Ella's synthetic voice echoed through the cabin. "The design adopts a streamlined starship architecture, including living quarters, entertainment modules, and an ecological life-support system. The vessel measures 122 meters in length and is equipped with five plasma thrusters, with a cruising speed of 294 km/s."
Ian Shaw stared at the holographic projection of the design, which resembled a luxurious interstellar hotel, and his lips twitched. "Is this a colony ship or a sightseeing cruise? I need speed, not a spa!"
"Re-optimization complete." Ten seconds later, Ella updated the plan. "Comfort sacrificed to enhance propulsion: a 332-meter hull with 11 thrusters, top speed 876 km/s."
The new data left Ian breathless. Even at nearly a thousand kilometers per second, reaching Proxima Centauri would still take 1,446 years. "Still not enough..." His fingers dug deeply into the edges of the console.
"Additional suggestion: Constructing hibernation pods would enable cross-century voyages." Ella's blue indicator lights swept across the cabin walls. "This is the current computational limit for viable solutions."
Computational limit. The phrase struck a nerve in Ian. "Wait!" He suddenly slammed the console. "Can we build a nuclear fusion reactor? A real tokamak device!"
After a brief computational silence, Ella responded affirmatively: "Feasibility 87.3%. In 2037, humanity overcame the theoretical bottleneck—only lacking materials resistant to temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees..."
"Then let's find the materials in the asteroid belt!" Ian altered the course. Outside the window, solar storms dyed Jupiter's clouds a sickly purplish-red.