Chapter 410: Tachyon Technology

"Do tachyons actually exist? Are there really functional tachyon communicators and sensor arrays?!"

This revelation dropped into the room like a thermal detonator into a quiet pond.

The crew couldn’t contain their absolute euphoria. If humanity truly confirmed the existence of tachyons, it would trigger a colossal theoretical revolution!

Truly, a paradigm-shattering event!

At its most fundamental level, mastering tachyons... would enable instantaneous faster-than-light communication and telemetry.

Furthermore, the mathematical velocity formula for tachyons was completely paradoxical: the lower their kinetic energy, the faster they traveled, and vice versa.

Theoretically, the speed of light was their absolute lower limit, while their upper speed limit extended all the way to... infinity!

Yes, the speed of light was merely their absolute floor. Any low-energy tachyon could propagate at velocities infinitely exceeding the speed of light!

So, what did infinitely fast telemetry mean in a tactical setting?

Several senior military officers stared blankly at the ceiling, completely lost in their own tactical fantasies.

Having recently survived a brutal interstellar engagement, everyone aboard understood with crystal clarity that in cosmic warfare, information dominance was everything.

Faster-than-light sensors meant possessing total situational awareness in advance. It meant you could formulate a firing solution and launch a preemptive strike before the enemy even registered your existence!

It even meant you could passively track and intercept FTL warp missiles in real-time.

And now, the golden key to that absolute tactical supremacy had just been handed to them...

A fully functional tachyon communicator!

Did it contain the blueprints...?

What kind of technological leaps were they actually looking at?

"Order! Order!" Within moments, the military strategists had grasped the terrifying absurdity of the technology, and their frantic voices surged through the room like a tidal wave.

Even Austin and the other defense officials were panting heavily, their eyes bulging as adrenaline caused their bodies to visibly tremble.

Jason was forced to stand up and slam his fist onto the conference table.

"Everyone, quiet down!"

But his shouts were completely swallowed by the noise...

Unlike the military officers, the senior scientists weren’t envisioning tactical supremacy; their minds were entirely consumed by raw, unadulterated scientific curiosity.

This burning curiosity far eclipsed their previous obsession with nanotechnology. This was a desperate, primal hunger to explore the unknown.

Nanotechnology primarily fell under the umbrella of applied engineering.

In practice, they were simply hunting for viable Nanodynamic templates, a process that was agonizingly difficult and complex, but ultimately just a matter of structural assembly.

Furthermore, Nanodynamic templates relied heavily on biomimicry, which was the primary reason advanced interstellar empires traveled across the galaxy to harvest unique biological specimens...

The field of tachyon physics, however, was a completely blank canvas, an entirely untouched branch of pure science.

Humanity’s current understanding of it hovered at roughly 0.01 percent, limited to a handful of theoretical mathematical conjectures.

"Science" and "technology" were intimately related, yet fundamentally distinct.

Science plunged into the absolute unknown, making major breakthroughs inherently unpredictable; technology, on the other hand, operated within established parameters, allowing for structured, predictable engineering milestones.

If they successfully harnessed tachyons, it would be the intellectual equivalent of discovering calculus for the very first time.

Because it confirmed the existence of an entirely parallel reality: the Superluminal Universe!

Theoretically, within the superluminal universe, all baryonic matter moved faster than light. The speed of light functioned as the absolute floor of this reality. By contrast, humanity’s reality was the subluminal universe, where the speed of light served as the absolute ceiling.

If they could actually pierce the veil of the superluminal universe, it would be a foundational, reality-altering event!

Dozens of theoretical physicists in the room were so overwhelmed that they were literally shaking, immediately pulling up holographic whiteboards to frantically derive equations and construct sub-atomic models right in the middle of the briefing.

Seeing Arthur Lambert’s flushed, ecstatic expression, alongside the wide-eyed fever of Austin and the military brass, Jason could only smile helplessly.

Since this wasn’t an officially structured parliament session, he decided to let the room ride out the adrenaline spike for a few minutes.

In truth, the scientific community had long theorized that tachyons, much like dark matter existed somewhere in the universe; humanity simply hadn’t possessed the tools to detect them.

However, visualizing a superluminal universe was an agonizingly difficult exercise for the human brain. Trying to imagine a reality where matter possessed infinite velocity and the speed of light was a sluggish crawl...

"This is infinitely harder to model than nanorobotics... God, visualizing a reality like that intuitively is impossible; it can only be mapped through pure abstract mathematics," Jason heard a senior physicist groan in frustration, clearly feeling as though his own genius was completely inadequate.

Just think about it: the physical mass of all baryonic matter would be an imaginary number, and every particle would travel faster than light.

In a reality like that, no one knew if electrons or atoms could even maintain coherence... nor did anyone know how macroscopic matter could possibly form.

If every quantum point on a physical body was moving faster than the speed of light, it was impossible to say whether complex life could ever evolve there.

Yet, confirming the existence of a "superluminal universe" was the missing puzzle piece required to complete their modern cosmological model.

The scientific mindset was delightfully stubborn. If physicists discovered a "red apple" and a "blue apple," and then after decades of grueling research found a "red pear"... they immediately asked themselves, ’Why are there blue apples, but no blue pears?’

There had to be a "blue pear" to maintain universal symmetry! Otherwise, the fundamental architecture of the cosmos would be dissonant and chaotic.

This foundational scientific philosophy was known as "symmetry." Physicists firmly believed that nature was inherently symmetrical, and that the universe could be mapped entirely through the lens of this symmetry. [1]

However, despite centuries of agonizing human effort and the exhaustion of every conceivable detection method, tachyons had remained utterly invisible...

It seemed as though "tachyons" existed purely on chalkboards.

But now, a tangible, functional piece of superluminal technology was sitting directly in front of them. How could they not go insane?!

This directly touched upon the holy grail of physics: the Grand Unified Theory of the universe!

Just because something was difficult to comprehend didn’t mean it was impossible. Dozens of pairs of eyes locked hungrily onto the optical feed of the purple metal box... their gazes burning with an almost manic intensity.

"Quiet! I said quiet!"

Jason roared again, finally managing to restore a semblance of order. Simultaneously, the more level-headed strategists in the room stepped forward, raising critical security concerns.

Researching tachyons... obviously carried astronomical benefits.

But then again, the Federation couldn’t afford to gamble their entire existence!

Jason absolutely did not dare take the risk of pressing that silver button, nor did he dare authorize the engineering teams to dismantle it for reverse-engineering.

If the tachyon relay transmitted a burst signal, humanity possessed absolutely zero capability to intercept or block it.

If a hyper-advanced empire like The Seeders locked onto them, it wouldn’t matter how fast Deep Space pushed its warp drives; the Federation could never outrun them. Tachyons could effortlessly track FTL warp signatures across the void in real-time.

The existential risk was simply too massive.

"But we can’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater!" one senior scientist shouted, his voice trembling with excitement. "No one even knows if The Seeders are still alive! How can we possibly throw away an opportunity this massive!"

Jason shook his head firmly. "For the sake of our survival, we have to assume the worst-possible intent behind The Seeders’ actions. We have to plan for the absolute worst-case scenario. Everyone needs to cool their heads."

"Everyone in this room is brilliant; I expect you to think critically about our current strategic reality! Who here can guarantee that we won’t trigger a hostile fail-safe while trying to pry this communicator open?!"

Faced with a barrage of cold logic, the impassioned senior scientists reluctantly quieted down.

Forced to acknowledge the apocalyptic security risks, they slumped back into their chairs, looking utterly deflated.

However, several analysts were still frantically trying to logically prove that the purple box was benign.

A moment later, one strategist stepped forward. "But looking at the data objectively, there’s no reason to assume it’s a trap, right? Does pressing the button automatically mean they lock onto our coordinates and annihilate us?"

"What would be the strategic value of baiting us like that? None! Sending an armada across the galaxy just to vaporize a primitive species offers them absolutely zero tactical or economic benefit!"

"Think about it objectively. Doesn’t that make sense?"