Chapter 178 Proxima b
4.2 light years away from the Earth.
In the habitable zone of the Proxima star system, a planet named Proxima b "quickly" orbits a red dwarf star.
Proxima b, which has an orbital period of only 11.2 Earth days, is extremely close to the red dwarf!
The red dwarf is called Proxima Centauri, with a mass of 0.123 times that of the Sun and a luminosity of only 1.55% of that of the Sun.
Thanks to this, Proxima b is still in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri.
The camera zooms in.
The dense atmosphere and the ozone layer that is several times larger than that of the Earth block the high-energy rays from Proxima Centauri, which lays a solid foundation for the emergence of life.
On the surface, countless dark, round, pancake-shaped artificial buildings stand on the flat surface.
Such a structure is also to absorb as much high-energy rays emitted by the star as possible and protect fragile biological organisms.
As the camera zooms in again, an intelligent creature with three pairs of narrow visual organs and sturdy limbs sits in a chair, silently looking at the monitor in front of him.
In the Proxima civilization, his name is Atoka, which means the receiver.
His name gave him a mission.
Therefore, since he was born, his range of activities has been limited to this empty building.
His task is simple, to monitor the information from various detectors.
Atoka supported his thinking organ with his sturdy forelimbs, and his three pairs of narrow visual organs narrowed into an almost invisible gap.
"Hu..."
He slowly opened his breathing hole and exhaled a thick exhaust gas.
It was the same as when he first walked into this building 100 years ago.
(For ease of understanding, the time is based on the Earth standard)
Nothing has changed.
The display in front of him has been replaced several times, but it still looks the same.
I heard from the previous generation that the development of their civilization has stagnated for hundreds of years.
And the purpose of launching so many detectors... It's ridiculous to say that it's actually to find extraterrestrial civilizations!
Thinking of this, a little wrinkle appeared on the top of Atoka's thinking organ, which is a mockery in their culture.
It's ridiculous that the upper class actually pinned their hopes for the development of civilization on the help of other civilizations!
They actually wanted to use a few detectors with a maximum speed of only one-tenth of the speed of light to detect intelligent life in the surrounding star systems!
The result is predictable.
Hundreds of years of efforts, no gains.
Thinking of this, the wrinkles on the top of Atoka's thinking organ deepened.
He looked at the dark window on the side.
In the sky, next to a huge fireball, there are two small spots of light.
Those are two other stars, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B.
Proxima Centauri and these two stars form a triple star system.
However, unlike ordinary triple star systems, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B form a stable binary star system, and Proxima Centauri orbits 13,000 astronomical units away from them.
Therefore, the operation rules of these three stars are not as chaotic as expected.
And Proxima b has survived because of this.
Atoka looked at the dim light next to the fireball, and countless chaotic thoughts flashed through his thinking organ.
"Huh..." A ball of hot air blew out of his breathing hole again.
Just as he was about to stand up and rest aside, a corner of the wall made of monitors in front of him lit up with dazzling white light!
White light, the same color as the flare of Proxima Centauri, means the highest level of alarm and crisis in their culture!
After seeing the color symbolizing warning and danger, Atoka couldn't help but stand there.
The three pairs of narrow eyes on his thinking organ suddenly widened, and the wrinkles on the top of the thinking organ disappeared completely, becoming extremely smooth!
He quickly swung his sturdy and short forelimbs and operated on the console in front of him.
"The detector 45 years ago..." Atoka stared at the display in front of him and muttered to himself.
He quickly called up the information from the detector.
4.22 light years!
So close!
When he saw the object in the video data, his thinking organ trembled involuntarily.
In the video, Voyager 2 floated quietly in the boundless universe.
This, this is a man-made object!
The next picture made his thinking organs tremble more violently.
A blue planet and a silver-white satellite.
The probe quietly landed on the silver-white satellite.
The high-precision camera captured the image of intelligent creatures on the blue planet.
So ugly.
Atoka looked at the image in front of him and curled his lips.
They only have one pair of eyes!
Their limbs are so weak, and I don’t know how they live...
It’s hard to imagine!
Atoka talked to himself while watching the image on the monitor.
The video data stopped abruptly.
Atoka knew that this was the probe returning.
He stood up suddenly and walked towards the communication equipment beside him.
He needed to report this incident to the upper level.
…
When it comes to alien civilizations, the efficiency of the upper level people suddenly increased a lot.
Just after Atoka finished reporting and put down the communication equipment, the reminder sound of the communication equipment rang.
"..."
Atoka silently picked up the communication device and placed it next to his hearing organ.
"Are you sure?"
"...Okay, I understand."
After putting down the communication equipment, Atoka's breathing hole opened and closed, and a cloud of hot air gushed out of it.
The upper-level people's words were really unpleasant.
I just confirmed a sentence, and I was scolded.
Atoka's thinking organ was wrinkled on the top, and he walked silently to the control console beside him.
There was no way. He was just a recipient at the bottom. If one Atoka was gone, there would be thousands of Atoka to take over his job.
Thinking of this, the wrinkles on the top of Atoka's thinking organ became much less.
Just do what the upper-level people said!
While thinking, he pressed a button on the control console "expressionlessly".
The electromagnetic wave signal passed through the dense atmosphere and was transmitted to a man-made device outside the atmosphere.
The next second, the signal amplified by the equipment flew towards the direction of the solar system!
…………
Sort out the timeline.
In 1980, the Proxima b probe was sent.
In 2025, when Voyager Earth leaves the solar system, the probe arrives in the solar system, conducts exploration, and sends out a signal.
In 2030, Proxima b receives the signal from the probe and sends out the above signal in the same year.
In 2034, Earth receives a signal from Proxima Centauri.
