Chapter 558: Chapter 552: Alien Spaceship

The overall area of this object, if proportionally reduced, would resemble two somewhat flattened isosceles prisms joined together. Based on the shape scanned by Olivia Thatcher, it was evident that this object was a spaceship, and it appeared to have crash-landed here, with the missing section underneath likely being its vital propulsion system. Furthermore, according to scans, it seemed highly probable that the Manila Trench near Floral Island had been caused by this spaceship. Of course, the truth was unknown, for all of this had happened over 15,000 years ago, and it was impossible to determine what had transpired then.

What intrigued Finn Lewis was what exactly was inside that spaceship. Even though its engine was completely wrecked, the preservation of the ship was unprecedented. There definitely should be many items still intact inside; even if everything had vanished, the bare shell of the spacecraft would be extremely valuable. It was practically a massive underground base. Considering how it had stood erect on the seafloor for over ten thousand years, enduring frequent earthquakes caused by the Manila Trench, it was unbearably resilient.

Because it gradually widened from top to bottom, he wasn’t in the mood to wait thousands of kilometers away and let the robots complete the exploration. By then, there would be no mystery left.

“Alright, but we must evaluate it first,” Olivia said helplessly. She was unable to counteract Finn’s command.

Finn’s attention had already completely shifted to this matter, ignoring other things for the time being.

Finn’s attention was wholly absorbed by this alien spaceship from over ten thousand years ago. The engineering robots were proceeding at an impressive speed, for one week wasn’t a long time. Due to the nature of the work being at a depth of 150 meters under the sea, the water pressure would be extremely high for human bodies. Therefore, without protection, no one could possibly enter it. Hence, the sealed cabin outside this hatch could act as an underwater port, allowing a submarine to directly sail in from outside.

The size of such a structure was by no means small. Finn reviewed Olivia’s design and, according to it, the sealed hatch door would be power-operated. This meant that it could move underwater like a submarine. Although it wouldn’t have the high speed or stealth capabilities of a submarine, it would at least be able to depart directly from the vicinity of this hatch.

In this manner, even if other ships reached here and used sonar or other terrain detection methods to scan the seafloor, they wouldn’t detect any unusual structures. It should be noted that the structure named 098, with its underwater displacement exceeding 40,000 tons and a length of almost 200 meters, required an external building to be at least 240 meters long. The appearance of such a structure on the side of this coral reef could easily attract survey vessels.

Attracting curious eyes would be undesirable at this point. Finn wasn’t ready for the exposure yet. Although he had revealed some information to a select few, the details shared were minimal, and they didn’t fully understand the situation. The primary reason for this limited disclosure was to facilitate better cooperation.

A week’s time went by quickly. With just over three days left, Finn quietly boarded a submarine and fled. To the outside world, he didn’t mention his destination. Given that he had an intelligence robot to act as a stand-in, he stealthily left Celeston City. Boarding the ship near Celeston, even with the most advanced submarine developed by Finn, it would take slightly over two days to arrive near Floral Island.

However, time wasn’t an issue. Regardless of when Finn arrived, if the construction on the other side wasn’t completed, it wouldn’t be possible to open the hatch door. But Finn wasn’t idle during these days, Olivia had made some progress in her analysis. According to the analysis, the spaceship constructed with this material was tougher than she thought. It suggested an advanced level of alien civilization technology. Judging from this material, they at least possessed interstellar travel capabilities.

Although the engine was entirely destroyed and left no trace, the strength of this material could support space warping. That is to say, not only did they own interstellar flight capabilities, but it was also possible for them to traverse other systems. This concept implied a vast area of exploration. For humans, reaching out of the Solar System was challenging enough, let alone considering flights across Heritage Systems, referring to massive galaxies, not the minor ones within the Milky Way.

The distance between these systems, like the Milky Way and other galaxies of equivalent size, was immensely vast. To put into perspective, it’s about 2.2 million light-years away from the Andromeda Large Galaxy, which is twice the size of the Milky Way. Travelling at light speed (299,700 kilometers per second), it would take a staggering 2.2 million years to reach the Earth.

The true scale can only be imagined – it seems truly insurmountable to current humans. Even with space warp drives, it would take an extraordinarily long time to cover such distances. Finn wasn’t very familiar with space warp systems but knew from Olivia that, to human eyes, they resembled instantaneous teleportation.

Within a four-dimensional space, it isn’t flat but foldable, similar to a popular theory: Getting from one end of a piece of paper to another requires time, but if we fold the paper, allowing the two points to align, we’d be able to reach the other side instantly. However, space warp requires massive energy, and the distance you can fold depends on how powerful your engine is.

Some engines can fold hundreds of light-years, allowing the ship to reach places hundreds of light-years away within a matter of minutes. But some ships may only have a maximum warp distance of a few light years. Some can only warp from Earth to the periphery of the Solar System. All of this depends on the engine. Therefore, even with warp technology, it doesn’t mean one can simply go anywhere in the universe. The farther the warp distance, the more terrifying the energy requirement.

Consideration also has to be given to the spaceship’s resupply issue. If you warp to a place far enough away but your spaceship lacks supplies and there are no nearby planets to provide for your needs, then you are destined for tragedy.