Chapter 172 Changes in the “Guardian”

"...Old Cat, how are your observation data lately?"

"What else can we do, just like that... To be honest, artificial intelligence can already handle most problems, so why do we still need to keep an eye on it here."

In the deep space observatory of the Corebo Interstellar Trading Company, the data recorders who are repeating boring work day after day have such complaints.

This is what they do every day. Even though this kind of profession that can "observe the universe all the time" is what each of them has longed for since childhood, their study career is also aimed at this profession.

But after actually entering the work, the enthusiasm and novelty quickly dissipated like a fire encountering water.

Repeated actions are the main culprit that kills work enthusiasm. What still supports the work of these recordkeepers is the hefty salary.

"Sigh... I don't know why, but the higher-ups have recently asked us to pay more attention to those A and B type stars... It is difficult for a celestial system in that kind of cosmic environment to produce habitable stars, right?"

The mouse continued to complain about the "change in work focus." In the past, they could still fish in troubled waters, but now they have to work harder after receiving orders.

What makes it even more difficult for him to understand is that the boss of Corebo, who has always regarded population, labor force and market as the most important capital, would actually put effort into paying attention to something that only astronomical researchers would care about.

As we all know, stars are releasing energy all the time because they are in the process of fusion reactions.

The higher the star's temperature, the greater the energy it releases, and the more intense the light that can be seen.

According to the classification of star spectra, stars can be divided from the brightest O-type stars to the faintest M-type stars. The sun is an intermediate level G-type star.

O-type stars are hard to come by in the Milky Way, with only a few records, but A- and B-type stars are not that rare, and basically every civilization has one or two in every country.

Type A and B stars belong to a type of stars with extremely high surface temperatures. They captured a large amount of material from the nebula at the beginning of their formation, and their mass is much greater than that of other types of stars.

The huge mass contains violent nuclear fusion reactions, and their surface temperature can reach more than 20,000 degrees, while the surface temperature of the sun is only more than 6,000 degrees.

Therefore, A and B type stars are always one of the brightest objects in the universe. The light they emit can travel to extremely long distances and already appears bluish white in the spectrum.

However, it is difficult for a celestial system in such a stellar environment to have life.

It’s not that there is no habitable zone. The habitable zones of type A and B stars are much farther than those of other stars, but it’s not that there is no habitable zone.

The biggest problem is that this type of star is about to enter the next stage of life, and there is not much time left for the natural birth of life.

The overly violent fusion reactions of type A and B stars cause their lifespan to be very short, and they will soon transition to the red giant stage using helium as fuel.

At this time, the size of the star will expand rapidly, and it will choose to have a "passionate explosion" or "die quietly" in a faster time.

The former will explode itself into a white dwarf in the form of a supernova explosion, while the latter will quietly lose mass in the stellar wind and become a black dwarf.

No matter which option is chosen, it will not be suitable for the birth of life. The time from the formation to the death of type A and B stars may not exceed 2 billion years. It is even impossible to evolve a planet from its original state to a normal state in such a short period of time, which is also more complicated.

There is no talk of life being born.

Therefore, a global enterprise like Crebo, which is only interested in the population and trade market, will never pay too much attention to these star systems where life does not exist.

I just sigh when passing by: "What a bright star!", mark it on the star map, and then leave in a hurry.

But recently, perhaps because of some news from above, these observers began to pay attention to types of celestial objects that they would never have paid attention to before.

These observers are all veterans who have been working for a long time, so they can naturally tell when to fish and when to be serious.

It was rare that they had worked hard for so long, but they still couldn't wait for the day to stop, which made them guess the truth behind it.

Gossip is a rare way to relieve stress, even in the interstellar age.

"I have a friend who is a student of a relative of a person who works in the community headquarters..."

"Let's just say it directly. We all know that friend is you. There is no need to go into so much trouble to clarify the identity of the relationship."

"...Well, actually, the community seems to have passed an issue and decided to build a 'public Dyson sphere' to alleviate the energy problem of the galaxy."

“Although the topic has been decided, the specific location of the construction has been debated.

"Some people want to build it once and for all on M-type stars with a lifespan of tens of billions of years, but there are also people who want to build on A-type stars, and there will be a wave of big ones first."

"Our superiors probably want to see if we can work on this and make a fortune..."

This well-connected observer talked endlessly about what he had heard. After watching the stars for a long time, occasionally a little interstellar-specific social phenomena would be a good spice.

The audience also listened to the story with great interest and expressed some opinions from time to time, until someone noticed that the monitors that were observing type A and type B stars had abnormal data.

"...Stop bragging and look at the data."

An observer followed the instructions and looked at the fluctuating data, and then showed an incredulous expression.

Someone noticed this and came over to check the situation.

Having received similar education, he could naturally understand the data, and he quickly realized the seriousness of the matter.

"...From our observation point of view, there are already several A and B type stars that have been focused on, and their light is dimming."

"This is not a sign of star collapse...it looks more like something is covering the star?"

While they were still speculating, Li Wenyuan, the man behind all these changes, had already begun the final steps of the Dyson Sphere.

Even he would need several years to build such a huge building surrounding a star. The only good news is that the Dyson sphere does not need to be completely completed to exert its most basic "power generation function."

But it is useless for him to use so much energy. The current energy output has seriously overflowed for him. If it were not to meet the energy needs of the "core database", he would never build so many Dyson spheres.

This time, he broke the tradition of "hoarding" for the first time in a long time and used the resources that had been stored in the space warehouse for a long time to build a Dyson sphere.

He likes the feeling of wealth that comes from watching a large amount of resources explode. When building huge buildings, he will basically maintain an extreme abundance of resources, only using "output" to support construction consumption, and never using the part of the hoard.

But this time he spent a lot of money. He even found an O-type giant star, which is just a little bit away from exploding, and built a Dyson sphere on it.

The so-called "just a little bit" will still take tens of millions of years on an interstellar time scale, but the production capacity is huge, and there is absolutely no problem in meeting the needs of the "core database".

As a result, he completed several Dyson spheres in a few years. At this time, the galactic civilization was still debating within the community how much each needed to contribute and where to build the "public Dyson sphere."

But it was also at this time that civilizations that were paying attention to type A and type B stars also received "abnormal reports" from their respective observation stations.

They secretly explored the source, and finally discovered that those "suspected to be obscured" stars were actually brand new Dyson spheres built there by someone.

This matter itself is nothing, but the identity of the builder forced them to pay more attention.

Because of this incident, it can be regarded as a change in the "Guardian" to a certain extent.

Although the "Guardians" have made a lot of changes in the galaxy, if we insist on saying so, the two resolutions of the galactic crisis are enough to be called quite big changes.

But the galactic civilizations can easily see the reason for this kind of "abnormal movement". It's just to protect them, so it's okay.

But this time, the large number of Dyson spheres being built at the same time made everyone unsure.

"...The observatory has reported that the 'Guardian' suddenly seems to have a huge energy demand, which may even far exceed the total needs of civilization. How about this matter? Let's discuss it."

The leader of the Fire Alliance left a report on the conference table, and then the surrounding senators started discussing it.

Although there are many conjectures, the general direction has not changed.

They all felt that the Guardian's spaceship flying all over the galaxy had finally found what it had been looking for, and those Dyson spheres were built for this purpose.

Of course, they can't compare the changes in the "Guardian" with the changes in the "Civilization Annihilator". If this lost mechanical intelligence wanted to destroy the galaxy, they would have been finished countless times.

After experiencing two crises, they have long engraved their trust and respect for the "Guardian" in their hearts.

As long as the "Guardian" doesn't directly drive a battleship to bomb them, they will think that anything related to the "Guardian" is an "ulterior" behavior.

Although such "emotional" communication between civilizations should not occur, the so-called "trust" and "friendship" are based on eternal interests.

But the "Guardian" obviously transcends this rule, and he is not on the same level as other galactic civilizations at all.

Even if the "Guardian's" abnormal behavior is really a bad start, they can only hold their noses and admit it. After preparing the fire, it is time to resist and it is time to lie down.

Judging from various signs, it is obvious that the "Guardians" will not do such a thing as "destroy the galaxy".

They have great trust in this lost mechanical intelligence. Just as the Guardians protected the galaxy without asking for anything in return, they will repay it with unconditional trust.

"I hope this time the 'Guardian' has really found what he has been looking for... It's time for a mechanical intelligence that has been working for who knows how long to retire..."

Some of these people actually feel sorry for the "guardians".

They don't know exactly when the "Guardians" were born, but they know it must be a very long time ago.

Hardware upgrades may have never changed the nature of that string of data. If the "guardian" has not changed from beginning to end, then this is a machine that has been working for at least tens of millions of years.

"Metal is eternal" is not entirely correct, it just means that time has not yet reached the point where "metal corrodes".

If a person is allowed to work alone for tens of millions of years, this kind of loneliness will be frightening just thinking about it. Just because the other person is a machine intelligence, it cannot be taken for granted and it will be okay.

The words of the person who felt sorry for the "Guardian" resonated with everyone, and everyone began to feel sad.

The people of the Fire Alliance seem to have a strong ability to empathize. It is no wonder that they are able to put in so much effort to protect indigenous people and wild animals.

Looking at this scene, the leader of the Fire Alliance also felt something, thinking silently: "Maybe... only when we are strong enough, can the 'Guardian' retire one day..."

There are civilizations like the Fire Alliance that are happy because "the 'Guardian' has finally been found", and naturally there are also civilizations that don't care about it.

Not everyone can understand the hard work of a "mechanical intelligence". On the contrary, idealistic civilizations who do not agree with the legitimacy of "mechanical intelligence" are more sensitive to the changes of the "guardian".

Although the "Guardian" appears to be an upright "mechanical intelligence" in various manifestations, they firmly believe that it is just an appearance.

They have flexible criteria for judging what is "data that imitates consciousness" and what is "real consciousness".

Mechanical intelligence and mechanical intelligence are different. Some can be idolized and worshiped, while others can only be dismissed as "iron cans".

They have conducted more in-depth research in the field of mind and emotion, and they feel that only a truly loving "saint" would make two actions to save the galaxy without expecting anything in return.

The "Guardian"'s "penance" of searching for something in the Milky Way for millions of years seems to them to be much more determined than most monks.
To be continued...