Chapter 8: The Radiation Source Capture Plan

Words : 1655 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

From hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, the massive beast that was Jupiter silently observed the area, as chaotic as ever. Far in the distance, its immense rings rotated quietly, with over sixty moons drifting within their bounds. Xiao Yu could not identify any factor within the Jovian system that might explain the strong radiation. If he hadn’t intentionally reinforced the spacecraft’s heat and radiation shielding before arriving, this anomaly would have likely rendered all his instruments useless, short-circuited the central computer, and resulted in his immediate death. Even so, Xiao Yu found himself in a difficult position. Sparks were already beginning to flicker in some areas of the spacecraft. If he didn’t address this quickly, a larger-scale short circuit might occur, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences. Thousands of sensors scattered across the spacecraft’s hull sprang into action, gathering data. Geiger counters, magnetometers, photometers, and spectrometers—all detection devices were operating at full power, transmitting a flood of data to Xiao Yu’s mind for processing. In almost no time, Xiao Yu reached a conclusion. “No redshift? No blueshift? How is that possible?” The results baffled him. Where there is radiation, there must be a radiation source. According to the Doppler effect, radiation waves would shift toward the red end of the spectrum (redshift) when the source was moving away and toward the blue end (blueshift) when approaching. Yet Xiao Yu’s observations showed neither. This meant the radiation could not have originated from Jupiter. Since Xiao Yu was moving away from Jupiter—or rather, Jupiter was moving away from him—any radiation coming from it should exhibit redshift. That left only one possibility: the radiation source was moving at the exact same velocity and direction as Xiao Yu’s spacecraft. In other words... the radiation source might be attached to the spacecraft itself. Xiao Yu immediately initiated a second round of diagnostics. “The radiation inside the spacecraft is dozens of times weaker than the radiation outside. The sensors on the spacecraft’s hull detect the strongest radiation... Could it be that the radiation is coming from the exterior of the hull? Or rather, that it’s attached to the hull?” Xiao Yu activated the optical sensors and conducted a meticulous examination of the spacecraft’s exterior. However, he found nothing out of the ordinary—nothing that didn’t belong on the spacecraft. “What the hell is going on?!” Xiao Yu was frantic. A situation like this, left unresolved even for a short time, could lead to serious accidents. Yet, despite exhausting his methods, he couldn’t pinpoint the problem. “Stay calm. You must stay calm,” Xiao Yu told himself, suppressing his growing panic. “I’ve survived the massive upheaval of the moon colliding with Jupiter. There’s no way I’ll meet my end in a situation like this.” At that moment, the Geiger counter suddenly spiked again. Another powerful radiation source had been detected. This time, however, Xiao Yu noticed a clear blueshift, indicating that the radiation source was rapidly approaching. After locking onto the direction of the source, Xiao Yu aimed his optical detection devices at the area. All he saw was the enormous form of Jupiter slowly rotating, with a few carefree meteors drifting along their orbits. There was nothing else in sight. Yet the radiation continued to intensify, leaving Xiao Yu on the verge of cursing aloud. “What is it? What on earth is this thing?!” Xiao Yu was exasperated, unable to make sense of the situation. Suddenly, the spectrometer indicated that the strong radiation source had ceased its blueshift. At the same time, the radiation intensity on the spacecraft’s hull doubled. This suggested that the radiation source had stopped moving. “Could it be that another radiation source has attached itself to the hull of my spacecraft?” Xiao Yu hypothesized. Yet, no matter how thoroughly he searched within the visible light spectrum, he couldn’t locate any object capable of emitting radiation. Based on the current radiation levels, if two more of these radiation sources were to attach to the spacecraft, the radiation shielding would fail. This would result in severe, potentially irreparable damage to the ship’s machinery, instruments, and circuits. “Huh?” Just as Xiao Yu was overwhelmed with anxiety, he noticed another unusual fluctuation. The radiation source’s intensity had increased slightly, as if it were trying to penetrate the radiation shielding and move into the interior of the spacecraft. “Does this thing have its own consciousness? Could it be a lifeform?” Xiao Yu was startled. He immediately powered up the circuits beneath the radiation shielding. Under the influence of the electromagnetic field, the sensation of being infiltrated disappeared. By this point, Xiao Yu had passed his closest approach to Jupiter and was now moving away from the planet at a speed of 58 kilometers per second. “Jupiter is too strange. I’ve already collected enough observational data—time to leave. Better to escape the danger first,” Xiao Yu decided. He accelerated for another ten seconds, consuming several tons of fuel to increase his velocity to 63 kilometers per second. But the danger persisted. Xiao Yu detected another blueshift, indicating that radiation sources were rapidly approaching him once again. This time, there were two distinct sources. “Damn it! Are they trying to kill me?” Xiao Yu was aghast. In his panic, he didn’t care that these entities were invisible. He grabbed his laser cannon, aimed it in the direction of the detected radiation sources, and fired at full power. The laser flashed briefly, and Xiao Yu’s instruments showed that one of the radiation sources’ blueshift had disappeared, and its radiation intensity dropped by 2%. “This is too bizarre,” Xiao Yu muttered, releasing a breath of relief. But the next moment, the same radiation source reappeared with a blueshift. It was as though an invisible being had paused momentarily under the laser cannon’s impact, only to resume charging toward Xiao Yu. “This is insane!” Xiao Yu cursed and fired the laser cannon again in the same direction. This time, the attack didn’t weaken the radiation source. Checking the data, Xiao Yu realized the entity had changed its position to evade the laser. A chill ran down Xiao Yu’s spine. He adjusted the laser cannon’s aim and targeted the radiation source again. Each time the source moved, Xiao Yu recalibrated his aim, like a policeman trying to corner a fleeing thief. Under continuous laser fire, the radiation source’s intensity gradually decreased. However, even as its strength weakened, the blueshift persisted. After about three minutes of shooting, consuming nearly a ton of fuel, the radiation source finally disappeared from Xiao Yu’s instruments. “What the hell was that?” Although he had eliminated one radiation source, Xiao Yu dared not relax. He quickly turned the laser cannon toward the second source and began firing again. Four minutes later, the second source also disappeared, allowing Xiao Yu to breathe a little easier. Now Xiao Yu was left pondering what these entities could be. First, they were invisible to the naked eye but detectable by the Geiger counter. Their movements and velocity could be tracked through redshift and blueshift. Moreover, they could be weakened or destroyed by laser fire. “Are these... organisms from Jupiter?” Gradually, an astonishing thought emerged in Xiao Yu’s mind. These entities actively attacked him and even evaded laser fire. This behavior strongly suggested that they possessed consciousness. This idea completely overturned Xiao Yu’s understanding of the term “life.” Like most people, Xiao Yu had always considered lifeforms to be tangible, visible, and physical—even the smallest viruses, consisting only of basic DNA structures, could be observed under an electron microscope. But how could one define something with consciousness that could move freely, had no mass, was completely transparent, emitted no visible light, and was nothing more than a radiation source? What category could such an existence fall into? There was no time for Xiao Yu to ponder further. Ahead, 300,000 kilometers away, near one of Jupiter’s moons, he detected over a hundred of these radiation sources. All of them exhibited intense blueshift, indicating that they were closing in on him at a staggering speed. Their relative velocity was nearly 150 kilometers per second! At this rate, they would collide with Xiao Yu in just 30 minutes. Xiao Yu’s radiation shielding could withstand at most four such radiation sources. If over a hundred of them attached themselves to his spacecraft’s hull, the outer shell would be instantly melted, the circuits shorted out, and the central computer incapacitated. Such an outcome would spell Xiao Yu’s death. Even if the central computer could eventually be repaired and restarted, Xiao Yu would not survive. Once the system shut down, his consciousness and mind would be reduced to a mere string of static code stored in memory, devoid of self-awareness. “Damn it!” Xiao Yu swore angrily. With no regard for the energy consumption, he cranked the laser cannon’s power to its maximum, aimed at the incoming radiation sources, and began firing. The laser cannon consumed fuel at a staggering rate of one ton per minute, emitting powerful laser beams. Even at this intensity, it still took nearly two minutes to destroy a single radiation source. At this efficiency, by the time the entities collided with him, Xiao Yu could destroy at most 15 of them. But what about the remaining 80 or 90? “This won’t work.” Xiao Yu’s brain began processing at full capacity. In an instant, countless plans flashed through his mind. One by one, he tested their feasibility, and one by one, they were discarded. Finally, a single plan passed the feasibility test. “There’s only one way left. Well, let’s give it a shot. Anything is better than sitting here waiting to die.” Xiao Yu sighed, then directed his robots to rapidly construct a metal box and attach it to the spacecraft’s inner wall. “All right, let’s begin: the Radiation Source Capture Plan!”

Chapter 8: The Radiation Source Capture Plan

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