The interstellar voyage had entered its countdown.
Not long after harvesting the interstellar creature's carcass, the first asteroid mining operation had begun in order to replenish the resources that the mothership had consumed during this period of time.
A small asteroid not far away became the target of this operation.
The asteroid was rather large. The widest part was about six kilometers and the narrowest part was three kilometers. Its surface was covered with ice and snow. As it was close to the sun, its tail was a hundred kilometers long and it looked spectacular.
Fortunately, the thickness of the ice and snow on its surface was not very thick. It was only tens of meters thick. Inside, there was a large amount of iron meteorites that contained a large amount of other elements.
Humans did not consume a lot of water resources. Instead, they consumed a lot of metals. The main purpose of this mining operation was to collect metals. A meteorite like this was enough to replenish all the stocks.
Hundreds of engineering robots carried a large amount of resources and tools and began to land on the asteroid. In the following period of time, they would clear the ice and snow on the asteroid, level the ground, build a simple power plant and lay a circuit.
Apart from that, they would install three engines on one side of the asteroid so that it would not drift too far away.
The entire project took less than a week.
Soon after, the second batch of engineering robots pushed a modular factory that looked like a giant container towards space. Plasma flames were constantly spurting out from the back of the robots. They were like fireflies that gradually landed on the asteroid.
The modular factory slowly floated down according to the designed position. The hidden buckles that were placed on the ground and the bottom of the factory were locked seamlessly. The factory also began to gradually expand.
These were truly unmanned factories. There were no extra lights on them and there were no passageways that extended in all directions. A large number of large metal smelting equipment that were either circular or cylindrical in structure were squeezed together, making full use of all the space in the factory.
Not long after, a large metal pipe with a diameter of nearly 30 meters slowly rose up like a giant beast that had awakened. The mouth of the pipe was aimed straight at an empty space not far away. The next moment, a terrifying magnetic field was emitted from the pipe.
Soon, the ground began to soften like a liquid. As it absorbed materials, it continued to extend downwards.
The diameter of the metal pipe was so large because it was telescopic. There were hundreds of layers of metal pipes embedded in it. According to the design, it could reach a depth of five kilometers underground and absorb minerals.
The Glassian civilization's technology for mining asteroids was quite mature. There was a complete set of procedures. As the humans who had inherited this technology, although it was only their first time, everything was in order and they were familiar with it.
…
Soon, it was April 2020, and humans had been in space for four years.
All the preparations for the long-distance voyage had been completed. For safety reasons, even the countless grooves on the outer armor of the mothership had been repaired, making the entire spaceship as bright as new. Even the parts that were far from being scrapped and had been used for a certain number of years had all been replaced.
Over the past month, countless spaceship maintenance engineers with various detection instruments could be seen everywhere, repeatedly inspecting every corner in an attempt to find possible hidden dangers.
…
Unknowingly, the originally peaceful and peaceful atmosphere of society became tense and oppressive.
Although a large number of news media repeatedly promoted and encouraged the people every day, as time went by, everyone's faces became more and more anxious and uneasy.
Even Luo Yuan often felt hesitant.
After all, this was an adventure with an unknown future. Perhaps this was humanity's long march to glory, or perhaps it was a path of no return for humanity. But no matter how hesitant they were, the time to depart was approaching day by day.
The route of the star path had already been determined.
The Barnard's Star, which was about six light years away from Earth, was their target. The reason why they chose this star was that it was relatively close to them. It was their first long-distance voyage and it was too risky for them to travel such a long distance.
On the other hand, it was because the light it emitted was the weakest. It was a red dwarf, an ancient star that emitted a dim red light, making it a good hiding place.
In fact, as the distance between the two civilizations was astronomical, it was not easy to detect each other. Even the most advanced detection system and the most efficient computer could not compare to the vast space.
Moreover, as the distance between them was far, it would take light years to travel.
The distance of one light year was equivalent to the distance of one year of light flight. For example, the Glassian was 28 light years away from Earth. It would take 28 years for the light it emitted to travel to the solar system. This meant that the images of the Glassian that humans obtained were the historical images from 28 years ago.
It was the same in reverse.
It had been less than five years since the Glassian vanguard was annihilated. In other words, for the next 23 years, humans would be completely invisible unless they had developed a superluminal detection system that did not rely on light or a warship that could fly faster than the speed of light.
No matter how the former tried to hide, humans would always be locked on to. The latter situation was slightly better as they would still be invisible for a period of time.
However, this was only the worst case scenario!
In general, as long as the detection system still relied on light, the darker the area, the lower the probability of being discovered. For example, in the vast dark region between the stars, the probability of finding a spaceship was so low that it was negligible. However, humans could not hide in the dark region forever. It was an area that was close to an absolute vacuum and it was almost impossible to obtain any replenishment.
Perhaps they could live frugally like mice and hide for decades. However, the price they had to pay was to limit the development of humans.
For the past six months, humans had given birth to a total of 240,000 newborns. Among them, 50,000 were born in the mother's womb while the remaining 190,000 were produced in the laboratory. With this growth rate, the number of humans would double in ten years' time. The spaceship would become even more crowded and it would not be able to accommodate more people.
Therefore, humans had to find a new star system to temporarily live in.
According to the detection of the mothership, there were rocky planets and gaseous planets in the Barnard's Star system. Whether it was a place to replenish resources or to choose permanent development, it was quite suitable. It was a place where they could advance or retreat at will.
As for the harsh and cruel environment there, it was not worth mentioning for humans who had just stepped into interstellar civilization.
As long as they were given enough time, with the current technological capabilities of humans, they could completely transform a planet. The only difference was the efficiency.
"Mayor, this is the good news from the antimatter laboratory!" At this moment, the secretary, Chen Xinjie, pushed the door open with a happy face.
"Oh!" Luo Yuan took the document and flipped through a few pages. His frown suddenly relaxed, "The energy conversion rate has reached 3 million: 1!"
In fact, the first antimatter laboratory had been built for half a year. However, as the technology was not fully developed and the safety was not guaranteed, it had always been in a state of technical verification.
Even if it was produced, it was within the safe range. After all, it was a spaceship. If there was an accident, it would cause serious damage.
"Unfortunately, this thing is too dangerous. It can't be produced in the spaceship. It can only be used as a technical reserve." Luo Yuan then said to Chen Xinjie, "Release an award announcement and let the laboratory continue to work hard!"
"Yes, Mayor!"
Chen Xinjie quickly left. Luo Yuan picked up the document and flipped through it again. He was full of joy.
Although the energy conversion rate was only 3 million: 1, in fact, with this ratio, the large-scale production of antimatter was basically mature. With the energy production efficiency of the nuclear fusion furnace, basically, six to ten million tons of pure water could produce one ton of antimatter.
It might be too extravagant to use it as a power source. However, as a strategic weapon that could determine the outcome of a battle, its value could not be measured on the surface!
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