It wasn't until years later that I realized what was on my husband's mind on the night I spoke of intellectual pleasure. He was thinking that only those who can enjoy the pleasures of the intellect and feel the pain of the intellect are mature wise men. In that era of intellectual explosion, the people enjoyed the happiness brought by the improvement of intelligence, and only Tianle experienced the pain of the "prophet".

——Excerpt from "A Hundred Years of Collecting Shellfish", written by Yu Leshui

1

The "Noah's Ark" will set sail tomorrow. It will first sail within the solar system for a period of time to make a final test of the spacecraft's performance, including take-off and landing on Jupiter and hydrogen extraction, and transmit the results back to Earth as the basis for mass production of spacecraft in the future. It will then fly intermittently, looking for the "Chu's" in the vicinity in a "non-blind" manner, which has lost contact. The speed of "Chu's" is only slightly more than one ten-thousandth of the speed of light, that is, it has traveled only one thousandth of a light year in the ten years since its launch. Therefore, with the performance of the "Noah", it should be easy to find it, it is like an eagle falcon looking for a rubber duck on the surface of the lake. If it can be found, the "Noah" will take the fourteen crew members (including Chu Guifu and thirteen oviparous children) who are in a frozen state, thaw them, accept them as the new crew of the "Noah", and then re-board. After all, the chances of survival of the new spacecraft are much higher than those of the "Chu's". As for the 5 million human eggs in the 500 egg-shaped cabins on the "Chu's", since the "Noah" had no space to hold them, they had no choice but to leave them on the original ship and continue its original voyage "slowly."

In case the "Chu's" cannot be found, the "Noah" will not be delayed too much, but will immediately start flying faster than the speed of light. To put it bluntly, this arrangement is also to dispel the uneasiness in the hearts of people (including Yu Leshui) - the fear that "Noah" will collide with its forerunner during a faster-than-light blind flight, although the probability of impact is basically zero. From this point on, the "Noahs" will truly become a space race, and the "Noah" will cross the cataclysmic area in 100 years, and then surf the wingers to their heart's content, and follow the wingers to travel at the speed of light, and then transmit the observations back to Earth at the speed of light. Of course, it would have been 300 years before the Earth received the observations.

The whole human society is in a state of extreme excitement, like a flock of geese in the excitement of migration. Ever since humanity was thrown into a pot of boiling water, its potential has been fully unleashed. It has only been 22 years since the "Chuma discovery" was announced, and it has only been eight years since the "Chu's" spacecraft was launched, and the scientific and technological level of mankind has spanned thousands of years, realizing the big bang of science and technology represented by faster-than-light navigation, including the three-state vacuum theory, cold fusion technology, awning technology, human egg technology, genetic modification, the "transparent" interface between the human brain and the computer, and the technology of embedding chips to improve the intelligence of the human brain, etc. Genius scientists represented by Chu Tianle, Pauli, Ma Shiqi, Alex, George, Barrow, He Zizhou, Ji Jichang, etc. Ge Qihong, vice president of the Friends of Le Foundation, who loves to say naughty things, once sighed:

"With these twenty or thirty years of splendor, even if the human race really perishes, it is worth it."

Of course, his "crow's mouth" caused everyone to laugh and scold. No one thought that he actually made a prophecy earlier than Chu Tianle.

The farewell ceremony was originally intended to be held in synchronous orbit, just like the farewell of the "Chu". But this time, there were too many guests to participate, and it was not feasible to go to the synchronous track, so it had to be held on the ground instead. As for the farewell location, Ji Renrui chose a place of great historical significance - Human Egg Island in the Danjiang Reservoir in the Central Plains of China. It was once the birthplace of oviparous humans, and there are still traces of eggshells and footprints. Although the oviparous are probably a thing of the past in human history (with faster-than-light spaceships, this "poor man's technology" was completely eliminated, and the hope of survival of the five million oviparous children is very slim), in any case, they are the forerunners of the space race, and they are worth remembering and admiring. Moreover, there is no trace of the human egg island, the water and the sky are the same, and it has the unique artistic conception of "the wind is sluggish and the water is cold", which is a good place to say goodbye.

One thousand and two Noahs (including Chimpanzee Azi and Maru) lined up in the central area of Egg Island. They wore uniform white garments, and on the back of their blouses were black and white taijitu, which was the emblem of the Noah clan. Each person has a book in their hand, which is the Bible of the Space Clan, the Noah's Covenant. They were bareheaded and barefoot, both men and women. The bald head is because in the confined environment of the spaceship, hair loss is easy to cause pollution; Barefoot, because shoes are not needed in the spaceship environment. In fact, the more important reason is that the Noahs deliberately formed some customs that were different from those of the earthlings in order to remind themselves of the new identity of the "space race". The procession is based on the family. At the front of the line were Captain Alex, his wife, Margaret Canippe, and a pair of children, as well as two new young wives. In second place is He Zizhou and his three wives, the third of whom was just married the day before yesterday. Behind them are the physicist Barrow, the mathematician James, etc., and their respective families. The professional choice of the crew of the "Noah" is mainly "hard technology", but there is also a moderate amount of literature, history, philosophy and artistic talents. Ji Jichang, one of the core figures of the Noah faction, is not in this group of crew members, and he will be the captain of the next spaceship.

The thousand-man square was silent, like a frozen stone statue. Only Azi and Maru, who were in the middle of the queue, couldn't stop and kept looking left and right. However, they (they) are intellectually strong enough to comprehend the solemnity of the atmosphere around them, so they can also refrain from acting more excessively.

There were more than 2,000 people who saw them off, forming a dense wall of people around the crew, but keeping a certain distance from the crew in the circle. The area of Human Egg Island is not large, and two groups of people basically occupy the whole island. The Ma family came, Tianle's mother pushed Tianle in a wheelchair, and Sister-in-law Xu carried the grass on her back. Yu Leshui has been holding her sister-in-law Liu Ye by her side, and she knows that today is a difficult day for Liu Ye. Liu Ye was wearing homely clothes and had a calm expression. It was the season for the willows to spit green, and after she went up to the egg island, she went to the water's edge to pick some young willow branches, and made a green laurel wreath to wear on her head, which made her very conspicuous in the crowd of people seeing off.

They stood across from He Zizhou and his family at a distance. He Zizhou and Ma Liuye stared at each other silently.

People come by boat, and now all kinds of boats of all sizes surround the desert island, like a flock of black swans gathered on the vast lake.

The oath began. The Noahs put the Noah's Covenant on their left chest with their right hand and recited the oath in unison. The oath is very simple:

"I pledge to abide by the Noah's Covenant,

Life is above all else, the collective is above the individual;

Continue the unity of mankind and inherit the civilization of the earth. ”

They took an oath in English, which was the only official language of Noah's society, and others such as Chinese, French, Spanish, etc., were reserved for research purposes only. The crew's voices are sonorous and rhythmic, and the sound of Langlang echoes over the desert island. The two chimpanzees, already equipped with voice changers and able to speak in English, recited the oath like everyone else.

Listening to Noah's oath, Yu Leshui couldn't help but think of what Tianle's mother said when she interviewed the Ma family twenty-two years ago: "Aren't people living to stay behind?" At that time, I once felt that this woman with low education summed up the meaning of life in the most concise and homely language. In fact, Noah's oath can also be simplified to the four words that Tianle Ma said:

Alive. Stay later.

After the oath was over, the families of the crew had already set their sights on the target, and at this time they rushed up and broke up the white queue in the circle. They shed tears and hugged their loved ones, and gave their loved ones the last food and wine to their loved ones who were about to say goodbye. Francine Blois, who had travelled from Africa, squeezed into the heart of the crowd, found two orangutans, hugged them affectionately, and said goodbye to them in sign language (Bruis is not used to speaking English to them). After three years of intensive training, Azi and Maru have taken their intelligence to the next level, and they already know that they are about to go on a space expedition to the stars. Azi happily said in sign language:

"I like to go up to the sky, look at the stars, look at the Milky Way."

"Yes, you'll be able to see the stars, the Milky Way, and so many other things that you can't see on earth. I envy you both. ”

Maru said, "I like you to go too." ”

Blois said bitterly: "It's a pity I can't go, I want to stay on Earth." However, I will always remember you, the two smartest orangutans. ”

"I remember you too. I remember liking you. ”

Brois was amused by her childish words, "Yes, I remember to like Maru, remember to like Az." Good bye. ”

"Goodbye."

Alex and He Zizhou, as the captain and deputy of the ship, first had to entertain the United Nations and the ** representatives, the Pope's representatives, the representatives of the "Friends of Music", etc., and said goodbye to them one by one, and also said solemnly goodbye to Ji Jichang, the captain of the next spacecraft. Half an hour later, He Zizhou took time to lead his three wives to squeeze in front of Liu Ye. Liu Ye is familiar with Ofhra and Kembdora, and He Zizhou introduced another yellow ** named Qi Jichen. Liu Ye found that this woman's eyebrows and eyes were extremely similar to herself, and she couldn't help but realize He Zizhou's secret intentions when choosing the last wife.

But everything was irretrievable, and she had no intention of doing so. At this moment, her heart was overflowing with pity, because in a little while the Noahs would hear that terrible news, which she already knew yesterday. She calmed down, took off the willow crown from her head, put it on Brother Yangyang's bald head, and said jokingly:

"The ancient Chinese have always liked to fold willows to say goodbye, so I'll give you a willow crown. I see it as a crown and wish you a good chief after Alex. ”

He Zizhou said solemnly: "Thank you for the gift. I will use genetic technology to keep it alive forever and always accompany the ship. ”

Qi Jichen stepped forward and hugged Liu Ye, "Sister Liu Ye, I already knew about you. It's a shame that you decided not to immigrate, but it's a blessing for me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of it. ”

She laughed loudly, causing everyone around her to laugh. Liu Ye envied her clear state of mind, and she did not show her usual sadness and sadness when she was about to part with the earth and her relatives. When the two women embraced, Liu Ye crossed Qi's shoulder to find Brother Yangyang's gaze, and the two nodded tacitly, smiled, and left.

The send-off man left the desert island and returned to the ship to free up the ground to land the helicopter. The 1,002 crew members will fly directly to the equatorial island of Halmahera, where they will be lifted into synchronous orbit in a transport spacecraft and enter the "Noah", which will soon set sail. The send-off reluctantly said goodbye to their loved ones, left the island in tears, and stared at the crew on the island from the boat. Liu Ye and Tianle's mother also left, and the only people on the island who saw off the island were Chu Tianle in a wheelchair and his wife pushing a wheelchair, as well as Pauli, a resident of the island, who was still far away from the crowd and looked at this side with a lonely expression.

One thousand and two crew members relined themselves in front of Chu Yu and the others. The island was eerily quiet, the breeze stirred the half-man-deep thatch, and the eggshells and small footprints under the glass cover were silently sealed in time. Chu Tianle smiled at his wife: It's time to start. Yu Leshui took out the wireless microphone and a piece of paper, and said in a soothing tone:

"I have been asked by my husband, Mr. Chu Tianle, and Mr. Hawke Paulie to read this letter. The discovery described in the letter was made by the two of them four years ago, but has not been made public. She nodded to Pauli in the distance, "My father-in-law, Mr. Ma Shiqi, had a deep conversation with Chu Tianle before he died, and persuaded him to make it public. After that, Chu Tianle and Pauli agreed to announce it to the crew before the spacecraft went into the sky, and then to the public. Because Mr. Ma said: The human beings of this era have matured enough to face any bad news. ”

The audience was silent.

Yu Leshui began to read. Her voice was high-pitched and desolate:

"Fellow relatives, children, please understand this address, because we are seeing off our children on behalf of the mother's family. The words of blessing are no longer spoken, what we want to say today is to remind you of the storms and waves on the journey, and to tell you the reality that the spaceship is about to face. Unfortunately, this reality is quite cold. ”

"Twenty-two years ago, the scientific community discovered that the local space centered on the Sun has shrunk dramatically, which will cause the destruction of the solar system and the Earth. Since then, all the potential of humanity has been unleashed, and all efforts have been made to find a way for the population to survive. Since then, the scientific community has discovered that the collapsed area is expanding outward at the speed of light. However, according to physical theory, the shrinkage of space must decrease with the square of the distance, so that the fleeing ship can still find a safe place. Four years ago, the scientific community further discovered that the collapse area is expanding at the speed of light while its intensity is not diminishing. However, by then, humanity already had faster-than-light spacecraft, so ships could stay safe on the edge of the tsunami forever until the tsunami spread across the universe. Although the final outcome is unfortunate, it will be tens of billions of years later. ”

The above is a review of history. Yu Leshui paused slightly, and continued to read:

"It's cruel enough to be a reality, but it's a pity that we've found an even harsher reality. In fact, there is no such thing as a local cosmic collapse. As early as 22 years ago, what mankind discovered was the total, synchronized contraction of the entire universe. It is only because the contraction began only 30 years ago, due to the delay in the propagation of light, only the spectral blueshift of stars within 30 light-years can be observed at that time, so the illusion of local space shrinkage is created. Twenty-two years have passed, and now this observable area has expanded to fifty-two light-years. Children, this means that the whole universe is terminally ill and will collapse in a thousand years, and there is no safe oasis, even the faster-than-light 'Noah' has nowhere to escape. Perhaps at this very moment, many light-years away sapient races are trying their best to flee to us. ”

Although the crew was mentally prepared, this utter bad news still made a thousand people feel like ice water, and the desert island was filled with an eerie and murderous atmosphere. Yu Leshui looked down at her husband in a wheelchair, who was straight, his eyes were level, and he was as expressionless as a stone statue. Look at Pauli on the edge of the crowd, he stands with his hands behind his back, and he has the same expression. What's on their minds at the moment? In the past four years, when they were alone with this secret, what were they thinking? This was the expression on my husband's face when he handed him this speech yesterday, and Yu Leshui remembered that he had always had this expression when he was alone for the past four years.

Yesterday in the middle of the mountain, Mom, Willow Leaf and Grass were playing in the courtyard. The two-year-old grass went crazy, giggled and ran into the house, hit each adult in the palm of his hand, and ran out with a giggle. She repeated the simple game so endlessly that the adults couldn't help but laugh. Liu Ye and He Zizhou were about to be separated, even if her heart turned back and forth, she didn't show it, she just happily played with Cao'er. Chu Tianle, who had just returned from Renegg Island, handed over a computer printout to his wife, and Yu Leshui looked at her husband in shock after reading it. Tianle gave a brief explanation:

"Actually, scientists should have thought of this conclusion a long time ago." "The conclusion is that the entire universe actually began to contract at the same time, and there was a simultaneous spectral blueshift," he said calmly. However, since it takes time for light to propagate, the Earth can only see the blueshift of the surrounding stars in T light years when the change begins, which creates the illusion of local collapse. Because the shrinkage is uniform, the visual velocity or blueshift of the star is proportional to the distance, and the farther away the star, the greater the blueshift; But the contraction is uniformly accelerated, and since the distant starlight is in the early stages of contraction, the blueshift value is smaller the farther away. The combination of these two opposing factors results in a blueshift peak at 0.5 t light years. This conclusion is fully consistent with the observations of the past 22 years and no longer requires any far-fetched explanations. And this also swept away the last cloud of doubt that Dad was worried about - he said that if the collapse happened in the time and space where human civilization existed, it would be more or less like a disguised resurrection of 'anthropocentrism'. I should have thought of it a long time ago. "But as Dad said, there are many heavy cages in which human beings are imprisoned, including the cage of ideas, which is even stronger than the cage of objectification." There was a golden rule in physics that no one doubted: no matter what the motives of change in the universe, they should not travel faster than the speed of light. This has also been confirmed by observations. For example, if a distant nebula were to brighten in its entirety in a decade, it would never be larger than ten light-years. Because of this iron law, no one, including me, thinks that the universe will suddenly turn around and contract overnight. In this way, we have been blind to an obvious fact for twenty-two years. ”

Yu Leshui whispered, "But this golden rule is indeed correct." ”

The husband shook his head, "It's correct, but there is some mechanism that bypasses it, and Pauli and I only realized it four years ago." In fact, someone has been breaking it for a long time, albeit unintentionally. Cosmologists have been discussing the hypothesis that when the critical density of the universe is greater than 1, the expanding universe will eventually turn to contraction. This hypothesis actually has an underlying premise, which is that the universe should be contracted as a whole and synchronously, and not - for example, half of the expansion and half contraction. The 'cosmic isotropy' that the scientific community has recognized actually implies the overall synchronization of the universe. So, what is the mechanism that can bypass this golden rule? I'll use an intuitive metaphor for a two-dimensional world," he said, smiling at Yu Leshui, "using the bubble blowing that I loved to play with since I was a child." ”

Yu Leshui instantly thought of the terminally ill boy who was sitting on the luggage roll and blowing bubbles thirty-eight years ago, and subconsciously clenched her husband's hand. The husband continued:

"Suppose there is a God with a very large lung capacity, standing in the center of a balloon, and is blowing a balloon that is 10 billion light-years large. And we are two-dimensional people living on the surface of the balloon. The expansion of the entire balloon is synchronized and determined by a cause outside of the two dimensions—the air pressure of God's blowing—and has nothing to do with the speed of light on the surface of the balloon, which is the two-dimensional world. Now, suppose God suddenly sneezes violently, and the blast wave travels to the sphere at the speed of light. Since the blast wave occurs at the center of the sphere, it will reach all parts of the sphere at the same time, and the spherical universe will begin to explode at the same moment. Tian Le made an emphatic gesture, "Please note that it takes time for the explosion of the center of the sphere to reach the surface of the sphere, and it still obeys the speed of light limit, but that is a matter of one dimension higher. On the two-dimensional sphere, the spike occurs synchronously in an instant, seemingly breaking through the speed of light limit. Pauli and I called this mechanism 'intrinsic synchronization'. He paused and looked at his wife, "This is exactly what is happening in our universe, just change the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional, and the 'skyrocket' to the 'contraction.'" In a nutshell, the reason for the synchronous contraction of our universe is in the fourth dimension, which is the deep depths of the vacuum. ”

The two were silent for a long time. Outside the courtyard, there was the screaming and crazy laughter of the grass, and the obedient voice seemed to be that Liu Ye had caught a butterfly for her. After a long time, Yu Leshui asked:

But what about the motives? What is the cause of the dramatic contraction of the universe? Which god sneezed in a negative direction? ”

Chu Tianle shook his head, "You asked well." This is still the cover door of the three-state vacuum theory, and no explanation has been found so far. If it did happen in a higher dimension, it might be difficult for humans to understand......" he shook his head again, "I think of what astronomer Xu Yifan said at the first meeting of the Old Boundary Ridge. He said that he had a strong feeling that the reason for the contraction of our local universe was likely to occur in a higher dimension. I easily dismissed it with the arrogance of a young man, saying, 'I don't recognize that there is a God in the universe who loves to play with balloons,' and I am ashamed to think about it now. "However, although the cause is unknown, there can be no doubt that the result – that the universe is contracting as a whole, synchronously, dramatically." The truth was so cruel that Pauli and I kept it a strict mystery until after talking to Dad. ”

Yu Leshui was silent for a while, "Dad encouraged you to make this discovery public?" ”

Dad didn't say anything, only asked: When you were seven years old, I ruthlessly cut off your back road, do you regret it? Leshui, I have never regretted knowing the truth of my condition. The two were silent. Shaoqing Tianle said, "I don't regret it. I thank my godfather for doing this. My godfather also said at that time: 'People always have to die, but this does not prevent them from living happily'. Now, we just need to replace the word 'man' with 'human' and 'cosmos' in this sentence. To live is to live, not to escape death, because ultimate death is inescapable and theoretically inescapable. One can rely on science to change the local environment, but no one will be arrogant enough to think that humanity can transform the entire universe, or that when the universe inevitably goes to extinction, the flower of humanity can bloom on its own in the ruins. Therefore, we might as well cut off the back road of mankind ruthlessly, so that maybe human beings can have a brilliant flowering period in their old age. ”

Yu Leshui sighed and reluctantly agreed with her husband's decision, but she couldn't help but feel gloomy in her heart. For more than 20 years, the "Friends of Joy" have been "whipping" all mankind to find a way to live, but they didn't expect that looking for the front is still a dead end, a complete dead-end road! She said:

"Pauli agrees to publish it too?"

"He doesn't care. He was a philosopher far from the world, obsessed with exploring the deep mechanism of the universe, and did not pay much attention to the small disturbances of the world. ”

"Before the announcement, I have to discuss it with Ji Renrui and them, I'm afraid of causing a big turmoil."

Chu Tianle smiled bitterly and said: "I understand him, he will not agree to the announcement, he will definitely say that this conclusion is beyond the people's ability to bear." ”

The husband's words are actually saying that even if Ji Renrui disagrees, he will announce it to the public, especially to the crew of the "Noah", and he will not let Noah set sail before he knows the truth. Yu Leshui thought hard, unable to get out of this dilemma - if it was announced, it would be difficult to avoid major turmoil; If it is not announced, will it allow human beings to die in such a blur? Finally she asked:

"Are you willing to tell Mom and Willow Leaf the news?"

This sentence is actually a test of Chu Tianle's determination: Before telling the people, do you have the courage to tell a few relatives this bad news? Chu Tianle looked at her and didn't say much, but directly called the three people outside in. The three women were having fun, all with the breath of sunshine and spring breeze, the grass was red and fluttering, their foreheads were soaked with fine sweat, and they were holding a large black butterfly in their hands. Chu Tianle handed the piece of paper to Liu Ye, and Liu Ye glared at his brother in shock after reading it. The brother motioned for her to pass the paper to her mother. Tianle's mother was silent for a long time after reading it, and sighed:

"I expected that. In the past few years, watching Tianle suffer alone, I have already guessed that I am not far from ten. Alas, at my age, I have long looked down on life and death. But it's really ...... to think of a baby like Cao'er."

Her eyes were red and she stopped talking. Liu Ye was silent for a while, and suddenly said thoughtlessly: "Let Yangyang let them go." Since the universe ...... Let them fly. ”

Cao'er looked at a few adults strangely and asked, "Auntie, what's wrong with you?" Grandma, why are you crying, did Dad make you angry? ”

She stroked her grandmother's face with her little hands. Tianle's mother finally couldn't hold back her tears.

On the barren grass slope of Egg Island, Yu Leshui finished reading the letter, and a thousand bald and barefoot Noahs were silent for a long time. After a long time, Alex took a step forward, turned on the spot, faced his subordinates, and said with a smile:

"Thank you, Mr. Chu Tianle and Mr. Pauli, for telling the truth before we set off, and decisively cutting off our back road, just like Chu Tianle did when Ma Lao was seven years old. I understand how difficult it was for you to make this decision, so, thank you again for the trust you have placed in a thousand Noahs. He asked, "What are we going to do now?" This is a very significant accident and is a force majeure factor. So, if any of the crew members changed their minds and didn't want to embark on this hopeless expedition, I could understand that. Please think about it for ten minutes, and if you want to change your mind, please retreat outside the circle, and everyone else will still start as planned. ”

He stopped talking, and stared silently at the square in front of him, a thousand people did not say or move, like a thousand frozen statues. The wind of the wilderness tossed the deep thatch, and the monotonous rattle of waves crashing against the shore of the lake could be heard in the distance. Ten minutes passed, and Alex said:

"If not, then I'll notify the helicopter group to come."

There was still no movement below, so he informed. In a matter of moments, dozens of helicopters that had been prepared for a long time flew in, obscured the sky, and landed around the crowd square, dozens of pairs of rotors stirred up a strong wind, and the wild grass under the belly of the plane lay on the ground. At this moment, Ofla, who was standing in the front row, suddenly shouted:

"Wait for me for a few minutes!"

She ran to the nearest helicopter, opened the hatch and jumped on it, quickly saying something to the pilot. The helicopter was immediately elevated and flew towards a large ship on the lake outside the desert island. It hovered over the big ship, and Ophra fell down the rope to find the willow leaf in the crowd. Amid the roar of the helicopter, Oprah spoke loudly and gestured with her hands. Liu Ye was stunned for ten seconds, then suddenly jumped up, hugged his mother and little niece, hugged Uncle Ji, and said with tears streaming down his face:

"Farewell, Mom, Cao'er, Uncle Ji, remember me, I will always remember you!"

She and Opra then ran hand in hand to the helicopter and climbed the rope one after the other. The helicopter then flew to the island and landed on the spot. The two women jumped out of the cabin, Liu Ye ran to her brother and sister-in-law first, hugged the two with tears in her eyes, and then turned around and ran to the team, coming behind He Zizhou. He hurriedly hugged Willow Leaf, and his other three wives also hurriedly hugged Willow Leaf, and then He made a gesture to Alex. The latter then gave the order, and the crew of one thousand and three men ran to their respective helicopters in an orderly manner. Willow also shook off her shoes vigorously as she ran, and went barefoot like everyone else—as for her long black hair, it was only shaved off after boarding.

The helicopter swarm took to the air at the same time and flew south like a flock of birds. Only Chu Tianle in a wheelchair, his wife behind him, and Pauli at the water's edge were left on the desert island. The three of them silently looked into the southern sky, and the eggshells of those lying in the glass cover quietly accompanied them.

2

In a synchronous orbit 36,000 kilometers above the Earth, "Noah" hovered quietly, just like the "Goldfish" a few years ago. In appearance, it is not as spectacular as the "Goldfish", because it is inferior in scale to the former, and the shape is too geometric and lacks personality. The multi-turn winding orbit of magnetic acceleration makes it resemble a longitudinally striped cantaloupe: the head is a convex parabola, on which the two ends of a trillion-electron volt accelerator are fixed, where the particles will complete their collisions. The original "goldfish tail" is still retained, but it is no longer used as a reflector for light, but as a tail antenna.

The news spacecraft and the in-cabin camera broadcast the long, close, and interior shots of the "Noah" to people all over the world. The commentators are still Ye Zhiqiu and Judy Turner from last time. The camera pans to the interior of the cabin. Nestled to the inside of the ellipsoidal hull, the living rooms of more than a thousand hexagonal crew members resemble bee hives, which take up half of the cabin's space. Behind the ship is the engine room and liquid hydrogen storage tank, and at the bow is the command cabin. Now, Alex and He Zizhou stood in the captain's and deputy's seats, waiting for the order to be issued from the Sanya command hall. In the center of the hull was a large hall of activity, where a thousand and three crew members gathered. They don't have a specific job at this time, they talk to each other, hug, make gestures, pat their peers on the shoulders, and frequently exchange places, as if they were driving a large pa

ty。 There are three people in the cabin who stand out: Azi, who has black hair, Maru, and Maliuye, who is dressed in civilian clothes and has black hair. With a set of outfits in their hands, Ophra and Qi Lichen squeezed over to find Liu Ye, who was changing her clothes at the moment. The coat was quickly changed, but her long black hair was still very conspicuous among the group of bald heads, making her mother, brother and sister-in-law, and Cao'er, who were tens of thousands of kilometers away, easily recognize her from the screen at a glance.

The ultimate bad news announced by Chu Tianle didn't seem to have much impact on the Noah people, who were in the midst of a group euphoria before departure. The relatives on the ground were delighted to find that Liu Ye also had a bright expression, and it seemed that she had put aside all kinds of heavy thoughts about "alienation" before—originally, if the entire universe had only a short lifespan of hundreds of years, those ethical thoughts would be too tortuous, and it would be like worrying about a baby girl who had fallen to the ground about the pain of her future childbirth. Tianle's mother was relieved of Liu Ye, but they couldn't avoid sadness in their hearts, Liu Ye's departure was too sudden, so that the mother really couldn't stand it.

The two hosts are explaining, and now it is Ye Zhiqiu's voice: "...... the ignition of the 'Noah' is different from the 'Chu', and even different from the 'Goldfish'. It is capable of reaching a superluminal speed of Mach 1.6 and there is no acceleration phase. Therefore, at the moment of ignition, the spaceship will also disappear instantly, because the human gaze cannot catch up with the faster-than-light stealth spacecraft. This is the unbridled power of the ocean, which neither Yahweh, Zeus, nor Jupiter can do, and it is simply beyond the most magnificent imagination of mankind. But this divine power is achieved through science and technology, and it is a real achievement. So, keep your eyes peeled and wait for the moment when the spaceship suddenly disappears! ”

Judy went on to explain: "The spacecraft's first stop is Jupiter, where it will experiment with high-speed emergency shutdown conditions and simulated hydrogen extraction conditions. Now that the newly ascended Chuma telescope has been aligned with Jupiter, let's hold our breath and wait for the good news to come from there! ”

The people, including the two commentators, did not know the "ultimate bad news" at the moment, so the crowd was filled with excitement before the expedition.

It's time to set sail. There was silence, and the monotonous countdown sound struck the frozen space: "...... 6、5、4、3、2、1。 Ignition! ”

A white light suddenly flashed in front of the ship. This time unlike the "Goldfish", because there is no reflection of the parabolic mirror, the white light does not converge into a single beam of strong light that shoots forward, but scatters in all directions, forming an explosion of light. Then, in a split second, the spaceship suddenly vanished, clean and complete. A long, opaque strip appeared in the sky, obscuring a narrow starry sky behind it, but it was a very brief time, and only a discerning person could get a very short glimpse. The obscured strip of starry sky immediately returned to normal, and the "Chaos Fish swam away quickly, and soon vanished." ”

Seven billion people stared at the long, empty shot. Moments later, there was a simultaneous burst of ecstatic cheers across the globe. The confluence of the cheers of seven billion people must have raised the Earth's atmospheric pressure by one percentage point at that moment. People left their televisions and took to the streets, where they spontaneously organized revelries. Unfortunately, most of the population missed the first echo of Noah, which was sent twenty-four minutes after the spacecraft set sail and arrived on Earth sixty-three minutes later. He Zizhou shouted passionately from 700 million kilometers away:

"This is the Noah! We have reached Jupiter in twenty-four minutes. Now the 'Noah' is at anchor to communicate with the Earth. We haven't received a call from Earth yet......"

This is an oversight. By the time Noah set sail, the Earth had already begun a continuous call to it at the same time. Such a call will continue forever until the end of the earth. The very strong call waves, combined with Noah's powerful tail antenna, can ensure that Noah can still receive the sound of its parent star within 100,000 light-years (provided that the spacecraft is hovering and the sound of the Earth has not been swallowed up by the disaster). But—the call should have started fifteen minutes early! Taking the departure time of "Noah" as the time origin, "Noah" at Mach 1.6 arrived at Jupiter 24 minutes later, but the call waves from the earth did not arrive until 39 minutes later! The faster-than-light "Noah" is like a monkey that has broken into the heavenly officials, disrupting all the classical programs, and the intelligent scientific gods have not yet learned to adapt to the new order.

3

Noah has now arrived near Jupiter, outside Jupiter's gravity. "Noah" stopped firing and hovered in an unpowered state. Alex adjusted the angle of the ship so that the bow viewing window was facing Jupiter. This is the largest planet in the solar system, and it occupies the entire observation window and even the entire sky with a forceful momentum. The spacecraft is at the edge of Jupiter's dark night zone at the moment, facing the aurora that stretches for tens of thousands of kilometers on the back side of Jupiter, and the aurora is swaying and deforming in space, like a dream, and under its reflection, the outline of Jupiter's dark hemisphere is clearly visible. The purple aurora at the poles is brighter, like the giant Jupiter with two purple glow-in-the-dark caps. Jupiter rotates so fast that it drives the clouds at the top of its atmosphere to rotate at a speed of about 35,000 kilometers per hour. The clouds are stretched into striped bands, parallel to the equator, alternating between light and dark. The structure of the cloud belt is very complex, and the fierce winding is like a fire of purgatory. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is even more hideous, like a poisonous eye of Satan, its color is slightly rosy in bright red, and the clouds tumble violently, forming powerful vortices.

The viewing window reveals the faint rings of Jupiter and numerous wooden moons. There's the hot-tempered Io (Europa), whose color is bright red and almost bewitching. It is the most volcanically active star in the solar system, and at this moment there is a volcanic eruption, which ejects a cloud of volcanic smoke hundreds of kilometers high, dragging over the rolling mountains and extremely long and wide canyons. There is also Europa, which is more famous (Europa), which is covered with ice layers up to several kilometers thick, and the bright ice surface is covered with criss-crossing ice cracks, some of which even penetrate up to 5,000 meters of ice.

The crew watched in awe at the wild and mighty Jupiter. It was not supposed to be Jupiter's palace[1]

, more like Satan's lair. Traveling faster than the speed of light has caused a serious psychological jet lag, and the earth, which was still in the green water and blue sky just now, has reached the hellish Jupiter in the blink of an eye - it is indeed in the blink of an eye! Twenty-four minutes, that is, the time of lunch, without acceleration and deceleration phases, without overload experience, the spacecraft easily crossed a distance of 700 million kilometers! The crew was stunned by the sudden change in their senses.

At this moment, Captain Alex, Chief Officer He Zizhou, and Science Officer Barrow were all in the cockpit. He Zizhou finished calling the earth and did not wait for a reply, because the earth's answer to the call would not arrive until two thirty-nine minutes later. He said to Alex:

"Start hydrogen extraction?"

"Let's get started. You come to drive. ”

According to the predetermined plan, "Noah" has already experimented with emergency stops in high-speed flight, as well as contact with the Earth in the berthing state, and now it is going to experiment with simulated hydrogen extraction in high gravity (Jupiter's equatorial gravity is 2.52G), because in the future voyage, hydrogen replenishment is the most important thing for the spacecraft, and it must be simulated in advance.

For chemically powered spacecraft, even falling in low gravity like Earth's is a very dangerous operation. The ship can only splash into the atmosphere at a very narrow angle, and too much or too little of the angle will cause the ship to crash. But it was too easy for Noah's nimble "Little Bee" to land, with strong power and two large wings that could be flexibly angled, enough to withstand Jupiter's strong gravity.

He Zizhou took two crew members and prepared to leave the mother ship and enter the "Little Bee" No. 1 through the corridor, at this time, the call of the earth came: "'Noah', this is the earth is calling, please answer when you hear it." 'Noah', this is the earth is calling, please answer ...... heard"

This is an automatic call from the Earth Signal Station, not an answer to the call of the "Noah" just now. He Zizhou ignored it, went straight to the cockpit of the "Little Bee", sat in the helm's seat, and manipulated it to start landing. The "little bee" spewed forward with a stream of plasma flames and dived into the atmosphere lightly, and the colorful image of Jupiter quickly passed through the observation window. Now gravity has appeared, however, the "little bee" is in partial free fall, and the gravity is weakened, showing a gravity of less than 0.3g, and He Zizhou and the three have to rely on seat belts to stay in the driver's seat. The landing went smoothly and they had time to take in the view. At this time, the spaceship was in the daylight zone, and from a distance, the dense clouds became thinner and lighter as the spacecraft entered, and the sun shone outside the clouds, the light was dim, and it was as small as an apple, and it lost its former imperial momentum under the obscenity of Jupiter. As the airship descends, the color of the air gradually changes, from red to brown, then to white, and finally to blue. At this time, when I looked back again, the dark sun had been submerged in the dense atmosphere. Of the sixty-eight wooden satellites, only Io and Europa cast a faint light in the night sky.

After that, the airship maintained a constant rate of decline, and now acting on them is a gravity of 2.52g. The three of them waited for the airship to splash down on the sea, but they didn't feel it at all. Jupiter's atmosphere and oceans are all composed of hydrogen, and its gas and liquid phases are gradually transitioning, without a clear sea surface. Of course, there is still a difference, the descent speed of the airship gradually decreases, which is due to the fact that the buoyancy of liquid hydrogen is greater than that of hydrogen. He Zizhou said to crew member Xiao Chen:

"It has entered the liquid hydrogen layer. Let's start extracting hydrogen. ”

"Okay."

The ship turned off the power, and gravity caused it to fall rapidly in liquid hydrogen. Xiao Chen opened the automatic liquid inlet and heard a hissing sound of liquid inlet. But the sound stopped after a dozen seconds, because the liquid hydrogen tank on the airship had been almost full. So far, the simulated hydrogen extraction has been successfully completed, and the crew even finds it a little unpleasant, and the excellent performance of the "little bee" makes the dangerous space activity a child's game and loses its excitement.

They reported to the mother ship that Bee 1 was about to return. The mothership's answer was heard from the intercom, but there was a strong electromagnetic distortion in Jupiter's atmosphere, and the voice in the intercom was noisy and indistinguishable. Vera, another crew member, denoised the noise, then shook her head at the two, indicating that the noise could not be canceled. He Zizhou said:

"No need to contact, let's go back."

Little Bee started the momentum and soared upwards with an acceleration of 39. Six hours later, the "little bee" surfaced out of Jupiter's atmosphere and saw the mother ship hovering overhead.

He Zizhou reported the process of simulated hydrogen extraction to the captain, and the "Noah" took a short rest to start the next step of the trip. Alex Says:

"I'll take the pilot, and you go see the mood of the crew, after all, they only learned the ultimate bad news two hours ago." He smiled and added, "Especially Willow Leaf." ”

He was right, because there was another factor to add to Willow - the sudden boarding of the ship. This decision was too sudden, it was made in ten seconds, and it was bound to be accompanied by a violent psychological shock. Because, the lover she ruthlessly abandoned is now regained, and her mother, brother and sister-in-law and niece, who she planned to accompany for life, as well as the dear old earth, suddenly parted from life and death! Such a steep and violent turn is enough to make a woman mentally shocked.

He Zizhou nodded gratefully to the captain, took the willow crown that Liu Ye gave him, left the cockpit, and came to the activity hall. The spacecraft had just stopped spinning and was in a state of gravity, so the ship's crew flew freely in the hall, shouting laughter. He Zizhou flew past the crowd and kept saying to the crew:

"All the best...... Simulated hydrogen extraction has been completed...... The echo of the earth has arrived......"

He saw three wives gathered together, freshly finished cutting the willow leaves with electric barber scissors, and the long hair that had been cut was carefully collected to avoid contamination in weightlessness. Liu Ye smiled and touched his bald head glowing with blue light, Qi Jichen held the mirror, and Liu Ye admired the mirror with interest. He Zizhou squeezed over, took off the willow crown on his head, and buckled it on the bald head of the willow leaf. He smiled and asked the four of them:

"How are you doing?"

He wanted to ask about the impact of the final bad news announced before the departure on the four of them, but it seemed that the excitement of the faster-than-light journey was far stronger than the bad news, so everyone answered the question. Kembora Says:

"Everything was fine. It's that when the speed exceeds Mach 1, there is a strange feeling in the body, as if it is happening in the depths of the cell, or even deeper. As for what exactly, I can't describe exactly. ”

The other three said they felt the same way. It is caused by spatial turbulence, and although the turbulence occurs in the fourth dimension, that is, in the deep structure of space, it still affects human perception, but it cannot be accurately described, because the creatures that evolved in the three-dimensional world have never experienced it. He Zizhou asked Aufra with a smile:

"The moment you boarded the plane, why did you suddenly think of dragging Willow Leaf onto the spaceship?"

Ovra said calmly, "There is no clear idea, I just feel that since the whole universe is ......" She didn't finish her sentence.

He Zizhou looked at the three wives, "But you gave me a problem: how should I place her?" ”

Obra said flatly: "It doesn't matter, as a special case, the captain will be accommodating." ”

Willow listened calmly to their conversation. He Zizhou looked at her, and his emotion was mixed with a hint of humor: Liu Ye had promised to leave a blood vein on the earth for her loved ones, but now that she broke her promise, she took it on the spaceship again! At the moment when he suddenly decided to board the plane, what did Liu Ye think? Was her deep anxiety about "alienation" shattered by the bad news? Anyway, at the last moment, Liu Ye came, which made He Zizhou very happy.

While at anchor, the spacecraft received a second response from the Earth, saying that it was grateful to them for their successful experiments, which laid a solid foundation for the construction of the Earth's hydrogen harvesting spacecraft. He Zizhou informed everyone of the echo of the earth, and asked everyone to record the first video letter and send it to the earth in a state of information compression. Willow is the longest of these voices, which is understandable, since she was the only one of the 1,000 and 1 crew members (not including the two chimpanzees) who came aboard the ship suddenly. She greeted her mother, brother and sister-in-law, little niece, Uncle Ji, Ji Jichang, and sister-in-law Xu, and said goodbye in a choked voice.

Subsequently, Alex, as a law enforcement officer, recognized the marriage of Liu Ye and He Zizhou, made up the formal procedures for them, and also held a simple wedding. The first day of the Noah's voyage was spent in the joy of the wedding, and then it began its second plan: the search for the Chu's.

It's too easy. "Chu's" was scheduled to fly towards Arcturus, so the route was known. Its top speed is 40 kilometers per second, or 8,000th of the speed of light, and considering the delay in the acceleration stage, it has traveled less than a thousandth of a light-year in eight years. When "Noah" was chasing it, although it could only fly intermittently using blind flight, it could easily reach half the speed of light. In other words, if it goes well, it will be able to catch up with the "Chu's" in one day. The faster-than-light spaceship completely upset people's mindsets, and even as captains, first mates, and spaceship science officers, Alex, He Zizhou, and Barrow sometimes felt that they couldn't believe the "too easy" results of mathematical calculations.

"Noah" calibrated its direction with Arcturus, moved at half the speed of light, and after a day and a half, "Chu's" was not found. Alex probably had already chased after him, so he resolutely turned his horse back and followed the path he came from to find it again. This time they slowed down, using only 0.2 times the speed of light, and after half a day they finally found the target. "Chu's" is in the sky of stars at the moment, the sky is dark, and the spacecraft itself does not shine, so it was not discovered for the first time. Lined with an extremely vast and desolate canopy, the "Chu's" is like a small beetle with a dark back carapace, and its highly reflective mirror shell also looks very dull in this almost dull environment. It crawls slowly against the boundless background, looking as if it is still there. "Chu's" is flying unpowered at the moment, and due to inertia, it maintains a speed of 40 kilometers per second. This is already an extremely outstanding achievement in the era of chemical power, but compared to the boundless universe, compared to the faster-than-light "Noah", its speed is so pitiful, like a cricket that has lost its thighs and can only crawl (the "Chu's" slender tail nozzle like a cricket's tail whisker triggers such an association), which makes the observer of "Noah" feel pity.

The "Chu's" was already very close, and the white light on the front of the "Noah" was reflected on its mirrored shell, and it immediately became silvery and shimmered, and regained its vitality. "Noah" easily caught up, and when the distance between the two sides was about 10 kilometers, "Noah" withdrew from the wormhole-like intermittent flight state. Because if you get closer, the spatial annihilation will damage the "Chu's". The "Noah" switched to the attitude adjustment nozzle to drive, reaching the same speed as the "Chu's", and slowly leaned on the latter, which was larger than itself.

He Zizhou and five crew members put on space suits and prepared to board the ship, including Liu Ye. Although Liu Ye is a newcomer to "Noah", she has actually received a full set of training, so He Zizhou enabled this novice in the first spacewalk so that she can re-enter the role as soon as possible.

The six of them floated hand in hand along the central corridor of the "Chu's", surrounded by ten half-empty fuel tanks and ten cargo tanks outside. A dim canopy is embedded in the gap between the frame structure. They flew a few hundred meters through the corridor, passing through the sealed command module (which is the ship's brain) and turning to a fork in the tunnel. Then they came to a huge fan-cylindrical cargo hold, which was one of the ten. Following the method described in the document, they opened the door from the outside and entered. The eye catches the eye with a series of dome-shaped chambers, four stories high, each containing 10,000 human eggs. Six men looked up at them, awe mixed with pity. Although the "Chu's" was only made and ascended to the sky eight years ago, it is now like a historical vestire. Relying on the rather primitive technology of the "Chu's", the chances of allowing these eggs to hatch and survive successfully on a certain planet are quite slim, and they are just desperate efforts made at that time with the level of technology.

The faster-than-light "Noah" is no longer the same as the "Chu's" - but aren't they also facing the same desperate situation? In the midst of the overall drastic contraction of the universe, "Noah" is no less a desperate effort of mankind, at least so far, there is no glimmer of hope in sight.

He Zizhou sighed in his heart and opened the smallest giant egg cabin, which was densely packed with human eggs, all of which were in a state of deep freezing. They don't need to consume energy to keep them frozen, they just rely on the low temperature of space itself. At the back of the cabin is Chu Guifu's refrigeration device, the isotope energy remains in working condition, and a small red light is faintly lit, adding a little vitality to the tomb-like cold and dead cabin. The door of the cryogenic device was transparent, and the old man fell asleep peacefully in the dim red light, he would have slept for at least forty-fifty thousand years. The six stood solemnly in front of the old man with respect. This huge rich man with a bad record in the first half of his life completed his transformation in the second half of his life and became a great man in the eyes of the space race. Now that they were going to disturb the old man's sleep, could he agree to leave these human eggs that he had intended to care for for the rest of his life and return to life in the crowd? But no matter what the outcome is, they still have to wake him up, and this is responsible for him.

They closed the hatch of the Dome Chamber, as the Cryophile needed to be in an aerobic atmosphere. Liu Ye whispered: "First Officer He, let me start it." ”

He Zizhou smiled and avoided the side, and Liu Ye stepped forward and reverently pressed the recovery button. The transparent door of the freezer unit was immediately filled with bright lights. The faint red light went out, and three more bright red lights began to shine. The six waited patiently. It would have taken two hours to complete the recovery, and during that time, "Noah" could have flown 34 billion kilometers! The air pressure in the cabin gradually increases, and the temperature gradually increases. When the two small red lights turned green, indicating that the atmosphere and temperature in the cabin were normal, the six people took off their spacesuit helmets. In the freezer, the heated blood was gradually pumped into the old man's body, and the old man's face slowly returned to blood. Eventually, his eyeballs began to roll slowly behind his eyelids, his eyelashes began to tremble, and then the third red light turned green. The resuscitation process was complete and he woke up.

The stiff consciousness gradually resumed flowing, Chu Guifu retracted his scattered gaze, and first saw a strange-looking person, this person was wearing a white space suit, but she was not wearing a helmet, she was clearly a woman, but her head was shiny. Moreover, the appearance of this bald woman seems to be somewhat familiar. Then his cochlear function was restored, and he heard the other person say softly:

"Uncle Chu woke up? I'm Little Willow, but I'm eight years older. ”

The small willow leaves of the Ma family? Eight years older? Chu Guifu struggled to gather his consciousness and asked, "Are you Liu Ye?" What's going on, the 'Chu's' didn't go to the sky? ”

"It's been eight years since we got to the sky, and we caught up with it on the second spacecraft. It's a long story, I'll help you out, eat a little liquid, and then go to our boat, and then give you a slow briefing. ”

Several bald men came over and helped him out of the freezer. He recognized one of them as Yangyang, the cub of the He family, but he was already an adult in his early thirties. They first gave him some water, a little liquid, and then put him in a space suit, and the four men carried him back to the "Noah". Before leaving, they restored the cabin to its original state and carefully closed the hatch.

Alex led a thousand crew members to warmly welcome the astronaut's senior. However, he knew that Chu Lao's body had not recovered yet, so he didn't let him stop in the activity hall for long, and sent him directly to the small restaurant. Four acquaintances (Alex, James, He Zizhou, and Liu Ye) accompanied him to his first meal. At this point, Chu Guifu's body has fully recovered, and he has also regained his usual good appetite, he is eating in a hurry, while listening to He Zizhou's introduction of the situation in the past eight years. Listening to this, his eyes darkened, and he blurted out:

"We tossed desperately, spent our family property to the bottom of our dicks, and finally found such a way to live, and we were blocked by your brother Tianle again?" The five million human eggs on the Chu's 'have nowhere to go? ”

Alex sighed, "Frankly, there's no hope in sight right now. The 'Noah' was about to fly at full speed towards the edge of the cataclysmic area, just to verify or overturn Chu Tianle's discovery. Hopefully we can overthrow it. ”

They told the old man that, according to the advice of the Friends of Joy Executive Committee, they were going to transfer the old man and the thirteen oviparous young children to the "Noah" for sailing, because the new ship was much safer after all. As for the other eggs, they can only maintain the original arrangement. In the new situation, if the old man changes his mind and does not want to wander the world again, "Noah" will be responsible for sending him back to Earth. Chu Guifu asked suspiciously:

"The 'Chu's has been flying for eight years, you said it flew 10 billion kilometers, you went around so far to send me back?"

Liu Ye smiled, "Uncle Chu, it's not troublesome." I have already told you that the 'Noah' is faster than light, and it will only take half a day to send you back. ”

"Half a day?"

"Yes, it's only a day's delay to go back and forth."

Chu Guifu was deeply shaken.

After the meal, Liu Ye led him to visit the "Noah". "Noah" is smaller than "Chu's", but more refined. They toured the event hall and visited more than 1,000 pigeon-cage-like crew quarters, as well as the command and engine rooms, where the nuclear fusion device is located, providing the entire ship with living energy and conventional flight power. All the crew members greeted Chu Guifu with admiration, including the two chimpanzees wearing the same costumes. Liu Ye told Uncle Chu that the two chimpanzees already had the intelligence of a ten-year-old child, which was the result of an intellectual explosion, and they could also speak simple English and Chinese through voice converters. Liu Ye Says:

"Az, Maru, ask Grandpa Chu how to go."

The two orangutans bowed respectfully: "Hello grandpa!" ”

Chu Guifu grinned, "Okay, okay, I added two more long-haired grandchildren." It's a pity that grandpa is empty-handed and can't give a meeting gift. ”

Liu Ye teased him, "You don't need to give a meeting gift, just kiss it, these two children like adults to kiss them the most." ”

Chu Guifu looked at the two faces covered with black hair, and was a little embarrassed, but he still kissed each of them. The two orangutans were radiant with joy, and Willow couldn't help but laugh.

Liu Ye also gave an overview of the content of the Noah's Convention. When Chu heard that Liu Ye was only one of He Zizhou's four wives, he looked at her strangely for a long time. Although he himself has a group of wives and concubines, deep down he still regards this as an "evil thing", which can only be done by a wicked person like him, and cannot fall on a clean girl like Liu Ye. Now this has become the normal rule of the spaceship society, and even he can't accept it for a while.

Liu Ye himself is a person who has experienced psychological "resurrection from the dead" and is very sympathetic to this old man. Uncle Chu has experienced life and resurrection not only physically, but also psychologically - think about it, he worked hard to make the "Chu Family" spaceship with all his family wealth and spent the rest of his life to preserve the bloodline of his family (which later expanded to humans), and suddenly learned that he had taken a dead end! He resolutely left the earth, ready to sleep for 450,000 years, and accompanied those people on that long and maddening voyage, only to be suddenly awakened within ten years! Psychologically fragile people may go insane because of this, but Uncle Chu does not. This reckless old man who has gone through the wind and rain must have steely nerves.

She tried her best to persuade Uncle Chu to stay on the "Noah". "I left my mother and family, and you will be my father from now on." She said, "For the faster-than-light 'Noah', there must be endless discoveries waiting in the world ahead, so the spaceship life will not be lonely." Noah will soon pass through a star to verify the protective effect of the wormhole on the spacecraft, which is much more exciting than the tiger drilling the ring of fire in the acrobatic troupe! But Uncle Chu was obviously not moved by her. He asked:

"How are you going to spend your days? You said that when a spaceship flies faster than light, you can't even see the scenery outside the window. He thought about it and added, "It's not okay to have more babies if you want to, or the spaceship will burst." ”

"You're right, but we can meditate."

"Meditate?"

"There is no pressure to survive in the spaceship society, there is no interference, and we will devote all our energy to the study of science, philosophy, literature and art. Maybe in 100 years, we will improve human science and technology by 5,000 years. Perhaps 500 great philosophers, 600 great writers, 700 great scientists will emerge from this 1,000-strong crew. Uncle Chu, I'm not exaggerating. ”

"You're right, but this day is not for me as a rough man." He said simply, "Since the whole universe is the same, and I am also disheartened, let those five million human eggs and thirteen oviparous human cubs fend for themselves." If you don't bother too much, send me back to Earth. ”

Liu Ye was disappointed, "Uncle won't come with us?" Am I talking so much in vain? However, we respect your opinion. You don't have to think about the hassle or not, as long as you make up your mind, we will send you back to Earth. Think about it. ”

In order to wait for the results of his consideration, the "Noah" anchored next to the "Chu's" and waited patiently for a day. Now they are accustomed to converting time into flight distance, and they can travel 400 billion kilometers less in one day of berthing! But a great man like Chu Guifu is worth spending time on him. "Noah" still arranges a day's life according to the rhythm of the earth, and at night, Liu Ye arranged Uncle Chu in his room and squeezed himself into He's room. She told her husband that it was estimated that Uncle Chu would not change his mind, so let's send him back to Earth. The next morning, she asked her uncle for advice again, and Chu said that it would not change, so the "Noah" began to make intense preparations. They first sent the message to Earth, where it would be received in nine hours, to make some necessary preparations for Chu's return. The condition of the "Chu's" was reviewed here to see if the place where it had been after boarding the ship yesterday had been restored. When He Zizhou and Liu Ye returned to the "Chu's" for inspection, Chu Guifu did not go, and he said that since he knew that there was only one dead end for these five million people's eggs, he couldn't bear to look at it again.

Before the reviewers returned, Chu Guifu had been gloomy and silent. Alex understands his mood and asks Willow to talk to him as much as possible. The reviewers returned, and the "Noah" was about to ignite and set off, when Chu Guifu, who had been silent, suddenly said:

"Liu Ye, I'm sorry. Tell Alex and Yangyang that I still want to go back to the boat and have a look. ”

Liu Ye was stunned for a moment, and immediately said obediently: "No problem, no problem, uncle, don't be polite to us, I'll tell the captain." ”

Alex, He Zizhou, and Barrow looked at each other after hearing this, and without saying anything, they readily agreed. So Liu Ye put on the space suit for the old man again, and the six people who boarded the ship for the first time escorted him over again. They circled the "Chu's", looked at the silver hollow armor, looked at the ten cargo holds, and then flew along the hollow corridor to the small giant dome where Chu had stayed. Chu Guifu stood in front of the cabin, looked at it with a depressed expression for a long time, and said:

"Please open it, I'm going to go in and have a look."

The four crew members looked at He Zizhou—they had just double-checked this place and closed it carefully. He Zizhou signaled with his eyes: Don't be afraid of trouble, open it. The hatch opened, and the seven people entered, Chu Guifu walked slowly in the cabin, touching the human eggs, touching the freezing device of the thirteen oviparous children, and finally stopped in front of his own freezing device. He turned around and said with a smile:

"Come to think of it, I'd better stay here. I've been busy working for half my life to get this thing done, they are all my blood, and I can't bear to throw them here. Besides, whether I go to the 'Noah' or return to Earth, I am a superfluous person, and even my son may not be welcome, so I should stay and continue to accompany them." If the whole universe collapses, it will collapse with them, and it will collapse if you go to Noah or return to Earth anyway, right? ”

Liu Ye shouted: "Uncle Chu! ”

Chu Guifu stopped her words, took her into his arms, and kissed her forehead: "Little Liuye, you said it, as long as I make up my mind, no one can persuade me." Go back and give me a good look for your mother, Tianle, and your Uncle Ji - oh, if you don't send me, you won't go back to Earth, then say hello for me on the phone. Come on, freeze me back again. ”

Liu Ye burst into tears and looked at her husband helplessly. He Zizhou thought about it, discussed with Alex and Barrow for a while with the spacesuit intercom, and said:

"Well, we respect Uncle's decision. Liu Ye don't persuade me, your sister-in-law said when she married Brother Tianle that no matter what kind of life it is, as long as you are calm and live happily, it is a good life. Uncle Chu decided to accompany these people for the rest of his life, and it was also a happy life, so he wanted it. ”

Liu Ye thought about it, figured it out, and said goodbye to his uncle with a tearful smile. The other five people hugged him in turn, and Alex and Barrow said goodbye to him on the intercom. Then Chu Guifu lay back on the refrigeration device and signaled with a smile:

Do it.

It was still Willow Leaf who reverently pressed the button. They silently watched as Uncle Chu's smile gradually froze, and the second time it solidified into eternity.

How many thousands of years of eternity should it be this time?

Six people returned. "Noah" left "Chu's" with conventional power. At this point, the "Noah" has finished its chores near the earth, and it can really start the voyage without distraction. He Zizhou informed the earth of the changes in the intercom and said goodbye. It's a one-way call, and Earth's answer will never catch up with them. After that, "Noah" will also dock once a year to talk to Earth, but it is likely that it will still be only a one-way call (as long as "Noah" does not berth for a long time), and the communication delay will be longer and longer, and in fact, it will only let Earth know what happened to the spacecraft years ago, decades ago, or even earlier. The little bird that has left the nest has severed its connection with the old nest and is about to fly away on its own.

What they didn't expect at the time was that the connection was not severed later.

"Noah" said a final goodbye to "Chu's", said goodbye to the solar system, and then turned into a white light.

[1]

Jupiter's western name is Jupiter, the king of gods in Roman mythology.