71: arrival

Six months later.

In the cold deep space about ten billion kilometers from Earth, specifically at the edge of the Solar System's Kuiper Belt.

Ten silver-white streaks of light, invisible to the naked eye, caused nearly imperceptible ripples in space before silently dropping out of Warp Drive.

After a voyage lasting several years, the Far Star Fleet of the Faleim Scientific Conglomerate finally arrived at their ultimate destination.

The Solar System.

"Commander, the fleet has successfully exited Warp Drive, and all systems are operating normally."

On the bridge of the flagship rathia, the voice of Communications Officer Kyle broke the long silence.

Commander Talon slowly opened his eyes.

He stood up from the command chair capable of shallow stasis and walked to the massive holographic porthole.

Before him, a magnificent panorama was slowly unfolding.

A G-type star emitting a warm yellow glow floated silently in the center of the Star Map; although its light was not as dazzling as the F-type star in the Laika System, it gave a sense of stability and serenity filled with vitality.

Eight planets of varying sizes, like loyal guardians, orbited it along their precise paths.

Everything here perfectly matched the Star Map depicted on the civilization guidance stele.

"Talon," the holographic projection of Chief Scientist Zeral appeared beside him, his eyes carrying a hint of undisguised excitement and curiosity, "We have arrived; this is the place the guide pointed out for us."

Talon did not speak; he merely gazed quietly at the distant star.

As a rigorous military commander, he would not easily reveal his emotions like a scientist.

His choice to exit Warp Drive at such a great distance was not out of caution.

It was out of the most fundamental reverence for the laws of physics.

Spacetime within a star's gravitational range is curved, and the working principle of the Warp Drive is to create a controllable twisted fold on flat spacetime curvature—a warp bubble—to propel the ship forward.

If one were to force the use of a Warp Drive in an area where spacetime curvature was already uneven due to immense gravity, it would be like trying to fold a perfect paper airplane on a piece of paper that was already full of creases.

It is not impossible, but the probability is low, and failure would lead to unpredictable consequences.

The warp bubble might collapse instantly if it cannot maintain a stable form, at which point the entire warship would be dimensionally reduced by the collapsing space.

Neither hyperspace travel nor Warp Drive can be conducted within the influence range of a massive gravitational source, unless using jump drives.

Talon turned around and said to those in the command tower, "All ships in the fleet, activate conventional thrusters and maintain a Level 5 stealth field to advance toward the interior of the system in a concealed posture."

"At the same time," he looked at Kyle, "activate the tachyons sensor array and conduct a comprehensive scan of the entire system with the highest precision; I need to know the details of this system immediately."

"Yes, Commander!"

Ten ghost-like falam warships began to sail toward the interior of the Solar System at sub-light speed.

They were like ten water droplets silently merging into the ocean, without causing a single ripple.

Immediately following this, a scanning wave, invisible to the naked eye but capable of penetrating all matter, was released from the bow of every warship.

The tachyons sensor array is a super-detection technology that utilizes superluminal particles—tachyons—as a medium for information transmission.

It can construct the most accurate 3D model of a system in an instant.

However, when the scan results were aggregated in the form of massive data to the main AI of the rathia and finally presented before Talon and Zeral, the expressions on their faces gradually shifted from initial anticipation and excitement to deep confusion and bewilderment.

The scan data showed that this was an utterly ordinary G-type star system.

The four inner planets were rocky, and the four outer planets were gas giants; everything conformed to standard planetary evolution models.

There were no abnormal energy readings, nor were any valuable rare resources discovered.

And what they found most baffling was the scan result concerning the third planet—that is, Earth.

"This... this is not right..." Zeral looked at the blue planet on the screen, his face full of confusion.

"According to the data on the civilization guidance stele, this planet should be a perfect and undeveloped Gaia planet, with only the most primitive ecosystems and no traces of any intelligent civilization."

"But look..." he pointed to the dense artificial satellites and several space stations in Earth's orbit, "The civilization on it not only exists, but has already developed to the early stage of the space age! They have even established permanent bases on their satellites!"

Talon's brow also furrowed tightly.

The tachyons sensor even captured various radio communication signals taking place on Earth.

Although those signal encryption methods seemed simple and laughable to the Faleim People, like codes built by children with building blocks, the information contained within clearly indicated that this was a carbon-based civilization with a complex social structure, different countries, different languages, and was currently in the information age.

This was completely different from the script of the "Promised Land" given to them by the guide.

It was as if they had expectantly followed a treasure map to the treasure's location, only to find that someone else had already beaten them to it and even built a house there.

"The situation has changed," Talon immediately made a judgment.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately ordered the communications officer to report this anomaly to the homeworld light-years away via a high-dimensional quantum communication channel.

...

Falem Homeworld, Central Council.

When Talon's report and the latest scan data of the Solar System sent back by the Far Star Fleet were presented before Consul Price and all members of the Council, the entire conference room became silent enough to hear a pin drop.

"Could it be that we found the wrong place?" A young council member couldn't help but propose this most direct possibility.

"Impossible." Zeral's mentor, the highly respected scholar Icarus, immediately denied this conjecture, "The coordinates of the system are absolute, and the star's spectrum and the number of planets match perfectly; this is the place indicated on the civilization guidance stele, the only variable is the planet itself."

"Then what on earth is going on?"

"I have a conjecture," a council member responsible for sociological research mused, "Is it possible that the coordinate given to us by the guide is not a current one, but a coordinate from the past or the future?"

"You mean..."

"Perhaps this planet was or will be a perfect Gaia planet, and the time node we are currently in has either missed it or not yet arrived."

This conjecture sounded somewhat reasonable, but everyone dared not confirm such a speculation.

One possibility after another was proposed, and one after another was denied.

The entire Central Council fell into an unprecedented ideological dilemma.

They had always revered the guidance of the guide as absolute truth.

But now, the truth seemed to have deviated severely from reality.

In the end, it was Consul Price who ended this fruitless debate with his unquestionable voice.

"Conjecture is useless," he said slowly, "What we need most right now is information—more detailed and accurate information about the indigenous civilization on that planet."

He cast his gaze toward Talon's holographic image.

"Talon, I order you to immediately dispatch a batch of unmanned probes to that third planet."

"The mission is to infiltrate their network and collect all their historical, cultural, technological, and military information."

"Before receiving my next instruction, your fleet will wait on the periphery of the system."

"We need to thoroughly understand our new neighbors before making a final decision."

"Yes, Archon," Talon replied respectfully.

...

After receiving the order from the Archon, Talon immediately began his deployment.

"Prepare 100 Grey Windstorm-type nano-probes immediately."

These probes were only the size of a palm, resembling moths on Earth in appearance.

Their entire bodies were composed of self-repairing and shape-shifting nanobots, and they mimicked a layer of camouflage that could perfectly simulate the optical characteristics of the surrounding environment.

They could fly silently within the atmosphere and could even attach themselves to the surfaces of buildings, camouflaging as a patch of wall.

When these probes, like true ghosts, were released from the launch tubes of the Far Star Fleet and drifted silently toward that distant blue planet like dandelion seeds...

On the other side of Earth's synchronous orbit.

On a massive silver-white mothership that was also in a state of active stealth field, the somewhat languid voice of Grey Wind suddenly rang out in the captain's cabin.

"Hmm? It seems a few little bugs have come over."

She was lying in the form of a young girl on a soft sofa made of nanomatter, eating a pile of snacks brought from Earth while watching a massive holographic screen.

What was displayed on the screen was not anime or movies.

But an extremely magnified sensor scan map of the Solar System.

In the seemingly calm background of the map, one hundred signal sources flying toward Earth at nearly 99% of the speed of light were clearly marked.

Lei Wen's holographic image appeared beside her; he was currently in the underground command room of Tianqiong City.

His special laptop was placed on the desk in front of him, and the screen was displaying the Star Map of the Solar System.

From the images on the Star Map, it could be seen that the Far Star Fleet had clearly arrived in the Solar System, but neither human nor Grey Wind's observation methods could detect them.

Fortunately, Grey Wind also possessed a stealth field of the same level, so the Faleim People's tachyons sensors could not scan her out either.

"Grey Wind, how do you think we should contact them?" Lei Wen asked.

Grey Wind, who was inside her own main body, thought for a moment and shook her head, but she soon showed a surprised expression as if she had discovered something.

"They sent out one hundred probe-like things, and these things established a link with me when they passed by the orbit of Jupiter... Hehe, these probes were made using my sub-units as material; I can completely control them."

"Then..."

"Let me have a chat with them first," the smile on Grey Wind's face became increasingly cunning, "After all, we were once both under your command, so we still have a bit of a connection; I'll probe their attitude first."