Chapter 1,445 Deep Diving Progress

I proposed that Sandora and I go to the Shadow City for a stroll, not just to relieve our boredom, but to see the development of several major projects: the mass production and installation of the Executioner-class spacecraft, the progress of the deep-diving project, and the progress of the King's Lander. The reverse engineering of the ship and the progress of the Seventh Legion. These projects are the most important tasks of the new empire at present. I have been out for a few days and it is not a long time or a short time. I guess there should be some new progress in these things. . Of course, another reason besides this is that I can go out for a walk with Sandora later: I haven’t been alone with her like this for a long time. Although the noisy house is very happy, I have to say that such a naughty child It is indeed the destroyer of the private life of couples...

The blueprints of the Executioner-class spacecraft have been distributed to major starship factories. The Xiling host will supervise one-on-one and speed up production. The first batch of manufactured spacecraft has been sent in batches to the Seventh Legion (the Seventh Legion belongs to the mysterious side). troops) and six legions as well as the Royal Fleet. In this way, the number of new warships that each legion can get is of course not large, but these spacecraft are just to familiarize the commanders of each legion with their performance and prepare for the development of new tactics and tactics with this new warship in the future. If it is actually deployed, it will naturally be given priority to the three important units of the Royal Fleet and the First and Sixth Legions.

What I am most concerned about is the deep-diving plan. When I set off, I happened to catch up with the trial of the second-generation deep-diving ship. It is a big regret that I was not able to witness it with my own eyes. I have heard about the trial process from Sandora. It went quite smoothly, and the two dives that followed exceeded our goals. So as soon as we came out of the headquarters, Sandora and I ran to the research center to find Tavel.

It is worth mentioning that. In addition to Sivis, the person who received Shandora and me at the headquarters was Tavel: the latter appeared as a new warship technical advisor and chief research and development personnel, and at the institute's deep-diving project center, he received himself and Sandora's is still Tavel, this time her identity is the technical consultant of the deep-diving project and the chief developer of the deep-diving ship. I estimate that when I and Sandora go to the reverse engineering laboratory later, we will see Tavel. Vel, at that time her identity was the director of the King's Reverse Engineering Project... We can't delve into this matter, otherwise it will be easy to choke to death if there are too many flaws. Doesn't Tavel, a workaholic, have an energy limit?

The Deep Diving Project Center occupies an entire floor of the institute. It is divided into several departments, including the technical group of the deep submersible ship, the R&D and production group of various deep diving equipment, the abyss research group, the deep diving information summary and analysis center, the unified office, etc. I can understand and listen to a lot of them. I don’t understand why a group needs so much division of labor. It's because the deep dive plan itself is a very wide-ranging thing. It requires the empire's most advanced energy supply, the most advanced shield technology, the most advanced communication array, and sensitive equipment that can work normally in the abyss environment without being infected. The sensors even require technical support from the abyss technology from the fallen apostles. These things are combined into a deep submersible ship, and the final data collected will be analyzed by another group of experts who specialize in studying the abyss. Such a plan spans a large number of high-tech fields, and requires expert teams in each field to cooperate 100% with other teams. This is really not an easy task: I am very fortunate to have someone who can take schizophrenia as an initiative. The Chief Scientist of Skills, Tavel is the team leader and office director of all the above project teams...

Sandora and I went straight to the Tonghe Office of the Deep Diving Project Center. As a result, when I pushed the door open and walked in, I found two people inside: an old man with a square face and a serious expression. This was Harlan. There is also a gray-haired but energetic old man - the ancestor Anseth.

Unexpectedly, these two were also there. It seemed that they were discussing matters related to deep diving: Ansers was also one of the staff members of the deep diving project, so he was also present. When I think that when I and Sandora were listening to Tavel's report on the installation of the new spaceship at the headquarters ten minutes ago, this girl with glasses was also having a meeting with the two of them here and directing work in more than a dozen other departments, I couldn't bear it. I couldn't help but sigh: Schizophrenia is such a useful ability. Now that Tavel is perfect in all aspects, he only needs to fall in love with himself.

"Hey, I'm busy." As usual, I greeted the people in the room in a very friendly manner (of course I'll admit it if you say you're not doing the right thing), and finally my eyes fell on Tavel, "Well, we haven't seen each other for ten minutes and now we meet again. .”

Harlan nodded to Sandora and I with a smile, while Tavel and Ansers stood up and saluted us: It stands to reason that it would be strange for ancestors to salute their descendants, and Sandora was determined at first. He does not accept the tribute from his ancestors, but now Ansers has officially returned to his post as a "soldier", and the old man himself also hopes to act in accordance with the standard imperial authority system, so he will salute the ruler of the new empire - now Even Sandora could only accept it. After all, for Xiling Apostle, the authority system was a higher priority than personal relationships.

"The No. 2 deep-diving vessel seems to be in good working condition?" Sandora and I sat down opposite Tavel, and I asked the question I was most concerned about, "Have you discovered anything new inside?"

"It is deeper than the last dive, but because the 'space concept' in a purely abyssal environment is unclear, we do not yet have an accurate measurement method to calculate how far the deep submersible ship has sailed, so there is no way to accurately measure it for the time being. The unit will describe the specific depth of the dive." Tavel shook his head with regret, "There are indeed new discoveries, but they are all within the range of previous estimates: as the depth of the dive continues to deepen, the deep-diving ship will withstand The pressure will increase, and the chaotic factors in the abyss will accelerate the destruction of the shield of the deep submersible. This is also the case for the most extreme dive. It seems that we are still far from the critical point detected by the deep submersible ship in the old empire era. , let alone contacting the unusually calm area of ​​the abyss. In addition, we also discovered a not-so-good situation..."

I had expected all the situations Tavel mentioned before, but now that she specifically mentioned a "not so good situation", it immediately made me nervous. I frowned: "What's going on?"

"We found that the abyss environment has two strange characteristics of 'unevenness' and 'discontinuity', and these conditions cannot be explained or avoided so far." Harlan glanced at Tavel, then turned to explain to Sandora and me. "The apostle of the abyss is more familiar with what's behind the gate, so I've been involved in this project recently. I witnessed the dangerous situation with my own eyes during the last deep dive: the pressure on the deep-diving ship increased as it dived. The increase trend is stable at first, but after the dive reaches a certain critical value, the curve returned by the device begins to drift, rises and falls, and even breaks. Just like this - "

As Harlan spoke, he presented a holographic projection in front of Sandora and me. Putting aside the complicated tables and constantly refreshing data, the most eye-catching thing on this screen was a declining curve.

"The curve represents the shield margin of the deep submersible ship. The shield of the deep submersible ship will continue to be eroded in the abyss environment. Each time the shield is refreshed, its remaining stability and psionic energy intensity are the shield margin. The shield The higher the margin, the safer the spacecraft is. When the deep-diving ship is stationary at a fixed position, its shield margin will also become a fixed value. As the "depth" of the dive increases, the shield margin will increase. Of course, the volume will continue to decrease, which forms a curve graph," Harlan pointed at the graph and explained to me and Sandora (of course, it is more likely that he explained it specifically to me). "There are three horizontal lines here, representing three critical values. Above the first critical value, it means that the shield margin is very safe. The spacecraft's own energy cycle will generate sufficient self-sustainment to ensure that it can stay in the abyss environment for any length of time. Time. Beyond this critical value, the shield margin is slightly dangerous. The spacecraft needs to use most of its energy to repair the shield, but it can still perform its mission smoothly. Exceeding the second critical value means serious danger. The shield of the spacecraft The refresh must reach the limit to ensure safety. The shield margin each time is almost only 10% of the full load, which means that the shield may be extinguished at any time. In this case, the deep-diving ship can perform the operation for a short time. The mission must be refloated immediately, otherwise the system will be overloaded. The third critical value means that the spacecraft will be doomed - the shield refresh cannot keep up with the pollution speed, and the margin falls below zero. Each time a new shield is refreshed, it will bring There is an abyssal reaction, so this value may even turn negative. In this case, the structure of the deep submersible begins to be contaminated, and there is no possibility of return. It can only continue to perform its mission for a short period of time before it completely collapses. Last time During the mission, the curve is normal when it is above the first critical value, but when it is between the second and third critical values... you see, it jitters like a line chart, and even rises continuously."

I looked at that significant curve. It dropped steadily at a very smooth rate from the highest point to the first red warning line, and it also stabilized for a long distance after crossing the first warning line. However, After a certain moment, this smooth curve suddenly began to tremble, rising and falling irregularly. By the time it approached the second critical point, it was already trembling almost like late-stage Parkinson's disease.

"There is a discontinuous zone deeper in the abyss, which changes from time to time and is unevenly distributed. This was not mentioned in the old imperial materials we found." Tavel shook his head. "If we think of the abyss as a deep sea divided into many layers, Each layer has a different concentration, so the dividing lines between these layers are not fixed. They not only drift at any time, but even suddenly flip: the pollution suddenly decreases, then suddenly increases, then suddenly decreases, and so on. It forms that section of the graph that shakes violently.”

Sandora immediately realized the danger of this situation: "In other words, after the deep-diving ship dives to a certain level, it is very likely to 'slip' and fall into despair?"

Tavel nodded solemnly: "That's it. After the deep submersible reaches its design limit 'depth', the situation will become extremely dangerous. Although it can theoretically work at that depth, the abyss may drift at any time. This drift It is also unpredictable. Our equipment may be sucked into the vortex of destruction before we have time to react, and the chance of escaping is basically zero. This is the theory."

This is a situation that has never been encountered in the first deep dive, and it is also a huge challenge. This means that the actual working depth of the deep diving ship must be far less than its design strength: otherwise the ship will be fully vulnerable at any time. possible. I looked at the graph, and the parts where it jittered the most were almost like graffiti. Looking at it made me frightened: "There should be a rough limit to this fluctuation range, right?"

"Basically it will not exceed 5% of the full value of the shield," Tavel breathed out, "but we do not rule out the possibility of more unstable discontinuous zones deeper in the abyss. We know too little about the depths of the abyss. Moreover, there is a lack of records in this regard in the materials of the old empire..."

I glanced at Harlan, who was meditating next to me. Suddenly I remembered something: the first-generation deep-diving ship was designed by Occam, and Harlan was Occam’s old employer. How come Harlan didn’t know about the existence of this discontinuous zone?

"I really don't know," Harlan said after hearing my question, spreading his hands, "I'm also wondering what's going on... I also participated in the old empire's deep dive plan, although I never focused on the technical aspects. Details, but at least I have read those reports. No one has ever mentioned any discontinuous zone. It is impossible for such a major impact to be concealed and not reported once it occurs."

Sandora rubbed her brows, thoughtfully: "Then there are only two explanations for this: First, discontinuous zones are not a universal phenomenon. We still don't know what the structure of the 'space' inside the abyss is. So it is very possible that the deep-diving ship we built just broke into a dangerous zone; secondly, the discontinuous zone is not a long-term phenomenon. There may not be such a thing during the old empire. It only appeared in the abyss after the establishment of the new empire. . If the second hypothesis is true, then our understanding of the abyss may be subverted..."

"The abyss is also evolving?" Harlan glanced at Sandora.

"At least it's not 'dead'," Sandora touched her right arm seemingly unintentionally: that's where she sealed her abyss power. "We have always thought that the gate of the abyss has only one appearance. But now But we know that the gate of the abyss that destroyed our home world is different from all the gates of the abyss we know today. We have always felt that there is nothing in the abyss, but now we find that its lowest level is becoming calm... These are all challenges. Common sense. So I don’t mind my common sense being subverted again: the abyss is probably constantly evolving, growing and changing. On the surface it seems to be unchanged through the ages, but internally it should have ushered in a certain cycle.”

Sandora's statement made my hair stand on end. But I have to admit the existence of this possibility, and at the same time, I also remembered the scenes observed in the first deep dive test: there are strange "cloud" structures in the abyss, and there are also places where pollution is highly concentrated. Now look at it. It was also an "inhomogeneity". Although it was nothing compared to the "discontinuous zones" observed today, that kind of unevenness already made us suspect that some kind of "inhomogeneity" was going on inside the abyss. change"……

Perhaps as Sandora said, the abyss is not "dead", it is always changing, and may be about to usher in a cycle.

"That's it for the time being. Observe the situation of the discontinuous zone at any time, and try to grasp its laws as much as possible. This is the only way until the research on the abyss goes further." Sandora tapped the table lightly, and then looked at the tower. Weir, "hurry up and build the No. 3 deep-diving ship. If the current ship 'slips' and collapses to the bottom of the abyss, at least we will have a backup on hand."

Tavel nodded, then raised his finger and pointed at Anseth: "Your Majesty, there is one more thing..."

Listen to this, Your Majesty, "you" - except for Tavel and Ansers, the other three present are all emperors. This grand occasion can only be achieved by a magical political system like the Xiling Empire.

"Ancestor, what's the matter with you?" I looked up at Ansers, but Tavel's words next to me almost scared me to the point of falling down: "Ancestor hopes to go on a manned deep dive with the next batch of expedition teams."

I broke out in a cold sweat and grabbed Anseth's arm and shook it hard: "Old man, this is different from what we agreed at the beginning! Didn't we agree that we would only watch the excitement from the outside?!"

"I didn't do it on a whim," Ansers waited patiently for me to finish wandering around before speaking with a smile, "I know we are a bit stubborn and brought you a lot of trouble, but there is a reason for this situation."

"The reason?" I couldn't help but look at Tavel, "What's going on?"

"Let me explain," Harlan suddenly interjected, "First of all, you know that apostles who have been polluted have higher resistance to the abyss. Those of us who have been fallen apostles can survive in the concentration Stay awake for a long time in a very high abyss environment. Although the fallen apostles are not completely immune to the destructive power of the abyss, compared with ordinary creatures, our resistance is already high to the point of semi-immunity. Therefore, the first batch of planned The crew members on manned deep dives are those of us who have been transformed."

I nodded, I knew this. The No. 2 deep-diving vessel manufactured by Tavel already has the conditions for manned navigation. Although it is not perfect, it is more than enough to perform short-term missions. Therefore, we naturally prepared a deep-diving team and prepared to start carrying passengers after all tests were completed. People test. Initially, the candidate members of this deep-diving team were ordinary Xiling technicians, but Harlan took the initiative to replace these personnel with the high-level fallen apostles (former fallen apostles) he brought. The reason is very simple: fallen apostles They have high resistance to the abyss. Even if there is a malfunction in the spacecraft or there is a flaw in the internal purification mechanism, their chances of survival are very high.

Could it be that the reason our ancestors wanted to participate in manned experiments was because of "resistance"?

Seeing the expression on my face, Harlan knew what I had guessed. He nodded simply: "Resistance, we unexpectedly found that the ancestors' resistance to the abyss was even far greater than that of the apostles of the abyss. The concentration in the abyss was lower than two standards. In the case of units, they can even come into direct contact with the source of pollution without any protective equipment: usually, pollution of this intensity is already fatal to mortals.”

Sandora and I were stunned. (To be continued...)