The last human in the universe

Chapter 178 Active
Along with the large-scale detection activities carried out by people, one piece of information after another was presented in front of Zhao Changxing.

People at this time have confirmed the existence of a smaller stellar conglomerate not far from the human fleet.It is composed of about dozens of relatively young stars and interstellar molecular clouds throughout the entire star field here.

Obviously, those dozens of young stars were formed because of the contraction and collapse of this interstellar molecular cloud.And, until now, some protostars are still forming in this molecular cloud.

It's slightly odd that such a "bed of stars" exists near the edge of the Milky Way.At the same time, this existence that can barely be called a star cluster is too small compared to the star cluster that people usually understand.

Not to mention the globular clusters that are often composed of tens of thousands of stars, even open clusters with a small number of stars usually contain hundreds to thousands of stars.And this star cluster has only a few dozen member stars.

But they really have a gravitational relationship, and they are bound together by mutual gravitational force.Therefore, although it is not qualified, people can only call it a star cluster.

It's small, but it's a solid group of vibrant stars.Just by simple observation, people saw the huge and violent stellar wind, saw the newborn stars radiating their energy to the outside world wantonly, saw many "star cores" being conceived, and saw many gas giant planets , rocky planets, etc.

Under the relatively strong gravitational force between each other, these planets cannot even have relatively stable orbits.People have seen that some planets are revolving around their host stars in a weird orbit, as if they might leave at any time; some planets are simply in the process of breaking free, abandoning their old masters and rushing to the new masters. embrace.There are even some planets that don't have fixed orbits at all, they are like an independent celestial body, rampaging in this relatively small star cluster with a diameter of up to ten light-years at the same time.

Even, not only the planets, but even the orbits of the stars are extremely chaotic.This leads to collisions between them sometimes.Only in the initial observations, people have found three blue supergiant stars that cannot be explained by the usual stellar evolution theory.

This means that they are most likely formed by the collision and fusion of two or more lower-mass stars.

Dozens of stars, many rocky planets, gaseous planets, and more asteroids, dwarf planets, comets, etc., are surrounded by a huge interstellar molecular cloud, moving chaotically, showing a bizarre interstellar spectacle.

This is the star group closest to the human fleet.Not counting here, the nearest star is more than 20 light-years away.At the speed of the human fleet, it will take hundreds of years to reach it.And, to go to that star, its orbit also needs to pass through this star cluster closest to the human fleet.

It seems that going to this star cluster composed of dozens of young stars, looking for a suitable star system in it, settling down, and developing civilization is the only thing that can be done at present.

At this moment, the distance between the human fleet and the nearest star of this small star cluster is only about two trillion kilometers.At the current relative speed of about 2860 kilometers per second, it will take about 22 years to reach it.

It was a brown dwarf -- or a failed star, as it's called.Its mass is too low, even less than a hundred times the mass of Jupiter.This mass is not even enough for the core to start the fusion of hydrogen elements, but can only maintain the fusion of deuterium. Compared with normal stars, its surface temperature is extremely low.

Surprisingly, even such a failed star has several planets around it.There are two rocky planets and two gaseous planets orbiting it.

Of the two rocky planets, one is slightly smaller than Earth and the other is slightly larger.Of the two gaseous planets, one is roughly the size of Jupiter and the other is four times the mass of Jupiter.Compared with this brown dwarf with 4 times the mass of Jupiter, it is difficult to determine whether this is a pair of binary stars or a planet orbiting the star.

In addition, there are a large number of asteroids around it.

There are no comets in this star system.The so-called comet is actually a kind of asteroid that contains evaporable matter when it is close to the star, because of the radiant energy of the star, its own matter evaporates, and a comet tail is formed behind it.In this star system, the mass of the brown dwarf acting as the main star is too low, and its surface temperature is too low—only less than 500K, it is really difficult to provide enough heat for the asteroid close to itself, so Comets cannot be produced either.

Out of some indescribable vigilance, this brown dwarf, which is located at the outermost edge of the star cluster and is the most inconspicuous compared to other stars, has become the destination of the human civilization fleet.

Anyway, for a civilization at the level of human civilization, it doesn't matter whether there are stars or not, as long as there is enough matter.Without normal stars with strong radiation and abundant energy, the interstellar environment might be better, and there is no need to spend so much effort on radiation protection.

They come, the security.After confirming that the star numbered G1 was the destination, the entire fleet began to accelerate again.According to calculations, the human fleet will arrive in about six years.

During this period of time, in the human fleet, almost all interstellar observation equipment that can be activated has been activated.Human civilization is doing everything possible to understand this star cluster and this star as much as possible.

During this process, some rather strange phenomena were observed.

On a planet around a certain blue giant star, people have observed irregular bursts of extremely high-energy gamma rays.And this cannot be explained in the physical system of human civilization.

Observations of neutrinos in a certain galaxy have shown that the galaxy has a much higher number of neutrinos emitted than normal, which also cannot be explained by existing theories.

The atmospheric spectra of certain planets showed anomalies, and some special substances appeared that could not be formed through normal natural changes at all.At the same time, in certain empty interstellar spaces, flashes of light sometimes appear irregularly, and there are no macroscopic celestial bodies at all.

The closer to this star cluster and the longer the observation time, the more such anomalies will be discovered.

And all of this points to a reality that makes people feel a little shocked and horrified.

"It's a very active star cluster."

When reporting to the civilized leaders headed by Zhao Changxing, Professor Li Wenzhong said slowly in a slightly heavy tone: "This is not just in the physical sense, but also... in the sense of civilization.

These numerous anomalies all point to the only explanation, that is, there are many intelligent life forms with a considerable degree of technology in this star cluster.Moreover, these intelligent life groups are not peaceful, but violent conflicts and wars often break out.Only in this way can we explain all the abnormal physical phenomena we observe, such as changes in the structure of the planetary atmosphere, such as abnormal flashes of light, abnormal radiation... and so on. "

This guess has been made a long time ago.It's just that now, after long-term observation and collection by Professor Li Wenzhong and other scientists, at this moment it is finally considered to have obtained tangible evidence, and it is possible to tell this matter in a definite tone.

Zhao Changxing looked calm, without any emotional fluctuations.

"At present, our observation force is still conducting further observations, trying to divide the camps for the intelligent life groups that exist in this small star cluster. But the distance is still too far, the information is insufficient, and there is not much progress.

However, with regard to the level of civilization and the level of technology, it can be roughly determined that the conflicts and wars in this small star cluster are mainly fusion bombs and antimatter bombs.Of course, this may also be because the distance is too far, and the details of more advanced weapons have not been noticed by us.But in general, we have a certain degree of confidence that the intelligent life groups that exist here are mainly secondary and tertiary civilizations. "

There was a little commotion in the meeting room.A civilization leader said in a deep voice: "For primary civilizations such as the second and third levels, unless there is a generation gap between the strengths of civilizations, the two civilizations tend to coexist peacefully and try to avoid contact. I I am very curious, why do so many secondary and tertiary civilizations squeeze into this small star cluster instead of trying to leave?"

"Or... why are there so many civilizations gathered here?"

The answer is obvious, and everyone can easily think of it.

How did human civilization come here, and there is a high probability that other civilizations also came here.

And this, in turn, means another thing: among the three possibilities of traveling faster than the speed of light this time, the latter two can basically be denied.

Only the first possibility remains: there is a super civilization that consciously sent many low-level civilizations here.

It must have been done consciously by that super civilization.After all, the probability of encountering some special physical process or accidentally breaking into the ruins is too low.It is barely possible for a civilization to encounter such a thing. So many civilizations have encountered such an extremely low probability?

It doesn't make sense.

"Perhaps, we shouldn't go to this star cluster, we should choose the rest of the targets as our base."

Faced with this suggestion, Zhao Changxing said in a low voice: "We can think about why so many civilizations want to 'squeeze' here instead of leaving and going to a wider world."

(End of this chapter)