The fifth decade has passed, and the fleet has finally surged to 2 million ships, and this rate continues to increase. The virtuous cycle caused by the continuous increase in machinery has led to the continuous expansion and acceleration of the entire production process. At the end of the fifth decade, Hu Yu finally decided to send the fleet to explore the Nebula.
This time, Hu Yu only dispatched a few small ships for three purposes. First, to discreetly patrol the middle and edge of the nebula to see if the Fish Horse Star warships had followed and pursued Earth Two and humanity. Although 50 years had passed and the Fish Horse Star warships had not found Earth Two, the possibility of them chasing into the Nebula Region was unlikely, as finding Earth Two in this Nebula Region would not be difficult for them. However, Hu Yu was still extremely cautious. This time, he did not even launch satellite equipment, and the Wind Master did not conduct test flights in outer space, all to reduce the chances of being discovered.
Earth Two now possesses warp drive capabilities, and two million Wind Master are more than enough to move this behemoth. If the Fish Horse Star warship has truly been searching for humanity, the fact that it hasn't found them in 50 years suggests it's very difficult to locate them. Even if it were discovered, Earth Two could potentially evade again. Regardless of whether the Fish Horse Star warship didn't pursue them into the Nebula Region or did but fail to find Earth Two, Hu Yu wanted to understand the Fish Horse Star warship's movements. Having such a ferocious beast by his side always made him uneasy.
The second objective was to find a test airspace for the Wind Master. The Wind Master's construction technology was very mature, and each component had undergone rigorous testing. The only thing lacking was a warp drive test of the entire ship. Apart from concerns about the Fish Horse Star warship, conducting warp drive in the Nebula Region was almost the same as attacking the Wind Star Civilization's defensive perimeter, both of which were suicidal acts.
The third objective is to search the Nebula Region for any other civilizations or life forms. The harsh conditions here make the possibility of life evolving into civilization almost infinitesimal, because the Nebula Region changes too rapidly. Even if life forms do evolve, they are most likely to perish in the harsh interstellar environment in their nascent stage. It's impossible to wait tens or hundreds of millions of years for them to slowly evolve into civilization. However, it's never a bad idea to explore, as anything can happen.
Out of caution, the small spaceships used conventional engines from the time they left Earth Two until they entered space, maintaining a speed of about 0.1 times the speed of light. They slowly increased their orbital radius by circling Earth Two. Several months later, the small spaceships' radius had encompassed the star, and the mysterious veil of the nebula was gradually lifted.
The gas clouds permeating the starry sky were as dense as the clouds in Earth's atmosphere. The small spaceship, traveling at high speed, was already glowing red from the friction of these gas clouds and various free metallic elements. In the distance, a huge disk of matter, resembling an accretion disk formed by a high-density, high-mass celestial body such as a black hole, was slowly moving. The central core star had begun to flicker with light, and the surrounding matter concentration was far greater than in other areas of the nebula. It was gathered together by the central core, forming a huge disk, and was constantly spiraling towards the center.
Suddenly, the brightness of the core increased dramatically, like gasoline hitting a Mars. It ignited, and the increased mass caused gravity to compress the core, triggering a chain reaction. A new star was born. At the same time, a powerful energy shockwave swept through the surrounding disk, scattering the matter far away. However, after a while, the matter would gradually fall back into the newly formed star.
These material disks are ubiquitous in nebulae, but very few eventually ignite at their cores. Smaller disks are gradually swallowed up by the cores of larger disks. They may form stars or they may only become planets; their ultimate fate depends on the amount of matter they contain.
Most of the celestial bodies that can form disks are already massive, but many more small celestial bodies can only drift aimlessly within nebulae. Most of these are remnants of exploding stars, while some are formed by the gravitational pull of new stars. These small bodies range in diameter from a few meters to several kilometers, have no regular shape or orbit, and are among the few free-roaming objects in the galaxy. However, their lifespans are not very long; sooner or later they will be captured by other celestial bodies. The dense matter in the Nebula Region prevents them from maintaining stable orbits for long periods, and even at high speeds, their speed will be gradually reduced, eventually causing them to fall into the clutches of other massive celestial bodies.
Nebula Region are not completely dark. In addition to the light from newly formed stars, high-energy rays ionize hydrogen molecules in the nebula, causing them to emit faint light. Because there is a lot of hydrogen gas, there is a hazy glow throughout the entire nebula.
The small spacecraft has been traversing the nebula. In addition to the high heat from friction, there is also high drag. The conventional power engine is always running at high load. These small spacecraft have initially explored the area of 1,000 astronomical units around Earth Two, which is a spherical area with a radius of 6 light-days.
Another decade has ended, and the number of Wind Master has increased to 5 million. Earth Two's resources are becoming increasingly scarce. At this rate, half of Earth Two's resources will be depleted in another 20 years. Mining the remaining resources will be relatively troublesome and will also damage Earth Two's ecological structure. The current ecology is already very poor. If mining continues, people will only be able to move around outdoors wearing protective suits. Hu Yu has also decided not to accelerate the production of Wind Master. All the excess production capacity will be used to produce various living supplies to improve people's living standards.
Sixty years have passed, Hu Yu has basically confirmed that the Fish Horse Star People have not followed the Nebula. The exploration spaceship has also found a passage about 5 light-years long. After various observations, it is determined that no star will pass through this passage within two years, allowing the Wind Master to conduct a test voyage. The Wind Master, traveling at a thousand times the speed of light, can cross this distance in just 44 hours. The exploration spaceship continues to use conventional power engines to explore further.
The test flight began. One of the Wind Master started its warp drive, and as the warp drive power increased, the Wind Master began to move and disappeared from sight in an instant. Everyone is familiar with this kind of test. From Tau Ceti to now, nearly 70 million warp ships have been built. Due to the strict control of the process, the probability of a warp ship malfunctioning during a test flight is less than one in ten thousand.
To avoid undermining everyone's confidence, the maiden voyage of a spacecraft usually undergoes rigorous inspections time and time again, with no flaws allowed, to ensure 100% success.
However, problems still arose.
" Academician Zeng, the data is incorrect. The speed of the Wind Master is far from reaching a thousand times the speed of light." Zhang Yuanshan, the chief commander of the test voyage, reported to Academician Zeng. Zhang Yuanshan has been engaged in warship design since the Earth era. He is as familiar with warships as he is with his own children. After entering space, Zhang Yuanshan abandoned his studies to join the army and participated in the brutal battle of Tau Ceti. Later, when the fleet's situation improved, Academician Zeng found Zhang Yuanshan and persuaded him to return to civilian leadership to lead warship design. Now, in addition to leading the design of the Wind Master, Zhang Yuanshan also serves as the chief commander of the Wind Master's testing. Although Academician Zeng is not responsible for the specific design of the warship, he led the development of the warship's advanced technologies, especially curvature technology, where he is the most authoritative authority. Therefore, Academician Zeng participates in every test voyage.
"What? Commander-in-Chief, this is impossible?"
"Academician, it's been five minutes, and the Wind Master still hasn't reached the first checkpoint."
Is the warp drive working properly?
"Academician, look, this is the information from inside the ship transmitted through the four-dimensional channel. The warp drive is operating at 100% power, and all data is normal, but the speed hasn't increased. I just restarted the warp drive, but it still didn't work. The current speed is about 500 times the speed of light."
"Let's wait and see."
Ten minutes later, the first detection point's satellite finally captured the silhouette of the test-flight Wind Master. The capture time was twice as long as planned, indicating the Wind Master's speed was 500 times the speed of light.