Chapter 506: Snowfield Project! We Need Time! Learn to Save Ourselves!
Chairman Galnin nodded solemnly. As a man born in Russia's frozen north, he was always serious and steady, never one to let a minor victory cloud his judgment.
This time they had called Paul in for discussion precisely to plan for what lay ahead.
The nine water droplets were estimated to reach Earth in four years, but that was only a preliminary calculation—derived from their velocity and acceleration while crossing the interstellar dust cloud.
In reality, things would never be so simple.
After all, when a water droplet's engine activated, it emitted no light, no high-frequency electromagnetic radiation that could be picked up by human instruments. Humans had no way of accurately locating their position.
What's more, the droplets could change speed and direction on their own. For humanity to predict their arrival time precisely was nearly impossible.
Perhaps it wouldn't even take four years—perhaps one might reach Earth every year.
This was the most terrifying thing about the droplets: like invisible ghostly assassins, they could merge seamlessly with the black void of space, waiting for their prey to lower its guard before delivering a fatal strike.
The only reason the first droplet had been destroyed by the Universal Megacorp was due to a misjudgment by the Trisolarans that led to a rash move.
Had they not rushed to stop the Infinite-class carrier from sending out a gravitational wave broadcast, that droplet never would have been destroyed so easily.
Now, the Trisolarans had, to some extent, come to their senses.
Since the Megacorp hadn't followed up with another gravitational wave broadcast to threaten them, it suggested that the Megacorp likely didn't truly possess such advanced gravitational wave technology—only partial gravitational control.
The Megacorp's real goal was simply to destroy the Trisolaran droplets.
Once they straightened out this (incorrect) line of reasoning, the Trisolarans immediately ordered the droplets into stealth mode, silently slipping into the depths of the solar system, biding their time for the right moment to strike.
The Trisolarans weren't fools; they were simply overly meticulous.
They had witnessed the recent battle in full, and they understood Paul's strategy.
If direct assaults risked their droplets being annihilated by human antimatter missiles, then they would resort to harassment and ambush tactics instead of head-on confrontation.
By targeting humanity's high-value assets, the Trisolarans still held a strong chance of victory.
At this moment, both sides—humanity and the Trisolarans—were laying their cards openly on the table. What followed would be a contest of overt strategies, a battle of wits and countermeasures.
"What ideas do you have?" Paul asked, turning toward Hines and the others.
"We plan to use stellar hydrogen bombs together with Neptune's oily film material to create a massive dust cloud in space, making the droplets' flight trails visible."
"We call this project the Snowfield Project."
Before Paul could ask further, Lin Yun interjected: "Last time the International Fleet created a dust cloud and detected the droplet's trail, it was because we already knew its approximate direction."
"But now we know nothing. If those nine droplets accelerate or change direction without emitting light, they could very well appear from the opposite side of the solar system!"
"Are you certain you can deploy the dust cloud in the right direction?"
Lin Yun's doubt was not unreasonable. Last time, the trick had worked because the Trisolarans gave them the opportunity. This time, they might not.
"Then we'll scatter dust in all directions."
Hines spoke with confidence.
"You mean create a dust sphere to envelop the entire solar system? If that's the plan, then it's a job for God himself. Only God could pull that off."
Lin Yun gave a dismissive laugh, convinced that Hines hadn't considered the practical constraints at all.
If humanity could so easily cloak the entire solar system in dust, they wouldn't be on the brink of becoming a fully militarized society under existential threat.
"Of course a dust sphere is impossible. But we can make a dust ring, on the ecliptic plane, positioned between Jupiter and the asteroid belt."
No sooner had he finished than Lin Yun challenged again: "And what if the droplets come in from outside the ecliptic?"
Hines shook his head with a sigh. "Then we can't do anything. It's impossible to cover every angle."
"From the perspective of orbital dynamics, the best way for the droplets to interact with the planets of the solar system is to enter along the ecliptic."
"The first droplet did just that—that's why we could track it."
"If this new formation doesn't, then their journey to Earth will stretch out by ten years or more, which would disadvantage the Trisolarans."
"The longer they delay, the more favorable it becomes for us."
Hines's proposal did hold some merit—at the very least, it was better than doing nothing.
Paul nodded, deciding to have the reliable General Lin Yun oversee the Snowfield Project's implementation.
Though the Megacorp could easily pinpoint the nine droplets, its headquarters was a trump card, meant to be kept in reserve. Unless absolutely necessary, Earth's people would need to resolve matters with their own strength.
Constant coddling would only raise helpless infants.
Soon after, Galnin approved the Snowfield Plan, placing Lin Yun in charge of the operation.
For the moment, Paul had completed his duties on Earth. Humanity's greatest threat wouldn't arrive for at least three years.
He and the Megacorp's headquarters personnel could finally afford a brief respite.
But neither Earth nor the Megacorp could let their guard down.
The Trisolarans would never abandon their invasion of the solar system, and the sophons would continue monitoring humanity's every move.
If humanity wanted to gain the upper hand, neutralizing the sophons was essential—otherwise, the Trisolarans would endlessly exploit their informational advantage to devise new strategies.
The Megacorp, of course, already had an answer. Their next step would revolve around the sophons.
And the key lay in a critical megastructure: the Celestial Navigation spire!
The Sophon Project was the Trisolarans' pinnacle achievement in microscopic technology, manipulating eleven-dimensional structures to fold into nine, granting sophons the ability to contract into higher dimensions or unfold into lower ones at will.
Yet, transcending dimensional shackles through micro-technology wasn't unique to the sophons. Within the Megacorp, too, existed a wondrous dimensional megastructure.
This was none other than the Celestial Navigation spire , acquired by Li Ang after consolidating the Warhammer universe—a device capable of traversing and leaping across all dimensions of any universe at will!
So long as they could reach the sophons' dimensional level, the Megacorp could disrupt their operations—or even seize them for itself.
Soon, in the temporary Science Nexus at the Moon of War headquarters, scientists from across multiple universes convened:Alt Cunningham, Dr. Halsey, Galen, Chisaji Fox, and even Quintessa, the Mother of Life.
Focusing on the sophons' core traits, Alt Cunningham began: "The Trisolarans gave a proton artificial intelligence, granting it dimensional-spanning power. From a quantum standpoint, this is not incomprehensible."
"But accomplishing it is no simple feat. Our current dimensional technology is still immature. We have research and some experimental results, but there's still a gap."
At present, the Megacorp could already achieve multi-timeline traversal, but within a single universe's dimensional domain, without relying on Xeelee Nightfighters or the Celestial Navigation spire, immediate progress was difficult.
"Our star gates, Nightfighters, and Navigation Tower are all pinnacles of the quantum field. From a technological standpoint, the dimensions we can cross are no lower than those of the sophons—indeed, we've already reached the point of interfering with temporal causality itself."
Chisagii Fox added,
"Is there any way we can shrink our AI robots down to the size of protons, so they can operate on the same dimension and influence the Trisolarans' sophons?"
Dr. Halsey asked. Her expertise lay deeper in genetic engineering, so her grasp of space-time dimensional research was comparatively limited.
"Director Alt has conducted similar experiments." Chisagi Fox turned to Alt Cunningham. Everyone knew she had played a part in the god-making program that traversed the parallel Warhammer universe.
Among the many research directors of the Megacorp, Alt Cunningham's work in the field of dimensions was the most profound.
"I once used the AI Red Queen to enter the subatomic microscopic world, but in the process, AI robots very easily lose all connection with the macroscopic world, even becoming trapped there forever.
Because of this, we once lost over a hundred AI robots."
The AIs used by the Science Nexus Department all came from the Matrix-grown "souls."
These AIs possessed self-awareness; once transferred into a humanoid body, they were practically no different from humans—flesh, soul, and thought alike.
Losing a hundred AIs was the same as losing a hundred lives.
The difficulty of entering the microscopic world was beyond imagination for beings living in the macroscopic one. Narrow it further down into the eleven-dimensional quantum domain, and that could be called the realm of gods.
At present, the Megacorpor's technical accumulation in the microscopic world was far less advanced than in the macroscopic.
But once that shackle was broken, the Megacorp would fill one of its few remaining gaps and ascend to a truly god-level civilization!
Right now, their top priority was to take control of the sophons within the microscopic realm.
"What exactly do we need to do next? What resources will it take, and how much time?" Chisagi Fox asked.
"Experiments—endless experiments. Pour in all our resources, spare no effort, regardless of the time."
Alt Cunningham replied firmly.
They were now just like humanity on the surface, relying on clumsy methods to complete a task akin to Yu Gong moving mountains, deploying every usable megastructure at their disposal.
Until they could find a way to counter the sophons.
With one sentence, Alt Cunningham set the research focus for the days ahead. This work demanded extreme secrecy and absolute precision—nothing less than meticulous rigor.
The entire Science Nexus Department team would revolve around this project.
"What about Paul and the others on Earth? Are the advance team members just supposed to stay down there like this?"
Dr. Halsey was uneasy about the Megacorp staff stationed on the surface.
Her concern wasn't that these people would deliberately stir up trouble. Rather, with so many advance team members, loose tongues were inevitable. A careless joke, even a sleep-talked phrase, could leak critical intelligence.
Though these agents had undergone rigorous training, they were still human, and humans inevitably made mistakes.
This experiment would take at least a year or two to bear fruit. Expecting surface personnel to maintain flawless discipline that long would be extremely difficult.
And they still had to send periodic reports back to headquarters, which only increased the chances of leaks.
What Dr. Halsey worried about, Alt Cunningham naturally understood. In fact, Li Ang had already revealed the coming plan to her.
For the next two or three years, the only way to guarantee absolute secrecy was to have the staff enter cryosleep pods.
Only this way could they ensure sophons detected no cracks or loose ends in intelligence.
"We need time. Humanity on the surface needs time. So let's not interfere with one another, and each focus on our own work," Alt ordered.
"Understood."
Halsey nodded.
…
While the Science Nexus Department finalized its experimental plan, humanity on Earth also launched a series of self-rescue operations: accelerator construction, the Snowfield Project, and the mass cryosleep of Megacorp staff!
When Paul Atreides informed both the Wallfacer Committee and the public of this, many people were puzzled.
It wasn't that cryosleep was such a novel concept.
After all, many Wallfacers relied on cryosleep to ensure their plans could be carried out in the future, awakening only once their full strategy had been completed.
The length of slumber and the timing of awakening were decided entirely by the Wallfacers themselves.
Figures like Luo Ji and Hines had crossed more than two centuries through cryosleep, emerging only at the outbreak of the Doomsday Battle.
But Paul choosing only two and a half years of sleep seemed strange to many.
Such a short time could be endured naturally within a human lifespan. Why bother with cryosleep at all?
This move inevitably led to unsettling speculation. Their newly risen spiritual leader was about to vanish into sleep almost as soon as he appeared.
For humans accustomed to depending on heroic figures, it was uncomfortable.
But Paul knew he had to force humanity to adapt. He offered no explanation for the reason behind his cryosleep, saying only that it was part of his plan, before returning quickly to the Infinity-class carrier to enter hibernation.
As Earth's Wallfacer, Paul could not risk exposing his true intentions. The Wallfacer Committee also could not refuse; they could only nod in agreement.
To serve the Wallfacer Plan, to mislead the Trisolaran civilization, to buy more strategic advantages—they had to accept it.
Soon, the people gradually came to terms with Paul's absence, trusting in the Megacorp's judgment and believing there must be deeper strategy behind it.
Once Paul returned to the Infinity-class carrier and severed all contact with Earth, the Wallfacer Committee members were briefly thrown into panic.
No one knew if he had truly entered cryosleep or quietly fled.
Yet no matter how many doubts they harbored, they could only choose acceptance. With the Infinity-class carrier's sheer size and might, even if he wanted to run, they couldn't stop him.
Better to choose absolute trust than endless suspicion.
Before long, once everything was ready, Paul's consciousness sank into darkness. From that moment on, no organization on Earth could reach him.
Only the plans he left behind continued, running day and night without pause—constructing more high-energy particle accelerators, deploying the Snowfield Project to detect the water droplets' positions.
Humanity had to relearn, once again, how to save itself.
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