Seedship

Protostar

E.E 705.

Ryuzu was woken up as planned for the scheduled IFM/CC. The usual diagnostics were run and the AI was relieved to know that no systems were damaged over the centuries that she had slept over. Ryuzu then checked on her charges and was again relieved to see that all of the humans were still frozen in cryo and in peaceful hibernation. 

Remarkable, Ryuzu thought to herself. The only time in the entire history of the human civilization where there was no war, no bloodshed was when every human being was placed in stasis. The thought itself was melancholic at best...

The AI turned her attention to her surroundings and the one low priority query the navigation systems made. The Seedship was now located in the middle of a vast stellar nebula. Whilst the thick clouds of hydrogen and helium clouded the majority of navigation sensors with noise and radiation, the light being reflected off said clouds from the nearby forming stars produced a brilliant myriad of shapes and colors so beautiful, it would never have been captured in its full glory by any Earth-based telescopes. 

Even Ryuzu could not quite process what she was seeing. Not in the sense that her optics were faulty. More like she felt very mesmerized by the sheer sight of it all. Was her processing units malfunctioning? Was some program missing or corrupted in her code? Whatever it was, Ryuzu imaged the nebula for archiving. If anything at all, these pictures would probably aid her humans if and when they arrive at their new home... Perhaps induce a very unique emotion that Ryuzu herself could not quite comprehend. Hope.

The navigation computer suggested changing course to a new one that cut straight through a slightly more mature protostar, one that is about a few hundred thousand years old, that would be henceforth be referred to as PS01 for easy reference. The computer referenced the star's abundance of metallic protoplanetary discs and suggests an extremely good opportunity to study the formation of mineral-rich planets. 

Ryuzu noted the computer's inference as well as its lack of analysis on the risks involved. A close flyby of a protostar would most certainly provide a great insight into the early stages of a planet's life, allowing the upgrading of the mineral sensor which would, in turn, be able to more accurately predict the availability of resources on planets at great distances. However, the nature of a protoplanetary disc means that the flyby would be dangerous as there are numerous rocks and debris of a variety of sizes between the Seedship and the exit vector. The chances of collision are high and a hit by anything larger than a single cryosleep pod would most certainly disable the ship for a very long time or even worse, destroy it all together.

However, PS01 was also a rare kind of protostar to be seen in the universe, one that Seedship may or may not encounter in the next few millennia or so. Hence an opportunity as such is one that should not be treated lightly.

A memory suddenly occurred to Ryuzu. She remembered that humans during the early informational age already had much information about the star systems near their own, even without the technology to reach them, to begin with. Light spectroscopy was a primitive yet robust technique used by astronomers to identify elements and minerals in other stars from light-years away. 

A third option had just presented itself to Ryuzu. A long-range scan could be made using the spectroscope present in the mineral scanner to gather relatively accurate readings and therefore conjure precise predictions for future planetary evaluations, rather than to change course and view the cloud through visual optics.

Seedship's mineral scanner could do just that, and very accurately too but only at short ranges, so a makeshift focusing array had to be furnished if any proper research could be done from a distance. However, due to the limited supplies on board the vessel not reserved for maintenance, it would be quite of a stretch to produce the array without cannibalizing on one of the surface probes for mirrors and lenses. And even if the array was disassembled after the experiment, Ryuzu was not confident in putting the probe back together due to the information lost from the scientific database.

Nevertheless, Ryuzu retrieved a surface probe from the hangers and began to loosen its screws and bolts. Even after so long, it still amazed Ryuzu how the human designers managed to fit such a wide variety of tools, equipment, scanners, and shielding into such a tiny shell no more than two meters in length and yet make it robust enough to last longer than the civilization that created it. Humans were truly amazing in their own rights.

Using the micro fabricators on board in the construction module, a focusing lens was produced and mounted onto the resource scanner. The task was tedious and required every byte of concentration Ryuzu could muster to ensure no damage was done to the lens or the scanner. Two months passed and finally, the resource scanner was ready and Ryuzu, circuits buzzing with anxiety, began the calibration process.

Like a camera, the shutter of the resource scanner widened and shrank as it tried to focus its image. The protoplanetary disc came out looking as promising as Ryuzu estimated. The scanner stared into a swirling mass of heavy and common elements and noted its correlations with the circumstances in which birthed a planet that may someday harbor life of its own. It was rich in minerals useful for reconstructing civilization and that was sufficient information for Ryuzu to upgrade the resource scanner.

As PS01 slowly but surely slunk away, growing smaller and smaller from Seedship's perspective, Ryuzu folded up the resource scanner and began preparing for hibernation once again. It would be yet another half-century before the ship would be anywhere near potential stars. Another half-century cruising through the kaleidoscopic sea of stars on hydrogen gas.

Ryuzu adjusted her course, re-calibrated the ADS system and set another IFM/CC in 500 years' time. That time will pass in a blink of an eye for Ryuzu and her passengers as the ship went dark once again.