New Universe

Control Room on the Spaceship

Shizuka tossed a water bottle to Doraemon and said, "Take a break! You've been working nonstop for weeks!"

Doraemon had been repairing various damages on the spaceship day and night without rest. Shizuka occasionally helped with minor tasks, but in reality, there wasn't much she could do. Doraemon's repair methods were too unique—he used his electromagnetic thought waves to penetrate the ship's internal computer systems, controlling the central computer to issue commands. The damaged parts of the spaceship were slowly and perfectly restored through this process.

Catching the water bottle, Doraemon placed it aside, his focus still locked onto the control screen. "There's no other choice. I'm trying to categorize the analyzed data. At the very least, I need to find a way to get everyone out of here! If you can, could you transfer the newly updated data to drive C for me? I'll check it later."

After fixing most of the ship's damages, Doraemon had turned his attention to analyzing the collected data. He was tirelessly going through one set of data after another. There was no doubt—Doraemon was deeply blaming himself. After all, he had confidently declared that he would save everyone, yet now, he had accomplished nothing and had even caused them to be stranded in this strange place with no solution in sight.

Shizuka frowned and, without hesitation, pulled Doraemon away from the control chair. "Enough! I know you're blaming yourself, but there has to be a limit. Rushing won't solve anything! The data analysis takes time—let the computer handle it. Even if your body is robotic, you can't push yourself like this. If something happens to you, what will happen to everyone else?"

"I'm just a consciousness, I can't—" Doraemon tried to explain, but Shizuka cut him off. "You can't die?"

Doraemon fell silent. Before, he might have confidently declared that the Përjetësia people were eternal and immortal. But not long ago, several Përjetësia had perished. Even so, he stubbornly replied, "Even if we can die, it would only be in exceptional cases…"

Shizuka cut him off again. "Robots can rust, and even consciousness can get exhausted. Thanks to Nobita, everyone is in much better spirits—no one blames you. But if you keep acting like this, you'll only make everyone anxious again!" She pulled Doraemon toward the table. "Listen to me, take a break, then go see everyone. Nobita is really worried about you!"

"Sigh… fine, I'll sit down for a bit…" Doraemon let out a long sigh and complied, taking a seat. He picked up the water bottle and took a sip.

Seeing him finally rest, Shizuka also breathed a sigh of relief. She sat across from him while Doraemon quietly drank his water. The atmosphere suddenly felt a little… awkward? In an attempt to break the silence, she asked, "So… where are we now? Any new information?"

Doraemon shook his head, sounding tired. "I'm not sure. There's been some progress in the data, but without a reference point, I have no idea where the ship is heading."

"This place really is strange…" Shizuka leaned back in her chair, thinking for a moment before asking, "That black hole… do you know why it suddenly appeared?"

Doraemon rested his chin on both hands, deep in thought. After a moment, he replied, "That black hole was extremely odd… Even if it was a rogue black hole that didn't follow any known patterns, its sudden appearance was too unnatural. Normally, the formation of a black hole requires multiple factors. We've studied and observed the creation of many black holes, but we've never encountered one that appeared so abruptly. Even the observatory's predictive system failed to detect it..."

He paused, took another sip of water, and continued, "Besides, the timing was too coincidental… I'm afraid its appearance wasn't random."

"Not random?" Shizuka frowned. If the black hole wasn't a coincidence, then clearly, their group—or rather, the Përjetësia—was being targeted by something. And whatever it was, it wasn't just capable of destroying an entire chain of consciousness entities; it also could manipulate cosmic phenomena at will…

But what exactly was this thing? Was it an unidentified lifeform or even an undiscovered civilization?

Shizuka pondered for a while, then scratched her cheek and joked, "Maybe inside the black hole, there's an advanced civilization… haha."

"That's not entirely impossible," Doraemon replied seriously.

"Huh… wait… what?" Shizuka's smile froze. She had only been joking to lighten the mood—why was Doraemon suddenly taking it so seriously?

Doraemon explained, "As I said, the Përjetësia have studied black holes. But their energy is far too immense, making them difficult to approach. However, we have discovered that black holes contain stable orbits where photons can exist. These orbits exist just beyond the event horizon, where space and time become distorted. Theoretically, black holes could support life. But what form that life takes—I have no idea."

Shizuka gaped, struggling to process what he had just said.

Before she could respond, the electronic screen suddenly emitted a series of "beep beep" sounds. Doraemon's eyes lit up as he rushed back to the control seat. He had programmed the system to alert him if it successfully analyzed the surrounding space or detected something significant. Either way, it was good news.

Shizuka put the black hole discussion on hold and followed him. Doraemon checked the system's notifications and exclaimed, "We've detected dark matter and celestial bodies ahead!!"

Though they hadn't fully analyzed their current location, this discovery was promising—it meant they were approaching a real universe, not just this bizarre limbo. Doraemon activated the propulsion system, accelerating the ship toward the detected coordinates. Just as he was about to make additional adjustments, Shizuka stopped him with a smile.

"No rush. It's almost dinner time—let the system work on its own for now. You promised to come see everyone, remember?"

"I never promised anything…" Doraemon grumbled. But despite his complaints, he obediently followed Shizuka. She smiled in satisfaction.

When Nobita saw Doraemon finally emerge, he was overjoyed. That evening, the seven of them had a wonderful dinner. Doraemon and Shizuka shared the news about finding dark matter and celestial bodies, and the entire crew became even more hopeful. The atmosphere on the ship brightened considerably.

Two more days passed. Outside the spaceship, the familiar blackness of a typical universe gradually appeared. Sitting in the control room, Doraemon and Shizuka could see a massive gaseous structure in the distance—a molecular cloud. Doraemon quickly used the mini cosmic telescope to gather data on the cloud and compared it with records from the 14 known universes the Përjetësia had explored. Unfortunately, the analysis came back as "unknown," meaning they had entered a completely new universe.

Doraemon then attempted a warp jump, but the system still reported a failure. With no other choice, he continued guiding the spaceship toward the molecular cloud. This cloud was extremely dense—after all, it was a stellar nursery, a place where stars were born. Fortunately, Doraemon's spaceship had no trouble passing through it. After traveling a bit further, the spaceship's system suddenly detected the gravitational pull of a planet, and moreover, that planet could possibly support life.

Looking at the notification on the screen, Doraemon hesitated. Finding a habitable planet could be either a great opportunity or a dangerous risk. He turned to Shizuka and asked, "We still can't execute a warp jump, but the system just detected a potentially habitable planet. Do you think we should stop by?"

Shizuka thought for a moment. She glanced at her trident and muttered something in the Atlantis language before turning back to Doraemon. "Let's take a look. The ship still has some exterior damage that you haven't been able to fix. If the planet isn't hostile, we can make repairs before continuing our search for a way home."