Chapter 41: The Dyson Cloud and the Arrival of the Hundred Eyes Race

After discovering the second civilization's device, Yan Xia entered hibernation once more.

Ella and the cloned Yan Xia discussed the new plan with the Kaitian Civilization's leaders.

Due to decades of deep cooperation, when the cloned Yan Xia proposed the concept, the Kaitian leaders only needed a few days of deliberation before agreeing.

The Kaitian Civilization, with a population of 1.3 billion, would become a crucial partner in the new plan.

The plan was a variation of the theory proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960—the "Dyson Cloud."

The decision not to build a Dyson Sphere was due to the enormous resource requirements.

A Dyson Sphere covering Proxima Centauri B would require more than the mass of a planet in metal.

The Dyson Cloud, on the other hand, required far fewer resources.

The Dyson Cloud could be described as a vast cloud composed of numerous small solar energy absorption devices covering the entire stellar surface. Due to its sparse composition, it would require only a thousandth or even a ten-thousandth of the resources needed for a Dyson Sphere.

This gave the Dyson Cloud the advantages of a short construction period, easy maintenance, and low initial requirements.

Of course, "small" in this context didn't refer to objects of a few hundred tons.

The Dyson Cloud consisted of two types of components.

The first was the solar energy collection satellite, with a deployed area of 100 square kilometers and a weight of one billion tons.

The space settlement points, or ecological bubbles, were spherical habitats with a standard diameter of 5 kilometers. The lower half was dedicated to spacecraft and energy storage, while the upper half was a livable area with vegetation and architecture.

In the first phase of the Dyson Cloud, there would be 100,000 solar energy collection satellites and 10,000 space settlement points.

Although the number seemed small, it was sufficient to absorb 0.67% of the energy emitted by the two stars.

The combined mass of Proxima Centauri A and B was about twice that of the Sun, and their energy release rate was approximately 6 x 10^26 joules per second, 1.56 times that of the Sun.

The first phase of the Dyson Cloud would absorb about 4.02 x 10^24 joules per second.

It was known that a Type I civilization's energy standard was to produce 1 x 10^26 joules of energy per second.

This meant that upon the completion of the first phase, the Dyson Cloud could provide one-twenty-fifth of the energy required by a Type II civilization.

This was why the Kaitian Civilization agreed to the plan.

The total energy produced by the Kaitian Civilization using dark matter was only 1.71 times more than the first phase of the Dyson Cloud, barely meeting the standard of a Type 1.9 civilization.

Just 2.5 million solar energy collection satellites would be enough to elevate a civilization's energy level to Type II.

This was an irresistible temptation for any civilization, potentially reducing the time for the Kaitian Civilization to evolve from Type I to Type II from the originally estimated 2000 years to within 500 years.

However, the Kaitian Civilization's technology was still relatively backward.

After obtaining various technological information from the Kaitian Civilization, Ella's technology level reached Type 1.92. The Light Civilization's technology contributed significantly, and if the research on photon kinetics was completed, Ella's technology would undoubtedly advance to Type II.

As for the technology of the original Earth civilization, Ella had not yet reached Type 1.8.

Even in terms of energy, Ella had just entered Type 1.8.

The reason Ella could impress the Kaitian Civilization was that Yan Xia decided to invest a large amount of resources in the Babel Tower and create internal conflicts within the civilization.

However, at present, giving Ella a hundred years of comprehensive development would be sufficient to overwhelm the Kaitian Civilization in a head-on confrontation.

Ultimately, energy reserves were just one factor, similar to the difference between a wandering cultivator and a cultivator from a powerful sect in cultivation novels. Even with the same cultivation level, the resources they could utilize differed greatly.

The construction of the Dyson Cloud began in the 19th year of Yan Xia's slumber.

Ella, in collaboration with the Kaitian Civilization, began collecting all the resources in the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, almost depleting the surrounding asteroids, leaving the area barren.

It took approximately 340 years to complete the first phase of the Dyson Cloud.

Ella, in memory of Earth, named this Dyson Cloud the "Ninth Earth Cloud."

This was because the year was 6397 AD.

By this time, 1649 years had passed since their arrival at Proxima Centauri, and the number of humans on Proxima Centauri c had finally reached 250,000, marking the first step in the recovery of the human population.

It was almost the same year.

Ella received a message from the Hundred Eyes Star.

She had been monitoring the events on the Hundred Eyes Star all this time.

In the 1932 years since leaving the Hundred Eyes Star, there had been over 800 rebellions of varying scales, the largest of which led to a 60-year global war, resulting in 70 million deaths.

The total number of deaths due to war exceeded 311 million.

The only good news was that, after these years of development, the Hundred Eyes Star was no longer just a few cities. The Hundred Eyes Race had made significant progress, and their population exceeded 1 billion.

The original planetary thrusters on the Hundred Eyes Star had been improved using the technology Ella had transmitted, and their number had increased to 150.

The speed had been increased from 250 km/s to 427 km/s.

The reason for the modest increase was to account for deceleration.

The inertia of the entire planet had become terrifying, and if the speed was too high, the force required to stop it would be enormous. Improper handling or insufficient energy might cause the Hundred Eyes Star to crash into the Proxima Centauri system.

At this time, the Hundred Eyes Star was 1.923 light-years away from Proxima Centauri, much faster than the original calculations.

It would only take 814 years to reach Proxima Centauri in a decelerating state.

The message Ella received was that the first group of Hundred Eyes visitors to Proxima Centauri was ready.

The reason for sending the Hundred Eyes Race was that a significant portion of the Kaitian Civilization, especially the extreme right-wing, denied the existence of the Federation of Civilizations.

Many Kaitians also believed in this rhetoric.

The most concerning aspect was the skepticism among the Kaitian leaders, which Ella took seriously.

Therefore, Ella had to bring the Hundred Eyes Race to Proxima Centauri ahead of schedule.

Decades earlier, Ella had sent a new type of warship back to Proxima Centauri to pick up the humans.

After so many years of development, Ella's antimatter annihilation energy utilization rate had increased from 34.85% to 67.22%, and the speed of large warships had reached 5975 km/s. The milestone for small fighter jets was 10,000 km/s, one-thirtieth the speed of light.

With the Hundred Eyes Star one light-year away from Proxima Centauri, it would take the warship 54 years to reach its destination, and the small fighter jets would take only 32 years.

In 54 years, the Hundred Eyes Race would engage in negotiations with the Kaitian Civilization.

Of course, all of this was under Ella's control.