Star Empire

For three-dimensional creatures, the four-dimensional space with one more coordinate axis cannot be understood by their own brains - their own main consciousness will be forever trapped in the three-dimensional interval.

Due to the "birth limitation" of the basic structure, the biological native sense of distance will fail here, and visual distance measurement will be completely inaccurate.

However, although the ability of living things is not enough to understand the spatial structure beyond their own limits, mathematics can. With the help of modification plug-ins and mathematical models for four dimensions, the two of them covered what was originally a long distance in three dimensions with just one step.

At the main body of the space station at this end, Cavinriel immediately ordered the space station AI to guide the two to the large laboratory for crystal energy testing. However, at this time, everyone had to start making a little extra preparations:

The security level of the laboratory is very high, and recombinant space transfer is generally not allowed. Coupled with the mutation of the two people's bodies and the specificity of the crystal energy-infected samples they keep, they can only go there on foot. However, during the initial rescue During the operation, all personal belongings of these people had been removed.

Of course, these personal belongings also include clothing, as well as all non-essential tissues of the body.

Due to the nature of the work of the emergency medical module, all the dangerous goods tests undertaken there are extremely dangerous. These dangerous goods will remain in some form or be inactivated. If the conditions of the spacecraft are extreme, the protective equipment is likely to be accidentally damaged inside. Unexpected contamination. Therefore, all entrants have their charged fully enclosed protective suits put on in advance, and regular suits will not be placed in such an iron box-like storage space - there is no need to make much humanitarian preparations for the coffin. , even though the Federation often has an inexplicable obsession with humanity.

So these two lucky people who survived had to be a little embarrassed about this last step, but almost no one would care about it - often, the extremely fierce disputes are just about whether they accept the point of view and whether the things they do are consistent. There is a conflict between the concept of standards and even whether they comply with the law, but the actual implementation level is very low.

Although the system is sound, in fact, not many people really care about it - this is also a good way to avoid disputes.

After a little embarrassment, in the laboratory, Cavinrel finally got a crystal energy sample that he could access.

In the laboratory, Torres transported the first sample source, and the physical crystal energy separated from Eskett was sealed in several high-standard neutron accumulation protection boxes to observe its reality and possible effects on the packaging structure. impact.

In this box, the floating crystal energy exudes a soft yellow light. The inner wall of the box crystallized as expected in such radiation, but the process is extremely slow. Compared with the one near the crystal energy whirlpool, it will The degree of crystallization will start to differ significantly.

"You have worked hard." Cavernrel said to the two Esketts full of approval, "Since the outbreak of the crystal energy incident, you and everyone in the advance team, everyone in the emergency team, and those who have passed away on the border The residents of the outpost have contributed a lot to the federation."

"...Now that we can help you, that's good..."

"Of course, your abilities are unique at present. However, I still need to wrong you a little. Your bodies have been transformed by crystal energy. Now if you don't add a simplifying filter, your existence will cause great harm to the people around you. Pressure, and we still don’t know what the harmful threshold of crystal energy radiation is, so in the coming time, I will arrange separate cabins for you, and please do not leave the room during non-experimental tasks.”

The robot in the laboratory delivered two sets of researcher's uniforms. After the two of them put them on and confirmed that there were no problems for the time being, the gentle guidance beam lit up. Eskett and Torres followed the guidance of the beam to the lounge, and received Come down...Cavenriel brought his attention back to his eyes.

"Last time, we didn't do many tests to determine whether crystal energy exists as the first stable state of information. Now that we have a sample that we can get close to, we can test it well." Looking at the experiment Cavernril seemed to be really excited about the several safe deposit boxes in the room, as if several colleagues around him and more researchers who were keeping synchronized links with him through the Internet did not exist.

"Um...well, yes."

"Calost, what's wrong with you? I feel like you're absent-minded."

"Have you noticed that from the time you completed the sampling of chaotic matter to now, you are gradually reducing your rest time?"

Kalost looked at the science officer who was about to get busy, "When we first dealt with the crystal energy incident, the things related to it, whether viewed directly with the eyes or transmitted through the monitor, showed that crystal energy and its derivatives seemed to contain Looking at this huge amount of information can cause serious fatigue just by looking at it for a short period of time, but now, for you and me and everyone else who works here, the extent of this effect seems to be lessening."

"...Indeed, I didn't notice this problem before." Hearing that he had undergone such an obvious mutation without realizing it, Cavinriel's first thought was that cognitive memetic contamination was interfering with the work here. The person's self-awareness, but this conjecture was rejected by himself - memetic pollution can indeed interfere with the logic of intelligent creatures, but there are very few entities that can interfere with the operation of logic gates.

Among the danger sensing components, some sensors are actually very old technologies, such as the sandbox logic gate determiner. Currently, there have been no alarms for this type of device, and Cavernelle has also detected his own soul. No temporary instability problems caused by excessive overdraft of energy were found, which shows that they have indeed made progress in the problem of anti-crystal energy having a large amount of visual information.

So where does progress come from?

Cavinrel lowered his head and thought for a while, trying to find another guess at a certain feeling that seemed to be coming out just now - but no matter what, it was difficult for him to find that feeling again, even his own feelings. There was no record in the recorder or memory bank - it was like my consciousness suddenly jumped.

After a short period of sudden silence, Cavinriel slowly raised his head and looked hesitantly in the direction of the crystal energy vortex.

"What did you think of?" Kalost asked quickly.

"...Guess, this is just a guess of mine. I think even if we don't have direct contact like the two survivors, the radiation of the crystal energy vortex may be subtly infiltrating and transforming our souls."

Cavinrel guessed, "Crystal energy is the first stable state information. Its existence is beyond all materials in our universe, including the materials we use to make space stations and spaceships. We use shields and bulkheads to transfer crystal energy The visible part of the vortex is blocked, but it still permeates our environment."

"Then, outside the quarantine area...?"

"There should be no need to worry too much. At least so far, our bodies have not had any obvious problems. Moreover, after the Archon gave the order, the long wall of Warp World was formed very quickly. That kind of isolation layer can be regarded as a very strong shield. There is no other way - if the light and influence are more penetrating, we have no better way, we have already done our best."

"I hope it's really okay."

"What are you talking about?" Zhai Cahir lazily floated over from nowhere. Even now, without strong stimulation, he still feels a little isolated from the world.

"Cavenriel, I have sorted out the basic information of all the information disturbance materials. Please pay attention to receive it... What are you looking at when I go?"

During the previous conversation, Cavinrel was not idle. He was controlling the manipulator to prepare for a more detailed analysis of the crystal energy samples. The picture on the monitor was a close-up of the crystal energy in the safe, almost The moment Zhai Cahir saw these close-ups, a dizzy feeling rushed into his head, as if he had been forced into a map of the galaxy distribution in the entire universe in an instant.

"I..." Zhai Cahir quickly covered his head and looked away, "What is this? I feel uncomfortable watching these pictures."

"This is a sample of crystal energy." Regarding the abnormality displayed by Zhai Kaxi, Cavinriel felt that his head was full of questions. It seemed that the influence of crystal energy received by the outside world was indeed much smaller than here, but Zhai Kaxi As the chief control technician of the entire federation network, Er's degree of transformation and strengthening is also among the best, and may even be half a level higher than that of Cavinrel and Caloust, but his reaction is higher than that of Calust. Wen Riel and his wife had much stronger reactions when they saw the crystal energy for the first time.

"Are you okay?" Cavernrel turned off part of the display screen and summoned a chair for Zhai Cahir to sit down. "Why did you have such a strong reaction? It's like an allergy. If we press It was previously speculated that the origin of the specific properties of information computers was due to the gravitational wave accelerator penetrating the outer layer of the universe and accidentally creating the first stable state information. If you, who have the most contact with the highest host, will be affected by the second A stable state of information radiates the most, and the impact of crystal energy should be the least."

"You have been studying for so long and you still can't explain it, and I, who just came here, can't explain it even more." Zhai Cahir shook his head vigorously to get rid of the dizzy feeling, "By the way, If there is a chance, I need a laboratory and a crystal energy sample. I need to observe and verify...whether this first stable state information you call is consistent with the properties shown by the information computer."

"Oh well."

Zhai Cahir, who was obviously still having a headache, rolled his eyes at Cavinriel and Calost, who was secretly observing next to him, and then drifted away faintly.

"Now let's test how long it takes for these crystal energies to be fatally exposed to organisms that have not been enhanced." Several golden halos rose around Cavinriel, and some small floating windows began to gradually Open from the air of nothingness.

"Aren't you going to test the specific properties?" Kalost asked beside him.

"It makes no sense. Crystal energy is the first stable state of information. Before it completely decays into physical products, its various properties are direct information representations... By the way! It seems that they must be isolated until now. The observation is consistent with the experimental steady state! Maybe many things may be conceptual when they decay, we must be vigilant!" Cavernelle exclaimed as if he was aware of it.

"……What?"

"For example, the most intuitive properties we can currently focus on are color and brightness. We can see it emitting yellow light and can judge the brightness of this light, but we cannot use physical methods to Determine its accurate numerical value. In other words, we can only record but cannot quantify its properties as representations.”

"this means……?"

"...You shouldn't want to be burned by a sudden appearance of a group of plasma with a terrifying Planck temperature. At present, no one knows whether these dim and harmless hazes of light will cause We had a surprise like pure ultra-supercritical water."

"...Then, what should we do? Wait a little longer?"

"...This, it seems that this nature is unpredictable..." Cavernrel shook his head, "Mainly now, I am afraid that those tests require the direct participation of those two people... Our theory is limited, after all, it has There is too little content.”

"...Observe a little, check the surrounding environment and then try again..."

"clear."

…

"The experimental samples are in place, and the lethal test under crystal energy exposure is about to begin, and all life forms except the experimental materials will be cleared."

After the crystal energy samples were isolated, a batch of pink "meat chunks" were delivered to the side of the crystal energy storage box, accompanied by the electronic synthesized sound of the space station's AI. These pink "meat chunks" represented various The physical structure of federal citizens with different degrees of transformation.

These organizations are equipped with plug-ins with similar functions, the cells have been improved, and they also have the same soul as normal humans, but this soul is simulated using a biological computer, and it is only an existence that is attached to these organizations without being able to Generating intelligence, this biological material has made arguably indelible contributions to aiding the Federation in medicine and warfare.

Under the radiation emitted by the extracted crystal energy, several pieces of test flesh began to crystallize at a slow rate, and the stability of life reactions began to decline. However, the difference is that the body deactivation speed of all levels is basically the same, but it seems that even if the body is dead, the soul strengthening plug-in still seems to be taking effect.

Is this a coincidence or a pattern?

During this period of time, the two duos and other auxiliary workers have been busy with these things. Eskett and the others went to extract crystal energy, while Caloust and Cavinrel put piles of meat pieces Place it under the light of crystal energy for exposure testing.

Anyway, as available materials for testing memetic contamination, these two things are abundant in the emergency experimental compartment, enough to fill the laboratory used by Cavinrel.

"...Are you hesitating a little too much... The crystal energy samples did not decay into any conceptual physical matter as you said... Now they just decay into ordinary mass..."

"There is a lack of mathematical models and it is difficult to compare. Our current situation does not allow us to directly abandon the work closest to reality and complete those mapping arrangements and combinations at the conceptual level... If there is a machine that is compatible with any mathematical structure and can communicate with the actual mapping The equipment would be great..."

"Let's lift some restrictions. That would be more convenient...at least, looking at the crystal energy vortex, with such a large total material, there is no natural vacuum zero point energy flash in the surveillance system."

…

After spending more than a month and testing samples of various specifications, the experiment came to the conclusion: Under the irradiation of crystal energy radiation, no matter how strong the individual body is or how perfect the genes, its survivability is The same, but what is certain is that regardless of whether consciousness exists, as long as there is a soul structure, the more stable the soul, the longer the test subject will persist.

But there are some oddities. According to the conclusion drawn by Cavinrel, theoretically during this month, even if it is surrounded by multiple layers of armor shields and thick bulkheads, the interior of the battleship is still directly exposed to the light of crystal energy. of infiltration.

If crystal energy can really change the soul subtly, such as the visual sense enhancement of Cavernrel and Kalost, then these experimental samples should also show similar properties, such as the persistence time can gradually become longer, or even It is only right that the phenomenon of reverse crystallization and soul strengthening like Eskett and Torres can occur——but it seems that the actual situation is somewhat different.

"What do you think?" Caloust helplessly looked at the neatly arranged past experimental samples, sighed and looked at Cavinriel, "Did we make a mistake in guessing the nature of crystal energy?"

"Unlikely." Cavernrel shook his head, "Judging from the various properties currently exhibited by crystal energy, we can basically confirm that crystal energy is the first stable state of information. Such pure information fluctuations are the first to directly Acting on a digitizable soul is consistent with its own properties. My guess is that it is a problem with the properties of the experimental samples themselves. These samples are artificial after all. We can simulate the soul, but there is no way to actually create an artificial soul. And those simulated imitations probably lack some properties."

"What are you going to do next?" Caloust asked.

"Experimentation on living subjects."

"What?" Kalost's jaw dropped in shock after hearing it. He looked at Kalost, "Are you crazy? If you do this, unless you can provide enough evidence and arguments to prove that you have to do this for the sake of the Federation. You can’t do it, otherwise the Bill of Rights will really sue you to the Aldosil Council! You know to some extent that if there is a real collision and litigation starts, you won’t have to continue working!”

"Don't be nervous." The science officer raised his hand to interrupt Caloust and helped him put his chin back on. "I will use my own clone to conduct experiments, and it will be unconscious. This type of cloning act The control over this aspect is much looser - times have changed, and this is rare... Part of the reason is known to the Federation."

"Okay, okay, I really can't do anything to you."

…

During this time, some people are happy and some are worried.

Among the various galaxies and constellations in the Federation that begin with DH and ML, Vesrifan and Vidoville should be considered the happy ones. For some time now, the turmoil has slowly subsided.

The long wall of Warp World is very effective in blocking the visual impact caused by the crystal energy vortex, but the actual impact is not that big. After all, in the remote edge of the universe, many galaxies are already old. Unstable red giants, violent and dangerous quasars, and deep and cold dark space are the main theme here. Although the radius of the Warp World's long wall is four billion light years, and the entire package range cannot be said to be small even compared to the entire universe, in fact, the population within this range may not be as large as the trillions of the entire federation. one part.

As for Isendel, Zhai Cahir, Torres and Eskett, it seems that they can be classified on the worried side.

Isendel was almost under house arrest writing materials in the "office building" of the running Archon. This is not something difficult for him to face. What is difficult to face is how to publish those illusory theories and even more illusory conjectures in a way that is easy to accept.

Zhai Cahill has been trying to extract the first stable state information that may be contained in the information computer, but he has never been able to find a suitable method.

Eskett and Torres should be said to be the saddest. Due to the special characteristics of their bodies, they need to often return to the cabin that gave them nightmares to extract samples. As time goes by, they very much hope that their former friends He and his comrades were able to wake up again, but something bad began to happen: the degree of crystallization of those who were still comatose increased again, and their vitality was almost disappearing at a speed visible to the human eye.