The next day, October 5th.
After a deep and restorative sleep, Jin began his morning by organizing the available information.
"Laojun, what’s the status of that unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Jack landed on the long-period planet... Modenu?"
He didn't expect the drone to have survived the collision, but he hoped the data recorded right up until the impact might prove useful.
"Yes, My Lord. Because the collision occurred within a gas body, the data we obtained is quite blurry and ambiguous. Would you still like to hear the report?"
Laojun explained that he had held back the report initially because the probability of the data being accurate was only around fifty percent.
"Yeah, that’s fine. Let me hear it anyway."
"Understood. It appears that the interior of the gas body surrounding the Fifth Planet, Pengolta, has a rather unique structure."
"In what way?"
"It seems that it does not have a single, solitary core."
"What...?"
"To be more precise, there is a central core, but several satellites orbit it within the gas body itself. Or so it seems based on the readings."
"Hmm..."
"Consequently, Modenu collided with one of those satellites. The satellite was pulverized, and with Modenu’s velocity added to its own orbital speed, the resulting fragments were flung out of the gas body."
"And those are the fragments currently hurtling toward Ars?"
"Yes. In a sense, that is the only explanation that fits the observed velocity and trajectory of the debris."
Jin nodded, impressed by Laojun’s deduction. "I see. Then what about the main body of Modenu flying off at an upward angle?"
"It is believed to have collided with yet another satellite. That second satellite either remained intact or was shattered but continued to orbit the core."
"I see..."
Even if this theory was correct, it didn't change Jin’s objective.
"Because the probability of this being the case was low, I refrained from reporting it sooner. You have my apologies."
"No, don't worry about it. Good work." Jin offered a word of appreciation to his AI. "Next, we need to handle the explanations to the various nations."
Now that they had a plan, he could fairly accurately predict the secondary effects of their operation.
"Even if we manage to deal with the 'extra-large,' 'large,' and 'medium' fragments, I can't say for sure what will happen with the 'small' and 'extra-small' ones."
There were simply too many of them to track or intercept.
"And if they hit?"
"Meteors and fireballs will likely be visible even in broad daylight."
Jin’s mind drifted back to the night of the Leonid meteor shower in 2001.
He remembered lying on blankets spread across the grass of a facility in the suburbs, staring up at the night sky with a crowd of children. The younger ones had fallen asleep before midnight and were carried inside, but Jin and the older children had remained awake until dawn, mesmerized by the sky.
"That was quite a sight..."
This upcoming event would likely be several times more intense—not just a meteor shower, but a meteor storm. If it happened without warning, the public would descend into a state of total panic. He needed to enlist the help of the world's leaders to manage the situation.
"I’ll ask Reinhard to explain it to Her Majesty, and then have her notify the other nations."
Jin decided to leave the specific method of communication to Reinhard. He simply didn't have the time to draft diplomatic cables himself.
"Understood, leave it to me."
Reinhard readily agreed after a brief exchange via manacam.
"Thanks, Reinhard. If you need any data or materials, consult with Laojun."
"Got it, Jin. I'm just glad I can be of help, even if it's just as a messenger."
With the logistics handled, Jin threw himself into full-scale production.
"We won't just make the transporter guns larger; we need to optimize the operational efficiency of the mana."
He was focused entirely on the countermeasures for the fragments of Modenu. He no longer felt any hesitation, nor did he have a single second to waste. The singular drive to do everything in his power pushed him forward.
"My Lord. The first large-scale force generator is complete. Please perform a final inspection."
"On my way."
The large-scale force generator Jin had ordered the previous day was essentially the same as the propulsion system used on the spaceship Adriana. The Adriana was equipped with two hundred of these units, which served as the engines capable of accelerating the ten-million-tonne ship at over 20G.
Each unit was one meter in diameter and two meters long, weighing roughly 500 kilograms. The estimated maximum thrust was one million tonne-force. For comparison, that was nearly ten thousand times the thrust of an H-IIB rocket from modern Japan.
Jin sat down to perform some calculations using the knowledge he had brought from his previous world. Applying Newton's second law, F = ma:
If they installed one hundred units, the total thrust would be 100 million tonne-force. The force (F) would be 100 million tonne-force = 1 x 10¹¹ kilogram-force = 9.81 x 10¹¹ newtons.
"Now, how much does an 'extra-large' fragment weigh...?"
Approximating an "extra-large" fragment as a cube with ten-kilometer sides and a specific gravity of 3, the mass (m) would be 3 x 10¹² tonnes, or 3 x 10¹⁵ kilograms. Thus, the acceleration (a) would be F / m = 3.27 x 10⁻⁴ m/s².
What would happen if that acceleration were applied continuously for five days—120 hours, or 432,000 seconds? Using the displacement formula y = 1/2at², the total displacement came out to roughly 30,000 kilometers.
"That's a bit too close for comfort..."
Compared to the 380,000-kilometer distance between Uni and Ars, 30,000 kilometers was a hair's breadth. If a mass of that magnitude grazed the planet at such a distance, the resulting tidal forces and atmospheric disturbances would cause unimaginable disasters. He wanted to secure a clearance at least equal to the distance of the moon.
The same logic applied to the "large" fragments. While their impact would be less than the "extra-large" ones, if a "large" fragment had one-tenth the mass of its larger counterpart, he would still want to install at least twenty force generators on it.
Jin calculated that since there were two such massive fragments and many smaller ones, he would need at least 300 force generators in total.
Finally, the first large-scale force generator was completed under Laojun’s supervision.
"Yeah, no problems here."
Jin finished the inspection with Reiko and nodded with satisfaction.
"For now, we need to mass-produce at least three hundred of these."
"Understood."
Jin intended to have Laojun and the Smith squad devote every ounce of their processing power to this task. It was in this moment that Jin’s previous decision to relentlessly upgrade Hourai Island’s production capacity proved its worth. Laojun and the Smith squad would find a way to complete all three hundred units.