The conditions for obtaining genetic medicine were announced soon afterward. Only people over eighty in the fleet could receive it for free; everyone else needed enough fleet contribution points to obtain it. Otherwise, they would have to wait until they turned eighty, when they too could receive it for free. But who didn't want to keep a youthful body? For centuries, people had devoted countless efforts to maintaining a good figure and preserving their youth.
Now a problem arose. The fleet was highly automated, leaving little work to be done, and those who could find jobs were top talents in their respective fields. Most ordinary people collected the supplies issued by the fleet on schedule and passed their days chatting, playing cards, or playing video games. Their lives were leisurely but boring. After all, space in the fleet was limited, and civilians were not permitted to enter many areas.
Now an opportunity had come: they could live forever. It didn't matter if they had no job; they could enroll in various courses. As long as they performed well and earned a skill-level certificate, they could obtain genetic pills. What if they were too old to be suited to academic study? That was fine too. Learning production skills worked just as well. Maintenance, operation, and improvement all earned fleet contribution points, which could be exchanged for genetic medicine once enough had been accumulated.
If even that wasn't an option, they could volunteer at hospitals, schools, communities, and so on, doing sanitation, nursing, or providing help. Studying theory and learning technical skills earned the most contribution points, however. Hu Yu had deliberately favored those areas to build up a larger pool of talent. Without enough skilled people, the fleet would be unable to get work underway quickly even after reaching Tau Ceti. The decades spent en route were just right for building up that pool of talent.
The curricula were still being compiled under urgent conditions. All of Earth's records had been brought aboard the fleet, and now they only needed to be reorganized, with the main subjects selected and arranged appropriately for people of all ages who had been out of school for years. Staff in the relevant departments had already begun working at full speed. Those who wanted to study had begun searching online for relevant materials according to their interests and reviewing them, picking up knowledge they hadn't used in years. Once the official materials arrived, they would be able to study more systematically and effectively.
People learning to operate various instruments and machines had already begun taking up positions. For this purpose, the fleet had even shut down a batch of automated equipment and switched to manual operation. Although it was somewhat slower, the benefits were self-evident. If something went wrong and the machines broke down in the future, there would at least be plenty of technicians to operate things manually rather than simply waiting to die.
Seeing all this, Hu Yu finally felt considerably more at ease. At least there would be no more major problems within the fleet for the time being. People now had things to do instead of wasting their time, and it would also help relieve the oppressive feeling of living in a confined space.
The fleet advanced steadily through the starry expanse. It was now more than a thousand astronomical units from the Sun, roughly six light-days, and that distance would increase at an accelerating rate as time passed.
The Leader and Luo Zhigao's fleets had also departed long ago, and the fleets were drawing farther and farther apart. On this day, Hu Yu was standing in front of the large screen with several astronomers, discussing a detailed plan for charting the Milky Way, when an alarm suddenly sounded. Hu Yu hurriedly ordered someone to find out why. During interstellar travel, any small accident could destroy a ship and kill everyone aboard.
"General, the fleet has been hit by extremely intense radiation," a staff officer reported.
"What?"
"Preliminary analysis indicates that the radiation contains various rays and high-energy particles. Energy levels this high are rarely seen in natural environments."
"How much damage has the fleet sustained?" Hu Yu was most concerned about the fleet's condition; everything else was secondary.
"General, please wait a moment. We're analyzing it now. Oh, the results are in. Only a small number of instruments in the fleet have been damaged. I'll notify the relevant personnel immediately to repair or replace them. General, it's fortunate that we used the Chong Element extracted from the insects. The armor layer made by combining Chong Element with other materials is only a few centimeters thick, but it's extremely effective against cosmic rays and various high-energy particles. On top of that, every warship has a built-in ring-shaped magnetic field. That's how we managed to survive an energy storm this intense," the staff officer reported, still shaken.
Though radiation of such intensity could neither be seen nor touched, its destructive power was certainly no less than that of a super nuclear bomb exploding at close range. Without effective protection, the entire fleet would have been finished in an instant.
"How did such powerful cosmic radiation appear so suddenly? Have you determined its source?" Hu Yu asked.
"General, the radiation came from the direction of Earth's Solar System. I suspect..."
"Suspect what?"
"Something has happened to the Sun."
"What? Observe it immediately," Hu Yu ordered.
"General, we'll need to wait a while. The observation equipment is all outside the Polaris's armor, and it's currently out of commission. We'll have to wait for the maintenance personnel to repair it before it can work again," the staff officer replied.
"Observe it as soon as it's repaired," Hu Yu said urgently.
Fifteen minutes later...
"General, the Sun is gone," the staff officer reported with a trace of sorrow.
"Are you certain?"
"Certain, General. Please look. This is the image we just observed from six days ago. The Sun has disappeared. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and the others have all been engulfed in the light of the Sun's explosion. Uranus, Neptune, and the others have flown off along the tangents of their orbits. The Solar System is no more."
In the image, Hu Yu saw that Uranus was no longer following a circular orbit, but flying in a straight line. If she continued this way, she might be captured by a new star after some years and regain her vitality. She might also crash headlong into another planet or star, vanishing completely and becoming nourishment for another celestial body.
The Sun, that young star, was simply gone. She could originally have burned out slowly after ten billion years, completing her long life. Instead, she had released all her energy in an instant, bringing her life to a premature end in a tragic, heroic fashion.
There was no need to think about it. The Patrols and the Destroyers had certainly blown up the Sun to wipe out the Insect Race invading the Solar System. With their strength as small star-region civilizations, destroying a star was effortless. Using the immense energy of the Sun's explosion to destroy all the insects in the Solar System was indeed the simplest and most efficient method.
It was all because of those damned insects. Without the Insect Race's invasion, humanity could have developed its technology in peace and lived and worked contentedly in the Solar System. It would not have been reduced to a wandering civilization, with its future and survival uncertain, and the Sun would not have suffered this calamity and met a premature end.
Since ancient times, humanity had held a special affection for the Sun. It was the Sun that selflessly sent warmth to the earth, allowing all things to survive. Even in modern times, humanity could not escape its dependence on the Sun. Like a mother, the Sun nurtured all things, yet now it had taken its final bow ahead of time. It was impossible not to feel grief.
With a bang, Hu Yu slammed his clenched fist down on the table. The Patrols and the Destroyers could not be blamed for this. It was all because of those damned insects.
"I, Hu Yu, swear that one day I will kill every last one of you."
"General!"
"I'm fine. Don't let the news about the Sun get out. Don't dampen people's enthusiasm for studying."
"Yes, sir."
Hu Yu stood and walked over to the thick porthole. The star that had once shone brightest against the curtain of space was nowhere to be found, leaving only a patch of blackness behind. In years to come, the nebular matter left by the Sun's explosion might gather again. But because the Sun itself had relatively little mass, and the matter from its explosion had scattered across vast reaches of space, even if some of it gathered again, it would not have enough mass to ignite its core. Most likely, the nebular matter would disperse at random into more distant space, reaching the vicinity of other stars tens or hundreds of millions of years later and being captured by celestial bodies.
Putting aside his grief, Hu Yu returned to a rational state of mind. As a leader, he had to cast aside his emotions. The immense energy of the Sun's explosion had caught his attention, and he sought out Academician Zeng Zhaoyuan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to discuss it.
"Academician Zeng, what methods can be used to make a star explode?" A star's explosion meant violent power, and that power was utterly terrifying. If he could master it, he would have another trump card to save his life in the future. Hu Yu, too, was fascinated by this power. Even after traveling the vast distance of over a thousand astronomical units, hindered by the magnetic fields of several planets and scattered by the dense matter of the Kuiper Belt, its power was still so terrifying when it reached the Polaris fleet. If not for the Chong Element armor layer, the Polaris might have been like a fallen leaf amid huge ocean waves, helpless against the immensely powerful radiation from the Sun's explosion. Had it been a little closer, inside the Solar System, destruction might have been the only possible outcome. Even hiding behind a planet would have been no help.
"General, there are many ways to make a star explode, but at present we're still lacking something in each case and can't achieve any of them. The Patrols said that galaxy-level civilizations generally have the strength to destroy stars, while small star-region civilizations can toy with stars as they please."
"Academician, sorry for the trouble, but could you explain in more detail? You know, I've been away from academic work for over twenty years, and now..."
"Hehe, I understand. Then I'll briefly describe the several methods we're most likely to achieve at present. First, we could fire a large amount of antimatter into the center of a star, causing it to lose a great deal of matter from its center while generating enormous energy. However, our current production and reserves of antimatter haven't reached the level needed to destroy a star. But if we improve the relevant technology and increase the speed of antimatter production, this is the method we're most likely to achieve, and in the shortest time. Second, we could fire a small black hole at a star. The black hole would gather and devour matter at the star's center, reducing the pressure there and causing the star to collapse and be destroyed. Likewise, we can't create a black hole yet either; our energy level isn't high enough. When we grow stronger in the future, we can build some ultrahigh-energy colliders and see whether it's possible to create and cultivate some micro black holes. Third, we could drive one star into another. That could be accomplished with curvature engines, but there are bottlenecks at present. Fourth, we could fire some kind of special particle, electromagnetic waves, or similar radiation at a star, changing the rate of fusion inside it and disrupting its gravitational equilibrium, which could also cause it to break apart. Those are the methods we're most likely to achieve at present."
"Oh." Hu Yu nodded. The answer was no different from what he had expected. Their current technology couldn't achieve any of them yet. Hu Yu asked casually, "Then, Academician, what about creating a star?"
"Create one? Hehe, I haven't thought about that. Speaking loosely, the fusion bombs we use now could be considered miniature stars. Even fusion engines could count as stars, though their lifespans and sizes are still vastly different from those of a star. The amount of matter needed for a real star isn't something our present technology can control, so I don't know how to create a real star either. Perhaps when we've developed into a higher-level civilization, we'll gain new understanding and methods. By then, creating a star might be as simple as building a spaceship."