Deep Blue had lain buried in the soil for over fifty years. These enormous vessels lay quietly underground; relying on conventional engines, they could scarcely ever leave the planet. In other words, they would have to devote all their space to engines and energy storage to overcome the planet's gravity. Warp drives, however, could almost completely disregard planetary gravity. A planet's gravity was itself a warping of the space around it, and compared with Deep Blue's warp drives, the curvature it produced was negligible.
People had once again used the enormous steel pipes connecting Deep Blue to the underground city to move machinery, equipment, supplies, and products of every kind aboard the vessels. As the fleet developed, its supplies had also increased exponentially. When they left Tau Ceti, ninety percent of Deep Blue had still been empty. Now, after filling more than a hundred engineering ships, the fleet's supplies had also filled more than a hundred Deep Blue vessels.
This machinery and equipment formed the essential foundation for the fleet's future development, along with all the miscellaneous items several hundred million people would need in their daily lives over the next few centuries. Everyone who was able to help had spent over three years moving everything before the underground city was finally empty. Much of that time had been wasted in the pipes. Their diameter was too small, and much of the equipment had to be dismantled before it could be sent aboard Deep Blue. Sometimes transporting one large piece of equipment clogged the entire pipe. If they had used shuttles to carry the supplies directly aboard Deep Blue and the engineering ships, as they had at Tau Ceti, they could have saved at least two-thirds of the time.
This time, Hu Yu had not set a specific destination for the fleet. It would continue traveling toward the left side of the Milky Way's plane until it found a planetary system to settle in. Why the Insect Race had invaded, where the Abyss was, the existence of a galactic-level civilization, who had enlisted the Sand Python Civilization, what secret Mr. Daozi had learned, and Mr. Daozi's own secrets-these questions had continued to trouble Hu Yu. He felt that only by getting closer to the Insect Race could he unravel these secrets one by one. Based on what Mr. Daozi had said, Alpha Centauri should still be around twenty to thirty thousand light-years from the front line between the Milky Way's civilizations and the Insect Race. Hu Yu was confident he could lead the fleet to the small star sector civilization level before reaching the front line.
"General, there's something I'd like to report." With the fleet about to leave Alpha Centauri, Lieutenant General Yang Fan came to see Hu Yu.
"What is it? Go ahead."
"General, do you remember when we first joined forces at Alpha Centauri? I told you I'd encountered a planetary-level civilization on the way," Yang Fan said.
"Hmm, I think I remember. What about it?"
"General, if we leave Alpha Centauri without doing anything about them, the high-energy radiation and particle streams from the explosions of Tau Ceti and Alpha Centauri's third star will sweep over that planet in about three hundred years. If they haven't developed into a stellar-level civilization by then, they won't be able to withstand the storm."
"What are you suggesting?"
"General, if possible, we could make a detour and warn them. After all, we're the ones who brought this disaster upon them. If someone had helped us back in the Earth era, perhaps we wouldn't have ended up like this."
"I wouldn't have guessed you were such a sentimental fellow. All right, it's only three hundred light-years. A detour won't take much time. Let's go see what the situation is. Looking at how other civilizations develop will also be a great benefit to us. If they're worth saving, we'll give them a hand. If they're a race like the Sand Python Civilization, we'll leave them to fend for themselves."
Every civilization followed a vastly different path of development. A planetary-level civilization's technology might not do much to improve the fleet's strength, but its creativity and ideas might inspire the scientists and help them resolve technological bottlenecks that had troubled them for a long time.
"Thank you, General."
"Go on. There's still plenty of work for you to do in the fleet. Make the arrangements properly, and don't let anything slip through the cracks."
"Yes, sir. I guarantee I'll complete the mission."
Once preparations were complete, the fleet rose from the first planet. Half the Stealth Killers had been destroyed in the battle with the Sand Python Civilization, leaving ten million, which was still a relatively sufficient number for the time being. Besides guarding Deep Blue, several million could be spared for combat. The situation was more than ten times better than when they had set out from Tau Ceti, especially since Deep Blue's speed had increased from a few times the speed of light to a hundred times the speed of light. Deep Blue had always been a major burden on the fleet, and the increase in speed had eased a great deal of pressure.
Hu Yu was not the only one interested in this Planet-Level civilization. All the scientists wanted to see it. Several centuries had passed since the fleet set out, and it had encountered a number of civilizations, though not an especially large or small number. Yet it had never properly dealt with any of them. Perhaps the universe was simply that cruel: communication between civilizations was quite difficult. This civilization was only at the Planet-Level, while the fleet already had the strength of a star system-level civilization. With that powerful strength behind them, communication should not be a problem. They might even make some unexpected gains.
After a brief three-year journey, the fleet arrived at the planetary system Yang Fan had seen. It was a very beautiful system, with three planets orbiting a young yellow dwarf. The second planet was clearly a planet that harbored life. Its blue and green surface showed these unfamiliar visitors from the Solar System, over a thousand light-years away, how special it was. In that respect, it seemed much like Earth had once been, with blue oceans and deep green forests.
"Yang Fan, are you sure the civilization on this planet is only at the Planet-Level?" Hu Yu asked. The fleet had stopped in orbit around the third planet of the system. Out of caution, it had not rashly disturbed the civilized beings on the second planet.
"General, that was the case a few decades ago, at least. And it's only been a few decades; they couldn't have developed that quickly. At the time, we observed them from a distance using optical equipment and found no high-tech creations. There were no products of civilization anywhere else in the planetary system, either."
"Begin collecting data on the second planet immediately. We'll prepare to land."
"General, the data has already been collected and analyzed. The second planet's gravity is one and a half times Earth's, which our bodies can withstand. It has a strong magnetic field that can protect the planet from cosmic radiation. The composition of the air is unsuitable for humans to breathe, and unknown microorganisms are present. For landing, ordinary protective suits will be enough."
"Good. The fleet will remain at the third planet. Send survey teams to land on and investigate the first and third planets. I'll land on the second planet with several academicians from the science ship."
"General, for safety's sake, let the survey team land first," Yang Fan urged.
"No need. We'll send a small group down to avoid causing them to panic. As for safety, I believe we have enough data now. The guard squad and the landing craft can fully guarantee our safety."