Ding Peng's gaze drifted to the distant sky, where there were no stars, just a bleak void, where people would survive and develop for a long time.

At this moment, the male voice in the TV set also invariably high-pitched: "...... When the flames of the planetary engine shine in this starry sky, we will finally embark on the path of a fourth-level civilization! ”

Many people cheered loudly and applauded. Even other geniuses selected from the virtual world, whether they are accustomed to this world or not, are raising their glasses in celebration and wanting to do their part.

But few people know that the beginning of a thing is always beautiful. Especially for such a big project, if there is no bright future, how many people will muster up the courage to do it?

The government did not say how long the project would ultimately take......

However, when nearly 20 million people have spent huge amounts of points, spent a hundred years on the road, and enjoyed reaching the end of the road to the fullest, about to start a new journey, they do not know that there are nearly 3,000 difficult times waiting for them in the future......

The loud cheers of the present may be the last cheers of the next three thousand years.

They repeat the same work until they die.

The 15,000 planetary engines that human beings are responsible for are equivalent to 15,000 mountains weighing on the entire civilization, and many people will have to give up their current careers and devote themselves to the vast sea of large-scale construction projects.

All their lives, they have to fight against excavators and earth drills, and through these tools, they have razed craters to the ground.

From the first cheers and laughter, then gradually numbness, and finally a deep despair into the grave......

The talent training of subsequent generations will also be heavily inclined to this aspect.

A large percentage of engineers will appear, and many entertainment-related professions will be banned. Even the work of many scientists had to be abandoned, because the entire civilization was no longer productive, providing them with resources for experiments.

No passion can last for 3,000 years, the first generation died silently, fighting for their beliefs and ideals all their lives, but the second generation had to accept the status quo that has become a fact, because of social inertia to continue to struggle......

The third generation is still doing the same thing, and they can't feel the ambition of the people who first came here.

This social inertia slowly wears out, and then the fourth, fifth, and sixth generations......

Even if a generation is born in 50 years, it will take the relay of 40-60 generations of population to survive these thousands of years.

Without any enthusiasm to sustain 40 generations to repeat the same work, they were born and began to open their eyes to the world, without stars, without light, and the giant planetary engine was spewing plasma sparks, and until their own death, they were still building planetary engines.

After a beautiful rainbow, after watching it for a lifetime, it has become an extremely boring thing.

But they just have to spend a lifetime doing it, and they have to do it seriously. The current robot system has no way to independently manufacture a behemoth like a planetary engine, and a large number of personnel must work to maintain the entire system.

In particular, without any pressure to survive, no one went to force them, and there were no alien enemies in this place.

The only spiritual support is that there is a certain probability of becoming a fourth-level civilization.

However, the benefits of becoming a fourth-level civilization belong to all mankind and future generations, not to oneself.

"People have to work on their own initiative, and 'spontaneity' is like an unattainable dream for us."

"So, Mr. Captain, don't think about the progress on the side of the Thor civilization, and don't care if they can hold on or not. The future expectations on our side are unreliable. Although everyone's enthusiasm is very high at present, it is always possible to wear out all the passion for a long time. ”

"They'll get lazy."

"The whole project is too long, so long that we are a short-lived species that despair."

"Do you die if you don't work? Won't die! The pressure of work is so low that we can't force workers to work by squeezing their labor......"

On this very day, the planetary fortress has reached its established position.

As soon as the curvature bubble came out, the two sides immediately sent a large number of scientific experts to conduct a field investigation, which is expected to last for a month.

Various large-scale nuclear fusion flares with tens of millions of tons of TNT equivalent shine in the starry sky, and these flares are like bright little suns, temporarily illuminating this bleak universe.

After that, people will choose whether to stay or return.

If they want to stay here, the two civilizations will unload all the engineering machinery in the planetary fortress and start the official work. Of course, if there is nothing special about it, the general opinion is to stay here.

Zhang Yuan and a small number of others were worried, focusing on a more distant time.

In the course of their discussions over the past few days, they have increasingly felt that people seem to be overestimating their own determination and overestimating the ambitions of humanity itself.

The whole atmosphere is too optimistic, really too optimistic. The plan formulated by the New Humanity Government is deeply flawed, especially in terms of personnel mobilization, which is flawed to a certain extent......

"When the time comes, if you are lazy, I will be lazy, and the whole construction period will be delayed. If you are lazy again, I will be lazy again, and the entire civilization will immediately lose its original spirit. Although everyone knows that this project is of great benefit to mankind, it is ...... Human beings are still self-interested creatures. ”

Optimism is a good thing. But if you are too optimistic, it is easy to overestimate yourself.

Does the Empire on which the sun never sets want to weaken? The empire does not want to weaken, the nobles of the empire do not want to weaken, and the common people do not want to weaken.

Do the people of the United States want to be weakened? The people of the United States don't want to either, and no one wants to be weakened.

"However, the weakening of a country and even a civilization is not only due to external challengers, but also by a strong competitor who has put them in competition, but also by internal reasons......

“…… It is because their society, their systems, policies, and the mental state of the people cannot keep up with the times, that competitors have opportunities to take advantage of. ”

"It's the same with our civilization, a civilization is dynamic and not static. Our policies should change with the times in order to keep the entire civilization moving forward. But now there is an invariant, that is, we must always adhere to this big project, which makes the future policy very troublesome......"

In the face of the sprinkled and hundreds of high-ranking officials' joint proposals, these high-level civilizations were all in a faint state of confusion, and a special meeting was held for this purpose.

Eventually, Mr. Captain sighed and said, "So, Mr. Zhang Yuan, do you have any better suggestions?" We cannot forcibly conscript workers to work for thousands of years, otherwise this government will become a dictatorship and sooner or later it will be overthrown. ”

Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "Of course there are suggestions, and the best way is to shorten the construction period." The engineering amount of the original two battle stars is shortened to one, and you can refer to Alternative 17. ”

Option 17 is a scheme devised by Zhang Yuan's good friend, physicist Professor John.

In general, the solution is to build two planetary fortresses, one of which is placed 120-200 AU away to observe the collision of neutron stars, and the other to interfere with the rotation of two neutron stars to shorten the collision time.

Otherwise, mankind will have to wait more than 100,000 years for neutron star collision, which is too long.

More than 100,000 years is absolutely unrealistic for human beings. The Toths, who lived longer, could not have waited so long.

"So, this planetary fortress used to shorten neutron star collisions is indispensable."

"But is it possible to save another battle star placed at 120 astronomical units and not build it?"

Professor John's Backup Scheme 17, after careful calculations, concluded that it would be sufficient to build only one planetary fortress in a given situation.

As far as astronomical observations are concerned, there are no suitable planets at 120 AU. And the equipment for observing neutron star collisions is best built on planets, so that there is a better chance of observing the required data.

Is it possible to propel a planet to 120 AU without building a planetary engine?

Absolutely!

The answer is...... Use the massive gravitational pull of the planetary fortress that must be built to pull another planet over!

Since human beings want to build at least one planetary fortress, let it play more roles, the first is to use its own gravity to hook the movement of another planet, and after bringing the other planet to a target orbit of 120 astronomical units, it is the second goal, to do a three-body motion with a neutron star, or in some other way, to shorten the mutual orbit between two neutron stars.

The gravitational pull between planets, like two magnets that attract each other, is able to form a power source for each other.

Take the former Earth-Moon binary system as an example, it is precisely because of the existence of gravity that the two sides will form a system.

The Earth-Moon system is not simply the Moon orbiting the Earth, but the Earth and the Moon revolve around the center of mass of the Earth-Moon system, but the Earth of the Earth-Moon system has a large mass and a small moon, and its common center of mass is about 4800 kilometers away from the center of the Earth.

Once a large number of planetary engines are installed on the Earth to deviate from its orbit, then the Moon will also come with it, and it will be impossible to get rid of it for a while.

In the same way, installing an engine on the moon to make the moon move will also interfere with the movement of the earth.

If you really want to "wander the earth", it is a more reliable plan to let the moon as a constant gravitational source to lure the earth away, after all, the thin crust of the earth cannot support those powerful planetary engines.

And the No. 17 plan suggested by Zhang Yuan and others is this, only build a battle star, start it to hook another planet, forcibly suck it over, and change its orbit.

In this way, humans do not need to build a second planetary fortress, but only need to install various observation devices on this large ice ball.

"If the construction period is cut in half, it will undoubtedly be good news for us."

The officials looked pensive, the plan sounding good, but the technical difficulty was undoubtedly an order of magnitude.

The movement of a planet is not to drive a car, it does not mean that if you want to turn left, you can turn left, if you want to turn right, you can turn right, under the action of its huge inertia, it may take a hundred years to turn from a left turn to a right turn!

If you want to hook the movement of other planets, you need to use its own inertia, and you also need to calculate accurately, maybe you will accidentally collide, this is not alarmist!

A scientist raised his eyebrows and said slowly: "Mr. Zhang, in the No. 17 plan, the big ice hockey ball selected is quite large, with a diameter of 2,000 kilometers, although its density is very low and its quality is not high...... But for this big puck to run with our planetary fortress, the distance between the two sides must be close enough to gravity to be large enough for the plan to succeed. ”

"In more than 500 years, the distance between the two planets will reach the point of closeness, and there will be a chance of gravitational hooking. Therefore, it is better for our planetary fortress to move its orbit to the same height within 500 years......"

"But if the two planets are too close together...... It's too dangerous! The two planets no longer orbit, but in a pattern of one after the other. ”

"Our battle star has to run fast enough, and the planetary engine has to have enough horsepower, otherwise the distance between the two sides will get closer and closer under the action of gravity, and maybe they will collide, and then it will all be over!"

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Yes, it is because of this that it is the motivation for all human beings to work hard!" If they don't try a little harder, the two planets will collide directly! ”

"This is called work oppression, there is no oppression, such a big project, I don't know how long it will take to grind foreign workers, who can guarantee that it can be completed on time and in quantity for thousands of years?"

Everyone was stunned.

Zhang Yuan continued: "But this kind of oppression is still far from enough. We also need to expand a part of the population, especially in the early stage of the project, and the population will reach more than 100 million. ”

"100 million." Mr. Captain frowned and pondered, the previous plan was also to expand the population, but it didn't need that much.

Another professor who supported the plan took over and replied: "The schedule of Plan 17 is very tight, far more intense than other plans. Without exploding the population, our industrial capacity will not be able to meet the standard. ”

"On the other hand, after the massive expansion of the population, our current ship cannot accommodate so many people...... In other words, after accommodating so many people, it seems less comfortable. Many people have to live underground, and being able to see the big ice hockey ball behind them makes it even more oppressive. ”

"But ......"

A member of a government think tank asked: "With such a large population, it will be very difficult to escape...... We don't have enough amoeba points, we don't have enough spacecraft to rent, and we can only carry 40 million people in the end. ”

Zhang Yuan explained: "Your question is very good, but don't forget that people will grow old and die. In 1,400 years, as long as it is well planned, the final population can be reduced to less than 40 million. ”

The parliamentarian immediately retorted: "But that would be a serious aging population, and it would also create all kinds of problems." In an aging society, there will be a shortage of labor. Maybe even the elderly will have to participate in the work and delay the retirement age! This raises a lot of social problems! ”

There was silence in the air for a while, or it would take more than 3,000 years to work slowly, and the future would be unpredictable, maybe it would take 4,000 or 5,000 years, or even give up halfway. Even if the historiography of the new civilization is strong, it is impossible to predict the time of 3,000 years.

Either the amount of work will be cut in half, but it may have to endure a long period of aging crisis, and the people will be persecuted and complained.

Zhang Yuan shook his head and sighed softly, "No way, everything can't be perfect." With a population of 100 million, it takes 400 years to work hard and increase the working hours, and we have to complete about 40%-50% of the project, and then we can only hand it over to future generations. ”

"How can a fourth-level civilization be so simple, it always has to endure hardships."

"This whole set of combinations is down, and the construction period is about 1400 years old. So we can make a pact with the Rim of Thailand to lease some transport ships after 1400 to transport our population to a place a light year away. Counting the 100 years that have passed, a total of 1,500 years. ”

"If a human fleet comes to the Marketplace after that, you can send them news about Curvature Technology, or simply let them sell it in the Market. Well, if our civilization doesn't complete its plan and stops progressing, then let the rest of the human branch progress......"

This feeling is very bitter, and everyone knows what Zhang Yuan is talking about......

Actually, it makes a lot of sense.

But how should people choose?

Do you choose a solution that can be done in 1,400 years, or a solution that lasts for 3,000 or 4,000 years?

It's a matter of long pain and short pain.

For 1,400 years, we will definitely have to bear risks and endure hardships, even if a population of 100 million people will have to endure a lot of hardships in the face of huge construction projects, for example, the working hours will be extended to 10 hours a day.

Less important professions will be outlawed, people will no longer be able to play robot wars games, and the government will not be able to allocate resources to do it.

And what about the three or four thousand year plan...... It's too long to plan. It is difficult to predict whether there will be contradictions with the Thoth civilization during this period, and whether greater variables will occur.

Whether it can be done after planning is also a question.

In fact, Zhang Yuan didn't believe in his heart that even if human beings completed this project like a foreign worker, could they go further.

Fourth-level Faller civilization is also available in the galaxy......