Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 223

Other than the scientists, other people were equally shocked by the scene before them, but they never truly understood what was happening. They were witnessing light being twisted before their very eyes, and that was not something that happened every day.

Ying asked, "Professor, what does this represent? Why is the light creating these pictures?"

Alan replied, "Because of gravity. This fragment’s mass is one-thousandth the sun’s mass. That is so much greater than the new planet’s as the new planet’s mass is but only one over several ten thousands of the sun’s mass. Furthermore, such a high mass is so compressed to a stage where we still can’t spot it from one hundred thousand kilometers away.

"With such a high mass and small volume, the gravity field that it creates is powerful enough that even light can only traverse it in parabolic state. In other words, one needs to achieve the speed of parabolic light to overcome the gravitational pull of this fragment…"

Many pairs of eyes looked at Alan vacantly even after his explanation. He elaborated patiently, "Simply put, everyone knows a planet has gravity, but the fact is every matter has gravity, including you and me. However, for minute matter like us, the gravity we exude is so negligible that we normally ignore its presence. For bigger density celestial bodies, like Earth or the new planet, gravity is a tremendous force. It is because of gravity that the living organisms and atmosphere are pulled to the planet's surface and do not escape into the wide cosmos.

"Therefore, to elevate from the planet's surface, one requires an opposing force that can overpower its gravity. For example, our Hope and Observer rely on the anti-gravitational system to achieve this. But what if we don’t have access to this technology? Then we’ll have to rely on speed, or more specifically, surface escape speed. In terms of Earth and new planet, the speed we need to achieve is about 10 kilometers per second.

"The higher the mass, the greater the surface escape speed. For something like the sun, its surface escape speed can reach up 600 kilometers per second…"

Suddenly, a soldier interrupted, "Professor, the speed of light is about 300,000 kilometers per second, right? If the fragment is only one-thousandth the sun’s mass, then its surface escape speed shouldn’t have reached a stage where light needs to enter the parabolic state, right?"

It was obvious that even though this was a person from the Barracks, his scientific knowledge was much greater than your run of the mill soldier.

Alan looked at him admiringly and said, "Logically speaking, yes, but you’ve missed out on one important detail… the fragment before us is not a simple neutron star fragment."

As he spoke, Alan lifted his finger to point at the still-changing light show. He continued, "Scientifically speaking, the smallest size of a neutron star that can theoretically exist is one-tenth of the sun’s mass, or it would collapse from a lack of internal force to pull it together. However, the fragment before us is one-thousandth of the sun’s mass; this alone is beyond our current scientific comprehension…

"Secondly, the neutron star fragment isn’t supposed to be something cold; its surface temperature is expected to be higher than 10,000,000 degrees, and how close are we to it now? Ten thousand kilometers. We should have been vaporized. Furthermore, the neutron star is supposed to have a strong magnetic field, so our surveillance device should have been fried when we were a hundred million kilometers away from it, much less ten thousand kilometers…"

Alan stopped and said in shock, "This goes to show how scientifically advanced the civilization behind this fragment is. Many of you might not understand it, but the force needed to compress the fragment’s gravity, high temperature, high magnetic field, and high pressure to a 5,000 kilometers radius is just crazy. The 5,000 kilom

eters is practically a neutron star in itself, a field strong enough to fuse atomic nucleus into neutrons. Beyond that 5,000 kilometers radius, everything is like normal space… This is as if God has clamped his hands over this fragment and is moving it!"

Ying was silent. After a while he asked, "Professor, can you explain what is happening before you? Is the neutron star fragment really there? How can it exist? Can we get close to it? And is there any way for us to change its trajectory?"

This time it was Alan who went silent. Later, he picked up the thread of conversation, "Major Ying, I’ll answer your questions one by one. First, from what we’ve witnessed, the neutron star fragment is real, or put it this way, this might not be the neutron star we have in our minds, but it is still a threat that is not less than the actual neutron star fragment. Therefore, if given the choice, I’d rather this neutron star fragment be real, because the other possibility of it being an alien creation is frightening…"

Everyone understood what Alan meant by that. If this fragment was an alien race creation, then humanity would have less than a zero chance of escaping a civilization this powerful. It wouldn’t bode well for humanity.

"Anti-gravitational system."

Suddenly, Bo Li, who stood to the side, spoke up. Everyone turned to look at her curiously.

Ying frowned, but before he could speak, Alan nodded, "That’s right. Major Ying, didn’t you ask how can this thing exist? Professor Bo Li just gave us one of the best possibilities. Think of it like this: first we cut off a piece of the neutron star; don’t ask me how, we just do. Then we find a box about 5,000 by 5,000 kilometers and put the fragment inside it. The box is invisible and untouchable, so it wouldn’t be destroyed by the neutron star fragment itself. Then we fit a high-power anti-gravitational unit inside the box to contain the fragment’s high gravity. This is how we will get the scenario we see before us, the neutron star's gravity field within the 5,000 kilometers box and nothing outside of it."

Ying thought about it and asked, "Then, Professor, can the Observer go near the fragment? As long as we are not within the 5,000 kilometers radius, we should be fine, right?"

Alan nodded. "Theoretically speaking, yes, but no one can tell what will really happen…"

Ying said firmly, "That’s a risk we’re willing to take. Since we’re already here, there’s no way we’re returning without doing anything. I want to see for myself what this box you speak of is like. By the way, Professor, what will happen if we destroy this box?"

"Explosion, an explosion beyond the scale of which you can possibly imagine!"

After that, the Observer inched cautiously towards the fragment. Using the twisting light as guidance, the Observer could tell where the 5,000 kilometers danger limit was.

When the Observer was 10,000 kilometers away from the fragment, Ying put on a pair of special-grade sunglasses and activated his Seeker power.

Ying saw with his own eyes an oval-shaped object that was spinning at a high speed. Both of its ends were releasing waves of light. It was a light that was observable by the human eye, so it wasn’t strong. No wonder they couldn’t spot it from so far away. The whole object was surprisingly small; its radius was definitely smaller than 100 meters. It was a very small piece, so much smaller than the Observer.

"That’s the neutron star fragment?" Ying asked in surprise.

Then, Ying slowly studied the small piece’s surface and surroundings. He didn’t spot any suspicious protrusions. The fragment was slowly travelling in space as if on its own volition.

This observation lasted for hours until Ying was exhausted. The Observer was still stationed at 10,000 kilometers away from the fragment. The scientists were busy recording and analyzing, trying to decipher the mystery laid before them. Five days of intense research later…

The neutron star fragment was slated to enter the previously mentioned asteroid field. It was going to collide with several thousand asteroids of varying sizes!

The collision was predicted to happen in several hours. Everyone waited to watch the result with bated breath, because this collision would help to reveal the fragment’s real identity. Was it corporeal or not? The question would be answered with the collision.

And then…

When the first asteroid entered the neutron star fragment’s 5,000 kilometers radius… it disappeared!

Yes, it practically blinked out of existence. Even with Ying’s power, he couldn’t tell what had happened. Was it vaporized? Or at the moment it entered the field, it was compressed into neutrons and absorbed into the fragment’s neutron field? Or was it something else completely?

The same happened to the rest of the asteroids. They all disappeared into thin air the moment they were within the 5,000 kilometers range of the fragment. After the fragment passed through the area, it was like the asteroid field wasn’t even there in the first place!

"Let’s go back, back to the new planet…"

This was the only order an ashen-faced Ying gave after they witnessed the ‘collision.’

Chapter end