"I think the reason why the Small Star Sector Civilization is so advanced is probably because it has a more thorough understanding of space. Perhaps they can move a Cepheid variable star," Academician Liu said.
"Cepheid variable stars are not so easy to move. Although they are not as massive as stars, they are real tough nuts to crack. They inherit most of the angular momentum of their parent stars. According to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the smaller the diameter, the faster the rotation speed. Their fastest rotation speed can be seven or eight hundred revolutions per second. The high-speed rotation of such massive, high-energy objects causes very serious disturbances to space. Moving them is difficult."
"Sigh, we can't move it, but we could at least get a piece of it. It's a pity we don't have the capability to operate on a Cepheid variable star," Hu Yu sighed.
"Wait, get one! Right, how come I didn't think of that?" Academician Liu exclaimed.
" Little Liu, do you have a solution?"
"Academician, although we can't operate on the surface of Cepheid variable stars, we can still manage to extract a few pieces of material."
"Bombardment with other celestial bodies?"
"Yes, Academician, if we just get a few more pieces of Cepheid variable star matter, that is, neutron-degenerate matter, we won't need to move the whole thing over there. Detonating the whole thing might attract the attention of other advanced civilizations in the galaxy."
"Are you confident in collecting and preserving the material from these Cepheid variable stars?"
"Yes, Academician, we only need to move a star to its vicinity. Gravity will naturally cause them to collide. The collision will inevitably eject a small portion of Cepheid variable star matter. We need some special spacecraft. These spacecraft cannot be too large, otherwise the tidal forces of the Cepheid variable star will tear them to pieces. Secondly, they need to be fast. The ejected matter will immediately expand and complete beta decay within a few minutes to a dozen minutes, releasing high-energy electrons, accompanied by a huge explosion, and then becoming ordinary matter. We need to collect this degenerate neutron matter within 20 seconds. Thirdly, the spacecraft must have sufficient energy. We need to use directional force fields and directional magnetic fields to control this degenerate neutron matter and prevent it from undergoing beta decay."
"It's that simple?" Hu Yu was somewhat skeptical.
"It's that simple. The most difficult part is maintaining the degenerate state of neutrons to prevent decay. Now we have enough energy and the energy levels we can control are high enough. These substances are like compressed springs. It's difficult to compress a spring from its unfolded state, but it's much easier to maintain a compressed spring. So controlling these substances within a small area is not a problem. However, once the spaceship is equipped with these substances, the force field will directly add mass to the spaceship, making its mass very large and its movement very slow."
"That's not a problem. We can move stars, so a few hundred million tons of matter is nothing. We can use the same methods as moving celestial bodies to move the small spaceship."
"Alright, in that case, Little Liu and I will immediately conduct simulation experiments. At the same time, have them quickly design a spaceship capable of surviving within a few hundred kilometers of a Cepheid variable star. General, you arrange the transportation of the star. By the time the spaceship is completed, the star should be almost ready to arrive."
"Two academicians, please stay a little longer. I know you two, who knows when your next break will be."
The three looked at each other and smiled. Outside the porthole, the starry sky remained tranquil, but this tranquility would be shattered by humanity in six years. If that Cepheid variable star, a thousand light-years away, had any thoughts, it would never have imagined that such a weak human would set its sights on it.
Things went very smoothly. 600 light-years from the target Cepheid variable star, a yellow dwarf star with a mass comparable to the Sun was carried by millions of Wind Master to a location 10,000 kilometers from the Cepheid variable star. As soon as the star was released by the Wind Master, it was pulled by the enormous gravity and began to revolve around the Cepheid variable star.
Cepheid variable stars are like the center of a vortex, and stars are like leaves on the edge of the vortex. They slowly rotate around the center until they finally plunge headlong into the vortex. The Wind Master has already retreated far away, but the energy of the impact is still enormous, several levels higher than that of a stellar explosion.
From a distance, the star has transformed into a giant tadpole with a long tail. Pulled by the Cepheid variable star, the star's matter begins to spiral downwards towards it. A few minutes later, the first batch of matter from the star reaches the surface of the Cepheid variable star. This material consists of hydrogen and helium. The powerful gravity immediately destroys the atomic structure of the elements, and electrons are compressed into protons to become neutrons, becoming part of the Cepheid variable star and releasing enormous amounts of energy.
As the stars drew ever closer, the two raging behemoths finally collided violently. The Cepheid variable star was relatively small, so calling it a collision was somewhat inaccurate. Within a second, the star enveloped the Cepheid variable star. Immediately afterward, the star's internal matter underwent rapid changes. Its core energy was insufficient to withstand the pressure from the external matter and the gravitational pull from the Cepheid variable star. With a massive explosion, the star shattered into tens of thousands of enormous fragments, each hundreds to tens of thousands of kilometers in size. The light produced by the explosion was equivalent to that of millions of Sun.
This was just a collision between a star and a Cepheid variable star. If it were a Cepheid variable star explosion, the scene would be incredibly magnificent. Five small spaceships quickly shuttled through the aftershocks of the explosion. Half of the outer shell of these small spaceships was composed of Chong Element, and only this special element could keep the spaceships intact in such a harsh environment.
Building these few small spaceships has already consumed all the remaining Chong Element in the fleet. However, it is still possible to recover these spaceships after they complete their mission. As long as the Wind Star Civilization is defeated, this amount of Chong Element will be insignificant. Fortunately, the millions of Wind Master retreated in time and did not overestimate their strength. The energy of the explosion far exceeded the academicians' calculations. At this energy level, even the Wind Master could be torn apart.
At the same time as the explosion, the small spaceships activated their warp drives, traveling through the energy surge propagating at the speed of light to a location 200 kilometers from the Cepheid variable star. They searched for a second radiation source at the predetermined location. After detaching from the degenerate matter stripped from the Cepheid variable star, they immediately began beta decay, releasing high-energy electrons. Simultaneously, their volume rapidly expanded trillions of times, and a secondary explosion occurred, releasing enormous energy.
Of particular importance is expansion, which occurs much faster than decay. Excessively expanded matter becomes meaningless. The small spaceship must find Cepheid variable star matter from a large amount of stellar matter before all of this happens. These matter are as small as sesame seeds and no larger than basketballs. If it fails, the fleet will have to spend several more years transporting a new star.
However, in the years leading up to the impact, Academician Zeng and Academician Liu had conducted numerous simulations on the fleet's supercomputer. Although the energy burst exceeded expectations, fortunately, the location of the Cepheid variable star's ejected material did not change much. This heavy material was only a few tens of meters away from the simulated location. The five small spacecraft arrived at their respective locations almost simultaneously, and the computer identified the material within 0.001 seconds, confirming it as the Cepheid variable star's material.
The small spacecraft directly opened its hatch, enveloping the matter inside. Just as the matter was about to expand, directional force fields and magnetic fields arrived, further compressing the matter from all directions to ensure its integrity. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, from the Cepheid variable star ejecting matter to the small spacecraft controlling the matter, taking no more than five seconds.