Chapter 49: White Star_1
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The greater disaster was that with the rapid approach of the other two stars, the temperature of Trisolaris skyrocketed.
More and more water evaporated, never to return to a liquid state, eventually leaving the whole of Trisolaris enveloped in massive amounts of steam, making it appear like a white planet from the outside.
The temperature of Trisolaris continued to rise, unlike the usual fluctuations of the Chaotic Era, as the massive water vapor trapped the heat, causing the temperature to climb step by step.
The temperature of the steam had reached several hundred degrees, and the color of the steam quickly turned from white to colorless.
From space, the entire Trisolaris looked as if it had been replenished with water, extremely moist.
Yet on the ground, no life could be seen; the steam, penetrating everywhere at several hundred degrees, would completely cook anything with just a spray, let alone being enveloped in it for an extended time.
After the intense heat, Trisolaris fortunately escaped the crippling embrace of the three stars shining from three sides, and the steam took a long time to cool down gradually.
Then came the downpour, which turned into blizzards, and the vast swathes of water on the ground began to freeze.
Thus, a white planet was born.
The "Twilight Belt," once a symbol of vitality, had vanished without a trace, leaving only the white silence of death, as if mourning for this wave of civilization.
Jiang Yu and Yang Dong stared at Trisolaris before them for a long time, not expecting that even with its Space City, Trisolaris was as fragile as a newborn baby in the face of three stars.
Humanity's efforts always seemed so trivial in the face of the universe's might.
Yang Dong seemed to suddenly think of something and immediately located the Space City that had been orbiting Trisolaris.
While the Space City's braking system was not very strong, it wasn't severely damaged thanks to the protection of the planet.
But this Space City was not a "generational space habitat" like New Space City, and its supply of fuel and food had previously come from the "Twilight Belt" of Trisolaris.
Now, with Trisolaris in crisis, and having previously consumed a large amount of fuel, the Space City was unable to support its normal energy consumption and quickly became a dead city.
Numerous craft that had launched from the ground orbited Trisolaris, following the Space City, endlessly circling the planet.
There were no longer any signs of life among them; the Space City had completely paralyzed, and its only reserve of space resources was gone.
These smaller vessels were atmospheric and space crafts, with very limited fuel and supplies.
Simultaneous to the ground "steam disaster" of Trisolaris, various craft could not refuel, and the pilots had no food.
Trisolarans who had fortunately escaped the surface to space quickly dehydrated within their own crafts.
It was a choice filled with despair: this wave of Trisolaran civilization had already perished, and it was unknown how many years might pass before they could possibly be revived.
It was also unknown whether, after eons of time in the cold universe, they could still be awakened.
The Space City and the spacecrafts had become a cluster of satellites for Trisolaris; perhaps it would be tens of thousands or even millions of years before someone set foot on them again.
Yang Dong said, "This wave of civilization has not yet ended."
Jiang Yu nodded; he wasn't as optimistic as Yang Dong, but still adjusted his view to the location of New Space City.
After accelerating the simulation again, New Space City underwent days of orbiting until it finally reached the point of escape from the stars' gravitational pull.
In an instant, all the thrusters of New Space City activated, and New Space City shone brighter than the sun itself.
At last, after half an hour of acceleration, the space habitat successfully broke free from the gravity of the star behind it.
But just as everyone was cheering, one of the stars suddenly altered its course, due to the gravitational pull of the other two.
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It was as if they had "peeked" and discovered the existence of New Space City, and then gradually moved to the front of New Space City.
Whether it was Jiang Yu, Yang Dong, or the people inside New Space City, all fell silent.
The previous seventy years of the Stable Era were merely a grace period afforded by these three fixed stars.
Back then, the operation model of the three stars involved two stars rotating around each other, with the third star at a farther position, revolving around the coupled pair.
Fortunately, Trisolaris always followed close to the third star.
But not long ago, this pattern had broken down, and the three stars had become entangled once again.
They also revealed their ferocious faces, like man-eating beasts, slaughtering all hopes for civilization.
Under the immense gravitational force of the stars, New Space City struggled fiercely.
Originally, the speed of New Space City had exceeded the third cosmic velocity, which was supposed to be their blessing for escaping the stars.
But now they were hurtling towards one of the stars even faster than the third cosmic velocity.
The intense deceleration caused space city to twist and suffer damage, and they were forced to slow down and stop.
New Space City, this crystallization of a wave of civilization's technology, had completely given up the struggle and flew towards the star.
Wei Chi Gong once again made contact with Yang Dong: "I'm glad to see you all in my final moments.
"We made a huge mistake by building the space city too large.
"Without a planet to help us stabilize our trajectory, even the largest space city is but a light boat floating on the stormy sea, which could be overturned by the waves at any moment.
"Future civilizations must not build space cities this large again; it consumes too much energy to propel it!"
Yang Dong asked, "Is Space City out of fuel?"
"We have fuel, but it's useless. Space City has been locked by the tidal force of the star ahead, and all attempts to change trajectory are in vain," Wei Chi Gong replied.
"Space City is like a huge iron ball; its mass is so great that the engine's power could just barely enable Space City to reach the third cosmic velocity.
"Now the speed of Space City is well above this threshold, and all our means of deceleration are futile."
He paused before continuing: "At the outset of Space City's design, we believed that by reaching such speed, we could escape the nightmare that the three stars brought upon us.
"We were too naive to think that the three stars would give us even the slightest chance to accelerate!"
Wei Chi Gong sighed and then said, "Nuclear Fission Ships are not suitable for the Three-Body Star System. I hope our future civilizations can learn from our mistakes and focus all efforts on developing ships that can travel through star systems."
Yang Dong nodded: "Trisolarans only have one path left—'interstellar escape.'"
After a few seconds of silence, Wei Chi Gong spoke again: "The inside of the ship is getting hotter, and it's time for me to set off with some dignity."
After speaking, he cut off the connection.
Two days later, New Space City, which had only circled halfway around the star, plunged into it, like a drop of rain falling into the great sea, causing only the smallest of ripples.
On the giant star, a line of red text appeared:
[Civilization No. 193 has been destroyed in the Chaotic Era. This civilization continued the path of escaping the Three-Body Star System from civilization No. 192 and evolved to the level of a space civilization, providing valuable lessons for later civilizations.]
[The seeds of civilization remain; it will restart and once again embark on an unpredictable evolution within the Trisolaran World. Welcome back.]