Chapter 1295: Wasting Time is Despicable
The roads outside the ILHCRC headquarters building were all blocked.
Reporters from major television stations and newspapers blocked the entrance. This seriously affected the staff who were working here.
Even though the ILHCRC security blocked some of the people, a small number of reporters still sneaked into the parking lot.
Luo Wenxuan parked his car and pressed the electronic lock to go upstairs. He looked at the group of reporters carrying cameras and microphones. When they surrounded him like zombies, he was dumbfounded.
“h.e.l.lo, I am a reporter from the Observer newspaper. May I ask, Secretary-General Luo, does the latest research from the ILHCRC mean that warp travel is possible?”
“It is possible in the theoretical sense, but the probability is very small.”
“Secretary-General Luo, does this mean that China will soon start exploring the distant star system? Can we set foot in Andromeda in this lifetime?”
“Good question, maybe we can, if we live for two centuries.”
“Secretary-General Luo—”
“Excuse me, the conference is beginning soon. If you have any questions, please contact our ILHCRC spokesperson. That is our official media channel.”
Luo Wenxuan struggled to squeeze out of the crowd. He rushed into the building under the cover of the security guards.
He looked as the wooden door behind him close. The crowd gradually dispersed under the force of the security guards. He took a sigh of relief and wiped out the sweat from his forehead.
“Looks like the reporters quite like you.”
Luo Wenxuan heard a familiar voice. He looked up and saw Lu Zhou standing beside him with a smile on his face.
A look of surprise suddenly appeared on Luo Wenxuan’s face. He looked at Lu Zhou up and down in disbelief. He spoke with a weird expression on his face.
“How did you get in… Weren’t you blocked by the reporters?”
“I have my own ways.” Lu Zhou smiled faintly. He then turned around and said, “The meeting is about to begin, let’s go over together.”
Even though Luo Wenxuan had many questions, there was no time to ask for details.
After swallowing his curiosity, Luo Wenxuan took a few breaths. He then quickly followed Lu Zhou’s footsteps. They walked toward the conference hall…
…
The ILHCRC board meeting was about to begin.
Even though the discussions were all boring academic issues, because of the amazing prospects behind the Z particle, this conference attracted attention from the world.
However, although people were eager to know more inside information, Lu Zhou still did not allow reporters from any media to come in and listen. Instead, he arranged for the media outlets to attend a press conference in another building.
The official press spokesperson of the ILHCRC would report to them the results of the meeting discussion as soon as possible and would also answer some questions.
Lu Zhou looked at the directors who were already sitting at the conference table. He cleared his throat and said, “Let’s get straight to business.”
He clicked the laser pointer in his hand. A map of the solar system appeared on the big screen behind him.
The members of the board sitting at the conference table looked at each other, not knowing what Lu Zhou was planning to do. A few people, including Luo Wenxuan, had a few guesses in their minds.
Lu Zhou said, “The theoretical demonstrations are finished. The next part is the experiment. We need to deploy a Z particle clock in the geosynchronous...o...b..t and the Mars...o...b..t, and then—”
“Wait, wait a minute, what do you mean the theory has been completed?”
Professor Whittle, a member of the US ILHCRC board of directors and a director of the Brookhaven Science a.s.sociates, raised his right hand and interrupted Lu Zhou. He stood up with an expression of distrust on his face as he spoke.
“Normally, shouldn’t we first discuss the paper itself and determine whether it is correct, then only discuss how to design the experiments to prove it?”
Lu Zhou wasn’t angry because his speech was interrupted. He nodded and said, “Of course, if you have any questions about a part of the paper, you can ask them now.”
Professor Whittle paused for a second. After holding back for a second, he said angrily, “I haven’t found any problems yet, but it doesn’t mean other people haven’t either. I think at least we should—”
Lu Zhou glanced around the conference table and asked, “Does anyone else have any questions?”
The people sitting at the conference table looked at each other, but no one stood up.
Forget about asking questions.
Most of them did not even understand the paper, and even if some of them did, they only had a surface level understanding.
“As you can see, we shouldn’t be wasting any more time.” Lu Zhou shrugged as he looked at Professor Whittle, who was looking pale. Lu Zhou continued, “If we wait until the physics community recognizes this theory before we design an experiment, we would have to wait at least five years or even more.”
Professor Whittle: “What’s wrong with that?”
Lu Zhou said, “What’s wrong is that we would be wasting time. If you find a problem, tell me. If not, stay quiet and watch. I will prove that I am correct.”
Professor Whittle still wanted to say something, but he remembered what happened with the Z particle last time. He finally pushed his complaints back into his throat.
Professor Whittle sat back down in his seat. Lu Zhou nodded and looked around the conference table.
“Does anyone else have questions?”
“I have some questions.”
“Please, tell me.”
“Let’s forget about the paper… Why not the moon? Why Mars?”
Professor Fernando was a permanent member of the British ILHCRC board. He stood up and raised his own question with a hesitant look on his face.
However, after hearing this sentence, Lu Zhou sighed.
“If this is your question, you obviously haven’t even read my paper.”
Professor Fernando blushed and said, “I swear I read it, but only a part of it… I haven’t finished it yet.”
In fact, he didn’t understand the paper at all.
Mathematics was not his area of expertise.
Although he could also use mathematical tools to solve problems encountered in theoretical physics research, most of those tools were out of date.
Lu Zhou didn’t care for Professor Fernando’s excuse. He supported his hands on the conference table and got up from his chair. He turned around and walked to the whiteboard, picked up the marker, and wrote down a few lines of equations.
[L=Ψαεαμνβγ5γμ(∂ν+imγν/2)Ψβ]
[…]
Everyone looked at the equations on the whiteboard with a muddled expression.
Almost none of the board members knew what Lu Zhou wanted to do.
However, after Lu Zhou wrote the last line of calculations, a few professors showed a look of realization.
This included Luo Wenxuan and another European physicist from CERN.
After completing the writing on the blackboard, Lu Zhou turned and looked at the conference table. He then spoke.
“The Z particle itself does not have enough energy to change the curvature of the s.p.a.ce, and it is impossible to poke a hole in s.p.a.ce… A wormhole is impossible.
“However, it can disturb the gravitational field.”
Lu Zhou looked at the board members sitting at the conference table. He continued in a serious tone, “This is very important.
“s.p.a.cetime is distorted under the interference of gravitation, and this distortion is unevenly distributed around us. Changing the gravitational field is equivalent to indirectly changing the curvature of s.p.a.cetime.
“Imagine if we wanted to warp travel, how do we flatten light-years worth of s.p.a.ce? This is obviously impossible now, but—”
With the marker in his hand, Lu Zhou tapped on the whiteboard lightly.
“But we can use the gravitational force of stars, or in other words, use the gravitational bond between star systems. The s.p.a.cetime would be twisted by the gravitational force between the star systems! Then we can find the path that is closest to our destination.
“Of course, for an experiment, we don’t need to send a s.p.a.ce probe to Proxima Centauri, which is a few light-years away. This experiment can be done in the solar system.
“For example, we can use the gravitational bond between planets and planets to open a hypers.p.a.ce channel between planets and find a shortcut.”
Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, “This is why we must send the experimental equipment to Mars.
“We need its gravity.
“The ma.s.s of the moon is around 1% that of Earth. Even though it is closer, it is difficult to form a stable hypers.p.a.ce channel according to the calculations.
“In theory, Jupiter is a more suitable choice, but the distance is too far, and the asteroid belt in the middle is also a problem.
“Considering all factors, Mars, which has a ma.s.s of 14% of Earth, is the best choice.
“Any other questions?”
Professor Fernando hesitated for a while before he shook his head and sat back. Professor Whittle gulped and opened his mouth. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
He felt like he was just schooled by Lu Zhou…
“Looks like we don’t have any objections.”
Lu Zhou was satisfied with the efficiency of the meeting. He turned over the meeting doc.u.ments in his hand, cleared his throat, and continued, “Next, we will discuss the structure of the Z particle clock…
“As well as how to execute this experiment.”