"The ship…" said the professor, followed by a long pause.
"The ship." I repeated after him, using the exact same tone.
"…is an interstellar colony ship." he finally said it. "The first of its kind."
"An interstellar colony ship?"
"Yes." he continued. "The AI's perfect next step on its search for more and more resources. Our Solar System is finite, so the resources are finite. The hivemind thinks ahead, and it is a logical thing to colonize nearby star systems."
"I don't understand one thing." I said. "The earlier it could send the colony ship, the earlier it would reach its destination. Why did the AI choose to use its time to hunt us down instead of starting the construction of the colony ship earlier?"
"You are mistaken." Professor Kukulkan explained. "But this is a good question, in fact, this has been one of mankind's biggest problems about space exploration, since, I think… 20 or 21st century."
"Would you please elaborate?"
"It is not true that the earlier you send a colony ship to another star system, the earlier you will get there."
"But… how?"
"Interstellar distances are, as you know, unimaginably huge. 'Vast' is a gigantic understatement when one talks about interstellar space." he said.
"Yes."
"And faster-than-light travel, so far, has been just a tool of fantasy." he said. "We can only get so close to the speed of light, and only with nano-probes."
"Yes."
"So a colony ship would take, say, thousands of years to reach its destination using whatever efficient propulsion systems we have."
"Yes." was the only thing I could say.
"Let's suppose we made a colony ship and sent it to a nearby star system. This ship is estimated to travel 1000 years to reach its destination."
"Alright."
"But, 200 years later, we have advanced in propulsion technologies and made another ship, which can make the same trip in only 400 years. In that case, the first colony ship would be a useless effort. The second ship would beat the first ship to its destination, despite being launched later."
"Hmm… I think I see your point." I said. "So, there must be a sweet spot where the combination of the time for our technological advancement and the travel time is shortest."
"Exactly, brilliant thinking!" said the professor. "So, I think the AI has calculated, or at least estimated that time to be…"
"Now!"
"Yes, yes!" said the professor, with childlike joy. "We can understand each other well, commander."
"Now, how did you come to the conclusion that this is a colony ship?" I asked.
"I'm glad you asked, I expected you to ask that." he said. "First of all, let me show you the propulsion system of this giant ship."
He enlarged a section of the ship's image.
"This thing is proportionally gigantic!" he said. "Far too big to be of any practical use… other than ferrying stuff around and going fast. Really fast."
"I'm sorry, but simply by looking at the size-"
"It's not just the size." he said. "Those."
He pointed at the aft section of the ship.
"If you look at the full emission range, you will see that those are some sort of electric propulsion devices." he said. "Tell me commander, what do you know about electric spacecraft propulsion?"
"They are extremely efficient, but also extremely low thrust." I said. "They als-"
"Ha! Right on point, you need to say nothing more!" he said. "Such a low thrust system would be utterly useless for a ship of this size, unless…"
"Unless it was intended for very, very long voyages." I said.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he said. "You catch on quick! And finally, the forward section…"
"What about the forward section?"
"Only certain leading edges of the ship are armored." the professor said. "You've been pretty smart so far, so guess why the armor is like that."
"To keep the ship lightweight?" I asked.
"Yes, that's one reason, but then, why put armor at all?" he asked me.
"Hmm…" I thought for a while, but Professor Kukulkan was a bit impatient this time.
"To protect it against interstellar dust and micro-whatevers, of course!" he said. "That ship will be travelling at speeds unrivaled by any other spaceship in existence! A collision with even the smallest particles can be very energetic at those speeds."
"I see." I said. "It all makes sense."
"Yes, it does; surely it does." the professor said. "This, commander, concludes the meeting I asked for."
"Wh- wait, hold on." I held the professor by his arm just when he was about to leave in a rush. "Now that we know this is a colony ship, what do we do?"
"Well, that is up to you pretty much, Mr. uh… President." he said, putting some emphasis on the word 'president'. "You may choose to engage the ship and hope to destroy it in combat, or we might try to beat them by building a colony ship of our own, but let me tell you something; if the AI reaches other star systems and humanity does not, we are done for – that much is certain. They will have utilized the resources of multiple star systems while we are struggling here on a single dwarf planet and some asteroids. Don't forget that."
He then escaped from my grip with a sudden move and left the deck.
I was thinking that things would get a bit better after discovering more about the mysterious ship, but it only got worse. With my mind occupied with our potential next moves, I made my way to the bridge.
"Commander!"
It was the station commander we had rescued from the station orbiting Neptune, saluting me on Lodos' bridge.
"Chief!" I saluted him back.
"Commander, I see that you have an orbital installation in orbit around the dwarf planet." he said.
"Yes, we happen to have one." I said.
"If possible, I wish to be assigned there." he said. "I was in command of an orbital station back when-"
"Please discuss it with The Order of Salvation, commander." I said. "The station is theirs, and the command scheme there might be a little different. And besides, with what I just learned, I have no time for these trivial subjects right now."
"Y-yes, sir." he said and left the bridge with visible disappointment on his face.
"That did not sound like you." said Mei. "Dismissive. Half-minded. Overall cold."
"Admiral." I said. "Stop whining about my mood and start managing your fleet yourself."
"…and confrontational." she said.
"And get me The Council – we have a lot to talk."