Chapter 97: Bright Nebula
The long voyage continued.
This acceleration of merely 1 centimeter per second squared persisted for over 90 days, only ceasing when the fleet’s speed reached 78 kilometers per second.
Further acceleration was not possible. More acceleration would consume more fuel, and future deceleration would also consume more fuel, potentially requiring the use of emergency reserve fuel.
As the acceleration, which had lasted over three months, ceased, the entire fleet became completely weightless.
Due to this 0.01 meter per second squared acceleration, every spaceship’s cabin had maintained a very stable gravity, approximately one-thousandth of Earth’s, throughout this period.
Now, with the acceleration stopped and the fleet entering inertial flight, even this slight gravity vanished.
Everything was no longer steadily placed in its original position, and all unsecured objects began to float.
This included the clones.
Among these 15 million clones, aside from the 500,000 required for fleet duty and maintaining daily operations, the remaining 14.5 million clones spent their days resting idly on densely packed beds.
Tom would control them to move for only one hour each day to prevent muscle and physical degradation.
Originally, they could lie down, but now, without gravity, they could only float.
Not just them, the entire fleet was also floating, suspended in this endless sea of stars.
No matter which clone’s perspective Tom switched to, no matter which porthole Tom looked out from, he saw an almost identical starry sky.
In the past hour, day, or even a month, the external environment had barely changed.
Sometimes, emotionally, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was truly advancing at a high speed of 78 kilometers per second, or if he was genuinely stationary.
Of course, each time, reason told him that he was indeed advancing at an unprecedented speed.
It was just that the starry sky was too vast, and there were no reference points, so no matter how fast he flew, it seemed as if he were standing still.
The fleet continued its voyage as if stationary.
The limited supplies carried by the fleet prevented any scientific experiments or research. However, this did not hinder Tom from manipulating the clones’ brains to think.
After all, they were idle anyway.
Thus, many problems accumulated during the long research phase finally found an opportunity for resolution during this voyage.
Over ten million brains simultaneously pondered these problems, seeking inspiration for solutions, sleeping when tired, eating when hungry, and resuming thought upon waking, repeating this cycle.
At the same time, Tom also took advantage of his current leisure and the fleet’s stable speed and heading to retrieve all the space optical telescopes, radio telescopes, and other equipment, directly launching them into space to begin a new round of sky surveys.
Tom didn’t even need to secure these space observation devices.
He placed them about 1,000 kilometers from the fleet, adjusted their initial state to stationary, and then no longer needed to worry; they would remain stationary there, always maintaining a fixed distance from the fleet.
Of course, they appeared stationary, but in fact, these devices and the fleet were all moving toward the Inner Solar System at a speed of 78 kilometers per second. However, their speed and heading were completely identical, making them appear as if they were all stationary.
Dozens of space optical telescopes and dozens of space radio telescopes each aimed at a specific celestial area, commencing continuous day-and-night observations.
As a result, a large number of peculiar astronomical events that Tom had not previously seen came into his view.
Black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, nebulae and star clusters, extragalactic galaxies, quasars...
And so on.
Tom knew that when technology developed to a certain extent, further advancement would be inseparable from astronomical observation.
Too many fundamental physical theories required proof from astronomical events.
However, in the past few centuries, he had been busy with lower-level development and had never paid too much attention to space.
These few years were a good time to make up for it.
Thus, amidst long periods of observation and contemplation, reviewing mastered theoretical knowledge, and speculating and hypothesizing about unmastered knowledge, time slowly passed.
Ahead, the Sun’s brightness, which had previously only cast dim shadows from Loshen Star, had now increased to appear like the full Moon viewed from Earth.
Of course, this was only in terms of brightness, not size.
In fact, the Sun Tom saw at this moment was still just a small point of light, completely lacking any disk structure.
This seemed to be the only change visible to the naked eye during these years of travel. Everything else remained unchanged.
At least, it couldn’t be detected with the naked eye.
"In another month of travel, we will cross Pluto’s orbit. We are finally almost there."
One day during the long voyage, Tom sighed, reflecting on the vastness of the universe and the length of the journey.
Just the journey from the edge of the Solar System to its interior was already so long.
And, between the Sun and the nearest star, there was a distance of approximately 4.2 light-years.
This number was about 2,500 times the length of his current voyage.
He had already exerted his utmost effort for merely one-2,500th of a journey.
And how could the vastness of the universe be measured by a thousand, or ten thousand, 4.2 light-years?
"I wonder when I will truly be able to roam freely in this vast universe."
Tom longed and sighed.
Hundreds of telescopes still hovered around the fleet, continuously exploring cosmic space.
It was during this exploration that Tom suddenly discovered a slightly strange celestial body.
From its shape, it appeared to be a nebula.
A nebula is a cloud of matter formed by the gathering of interstellar dust, hydrogen, helium, and other plasma.
Nebulae are common in interstellar space, existing in vast numbers and varying sizes. Large nebulae can give birth to thousands of stars, while small ones are obscure and almost invisible to people.
Nebulae can be broadly classified as bright nebulae and dark nebulae based on whether they emit light.
At this moment, Tom saw a bright nebula.
In the visible light spectrum, this nebula emitted a hazy glow.
But Tom remembered very clearly. When his space telescope last observed this direction, he had seen nothing.
However, a nebula cannot travel too far in a short period. It is unlikely to have flown here from somewhere else in just a few years.
That leaves only one possibility.
There must be some reason that caused it to transform from a dark nebula into a bright nebula.
What could be the reason?
"This small nebula is only five or six light-years from the Solar System, very close.
This direction... is the direction of the Gliese 625 star system."
The Gliese 625 star system is also known by the Lantuke as the Lantuke Star System.