Chapter 617: A Slice of the Pie

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At 7:30 in the evening, on the Earth Federation International Channel, a solemn and grand music rang out right on time.

As this sound played, millions of viewers around the world switched their TV stations to this channel, only to see the initial commercial end, replaced by a dark stage.

The stage remained dark at the beginning but there was a figure walking slowly from backstage. This figure was wearing a dark blue suit and stood upright. As he walked closer to the camera, everyone suddenly saw the appearance of this man —

This was a middle-aged black man. His eyes were sharp and unsmiling, which was utterly different from the original relaxed atmosphere of the TV channel.

This program was one of the most-watched programs on the Earth Federation International Channel but its content was very simple. That was, it picked out and deciphered the most important events in the world at present, satirizing politics, poking at current affairs or speaking up for the voiceless... This program had been broadcasted continuously for 20 years, creating a TV legend.

“Dear viewers, I’m Wilson Richard and this is the Earth Federation International Channel — Richard’s World.”

The black host Richard stared at the screen and said directly without any warm-up, “The former Soviet astronomer Kardashev once used the principles of thermodynamics and the law of energy to divide the evolution of civilization in the universe into three levels based on the use of energy...

“The first level is the planetary civilization — a civilization that has mastered all the energy on the planet.

“This civilization can change the climate, develop the ocean, and control earthquakes on the planet at will... In short, this civilization has the ability to move mountains and shift seas on the planet, rationally utilizing and controlling all the resources and energy on the planet.

“The second level is the stellar civilization — a civilization that can use all the energy of the entire planetary system.

“The second type of civilization has a huge demand for energy and resources. Therefore, they need to use all the light and heat emitted by the stars. One method may be to crush a few useless planets to make Dyson spheres, enclose the stars, and fully enjoy every bit of light and heat emitted by the stars!

“Then, there’s the third-level galactic civilization — a civilization that can control a certain number of star systems and star clusters!”

Richard solemnly spread his arms. “Only a cosmic galaxy with 200 billion stars like the Milky Way can truly transform reality! At this time, the power of civilization will become omnipotent and unimaginable...”

At this point, Richard took a deep breath and suddenly said, “Many people may wonder, what am I talking about? Am I feeding you science fiction? No, I’m not!

“This classification method is the ‘Kardashev scale’ that has been widely circulated in the scientific community. This is a civilization classification method recognized by the Earth Federation. It’s often used as a theoretical basis by those who search for extraterrestrial civilizations such as project researchers, science fiction novelists, and prophets.”

Having said this, Richard could not help but pause. A picture appeared behind him. It was an online announcement. The content of the announcement was the “Blackwatch Dyson Cloud Plan” released earlier today.

“As for this plan, I believe everyone has received the news. In today’s society, a message can be transmitted to any corner of the earth within a few seconds, and it can be transmitted to Mars in 20 minutes. But everyone has a different opinion regarding this news from Blackwatch Corporation...

“As far as I know, one of the most popular views is one of doubt. We doubt if humans, as we are now, have reached an extent where we can build a Dyson cloud?”

At this, Richard suddenly smiled gently. This had always been an extremely rare expression ever since he appeared on the show. “We humans are closer to the goal of building a Dyson cloud than we imagined...

“When the classification method of the Kardashev scale was first born, the earth was defined as a 0.73 civilization, which was the level half a century ago... But now, after these years of development, without realizing it, we’ve conquered controllable nuclear fusion, the establishment of scientific research stations on the moon, the establishment of permanent colonies on Mars, and... The Blackwatch Corporation has even begun to mine resources from the Kuiper belt asteroids!

“After the numerous difficulties that have been overcome, our human civilization index is also rising step by step. According to the latest calculations, our human civilization’s current Kardashev scale rating has reached level 1.2 and is fully capable of building a century-defining project like the Dyson cloud!”

Speaking of this, Richard’s words gradually became louder. “After nuclear energy has been thoroughly popularized, we gradually discovered that controllable nuclear fusion is nothing more than a stepping stone. It allows us to open the door to interstellar pursuits. But at the same time, it’s only a most ordinary pass... We humans have reached an intersection. We must either start looking for new clean energy or rely on nuclear energy that will eventually be depleted!

“And now, Blackwatch has once again walked in front of the Earth Federation. He’s willing to stand up for us humans and explore the path to higher levels. What kind of spirit is this?”

Richard sighed suddenly and at the same time, he leaned over and bowed. “Please allow me, Richard, to pay a sign of high respect to this company, the pioneer of mankind!

“Whether this plan succeeds or fails in the end, we shouldn’t blame him because he’s carrying the burden forward on our behalf!”

With that last sentence, the deafening orchestra resounded again, drowning everything and overwhelming the flabbergasted hearts of countless people!

“This is the most important thing that happened in the Earth Federation today. I’m Wilson Richard. This is the Earth Federation International Channel — Richard’s World. We’ll see you next time... Until then!”

...

Richard’s World had undoubtedly added a huge spark, causing the plan announced by Blacklight Biotechnology to flare up even more violently in public opinion. In just one day, almost everyone in the world had learned the news that Blacklight Biotechnology was preparing to build a Dyson cloud.

Regarding this, the governments of the major continents in the Earth Federation had more complicated feelings because they could see further than ordinary people. Although this action by Blacklight Biotechnology was equivalent to opening a path for the future of humankind, once it succeeded, it would also advance certain vested interests. Solar energy might even become monopolized by Blacklight Biotechnology.

Therefore, unlike the eager expectations of ordinary people, the media on all continents had scorned the matter and even used the “Dark Forest theory”1 to argue that this project might cause changes in the brightness of the sun. This was then likely to attract prying eyes from other alien civilizations in the future.

Thus, in the end, the world’s public opinion was divided into two factions. One faction expressed support for the construction of the Dyson cloud and the other faction opposed it, believing that this behavior was akin to biting off more than one could chew.

After waiting for the next few days, the Earth Federation that felt threatened finally could not sit still. They launched a summit of countries around the world. The four major continents led their little siblings to vote against this project, to oppose and curb this Blacklight Biotechnology plan.

In response to the Earth Federation’s response, Chen Chen sent the department of external affairs to the Earth Federation headquarters to participate in the wrangling, but on the other side, the various departments of Blacklight Biotechnology began to silently implement this plan.

If it were ten years ago, Chen Chen would have to carefully consider the opposition from all over the world, but it was a different time now. After having a Mars colony, Blacklight Biotechnology now had the capital to break away from the Earth Federation. Even if the Earth Federation imposed sanctions on Blacklight Biotechnology because of this, it would only be economic sanctions that could not leave a scratch. No one had the courage to bring up military sanctions.

Therefore, after arguing with each other for three full months, seeing that the Earth Federation could not stop Blacklight Biotechnology’s footsteps, in the end, the four continents had to reluctantly compromise. They put forward a request to Blacklight Biotechnology’s negotiating team, that was, the four continents also wanted this Dyson cloud project and obtained a share of it.

Chen Chen did not mind this. After all, the four continents accounted for 40% of the population of the Earth Federation and they had manpower and material resources far exceeding Blacklight Biotechnology. If the four continents joined in, the construction period of the Dyson ring could be reduced by more than fifty percent. As long as the core technology and the leading role were still in the hands of Blacklight Biotechnology, there would be no problems.

As such, after three months of international negotiations, each of the four continents decided to allocate tens of billions of capital, manpower, and material resources to join this most massive project in human history.

As for the small neighboring countries, just like when controllable nuclear fusion was being researched and developed back then, they could only look on impatiently from the sidelines.

Soon, the four continents sent thousands of engineers and scientists to the Eco Science City, making it the command center of the most magnificent plan in human history. With tens of thousands of top talents in the world gathering here, it also brought a new wave of vitality to Eco Science City.

“This is an engineering robot designed by our Blacklight Biotechnology.”

At this time, in the aerospace base in the southern suburbs of the Eco Sciences City, the decision-making delegations of the five parties were discussing in the meeting room. These scientists were full of enthusiasm and they kept tossing out their opinions and plans as if they were arguing, not stopping even when it was time for dinner.

A young engineer proudly threw out a conceptual design drawing. “This kind of robot is divided into forty-three types and each type has a corresponding division of labor... They have ceramic heat insulation up to ten centimeters thick. The armor can completely withstand the high temperature and pressure on the surface of Mercury. At the same time, it’s controlled by the super AI designed by our Blackwatch Corporation. It’s able to continuously produce its own kind, along with solar panels, and launch these panels into space using electromagnetic ejection.”

“I object!”

Even so, after looking at the engineer’s design drawings, the decision-makers from the four continents objected. “A super AI with self-replication permissions — this is something we must not tolerate. If Blackwatch doesn’t want the Omnic Crisis1 to occur, I still think that this kind of production cannot be delegated to computers.”

“We at Blackwatch can guarantee the loyalty of the AI!”

“That won’t work either, we’re firmly opposed to this kind of thing...”

The two sides immediately quarreled again.

“Okay, stop fighting. This matter can be discussed later.”

Another scientist with a global reputation stopped the meaningless quarrel between the two sides and then said, “We have no problems with the manufacturing of the Dyson cloud equipment. Now, we should talk about maintenance. With such a huge area that far exceeds man-made objects on the surface of the earth, how do we maintain it?”

“Of course, we’ll use robots for maintenance too...”

Another Blacklight Biotechnology scientist exclaimed, “If we can make XTN robots, we can naturally also make maintenance robots that are fully automated and can operate in outer space. These robots only need to be about ten centimeters in size, then they’ll be able to travel freely across the Dyson cloud’s surface, repairing any malfunctioning parts of the Dyson cloud.”

“So, what about energy transmission? The plan says we’re using laser transmission, so where are we going to build a device that can receive this huge source of energy?”

“Of course, it’ll be in space. We can build several energy-receiving devices with an area of ??more than a few square kilometers in orbit and then introduce this energy into the ground through a space elevator. This is the best solution. Is it possible that you still want to send the laser directly to the earth’s surface, wouldn’t that be solar bombardment?”

“So, what should we do when there’s a solar storm?”

Someone worried aloud.

“What kind of question is this? Haven’t we designed the Dyson cloud to use a certain unit as the core and fold into each other when a solar storm occurs, so that the device can fully achieve sufficient shock resistance? Surely you’re able to figure out such a simple problem, right?”

“...”

“Who can calculate, if the weight of Mercury changes, what kind of impact will that have on the major planets of our solar system?”

Another scientist asked.

“Rest assured, this plan was planned thoroughly before it was released.”

A Blacklight Biotechnology scientist immediately waved his hand and displayed a series of figures in front of everyone. “The acceleration of Mercury’s gravitational force on the earth is only about 10-40nm/s^2, which is very small on an astronomical scale. Furthermore, turning Mercury into a Dyson cloud is none other than moving Mercury’s center of mass closer to the vicinity of the sun. Its mass wouldn’t disappear.

“Even if the entire Mercury was removed and transported, about 100 years later, the Earth’s perihelion and aphelion will only be reduced by one ten-thousandth without us realizing it, plus this will recover in a few decades due to the phenomenon of periodic perturbation. Just building the Dyson cloud is equivalent to evenly distributing the mass of Mercury across the orbit of the sun. This situation will not affect the orbit of the earth even in the long term!

“Then the next topic is, how do we maintain the stability of the Dyson cloud in solar orbit?”

“...”

The meeting room was filled with the babble of voices and countless terms that were unfamiliar to ordinary people were casually thrown out from these people. Everyone enjoyed the discussion despite its discordant nature, breaking up the details of the plan to ensure that every step was carried out smoothly.

Still, in any case, the more everyone discussed, the more they had a hunch — when they started to implement this globally shocking plan, it would be the biggest step in the history of humankind!

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