Lu Zhou originally thought that this hourglass-shaped building was so majestic that there should be many floors divided. However, I didn't expect that a large amount of floor space was wasted in the space from floor to ceiling.

The ceiling that continues to extend upwards is like a sky without a cloud cover, and the sense of oppression from the space makes the interior of the whole hall look particularly solemn and majestic.

It's as if this is not a conference hall, but a courthouse-like place.

In fact, not only the design of this hall, but also the high conference table gives people the same feeling.

The entire conference table is in the shape of a horseshoe, like an unfolded folding fan, running diagonally upward.

Sitting below are the ordinary councillors, who are higher in status and status as they go, and at the top are the powerful ministers, speakers, and even the supreme consuls, who hold the power of the empire.

Strange civilization.

It is obviously a materialist value, but the form of politics does not give people a sense of efficiency or convenience at all, but gives people a kind of majesty in the sense of religion.

Lu Zhou guessed that this may be related to the special philosophical outlook and aesthetics of the Jialan civilization.

As a topic of sociology, I have to say that this is a very interesting phenomenon that deserves in-depth study. However, it is a pity that Lu Zhou is not a social science scholar, so he quickly focused his attention on what is more worthy of his attention......

The meeting began quickly.

Standing on the side of the hall with General Sainz, like two sculptures blending into the guards beside him and the wall behind him, Lu Zhou waited quietly for about five minutes, and the archon sitting at the head of the conference table looked calmly at Dr. Ryan who was standing in front of the conference table, and finally spoke slowly.

"You're Dr. Lane?"

Dr. Ryan bowed slightly, politely.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Archon."

"Recently, there has been a rumor about the 'oracle' circulating in the Ring World, and according to the intelligence department's investigation, it seems that the cause of everything is you."

With an unavoidable sense of coercion in his eyes, the powerful Jialan man continued, "I want to know why you are causing so much trouble to the empire and yourself. ”

"Neither the council nor me, nor the subjects of the empire, need an explanation."

Faced with the coercive gaze cast from the conference seat, Dr. Lane said as calmly as he could, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Your Excellency, I must correct your rhetoric."

"First of all, the oracle is not a rumor, and our civilization is indeed facing an unprecedented crisis. Secondly, as an academic, I am responsible for every opinion I publish, and I am true of what I say. ”

The sound of commotion resounded in the main hall.

Except for those who sit at the top of the house, the vast majority of parliamentarians look at each other, whisper to each other, and even laugh from time to time.

Crisis?

If it had been three centuries ago, there might have been a market for this argument, when doomsday theory was all the rage.

But now that the Ring has been completed, the Empire is booming like never before, and at the current rate of population growth, it's no surprise that this period of prosperity can continue for centuries to go without any problems.

They have already solved all the crises once and for all.

It is undoubtedly quite ridiculous to put this argument out now.

His chin was raised slightly, and a playful chuckle hung on the archon's face. The look in his eyes was indiscriminate, as if he were simply watching a funny joke, and he continued.

"So, Dr. Lane, tell me, what exactly is your so-called crisis, is that your so-called extraterrestrial argument?"

"Yes and no."

Giving an ambiguous answer, Dr. Lane explained his statement as he looked at the Archon's slightly furrowed brow.

"I'm not sure if the crisis came from them, but it did have something to do with it."

The sound of commotion resounded at the conference table.

Looking at the crowded conference table, the scholar continued.

"First of all, it must be clear that our universe is not as lonely as we think, and even if there is no trace of other civilizations within 500 light-years, it does not mean that the situation is the same 50,000 light-years away. If we zoom in on the distance scale to the entire universe as the background, only we are special beings, but it is an accident with a very low probability. ”

Looking at Dr. Lane, who was in the audience, the archon said nonchalantly.

"This argument was popular many years ago, and I am not interested in discussing it with you here. Even if they exist 10,000 steps back, if we will never meet them on the scale of time, then what does it matter to us whether they exist or not, whether they prosper or not? ”

The Jialan civilization is not a civilization that is keen on expansion.

Rather than expanding the empire's borders, they are more interested in intra-ethnic unity and increasing the cohesion of the empire. It is precisely because of this that they were able to complete the unification in the early days of the space age, and to create a majestic stellar giant project like the ring world.

Alien civilizations?

Although they had a first intimate encounter in the early days of the Space Age, this trend was abandoned only at the end of the early Space Age Colonization.

Dr. Lane nodded in agreement with the Archon's statement, and continued.

"Ideally, glorious isolation is a virtue and a wise choice, and we really don't need to argue with ants tens of thousands of light-years away...... But the problem is that this time it was they who reached out to us, not us who found them. ”

The cacophony suddenly fell silent.

It was as if the stereo had been suddenly turned off, and the entire hall was silent.

A hint of surprise finally appeared in his eyes, and he exchanged glances with the speaker sitting next to him, and the archon continued to look at Dr. Ryan in the audience, and said in a deep voice.

"Don't be alarmist! What about your evidence? ”

"I have already laid out my findings in a paper published 127 days ago, but it is precisely because of this paper that my life is at risk...... Thank you to General Sainz, and his Marines, if it weren't for them, I'm afraid I would have been sent to meet the spirit of the universe by agitators/mobs and drones. ”

General Sainz, who was standing in the corner of the conference room, bowed his head slightly and responded politely.

"You're welcome, Dr. Lane, your rights and interests are protected by the Charter. Regardless of whether you end up facing a legal trial, it doesn't change that. ”

Nodding his head in thanks, Dr. Lane returned his gaze to the conference table.

In response to the gaze that was staring at him, he continued.

"For the sake of your understanding, I will present my research here again now."

As he spoke, he took the suitcase that had gone through the security check process from the security guard on the side, and took out a thumb-sized square vertebra from it.

With a slight touch of his index finger on the square vertebrae, a blue light emitted along the tip of the square vertebrae, and the blue staggered light painted a giant image in the space.

Holographic projection?

An interested look appeared on Lu Zhou's face.

And it's naked-eye holography, as well as contactable interaction!

Something, how does this work?

He felt like a country man who had just entered the city, and he couldn't help but be surprised for a while when he saw anything.

Except for Lu Zhou, everyone in the council hall didn't feel any strange about the scene in front of them, just quietly watched the unfolding image, waiting for Dr. Ryan to continue.

“…… We all know that there is a substance in this universe that is somewhere between a black hole and a neutron star, which we call a singular drop. It is composed of upper and lower quarks and strange quarks, and weighs tens or even billions of tons just the size of a grain of rice. ”

Using the index finger and thumb in a small motion, Dr. Lane continued.

"In order to study how to release the matter we need from black holes, the study of singular droplets has always been a cutting-edge topic in physics research, and some time ago, we were fortunate to lock on to a singular drop located 23,000 light-years away through the analysis of gravitational waves......"

"And it's about ...... in size At least the size of this holographic pen in my hand. ”

Hearing this, Lu Zhou's face suddenly showed a shocked look.

Strange drops!

And it still exists under natural conditions!?

For the physics community of human civilization, the "strange drop" has always been a matter that exists in conjecture...... Or the state.

The theory of its existence can be traced back to the conjecture put forward by Witten in the 80s that "large exotic quarks may be the ground state of the strongly acting system". As for the cause, there are also speculations about the QCD phase transition in the early universe, supernova explosions, and the collision of strange quark stars.

However, the conditions for the existence of the Strange Drop are simply too harsh. Theoretically, its contact with any matter could lead to annihilation, and the release of energy that was even more terrifying than the annihilation of antimatter.

As a result, neither the astrophysical nor high-energy physics communities have found evidence that can prove their existence.

The only speculation is that the total energy of the particles is higher than that of very high-energy cosmic rays of about 10^19 eV, and may contain a small number of exotic droplets. However, how difficult such cosmic rays are to capture can be seen by looking at how difficult the "slightly cheaper" neutrinos are to collect.

And now, this Dr. Lane "told" him in an affirmative tone that there was a strange drop mass in this universe that was large enough to be seen with the naked eye.

If all this were true, the entire geophysical community would be in for a stir......

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou's heart couldn't help but get excited.

However, the excitement didn't last long.

It quickly occurred to him that even if he knew about the existence of such a strange substance, there seemed to be no way to prove it to others.

You can't take the setting of the "game" as evidence, right?

He didn't even figure out where this Jialan civilization was, and whether it was still there.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou's excitement just now couldn't help but fall into depression.

It would be nice to be able to determine the exact coordinates of this strange drop, or to get a complete observation technique.

But come to think of it, this part of this memory should not be included.

At most, it can only make him greedy......

“…… Gentlemen, think of how excited we were at that time, a strange drop so large that it was visible to the naked eye, even in natural conditions! ”

"What's the use of that?" Looking at Dr. Ryan, who was in an agitated tone, one of the councilors muttered, "Even the Empire's most advanced research ship can't reach 23,000 light-years away to investigate the situation there." ”

The sound of this sentence was not small, and it happened to drift into Dr. Lane's ears.

Looking at the councillor, he spoke earnestly.

"Any theory is useless when it is first developed, but the key is ...... If we don't understand it, we can't make it useful. ”

"In short, the project I am responsible for is to study this strange drop. At first we thought it was stationary, until we analyzed the gravitational waves and got a series of soap bubbles that split from each other...... This is not an abstract metaphor, but something that is intuitively reflected on an image. Do you know what that means? It means that the strange drop is indeed stationary in terms of the concept of motion, but in terms of the concept of space, it is moving in a leap and along the path of hyperspace light towards the center of the galaxy! ”

The archon coughed lightly and said solemnly.

"To the point, this is the Imperial Chamber, and we're not interested in your physical theories."

“…… The point is that the discovery that followed directly overturned our previous speculation," Accepting the Archon's suggestion as smoothly as possible, Dr. Lane paused and continued with a serious expression, "This strange drop is definitely not naturally formed. ”

"It's that other civilizations made it."

"And the civilization that made it is probably much more advanced than ours."

Lamp pen