"...Helium-3, what an incredible resource! It’s not just a fuel source; it can also be used for specific superfluid experiments and even simulate the formation of cosmic strings to some extent..."
"Furthermore, Helium-3 is an inert gas, making it highly resistant to chemical reactions with other substances... which is extremely helpful for many of our experiments."
While discussing Helium-3, the physicist Professor Hao Yu rattled off a string of highly technical terms. His mind was still entirely focused on his scientific experiments.
Even now, the golden age of physics was still in full swing, and there were many challenges yet to be conquered. Groundbreaking theories emerged one after another, driving a massive boom in human technology.
This brilliant scientist felt that attending a meeting here was a waste of time. He would much rather be back in his own lab. After 160 years of an arduous struggle for survival, these obsessive work habits had been ingrained in their very bones.
Especially after the installation of the Brain Chips, which brought about a massive leap in cognitive processing, everyone felt like they had ascended to a whole new level of intelligence. People’s minds had become incredibly active, constantly sparking with brilliant and ingenious ideas. It would have been a genuine tragedy if they didn’t dedicate themselves to scientific research.
One of the engineers made a very practical point: "If we replace deuterium with Helium-3 as our primary nuclear fuel, the reaction will be much cleaner. Without the neutron flux, the maintenance intervals for the nuclear reactors can be extended by a factor of eighteen! This would be a massive advantage for us."
"Additionally, a Helium-3 bomb has a more controlled yield and can be manufactured in a much smaller reactor..."
Humanity had indeed mastered nuclear fusion, but their current method involved directly capturing the energy of a continuous nuclear explosion using reactors with walls several kilometers thick and intensely strong magnetic fields. Such brute-force reactors required extensive maintenance after prolonged operation.
The neutron flux generated by these traditional nuclear reactions was highly problematic. Because neutrons carry no electrical charge, they cannot be contained by magnetic or electric fields. When these neutrons mix with high-energy ions, they not only degrade the reactor walls but also damage the internal components of the generators, which drastically increases the maintenance workload.
Using Helium-3 as the primary fuel would eliminate neutron production entirely, resulting in a significantly cleaner and far more efficient reaction.
"Even... advanced Interstellar Civilizations require Helium-3; it serves as a universal trade commodity between different galactic empires."
The team discussed the prospect enthusiastically, and mining Helium-3 immediately became their highest priority.
Of course, this couldn’t serve as a long-term mission. With the massive swarm of automated mining robots stored aboard the Precursor, the extraction operations could be finished within just a few years.
So, what would humanity do once the mining was finished?
Now that the Federation had officially become an Interstellar Civilization, they had access to a vastly expanded frontier and far more destinations to choose from. But they couldn’t just wander the cosmos aimlessly. There were many critical issues they needed to resolve. First and foremost: what was the ultimate direction for the Federation’s development?
How should humanity, having just taken its first steps into the interstellar void, face the vast and unforgiving universe? More specifically... how should they navigate a galaxy still shrouded in deep mystery? How should they conduct their exploration of the great unknown?
Although they had gleaned some basic intelligence about the wider universe from the reports of the alien entity known as "Black," this information was still dangerously sparse.
Jason thought for a moment and spoke frankly. "It’s far too dangerous to just drift aimlessly through the galaxy like this."
"Therefore, I believe our best course of action is to establish a secure foothold. If we could find a home planet similar to Earth, or at least a stable yellow dwarf star to act as a permanent base of operations, we could then systematically explore the surrounding sectors. This approach is much more logical and secure."
"...At present, our primary objective is clear: we need to find the next Earth. We need to find our next Solar System! What do you all think?"
This proposal was met with unanimous approval from everyone in the room. Every first-generation survivor harbored a deep, burning desire for another Earth. Perhaps it was simply the result of growing older and the long passage of time, but they all found themselves inexplicably missing the warm, bright days of their lost home world.
"We will arrive at exoplanet GB131 in six months, and the mining operations will take roughly two years. What viable targets do we have lined up for our next destination? Have we located any Earth-like planets? Preferably something relatively close to our current position," Jason asked, carefully studying the digital star map they had salvaged from the Viridian Empire.
The data on the map was quite limited. The most prominent marker was a star system over 4,000 light-years away, located near the outer edges of the galactic core. That location was undoubtedly a major colony world belonging to the Viridians.
The Viridians still owed humanity a massive blood debt that had yet to be repaid. However, it was highly unrealistic for the Federation to travel that incredible distance just to seek vengeance against the Viridian Empire at this stage. Judging strictly by the scale of their respective starships, human technology was still significantly inferior to that of the Viridians. Going there to collect on that debt right now would only result in humanity’s utter annihilation!
The chief astronomer, Dr. Thomson, was the first to offer a suggestion. "The binary star system we are currently traversing does not possess an ecological environment capable of supporting an Earth-like biosphere... therefore, we must leave this system entirely."
He tapped a few keys on his console, and a highly complex orbital model appeared on the main display, tracking the chaotic dance of the two local stars.
In the classic astronomical two-body problem, if you only factor in gravity and use one celestial body as the primary frame of reference, the orbital trajectory of the second body will always form a conic section. This is the only mathematical model that satisfies the principle of equality under the universal law of gravitation.
While these conic section orbits are relatively simple to calculate, they create environments that are far too unstable for habitable planets. The orbital distance and surface temperatures fluctuate wildly. Furthermore, the massive, violent solar winds generated by a binary system could easily strip away the atmosphere of any planet caught too close. Therefore, absolutely none of the planets within this binary star system met their colonization requirements.
Dr. Thomson continued, "However, our long-range sensors have observed a stable, Sun-like yellow dwarf star approximately 6.3 light-years away from our current position. The data suggests there might be an Earth-like terrestrial planet within its habitable Goldilocks zone. We could try our luck there. Even if the environment isn’t perfect, we could attempt to artificially terraform it ourselves."
"The only unknown factor is whether or not there is already an indigenous civilization living there..."
"We have also cataloged several other potential Earth-like planets that are significantly farther away. I’ve compiled the specific telemetry data here... you can all take a look." He transmitted the data packet to everyone’s personal terminals.
Jason glanced over the summary briefly, nodded in approval, and said, "Then it’s settled. Over the next few months, we will dedicate our sensor arrays to conduct detailed, deep-space observations of that specific Earth-like planet and thoroughly analyze the incoming data. We will make our final jump decision after we’ve successfully replenished our Helium-3 reserves."
The brief strategy meeting concluded on that decisive note. It was only a preliminary briefing, intended to align everyone’s focus on their immediate, near-term objectives.
First: extract the necessary resources. Second: find the next Earth!
Walking out of the conference room, Jason suddenly felt a deep swell of emotion. A planet 6.3 light-years away! It was a staggering distance that the people of old Earth could never have dared to imagine traversing!
However, based on the theoretical maximum speed of their newly developed warp drive, the travel time would only be around two years. For a post-Earth humanity, this timeframe was perfectly acceptable. In just two short years... humanity would be able to cross the interstellar void.
This was the miraculous, qualitative leap brought about by advanced technology!
If the planet’s baseline atmospheric and geological quality is too poor, and it would take hundreds or thousands of years to terraform, it would be better to just abandon it and look for the next candidate, Jason thought silently to himself.
The galaxy is far too massive. It’s statistically impossible that there isn’t another Earth out there somewhere...
That being said, finding a world that was an exact, one-to-one match would still be incredibly difficult. The visible light reflected off planets is inherently faint. Observing distant exoplanets with absolute clarity using standard radio telescopes was a monumental challenge.
Compared to the blinding radiation of a nearby host star, the meager light reflected off a small terrestrial planet was completely washed out. It was like trying to spot a single firefly hovering in front of a massive floodlight, making it extremely easy for observers to miss entirely.
In a dark and dangerous universe, this astronomical phenomenon also served as a natural cloaking mechanism, helping primitive civilizations remain hidden and protected.
At a distance of 6.3 light-years, the only confirmed data humanity’s radio telescopes could gather was that the target planet possessed an atmosphere and might be structurally similar to Earth. Nothing more.
However, Jason knew in his gut that if the planet truly mirrored Earth, extraterrestrial life would almost certainly exist there. Given the sheer scale of the cosmos and the universal laws governing biological evolution, humanity was absolutely not alone. There were undoubtedly countless other intelligent life forms scattered throughout the stars.
Even so, humanity had been incredibly "lucky"—or rather, incredibly tenacious and hard-working—to successfully evolve into a space-faring species. Civilizations that managed to survive and cross the terrifying threshold of the Great Filter were exceptionally rare.
If one were to classify all civilizations by their level of scientific and technological advancement, then an overwhelming 99.999999% of them were undoubtedly low-level, planetary-bound civilizations!
According to the intelligence files provided by the alien "Black," these primitive, planet-bound societies were broadly classified as "K-level civilizations."
As the old saying went: all successful societies are alike, but every failing society fails in its own unique way. From the lofty perspective of an advanced Interstellar Civilization, it was actually the countless, struggling K-level civilizations that added so much color and diversity to the vast Milky Way...