"We've failed to care for our people!" Hu Yu said loudly. "All these years, every one of us, myself included-who has given any thought to how the people feel? They may not say anything, and they understand the fleet's situation, but that's no excuse for us to do nothing."
"General, it's not that we don't want to help. There really isn't a good way to help the people relax and have fun. Conditions in the fleet are so difficult right now, and the people know it. I can understand how they feel myself. Sometimes I even wonder if there's a way to restore my original genes. I wouldn't live forever, but at least I could grow old happily," an official said dejectedly.
"General, many people now work 365 days a year. Even if we let them rest, they don't want to. For one thing, they know the fleet needs them. More importantly, when they go home, there's nothing to do but lie in bed. They'd rather stay at the factory and keep themselves occupied. I'm with them almost every day, and I've often urged them to rest more, or their bodies won't hold up, but it hasn't done much good," another official said, head lowered.
"The responsibility is mine. None of you are to blame. I owe all of you and the people an apology. Now, let's discuss how we can change things for them. I'd rather delay the fleet's construction by a few months than see our people turn into a bunch of listless robots."
"General, terraforming the planets in Tau Ceti is practically impossible, and it would take an enormous amount of time and effort. Our only option is to focus on facilities."
"Then I'll make the decision. You're all afraid of holding up the fleet's work if you speak up. From now on, the people must be required to take time off. Factories can operate in shifts and still keep production on schedule. People will be allowed to work no more than six days a week. We'll build a hundred large entertainment centers. We can't terraform the planets, but we can turn the interiors of the centers into outdoor paradises. They must have all kinds of entertainment facilities, fitness equipment, and so on. Each center must be able to hold at least a hundred thousand people at once without feeling crowded. I believe that will be easy enough. We have enough steel modules, and building one center won't take long. Start work on multiple centers at once, and aim to finish their outer structures within six months. The interior facilities must be in place within a year. Next, look for spectacular sights and beautiful scenery on the other planets and establish planetary tourism routes, but make sure they're safe. Also, government departments at every level must hold various group activities regularly, so everyone can sing and dance. All of this has one purpose: to keep our people happy and healthy. Believe me, although we'll lose some time, everyone's work efficiency will improve noticeably and may even surpass what it is now."
"General, we thank you on behalf of the people," the officials said.
"It's what I should do. Everyone, start taking action now. If you have any other good ideas, put them into practice without reporting them first. In short, I want to see results in a year."
"Yes, General."
Everyone left with excitement written across their faces. Hu Yu felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He stood up, and his stomach growled. Only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten dinner. He immediately called Xiao Xiao. "My dear wife, save me some food. I'm starving." Then he hurried out of the conference room and headed home. Tonight, he could eat his fill and sleep soundly.
It had to be said that, after enduring the disaster, people had become even more efficient. In just over eight months, a hundred large entertainment centers had risen from the ground. Thanks to the constantly increasing steel output on planet five, daily production had now surpassed fifty million tons. For the sake of these hundred centers, planet five had allocated fully half its output to planet three. Countless prefabricated center modules left planet five and were transported by the Polaris to planet three for assembly.
The facilities inside the centers were manufactured and installed at the same time. Bars, KTV rooms, game arcades, card and board games, ball sports, and more were all available, along with various small botanical gardens, zoos, and farms. The small ice sphere had long since reached orbit near planet five. Water was no longer a problem; in fact, there was plenty to spare. Two of the centers even had small lakes, complete with wave machines, where people could play to their hearts' content.
Once all hundred centers were completed, the people's despondency was finally swept away. Their way of life changed completely, and work was no longer the sole focus of their lives. Every weekend, large crowds came to the centers, spending contribution points on opportunities for leisure and entertainment.
After getting proper relaxation, the people were more enthusiastic about their work, and their efficiency improved noticeably. Hu Yu walked through a center, watching the lively crowds and listening to the laughter that rang out from time to time. People were making the best of a difficult situation. Most importantly, with guidance, the people's way of thinking was gradually changing. Although the entertainment facilities were still far from perfect, they were already quite good for a wandering civilization.
Seeing all these changes, Hu Yu felt quietly gratified. It was thanks to Xiao Xiao's reminder. Otherwise, if things had continued as before, a major problem would have arisen sooner or later, and by then it would have been too late to change.
The burden on the people's minds had been lifted, but Hu Yu still couldn't relax. The fleet was now at a crucial stage of construction. After nearly fifty years of development, the Hunter-class Warships had finally entered their final testing phase. Each warship was 300 meters long, 58 meters wide, and 25 meters high, with a flattened triangular shape and black paint. Fully 500,000 of them were lined up in neat rows in orbit around planet five.
In the space age, building warships had actually become simpler than building ordinary aircraft in Earth's time. There was no need to account for the effects of Earth's environment, such as air, weather, humidity, and temperature. Sufficiently sturdy armor, backed by a powerful propulsion system, was enough to handle any situation. Inside the warship, all that was needed was a highly stable life-support system. At their current level of technology, these were the most basic and simple things. If construction had still been as complicated as building aircraft in Earth's time, let alone 500,000 Hunter-Killers, even 50,000 would have been difficult. Now the speed of warship production depended solely on the speed of steel production.
The Hunter-Killers stood side by side, their pitch-black paint and sharp lines giving off an air of menace. The forward third of each ship was a reinforced structure, with extraordinarily thick composite-alloy armor and a pointed bow. This design served only one purpose: to give the ship greater survivability in battle.
In interstellar warfare, opponents generally kept their distance from each other and maneuvered at high speed while waiting for an opportunity to attack. Large groups of warships gathering to bombard one another would practically never happen. At a great enough distance, even a laser cannon would have a delay of a fraction of a second or even several seconds. For an enemy ship maneuvering at high speed, a fraction of a second was enough to evade a laser cannon attack.
Although high-energy particle-beam weapons and laser weapons couldn't be used for faster-than-light combat, they remained indispensable low-cost weapons under current circumstances. Gravity bombs, antimatter bombs, and conventional fusion bombs could be equipped with faster-than-light engines for effective combat, but they consumed precious Chong Element. Therefore, raising the energy levels of laser and particle-beam weapons as much as possible was also the cheapest way to fight at present.
The emergence of a new superheavy-element alloy material had also greatly improved warship production. The new material could withstand temperatures exceeding 20,000 degrees and was also much stronger. Even if a small fusion bomb exploded nearby, the armor could withstand it head-on. With such high-strength armor, a Hunter-Killer could even ram directly into a target at ultrahigh speed. Ramming had many drawbacks, however, and no one would do it unless absolutely necessary.
The Hunter-Killers were also equipped with high-energy particle-beam weapons, laser weapons, extremely high-yield nuclear fusion weapons, and a small number of gravity bombs. Once this war machine was set in motion, it would surely bring destruction. None of it had been tested in actual combat, however, and they currently knew nothing about alien civilizations' methods of warfare or their weapons and equipment.
Beside the 500,000 Hunter-Killers were 300 enormous Deep Blue residential ships. Each Deep Blue was 20 kilometers long and more than five kilometers high and wide. Their interior layouts were all completely different. A total of 300 designer teams had participated, each responsible for the interior design of one Deep Blue. The fleet's interiors were divided into numerous levels, with more than a thousand in some ships and five or six hundred even in others, giving them a total volume of 150,000 cubic kilometers. Some Deep Blues were not divided into levels all the way through, with open sky in their centers instead. The fleet's total area also exceeded twenty million square kilometers, more than twice Earth's land area.
Inside the Deep Blues were mountains piled up from soil brought from the planets, as well as rivers and lakes filled with water taken from the small ice sphere. The weather throughout the fleet was simulated by AI based on Earth's conditions. Using fuzzy algorithms, the AI would produce frost, dew, rain, and snow at random. Apart from the many residential areas, the rest of the fleet was filled with Earth's plants and animals, restored through genetic technology. Flowers bloomed everywhere, fruit hung heavy on the branches, and cattle and sheep grazed in herds.
The 300 Deep Blues were designed to hold a population of ten billion. At present, the population was only a little over 500 million, so their living conditions could well be imagined. But as the population continued to grow, more and larger residential ships would need to be designed and built in the future. Although conditions aboard the ships were already fairly good, the people's quality of life would still decline sharply once the population reached the designed capacity.
Besides the 500,000 Hunter-Killers and 300 Deep Blues, there were several hundred support ships of varying sizes. Most of these served as factories. There were also two science ships, one large and one small. The large ship had the same shape as a Deep Blue, though its interior was completely different. The small ship was only three kilometers long, even smaller than the Polaris.
The two science ships used the strongest protective armor and the most advanced instruments. The large ship was led by Academician Zeng Zhaoyuan. This comprehensive science ship incorporated ninety-nine percent of the research departments. The small ship was led by Academician Xiao Yi and housed only one branch: biology. Its security clearance was so high that, apart from Hu Yu, the other senior leaders, and the relevant biologists, no one else could enter. Others didn't even know what went on inside.
Biology was a discipline prone to controversy, but things were different now. In the space age, every technology had its uses. Under Hu Yu's orders, the ship could conduct any experiment, including creating organisms that did not exist, provided the fleet's safety was guaranteed.
Although Academician Xiao Yi's age had been frozen at a hundred, Xiao Yi remained full of ambition. Many ideas that could only be contemplated before, never acted upon, could now be pursued. Xiao Yi could finally realize those dreams at will. If scientists were madmen, then biologists were a bunch of devils. Even Hu Yu couldn't imagine what terrifying things these people might create.