[Would you care to explain why there are strange alien coding documents embedded in the firmware of the Dyson Sphere that we created in a lab on Rae 5?] Nico asked Max silently through their implanted communicators.
[No. But since you know what it is, you know that it came from my memories, and I couldn't find a better way to make the software worked. I'm not the great programming genius in the group, so if you want it redone in a more conventional programming language for the next prototype, that's on you.] Max replied with a smirk.
He sensed Nico weighing and balancing the downsides of teaching everyone how to use the ancient language versus translating it for the next prototype.
[Fine, we will translate it so that we don't have to teach every ship and Mecha engineer in the universe how to code all over again just to work on the one generation of Dyson Sphere.
I think that I have an idea about how to make them more efficiently, though. The Void Shield schematic gave me a great idea.] She replied.
[Oh yeah? What did you come up with that will replace the need to find a neutron star to use as the core to get sufficient gravitational density to trigger the sustained Fusion Reaction?]
[The other layers of space have different quirks to their natural laws. I'm not sure if that's intended, or if it's a side effect of the damage that was done to that region, since they're not accessible here for the most part, but if we do the tests before we leave here, I think that I can super condense matter using a modified form of the shield array, and create something close to the Neutron Star.
I would say at least thirty percent of the density, for sure. Even if we triple the volume of the core, it should still trigger the reaction within the sphere, and if we can do that with a combination of the Replicator and the Shield Array, that means we can mass produce the cores.
Plus, since they're not going to be at the supercritical stage, they should be a bit more stable than the one in this version.]
[Alright, we can work on that before we go back then. I am not convinced that the experiment is even going to work at home, so we might need to do the construction here, but we can ask Ranarth.] Max replied.
The old Darkling beamed with happiness when he realized that they had more questions for him, and the android helper moved in perfect sync to keep his drink right by his shoulder.
"Will this shield configuration work in our home region, given the differences in the layers of space there? From what we can tell, there is nothing there. Just nothing at all, and the layers are much harder to even look through with a probe." Max asked.
"The shields will work magnificently there. But the dispersion will be different. You see, here, the boundaries between the layers are damaged. But in your home region, they are intact, as they developed along with the universe.
So, when you use a Void Shield, it will actually empower the boundaries between the layers there, making them even harder to penetrate the longer the effect continues.
What did you have in mind?" Ranarth asked, eager to see yet another new thing today.
"We wanted to use the portion of the Void Shield's configuration that led to the layer with enhanced gravity to compress matter to create a somewhat less dense core for the Dyson Spheres, one that will be a bit more stable and that we can reproduce with our own technology." Max explained.
Ranarth shook his head. "That won't work even here. The nature of the Void Shield is to shift between layers, so as soon as the material is no longer under the influence of the other layer..."
Nico frowned as he paused, then finished the sentence herself.
"It will revert to the laws of this layer, and we will have achieved nothing when it stabilizes.
"Exactly. That's why the barrier only diverts energy to the layers, instead of using the imbalanced laws to absorb incoming attacks completely. It's the same with Warp Travel. You already know that it's not possible to use a standard Warp Drive in the other layers, you have to use alternate methods to achieve the same effect.
Every layer has a damaged law. In this one, it is space. That is why this one is the only one with interstellar civilizations, other than the one where Time is damaged.
But hope is not lost. We do have an electromagnetic field that can simulate the effects of intense gravity on atoms. The intended use was a bit different, but it can easily be used this way." Ranarth continued.
Max looked into the old man's mind and immediately wished that he hadn't. The intended purpose of the device was for biological experiments. They could increase bone and tissue density with the device by compressing everything from atoms to groups of cells, and then when they finished it to their satisfaction, they would alter the subject's genetic code to have it continue to create the modified tissue.
To the gene sculptors of the Darklings, it was something like a Photoshop tool, editing what they saw into what they wanted to see. While that was useful information, it was also information that was best kept to himself, before the rest of humanity started getting ideas.
Or worse, before Nico realized that she could use it to modify herself even more. Who knew what she would come up with once she realized that she could custom alter the density of her alloys.
"Alright, let's try that first, before we go anywhere. Someone bring that drone back to this layer where it won't be found accidentally, and let's get back to work on the tools to make the next Dyson Sphere." Max ordered.
