Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 369: Ultimate Weapon, Gravity Cannon!
Chapter 369: Ultimate Weapon, Gravity Cannon!

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Starting from a few years ago, Yao Yuan’s group had been discussing the possible ways that humanity might go extinct and the possible solution to these problems. If it was due to a cosmic disaster, then nothing could be done. Even a high tier space civilization would not be able to escape the fate of extinction.

But what if it was a manmade disaster? Like the encounter with the zerg alien, space merchants, or junkyard civilization? When the Hope came up against the challenge from these powerful forces, would they be able to survive or even achieve victory?

Of course, if the opponent was a level 4, 5, 6, or even 7 space civilization, then the answer was obvious. The Hope needn’t even struggle, because the chance of escaping, much less winning, would be zero. However, if this did happen, the greater possibility was humanity would be treated like an ant, and if humanity did not actively provoke them, the Hope would most likely be left alone… given that they did not realize humanity had so many Homo Evolutis.

Therefore, the Hope’s biggest danger would come from level 2 and level 3 space civilizations.

This was currently the Hope’s main enemy. Due to the Hope’s unique situation, humanity’s military and scientific levels were high thanks to the various opportune encounters, but since the time they had spent in space was extremely short, the population had remained practically the same compared to when they left Earth. In fact, after leaving Earth, humanity only had the Hope, the sole mothership. Even though they had created a few other spaceships on the new planet with its paradise environment, those were battleships. They were a level 2 space civilization’s mini patrol spaceships; they could not even be equipped with cannons, and the Hope did not have a large fleet of them either.

Compared to humanity, the normal construct of a mature level 2 space civilization should include a gigantic mothership that could survive for one thousand to two thousand years in space without the need for supplies, a mothership large enough to support the survival of at least two billion people in space.

They would also have one to two large spaceship fleets, each fleet with three hundred to five hundred battleships and at least thirty main battleships with sizes similar to the Hope’s. In fact, the few vassal races to humanity had such battleships as their motherships, and the rest would be mid-size battleships and patrol ships.

Therefore, even though humanity’s technology was better than these space civilizations’, in terms of numbers, humanity was no match for them. This was the understanding shared by the majority of the people in the ship: humanity was still a weak level 2 space civilization. Actually, this understanding was not completely wrong, and this was why even Yao Yuan decided to have interaction with other space civilization only after the Hope became a level 3 space civilization. The key reason was the lack of internal confidence.

However!

If a war or interaction with other space civilizations was unavoidable, for example, the forceful raid done by the space merchants, then the Hope needed an ultimate weapon that could tip the scales from the number disadvantage. It was not the Genesis or Requiem, but something unique to humanity that could be created from everything humanity currently had access to.

With this idea in mind, two task forces were formed by Yao Yuan, each led by Bo Li and Ivan. Yao Yuan named them respectively: the Black Hole Task Force and Messiah Task Force.

For Ivan’s Messiah Task Force, the order he was given was to deepen the research on the alien plant, specifically to figure out whether the possibility of creating a super weapon using the alien plant was possible or not, a super weapon that could nullify their opponent’s mothership. Of course, this research was extremely difficult. A few years had passed and almost no progress had been made.

The Black Hole Task Force led by Bo Li was given the order to weaponize the super future tech that had somehow landed in humanity’s grasp… the anti-gravity system!

Ever since the Hope entered the cosmos, a large amount of scientists had been researching this anti-gravity system, but perhaps the difference in technology was simply too much, as they had made zero inroads. The only thing they found out was that anti-gravity system was like an extremely convoluted electrical circuit. It was through the passage of electricity that gravity or anti-gravity could be created. The key difference separating the two was whether the charge was current or countercurrent, and the size of the current also decided the gravity or anti-gravity force created.

According to Bo Li’s research and the hypothesis from Yao Yuan and the two other Thinkers… this anti-gravity system could be used to create an ultimate weapon!

Yes, gravity!

It was common knowledge that when a spaceship had reached a certain size and mass, it would distance itself from all the planets. The reason for this was because when something with a large mass got closer to a planet or something with high gravity force, it would create the so-called tidal force. In other words, the difference in generated gravitational force of various points on the large object created by the difference in the various points’ distance to the source of gravity. This would be a fatal damage to the object. For example, if this Shelter was to get close to any large planet, like the moon, then it would be torn into shreds.

Of course, due to the improvements in science, like the AI and new metallurgy, the improvements in construction of space increased the tensile strength of the spaceship and thus increased its resistance to tidal force.

However, it was a known fact that they did not have anti-gravitational systems. This was a lack that could be exploited. As long as they could ensure that the tidal force experienced by these spaceships was increased to the maximum in that concentrated moment, then the result would be simple… the spaceship would be torn open from within despite its electromagnetic or plasma shield!

This was the Black Hole Task Force’s mission, to research and create an ultimate weapon using the anti-gravitational system as its core. Bo Li called it the Gravity Cannon!

The Hope’s current scientific level was actually very high already, especially after the year they spent in warp drive where humanity had been absorbing the sciences from the vassal races like a sponge sucking up water. If not for the fact that these vassal races did not have much population left and most of their scientists had perished, the Hope would have been a peak level 2 space civilization by now.

The research into the Gravity Cannon continued in this one year, and now the Hope finally had enough technology to use the plasma technology showcased by the space merchants in their earlier war, the ability to construct plasma objects from thin air, and the ability to use pure energy to construct electrical circuits and various parts. Of course, they would not be physical and had a pure energy state, and at the moment the energy ran out, the creation would disappear. However, with enough supply of energy, a large energy weapon could be created, a weapon as large as the Genesis Cannon.

This required the consolidation of a great amount of energy, and normal electrical energy could not be used. Only plasma energy could be used to finish this. Other than the great amount of exhaustion, it would also require the minute calculation of AI. In other words, the technical requirements for this virtual energy construct were numerous, and at the end of the day, they might not even be useable.

However…

When this technology met the electrical circuit of the anti-gravitational system, then most of problems could be solved… Using plasma energy to create layers of anti-gravitational systems and using the powerful plasma energy current to surge through these circuits, then a gravitational force rivalling the force of a large planetary object could be created in a short amount of time. And this super gravity would cause severe damage to any spaceship!

Of course, to manifest this would be extremely difficult. Since it was a secret weapon, until now there had not been a field test yet. It had only gone through AI simulation. The results showed that there was a limit to its range. If the range was over 30,000 kilometers, then the power of the Gravity Cannon would greatly decrease. Unless they could find a way to enhance the anti-gravitational system or have a more stable energy source, then that would be the limit of the Gravity Cannon.

Of course… this was only a half-prototype!

Therefore, Yao Yuan, Ren Tao, and Xiao Niao were of the same mind that the anti-gravitational system could be high tier space civilization’s siege weaponry that could be used to create… an actual black hole.

Back to the Hope, as Blue 6 walked from his own residence to the House of Representatives, a message was transferred from the labs to Yao Yuan in central command. It stated that Professor Bo Li had fainted in the lab and was being rushed to the hospital. According to rudimentary checking, it seemed to be caused by the over-exertion of Homo Evolutis power. Thankfully, the hospital had dealt with such cases before and they promised that she would wake up after five to ten days. Her situation was not that serious.

Another message from the same lab had reported that Professor Bo Li had told the member of the Black Hole Task Force that the design for the draft prototype of the Gravity Cannon had been entered into the AI and could be utilized already. The time of energy charging was between 12 minutes 31 seconds to 12 minutes 37 seconds. The prediction for the active time for the cannon was 2 minutes and 12 seconds. In that period, the Hope would be unable to use plasma shields, and the efficiency of the electromagnetic shield would be minimized to its lowest!

Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen were speechless for a long time after reading these messages. Then Yao Yuan announced with a drawn face, ”The thing has been created. Even though it is still a draft prototype, I want to give it a go!”

Guang Zhen nodded silently as he slapped Yao Yuan on his shoulder. ”Then we will give it a run. I have had enough of running. If we compromise yet again, then humanity will really have surrendered its future!”

At this time, Blue 6 had started his speech using the communicator inside his space armor. Listening to him, Yao Yuan, Guang Zhen, and everyone in central command were silent. Several seconds later, Yao Yuan suddenly yelled, ”Broadcast this to the rest of the ship! This is something… that is needed to be heard by the people. This is a speech coming from one’s soul, blood, and spirit! Remember it, and then…

”All Black Star Troopers gather at the Space Combat Jet hangars and align all the Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s into preparatory track. The Hope…

”Is entering combat mode!”