novelraw Chapter 154: A Two Prolonged Approach
Chapter 154: A Two Prolonged Approach
The Viridian Empire could never have imagined that this "remarkable" civilization, whose technology appeared vastly superior to their own was actually incapable of leaving the Solar System!
Humanity was now in a frantic struggle to ensure the survival of their entire species.
During the emergency briefing, command established two primary survival strategies:
First, bombard the Viridian ships with nuclear weapons to stop them from detonating the sun. As for the unknown fleet looming behind them, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
Second, if the bombing failed, humanity would make a desperate final stand inside the Noah, staking everything on surviving the resulting supernova.
In short, they had to prepare for both scenarios. For now, there were simply no other options.
The logistics of the nuclear strike had been handed over to Professor Hao Yu and his team. The rest of the council was now focused on the terrifying consequences of the bombing plan failing.
It was the ultimate nightmare scenario: a supernova.
"We need to start constructing the radiation shields immediately," one scientist urged, his voice trembling "If we wait for the results of the nuclear strike, it’ll be far too late!"
"And they need to be as thick as possible, a thousand meters, maybe even ten thousand meters!"
"Furthermore, we can’t just keep our ships hovering in orbit. We need to strip-mine Mars for every available resource to reinforce those shields!"
Jason nodded in agreement. Letting the Noah drift any longer was a waste of precious time. It would be a cruel joke if the ship survived the supernova unscathed, only for humanity to be cooked alive by gamma radiation.
"Agreed. We start preparations immediately," Jason said.
Roman stepped forward, his expression grave. "Let’s discuss the shielding materials. As you all know, the Martian virus possesses a highly effective radiation-resistant shell composed of an organometallic compound. Its shielding capacity is thirteen times greater than that of standard lead plating."
"Our bio-labs have made significant breakthroughs synthesizing this material. We can use it to construct the primary radiation walls."
"Even better, this compound absorbs a massive amount of heat during its melting phase."
Jason felt a surge of hope; this was exactly the kind of breakthrough they needed.
Gamma radiation possesses terrifying penetrating power. A 1 MeV gamma ray only loses half its intensity after traveling a full 100 meters through the air, and it can effortlessly punch through several centimeters of solid lead.
Typically, the higher a metal’s atomic weight, the better it shields against radiation. While denser metals exist, lead is most commonly used in laboratories due to its cost-effectiveness.
But a stellar explosion produces gamma rays with energies reaching up to 100 TeV. At that level, it’s just pure, catastrophic brute force. It would instantly vaporize or liquefy standard metal plating, obliterating lead or even depleted uranium shields in a fraction of a second.
To survive, humanity would have to hide behind Mars itself, using the entire planet as a cosmic blast shield.
Internally, they had to reinforce their own defenses. They needed to construct an obsessive, almost barbaric number of radiation walls within the ship.
"We only need to isolate the residential and critical industrial sectors," the chief structural engineer argued. "We have to abandon the rest of the ship’s interior."
The Noah’s vast internal dimensions made it physically impossible to shield everything. Engineering could barely manage the two-thousand-plus access points connecting the interior to the outer hull.
The largest of these breaches, a main hangar door located near the ship’s equator was 34 meters in diameter, while the smallest exhaust ports measured only a few tens of centimeters across.
The designated safe zones had to be completely entombed in radiation shielding, strategically placed away from any direct lines of sight to these exterior breaches.
Beyond that, all they could do was place their blind faith in the Noah. If the ship’s hull breached, no amount of internal shielding would save them.
It was a sobering thought: a supernova contained enough energy to vaporize planets thousands of kilometers wide. If the ship failed, a shield thousands of meters thick would mean absolutely nothing.
"Does anyone have anything to add?" Jason asked, scanning the room. "Any questions?"
The clock was ticking. They only had about four months left, but Jason could already feel the crushing weight of every passing second. If there were no objections, he was ready to give the mobilization order.
"I think we need to look past the blast," Evan spoke up, his voice tight with anxiety. "We need to consider what happens if we actually survive."
"If we fail, we die instantly. That’s easy. But what if we succeed?" He paused, letting the reality of his words sink in. "If the sun goes supernova, the Solar System as we know it will cease to exist. We’ll be stranded in a dead void with absolutely no way to replenish our resources."
"Unless... we can make it to another star system."
"But our current propulsion technology can’t handle that! Even reaching our closest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, would take tens of thousands of years!"
He was right. If the sun exploded, the Noah would be marooned in a barren wasteland. Without external supplies, humanity would simply starve to death in the cold dark of the galaxy.
Jason frowned, his mind racing. There was no easy fix for this. A voyage lasting tens of thousands of years was a death sentence.
They had to stockpile everything they could right now; without an immense reserve of supplies, extinction was guaranteed.
For the next four months, they would have to strip-mine the surrounding planets with ruthless efficiency, extracting every last ounce of useable material.
Damn it, Jason cursed silently. Fortunately, they had already been mining heavily for the past three years. The Noah’s stockpiles were substantial; with strict rationing, they could probably hold out for two to three centuries.
But what then? What happens in three hundred years when the supplies run dry?
"Regarding this exact issue... I’ve just run a basic simulation," Dr. Arthur Lambert stood up, gesturing animatedly with his stylus. "And the data suggests this won’t actually be a problem."
"Assuming the Noah isn’t crushed by the sheer heat and pressure of the blast, it’s highly probable that we will be blown away. Literally blasted right out of the Solar System."
"The Noah’s overall density is incredibly low, lighter than a hydrogen balloon relative to its volume, which is why it can easily maintain buoyancy in the Martian atmosphere. Think of it like a ping-pong ball. What happens if a nuclear weapon detonates next to a ping-pong ball, assuming the ball itself doesn’t shatter?"
"It rides the shockwave!" Dr. Lambert explained, his hands mimicking an explosion.
"The Noah will do exactly the same thing. The sheer, unfathomable light pressure generated by a supernova will act as the ultimate propulsion system. It will violently accelerate the ship, pushing us to relativistic speeds, perhaps even approaching the speed of light!"
"Giving us the velocity we need to escape the Solar System entirely!"
It was a jarringly simple concept, but in the chaos of their impending doom, no one else had thought of it until Dr. Lambert ran the numbers.
If the Noah held together, they wouldn’t be sitting ducks in a dead system. They would be moving.
Several physicists immediately began running their own simulations to verify the hypothesis. Because the Noah’s macroscopic density was comparable to interstellar dust, Lambert’s theory held up perfectly.
"He’s right," one of the physicists confirmed in awe. "Supernova mechanics dictate that surrounding matter is expelled at relativistic speeds. If we don’t melt, that tidal wave of gamma radiation will act like a solar sail. We’ll be riding the blast wave at a fraction of light speed!"
"And if we detect a habitable exoplanet along our trajectory, we can deploy retro-thrusters to decelerate and enter orbit!"
A wave of cautious, electric excitement rippled through the command center. This was true interstellar travel, handed to them by the very cosmic disaster threatening to wipe them out.
Still, they had to prepare for a grueling, protracted journey in the dark. No one could calculate exactly where the blast wave would throw them, or how many centuries they would drift before finding a new home.
And that was assuming the Noah didn’t simply disintegrate in the initial blast.
The mandate remained unchanged: they had to keep mining.
Jason slammed his hand down on the table, finalizing the directive. "Then it’s settled. We prepare for both scenarios. Let’s get to work!"