APTnovel Chapter 34: Referendum
Chapter 34: Referendum
In the year 237 of the Galactic Era, scientists from the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences conducted an important experiment in space.
After nearly 60 years of painstaking research on the translucent metal sphere obtained from Rutan, especially the translucent metal sphere that was split in two more than 20 years ago, humanity has finally made significant research progress on the super energy exchanger of the "metal civilization," which is an object that can "reverse" time. Humanity has also created a small prototype of the "super energy exchanger," achieving "time reversal" for more than 40 minutes in the vacuum environment of space. This super energy exchanger absorbs vacuum zero-point energy!
As early as the Earth era, quantum theory predicted that a vast amount of background energy was hidden in the vacuum, and Dirac likened the vacuum to a fluctuating sea of energy. Under normal circumstances, vacuum energy exists in the form of particles, and the vacuum is filled with particles of almost every wavelength, constantly forming and disappearing at a certain scale.
The operating mechanism of the super energy exchanger is roughly as follows: Multiple sets of metals rotate at ultra-high speeds. During the rotation, the tip effect on the metal surface generates an energy-gathering process, creating vacuum bubbles on the metal surface. The formation and collapse of these vacuum bubbles will trigger a dynamic Casimir effect, extracting zero-point energy and releasing it as thermal energy. Simultaneously, a self-organized positive feedback quasar vortex structure forms. The quasar vortex motion and the vacuum zero-point energy form a torsion field, coherently extracting vacuum zero-point energy. At this point, high-energy rays, neutrons, and high-energy particles are generated at the vortex center, accompanied by highly directional nuclear reactions. Thus, the energy density in the vicinity of the super energy exchanger increases significantly, causing the speed of light in a local spatial region to increase, resulting in "time reversal."
Research into the "metal civilization's" super energy exchanger and vacuum zero-point energy has enabled humanity on Earth to take a giant leap forward in its understanding of energy.
The utilization of vacuum zero-point energy allows humanity to obtain unlimited energy in a vacuum, powering warships, especially by equipping them with super energy exchangers with ultra-high vacuum zero-point energy extraction efficiency. Humanity plans to replace some energy crystals with super energy exchangers, particularly for propulsion systems and weapon charging systems.
The study of vacuum zero-point energy revealed the "filtering cutoff" effect of the speed of light in different light-speed planes, which is due to the effect of vacuum zero-point energy. Vacuum is filled with particles of almost every wavelength; however, in each plane's vacuum region, particles of a certain wavelength predominate. When an incoming photon enters this region, it's like a drop of water dissolving into an ocean of ink. Because the wavelengths of the dominant particles in each light-speed plane's vacuum region are discontinuous, the speed of light in different light-speed planes is also discontinuous. This well explains several corollaries of the "law of the speed of light in civilizations."
Humanity on Earth seems to have understood the mechanism by which the "light-dropping civilization" imposed the speed of light barrier on the solar system. This speed of light barrier is nothing more than a huge "one-way energy extractor" that extracts all kinds of energy from the solar system, including vacuum zero-point energy, thus causing the speed of light on Earth to drop rapidly.
After successfully creating a "super energy exchanger" (a "vacuum energy extractor" would be a more accurate description), humanity immediately began actively developing a "light-degrading civilization," a "one-way energy extractor," in an attempt to create a "light-speed barrier." Once humanity has developed the "one-way energy extractor," combining the "vacuum energy extractor" and the "one-way energy extractor" into one would create a true "super energy exchanger," allowing humanity to easily increase or decrease the speed of light in localized spaces at will!
However, after 105 years, research on directional long-distance travel and long-distance encrypted communication seems to have made little progress. Although it is possible to use "wormholes" for long-distance travel, the landing point is unknown. Although long-distance encrypted communication exists, it is only effective within a range of 210 light-years.
Now, humanity has no choice but to pin its hopes on large natural black holes.
Therefore, humanity on Earth decided to send dozens of probe ships and escort warships to the black hole.
银河纪元239年，10艘市级巡航母舰、30艘县级巡洋舰、100艘镇级护卫舰、2000艘突击舰和400艘探测飞船从新地球启动，目标是已经探测到的天鹅座X-1黑洞，距离天参五恒星22900光年。
To prevent warships from being captured by other civilizations and to avoid leaking Earth's human technology, all warships and probes are piloted by artificial intelligence. They are not modular and do not contain portal components.
In the same year, the Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Fleet ordered the Gamma Fleet, formerly part of the Earth Joint Fleet, to set sail for the birthplace of the "Metal Civilization," the Orion Nebula M42, approximately 5625 light-years from the star Asclepius. The Gamma Fleet was equipped with a "vacuum energy extractor," and its purpose was to investigate how the "Metal Civilization" conducted directional long-distance travel.
Although the analysis of the "Metal Civilization" warship's navigation logs has ended, Earth's humanity currently has no intention of provoking the interstellar civilizations recorded in the logs, especially since some of these civilizations are quite distant and others seem powerful.
In the year 241 of the Galactic Era, on Planet Tianshen 5e, the Earth Federation Fleet, the Earth Federation Government, and the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences held a grand celebration to commemorate the upcoming large-scale human migration to the newly terraformed planets Gliese 667C and Gliese 581.
Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Fleet Monkwell, Head of the Earth Federation Government Stanley, President of the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences Wenming, and Academician Zhou Yuan delivered enthusiastic speeches.
After the speech, the world focused on several key issues that required collective discussion and decision-making. Each issue even required a secret ballot vote, with a two-thirds majority required for passage.
Question 1: Humanity currently has three habitable planets. How should these three planets be arranged? Should they be placed together or left as they are? It's worth noting that humanity can easily place the three planets together using a portal, and the technology for teleporting between stars has also made some progress.
Question 2: If the three planets remain in their original positions, how can they be effectively controlled and communicated with? After all, if the three planets remain independent, it could very well lead to the division of humanity on Earth, something that Earthlings currently do not want to see. Human civilization has developed to its current state precisely because of the unity and solidarity of all humanity. Although as humanity grows, it will eventually disperse and flourish across the vast galaxies, currently, no one intends to leave this collective.
Question 3: What should be done with the "sealed metal sphere" in the core of Gliese 581? It would always be a security risk if a large number of immigrants lived there.
Question 4: How to deal with relations with weaker civilizations? Like the Gesang aliens now, they are really crazy, they have been building the "sky ladder" for 22 years.
The result of the referendum on Question 1: The three planets will remain in their original positions for now. When humanity on Earth becomes stronger, they can consider placing them together. After all, separating them would effectively reduce the risk of humanity's complete annihilation.
Question Two: Referendum Results: The three planets will remain in their original positions. To ensure continued unity among humanity, control over the fleet and armed forces must not be fragmented. Therefore, a rotation system for the fleet commanders of the three planets will be implemented, with each term lasting five years. Large-scale external wars must be approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Fleet. The selection of the Commander-in-Chief must be conducted by a secret ballot of all fleet officers and soldiers. To better exercise and limit the power of the Commander-in-Chief, a system of separation of powers and checks and balances will be implemented, involving the Commander-in-Chief, the Head of the Earth Federation Government, and the President of the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences. If the Head of the Earth Federation Government and the President of the Earth Federation Academy of Sciences believe that the Commander-in-Chief has abused his power, they can jointly impeach him and propose that the Earth Federation Fleet Oversight Committee remove him from office. Civilian portals will be opened between the three planets, encouraging residents to engage in tourism, investment, and production activities between them. Similar to the rotation of fleet commanders, all adults will rotate between the three planets every thirty years. At that time, the average lifespan of humanity on Earth will have reached 286 years. Apart from the fleets and armed forces controlled by the Federation fleet, the rest of the three planets are organized and managed by the Federation government itself. The Earth Federation government decided to establish government agencies on each planet, with each planet having a planetary governor directly led by the head of the Earth Federation government.
The result of the referendum on Question 3: We will not deal with the sealed metal sphere for the time being, but we need to set up advanced observation stations in various parts of the planet and deploy some fleet forces to guard them to prevent any unexpected situations.
Question 4, the result of the referendum: For a weak civilization like the Gesang Star people, although it's inconvenient for Earth's humans to directly participate in their natural evolutionary process, the Gesang Star people are already aware of Earth's existence on Ges Star. After all, Gesang Star and Ges Star are so close, it's necessary to enlighten and guide the Gesang Star people, and to integrate them into the Earth's human family, although this process may take longer than that of the Celestial Ginseng people.
The reason why Earth's humans chose to accept the Gesang people is actually because of their strong perseverance and confidence, which are very similar to those of Earthlings. In particular, the Gesang people and the Tiancan people are very similar in stature and appearance, so the Tiancan people are more enthusiastic about accepting them among Earth's humans.
Humans on Earth have been observing the Gesang people's every move, from the sun pattern to the "sky ladder." It's fair to say that the television news we watch before bed is a reflection of the Gesang people's actions. Over the past 22 years, 21 small nations on Gesang Star have perished, leaving only five major powers. These five powers seem to have consciously formed a power balance, but on the matter of building the "sky ladder," they are remarkably united and of one mind.
Just as humanity once gazed at the moon and stars, filled with dreams of exploring the cosmos, the Gesang people knew perfectly well that gods existed on the neighboring planet of their own.