why has it become like this now?"
"This..."
"Now that you mention it, it really is true. I hadn't noticed before."
"Yes, I noticed it a long time ago."
"Why has it become like this? Have any of you thought about it?" Hu Yu asked.