Lu Zhou originally thought that since this hourglass-shaped building was so majestic, it would have many floors. However, he didn't expect that a large amount of the building area would be wasted on the space between the floor and the ceiling.
The ceiling that was constantly extending upward was like the sky without clouds. The sense of oppression from space made the entire hall look particularly solemn and dignified.
It was like this wasn't a conference hall, but a courthouse.
In fact, it wasn't just the design of this hall; even the conference table gave off the same feeling.
The entire conference table was in the shape of a horseshoe, like an open folding fan, extending diagonally upward.
Those sitting below were ordinary councilors. The higher one sat, the higher one's status and position would be. Meanwhile, those sitting at the very top were the ministers of departments with high authority, the speaker, and even the wielder of the empire's authority — the supreme archons.
What a strange civilization.
It was obviously a materialistic value system, but it didn't give off a sense of efficiency or convenience at all. Instead, it gave off a sense of majesty in a religious sense.
Lu Zhou guessed that this might have something to do with the special philosophy and aesthetics of the Calan civilization.
As a sociological topic, this was a very interesting phenomenon, worthy of in-depth research. Unfortunately, Lu Zhou wasn't a social science scholar, so he quickly placed his attention on something more worthy of his attention …
The meeting soon began.
General Ince and Lu Zhou stood on the side of the hall, like two statues that merged with the guards and the wall behind them. Lu Zhou quietly waited for about five minutes. The consul sitting at the head of the conference table looked at Dr. Lane calmly and finally spoke.
"You are Dr. Lane?"
Dr. Lane nodded and spoke politely.
"Yes, Your Excellency Consul."
"Recently, there has been a rumor circulating in the Ring world about the 'Oracle'. According to the investigation of the intelligence department, the cause of all this seems to be you."
With a suffocating pressure in his eyes, the high-ranking Calanite continued in an unquestionable tone. "I want to know why you brought so much trouble to the empire."
"Whether it is the parliament, me, or the people of the empire, we all need an explanation."
Professor Lane tried to keep his tone as calm as possible. He spoke in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing.
"Your Excellency Consul, I must correct you.
"First of all, the 'Oracle' is not a rumor. Our civilization is indeed facing an unprecedented crisis. Secondly, as a scholar, I will be responsible for every opinion I express. I am not lying. "
There was a commotion in the hall.
Other than the high-ranking people sitting at the top, most of the members looked at each other and whispered to each other. Some even laughed from time to time.
Crisis?
If it was three centuries ago, this kind of argument might have a market. At that time, doomsday theories were rampant.
But now that the Ring World had been completed, the Empire had ushered in unprecedented prosperity, and according to the current population growth rate, this period of prosperity would last for centuries without any problems.
They had solved all the crises once and for all.
It was undoubtedly quite laughable to bring out this kind of argument at this time.
Raising his chin slightly, the Consul had a playful smile on his face. It was hard to tell if the consul was looking at a joke or if he was looking at a joke. He continued to speak.
"Then Dr. Lane, tell me, what is your so-called crisis? Is it your so-called argument about aliens?"
"Yes and no."
Dr. Lane gave an ambiguous answer and looked at the consul's frown. He then explained his statement.
"I'm not sure if the crisis came from them, but the cause of everything is related to them."
There was another commotion at the conference table.
The scholar looked at the crowded conference table and spoke.
"First of all, we must be clear that our universe isn't as lonely as we think. Even if we don't find any traces of other civilizations within 500 light-years, it doesn't mean that the situation is the same 50,000 light-years away. If the distance scale is magnified to the entire universe, only we are a special existence, and the probability is extremely low. "
The consul looked at Dr. Lane and spoke nonchalantly.
"This argument was popular many years ago, and I'm not interested in discussing it with you. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if they exist, in terms of time, if we will never meet them, then whether they exist or not, whether they prosper or not, what does it have to do with us? "
The Calan civilization was not a civilization that was passionate about expansion.
Compared to expanding the empire, they were more interested in the unity of their race and improving the cohesion of the empire. It was precisely because of this that they were able to unify in the early days of the space age and create the Ring World, a towering Stellar-level project.
Alien civilization?
Even though they were passionate about intimate contact in the early days of the space age, this idea was abandoned by the end of the space colonization era.
Dr. Lane nodded and spoke.
"In an ideal situation, glorious isolation is a virtue and a wise choice. We really don't need to argue with ants tens of thousands of light-years away … But the problem is that this time, they are the ones who contacted us, not the other way around."
The noisy voices immediately quieted down.
It was as if someone had suddenly turned off the sound system, and the entire hall was silent.
The consul finally had a look of surprise in his eyes. He looked at Dr. Lane and spoke in a deep voice.
"Don't be an alarmist! Where's your evidence? "
"I published my findings 127 Light Days ago, but because of this paper, my life was in danger … I have to thank General Ince and his Marines. If it weren't for them, I would've been sent to meet the spirit of the universe by the terrorists and drones."
General Ince, who was standing in the corner of the conference room, nodded and responded politely.
"You're welcome, Dr. Lane. Your rights and interests are protected by the Constitution. Whether or not you face the law in the end, it won't change that. "
Dr. Lane nodded and looked at the conference table again.
In response to the gazes that were fixed on him, he continued to speak.
"In order to make it easier for everyone to understand, I will now show you my research."
As he spoke, he took the suitcase from the security guard on the side and took out a thumb-sized cube from it.
As he gently pressed his index finger on the body of the square vertebra, a blue light was emitted along the tip of the vertebra, and the crisscrossing blue light drew a huge image in the space.
Holographic projection?
Lu Zhou had a look of interest on his face.
What's more, it was a naked eye holographic, and it could be interacted with!
Not bad, how did he do this?
He felt like a country bumpkin who had just entered the city; he couldn't help but be surprised by everything he saw.
Other than Lu Zhou, no one in the conference room was surprised by the scene in front of them. They quietly looked at the unfolding image and waited for Dr. Lane to continue.
"… We all know that there is a substance in this universe that is between a black hole and a neutron star. We call it a strange droplet. It is composed of up quarks, down quarks, and strange quarks. It is the size of a grain of rice, but it weighs tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of tons. "
Dr. Lane made a small gesture with his thumb and index finger before he continued.
"In order to study how to release the matter we need from a black hole, the study of strange droplets has always been a frontier topic in physics research. Some time ago, we were lucky enough to find a strange droplet located 23000 light-years away through the analysis of gravitational waves …
"And its size … is at least the size of the holographic pen in my hand."
Lu Zhou suddenly had a look of shock on his face.
Strange droplet!
And it exists under natural conditions?!
For the physics community of human civilization, "strange droplets" had always been a conjecture of matter … or a state.
The theory of its existence could be traced back to Witten's conjecture that "large strange quarks may be the ground state of a strongly interacting system" in the 1980s. As for the cause of its existence, there were also speculations such as the QCD phase transition of the early universe, supernova explosions, and the collision of strange quarks.
However, the conditions for the existence of strange droplets were too harsh. In theory, any contact with any matter could lead to annihilation, and the release of energy more terrifying than the annihilation of antimatter.
Therefore, whether it was in astrophysics or particle physics, there was no evidence to prove their existence.
The only speculation was that extremely high-energy cosmic rays with a total particle energy higher than 10 ^ 19 eV might contain a small number of strange droplets. However, this kind of cosmic ray was difficult to capture. Just look at how difficult it was to collect "cheaper" neutrinos.
But now, Dr. Lane "told" him that there was a strange droplet in this universe that was large enough to be seen with the naked eye.
If all of this was true, the entire geophysical community would be shocked …
Lu Zhou couldn't help but get excited.
However, this excitement didn't last long.
Because he quickly realized that even if he knew about the existence of this strange droplet, there was no way he could prove it to others.
He couldn't use the "game" setting as evidence, right?
He didn't even know where the Calan civilization was or if it still existed.
Lu Zhou couldn't help but feel depressed.
If only he could determine the specific coordinates of this strange droplet, or obtain a complete observation technology, that would be great.
But thinking about it, this memory shouldn't contain this information.
At most, it would make him jealous …
"… Gentlemen, think about how excited we were at that time. This was a strange drop that could be seen with the naked eye, and even existed under natural conditions!"
"What's the point?" A member of parliament looked at Dr. Lane and muttered, "Even the most advanced scientific research ship of the Empire can't reach 23000 light-years away to investigate the situation there."
His voice wasn't low, and Dr. Lane heard him.
He looked at the member of parliament and spoke in a serious manner.
"Any theory is useless when it first comes out, but the point is … If we don't understand it, we won't be able to make it useful.
"In short, the project I was responsible for was to study this strange droplet. At first, we thought it was stationary, but when we analyzed the gravitational waves, we got a series of separated soap bubbles … This isn't an abstract metaphor, it's a visual reflection. Do you know what this means? It means that the strange droplet is indeed stationary, but in terms of space, it is moving along the hyperspace light path toward the center of the Milky Way! "
The consul coughed and spoke in a serious manner.
"Get to the point, this is the Empire conference hall, we are not interested in your physics theory."
"… The point is, the second discovery directly subverted our previous speculation." Dr. Lane accepted the consul's suggestion and said in a serious tone, "This strange drop is definitely not natural."
"It's made by another civilization.
"And the civilization that made it is probably much more advanced than us."
Lamp pen
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
