Deep Space Wandering Fleet

Just because of a lack of diverse thinking patterns, these Half-sphere people fell madly in love with human forms of entertainment. Encountering a cultural system so different from human civilization, they suddenly discovered there were many more novel and enjoyable things in the world, which sparked their great interest, and they became a bit insatiable.

Zhang Yuan bowed his head in thought, considering whether he could gain greater benefits through cultural exports.

"If this civilization had thirty thousand memory templates," he mused, "the issue of diversity could be largely resolved."

"If the Half-sphere Civilization had three hundred thousand completely different memory templates, there would essentially be no issue of diversity!"

"But that's difficult... where could we get so many templates?"

As a highly recognized scientist, facing various online discussions, Zhang Yuan refrained from commenting too much, leaving the main work for the propaganda department.

From the current situation, there was some degree of opposition among the public, but overall it was fairly stable and did not form a very strong tide of opposition. The internet could be considered a breeding ground for Right-wing Forces, where an individual – or rather, a species – that wouldn't express such views in real life might post discriminatory language online.

Thus, the internet was the main battleground for Right-wing Forces, where these people could inadvertently form an influential group and exert pressure on the government through public opinion.

But now, these government announcements hadn't triggered a Right-wing tsunami. If the internet level was not a problem, then real-life social venues were unlikely to encounter issues either. Most people's attention was instead captivated by the pros and cons of genetic memory technology.

They actually weren't too concerned about the ideologies of the Half-sphere people. After all, the two sides weren't going to live together, and their aesthetics were different – why bother about so much?

So, cooperation between the New Human Civilization and the Half-sphere Civilization was basically free from public-level problems.

After a while, Zhang Yuan logged into a government internal opinion monitoring website. The propaganda department was as tense as if they were in a war; the website issued a lot of documents, guiding some undesirable public opinions and censoring others, and some media outlets needed window guidance.

He suddenly noticed a plate of sliced fruit on the table – the very expensive "Ali Fruit," a genetically modified alien species. Turning around, he saw Lin Xuanyuan was already off work and back at home, staring at him.

She asked, "Hey, do you have the day off today? What are you daydreaming about? Spent the whole day on the computer?"

Zhang Yuan said with a smile, "Finally, a day off to envision the future. Ah, in a couple of days, I'll have to go negotiate again."

"The future? Are you talking about our cooperation with the Half-sphere Civilization? Everyone at work has been discussing it, wondering if we'll get to use better bionics technology... Their bionics are more developed than ours, right?"

Hospitals are always busy places, and even on rest days, time off is not guaranteed.

"That's not what I was thinking about," Zhang Yuan joked. "I was wondering, if in the future we had genetic memory technology, and there were many 'me's, which one would you like best? How would you identify the real me?"

"Many of me?" Lin Xuanyuan wasn't expecting this question from Zhang Yuan; her face flushed red, and she was at a loss for an answer.

After a long while, she managed to say, "I would like all of them!"

"Pfft!"

Zhang Yuan nearly spat out the Ali Fruit in his mouth.

Of course, such a thing was impossible. Even if memories were identical, "I" would still be a unique existence in the world.

This is similar to the "Pauli exclusion principle" in quantum mechanics, where in a system made up of fermions, no two particles can occupy exactly the same state. There can never be a second true "me" in the world.

Zhang Yuan stopped teasing her and turned serious again: "Starting tomorrow, we need to enter the second phase of negotiations, which mainly involves military-level transactions. If all goes well, we'll soon have our second War Star!"

"The name has already been decided by vote. Looking at the current voting rate, The Kyushu is in the lead."

"The Kyushu… quite an imposing name!"

One Mountain and Sea, and now The Kyushu. It seems that the Half-sphere Civilization was indeed a blessing for humanity. Of the three War Stars in the Galactic Progress Alliance, it turns out all were excavated by the Half-sphere people, and two ended up belonging to the New Human Civilization.

The Half-sphere people had worked their way up to a position of note on the Milky Way scale, few civilizations truly had the perseverance to excavate three planets.

Lin Xuanyuan asked again, "But The Kyushu War Star still lacks a curvature engine, right? It can only move along Cosmic Strings. And the Half-sphere Civilization's War Star needs help constructing a curvature engine... Are we going to stay here for decades, rebuilding curvature engines?"

Zhang Yuan waved his hand dismissively, "That won't take so long."

"We've already figured it out; take apart some of the curvature engines from the Mountain and Sea Planet and install them on other planets. That should enable preliminary Curvature Navigation."

"Technically speaking, there should be no problem, and it will also save a lot of time. It could all be completed in three to five years."

Leaving the Dyson Sphere, during over eighty years of Curvature Navigation travel time, the Mountain and Sea had not been idle, with the curvature engines on the Planet Fortress continuously being built, increasing in number, and a large stockpile of spare engines produced.

The spare engines were crucial for the strategy; if the principal engines were destroyed in a full-blown war, the spares could be rapidly put to use to prevent the War Star from losing mobility completely.

That's why they were a vital strategic reserve.

But now, these spare engines could also be dismantled and installed on other planets to achieve 0.8-1 times the speed of light with Curvature Navigation. If assisted by the Half-sphere Civilization, this series of projects could potentially be completed in about three to five years.

In any case, it was always good to get moving. As long as they could reach 1 times the speed of light, the entire Alliance could quickly head to the next destination without delay.

The situation in the Milky Way was growing increasingly tense; people had to race against time.

On the journey to the next destination, which would take several decades, they could continue building the unfinished projects, ensuring that all War Stars reached 3 times the speed of light.

Lin Xuanyuan asked again, "So, the next destination for the whole Alliance is still the neutron star collision zone, to seek out our old friends from the Tos Civilization? Uh, will the Half-sphere Civilization agree to search for more civilizations?"

Hearing the question, Zhang Yuan nodded: "Yes, even though we now have a very promising ally… and having more allies isn't always better."

"But the Tos Civilization is relatively easy to get along with. We've already traveled more than halfway there; we plan to go take a look." He couldn't help but laugh, "Those giant doll fish, seeing the three War Stars of the Alliance, will surely be stunned!"

"Making more friends and fewer enemies is our basic strategy. Let's hope our old friends are faring well."

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