I proposed that Sandora and I go to the Shadow City for a stroll, not just to relieve our boredom, but to see the development of several major projects: the mass production and installation of the Executioner-class spacecraft, the progress of the deep-diving project, and the investigation of the King's Lander.
The reverse engineering of the ship, as well as the progress of the Seventh Legion. These projects are the most important tasks of the new empire at present. I have been out for a few days, but I guess it will be a long time or a short time. I guess there should be some new progress in these things.
Of course, another reason besides this is that I can go out for a walk with Sandora later: I haven’t been alone with her like this for a long time. Although the noisy house is very happy, I have to say that the naughty child is
This creature is indeed the destroyer of couples' private lives...
The blueprints of the Executioner-class spacecraft have been distributed to major starship factories, and are supervised one-on-one by the Xiling host computer to speed up production. The first batch of manufactured spaceships have been sent in batches to the Seventh Legion (the Seventh Legion belongs to the mysterious side).
troops) and the Royal Fleet. In this way, the number of new warships that each legion can get is of course not many, but these spacecraft are just to familiarize the commanders of each legion with their performance and prepare for future cooperation with this kind of warships.
The new warships are prepared with new tactics and tactics. When they are actually put into service, they will naturally be given priority to the three important units of the Royal Fleet and the First and Sixth Legions.
What I am most concerned about is the deep-diving plan. When I set off, I happened to catch up with the trial of the second-generation deep-diving ship. It is a big regret that I was not able to witness it with my own eyes. I have heard about the trial process from Sandora.
It went quite smoothly, and the two subsequent dives exceeded the target. So as soon as we came out of the headquarters, Sandora and I ran to the research center to find Tavel.
It is worth mentioning that apart from Sivis, the person who received Sandora and me at the headquarters was Tavel: the latter appeared as a new battleship technical advisor and chief research and development personnel, and the deep dive at the research institute
At the project center, the person who received me and Shandora was still Tavel. This time she was the technical consultant of the deep diving project and the chief developer of the deep submersible ship. I guess I and Shandora would go to the reverse engineering laboratory to see it later.
Tavel will also arrive. At that time, her identity was the director of the Reverse Engineering Project of the King... This matter cannot be delved into, otherwise it will be easy to choke to death if there are too many flaws. Does Tavel, a workaholic, have no energy limit?
What?
The Deep Diving Project Center occupies an entire floor in the institute. It is divided into several departments, including the technical group of deep submersible vessels, the R&D and production group of various deep diving equipment, the abyss research group, and the deep diving information summary and analysis center.
Tonghe Office and many other groups that I can understand and cannot understand. The reason why so many divisions of labor are needed is because the deep-diving plan itself is a very wide-ranging thing, and it requires the empire's most advanced energy supply.
The most advanced shield technology, the most advanced communication array, sensitive sensors that can work normally in the abyss environment without being infected, and even need the abyss technology from the fallen apostles to provide technical support. These things are combined into a deep submersible ship
, the final data collected will need to be analyzed by another group of experts who specialize in the study of the abyss. Such a plan spans a large number of high-precision fields, and requires expert groups in each field to cooperate 100% with other teams.
This is really not an easy task: I am very fortunate to have a chief scientist who can use schizophrenia as an active skill. Tavel is the leader and office director of all the above project teams...
Shandora and I went straight to the Tonghe Office of the Deep Diving Project Center. When we pushed the door open, we found that there were two more people inside: a square-faced uncle with a serious expression, this is Harlan. There is also a gray-haired but energetic man.
The hale and hearty old man——Ancesus, the ancestor.
Unexpectedly, these two were also there. It seemed that they were discussing matters related to deep diving: Ansers was also one of the staff members of the deep diving project, so he was also present. When he thought that he and Sandora were at the commander's office ten minutes ago,
When the department listened to Tavel's report on the installation of the new spaceship, this girl with glasses was also holding a meeting with the two of them here and directing work in more than a dozen other departments. I couldn't help but sigh: Schizophrenia is really a useful ability.
, now that Tavel is perfect in all aspects, all he needs to do is fall in love with himself.
"Hey, I'm busy." As usual, I greeted the people in the room in a very friendly manner (of course I'll admit it if you say you're not a good person), and finally my eyes fell on Tavel, "Well, we haven't seen each other for ten minutes and now we meet again.
.”
Haran nodded to Sandora and I with a smile, while Tavel and Ansers stood up and saluted us: It stands to reason that it would be strange for ancestors to salute their descendants, and Sandora was also determined at first.
He does not accept the tribute from his ancestors, but now Ansers has officially returned to his post as a "soldier", and the old man himself hopes to act in accordance with the standard imperial authority system, so he will salute the ruler of the new empire - now
Even Sandora could only accept it. After all, for the Xiling Apostles, the authority system was a higher priority than personal relationships.
"The No. 2 deep-diving vessel seems to be in good working condition?" Sandora and I sat down opposite Tavel, and I asked the question I was most concerned about, "Have you discovered anything new inside?"
"It is deeper than the last dive, but because the 'space concept' in a pure abyssal environment is unclear, we do not yet have an accurate measurement method to calculate how far the deep-diving ship has sailed, so there is no way to accurately measure it for the time being.
The unit will describe the specific extent of the dive." Tavel shook his head with regret, "There are indeed new discoveries, but they are all within the range of previous estimates: as the depth of the dive continues to deepen, the deep-diving ship will bear
The pressure will increase, and the chaotic factors in the abyss will accelerate the destruction of the shield of the deep-diving ship. This is also the case with the most extreme dive. It seems that we are still far from the critical point detected by the deep-diving ship in the old empire era.
, not to mention coming into contact with the abnormally calm area of the abyss. In addition, we also discovered a not-so-good situation..."
I had already expected the situation Tavel mentioned before, but now that she specifically mentioned a "not so good situation", it immediately made me nervous. I frowned: "What's going on?"
"We found that the abyss environment has two strange characteristics of 'uneven' and 'discontinuity', and these conditions cannot be explained or avoided so far." Haran glanced at Tavel, then turned to explain to Sandora and me.
"The Apostle of the Abyss is more familiar with what is behind the gate, so I have recently participated in this project. I witnessed the dangerous situation with my own eyes during the last deep dive: the pressure on the deep-diving ship increased as it dived.
The increasing trend is stable at first, but after the dive reaches a certain critical value, the curve returned by the equipment begins to drift, rise and fall, and even break. Just like this - "
Harlan said, presenting a holographic projection in front of Sandora and me. Putting aside the complicated tables and the constantly refreshing data, the most eye-catching thing on this screen is a continuously descending curve.
"The curve represents the shield margin of the deep submersible ship. The shield of the deep submersible ship will continue to be eroded in the abyss environment. Each time the shield is refreshed, its remaining stability and psionic energy intensity are the shield margin. The shield
The higher the margin, the safer the spacecraft is. When the deep-diving ship is stationary at a fixed position, its shield margin will also become a fixed value. As the "depth" of the dive increases, the shield margin will increase.
Of course, the amount will continue to decrease, which forms a curve graph," Harlan pointed at the graph and explained to Shandora and me (of course, it is more likely that he explained it specifically to me). "There are three horizontal lines here.
Represents three critical values. Above the first critical value, it means that the shield margin is very safe, and the spacecraft's own energy cycle will generate sufficient self-sustainability to ensure that it can stay in the abyss environment for any long time. Beyond this critical value,
The shield balance is slightly dangerous. The spacecraft needs to use most of its energy to repair the shield, but it can still perform its mission smoothly. Exceeding the second critical value means serious danger. The spacecraft's shield refresh must reach the limit to ensure safety.
, the shield margin each time is almost only 10% of the full load, which means that the shield may be extinguished at any time. In this case, the deep-diving vessel must surface immediately if it can perform a short-term mission.
Otherwise, the system will be overloaded, and the third critical value means that the spacecraft will be doomed - the shield refresh cannot keep up with the pollution speed, and the margin will fall below zero. Each new shield refreshed will have an abyss reaction, so this value
It may even turn into a negative number. In this case, the structure of the deep-diving ship begins to be contaminated, and there is no possibility of return. It can only continue to perform the mission for a short period of time before it completely collapses. In the last mission, the curve is at
It's normal when it's above the first critical value, but in the period between the second and third critical values... you see, it jitters like a line chart, and even rises continuously."
I looked at that significant curve. It dropped steadily at a very smooth rate from the highest point to the first red warning line, and it also stabilized for a long distance after crossing the first warning line. However,
After a certain moment, this smooth curve suddenly started to tremble, rising and falling irregularly. By the time it approached the second critical point, it was already trembling almost like late-stage Parkinson's disease.
"There is a discontinuous zone deeper in the abyss, which changes from time to time and is unevenly distributed. This was not mentioned in the old imperial materials we found." Tavel shook his head, "If the abyss is regarded as a deep sea divided into many layers,
Each layer has a different concentration, so the dividing lines between these layers are not fixed. They not only drift at any time, but even suddenly flip: the pollution suddenly decreases, then suddenly increases, then suddenly decreases, and so on.
It forms the section on the graph that shakes violently.”
Shandora immediately realized the danger of this situation: "In other words, after the deep-diving ship dives to a certain level, it is very likely to 'slip' and fall into despair?"
Tavel nodded solemnly: "That's it. After the deep submersible reaches its design limit 'depth', the situation will become extremely dangerous. Although it can theoretically work at that depth, the abyss may drift at any time. This drift
It is also unpredictable. Our equipment may be sucked into the vortex of destruction before it has time to react, and the chance of escaping is basically zero. This is theoretically true."
This is a situation that has never been encountered in the first deep dive, and it is also a huge challenge. This means that the actual working depth of the deep diving ship must be far less than its design strength: otherwise the ship will be fully vulnerable at any time.
Maybe. When I looked at the graph, the most severe jitters were almost like graffiti. It made people frightened when I looked at them: "There should be a rough limit to this fluctuation range, right?"
"Basically it will not exceed 5% of the full value of the shield," Tavel exhaled, "but we do not rule out the possibility of more unstable discontinuous zones appearing deeper. We know too little about the deep layers of the abyss.
Moreover, there is a lack of records in this regard in the materials of the old empire..."
I glanced at Harlan who was meditating next to me. Suddenly I remembered something: the first-generation deep-diving ship was designed by Occam, and Harlan was Occam’s old employer. Why didn’t Harlan know this?
Does a continuum exist?
"I really don't know," Harlan said after hearing my question, spreading his hands, "I'm also wondering what's going on... I also participated in the deep dive plan of the old empire, although I never paid attention to the technical aspects.
Details, but at least I have read those reports. No one has ever mentioned any discontinuity zone. It is impossible for such a significant impact to be concealed and not reported once it occurs."
Sandora rubbed her brows, thoughtfully: "Then there are only two explanations for this: First, discontinuous zones are not a universal phenomenon. We still don't know what the structure of the 'space' inside the abyss is.
So it is very possible that the deep-diving ship we built just happened to break into a dangerous zone; secondly, the discontinuous zone is not a long-term phenomenon. Maybe there really was no such thing during the old empire. It only appeared in the abyss after the establishment of the new empire.
.If the second hypothesis is true, then our understanding of the abyss may be subverted..."
"The abyss is also evolving?" Harlan glanced at Sandora.
"At least it's not 'dead'," Sandora touched her right arm seemingly unintentionally: that's where she sealed her abyss power. "We have always thought that the gate of the abyss has only one appearance. But now
But we know that the gate of the abyss that destroyed our home world is different from all the gates of the abyss we know today. We have always felt that there is nothing in the abyss, but now we find that its lowest level has become calmer... These are all challenges
Common sense. So I don’t mind my common sense being subverted again: the abyss is probably constantly evolving, growing and changing. On the surface, it seems to be unchanged through the ages, but internally it should have ushered in a certain cycle."
Sandora's statement made my hair stand on end. But I had to admit the possibility. At the same time, I also remembered the scenes observed in the first deep dive test: there were strange "clouds" in the abyss.
Structure, there are also places where pollution is highly concentrated. Now it seems that it is also a kind of "unevenness". Although it is not worth mentioning compared with the "discontinuous zone" observed today, that kind of unevenness was already there at that time.
Let us suspect that some kind of "change" is going on inside the abyss...
Perhaps as Sandora said, the abyss is not "dead", it is always changing, and may be about to usher in a cycle.
"That's it for the time being. Observe the situation of the discontinuous zone at any time, and try to grasp its laws as much as possible. This is the only way until the research on the abyss goes further," Sandora tapped the table lightly, and then looked at the tower.
Weir, "hurry up and build the No. 3 deep-diving ship. If the current ship 'slips' and collapses to the bottom of the abyss, at least we will have a backup on hand."
Tavel nodded, then raised his finger and pointed at Ansers: "Your Majesty, there is one more thing..."
Listen to this, Your Majesty, "you" - except for Tavel and Ansers, the other three present are all emperors. This grand occasion can only be achieved by a magical political system like the Xiling Empire.
"Ancestor, what's the matter with you?" I looked up at Ansers, but Tavel's words next to me almost scared me to the point of falling down: "Ancestor hopes to go on a manned deep dive with the next batch of expedition teams."
I broke out in a cold sweat at that time, grabbed Anseth's arm and shook it hard: "Old man, this is different from what we agreed at the beginning! Didn't we agree that we would only watch the excitement from the outside?!"
"I didn't do it on a whim," Ansers patiently waited for me to finish wandering before speaking with a smile, "I know we are a bit stubborn and have brought you a lot of trouble, but there is a reason for this situation."
"The reason?" I couldn't help but look at Tavel, "What's going on?"
"Let me explain," Harlan suddenly interjected, "First of all, you know that apostles who have been polluted have higher resistance to the abyss, right? Those of us who have been fallen apostles can survive in concentration
Staying awake for a long time in a very high abyss environment. Although the fallen apostles are not completely immune to the destructive power of the abyss, compared with ordinary creatures, our resistance is already high to the point of semi-immunity. Therefore, the first batch of planned
The members of the manned deep dive are all those of us who have been transformed."
I nodded, I knew this. The No. 2 deep-diving ship manufactured by Tavel already had the conditions for manned navigation. Although it was not perfect, it was more than enough to perform short-term missions, so we naturally prepared a deep-diving team.
, preparing to start manned testing after all tests are completed. Initially, the candidate members of this deep-diving team were ordinary Xiling technicians, but Harlan took the initiative to replace these personnel with those high-level degenerates he brought
For the apostles (former fallen apostles), the reason is very simple: the fallen apostles have high resistance to the abyss. Even if there is a malfunction in the spacecraft or there is a flaw in the internal purification mechanism, their chance of survival is very high.
Could it be that the reason our ancestors wanted to participate in manned experiments was because of "resistance"?
Seeing the expression on my face, Harlan knew what I had guessed. He nodded simply: "Resistance, we unexpectedly found that the ancestors' resistance to the abyss was even far greater than that of the apostles of the abyss. The concentration in the abyss was lower than two standards.
In the case of units, they can even come into direct contact with the source of pollution without any protective equipment: usually, pollution of this intensity is already fatal to mortals."