I'll be back for sure!
Hawke shut down most of the instruments, covering the most important ones that could not be shut down, such as the central computer, with high-barrier radiation-proof material, and then manoeuvred his laser gun, aiming at one of the sources at random, and started firing.
The shot lasted thirty seconds, the source dodged, paused, and was nearly two thousand kilometres away from the bulk of the radiation source, then Hawke switched targets and aimed at another source, and so on.
One by one, under Hawke's conscious control, the sources left the group, all separated from each other by some distance, and with varying degrees of reduction in radiation intensity. In just those ten minutes, Hawke had consumed hundreds of tonnes of fuel, leaving him heartbroken.
But the consumption of this fuel was worth it, because in such a situation, Hawke would not have to worry about these sources of radiation swarming all over the place.
By the time Hawke had made all the preparations, the nearest source of radiation was less than three thousand kilometres away. According to estimates, it would only take thirty seconds at most for Hawke to meet this forward source head-on.
Hawke began to quietly wait for the moment of encounter.
Under the effect of inertia, the ship was moving rapidly ahead. Ahead of them, hundreds of powerful radiation sources were lined up and approaching Hawke quickly. At the moment of contact, the strange radiation source, like a locust meeting fresh flesh and blood, clung to the Hawke's hull in spite of everything and pushed desperately inwards.
The temperature of the ship's shell instantly rose to two hundred degrees Celsius and it continued to increase.
Hawke gritted his teeth and opened a gap in the hull of the ship just as the next radiation source was about to approach.
The gap was right in front of the metal box that Hawke had prepared long ago.
The metal case, which was two centimetres thick, was made entirely of high-strength radiation and heat-resistant material, except for the side that was in contact with the ship's shell.
If we talk about radiation protection and heat resistance alone, this box is more than a hundred times higher than the ship's shell.
The radiation source, which had suddenly been given a vent, poured in with a cheer, but was then blocked by the metal box, a stronger barrier, and could not go any further.
One source was imprisoned inside the box. Then came the next one.
As expected, this one was also successfully imprisoned.
Although these sources showed some signs of life, they did not seem to be intelligent and acted only on instinct. At least, they could not yet tell if there was a trap ahead.
It was precisely because they were not intelligent that Hawke's plan worked.
Gradually, all sources of radiation entered the box. Noticing that the temperature of the ship's shell was rapidly decreasing, and the intensity of the radiation was also rapidly decreasing, Hawke breathed a sigh of relief and turned the instruments he had turned off earlier back on.
The radiation source capture plan was successful.
At this point, Hawke was already 600,000 kilometres away from Jupiter.
With a huge sigh of relief, Hawke steered the ship quickly away from Jupiter while he manipulated the instruments and began to analyse the strange radiation sources that showed certain characteristics of life.
At that moment, these radiation sources were crowding densely on the inner walls of the metal box, refusing to leave for a moment, as if there was something outside the box that was attracting them.
"Through the previous phenomena, we can basically determine that they possess instincts similar to those of living creatures, intelligence? They should be absent, or they shouldn't be so stupid. So, let's assume for a moment that they are creatures, but what is it on my ship that attracts them?"
Hawke pondered quietly, "Before the destruction of Earth, humans had also launched several Jupiter probes, but none of them had encountered such strange creatures, which means that these creatures were created only recently, eh, most likely, after the Jupiter-Moon collision."
Hawke took his time in his analysis, a clue flashing through his mind.
"What on earth is there that is not on Jupiter but is on my ship? Something like this must have attracted them and caused them to swarm towards me like a swarm of bloodthirsty locusts."
Hawke was sure of this line of speculation.
"Whatever, let's keep them locked up for now and analyse these guys when we get to Titan and establish a solid base."
Having finally survived this great crisis, Hawke had a feeling of seeing the light of day again, and at the same time, he also felt one truth more deeply.
The universe was infinite, and even in a small solar system there were so many incomprehensible existences. In front of the great nature, it is better to remain in awe.
At the same time, Hawke knew that he was no longer the only creature in the solar system. At least, there were hundreds of suspected creatures accompanying him in the box within his own ship.
As he assessed the damage this encounter had caused him, Hawke slowly increased the speed of his ship. Suddenly, Hawke sensed a bit of unusual movement.
"Eh?" Hawke was a little surprised as he aimed his detection device at the box and looked at the data coming back.
What had been a jumble of hundreds of radiation sources had disappeared, and in their place was a single radiation source hundreds of times more powerful than the previous individual sources!
These radiation sources had merged into one.
But fortunately, even though it had merged into one, its total radiation intensity was not greater than when it was scattered before, but rather seemed to have decreased slightly. So this box could still continue to imprison it.
But Hawke noticed another peculiar change.
The metal material of this box seemed to have changed a little under the influence of this strange radiation source.
The heart of Hawke tightened and immediately launched an analysis of this box.
It seemed ... that it had become a little denser, the molecular arrangement was more dense, and, the temperature outside the box was gradually decreasing, and the radiation that could be detected, outside the box, was also gradually decreasing. This means that the box is keeping more of the heat and radiation inside the box. This meant that the metal material that made up the box had been strengthened in terms of insulation and radiation resistance for some deliberate reason.
With his spirits lifted, Hawke immediately manipulated the robot to cut a bit of material off the outer wall of the box and took it to the laboratory to begin the tests.
The results of the test came back quickly. The results showed that in this short period of time, the insulation and radiation resistance of the metal materials that made up the box had increased by fifty and forty-five percentage points respectively! At the same time, its flexibility and resistance to blows had also taken a leap.
"I didn't expect that these weird things were still treasures." Hawk exclaimed at length. Once again, the wonders of the universe's creation had given him a great shock.
Previously, what had constrained Hawke from embarking on true interstellar travel had been two things. One was the problem of power and the other was the problem of material technology. The power problem was already in sight, and once the controlled fusion barrier was breached, the power problem would be perfectly solved, and now, the material technology was also seen by Hawk to be solved!
Although there is only a hint of a solution, it is still far from a complete solution, but now at least there is hope. It could be said that if Hawke did not solve the problem of material technology, Hawke would always be in a situation where a small meteorite could kill Hawke. To embark on an interstellar voyage that could take hundreds or thousands of years in such a state is simply unthinkable.
Moreover, if the material technology problem is not solved, Hawke's ship will always remain above the small size and will never be able to land directly on a planet. Otherwise, as soon as it got close to a planet, its gravity would tear the whole ship apart, and, even if it landed on top of a planet, Hawke would never be able to fly again.
This is the problem of the shackles of material technology. Now, there was hope that material technology could be solved, so how could Hawke not be excited?
"As the saying goes, what goes around comes around, now it seems that there is great hope for my interstellar voyage plan." Hawke thought excitedly, "We just have to wait until we land on Titan, then set up a massive base, research all the new technology, and then develop a new generation of interstellar ships and set off towards Sky Court IV!"
At the same time, Hawk began to consider whether to return to Jupiter and try to capture a little more of this strange radiation source over. After all, with the quality of enhancing material performance, the value of these radiation sources was not ordinary.
While he was thinking about it, Hawk suddenly observed a collection of radiation sources that were hundreds of times more powerful than the previous hundreds, and they were exhibiting a blue shift!
A blueshift would mean that they were approaching Hawke. And Hawk is now travelling at a speed of sixty kilometres per second relative to the Sun and seventy kilometres per second relative to Jupiter. By extrapolation, the speed of all these collections of radiation sources is at least eighty kilometres per second relative to Jupiter!
There are at least tens of thousands of individual radiation sources! With such intensity, even if Hawke had planned and prevented it, it would not have worked at all. If he was caught up by these radiation sources, Hawke would have been melted away immediately and turned into an interstellar meteorite wandering in the vast space of the universe for eternity.
Frightened out of his wits, Hawke immediately put his plans to return to Jupiter and recapture some of the radiation sources to the back of his mind and accelerated once again, heading in the direction of Saturn in a flash.
After watching the blue shift fade away and making sure he had escaped these strange Jupiterian creatures, Hawke calmed down and thought with hatred, "I've already captured some radiation sources, and after I reach Titan, develop controlled fusion technology, and break through the material technology shackles, I'll be back to capture you all again! "
"I will definitely come back!"