Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 256 The Dilemma of the First Step
That being said, interstellar fleet warfare is certainly not a mindless, reckless charge. After the Second Republic realized this "enormous beast," it was actually the scholars in the scientific research field who first made proposals.

"A biological structure capable of withstanding 2000 million degrees Celsius inside a star, withstanding pressures exceeding 10^17 Pascals, and even possessing internal power capable of driving a body weighing over a trillion tons... This is an absolutely unique specimen!"

In an internal virtual conference, facing the mental projections of numerous scholars, one scholar shouted excitedly.

What an incredible creature! Everything about it is far beyond the imagination and understanding of interstellar humans. It's like a mystery, a magical creature from another world.

According to human understanding, it is impossible for such a massive life form to exist, because if such a massive life form existed, its enormous mass would create a huge gravitational pull, causing it to spontaneously collapse inward, forming a star or even collapsing into a black hole.

But this life defied all conventions.

Undoubtedly, it is enormous and possesses a certain degree of self-awareness, and may even be able to communicate with humans. This kind of creature is something that interstellar humans have never seen before, not even once.

In this universe built upon perfect logic, there are no supernatural forces or strange phenomena, nor are there any insectoid races that can roam freely in space. Psychic energy and the warp are the only things known to interstellar humans that break through the rules of conventional physics. But now, another such thing has emerged.
Soon, the pressure from the scholars fell on all the bureaucrats.

In the Second Republic, which governed by science, science was considered paramount.

Historical experience has taught people to be extremely wary of holding important positions to those who lack sufficient knowledge. "The foolish and short-sighted are not fit to hold power." Only those who have fully developed their wisdom and knowledge can rise to the top of society.

Within the Second Republic, every bureaucrat, regardless of rank, had a background as a researcher or scholar. Even the generals were mostly cutting-edge scholars proficient in experimental physics, because only in this way could they truly understand the performance of the weapons in their hands.

It is easy to imagine the lofty status scholars hold in such a country.

Faced with harsh criticism and aggressive accusations at the academic conference, the Second Republic's consul lowered his head, sweating profusely, and repeatedly nodded in agreement. This directly erased the fleet commander's proposal to dispatch the fleet. Such a precious example must not be destroyed by violence.

According to the opinions expressed at the academic conference, the Second Republic should make every effort to capture the enormous serpent, and only if it is truly impossible to capture it should they consider killing it violently.

The core plan had been formulated through academic conferences, then refined by the bureaucrats of the Second Republic, and finally the orders were sent to the generals, who received a four-step plan.

"First, dispatch unmanned spacecraft for reconnaissance and detailed data analysis; then, dispatch small unmanned fleets for testing to determine the target's specific attack methods and behaviors; finally, after the data is complete, set up various measures based on the corresponding data reports, including gravity traps, special drugs, and unmanned fleet capture. Violent actions are not permitted unless all measures fail completely."

A detailed plan, spanning tens of millions of words, had been issued, and the generals of the Second Republic had no choice but to follow orders.

……

Thirteen hours after the discovery of the giant beast's tracks in Galactic Calendar 20149, at time 1764.

Near the solar system, an invisible spacetime fluctuation was generated, and then the first unmanned reconnaissance spacecraft emerged from the void.

The shuttle-like spaceship was moving through the void at sub-light speed, and according to monitoring reports, the target was nearby.

"Reconnaissance...information...photons...gravity..."

A dozen minutes later, the spaceship, which was traveling at sub-light speed, received the location information of the target: a reactive body was located 20 billion kilometers away.

"found it……"

However, during the detection, the target was moving at an extremely high speed, approximately 300,000 kilometers per second, a speed close to 99.99% of the speed of light, and only a hair's breadth away from that speed.

In this universe, everything changes dramatically as we approach the speed of light; the flow of time slows down, even to the point of near-stagnation. And the closer we get to the speed of light, the more pronounced the minute differences become. At this speed, nothing can catch up—this refers not only to spaceships, but to "everything."

Whether it's gravity, photons, heat...

Nothing can exceed the speed of light. The closer something gets to the speed of light, the more difficult it becomes to detect, even with the simplest methods. Even gravitational capture is unlikely to capture something traveling at near the speed of light.

"A slight difference can lead to endless problems."

In actual space combat, in sub-light speed combat, even the slightest difference can often completely overwhelm the opponent, because in your eyes, the opponent is as slow as if they have stopped moving.

For the giant serpent, which was now approaching the speed of light, time had slowed down; a thousand years was but a moment. The unmanned reconnaissance ship that was trying to catch up with it was as if it had completely stopped.

No, it's not even stationary; it's flying backwards.

The first challenge encountered by the unmanned reconnaissance was not the anticipated formidable threat, but rather its excessive speed. The initial probe revealed nothing beyond the target's speed.

"...The intense spacetime effects mean that only the speed of the other party can be measured, but its mass and volume cannot be determined..."

The report from the unmanned spacecraft stated the following.

……

"Approximately 299792457 m/s? How is that possible!"

At the academic conference, almost everyone expressed disbelief at this figure, suspecting that the unmanned spacecraft had malfunctioned.

In this universe, the closer one tries to get to the speed of light, the more difficult it becomes. Even with the capabilities of interstellar humans, a standard spaceship can only reach about 99.999% of the sub-light speed limit. What does this speed, which is almost infinitely close to the speed of light, mean?
How can something with a conservative estimate of mass exceeding trillions of tons be traveling at near the speed of light? What enormous amount of energy would that require?

It's absurd! Even if all the energy that the entire Milky Way can release is added together, it would still be far less than that. Could it be that the kinetic energy generated by this enormous beast when it moves is comparable to that of the entire Milky Way?
Because the giant serpent wasn't flying very fast in the footage recorded by those interstellar passengers, the academic conference thought that such a colossal creature shouldn't be difficult to capture.

however……

"Go measure again!"

The association president, his face grim, gave the order.

……

The second time... the third time... the fourth time...

Each time, more unmanned spacecraft went to take measurements than the last, but without exception, almost none of the unmanned spacecraft could catch up with the target; at most, the speed measurements were just becoming more and more accurate.

299792457.61546 m/s, approximately 2.768 x 10^31 kg (increasing in time; accurate mass cannot be measured)...

The more measurements were taken, the more strange phenomena were discovered in this enormous monster. It seemed that the law of conservation of mass had failed in this monster, as it was constantly increasing in mass.

Aside from needlessly wasting over 1000 galactic hours, scholars still know nothing about the giant serpent soaring in space, except for the continuous discovery of more and more mysteries.

The "behemoth capture plan," which excited scholars, ran into trouble right from the start...

The 7th Ring World Society, a branch of the former Supreme Human Science Association.

After the dissolution of the Supreme Science Association, its many smaller branches had to develop independently, and most of them perished. However, one branch survived and expanded wildly after the establishment of the Ringworld, eventually becoming one of the largest forces in the entire Second Republic.

But now, the president of the 7th Ring World Society, a usually serious scholar, has red eyes, is covering his head, and is deep in thought.

This is an extremely abnormal phenomenon.

As a leading scholar, he has undergone far more genetic adjustments than the average person, making it impossible for such a physiological phenomenon to occur. However, it has happened, which can only prove that the unstable psionic energy within him has interfered with his body.

Such instability in his psionic energy couldn't be resolved even with potions, which gives you an idea of ​​his anxiety.

The plan to capture the giant beast was initiated by him and signed by him, but now it can't even take the first step.

But at the same time, something else was urging him on: the giant serpent seemed to be heading towards a nearby human-inhabited star system. For the safety of the entire system, the officials in that human system had urged him countless times to eliminate the threat as soon as possible; there was no time to delay.

After a long pause, he issued a new order.

"agree……"

Finally, the scholars agreed to the military's proposal to skip the first step and directly conduct threat testing with a "small-scale unmanned fleet".

(End of this chapter)