Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 662: Farewell, Milky Way
At this moment, it had been more than 1,300 years since Xiao Yu left the Galactic Center. After roughly more than 200 additional years of travel, crossing about eight thousand light years, Xiao Yu would arrive at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.
In fact, even here already belonged to the category of the Milky Way Galaxy’s edge. The stellar density further decreased here, with an average separation of nearly twenty light years. Calculated by the average distance from the Galactic Center, Xiao Yu’s steps had now surpassed the time he was led by the half Four-Dimensional Taihao to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Right here, Xiao Yu began his first experiment in transporting a star. He selected a yellow dwarf in its middle age and started preliminary arrangements beside it.
To transport an object as massive as a star was no longer merely a matter of the channel’s size, so Xiao Yu had to manufacture instruments in advance and deploy them at the star’s edge. Only after adjusting the space of the region where it resided could he begin to transport it. The Earth tugged the small universe to the side of this star, and the instruments previously deployed began to alter the space around the star as expected. The linkage channel between the main universe and the small universe had already been opened. With the cooperation of instruments at various points, the transportation began.
For this transportation, Xiao Yu had prepared for a long time and expended much effort. This did not even include the time consumed by earlier scientific research. Yet the actual process of transportation was in fact simple to the utmost. After Xiao Yu activated the transportation instrument, the star suddenly disappeared from the visible universe, and the entire process took less than three minutes. Just like that, the transportation of this star was complete. It had already appeared within Xiao Yu’s small universe.
Within the small universe, a stable gravitational system had already formed. Dozens of stars were operating calmly and steadily under their mutual gravity and Xiao Yu’s orbital adjustment instruments. If an extra star suddenly appeared here, then without Xiao Yu’s manual intervention, it would result in a catastrophic outcome.
The gravity of the newly arrived star would instantly break the gravitational balance of the small universe. The ultimate result would be dozens of stars returning to chaotic orbital motion. They might even collide with each other, then affect other stars and alter their orbits, causing those to collide again. The final outcome could be the destruction of all the stars.
Naturally, Xiao Yu could not allow this to happen. Long before the star entered the small universe, he had already prepared for everything. All the effects it might cause were in his assessments, and he had prepared to meet them in advance. The entire process of transporting the star was completed smoothly under Xiao Yu’s control. No trouble occurred.
After this star was transported away, Xiao Yu also saw a rather interesting phenomenon. This star also had a planetary system. There was a planet roughly the size of Mars orbiting it at a distance of ten light minutes. But now, the core of the star’s orbit, that star, had suddenly vanished.
Xiao Yu saw that after the star disappeared, the planet seemed unaware, still moving along its original orbit, as if the star were still there. If this scene were recorded and shown to some lower-level civilizations, Xiao Yu was certain that it would drive many physicists mad.
Because within this system, there was no strong source of gravity present. No star. No white dwarf or neutron star. No black hole. Other than this planet, everything was empty vacuum. Then what was this planet orbiting?
This was a very interesting question, and at the same time a seemingly paradoxical yet actually simple phenomenon dictated by physical laws. In normal space within the normal universe, nothing could travel faster than the speed of light, whether it was an asteroid, a spaceship, a beam of light, or a gravitational wave. If gravity were considered as an entity, one could draw this conclusion. A gravitational wave had just left the star and propagated toward the planet, and then the star disappeared. The planet would still maintain its original orbit under the effect of the gravitational waves previously emitted by the star. Only after the last gravitational wave reached the planet and completed its influence would the planet realize that the one that had always bound it had disappeared and that no more gravity was being transmitted to it. Only then would it alter its orbit.
The present moment was exactly the time interval between the disappearance of the star and the planet’s realization of that disappearance.
The distance between the two was ten light minutes, so the planet continued to orbit an empty point in the void for ten minutes. After those ten minutes elapsed, Xiao Yu saw the planet’s orbit change immediately.
Its previous orbit around the star could be roughly regarded as a circle. Now, with no gravity restraining it, it immediately departed along the tangent of that circle in a straight line, flying into the darkness of deep space.
Xiao Yu knew it had become a rogue planet. In the endless years to come, it would wander the Milky Way Galaxy. Perhaps it would be captured by a star once more and become a member of that stellar family. But its elemental composition, so different from the native members, would puzzle any intelligent beings that might arise in that star system, for they would be forced to ponder a question, why did planets within the same stellar system possess such large differences in elemental composition?
Thinking of these things, Xiao Yu felt a little better. After transporting this star into his small universe, he set out again for the next star and then transferred it into his small universe. Whichever star Xiao Yu’s fleet approached would disappear from the visible universe. It appeared as if Xiao Yu were a terrifying devourer of stars.
Thus, while traveling he stocked suitable stars, advancing with stops along the way, and finally, after roughly more than 200 years, he arrived at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.
This was the true edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Here, the distance from the Galactic Center was about one hundred and sixty thousand light years. Presently, the aging, massive, and sluggish red giant before Xiao Yu was the farthest star from the Galactic Center along this approximately circular radius of the Milky Way Galaxy. This meant that once he passed this star, Xiao Yu would not be able to encounter any stellar objects before reaching the Large Magellanic Cloud.
In fact, the matter here was not particularly sparse. Xiao Yu could observe many interstellar dust clouds converging here. This was the place where the Magellanic Stream emitted from the Large Magellanic Cloud flowed into the Milky Way Galaxy. In truth, the nearby hundreds to thousands of light years of border could all be considered influx points of the Magellanic Stream. The Magellanic Stream was like an immense river, surging at every moment, infusing a vast amount of matter from the Large Magellanic Cloud into the Milky Way Galaxy.
From here, the Galactic Center was completely invisible unless optical telescopes of extremely high precision were used. This was because the distance from the Galactic Center was too great and the obstructions in between were far too many. Even with the power of the Central Black Hole, its radiation could not penetrate so many layers of obstacles to reach Xiao Yu. But Xiao Yu knew it still controlled this place, because even the most peripheral, aging red giant of the Milky Way Galaxy still orbited it.
“This is the ultimate boundary of the Milky Way Galaxy. Once I pass this star, it will count as truly leaving the Milky Way Galaxy. Although it is still a long way from escaping the range of the Milky Way Galaxy’s gravitational influence, which would require a journey of several million light years. Even the Large Magellanic Cloud, an extragalactic galaxy, is only a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is still under the gravitational influence of the Milky Way Galaxy, orbiting it. From the first time I left the Solar System in a rush to now, to my first departure from the Milky Way Galaxy, nearly forty thousand years have passed.”
Unconsciously, forty thousand years had passed since he first entered the universe. This made Xiao Yu feel deeply moved. The seas had turned to mulberry fields, mortals had come and gone, forty thousand years had flashed by.
“I wonder what the situation is now in the Solar System. It has been forty thousand years since I last returned to the Solar System. When I have leisure and time, and no more burdens, perhaps I should truly return to the Solar System and take a look. Forty thousand years have allowed me to grow to a strength that can rank in the top ten of the Milky Way Galaxy. If my Specter companion is counted, my strength is sufficient to be in the top five. But my heart has never changed. Earth is my homeland, the Solar System is my homeland, the Milky Way Galaxy is also my homeland. This is the imprint carried upon me and will never change. Separation is for a better reunion. All mysteries will ultimately be resolved by me. The name Divine Ark Civilization will one day resound throughout the universe. Then, Milky Way, farewell. I will come back again in the future.”
“Milky Way, farewell.” After saying farewell once more toward the direction of the Galactic Center, Xiao Yu steered his vast fleet and left the Milky Way Galaxy without hesitation, embarking upon a boundless journey.
What awaited Xiao Yu ahead was the mysterious unknown of another galaxy and a long journey of one hundred and sixty thousand light years without any resupply. Ahead there might be hope, or there might be destruction.
