Chapter 454: Closed Experiment_1

Kent explained in detail, "As soon as we detected the enemy's spaceship launching the two-dimensional foil towards the Solar System, we immediately reacted, sending over a hundred ships to meet it and conducted a preliminary investigation of the two-dimensional foil.

"The two-dimensional foil, oh, that's the name given to it by the Wallfacer, very apt, so it became its official name.

"The reactions exhibited by the two-dimensional foil had some similarities to what we had previously conjectured.

"For instance, as we had guessed, apart from gravitational fields, there are no other force fields or materials that can act as a 'container' for the two-dimensional foil."

Kent took a deep breath, paused, then continued, "But there were many aspects that shocked us, the Solar System State's research in gravity, I dare say, is a century ahead of the Solar System Federation!

"At this point, the widespread application of gravitational fields within the entire Solar System State is very common, but the technique of the enemy in creating a gravitational field to encapsulate the two-dimensional fragments still amazes us.

"It also made us realize how crude the gravitational fields manufactured by the Solar System State are.

"This is something you must have experienced, even though it is a huge source of gravity, no matter how close you get to the two-dimensional foil, you can't feel its gravitational pull.

"Besides the fact that it virtually has no mass, it's also because of the enemy's precise use of gravity.

"The gravitational field they created targets only the two-dimensional fragments and almost has no effect on any other matter."

Bai Ice knew how difficult this was to achieve; he crossed his arms and remained silent, gaining a more accurate understanding of the gap between Humanity and the civilization that created the two-dimensional foil.

Vasily sighed, "You actually call them 'enemies'?"

"What else should we call them?" Kent smiled, "The Wallfacer named the civilization launching the two-dimensional foil at us as the enemy during the mobilization meeting.

"The Wallfacer also said if our experiment had not been successful, they would have been guilty of the capital offense of destroying the Solar System, and every human has the duty to take up arms and eradicate them.

"We've announced this speech to Starship Earth, as well as several other worlds belonging to the Solar System State, and they all agreed with the Wallfacer's view."

Vasily replied with a bitter smile, "We, we are several or even dozens of eras behind them!"

He then asked, "What does it mean by 'other worlds belonging to the Solar System State'?"

"We can talk about that later," Kent smiled, "Haven't you noticed? The biggest difference with the Solar System State is that the Wallfacer is leading us to face the Dark Forest with a proactive attitude.

"Although we too are afraid, the Wallfacer has taught us more than once with his actions that fear is useless; we can only move forward with all our strength to deal with everything that happens in this Dark Forest.

"All along, although we have made huge sacrifices, this has enabled us to have the ambition and confidence to call both the Trisolarans and the civilization that launched the two-dimensional foil at us 'enemies.'

"In contrast, the Solar System Federation can only shiver in fear within the Solar System, waiting for the enemy to come knocking."

These words left Vasily alternating between shades of red and white in his face; he wanted to retort but had no ground to argue.

Kent was not wrong; the current top echelons of the Federal Government were completely spokespeople for the conglomerates; feeling thankful that they were not too grotesquely entangled in internal strife was enough, let alone having the ambition to measure themselves against the civilizations of the Dark Forest outside the Solar System.

Kent didn't continue on this subject but instead went on, "You might have heard to some extent about the technical challenges we faced in the field of gravitational technology over a century ago.

"At that time, we hoped to use gravitational fields to provide every Space City with Earth-like gravity, but we discovered in practice that this was difficult to achieve.

"If we were to accomplish this goal, it would mean that several dozens of gravitational fields approximately the size of Earth would have to appear along Jupiter's orbit, and this would utterly disrupt the gravity of Jupiter."

"This is a manifestation of imprecise mastery over gravitational fields, at that time our use of gravitational fields was very much like the ancient use of hydrogen bombs.

"We could only cause nuclear fusion to undergo disordered explosive reactions, and we were still a long way from controllable nuclear fusion systems and nuclear engines.

"The enemies' application of gravitational fields on the Two-dimensional foil is as precise as dictating every atom's collision trajectory during the process of nuclear fusion."

Bai Ice sighed deeply, "Does the Solar System State now have similar technology?"

Kent shook his head, "If we compare the enemy's technology to our nuclear engines that have been improved several times, almost to the extent of exhausting all the potential of nuclear engines,

"Our mastery of gravitational fields has just reached the level of your mentor, Professor Ding Yi, when he grasped controllable nuclear fusion technology."

Bai Ice sighed deeply again, "I understand, no wonder you've always said that our chances of success are slim."

Facing the huge technological gap, at least the Solar System State could understand what was going on. Without their reminders, the Solar System Federation would still have no idea what the Two-dimensional foil actually is.

Kent raised his hand, signaling Bai Ice to be patient, "Our original plan was to control the Two-dimensional foil with our own gravitational field and then launch it.

"But after preliminary research on the Two-dimensional foil, this plan was scrapped. The gravitational field that envelops it is too delicate, and we were also unable to capture the Two-dimensional foil before.

"Now, our scientific research spacecraft, after an intensive retrofit, can capture the Two-dimensional foil, but its own gravitational field evaporates too fast, and there is already not enough time.

"It is estimated that just after leaving Neptune's orbit, the Two-Dimensional Fragment would be exposed in three-dimensional space.

"So we can only do a second seal, hoping to use our own gravitational field to replace the gravitational field around the Two-dimensional foil.

"Although the probability of success is not high, it can at least buy us a few more days.

"In addition, after our Second Fleet completes its retrofit, it will rush over without stopping. If we fail, they will form a second line of defense and buy a few more days."

However, Bai Ice shook her head, "Even though I have not done accurate calculations, humanity's current nuclear engines are far from reaching the escape velocity.

"The few days you're fighting for are just going to make everyone tense for a few more days."

Yet Kent smiled and said, "Who knows until the last moment?"

Then he asked, "Are you going to watch our sealing experiment before you leave, or are you leaving now?

"Don't worry, even if you leave now, I'll keep in touch with you so you can witness the entire process of the experiment."

Without hesitation, Bai Ice replied, "We'll watch the experiment and then leave."

"So will I," Vasily added, "But I need to report back to the Federal Government first."

Kent made a welcoming gesture and Vasily took out his communicator to immediately contact his superiors.

In the meantime, Bai Ice took the opportunity to discuss some academic issues with Kent, who deviated from his usual tight-lipped manner and responded almost to every question.

The deeper her understanding, the more Bai Ice felt she was facing a theoretical and technological titan.

She now deeply regretted not having tried every possible way to sneak into the Solar System State before; only there might she have been able to witness the end of physics.