6: Ghost Galaxy

"Repeat, we are in the direction of Boötes, coordinates XXXX, and have observed an unrecorded G2V-type star system. Requesting global peer institutions to conduct collaborative observation and data verification."

This semi-public bulletin from the "Sky Eye" control center instantly ignited the communication networks of all top astronomical institutions worldwide.

From the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii to the Atacama Desert in Chile, and then to the Canary Islands in Spain, countless massive telescope mirrors slowly turned toward that unremarkable coordinate under precise mechanical control.

At first, most astronomers held a cautious attitude of skepticism. The universe is ancient, and its script was written billions of years ago. The birth and death of a star is a long epic measured in millions of years, and it is absolutely impossible for one to "appear out of thin air" in the history of human observation. This seemed more like an instrument malfunction, or some unknown cosmic illusion capable of deceiving the global observation network.

However, when observation data from different countries, different equipment, and different technical principles poured into the International Astronomical Union's data center like snowflakes, all skepticism was ruthlessly shattered.

It was right there.

A stable, burning star, like a twin brother to the Sun, hung silently in the deep space 13 light-years away. It was as if it had been there since time immemorial, and all the scientists in the world had collectively suffered from amnesia for several hundred years.

The global amateur astronomy community was in a complete frenzy. On major forums and social media, the entry for "Ghost Star" spread at a viral speed. Countless amateur enthusiasts pointed their telescopes toward that direction, hoping to witness this astronomical "miracle" with their own eyes.

But the truly groundbreaking discovery lay deep in a realm that ordinary optical telescopes could not reach. And the key to unlocking this secret was in the hands of NASA.

...

At the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, inside the science operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the atmosphere was as heavy as a vacuum.

"Magnify it, Juliane, amplify that damn signal to the limit."

Dr. Thorne, a senior astrophysicist who had worked at NASA for over thirty years, was staring intensely at the spectral analysis chart on the main screen. Her hair was gray, and her face was lined with wrinkles from long nights of staying up, but her blue eyes were burning with a light brighter than a supernova at this moment.

When the news of the "Ghost Star" arrived, she used her seniority and authority to forcibly interrupt the original observation plan of the Webb telescope, aiming this ten-billion-dollar "eye into deep space" at that mysterious coordinate.

Webb's infrared eye could see through cosmic dust that visible light could not penetrate, and could analyze the extremely faint chemical components in the atmospheres of distant planets. It was humanity's strongest trump card in the search for evidence of life.

"Doctor, we have captured the first transit event." The young data analyst Juliane's voice trembled, "A rocky planet just flew across the stellar disk. We... we have obtained its atmospheric spectrum."

Data streams flooded the screen, and after instantaneous processing by the supercomputer, they turned into clear charts.

Dr. Thorne's breathing almost stopped the moment she saw the charts.

"Water... those are the spectral absorption lines of water vapor! And the concentration is ridiculously high!"

"Oxygen! My God, I see the signal of free oxygen!"

"Methane... and traces of carbon dioxide... this atmospheric composition... this composition..."

"Just like early Earth." Juliane finished the sentence for her that everyone wanted to say but dared not utter.

This was just the beginning.

Over the next 72 hours, with its unparalleled precision, the Webb telescope captured the transit phenomena of six inner-orbit rocky planets in succession. Each transit was like a heavy blow to the heart, constantly challenging the cognitive limits of all the scientists present.

Meanwhile, the aging Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, which had already retired but whose data was still being repeatedly analyzed, provided corroborating evidence from different dimensions. With its powerful visible light resolution, Hubble accurately calculated the planets' volumes and orbital periods; while Spitzer's historical infrared data proved over and over again—before its retirement in 2020, that location was indeed empty.

When all the data was aggregated, a conclusion that made Dr. Thorne feel dizzy was presented before her.

This galaxy, which they had temporarily named "HIAL-137" (Abnormal Interstellar Site No. 137), possessed a nearly perfect planetary system.

Thirteen planets. Six of which were rocky planets in the inner orbit.

And among these six rocky planets, judging by the atmospheric spectrum and their distance from the star (i.e., the "habitable zone"), at least three, and perhaps as many as five, were habitable planets with liquid water and oxygen-rich atmospheres.

"Impossible." Dr. Thorne muttered to herself, "This does not fit any planetary evolution model. For one 'Earth' to appear in a star system is already a miracle of the universe. Three to five? It's like picking up a handful of sand from the ground and discovering that three of them are perfectly cut diamonds. God... would not roll the dice like this."

This was no longer science; it was a miracle. A galaxy so rich it was extravagant, like a paradise.

But when they turned Webb's observation precision to the maximum, attempting to analyze the region closer to the star, an even stranger and more chilling phenomenon appeared.

"We have detected a gravitational anomaly." The head of the gravitational wave analysis team reported, "Between the orbits of the first and second planets, there exists a massive gravitational source. Its mass is so large that it is enough to slightly disturb the orbits of the inner planets. But strangely, we cannot see any planet or celestial body of that mass there in any wavelength."

"What about optical obscuration?" Dr. Thorne immediately asked.

"Yes," Juliane zoomed in on the ultra-high-precision photo taken by Hubble to the limit, "When we perform long-exposure, we can find that the area... is not purely dark. It obscures the starlight behind it, but its outline... is not circular."

The photo was further sharpened. When that blurry outline gradually became clear, the entire control center fell into a deathly silence.

That was not an asteroid, nor was it a dwarf planet.

It was a... massive, unimaginably large... artificial complex composed of countless slender, interconnected structures.

It looked like a giant metal spider web coiled in the star's orbit, and also like an unfinished Dyson sphere skeleton. Its structure was full of unnatural straight lines and geometric angles, and under the starlight, it occasionally reflected a cold, metallic glint. Its irregular shape and massive weight perfectly explained the gravitational and optical anomalies in that airspace.

That was... a massive... shipyard orbiting the planet.

"My God..." a young intern exclaimed, then immediately covered their mouth with their hand.

Dr. Thorne felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to her scalp.

A paradise galaxy with three to five "Earths," and a giant artificial object that clearly belonged to a super-advanced civilization.

Connecting these two things led her to a logical, yet chilling conclusion.

That "paradise" was not naturally formed.

It was very likely "engineered."

In that galaxy, there existed a civilization with planetary-scale engineering capabilities.

...

Eastern Time, 2:00 PM. NASA held an unprecedented global emergency press conference.

Dr. Thorne served as the main speaker herself. Facing the barrage of cameras and countless flashes from the world's top media, she took a deep breath and made those groundbreaking conclusions public.

"...We have named this newly discovered galaxy HIAL-137. It is 13 light-years away from us, possesses a star extremely similar to the Sun, and thirteen planets."

"According to the joint observation data from the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes, we have high confidence in confirming that among the six rocky planets in the galaxy, there are at least three that possess atmospheric environments highly similar to Earth; they... are potentially habitable planets."

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the audience exploded. The reporters were flushed with excitement, and the sound of shutters became a cacophony, as if to ignite the air in the entire press conference venue.

"However," Dr. Thorne raised her voice, suppressing the commotion, "This is not our most important discovery."

She paused, and on the main screen behind her, an extremely shocking, processed image appeared—that massive orbital complex looming faintly under the starlight.

"In the inner orbit of HIAL-137, we observed a massive, non-spherical anomalous structure. Its structure... does not fit any natural celestial body known to us. We currently cannot determine what it is, but its existence forces us to consider a possibility..."

She looked around the room and said, word by word:

"We... are perhaps not alone."

This sentence, via live broadcast signal, spread to every corner of the Earth.

The global internet was ignited in this instant.

News website servers crashed collectively, and on social media, entries like "HIAL-137," "Habitable Planet," and "Alien Architecture" surged to the top of trending lists at an unprecedented speed.

From traders on Wall Street to ordinary office workers in Shanghai, from university classrooms in London to remote villages in Nigeria, almost everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the news on their phones or TV screens in disbelief.

The philosophical debate of "are we alone" that had continued for thousands of years seemed to have received a definitive answer today.

However, for astronomers, physicists, and philosophers around the world, this was not ecstasy, but a massive tsunami. The groundbreaking conclusion brought an avalanche of problems: Who are they? Where do they come from? Why did that star system suddenly appear? Is this truly a miracle of the universe, or a demonstration by some higher-level existence that we cannot understand?

The world was in an uproar because of this.

Meanwhile, in an ordinary room in Tianqiong City, Lei Wen was sitting in front of his computer, staring blankly at the blurry "anomalous structure" image released by NASA on the news broadcast screen.

His throat was dry, and his heart was pounding wildly.

What others saw was an unknown, mysterious "alien structure."

But he felt that the shadow in the picture was very familiar; although it looked completely different from how it appeared in the game, a word still welled up from the bottom of Lei Wen's heart—Mega Shipyard.