Chapter 344: Another Line of Thought
In the process of deeply exploring matter reconstruction technology, Akira revealed to the Federation's core technical team, especially Spock and Scott, the existence of that set of "Auto-Repair STC" and its incredible efficacy.
He used rigorous technical descriptions, avoiding the religious terminology unique to the Warhammer universe, and emphasized its core characteristic: "restoring any designated object to its intact baseline state in an extremely short time, without obvious raw material input."
This description triggered a massive shock among the Federation's top scientists and engineers.
Spock's Vulcan logic rapidly evaluated the underlying physical significance. He commented: "If the description is accurate, this implies a macro-scale reversal of the matter entropy increase process, as well as the ability to chronologically anchor and reproduce specific quantum states. This has touched the boundaries of our current physics theories, and perhaps even surpasses them."
Scott expressed an engineer's marvel much more bluntly: "Good Lord! No need to swap parts, no need to wait for fabrication, just press a button and fix a starship? This is simply the ultimate dream of every chief engineer!"
Akira caught the gleam mixed with shock and an intense thirst for knowledge in their eyes, and immediately put forward his concept: "Fully replicating this ancient technology, given our current understanding and resources, is perhaps impractical. But I believe that based on our current knowledge of matter reconstruction principles, combined with the limited data I have on that system's energy field characteristics, we might attempt to develop an alternative technology with similar functions, even if its efficacy is somewhat inferior. This is not to replicate a miracle, but to build a bridge toward understanding it."
This pragmatic yet challenging proposal immediately received an enthusiastic response from the Federation technical team.
One of the core driving forces of the United Federation of Planets, especially its science division, is the exploration of the unknown and the pursuit of knowledge.
The temptation to participate in analyzing or even partially recreating a technology that so vastly exceeds current comprehension was irresistible.
After obtaining special permission and resource allocation from the Federation high command, a highly classified joint research project was officially launched.
The theoretical team led by Spock was responsible for constructing mathematical models, attempting to connect the "phenomena" exhibited by the STC with the Federation's quantum physics and spacetime theories.
Scott's engineering team was responsible for providing support to realize the technical path, including high-precision sensor arrays, ultra-large energy capacitors, and matter reserve/regulation systems.
Akira occupied the core position. He provided data on the unique energy spectrum and subtle changes in spacetime curvature recorded when the STC was activated, as well as his hypothesis developed over many years that the "repair" process was essentially a "regression" rather than creation.
He combined the Federation's rigorous, systematic research methods with the fragmented miraculous clues he brought, which originated from another pinnacle of human technology.
The research work unfolded in a highly focused atmosphere.
They did not expect to reach the sky in a single bound; instead, they set phased goals: first attempting to achieve reproducible "self-repair" based on quantum information regression on a simple alloy with a known structure at the microscopic level, even if it was merely repairing a hairline crack.
This first step alone involved unprecedented deep-level information scanning and storage of an object's "intact state," as well as how to precisely guide energy to "reverse" a localized damage process without completely disassembling the object.
Akira immersed himself in data, formulas, and experiments.
He knew this was a long and arduous road, but the technology and resources provided by the Federation, along with the wisdom of these top peers, made him feel for the first time that what the dust-covered STC represented might not just be a miracle of the past, but could possibly become a power that could be mastered in the future.
Every minor adjustment of a theoretical model, every optimization of an experimental parameter, made him feel as if he were standing on the steps leading toward that once-unreachable miracle.
The joint research project soon touched upon a core difficulty.
The theories Akira brought clearly indicated that the ancient STC's operational mechanism deeply involved a realm almost entirely alien to Federation scholars—the localized manipulation of the time factor.
Although the Federation's technology tree had achieved breakthroughs in spatial jumping (warp) and macroscopic time travel (slingshot maneuver), that was more like "hitching a ride" utilizing the universe's own physical phenomena (such as gravitational fields).
The precise manipulation of a localized time flow in the true sense, reversing the entropy increase process of a specific object, was a brand-new, nearly taboo field of knowledge for them.
Even the most vastly knowledgeable Spock admitted that his theoretical reserves in this area were virtually zero.
The only time they had a close encounter with a related effect was when Kirk and the others witnessed Akira use a stasis grenade, but that was more like a packaged "application" rather than a comprehensible, replicable technical principle.
Therefore, when Akira began elaborating on core theories involving chronological anchoring and quantum state regression, the Federation's scientists and engineers encountered a massive barrier to comprehension.
These knowledge systems were too different from the frameworks they were familiar with. Digesting and absorbing them would require a long time, and might even trigger a subversive reconstruction of fundamental physical concepts.
The project's progress inevitably fell into a theoretical bottleneck.
Faced with this predicament, Scott proposed a pragmatic and creative alternative: "Perhaps we don't need to storm the hardest fortress of time manipulation right from the start."
"Magos Akira mentioned that the STC needs to know the object's 'intact' state."
"Why don't we change our line of thought? What if we scan and store the complete three-dimensional structural blueprint of the object or system that needs repairing in the equipment's database with molecular-level precision beforehand?"
Spock immediately understood the logic within. He added: "This is a solution that conforms to existing technological paths. When repairs are needed, the equipment performs a scan of the damaged area with equivalent precision, compares the damaged state data point-by-point with the 'intact blueprint' stored in the database, and precisely locates the missing, displaced, or damaged molecular structures."
"Subsequently, the repair process does not involve time reversal, but is based on the replicator technology principles we have already mastered: using a concentrated energy field to precisely break down the molecular structure of the damaged section into basic particles, while simultaneously calling upon reserve matter and energy to conduct a molecular-level reconstruction at that location strictly according to the 'intact blueprint'."
Listening to this proposal, Akira swiftly conducted an evaluation.
This was indeed a circuitous route, abandoning the direct, highly efficient but also extremely difficult time manipulation, and instead utilizing the "scan-compare-disassemble-reconstruct" process the Federation already excelled at to achieve a similar "repair" effect.
It could not truly "reverse time to make the wound disappear" in the literal sense like the original STC, but was more like an extremely precise, microscopic surgery of "replacing whatever is broken."
"A logical compromise," Akira's synthesized voice finally sounded, carrying a tone of approval. "It circumvents the theoretical obstacles we currently cannot overcome and fully utilizes existing technological advantages."
"Although the efficiency and scope of application may not compare to the original STC, it holds high value as a preliminary, achievable verification platform. We can set this as the phase one goal of the project."
This pragmatic shift gained the unanimous agreement of the team.
The research focus was adjusted accordingly.
Federation technical personnel began to fully tackle high-precision, high-efficiency molecular-level scanning and comparison algorithms, as well as how to achieve localized, non-destructive disassembly and in-situ reconstruction technologies for complex structures.
Akira, in turn, provided more of certain non-temporal parameters that the STC might involve when "identifying" damage and "defining" intact states, serving as references to optimize the comparison algorithms.
The project returned once again to a track more familiar to Federation technology. Although the goal remained arduous, at least the path had become clear.
Akira was also pleased to see this progress. After all, a device capable of achieving micro-level precise repairs, even if the principles were different, was equally an invaluable breakthrough for his future flagship.