Chapter 318: Qing Lan

At this moment, the green ball of light was still hovering before Li Qingsong’s robot army.

Its size had shrunk to just half of what it was before, and it continued to ripple faintly, as if trembling nonstop.

Li Qingsong had his robots send another electromagnetic signal: “Are you an intelligent lifeform? Who are you? Why are you on my ship?”

The ball of green light steadied itself for a moment before it began to ripple again. Another electromagnetic signal was sent out: “You can understand what I’m saying?!”

“Yes. Now, answer my questions.”

The subsequent signal seemed to carry a more urgent tone: “I’m ¥#%#, from Warm Star. I snuck away from home to play, but I accidentally wandered too far and now I can’t find my way back. It’s so cold in space, and the pulling force is so strong. I’m cold and hungry and it hurts. I just happened to see your fleet, and it’s a little warmer inside these ships, and the pulling force is weaker, so I… I just wanted to come in and rest for a while. I don’t mean any harm! I wasn’t going to damage your things. Please, can you let me rest here for a little while? Please? Don’t make me leave, and don’t poke me anymore. It really, really hurts. Once I’ve rested, I’ll leave on my own.”

¥#%#?

‘The name this strange creature calls itself doesn’t seem to have an equivalent in any human language. If I had to interpret it, it probably describes a color, something close to “cyan-blue.” That would be Qing Lan.’

‘I’ll just call you Qing Lan, then.’

‘As for Warm Star…’

‘What kind of celestial body is that? A star with a high temperature, perhaps? But I don’t know what it considers “warm.”

Compared to a frigid dwarf planet, negative one hundred degrees Celsius could be considered warm.

But it said this ship is a little warmer, which means Warm Star must be hotter than it is in here. So, is it a planet orbiting close to its star? The inner layers of a gas giant? Or is it a star itself? A White Dwarf Star? It couldn’t possibly be a neutron star, could it?’

Li Qingsong’s mind raced.

‘What’s this “pulling force”? Is there such a thing in space? It’s weaker on the ship? Hmm… I think I’m starting to understand.

Its body must have a natural tendency to expand. In the vacuum of space, there’s no gravity, so this uncontrolled expansion is what it perceives as a “pulling force.” This ship maintains gravity at about 0.8 times that of Earth, which would counteract some of that expansion. That’s why it feels the “pulling force” is weaker here.

If it considers 0.8 Gs to be low, then its Warm Star is unlikely to be a rocky planet. It’s either a gas giant or a star.

An intelligent lifeform adapted to a high-gravity environment, one that possesses some kind of anti-gravity property of its own… I suppose I could call it a Gravity Life form?

So, to sum it up: this Gravity Life form, who I’m calling Qing Lan, comes from a high-gravity, high-temperature world. It got lost from home, was wandering through space cold, hungry, and in pain when it ran into me. And now it has latched onto my ship and refuses to leave.’

Having figured all this out, Li Qingsong still didn’t let his guard down, but he felt a little more at ease.

“Tell me about your home, Warm Star. Be more detailed.”

Qing Lan pulsed and sent another electromagnetic signal: “The pulling force there is very weak, and it’s very warm. It’s very comfortable to live there. It’s really, really big, and my seven fathers and six mothers, and lots of my family and friends are there. We all live there peacefully. SOB SOB SOB… It’s all my fault for wanting to play too much. I’ve been gone for so long, they must be so worried about me.”

Ahem…

‘Seven fathers and six mothers? Does this strange lifeform reproduce through some kind of multi-partner hybridization?’

‘Well, the Cosmos is full of endless strangeness. A reproductive method like that is probably normal for them. Nothing strange about it, nothing at all. I can’t be prejudiced…’

After quietly admonishing himself, Li Qingsong reviewed the message again, only to find it contained almost no useful information.

‘A weak “pulling force” seems to imply high gravity, but how high is “high”?

And “very warm”… what temperature is that?

Qing Lan seemed to have no concept of actual data, only able to give vague descriptions without any precision.’

Li Qingsong thought for a moment, then brought in a large plasma heating unit and raised the temperature to 3,000 K—roughly the surface temperature of a low-mass red dwarf, or the temperature found a few thousand kilometers deep inside a gas giant.

“Try this temperature. Does it feel warm? How is it compared to your home?”

The green ball of light pulsed, stretching out a little. “Wow, this is much warmer than before! Thank you. But it’s still too cold compared to my home.”

‘Not a red dwarf, then…’

Li Qingsong immediately raised the temperature to 6,000 K, roughly the surface temperature of the Sun.

“How about now?”

“Still a little cold.”

Li Qingsong simply cranked the temperature to 10,000 K. Only then did Qing Lan respond with delight, “This is more like it!”

‘Ten thousand Kelvin…’

‘That’s about the surface temperature of a massive blue giant, or the temperature tens of thousands of kilometers deep inside a gas giant.

Temperature alone isn’t enough to determine the type of its home world. But there’s another metric I can use.

Gravity.’

“Now, follow me to another ship. I’m going to simulate different levels of gravity—er, ‘pulling force’—for you to experience.”

Qing Lan replied obediently, “Okay.”

Li Qingsong called over a large Scientific Research Vessel.

This Scientific Research Vessel contained only a single large-scale scientific instrument: a high-gravity simulator.

Using Strong Core materials and magnetic confinement, the device’s payload section could be spun around a central point at incredible speeds. This generated immense gravity via centrifugal force, which was used to test the structural integrity of spacecraft or to study how matter behaves in high-gravity environments.

At its limit, it could even simulate gravity up to one thousand times that of Earth.

The rippling green light easily passed through the sealed hull of the ship, phasing through the Energy Shield that enveloped the entire vessel as well.

It seemed that neither physical matter nor the Energy Shield had any effect on it.

Following Li Qingsong’s guidance, it entered the Scientific Research Vessel. The high-gravity simulator inside had already been activated, instantly raising the internal gravity to approximately 50 times that of Earth.

“Go on, try it.”

“Okay. Hmm… The ‘pulling force’ is much weaker than before, but it’s still way, way too strong. It’s nothing like my home world.”

Upon receiving this message, Li Qingsong’s mood grew heavy.

‘Fifty times Earth’s gravity is still too weak for it?’