Chapter VIII

Excerpt from "The Terry Smith Show," Diss Fox Channel, 2320-07-21

“… Now let's hear your thoughts on this issue, Dr. Patel," the talk show host said as he turned to a man in lab overalls.

"CRISPR-3 is a breakthrough in gene editing that culminates in the century-old promise of personalized medicine. Imagine going to the doctor and getting treatment for cancer and genetic diseases with treatments that work perfectly for you and have no side effects! The FDA's approval of a new gene therapy technology will usher in a new era of medical miracles. ”

"What do the critics who claim it's just another thing between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', and their concerns about the so-called 'design babies'?"

Dr. Patel apparently scoffs at this claim. "This is illegal in almost every country on the planet, and the few countries that do not do so are third world theaters. This problem was solved decades ago. ”

"Be careful," I warned.

"I'm careful," Sakura said.

"Watch out for that corner." Agrippa said.

Sakura said impatiently, "I'm really looking at the camera like the two of you." "I can distract myself 29 times. Neither of you can do this, so I'm going to move this, and you can't. ”

The alien fusion device was carefully moved to a room near headquarters. By the time we took the ship apart piece by piece and moved it into the room we designated as the "alien room," it had been lying on the ground for months. The process is slow. I carefully recorded every bolt, panel, and wire, while also dissecting the only technology we had. The blank storage units were disassembled in my lab, but I never knew how to read them. We don't have manuals, and we don't have secret alien technology libraries. The deuterium and tritium in the fuel tanks were carefully drained, every penny of energy was released, and it was impossible for the fusion reactor to start. I think it's safe to move the reactor so that we can get to the engine compartment hanging underneath.

On the surface, we've looted all the alien caches we can find. We salvaged alien food reserves, tools, gear, entertainment equipment, personal belongings, all sorts of electronics, lasers to protect the ship, and anything similar to useful. We even stripped the alien corpse of the vacuum suit for analysis and refrigerated the corpse. Then I had the welders use the drone to disassemble the spacecraft, leaving only simple metal, except for the engine and the fusion reactor.

"Sakura-chan, how is the LM3 shipped?" I asked.

"It's like a dream," she said. "The pulse engine makes it a lot easier to move. Tracks are great for heavy work, but for precise operation, being able to hover makes it a lot easier. ”

"Luckily, you found the factory online," Mr. Agrippa said. "We need it."

"I know, Agrippa, I know. I promise, we will finalize the schedule for combat UAVs. Your hangar is almost dug out. ”

"The first hangar," he corrected. "We need a lot of drones to build an effective defense."

"Okay," Sakura said. She carefully guided the fusion reactor to a corner of the storage room, or in her words, "the alien's room." This room is divided by large shelves that extend to the ceiling, with ramps and walkways above the shelves. There were no shelves in one corner of the room, leaving room for the reactor and engine compartment.

The fusion reactor is followed by a transport train carrying engine pods. Each pod is the same, and it is all hoisted under the fusion reactor, which makes it difficult for drones that can move on the water to get in, so we have only now been able to peek inside. If I did go to the surface, my robotic body could fit into the entrance hatches used by alien miners, but the narrow hatches were too tight for the smallest drone we could use on it.

Luckily, we were able to remove enough floor to remove the wires and simply cut off the outer enclosure until we could separate the pods for transport. I'd love to get into them because they don't have a noticeable exhaust. I speculate that they are using a variant of the non-reactive thrust that I use on the drone. The pulse engines we use rely on the Mach effect and enormous power, but not enough thrust to compare to traditional reaction-based thrusters. While you can use it as thrust in space, a pulse engine will be very inefficient when you consider the energy demand and the thrust generated. There is a reason, I only use pulse engines on drones and need to work in low gravity to no gravity areas.

"So the industrial ceramics and advanced polymer factories are online," Sakura said, while the moving drones continue to be as delicate as ballet. "We can start assembling the higher cortical units. It's still hand-assembled at the moment, unless you want to design an assembly plant to produce them on a large scale. ”

"She doesn't have time for that," Agrippa interjected. "She already needs to complete the design of the attack drone, the assembly of the defense device and the coil gun."

"The microreactor tests were completed a month ago. She also owes me some project planning, including a redesign of distributed power grids, transportation rail networks, and universal worker robots. ”

I shook my head. This only scratches the surface. I also need to complete the design of the hydroponic plant so that Saku

A can start producing equipment for greenhouses, ammunition manufacturers and ammunition boxes to supply ammunition for coil guns, and I really want to study the body of the Mark-3 robot. Ma

The k-II prototype sat on a bench in my lab, and most of it was dismantled to be converted into Ma

k-III。 I wrapped a layer of biopolymer skin around synthetic muscle tissue. It has decreased in power, but has improved in facial expressions, motor flexibility, and the internal design of the cerebral cortex, memory, and data storage. Unfortunately, it looks a little too human. Apparently, the intelligence officers of the national intelligence agencies were just as frightened by the uncanny valley as humans. That scary face we can't stand it.

On top of that, I was also immersed in the work of reverse-engineering the alien technology we found. Despite my educational background and comprehensive understanding of the human technology base, I have not made any progress in understanding their storage architecture. Their other techniques have made me even luckier because they are not too different from what we use. Sadly, I've found that in most respects, we're technically comparable, or in some cases, better. I did improve some of the processing and memory design, but it was a minor improvement that didn't do much to reveal the aliens.

"Have you decided to integrate the NI-5 cortical unit into a military drone?" Agrippa asked.

"Yes," I replied. "I'm going to allow a few test units to go online to test their stability. We don't have the time and manpower to write custom military algorithms, and we need intelligence from some management units. It's too much work to create semi-autonomous units and then micromanage them for you or other NI-15 units. ”

"I think you're overloaded again," Sakura said. The transporter is gently lowering the fusion reactor in the corner. They had to get out through the opposite hatch, because the transport plane with the engine compartment was right behind them. "You should bring another NI online."

She's not wrong. I gave a lot of the work to Agrippa and Sakura. Agrippa spent his free time researching and planning a greenhouse, which eventually led to the creation of an eco-house. On top of that, he worked with me to convert an Earth-style attack aircraft into a space defense drone, with Boston Dynamics' basic robot template for internal security. Saku

aManages more than one million square meters of factories, processing plants, refineries and maintenance facilities. She didn't hesitate to install NI-5 cortical devices in every factory that needed them, affectionately calling them her "dwarfs." I guess she's referring to the dwarfs in The Lord of the Rings, not the dwarfs in Disney, but I'm not sure. On top of that, I installed a new data center online, which improved her ability to multitask.

Still, simple design work alone took up most of my time. I still need to manage the design and implementation of data centers, research and development, reverse engineering of alien ships, growth plans, and thousands of other big blueprint plans. We both work 24/7, which means Agrippa and I can easily do the work of 4 or 5 people with Saku

A has to do the work of dozens of people. I envy her for being able to distract her attention in 29 directions, but I was born with this ability and will never be able to. Ag

The IPPA is optimized in different directions, and most of it cannot be exploited without the necessary infrastructure, weapons and processes. I mentally moved Mark III to the top of my list. We need more help, and I'm already stuck with alien technology.

The transport plane carrying the engine pod is dancing delicately to put the cargo down without damaging it. The way they move is almost ingenious. Saku

A direct control over them, rather than letting their internal controllers do the job. Each engine pod uses two transports to carry the pods, and the other pair stabilizes the load during the journey. Now, the top pair carefully holds the engine pod so that the lower pair can slide out and let the pod gently fall to the surface.

There was a low creaking sound in the alien's room. Great, she made me call it that. There is almost no atmosphere here, only a few gases emitted from the refinery a few hundred meters away. We've sealed advanced manufacturing and data centers behind airlocks and heavy-duty filtration systems, and our data center designs still rely on an artificial atmosphere behind their own blast doors to facilitate cooling. But our headquarters area is not segregated, so theoretically, if the sound is loud enough, the sound can be transmitted. However, I could feel the vibrations through the wall, which made all the sensors in my body light up. I immediately turned on the camera.

In the alien room, four transport planes that had put their engine bays on the floor were squashed. Well, not all of them. One of the drones was cut in half, half was crushed, and the other half looked unscathed. The engine pod was laid horizontally on the floor and had a dent, but otherwise it was fine.

"Well, what just happened?" I asked.

I hid in a tree in the backyard. I've spent a lot of time climbing this tree, but lately I've been using it as a hiding place to hide from her. She was always so angry and I didn't know what was going on. I'm just saying that I think women are prettier than men. Then she started yelling that I should worry more about finding a good husband instead of wasting time doing math. It's so confusing. My teacher said we need to be good at multiplication and division of fractions so that we can do well in middle school.

"Honey? Are you up there?" Even though I couldn't see my father, I heard him under the tree. I wanted to say nothing, but I really wanted a hug.

"I'm here." I whispered. I'm not sure if he heard me, but as he started to climb up, I felt a slight swing from the tree. It only took him a minute to sit down on the branch next to me, facing me.

"Why is my mom so angry about my exams?" I asked.

"Oh, little pumpkin," he said, pulling me to him. It was an awkward hug until I slipped off a branch and onto his lap. He is tall and comforting. "You're great at math, and I'm so proud of you."

His words warmed me, and I leaned in towards him. He kept talking. "Your mom has found new friends in her church, and they're a lot like her dad's friends in the church. I don't agree with what they say, but your mom agrees. I think they have a bad influence. ”

I nodded at his chest, my face still pressed against his. He's told me before about bad influences. That mean girl at school is a bad girl, and she's always getting into trouble.

"Is that why we stayed at home with you instead of going to church with Mom?" I asked.

"It's part of it," he said. "I want you to learn and grow in a way that works for you. I'm going to be with you and help you, even if it means I might have to fight with my mom. You just have to continue to study well in school. Got it?"

I don't understand at all. I nodded. I am hungry. "Can I have a snack?"

He smiled. "Of course, pumpkins. Let's get you some snacks. ”

"It's an exposed wire on a transport," Saku

A said. She's been investigating for hours. "The cargo arm of the mobile engine pod escaped...... Whatever it is...... Lie on the ground next to the pod. I think it pushes the current into the engine pod and partially activates in a short second. ”

"It turned out to be the engine compartment," I said. It's so fascinating. For the first time since we started working on alien spacecraft, it's a distinctly different step forward than we already know. Everything else is prosaic. Their computer technology is slightly more efficient than ours, although we still don't understand their storage architecture. However, I suspect it's different, not better. I also doubt that their reactors will be variants of what we already know. With any luck, we may find a more efficient design when we start producing our own new microreactor. But it looks like it could be a breakthrough in engine design.

One of the biggest obstacles to space travel is the balance between speed, fuel, and cargo. If you have a lot of cargo mass, the speed you can achieve with the fuel you carry is limited. If you carry more fuel, you can increase your range or you can increase your speed, but at the cost of cargo quality. The only "shortcut" to this basic balance is to increase the efficiency of acceleration in fuel consumption. If you can burn less fuel to get more acceleration, you can radically change the ratio of your engine, fuel, and cargo.

The goal of this alien spacecraft is to fly short distances. I don't know how much food and water the aliens need per day. However, there is no hydroponics or food production on board. Assuming a similar rate of consumption to human males is 2,100 to 2,500 calories per day, and considering how many empty food containers they store as garbage, their planned total travel time is three to four months.

This only makes sense in two cases. The first is when the engine compartment of our storage area is capable of producing amazing thrust or relies on scientific principles that we simply don't know or understand. This will allow the aliens to travel for a month or two, stay at their destination for a while, and then return. It's hard for me to believe that they have any amazing technology to make this scenario workable.

The second scenario could be more terrible for us, and more likely. This could be a satellite ship. There is a larger ship that will be docked there, or sit in it, for a bigger, longer interstellar trip. As a designer, I can see the benefits of having a large mothership with huge engines and large fuel reserves, but also the benefits of having a smaller ship running around a single star system.

"100,000 ! Sakura's excited screams can be heard over the radio. Sometimes, keeping up with Sakura's current train of thought can be dizzying, as she has 29 thoughts at the same time. I once asked her this question, and she described it as having a central thought process, with different foci branching out and running semi-independently, while periodically synchronizing with the central process. Her central process focuses on managing and integrating all of her sub-processes. In practice, this means that when they reintegrate, she jumps from one focus to another at a vertiginous pace. This sounds very confusing to me, and often means that she changes the subject when a hat falls. Now that it works, though, I'm not going to complain.

"One hundred thousand what?" I asked.

"Drones! We have 100,000 drones! I just got 100,000 pieces off the production line. Technically, we surpassed 100,000 of them some time ago, but I have been scrapping outdated and inefficient drones as soon as their replacements are put into service. We were stuck for about 11 days. ”

"What does this mean in practice?" I asked.

"In practice, that means I'm now digging up an entire area of nine rooms in a matter of hours. I can bring new plants online in a matter of days and integrate them into our production process within a few days of certification. I add dozens of new NI-5s to the factory every day to further optimize production. ”

"If you do this well, when will I be able to produce my assault drone?" Agrippa asked, not without reason.

"The first in-house security drone will be completed by the end of today. God, you know how to spoil a surprise. Sakura grumbled. I have already prepared the equipment, and when you and Nikolai finish the design, the attack drone will be ready to start. ”

"Nikolai? Agrippa asked. He didn't even finish the idea. In that moment, Ma

K-III became the second priority. Of the two scenarios, I feel that the second scenario is the most likely to happen. I'll talk to Agrippa later, but I know what he's going to say. It's best to prepare for the worst.

"Once we're done analyzing what's going on in the alien room, we get to work. I also want to finalize our coil gun emplacements and ammunition box design. ”

Agrippa said: "About this...... You may want to play back the video of the event. "In qua

te

-speed。 ”

I did as he was told, downloaded the video, and played it in slow motion. I saw sparks from the portal arm when it touched the pod. This arm holds the bracket inside the pod at all times, which is used to carry the partially disassembled engine. Sparks flew into the engine, and a blue light shot out from inside the alien artifact. At that moment, I could see a faint distortion, as if a magnetic field flashed and flashed. At the same time, the four transports were pushed a full meter higher than they were, and then an invisible hand pressed them against a ten-meter-thick steel floor.

"That'...... It looks like gravity manipulation," Sakura said, apparently looking at the same frame as I did. "Why didn't I notice?"

"You're looking for a reason," Agrippa said. "I'm looking for a weapon."

A weapon? I shook my head inwardly. It's not a weapon, it's an engine failure. This is a powerful non-reactive thrust device. Aliens have figured out how to "trick" the engine so that the fuel reaches the cargo balance. The ability of a single fusion engine to propel a spacecraft that easily triples the mass of cargo in the space of a few months could be a game-changer for us. We need to figure out the technology, and fast.