Chapter 65: Known and Unknown
Omega felt somewhat relieved to hear that the Mechanicus possessed technology to deal with nuclear radiation. As long as atomic radiation cleanup could be developed on a large scale, he could boldly use hydrogen bombs for bombardment without requiring massive missile barrages.
Magos Albert knew his thoughts and hesitated before answering when asked directly.
"My lord, perhaps you are not very familiar with the Mechanicus. We are extremely cautious about any new technology. Even with a treasure like the STC template that we were fortunate enough to unearth, we dare not recklessly research and use it."
"Perhaps outsiders see us as somewhat rigid, but this is the rigorous attitude essential to the Cult of Machines."
Their conversation attracted the attention of four nearby Magi, who approached. Omega asked curiously,
"You're worried about problems even with ready-made STC templates? It's not as if you simply follow the steps to manufacture. STC templates don't have a soul or intelligence, so what could go wrong?"
Magos Pritt spoke solemnly, his augmented voice carrying the weight of painful experience,
"The STC template is the crystallization of human wisdom from the Golden Age, but over the long years, electronic daemons may have corrupted the data within. Easily accessing the database could lead to widespread data corruption."
"The electronic daemon possesses will and can easily destroy any connected data. This is the great significance of my research into purification programs. To be honest, sir, headquarters possesses quite a few intact STC templates, but we dare not use them because they contain electronic daemons. We painstakingly sift through the data fragments destroyed by these entities, but sometimes the results are merely incorrect information or corrupted sequences."
Omega understood from early on that the Mechanicus's scientific and technological system had profound deficiencies; all its technologies were based on STC templates rather than on fundamental physical principles.
Looking at the four Sages, including Julius, he somewhat understood how these men felt when they obtained Rangdan alien technology. Because those technologies clearly lacked electronic daemon corruption, and their decades of painstaking research resulted in tremendous improvements.
Omega had studied Magos Pritt's purification program. At first, he thought it was antivirus software specifically designed to solve program corruption and data degradation. Now, unexpectedly, the concept of electronic daemons had appeared.
He initially thought it was artificial intelligence, but the Magi shook their heads firmly and said it was not.
Magos Russell hesitated before speaking carefully. "Perhaps it is related to the Warp. The malevolent beings of the Warp, you should never research them. Most psionicists do not have good endings pursuing such knowledge."
"I understand what you mean. I won't investigate," Omega said with a smile and a nod after his initial surprise.
"Furthermore, researching new science and technology is not as simple as it appears. On some planets, scientists who have just developed atomic weapons have inexplicably mutated, suffered mental degradation, and subsequently committed atrocities, often causing major disasters to their home worlds. Like the Rangdan worlds, for instance."
"Yes, exactly."
The Magi were very friendly and trusting toward Omega, so they shared insights about the inner workings of the Mechanicus. This helped Omega understand why its members were so rigid and conservative in their approach to technology.
He couldn't grasp the logic of how researching new technologies could be targeted and corrupted by warp daemons.
Logically speaking, developing an atomic bomb was not a major undertaking in this interstellar age; it was not nearly as complex as Omega's research into faster-than-light void drives.
Why had he never felt any malevolent interference with his own technological research?
Suddenly remembering something, he asked Julius and the other Magi in surprise,
"You all have learned vast amounts of advanced technology over the past few decades. You all seem perfectly normal and haven't mutated. Your technological level is probably much higher than that of someone who developed an atomic bomb."
"Ahem, we're learning existing technology, not developing our own, so of course we're fine," the Magi exchanged glances, and Magos Guts coughed awkwardly and chuckled.
The moment those words were spoken, everyone present was struck by sudden realization. They abruptly realized that one way to avoid warp daemon corruption of technology was to learn existing technology rather than develop it themselves, just as the Mechanicus learned from STC templates.
But what exactly was the difference between learning technology and developing technology?
Omega's keen analytical approach quickly identified the fundamental distinction.
"One is known knowledge, and the other is unknown knowledge," he said aloud.
"Known knowledge already exists and can be directly learned and replicated. Unknown knowledge attracts the attention of warp daemons simply because it is unknown, regardless of its technical difficulty. This attraction, in turn, causes research and development personnel to undergo mutations."
When Omega stated this conclusion, the gathered Magi couldn't help but contemplate it deeply.
Magos Albert stared at the Primarch with surprise, increasingly agreeing with Russell and the others' assertion that the Primarch's intellect surpassed that of the Magi.
However, no one knew precisely how much of an unknown quantity would attract warp daemon attention.
The human empire had indeed developed many new weapons and equipment in recent years without instances of daemon corruption. Similarly, there was no clear dividing line between the known and the unknown. Humanity could gradually explore the unknown from the known, slowly transforming the unknown into the known.
The five Magi and Omega decided to conduct an experiment using the example of combining bombers with long-range missiles.
Everyone present understood both bomber and missile technologies, as well as the programs contained within the biochips. All that was required was to modify the bomber to accommodate the long-range missiles and then write new code to integrate the two systems.
This experiment was somewhat dangerous for Magos Albert and his companions. They were all Magi, fully confident they could develop modifications independently.
Still, they were attempting to modify an existing design based on STC templates for the first time, a calculated risk.
Magos Julius, Ross, and Albert modified the bomber's design, while Magos Pritt and Omega wrote the code together.
The work proceeded methodically, each step grounded in existing knowledge rather than uncharted theoretical territory.
A month later, the entire Alpha Legion fleet had completed its repairs in orbit. The technical teams had repaired the warships and fighter jets. Everything was prepared for departure to the next star system.
But at that moment, on the 20-kilometer-long flagship, Omega sat in the cockpit of a bomber parked on the flight deck. A square programmable controller rested in his hand.
He pressed a button, revealing a bomb bay beneath the bomber containing four long-range missiles. The bay closed again. After testing the bomber controls one by one, everything functioned perfectly. Then he heard coordinate communication information transmitted from the bridge by Skol.
Omega studied the display and watched a coordinate point appear on the bomber's control panel.
The five Magi watched as Omega emerged from the cockpit, and all six were overjoyed to discover success; the bomber and the long-range missiles had been flawlessly integrated. No daemon corruption. No mysterious failures. Just engineering.
Magos Albert, a Sage capable of creating and forging entire worlds, was surprisingly anxious about developing a bomber.
He commented softly as they gathered, "Technically speaking, there is absolutely no difficulty. Any of us here could develop it independently. The unknowns were minimal; we simply hadn't dared to attempt it before."
"However, sir, you should be careful. Following tradition isn't necessarily a flaw. It can also represent a kind of safety and reliability."
"That makes sense," Omega agreed with a smile. It was necessary to be cautious about the unknown, after all. The Warp may contain daemons and even more terrible entities.
After the modified bomber was developed, it still required testing. Omega summoned an ace pilot to fly it into Veredian's atmosphere for a three-day evaluation. The Magi were extremely rigorous, having the pilot test all functions and programs methodically.
Above the planet Veredian, a swift-flying bomber wove through the clouds. In the cockpit, a lightly armored pilot silently listened to the constant barrage of commands and requests over the communication system.
He was intimately familiar with bombers, knowing every aspect of their structure. As soon as the targeting data arrived, he pressed the launch command.
The bomber's bomb bay opened, revealing four long-range missiles. One missile was launched and disappeared from the pilot's sight at tremendous velocity, while its position was continuously displayed on the screen.
The pilot was shocked to see the missile exceed the distance range of previously known missiles. In the end, the long-range rocket struck an Ork ruin thousands of kilometers away and detonated with perfect precision.
Beyond-visual-range long-range bombing technology had been born, and Omega's crew aboard the flagship erupted in celebration, a moment of triumph tempered by the knowledge that they had walked carefully along the knife's edge between innovation and corruption.
[End of Chapter]
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