Radiation source capture plan

In the vast distance, Jupiter, a colossal behemoth, silently observed, cloaked in its perpetual chaos. The massive rings of Jupiter revolved in hushed motion, with over sixty moons drifting amidst them. Xiao Yu scoured the Jovian system, yet found no source that could account for the intense radiation.

Had Xiao Yu not preemptively reinforced the ship's thermal and radiation shields before arrival, this very moment could have spelled his doom—devices failing, the central computer short-circuiting, a swift death.

Even so, Xiao Yu felt far from unscathed. Sparks had begun to erupt in several parts of the spacecraft. If left unchecked, they could lead to a larger-scale short circuit, putting him in grave danger.

Thousands of sensors scattered across the ship's hull began gathering data at full capacity. Geiger counters, magnetometers, photometers, and spectrometers worked in unison, sending streams of information directly into Xiao Yu's mind, where rapid calculations ensued.

In nearly an instant, Xiao Yu reached a conclusion.

"No redshift? Nor blueshift? How is that possible?" Xiao Yu was utterly perplexed by the outcome.

Radiation, by nature, must have a source. According to the Doppler effect, as one moves away from a radiation source, the wavelengths should shift towards the red end—redshift. Conversely, approaching the source should result in a blueshift. Yet, Xiao Yu's observations showed neither.

This indicated that the radiation couldn't be coming from Jupiter. Given that Xiao Yu was currently moving away from Jupiter—or rather, Jupiter was receding from him—redshift should have been observed if the radiation originated from the planet.

The only plausible explanation was that the radiation source was moving in perfect synchrony with Xiao Yu's spacecraft—matching both speed and direction. Or perhaps... the radiation source was on the ship itself.

Xiao Yu immediately initiated the next round of diagnostics.

"The radiation inside the ship is dozens of times weaker than outside. The sensors on the ship's hull detect the highest levels of radiation... Could it be that the radiation is emanating from outside the ship, or worse, clinging to the hull?"

Xiao Yu quickly activated the optical sensors, meticulously scanning the ship's exterior. But there was nothing on the hull that didn't belong—no foreign objects.

"What the hell is going on?" Xiao Yu's anxiety soared. In such circumstances, even a slight delay could lead to catastrophic consequences, yet despite exhausting all options, he couldn't pinpoint the problem.

"Stay calm, you must stay calm," Xiao Yu forced himself to quell the panic rising within him. "I've survived the cataclysm of the Moon and Jupiter's collision, I refuse to meet my end in a petty mishap."

Just then, the Geiger counter began to spike wildly again—another powerful radiation source had been detected. This time, however, Xiao Yu noticed a distinct blueshift, indicating that the radiation source was rapidly closing in on him.

Upon determining the direction, Xiao Yu immediately trained the optical detection equipment in that area. But all he could see was Jupiter's massive form rotating slowly, with a few meteors drifting serenely along their orbits. Nothing more.

Yet the radiation continued to intensify, and Xiao Yu nearly burst out in frustration.

"What on earth is it? What is it?" Xiao Yu was deeply vexed, unable to comprehend the situation. Suddenly, the spectrometer showed that the blueshift of the radiation source had vanished.

At the same time, the radiation intensity on the ship's hull doubled from its previous level.

This indicated that the radiation source had stopped moving.

"Could it be that another radiation source has attached itself to my ship's hull?" Xiao Yu speculated, but no matter how he searched in the visible light spectrum, he could not find anything that might be emitting radiation.

Given the current radiation intensity, if two more such sources appeared, Xiao Yu's radiation shielding would be overwhelmed. At that point, the ship's machinery, instruments, and circuits would suffer severe, perhaps irreparable, damage.

"Hmm?" Just as Xiao Yu was growing increasingly anxious, he detected another unusual fluctuation.

He sensed that the intensity of the radiation source had slightly increased, as if it were trying to penetrate the radiation shield and invade the interior of the ship.

"Could this thing have a mind of its own? Could it be a life form?" Xiao Yu was startled, and immediately energized some circuits beneath the radiation shield. The sense of infiltration vanished under the influence of the electromagnetic field.

Xiao Yu had already passed the closest point to Jupiter. Now, he was moving away from the planet at a speed of fifty-eight kilometers per second.

"Jupiter is too strange, I've already gathered enough data, it's time to leave, escape the danger first." Xiao Yu made up his mind and accelerated for ten more seconds, burning several tons of fuel to increase his speed to sixty-three kilometers per second.

But soon, Xiao Yu sensed danger once more. He observed the blueshift phenomenon again, signaling that the radiation source was rapidly approaching him. This time, there were two separate radiation sources!

"Damn it, are they trying to kill me?" Xiao Yu was utterly horrified. In a panic, he grabbed the laser gun, not caring that he couldn't actually see these things, and fired a laser burst at full power towards the direction of the approaching radiation source.

The laser flickered briefly, and Xiao Yu's instruments showed that one of the radiation sources had lost its blueshift, and its radiation intensity had decreased by two percent.

"This is too bizarre." Xiao Yu sighed in relief, but the next moment, the radiation source showed blueshift once more.

It was as if an invisible creature had momentarily paused under the laser's assault, only to resume its advance toward Xiao Yu.

"How strange," Xiao Yu muttered, continuing to fire the laser at the same spot.

This time, however, the radiation source didn't weaken. Upon checking the data, Xiao Yu found that the entity had shifted position, evading the laser's shot.

Xiao Yu felt a chill run down his spine and immediately redirected the laser gun to target the radiation source again. The radiation source dodged, and Xiao Yu re-aimed. It was like a cop constantly zeroing in on a thief who kept slipping away.

Under continuous laser bombardment, the monitoring equipment showed that the radiation source was steadily weakening, though its blueshift remained.

After about three minutes of laser fire, consuming nearly a ton of fuel, the radiation source finally disappeared from Xiao Yu's instruments.

"What the hell did I just encounter?" Although he had eliminated one radiation source, Xiao Yu dared not let his guard down. He quickly turned the laser to target the other radiation source. Four minutes later, that source also vanished, and Xiao Yu finally allowed himself to relax.

Xiao Yu began to contemplate what this entity could be.

First, it was invisible, yet its presence could be detected by the Geiger counter. It could be tracked through redshift and blueshift to determine its direction and speed, and its radiation intensity could be reduced—ultimately destroyed—by laser fire.

"Could this be... a life form from Jupiter?" Gradually, an alarming thought took shape in Xiao Yu's mind as he analyzed the situation.

These entities could actively attack Xiao Yu and even dodge laser fire, suggesting that they possessed a form of consciousness.

This revelation completely upended Xiao Yu's previous understanding of the term "life." Like most people, Xiao Yu had always believed that life was tangible, visible—even the smallest virus, with its basic DNA structure, could be observed under an electron microscope.

But how does one define an entity with its own consciousness, capable of movement, yet devoid of any mass, completely transparent, emitting no visible light, and existing solely as a radiation source? What could such an existence be classified as?

There was no time for further contemplation. Xiao Yu had detected at least a hundred such radiation sources emerging from one of Jupiter's moons, thirty thousand kilometers ahead. All of them exhibited strong blueshifts, indicating that they were racing toward Xiao Yu at an alarming speed, closing the gap at nearly one hundred fifty kilometers per second!

At this speed, they would collide head-on in just half an hour!

Xiao Yu's radiation shield could withstand no more than four of these radiation sources at once. If a hundred of them attached to the ship's surface, the hull would be instantly melted, the circuits shorted out, and the central computer would crash in an instant.

This scenario would mean certain death for Xiao Yu. Even if the central computer could be repaired and rebooted later, Xiao Yu wouldn't survive.

Because once the system shut down, Xiao Yu's consciousness would be reduced to a fixed code stored in memory, his self-awareness lost forever.

"Damn it!" Xiao Yu cursed and, without hesitation, cranked the laser gun's power to the maximum, aiming at the oncoming radiation sources and began firing.

The laser gun discharged powerful beams at the rate of a ton of fuel per minute, yet even at this rate, Xiao Yu could only destroy one radiation source every two minutes. At this efficiency, by the time they collided, Xiao Yu would have taken out a mere fifteen radiation sources.

But what about the remaining eighty or ninety?

"This won't work." Xiao Yu's brain went into overdrive, processing countless plans in an instant, running feasibility tests, and discarding each one.

Finally, one plan passed the feasibility test.

"There's only one way... Well, it's better than sitting here waiting to die."

Xiao Yu sighed and began controlling a robot to rapidly construct a metal box, attaching it to the ship's inner wall.

"Let's begin... Radiation Source Capture Plan!"