At that time, all kinds of incredible scientific and technological advances and unforeseen disasters followed, and the revolutionary invention of the billion-fold light-speed spaceship was followed by the collapse of the intelligence of all mankind, as if God intended to make mankind crazy in the rubbing of joy and sorrow.

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

1

Chu Tianle's solitary wave theory soon became recognized in the scientific community. The cataclysm passed without danger, and the world began to return to normal from the "wartime economy". The six spaceships were indeed wanted back by their original owners, because the world has already risen a space tourism craze, and most of them are now short trips, to the planets of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, Neptune, and Celestial, or to the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Nebula. However, long-distance travel has been actively prepared, and it is still limited to the Cowherd Star 16 light-years away from the Earth, because at the speed of Mach 1.8, it takes 18 years to make a round trip to the Cowherd Star, which already accounts for a quarter of the tourist's life. If you want to go to a farther planet, you will definitely have to develop a ship with a higher Mach number, but this will require a new theoretical breakthrough. These faster-than-light ships are hot, not to mention six, sixty is not enough. The new spacecraft is being built at a frenzied pace because, according to the theory of isolated waves, the supercritical vacuum that can excite the second-order vacuum will return to the tipping point after twenty-three years, and at that time, humanity will have no choice but to say goodbye to the faster-than-light era, so people are scrambling to get on the last bus.

Now that the catastrophe has passed, the UN Security Council proposes to dissolve the SCAC. However, after discussions at the UN General Assembly, it was decided that the SCAC should remain for the time being, and that it would not be formally disbanded until the aftermath was completely completed. The headquarters of "Friends of Music" shows no sign of disbanding at all, because the "brain", "cerebellum" and "heart" of "Friends of Music" are still working nervously at the same rhythm as in the past. Although the donations to the "Friends of Joy" will certainly have shrunk greatly or even dried up after the catastrophe, with the current financial situation, it will not be a problem to maintain the operation for ten or eight years.

Ji Renrui instructed Lu Junding to continue to strictly protect Chu Tianle. This thing is a bit illogical to say - you know, it was Chu Tianle, the sick pigeon, who tried his best to flap his sick and disabled wings, and brought an olive branch to Noah's Ark, proving that the flood had receded! But the problem is that the forecast of the flood that year was also made by Chu Tianle, although that forecast was not fake news, it was also a false alarm, which inevitably made the people feel inexplicable. It would be an exaggeration to say who would assassinate Chu Tianle because of this feeling, but with the lesson of the last time, there is no harm in being cautious.

Chu Tianle is very worry-free, since the death of his mother, he has been staying at home in the mountains. He always drove his wheelchair out of the hospital alone and stayed motionless for hours. His gaze was staring into the distance, staring at the blue sky and white clouds, staring at the deep sky behind the blue sky. Cao'er has learned not to disturb her father at this time, as long as her father "turns into a stone statue", she will go to Aunt Xu or Uncle Lu to play. After Yu Le Shui finished the official duties of the foundation, she went home to spend as much time as possible with her husband. She could feel that within her husband's stone-like shell was a rapidly spinning mind machine, already spinning on the verge of speed[1]

Finish. Yu Leshui thought that her husband must be fulfilling his promise to his mother, and was trying his best to find a way to rescue Liu Ye Yangyang. She also noticed that her husband often had a piece of paper on his lap with Pauli's formula printed on it, the formula that Pauli often boasted of as "having the beauty of simplicity and symmetry", and it seemed that her husband could not let go of his thoughts of Pauli either. This eccentric with albinism is probably the person with whom her husband knows best in the academic field.

It was long before she learned that in addition to the sense of responsibility and guilt that drove her husband's thinking machine into high speed, there was also a more powerful motivator - fear.

In her spare time, she also considered preparing gifts for Changchang, and Miao Qi said that he was going to get married soon, and he organized a group wedding with the people of Ji's fleet, which was said to be held in space.

The "little bee" flew above the "bubble" company, and today it was Kang Ping, the well-dressed general manager of the company, who personally drove it. He pointed triumphantly to the following:

"The following are the company's two main plants, please visit the brothers."

There were also seven people on board, six captains of the Ji fleet plus Emma. The "Little Bee" they flew on was a "military-to-civilian" product and a sightseeing vehicle modified from the "Little Bee" for space. Its hull, including the bilge, is basically completely transparent, and the fusion device, which has been extremely miniaturized, is placed on the upper part of the engine room, which does not affect the line of sight, so it can be easily overlooked. Today, under the cabin are two production halls arranged in a T-shape. A workshop is transparent, lying horizontally on the ground, made of transparent hollow balls with two ends cut off and connected, resembling a giant multi-segmented green worm. Its head is next to the road, and hundreds of large dump trucks line up in front of the workshop gate, loaded with garbage or industrial waste. After swallowing the garbage, the giant green worm is crushed and squeezed into shape in its body, and finally spits out variegated hollow balls from its tail. The balls look small from the sky, but they are life-size to a four-bedroom house – and they were designed for that. The other workshop is upright, but it's actually a spaceship, headfirst down on the ground, with longitudinal lines lined with magnetic coils for particle accelerators. Unlike spaceships, this "factory spacecraft" has a transparent shell added to the particle-accelerated orbit, and a vacuum is pumped into the sandwich.

The hollow ball spit out by the big green worm directly enters the spaceship-type workshop through the conveyor belt, and is excited inside to realize the reconstruction at the atomic level, so that the hollow ball made of garbage instantly becomes a beautiful transparent hollow ball, and then rolls out from the other end of the workshop. This end is also connected to the road, and the large dump truck that had previously delivered the garbage has been washed and returned here. The hollow ball rolls directly into the compartment, the carriage automatically stands up, and the vehicle drives away. The process is streamlined, with one piece being completed every half minute.

Ji Jichang asked: "With such an efficient production line, why don't you build a special railway?" ”

"It's too late for this factory, and the next ten factories will have to build special lines. Brother Changchang, I have to hurry, you big-headed scientists have said that after twenty-three years, the vacuum will not be able to be excited, and my factories will be useless. I need to hurry up and digest as much garbage as I can from the world. This is my grandfather's last order to me, and his old man is there," he said, pointing to the heavens, "and staring at me every day." ”

Ji Jichang said: "What Brother Changchang, it's Brother Chang!" We've just verified. ”

The two of them are bare-ass friends, Kang Ping is big, and he has always been a brother, but not long ago, after verification, Ji Jichang was three days older than Kang Ping. Kangping said with a hippie smile:

"It's only three days, it's a negligible error, and the old name is used to it, so it's changed. Besides, you're here to beg my brother today, shouldn't your mouth be sweeter? ”

"Please don't have a sweet mouth, our rules, the one who borrows money is the uncle."

Emma smiled and said, "Brother Niu Niu, ignore him. I call you brother, and we all call you brother. ”

Capdevilla, Tian Mi, Ogfner, and Kasseline said in unison: "Yes, we all call brother." Only Ma Ming has a relatively old personality and is older than Kang Ping, he didn't shout, but he just smiled and didn't deny it.

"That's right. Let's go to my office area. ”

Not far from it is the office area, each building has a different shape, but all of them are spherical as the basic unit. The main building is a 30-storey building, which is spoked from the cross-sectional view, with 12 spheres connected into a large circle on the outer circle, which are stacked layer by layer to form a column 90 meters high. In the center of the cylinder is a column formed by a single sphere connected up and down, and an elevator and a walking ladder are installed inside. The cylindrical shape is connected to the outer ring by six spokes, which are still spheres. All units are transparent and have an unobstructed view of the interior, with a floor at a third height of the ball, on which is the space for personnel to move, and under which various facilities and pipelines are placed. Employees are working at their desks.

The "little bees" landed on the roof of the building, and Kang Ping led them to the general manager's office on the 30th floor through the elevator. The professional female secretary smiled sweetly, poured tea or coffee for everyone, turned the walls to opaque green, and then withdrew, gently closing the door. Kangping Says:

"Brother Chang, you said to find a confidential place to talk, this is it. If you have something to say, your business is my Niu Niu's business. ”

He once again emphasized the title of brother and brother, apparently trying to "take advantage of the danger of others" to create a fait accompli. Ji Jichang smiled and didn't bother with him anymore. Emma spoke first:

"Brother Niu Niu, we need a lot of money."

"Didn't say that. Although my company nominally belongs to my grandfather, Uncle Chu and Uncle Ge, the three of them have already let me go, and all this money belongs to 'Friends of Le'. ”

"No, I want to hide this matter from the 'Friends of Joy' for the time being."

Kang Ping hesitated for a moment, "Then this matter is a little more troublesome, but—you go on first." ”

"We want to hold a group wedding in the sky, and the brothers of the Ji fleet are going, so we need to rent six wormhole-type spaceships."

Kang Ping smiled, "I thought it was a big deal, I could solve the rent of six spaceships with my private money......" He suddenly paused, and looked at Ji Jichang with sharp eyes, "You guys...... Still want to do that baby universe? ”

Ji Jichang smiled, "I said earlier, I can't hide it from you old profiteer." yes, we can't let go of that. ”

Kang Ping shook his head, "The catastrophe is easy to pass, the old universe is safe and sound, human beings have caught up with the hydrogen era again, and the small days are so rich that it is simply a paradise flowing with milk and honey, which I didn't dare to dream of thirty years ago." In the face of such a paradise, you still can't die that heart? That's not much like suicide. ”

"Yes, we can't die that heart. This opportunity to explore the new world is fleeting, and we will not be blind if we don't seize it. ”

"Ji Fleet of 6,000 people are going?"

"We haven't connected it yet, we'll wait until we get our hands on it. But I estimate that at least half of them will follow. ”

"I heard that Uncle Ji, Uncle Chu, and Aunt Yu have all expressed that they want you to give up this unnecessary adventure?"

"Yes, they did say no." Ji Jichang said frankly.

Kang Ping's sharp eyes stared at the seven people in turn, and the seven of them looked at him quietly with calm faces. Kangping turned to look out through the wall, and under his gaze, the wall automatically returned to transparency, revealing a clean blue sky with faint white clouds moving slowly. After a long time, Kang Ping turned his head, shook his head, and said:

"Brother is a layman, a businessman, and a marketman, and he really can't understand your madness. Leave this matter on me, and I won't go to kill it. If I help you, it's almost the same as helping you commit suicide, and maybe even get into a lawsuit. Tian Mi and Emma wanted to talk, but Ji Jichang stopped them with his eyes. But just now I suddenly remembered my grandfather. It was a strange old man who only liked to play with children and make friends with young people all his life. I'll let you tell you a secret, he is actually very withdrawn among his peers, and he hardly interacts with everyone, because he has never been interested in general 'adult topics', such as stock speculation, class treatment, parental shortcomings, etc. It can be said that he was always a big child, and some strange ideas always popped up in his mind, one after another, until he was over eighty years old, and he could not stay at home to enjoy happiness, and finally threw his old life on the moon. "Everyone looked at the sky with his gaze, and now they can't see the moon, but they seem to see the three martyrs behind the moon." As I said, as a merchant, I will definitely refuse your request and will never go to the thief ship. But it occurred to me just now, if my grandfather was here at this moment, what would he say? I think he'll agree. Of course, I'm not saying that Uncle Ji and their decision was wrong, no, that must be right, but my grandfather is not bad either. Both opposing opinions are true. He smiled and said, "Anyway, no matter who is right or wrong, Brother Niu Niu has decided to help you." ”

Ji Jichang praised the festival: "Good! Just as I expected! He smiled and added, "You will be my brother in the future, and I will never fight again." ”

"Now you know that your mouth is sweet? Okay, brother will help you fulfill this wish. It's just that after you're gone, how am I going to see your parents? ”

"We will leave a farewell letter before we leave, and we will not embarrass you if we say it thoroughly."

"Let's not talk about this for now, since the big policy has been decided, the side issues will be put later. Now let's start with transactional scheduling. To be honest, because of the accelerated expansion of production capacity, I am very short of funds, and I can't afford to buy six spaceships for a while......"

"We've taken that into account, so there's no need to buy six ships, just a month's rent for six ships."

Kang Ping looked at him suspiciously, "And ...... You guys just play missing? Let the creditor scold your ancestors for eight lifetimes? ”

Ji Jichang said indifferently: "My dad said that doing big things is not informal-it seems that your grandfather also said this." The point is that we are doing the right thing, we are going on an expedition as a representative of humanity, so although our behavior is a bit tricky, we have the confidence in our hearts and are not afraid of being scolded by others. Besides," he said with a smile, "the creditor must be more lenient with the dead—you know, whether or not we survive in the new universe, we are already dead in this universe anyway." ”

There was pathos in the bones of these words, which made Kangping look at them for a long time. In the end, Kang Ping came back to his senses and shook his head with a smile, "No, this kind of practice is too scoundrel, and it will ruin Uncle Ji's reputation, as well as the reputation of 'Friends of Music'." Listen to my brother, I'm going to do this: lease six spaceships in the name of my company, and then secretly load them with enough supplies for you for three years. This has the advantage of using a spaceship to transport supplies in the name of a factory, which is not easy to arouse suspicion. Then I made a big splash in the media in the name of holding a public welfare event, saying that I would hold a space group wedding for thousands of people for free. When you succeed in disappearing, I will quickly carry the debt. Although I can't come up with that much money at the moment, as long as ten new factories are put into operation, there is a lot of money. Moreover, I am not spending this money for public and private purposes, and I think you are still doing the business of 'Friends of Joy'. ”

"Yes, it's definitely still the cause of 'Friends of Music'. Brother Niu Niu, thank you for your kindness. If we can gain a foothold in another universe, we will repay you well. Emma said with a smile.

"How do you repay?"

"Advertise your products for free in New Universe. Otherwise, I'll just give you a planet. ”

"This favor is a little too far away, I understand the kindness; As for the advertising effect, I don't count on it. When are you ready to go? ”

"Mid-Autumn Festival, that is, a month later."

"Time is tight. Now, make a list of supplies, and I'll prepare them for you. ”

Ji Jichang looked at Tian Mi, she immediately took out a thick list and handed it over with a smile. Kang Ping said mockingly: "The list has been prepared a long time ago? Looks like you're going to eat me. He took the list and read it roughly, "No problem, I can't do it except for the light weapons you want - China does not allow arms deals, and I don't want the company to suffer lawsuits - I will leave the rest to me." ”

"It's okay, let Emma go to the United States to buy weapons."

Kang Ping suddenly thought of a question, "Oh yes, I know that the thousand and six crew members of the Ji fleet have been pre-matched to 3,000 couples, but they haven't had time to hold a wedding yet." What if the people who sign up to go are not husband and wife, or if there are more men and fewer women? ”

Ji Jichang said nonchalantly: "Then re-pair." If there is a disparity between men and women, it is polygamy or polyandry. Don't forget, that's what the Noah is. ”

Kang Ping shook his head, "I would never let me do this." However, you are people of the new universe, and you must be new ideas, so I will not take a moral class. ”

Even if this important event was negotiated, it went smoothly as expected. The seven representatives were all excited and surrounded Niu Niu in the middle. The four women held Kang Ping and said endless sweet words. Emma proposes:

"Brother Niu Niu, let's talk about such an important matter, shouldn't we celebrate tonight?"

"Needless to say, I'm the host again, right? Who made me a brother! Okay, I'll let the secretary arrange a meal every night from today. We see each other and see each other less, Changchang, although I know that you are going to do business, but I really can't bear to say goodbye. ”

After a month is intense secret preparation. Each captain spoke to a thousand of his men on the phone, and the first thing in the call was that the other party must promise to keep it strictly confidential, whether they agreed to what was going to be said or not. After receiving the promise, the various captains communicated the secret plan. The departure time is set for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and those who are willing to go must register fifteen days before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Calls came one after another, and by the deadline, there were exactly over 4,500 applicants. The "male-female pairing problem" that Kang Ping once worried about basically did not appear, because most of the applicants went together after consultation with husband and wife. There were also a small number of solo flights, and Ji Jichang asked Tian Mi to be responsible for re-deploying. Although this was a large-scale covert operation, it was not very difficult to carry out because it had been trained for many years, especially after a real combat exercise. So everyone knows exactly what to do, and perhaps the most important thing is that they are mentally prepared and have the courage to see death as home. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is three days after the National Day, before the National Day, Ji Jichang gave his companions a holiday, let everyone go home to accompany their relatives, this is the final reunion. Of course, everyone was sternly warned in advance: when they returned home, they would inevitably face the invasion of family warmth, and if they changed their minds, they would not have to come back, but they must not reveal their secrets.

Ji Jichang also went home. Changchang's mother has been busy preparing for the wedding for a long time, but she can't get an idea. Changchang and Emma had said that they would go to space, in the old place they had been to last time, for the most chic group wedding, and most of the old companions of the Ji fleet would attend. Such a chic tourist marriage is of course good, but the new house also has to be prepared, but the two babies don't care about the new house, and it is not too late to worry about the new house after the wedding. The strange thing is that Ji Renrui didn't care about the new house, so Miao Qi had to be busy alone.

The day before the National Day, my son came back, but Emma did not come with her, saying that she had gone back to the United States to visit relatives and would be back tomorrow. Miao Ji complained: "Seeing the wedding date, the parents over there promised to come, what kind of relatives are they going to visit at this time!" The son didn't explain, just giggled. She had no choice but to take her son to see the new house and ask him what should be improved, and Changchang was full of praise and said that everything was fine. Then I asked my parents to take advantage of the "Eleventh" holiday to travel, and have fun for a few days, and it was best to bring Uncle Chu's family to go with him. Ji Renrui said flatly:

"Don't go anywhere, just spend the holidays at home. Maybe your Uncle Chu has something to look for you. ”

On the morning of "Eleventh", Emma had just arrived home, and Chu Tianle really called Changchang and asked him to go on vacation in the mountains. "By the way, I'll talk to you about one thing. Changchang, call the other captains of the Ji fleet together, and Emma will come too. ”

Ji Jichang and Emma looked at each other, and there was a little drum in their hearts, Uncle Chu asked all six captains to go to him at this moment—when the secret operation was about to begin—could it be that he was aware? Anyway, since Uncle Chu invited, they would definitely go, and it was not impossible to take this opportunity to talk thoroughly. With Uncle Chu's heart, he should support them.

He immediately rushed with seven companions, and one more was Xi Mingzhe, who was not very old, but steady and capable, and quick thinking, and was the captain he had recently looked at. Sister-in-law Xu prepared a lot of snacks for the guests, and took out the mooncakes prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival in advance. Cao'er rarely saw so many guests, and she was crazy and pulled Brother Changchang and Sister Emma and didn't let go. Someone suggested visiting the crematorium and other attractions, which are the places mentioned in Aunt Yu's famous interview twenty-nine years ago. Yu Leshui said, "Okay, I'll take you there." Chu Tianle suddenly said:

"I'll take them there. It's been a long time since I've been there, and I'm just thinking about going there. Hey, Changchang, do you have the strength to carry me on your back? ”

Ji Jichang smiled and said, "No problem, we eight young people can't deal with you?" With that, he pulled him out of his wheelchair and carried him on his back. After carrying it on his back, he was a little sad, Uncle Tianle was as light as a swallow, no wonder Aunt Yu once joked, saying that carrying him was like Sun Dasheng carrying a red child. Chu Tianle said to his wife:

"You don't have to go up, you can play with the grass at home."

The grass doesn't follow, and the noise has to go. Yu Leshui squatted down and whispered to her, "You can go." But Dad wants to talk to these uncles about serious things, and you are not allowed to make trouble, you are not allowed to go crazy, okay? ”

Cao'er asked sensibly in a low voice, "Is Dad going to be a stone statue again?" I know, I don't make trouble. ”

So, Yu Leshui and the grass also followed. A group of people came to the crematorium first, and the ground was charcoal chips left over from two burnings, and on top of it was a new pile of pine wood, which had not yet dried, which was prepared for the next deceased (it should be Chu Tianle). The scene in front of her inevitably aroused people's sadness, and Cao'er also thought of her grandmother, with tears in her eyes. Everyone hung silently for a while, Ji Jichang settled Chu Tianle on a stone, and eight young people sat around him on the ground. This disabled person has always been a god in their hearts, and Chu Tianle must have a deep meaning when he summoned them this time. They quieted down, their eyes staring at Chu Tianle, and of course they were inevitably a little "ghostly". Chu Tianle said:

"Come, let's talk. You're all at the heart of the Hime-Ship fleet, and I know that after that operation was canceled, your hearts haven't been scattered and you don't want to give up on the exploration of the baby universe, right? ”

Ji Jichang looked at Uncle Chu and looked at his partner, although Uncle Chu didn't say it thoroughly, it is estimated that he already knows something about secret operations. Ji Jichang said briefly: "Yes." ”

Tian Mi hurriedly changed the topic: "Uncle Chu, we are not willing to let the faster-than-light era end in twenty-three years. Can you show the way? ”

"I've been looking for it, and it's been very hard."

"Did you find it?"

"I seem to see an island at the end of the sky, but I don't know if it's a mirage. I have invited you here today just to ask you to help me confirm or deny it. ”

The eyes of the eight people suddenly lit up! Uncle Chu has never said lightly, he should be seventy or eighty percent sure when he says this. If...... That's exhilarating! They all forgot about the "ghost fetus" in their hearts for the time being, and pricked up their ears. Yu Leshui, who was standing outside the circle, also listened carefully, knowing that her husband's thinking for half a year was about to bear fruit.

"Let's take a step further and say two well-known trivia. We all know that chemical reactions are often inseparable from catalysts, such as platinum, rhodium, copper, manganese dioxide, etc., which can promote the reaction speed, but do not participate in the reaction, and still retreat after the reaction. ”

This is indeed the most basic common sense, and middle school students know it. But everyone knew that Chu must have a deep meaning in telling these common senses, and they all listened carefully.

"Also, there are ghost variables in mathematics. Some integrals can't be performed, and you need to set a ghost variable as the intermediate value, and the good thing is that after the integration is over, the ghost variable can be completely eliminated. So, it can also be seen as a catalyst in mathematical operations. ”

Everyone nodded.

Chu Tianle began the topic, "You may remember how the three-state vacuum theory came about. More than 20 years ago, a 10-year-old boy named Yang Yang said that if there was energy in the vacuum, flying in space would be like sailing on a sea of energy. Because a conventional spacecraft spends most of its energy on accelerating the fuel itself, if energy is readily available from space, even in very small amounts, such as the light pressure of a star, it can eventually bring the spacecraft infinitely closer to the speed of light. ”

The faces of Yang Yang and willow leaves appeared in front of Yu Leshui, and they were sailing into the far space in high spirits, not knowing that there was a quagmire waiting in front of them. Cao'er whispered, "Mom, I know Uncle Yangyang and Aunt Liuye!" Yu Leshui put her finger to her lips and asked her to listen to her father quietly.

"It was inspired by this ten-year-old boy that I made the discovery that a supercritical vacuum can be annihilated by high-energy excitation and converted into low-intensity light pulses that release slightly more energy than they excite and can be used to drive spacecraft. It can be said that 'vacuum annihilation is a release reaction' is the basis of all applications. ”

Ji Jichang said: "Yes. It was only later that there was an unexpected change, and the spaceship was changed from light pressure drive to 'wormhole drag'. ”

"Yes, you're right. However, due to the inertia of thinking, people have not been able to realize the key mechanism contained in this for a long time, that is: the condition that 'vacuum annihilation belongs to the release reaction' is actually just a catalyst and ghost variable in the discovery process of the faster-than-light spacecraft, and it can be completely retreated! To put it another way, whether or not you can achieve faster-than-light flight depends only on whether you can annihilate the vacuum, and it doesn't matter whether it is a positive reaction to release energy or a negative reaction to absorb energy! He paused for a moment and said calmly, "Changchang, think about it, what inspiration can you get from it?" ”

He stopped talking, beckoned Cao'er to come over, and took Cao'er into his arms, and the father and daughter whispered gossip. Here, the eight people were silent and thinking feverishly. Chu Tianle gave them a problem, behind the problem may be a Strait of Magellan leading to the new world, and they have to fully use their brains to use the wisdom given by God to mankind to discover it. After more than ten minutes, Ji Jichang spoke first:

"Uncle Chu, you are saying that the original spacecraft design was based on a supercritical dense vacuum, which can be annihilated by high-energy excitation, and release low-intensity light energy, and the release energy is greater than the excitation energy."

"Yes."

It is this that shackles our thinking, if we don't care whether it is releasing energy or absorbing energy, and then think about it, can the vacuum below the critical value be excited? Because we can dramatically increase the intensity of excitation, even if it requires a huge amount of energy! We already have fusion technology, and faster-than-light ships can easily get fuel while sailing. Because hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, liquid hydrogen planets abound. Moreover, wormhole flight can be parked at any time, without having to spend a lot of fuel and time for parking once. ”

"Yes!"

"And it's not just a dense vacuum below the critical value, maybe even a standard vacuum, or even a sparse vacuum, can be excited? Of course, the excitation energy must be much higher, at least above 8TeV, otherwise Fermilab and CERN would have been annihilated by vacuum excitation in a standard vacuum since the last century. He added, "But it also shows that Zelidovich's worries back then were not unfounded." ”

Chu Tianle didn't answer again, but the light on his face already said everything. He looked up at his wife. His wife read the silent words in his eyes—I had found the way to catch up with Noah, and my mother could rest in peace above the Nine Heavens. Ji Jichang exchanged fire-like glances with his partners, unable to hold back the ecstasy in his heart. Mankind once opened the door to faster-than-light flight, and then sadly learned that this gate was about to close, and the first bad news it brought was the tragedy of "Noah". But Uncle Chu's new vision has the potential to reopen this door, and once it is opened this time, it will never be closed again! Human beings no longer have to worry about the imminent end of the era of dense vacuum, because the standard vacuum or even the sparse vacuum is not the weak water described in "Journey to the West", and it is still possible to sail! The crematorium was filled with a deep joy, and they did not know it at the moment, and even greater joy awaited them. Chu Tianle asked:

"So imagine how fast the ship would be if the standard vacuum could be excited?"

Ji Jichang misunderstood the meaning of his words, and said: "I think it should be able to catch up with the speed of the ship in the dense vacuum, there is no essential difference between the two in principle, as long as there is sufficient energy...... he was suddenly stunned, because he realized Uncle Chu's true intention in an instant. A huge gate of heaven suddenly opened, and the bright light that burst out dazzled his eyes, and the extreme joy almost caused him to go into cardiac arrest...... He looked at Uncle Chu's eyes, that's right, Uncle Chu's thoughts must be like this. But the joy came too suddenly, and he didn't dare to move forward. He looked at his companions, they were all extremely smart guys, and they also saw the gate of heaven at this moment, but they were also dazzled, and they didn't dare to speak lightly for a while. Ji Jichang thought carefully for a while before he slowly spoke:

"According to the three-state vacuum theory, the flight by excitation vacuum bubble, or displacement flight, the spacecraft is stationary relative to the local space, so there is no relativistic effect, there is no infinite increase in mass and infinite shortening of length, and there is no magic spell of the speed of light limit, so there is no theoretical limit but only a technical limit to the speed of the ship."

Chu Tianle nodded lightly, "Yes." ”

"The bottleneck of the technical limitation was how high the excitation frequency could be, and it was mainly limited by two factors: how long it would take for a vacuum to return to a standard vacuum after an excitation due to a rush towards the 'navel of the ocean', and how long it would take for the standard vacuum to return to a dense vacuum under ambient pressure."

"Yes."

"The first recovery time is very short, and according to your theory of 'vacuum minimum element steady-state growth', it only takes Planck time to restore a vacant vacuum to a standard vacuum, which can be omitted in engineering. The second recovery time is longer, about microseconds, so the spacecraft's excitation frequency mainly depends on it, and now the ship's speed can only reach Mach 1.8, which is limited by it. ”

"Yes. What's next? ”

"If we increase the excitation intensity so that the standard vacuum or even the sparse vacuum can be excited, then we will cross this bottleneck in one fell swoop, and if we want to increase the speed, we don't need to consider the time of space recovery, we just need to increase the particle collision frequency of the accelerator!" Ji Jichang said.

"So what is the maximum speed of the ship?" Chu Tianle asked, "You might as well make two preliminary estimates: first, the vacuum void excited can reach the level of two thousand meters, that is, each excitation can make the spacecraft move forward by one thousand meters; Second, suppose the frequency of particle collisions could be increased to 30 trillion times per second. The above two values can be achieved through hard work. ”

Emma cried out, "Impossible! That's 100 million times the speed of light! ”

Ji Jichang immediately said: "Don't be busy asserting that it is impossible. Near-light speed ships, which were once impossible, have since come to fruition; One point eight times the speed of light, which was once more impossible, has also been realized. So, as long as you break through the limits of relativity, nothing is impossible. ”

The crowd exchanged joyful glances, and passion pounded in their chests. 100 million times the speed of light! Even the most "bold" science fiction writers would not dare to make such an assumption. Chu Tianle said calmly:

"I can't say for sure that it will come to fruition, but theoretically there is no limit. Changchang, I, your Aunt Leshui, and your father all know that you still can't let go of the baby universe and are organizing a secret operation, right? ”

Ji Jichang looked at his partner, a little embarrassed, and then nodded briskly in acknowledgement.

"I suggest you let it go for good. Your father was right when he said that it was a necessary adventure when humanity was in a desperate situation; In peacetime, that's unnecessary madness. Not to mention that there are more important things to do now. He looked at everyone, "I hope you will take over this and confirm or deny it." ”

Ji Jichang didn't hesitate at all this time, "What I didn't say, let's do it!" Uncle Chu, thank you for giving us this honor. ”

Chu Tianle waved his hand casually and said with a smile: "If you think it's feasible, then stab this news to your dad and let the whip of God whizz again." You have to hurry up and use your strength to get it out as soon as possible! With it, the 'Noah' was saved. ”

The crowd laughed and said, "Okay, let that whip sound again." In fact, we are already addicted to his whipping, and we can't leave it, and if we don't get whipped for a month, our skin will itch. ”

"Okay, today's business is over, you can go to the mountains to play. Changchang, you sort this matter out and sort out a framework with thick lines. In three days it will be the Mid-Autumn Festival, and you are welcome to come back to the mountains to play on that day, and by the way, tell me about your framework. He said casually, "Perhaps, I'll ask you to do one more thing." ”

The eight of them all keenly grasped the weight of this last sentence, and the torch of their eyes shone again. Everyone first collected the passion and excitement in their hearts, the men of the eight took turns to carry Chu Tianle on their backs, and the women took turns to carry the grass, shouting and shouting into the mountains to play, to watch the various attractions mentioned in Aunt Yu's article, like a waterhole strung by a thin stream, and the willow leaf fish in the pool. Yu Leshui looked at her husband's calm and peaceful expression, and was very relieved.

The six captains immediately informed the members of the covert operation: the matter was suspended, pending notice. Then came three days of frenzied thinking and preparation. As soon as Ji Jichang came to a conclusion, he quietly informed his iron buddy Kangping in advance, because, if this theory is confirmed, Kangping's factory will not have a life span of twenty-three years, but the same life as heaven and earth! Kang Ping cheered and said: "If this dream comes true, you are still my brother, and I will not fight for the rest of my life!" Thinking about it, he added:

"The baby universe plan is definitely going to pass, but the space group wedding will go ahead as usual, and I will cover all the manpower expenses!"

Ji Jichang agreed with a smile.

Three days later, eight people entered the mountain again. Sister-in-law Xu has already purchased mooncakes and fruits, and this time she has prepared more abundantly. Eight people accompanied Cao'er to go crazy for a while, and swept away the moon cakes, pomegranates, peanuts, and melon seeds on the stone table in the courtyard. Ji Jichang said:

"Uncle Chu, it's time for me to report the framework to you, but let's go to the old place and talk about it, it's more elegant and quiet to admire the moon there. And," he said with a smile, "I think the aura there is especially good for thinking." ”

The Chu couple agreed with a smile, so the group of people carried Chu Tianle and Cao'er on their backs as usual, and climbed to the mountainside with a smile. A bright moon shone on the hollow valley, on the slanted pine trees on the cliffs, and on the pine firewood stacks in the empty field. Ma Ming pointed to the full moon and thought about it:

"If the circle of power that Mr. Pauli had activated had been three thousand kilometers larger, the moon would have completely disappeared into a huge spherical disk. Then today's scenery is very different. Think of it, a big moon big enough to shade half the sky, as bright as the sun! ”

Capdevilla said: "You are not fully arranged. It is extremely bright at a full moon, but it is less bright when it is not a full moon, because the thin disk shape of the moon is only a long arc when it is illuminated by oblique sunlight. Humanity would better find a way to turn the back of the moon around, and by then, hey, a giant concave mirror, the moonlight will be more intense than the sun! ”

Xi Mingzhe said: "If you turn around, you can see the three people in the giant bowl with a telescope. ”

At the mention of the three deceased, everyone couldn't help but feel sad, but the tone of sadness was tragic. Catherine offered to observe a moment of silence for them, and everyone responded. After a moment of silence, Tian Mi said with a smile:

"Actually, I envy them, it's the horse leather shroud in the age of technology. Especially Kang Buming's grandfather, I have seen a lot of his works, he has always been a passionate big boy, an old naughty boy, and always adhere to the ideal of heroism. To have such a very sci-fi grave can be called a well-deserved death. ”

Ji Jichang asked everyone to stop gossiping and began to report to Chu Tianle on the framework they had set. These days they have completed theoretical calculations that predict that an increase in excitation energy to ten trillion electron volts will excite the annihilation of a standard vacuum; As for the sparse vacuum, the excitation energy varies according to the degree of its "sparseness", but does not exceed twelve trillion electron volts. This energy level is certainly not easy to achieve, but it is not unattainable either. They intend to gnaw this hard bone in three years. The rest of the work is relatively easy, because there is already a strong technical base, and with the experience of building forty wormhole spacecraft, as long as the bottleneck of ten trillion electron volts is broken, it will take another three years to build a practical spacecraft. In just three years, the Mach 100 million spacecraft, far beyond the most daring imagination of mankind, will be realized! Until now, they are like dreaming. It is a pity that although mankind will have a means of transportation of Mach 100 million, there will be no means of communication at the same speed, and communication will lag far behind transportation. Human society has to go back to the era before radio communications, relying on mail wagons (Mach 100 million spaceships) to deliver letters from distant relatives. The only way to solve this problem is to wait for the next technological breakthrough, such as quantum instantaneous communication.

Chu Tianle had no objection to the progress of this plan. Ji Jichang also said that he had already talked to his father, who immediately communicated with SCAC, because the latter's strong financial support was still needed for the next development. "And guess what?" Ji Jichang smiled happily, "SCAC agreed very happily, and I didn't fight at all." Later, the current Chief Executive Committee, Admiral Debirov, even made a special effort to express his gratitude to the 'Friends of Music'! Because with this plan, the SCAC will no longer be disbanded, and the Security Council will not mention this stubble at all! ”

Chu Tianle and Yu Leshui were also very happy. Chu Tianle said: "Okay, this is a great thing. Over the past few decades, SCAC and Friends of Joy have been working together very well, and they can be regarded as a family. It's a pity that Abikar didn't see this day. ”

"Yes. The people say that the 'Friends of Joy' plus half of the SCAC are the de facto leaders of the world, and for this, the Security Council has been jealous. Moreover, as long as the development of the Mach 100 million spacecraft begins, this political dynamic will continue. ”

Ji Jichang was telling the truth, but neither of Chu Yu answered the conversation.

"That's all we need to do with our framework. Uncle Chu, last time you said that you still want us to do one thing after the billion-fold light-speed spaceship. We can't wait! Chu Tianle smiled and nodded, and Ji Jichang preemptively said, "However, we have also thought of one thing in the past two days. Let's talk about it first, and see if it's the same thing as you. ”

"Okay, let's talk first."

"That matter was first proposed by Tian Mi, let her say it."

Tian Mi is a little girl with a round face, who looks like a cute cat. She is twenty years old, the youngest of the seven, but she became a captain of the Ji fleet at the age of nineteen, and she has her own special features. She smiled and said:

"My proposal that day was – circumnavigating the universe! Just like Magellan, a circumnavigic voyage was used to test Einstein's theory of a super-circular universe! She looked at everyone and explained, "Actually, this is not my initiative, but Kang's grandfather's, the old man who died on the moon." He once wrote a passionate novel on the theme of circumnavigation. In the novel, the ship's name is the Kwafu, which is the same name as the ship I commanded. She corrected with a smile, "Actually, I have to say that it was because I had read that novel that I suggested that the ship should be named the 'Kuafu'." However, Grandpa Kang's Huanyu voyage only has a husband and wife crew, which is too child's play. How is it possible that there are only two crew members on a grand epic voyage? She smiled and pointed to the moon, "I hope the spirit of the moon doesn't mind my nitpicking." ”

Ji Jichang interrupted her, "Don't go far, get back to the point." ”

"Okay, back to business. As we all know, humans have observed 13.7 billion light-years in the depths of the universe, and if it is already the edge of the universe, then for a hypercircular universe, one circumference is the sum of two 13.7 billion light-years. Traveling around the world in a spaceship with a speed of light is not as long as the relativistic time effect, but it is only a matter of a few generations, and with the current explosive development of health medicine, it may be completed in a single generation! And one of the most exciting is that in the novel written by Grandpa Kang, an astronaut couple traveled around the universe in their lifetime, but the time outside the spacecraft is still tens of billions of years, and by the time they return to the original earth, the universe has been destroyed. But if we sail with our new spaceship, the time inside and outside the ship is the same, and the ship travels around the universe and returns to Earth, and Earth is only 25th century! Maybe our loved ones are still alive. ”

The scientific yuppies didn't jump for joy, but their eyes were filled with extreme joy, and the joy of reason made them drunk. Cao'er asked her mother strangely, "Mom, what's wrong with these uncles and aunts?" You see they're all shaking their heads. ”

The childish remark sparked a wave of laughter. Tian Mi hugged Cao'er and kissed her little face hard, and then, Emma, Capdevilla, Ma Ming, Ogfner, Kaseline, and Xi Mingzhe all seemed to be infected, and came over one after another to kiss her. Cao'er couldn't stand it anymore, struggled down, and threw herself into her father's arms. Chu Tianle smiled and said:

"Don't be afraid, my brothers and sisters don't want to gnaw your little face, they're crazy."

Cao'er pouted, "No wonder you call 'Friends of Joy', it turns out that you are all crazy people." ”

This provoked another burst of laughter, but it was all Chinese who laughed - foreigners do not understand the term. Emma asks what it means to be a happy maniac? Yu Leshui said with a smile: "This is a Chinese folk saying, referring to those non-violent mental patients who laugh at the sight of people. However, I really don't know where the grass got the term. Now the foreigner laughed too. Chu Tianle motioned for everyone to be quiet:

"Let's think about it roughly, are there any insurmountable difficulties in circumnavigating the world?"

Tian Mi said: "We have thought about it, and there is no big difficulty. The circumspace spacecraft needs a three-hundred-year-level ecological self-circulation system, which is not difficult to solve; A huge amount of liquid hydrogen fuel is also needed, which is not difficult to solve on the way; In contrast, a little more difficult is how to orient yourself in the vast universe and make sure you get back to where you started. But this difficulty is actually not difficult, because there are giant lighthouses - quasars at the edge of the universe. Of course, when a ship approaches it at faster than the speed of light, it will accelerate its life-long evolution, but that doesn't stop it from being a lighthouse. ”

Chu Tianle nodded.

Ji Jichang said: "Uncle Chu, our plan is finished, now it's time for you to speak." What do you want us to do one more thing? Chu Tianle smiled and didn't speak, and touched each other with the index fingers of his left and right hands, which means: What the two sides said was the same thing. So, that's our next goal! When a spacecraft with 100 million times the speed of light is developed, the first prototype will be used to circumnavigate! ”

Chu Tianle said with a smile: "But first of all, we must rescue the 'Noah' and 'Chu Clan' from the space quagmire. ”

Ji Jichang waved his hand indifferently, "It's a trivial matter." ”

He's not saying it. If a 100 million times the speed of light spacecraft is developed, this is indeed a trivial matter that is not worth mentioning. Everyone present smiled comfortably, including Yu Leshui. At that time, she had a casual idea, her husband arranged this conversation on the crematorium, did he want her parents' souls to hear the good news as soon as possible?

"Well, I'll leave these two things to you, and I won't ask about it again."

"How?! We'll do the work, but you'll have to sit back and point the way. ”

"No, I really wouldn't bother. I need to take a break, calm down, and prepare a little bit for the rest of my life. I'm afraid I'm going downhill intellectually. "He looked at his wife, intentionally or not." To borrow a phrase to describe women, the red face is easy to grow old and the time is easy to pass away. You are in your prime, so you must hurry up. ”

Yu Leshui's heart was shocked. There was a strong sense of sadness and foreboding in the husband's words. In particular, against the backdrop of a bright light, his desolation is rather abrupt. The husband's condition has been stable for ten years and shows no signs of deterioration. So where does his desolation come from? Ji Jichang and other young people also heard the strangeness. They exchanged glances with Aunt Yu and shrew the conversation away.

2

A new round of development has been launched with great fanfare. After the silence of the previous period, Ge Qihong, vice president of the foundation, said with a spring breeze: "This is the scene that our 'Friends of Music' should have, and I am addicted to such a frenzied rhythm." "Friends of Joy has once again become the center of the world and a sacred place in the hearts of young people. Previously, humanity was making a difficult defense against catastrophe, but now, it is actively attacking the future. Mach 100 million spaceship! Complete the circumnavigation in 300 years! These ideas have pushed the limits of human imagination and made people, especially young people, excited. Now, Ji Renrui's biggest headache is how to deal with the hot-blooded young people who signed up for the expedition. In order to increase the excitation power, the new spacecraft must increase the length of the particle acceleration loop, so the size of the spacecraft is several times larger, but the rated crew of the new spacecraft is only 5,000, and the number of registered participants is already 50 million.

During this time, Ji Renrui strategized and did several big things.

First, he applied for a patent for the Mach 100 million spacecraft, and the patent holders were Chu Tianle, Ji Jichang and others. He had learned from his previous experience that if you take power into your own hands, it is easier to do noble and generous to others. It is more difficult to give away the right and then ask for a noble and generous return later. Therefore, no matter how this patent is dealt with in the future (such as providing it to the society free of charge), it must be held in your hands first.

The second is the establishment of the "Earth Aerospace Association" with lightning speed – the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. Ji Renrui is keenly aware that a new era is about to begin, and the focus of human civilization is likely to shift to space, which will be the political center of the future. He intends to promote this cause at the ultra-fast pace of "Friends of Music", and does not want it to be interfered by fifteen "mothers-in-law", especially five "super mothers-in-law", and does not want to endure the torture of the United Nations marathon meeting. Supposedly, the name of this organization should be "United Nations Space Administration" or something, but now it is called "association" in order to hide the sensitivity of this organization as much as possible. The association is chaired by Admiral Haley, the first chief executive committee member of SCAC, which will facilitate cooperation with SCAC. The secretary-general is appointed by the "Friends of Music", and the real power is in the hands of the "Friends of Music". After discussing with the leadership of "Friends of Music", Ji Renrui recommended his son to be the first secretary general.

The association has a lot to do: it registers and manages the thirty-five faster-than-light spacecraft that already exist in the world; planning and management of near-Earth space routes; the elaboration of the Space Convention and the Rules for the Administration of Space Transport; Establishment of the Aerospace Technical Standards Committee; Organizing technical training for astronauts, and so on, these tasks are basically starting from scratch, so the affairs are huge, and the secretary general of the association will definitely be tired and vomit blood.

On the first day of its establishment, the association issued a notice to the world, recommending that the low-Mach spacecraft currently under construction, at least those under construction that have not yet completed half of the construction period, should immediately stop construction, so as not to cause waste, because the Mach 100 million spacecraft has been put on the agenda, and with them, the Mach 1.8 spacecraft is not even a snail.

On this day, Ji Renrui and his son made a special trip to the "Bubble Building Materials Manufacturing Company", and Kang Ping greeted him with a smile at the gate, "Uncle Ji is here?" It's shining. He turned to Ji Jichang, "Brother Changchang, you are my brother, I admit it." ”

Ji Jichang said seriously: "No, you are my brother." As I have already said, speak the talk. ”

"Okay, then let's be each other's brothers." When the two were "humble", Ji Renrui just smiled and listened. Kang Ping turned to Ji Renrui, "Uncle Ji, it's rare for you to come, there must be something big." You can say that all the wealth of Bubble Company is that of 'Friends of Joy'. ”

"Today's big event is to give Bubble Company a big gift. The specific situation is up to Changchang. ”

"Okay, I'll thank you first."

The three of them came to the office, the secretary served tea, and Ji Jichang began a formal official conversation:

The "Aerospace Association" officially recommended that Bubble immediately prepare for the establishment of a Mach 100 million spacecraft manufacturing center. Although it was originally used to produce building materials, the core process is completely similar to the construction of spaceships, so it is not difficult to change careers. The shell of the Mach 100 million spacecraft will be greatly enlarged, and the original Fermi hull manufacturing center in the United States can no longer afford it. In addition, the new spacecraft must be able to land on gaseous planets, and can no longer rely on the "little bees" for transshipment, which is certainly not suitable for future space immigrants. This kind of "landable spacecraft" is not technically difficult, because the wormhole flight itself can isolate gravity and is most suitable for taking off and landing on the planet. The only bottleneck is that the acceleration and collision of the particles cannot take place in a non-vacuum. Therefore, the new spacecraft will be made into a double-layer shell, which will enclose the accelerated orbit of particles in a vacuum. As for the particle-excited region of the bow, it cannot be closed - because the physical size of the ship must be smaller than the diameter of the wormhole excited by the ship - but it is also a good solution by keeping the excitation region open, and when excited, the original light-speed particles will collide with the air particles and change direction, so that the collision cannot be achieved. But these "sacrificed" particles will soon sweep out of a passage that will allow for a subsequent collision. It only takes one successful excitation to create a vacuum environment, and it is enough to maintain continuous excitation in the future. The company does not have to worry about technical problems, and "Friends of Music" will provide a full set of technical support.

It's a major transformation for the company, and the future is bright. Kangping was very excited. His head is also very bright, and he immediately put forward a technological idea:

"Over the years, we have been able to precisely control the size of the second-order vacuum bubbles, so the double-layer housing is not difficult to solve from the process point of view. You can first excite a large hull, and then a small one inside it, and the double shell is completely solved. Didn't say it, Uncle Ji, let's do it! Brother Changchang, how much money is expected to be invested? It must be astronomical. ”

Ji Renrui said flatly: "Give the two of you ten days to make a feasibility plan, including a capital plan." How many tens of billions of funds are needed, come to me. ”

"Okay. Uncle Ji, I will definitely risk my life to do it here, and I promise not to disgrace the 'Friends of Joy'! ”

After talking about the matter, Kang Ping asked when the Changchang space collective wedding would be held. "Space Mass Wedding?" At first glance, Ji Renrui thought that the two were talking about the secret operation. After listening to the introduction of the two, he thought for a moment and said, "This is a good thing, but your horizon is still too narrow. It is not just a space wedding, but a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a grand military parade in the human space age! In my opinion, not six, but thirty-five, all the ships that already exist in the world will participate. The maximum number of people these ships can hold is as many new people as possible. The world's media will broadcast the whole process live. The United Nations and heads of state should also be invited. He thought for a moment, "No, the leaders don't necessarily agree to participate, but also for security, invite their representatives." He said to Kangping, "A celebration of this scale cannot be run by a company, and it must be handed over to the Aerospace Association." ”

"Okay, I'll do it." Ji Jichang said.

"Okay, sponsored by the Aerospace Association, I will greatly assist. Whatever you want me to do, you may command. Brother Changchang, I'm not afraid that you will say that I am in the eyes of money, and the advertising effect of this matter on the company cannot be done with any amount of money. Kang Ping said with a smile.

On the way back, Ji Jichang asked his father: "Dad, I see that you have made a lot of moves recently, and they are all strategic points-grabbing layouts." Has this all been communicated with the leadership of 'Friends of Music'? ”

He had a purpose in asking. As a member of the executive committee of the Friends of Music Academy of Sciences, he knows that the "Friends of Music" has not held meetings on these major matters. The father muttered for a moment:

"After preliminary communication, everyone has no opinion. It's just that your Uncle Chu hasn't been in a good state lately, and he seems to be a little absent-minded. I can't wait, let's start first, and then negotiate calmly after completing the layout. Changchang, do you know why I asked you to transfer to the Aerospace Association? You're a good scientist, but maybe you're a better politician, a rare 'science govern'. Some people have long said that 'Friends of Le' is 'scientific governance', but in fact, your Uncle Chu, Alex, Barrow, and even your Yangyang brother are too specialized, and your Aunt Leshui is more of a spiritual and moral beacon, while I, although I am politically stronger, unfortunately have poor scientific literacy. Only your grandfather Ma is more comprehensive, but it's a pity that he died prematurely. And then there's you. He said in a deep voice, "Only by holding the authority of the world can we promote the progress of civilization." However, such people are also easily corrupted by power. When Abikar wanted me to be the secretary general of the SCAC, Aunt Leshui stopped me, and I know the reason inside, she was worried that I would be alienated by power. However, it is not okay to give up food because of choking, and indifference to power is not a commendable character. Changchang, I have high expectations for you. You have professional attainments, ideals, a desire for power, organic change, and affinity, which are all very valuable qualities. He smiled and said, "I heard that you recruited 4,500 members for that secret operation?" Enough to prove your cohesion. ”

"Thank you, Daddy, I rarely hear your praise. So, your praise is stressing me out too much. ”

The Association of Astronautics began the organization of this "Space Age Military Parade", and after heated discussions, the following was finally decided:

1. Participants: Six of the 35 spacecraft are of the 1,000-person class, and the other spacecraft are relatively small, with a total capacity of 21,800 people. Among them, there are 350 crew members (many of the newlyweds who attended the space wedding are crew members themselves, so 10 crew members per ship are enough), 650 VIPs from all walks of life, 800 journalists, and a total of 1,800 people. In addition, it can accommodate 10,000 couples. The wedding is free, but participants declare that in the event of a force majeure such as a spacecraft crash, the Aerospace Association will only cover the cost of the space funeral. The Astronautics Association's emphasis on this has another implication - to test whether ordinary people already have the psychological qualities of space migrants.

2. This ceremony should take into account practicality, especially to test the formation flight of the fleet. This is an extremely important skill for blind wormhole flight - otherwise, the ships at the back of the fleet may go straight through the hull in front of them, turning them all into wormholes with shiny interiors! Ji's team designated Tian Mi and Xi Mingzhe to be responsible for developing the technology and inspecting it at the ceremony. For safety reasons, this leg must be an intermittent flight followed by a gradual transition to a completely blind flight.

3. Flight Route: The original plan of the members of the Ji crew was to hold a wedding in the old place (beyond the orbit of Pluto), but it was too far and too desolate for the wedding and military parade. The moon is a good place to visit the peculiar space bowl and pay tribute to the three martyrs, but it's too close to be a bit monotonous if you don't organize a ground event; If it is organized, it will be difficult to prepare 21,800 sets of extravehicular spacesuits for a while. Later, he had to abandon the moon and change his destination to Mars, but only to circle Mars and return, because the current spacecraft cannot land and take off on a planet with an atmosphere. The Martian atmosphere, although thin (only 0.6 percent denser than Earth's), is already lethal for particle acceleration.

The scientific community once used Mars as the first choice for space migration, but now this possibility has been greatly reduced, because for the Mach 100 million spacecraft, the distance of a million light-years is not much different from a dozen light minutes (i.e., the maximum distance from Mars to Earth); And within a million light years, it is certain that a more suitable planet for immigration can be found than Mars. Of course, before the invention of faster-than-light communication, Mars still had advantages, and its role as a transit point for interstellar migration was still very important. This time, the destination was Mars, just to shorten the psychological distance between it and humans.

4. As a public welfare activity, half of the operating costs of the spacecraft will be borne by the "Friends of Le" (including Kangping's company), and the other half of the spacecraft will be borne by themselves. This provision is not intended to save money on the "Friends of Joy", but for another purpose: to test the appeal of the Aerospace Association. Ji's team believes that even if each spacecraft has to bear half of the cost, they will all participate, including the "Space Bug" and "Ghost" that belong to the United Nations.

After the plan was announced, it was followed by enthusiastic registration. Unsurprisingly, thirty-five lightspeed ships pledged to participate. Of course, the 20,000 newcomer places will first be allocated to the members of the Ji fleet. Not to mention the 4,500 crew members who agreed to participate in the secret operation last time, the remaining 1,500 felt a little embarrassed that they had been deserters last time, but they all came under the persuasion of their old partners. The remaining 14,000 newcomers were fiercely competitive, and they had to sign up for online flash sales. The competition for the number of reporters is also quite fierce, of course, this cannot be done in seconds, and in the end, it is decided by Ji Renrui and Hailey. Ji Renrui was a little worried about whether the representatives of heads of state could participate, because there were some political subtleties involved in this—if they came, they would actually recognize the leadership of the "Aerospace Association", a non-governmental organization, in the space age. Later, it turned out that his worries were unnecessary, and the representatives of the invited countries readily agreed to participate, perhaps they all saw that this was the trend of the times, and the weight of the Aerospace Association was laid by the prestige and technical strength of the "Friends of Music" for a long time.

Here's an interesting tidbit: there is a little bit of technical detail about the live broadcast of the media that has caused heated debate online. The fleet will fly at sub-light speeds on its way to Mars, where there will be no problem with the live broadcast, but there will be a lag in the radio signal, which may be up to fifteen minutes in relation to the current positions of Mars and Earth. There is no objection to this. But on the way back from Mars, after confirming the safety of the formation flight, the fleet will fly with faster-than-light blind vision. During blind flight, the signal cannot be broadcast outward, and the compressed signal can only be sent back at the moment of stopping. This raises a new problem – since the speed of the ship is higher than the speed of the radio waves, it is possible that the later signal will arrive first! The TV station can only use this method when broadcasting: first store the signal, wait for all the pictures to be complete, and then broadcast it in the correct sequence. This is said to be the "right" approach, but I didn't expect it to arouse fierce opposition on the Internet. Netizens said: They must watch the "real live broadcast", and they are not allowed to castrate the TV editors with rigid thinking at will. Similar to going back in time! In the end, the TV stations had to accept the opinions of netizens, and the screen would be split into several screens during the live broadcast, and the broadcast would be played exactly according to the receiving time.

On New Year's Day, the celebration fleet will set sail. Hailey, Ji Renrui and his wife, Sima Deru, the current director of He Guoji's office, Ge Qihong and his wife, Kangping and his wife, and General Debirov of SCAC will all attend the ceremony. Ji Renrui also invited some elderly people who had contributed to the "Friends of Music", such as Lin Bingzhang, Zhan Xiang, Xu Yifan, Dr. Duan Tongsheng from the United States, biologist Wang Qingyin, Lu Junding and his wife, etc. Chu Tianle did not participate due to poor physical condition, so Yu Leshui stayed at home to accompany her husband.

When Ji Renrui arrived at the Halmahera Cosmodrome, it was already flooded with a sea of white flowers. Among the 10,000 couples, the groom wears wedding costumes of various nationalities, with different styles; The bride is always a white wedding dress, so in terms of visual effect, it seems to have become the bride's world. When Ji Renrui and his entourage arrived, the newcomers lined up in two rows, greeted them in the middle of the road, and saluted them with a smile. At such a festive and auspicious moment, the brides are all full of autumn waves and delicate faces. Kang Ping exclaimed again and again:

"There are so many beautiful girls in the world, get married early, get married early!"

His wife, who was standing on the side, said coldly and sourly: "It's not early, I'll give you freedom." ”

Kang Ping smiled and hugged his wife into his arms, "Don't dare, I just have a happy mouth." ”

Fifty "little bees" are busily taking off and landing, sending the newcomers to the spacecraft waiting in synchronous orbit. The rated capacity of the "Little Bee" is 20 people, and it has to take off and land at least 22 times before it can be transported. Their frequent take-offs and landings have created a long chain of continuous lines between heaven and earth, enveloping the launch site in an unquenchable blue light.

Ji Renrui: They were the last to get on the spaceship, and they took the "Crystal Ball". This is a new model of ship with a transparent shell, and it is possible to observe the scene directly through the bulkhead. In synchronous orbit, thirty-five spacecraft have been arranged in a departure formation, each in a group of three, with the three ships close to each other and the groups pulling farther apart. This is an invention of Tian Mi and Xi Mingzhe. When they were developing formation flight technology, they found that since this kind of wormhole flight dragged about ten ships long in the "local space" behind the spacecraft, if several spacecraft were parked in this space close to each other, they should be able to be "checked in for free", just as the flock of geese at the back of the geese formation could fly with the help of the air currents caused by the head geese. They experimented with this completely new way of flying and proved that it was completely feasible. However, for the sake of safety, only one head goose is allowed to fly two companions.

Tian Mi was on the "Kuafu" at the front, and said in an impassioned tone: "The wedding fleet is about to set sail. Mr. Haley, President of the Aerospace Association, please announce the departure order! ”

General Haley is over ninety years old, and his body is thin, but his voice is still very loud: "I announce that the wedding fleet is now set sail!" I would also like to declare that the real space age of mankind begins now! ”

A cloud of white light erupted from the heads of the twelve ships, and the fleet slowly set off, bursts of cheers erupted from inside the ships at the same time. The head and tail of each spacecraft also burst out horizontally with blue light, which is a conventional power to make the spacecraft rotate to create artificial gravity, because today's crew members are not professionally trained, and long-term weightlessness will cause physical discomfort. Ships with transparent shells are also made opaque to prevent the crew from feeling dizzy when the hull rotates. In the "Crystal Ball" spaceship, when the gravity almost reached the earth's gravity, Hailey walked over smoothly and shook hands with Ji Renrui:

"Mr. Ji, I admire you very much. You are the trendsetter of the new era. ”

Ji Renrui smiled and said, "It's you who make the tide!" President of the Aerospace Association! ”

Haley also smiled: "I'm just an ornament." But I'm glad that my antique vase can still come in handy. Ji, your point-grabbing layout is timely, but—" He looked at Debirov and Sima Deru meaningfully, "This is what the 'Friends of Joy' deserve." ”

Of course, the two knew the meaning of his words, but they were current officials, so they couldn't talk casually, they just smiled and didn't respond.

Dozens of reporters flocked to interview Ji Renrui, he smiled and waved his hand, "No, no, please don't forget that today is a wedding, I am neither a newcomer nor a wedding host, and I will definitely not be the protagonist." The reporters were still unrelenting, and one female reporter shouted: "But everyone knows that you are the protagonist behind the scenes!" This wedding is actually a military parade in the space age, and the 'Friends of Music' is the conductor behind the scenes! Ji Renrui smiled and looked at the female reporter—she just said what she intended—still smiling and waving her hand, "This is just what you said, 'Friends of Le' will never dare to boast like this." Oh, by the way, you can interview Mr. Kang, who is one of the initiators and sponsors of this event, and his company is about to develop a landable Mach 100 million spacecraft, which is bound to become a sign of a new era. I can also reveal a little secret to you: this guy doesn't have a good mouth, and you can go to him if you want to dig up any news material. ”

The reporters knew that they couldn't dig up anything from Ji Renrui today, so they turned to besiege Kangping. As an entrepreneur, he would not let go of this opportunity, so he talked with great interest surrounded by reporters.

In the ship's annular gravitational field, the crew is distributed around the circumference of the circular hull, with their heads facing the ship's axis. At the pivot, the hologram shows the formation of the fleet. The fleet is currently flying intermittently, so they are all visible and can also telemetry each other, and each spacecraft adjusts the excitation parameters at any time according to the formation flight technology developed by Tian Mi, and the distance and azimuth between the ships are strictly consistent. Once the state is stable, these excitation parameters are fixed so that they can be used to maintain the exact formation of the fleet in future blind flights.

In the age of chemodynamics, a trip to Mars is quite long, lasting months or even years. But today, even with intermittent flights, it's only a two-hour journey. Mars quickly grew in size in the hologram and then came to view in the blink of an eye. The spacecraft stopped its wormhole flight and switched to conventional power and entered the polar orbit of Mars, which was chosen so that everyone could see the whole of Mars. Each spacecraft pointed their cameras at the ground, and Tian Mi on the first spacecraft acted as a commentator:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're over Mars. Now we have the Tarsis Plateau at our feet, and to the east of it is the famous Mariner Canyon, which is 4,000 kilometers long and occupies a fifth of the circumference of Mars! Well, now you see the famous Mount Olympus, the highest mountain on the planets of the solar system, 217,000 meters high, almost three times the highest peak on Earth! This is because there is less gravity on Mars, and mountains can grow very tall. However, from the outside, it is not tall at all, but a gentle shield-shaped volcano...... Now it is the northern lowlands, which were formed by meteorite impacts...... Look, we've reached the polar crest, and there's a lot of ice here, which, if it melts, could cover the entire surface of Mars with eleven meters of water. Therefore, if we live on Mars in the future, we don't have to worry about fresh water...... Now, passing not far away is Phobos, an irregularly shaped guy who is not as beautiful as our moon...... Please enjoy the beautiful polar clouds, and the blue clouds on the edge of Mars......"

The fleet circled Mars in two hours and saw the most famous sights. Tian Mi said: "Unfortunately, the current spacecraft is not suitable for landing on Mars, so we can only take you on a fancy tour." By the time your kids are in elementary school, they'll be able to host a summer camp on Mars, hold a low-gravity long jump competition, enjoy a bonfire under a two-moon sky, or organize a mountaineering expedition to the highest peak in the solar system. Today we can also give you a small gift, grooms, hug your angels, kick the floor, and fly! ”

Thirty-five spacecraft light up at the same time with a horizontal blue light at the end of the spacecraft, which is decelerating the rotation. The spacecraft flew outward at the same time, out of the gravity of Mars. The weight of the people is getting lighter, and finally someone can't wait, and the couple hugs and kicks the floor, and then staggers upward. They laughed loudly in the air and kissed passionately. The bride's wedding dress was fluffier in a gravity-free environment, and soon all the space of the spaceship was occupied by the white wedding dress. The people who ascended to the center of the ship from all directions began to meet, and it was inevitable that there would be a collision, which provoked even greater laughter. Tian Mi's husband was Capdevilla, a passionate Spaniard who was supposed to shine on such an occasion, but he was now sticking to his post as captain on the third ship, so he had to shout on the ship's intercom:

"Tian Mi, it's a pity that I can't hug my angel at this time, give you a kiss!"

The "poof" sound in the intercom once again aroused a wave of laughter. There were relatively few newcomers in the "Crystal Ball", and there were a few more old couples, who also hugged and flew in the air, including Miao Qi and Ji Renrui. Miao Qi was as excited as a young man today, laughed and said:

"Ren Rui, I should also wear a wedding dress today!"

"yes, I'm sorry I forgot about it beforehand. It's okay, I'll make it up for you when I get married! ”

Weightlessness is temporary, as there is a fear that the newcomers will have limited endurance. The spaceship began to rotate, radial gravity slowly generated, and the wedding dresses of the ship slowly fell to the ground. The fleet began to return home, this time without stopping, at Mach 1.8, and returning to Earth in nine minutes. On the way back, the newlyweds were still immersed in the previous excitement, hugging and whispering tightly. Suddenly, the ship aborted its wormhole flight and began its regular powered flight, and people felt like they were leaning back. Holograms have also been restored, with the blue Earth replacing the desolate Mars. The hundreds of millions of viewers on Earth watching the live broadcast first saw the fleet return, and four minutes later, the image of the fleet setting sail from Mars was transmitted back to Earth.

The crew of the "Crystal Ball" was the first to return to the surface in the "Little Bee". They hugged each other with the welcoming crowd on the ground, and then stayed at the launch site until they saw off all the newcomers. Many excited brides can't help but rush up to offer a fragrant kiss to the organizers of this wedding. There are also many grooms who excitedly said to Ji Renrui: "From now on, we will be astronauts!" And our children! ”

Their admiration for Ji Renrui is beyond words. Lu Junding looked at this scene and said with a smile: "Ren Rui, I once said that you will become a Chan sooner or later; Later, he said, I didn't expect you to become a wild dragon; Later, he said, I didn't expect you to be a wild dragon and make such a big cloud. You've got bigger clouds today! ”

Miao Ji's face was ruddy from excitement, and she seemed to have returned to her girlhood. She said to her husband, "With today, my wish when I was young has come true." ”

Ji Renrui knew what her wish was, but deliberately asked, "What wish?" ”

Miao Qi was very frank, "That's the one - I want to be at least the wife of the vice premier." ”

Ji Renrui said with a smile: "But I'm just the president of a civil engineering academy, and I don't have an official position like Bi Ma Wen." ”

Miao Qi just smiled and tightened her husband's arm.

Ji Renrui and his wife returned to Xixia, China by "Little Bee", and asked his son and daughter-in-law to accompany his mother home, and he went directly to Chu Tianle's house. In this paragraph, he really hasn't communicated well with Chu Tianle and Yu Leshui, and now he has to make up for this lesson immediately. In fact, it is a bit wronged to say that there is no communication, he has communicated informally, but Tianle seems to be in a bad state and did not react as he should. Perhaps, his condition did affect intelligence?

Although he has cultivated enough concentration in sixty-four years of life, Ji Renrui is inevitably a little excited today. Since Noah went into space, mankind has entered the faster-than-light space age, but at that time, people were only focused on resisting catastrophe and did not fully realize this. After that, thanks to the promotion of Tianle, Pauli, Kang Lao and others, science and technology have taken a big step forward. After the advent of the Mach 100 million spacecraft, space within 300,000 light-years will enter a "one-day traffic circle" and become the outskirts of the earth's capital. This technology, along with the already mature fusion technology, eliminates the threat of energy depletion once and for all, and there is no need to worry about this problem until all hydrogen-rich planets in the universe are exhausted. Another seemingly minor invention – the manufacture of building materials from garbage – is in fact equally profound: the course of human civilization has always been a struggle between science and entropy, progress and cost, a problem that was once thought to be incapable of being solved by science, and that the splendor of civilization will eventually be buried in the ruins of entropy. But now, through the second-order vacuum excitation method, the energy-free material reconstruction has been realized, and this problem has been solved once and for all in an instant! In the past, the light of technology was forever followed by a dark shadow, and now it is completely gone! Science has become transparent and brilliant.

It is not modest to say that mankind has been able to come to this day, and the "Friends of Happiness" has made great contributions. It has given a powerful impetus to the ship of the times, so it also has the responsibility to grasp the course of the future.

Tianle and his wife stayed quietly at home to watch the live broadcast. Hearing the landing of the "little bee", Le Shui greeted the door and said with a smile:

"I know you're coming. We have prepared your favorite Peking duck and your favorite Fenjiu in advance. She led Ji into the house and said to the nanny, "Sister-in-law Xu, stir-fry." ”

Tianle came over with an electric wheelchair and greeted him with a smile. Ji Renrui said: "Take this opportunity before the meal, let me briefly talk about a few things. ”

He succinctly described the recent "big move" and then said, "Leshui, you dissuaded me when Abikar wanted me to be the permanent secretary of the SCAC. I knew your intentions at the time - you didn't want me to be tainted in power. I appreciate your kindness......"

Yu Leshui smiled and said, "It's serious." I've never worried you're going to get dirty, I trust your determination. ”

Ji Renrui shook his head with a smile and continued his topic: "But now the situation is different. The new situation has once again put the 'Friends of Joy' in the position of the 'Heavenly Hub', and put the power of the space age in our hands. God doesn't take it, but suffers the blame! If the desire for power is combined with nobility, it is the most perfect treasure, and only by holding it can you be a hero who leads the times. ”

Tianle spoke: "Brother Ji, I'm afraid you have misunderstood. Leshui and I haven't thought so far yet, but ...... It's a long story. ”

Tianle and his wife looked at each other, they had obviously talked about a certain issue thoroughly, and at this moment Le Shui's expression was slightly sad. Ji Renrui's reaction was sharp enough, and he guessed the truth of the matter in an instant-his own point-grabbing layout was built on a brilliant and bright era, but--maybe such a brilliant era has not come, and the road ahead is still covered by the dark shadow of the catastrophe.

His heart sank into darkness.

3

Some time ago, when Ji Renrui was supervising those major matters, Chu Tianle really stayed out of the matter, and he didn't even bother with the development of the new spaceship. Without saying hello to his wife, he gathered a dozen biologists, brain physiologists and artificial intelligence experts alone for a day's meeting behind closed doors. Since the last time she listened to her husband's ominous words, Yu Leshui has always kept her husband in sight, and of course she will not let go of this meeting. After the meeting, she stopped the conference's chief scientist, Professor Elaine of the Weizmann Institute in Israel. This is a forty-year-old Russian-Jewish beauty, with a ruddy complexion, full breasts, and a pair of blue eyes. She was a fanatical scientist who never married, because she was "already married to the god of science in her youth" - from this sentence, it is clear that the god of science in her mind is male. Yu Leshui pretended to ask casually:

"Hello Professor, I didn't come to the meeting today. Can you give us a brief overview of the meeting? ”

Professor Elaine was not wary, and immediately enthusiastically introduced the content of the meeting, saying that today Chu Tianle was seriously discussing the possibility of brain survival in vitro. In the past few decades, medicine has developed rapidly, and it has achieved long-term survival of dog brains in vitro. In fact, experiments on chimpanzee brains are more comparable to those of humans, but they have not been carried out due to ethical restrictions (there is a consensus in the scientific community that animal experiments are generally not allowed on animals that are close to humans, such as chimpanzees). The detached dog brain can be more easily replenished with nutrients, and it can be easily entered and released from hibernation, so the level of its intellectual activity is greatly improved, and the survival life can be extended tenfold. The difficulty lies in the input and output of brain information, although it has been possible to encode visual and auditory signals into the input, and the brain output signals can be deciphered by computers, but it is only a low-level, "Einstein's thought process cannot be deciphered in the short term." The professor jokingly said.

In fact, she said, a less pure, less difficult alternative is to survive the skull in vitro. The latter can take advantage of the sight, hearing, and speech abilities of the original, so that there are no input and output bottlenecks mentioned above. Skull survival is carried out by simply connecting the blood vessels and nerves of the original head to the parent machine, which is quite easy to implement. Of course, because it also uses extracerebral organs, its thinking is not absolutely efficient. After listening to everyone's introduction, Mr. Chu preferred the second option......

"What do you say? My husband is going to keep the head alive out of the body? Yu Leshui asked in surprise.

It was only then that the female scientist, who was extremely wise in her profession, realized that something was wrong. "Is it ......," she asked carefully, "that your husband has not consulted you beforehand?" He said that his sick body may not last long, but his responsibility is not over. So we're happy to help him and help our god of science. ”

As she spoke, she caught a glimpse of her husband driving his wheelchair out of the conference room, calmly watching herself talk to Professor Elaina. She smiled, "You have discussed it with me, but I haven't agreed yet." As you can imagine, I certainly prefer a complete husband. ”

Professor Elaine smiled, "Of course, of course. It doesn't matter, we are still in the retreat stage, and when the surgery actually begins, we must obtain the consent of the family for the operation. ”

It was the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, the day when relatives worshiped the dead. The Chu couple were thorough materialists and had never made offerings or anything, but they took a simplified ritual very seriously. Yu Leshui put the statue in the second old house and lit two sticks of incense. After the death of the mother-in-law, this room was always kept for them, and now, in the swirling of two smokes, the second elder looked at them with a smile. Tianle also stared at the second elder silently, Yu Leshui bowed three times, and said with a smile:

"Mom, don't worry. Tianle has already put forward the idea of a Mach 100 million spaceship, and if it succeeds, it will be able to rescue Liu Ye Yangyang. ”

She pushed her husband out of the door, summoned the grass that was playing outside, and came to the new grave without a monument not far away. Here rests Chu Tianle's father, he was a deserter in front of his terminally ill son when he was young, and he was tormented by conscience all his life, and in his later years, he couldn't resist the call of family affection and finally came to find his wife and children, just in time to save Tianle's life. Now, although his bones are gone, his mind should be very safe.

The fish and water let the grass light the incense and worship it in front of the spirit. The three of them bowed three times to the grave. Cao'er whispered, "Grandpa, rest in peace." Mom and Dad say you're a good grandfather. ”

The murderer's grave was not far from here, and they made a memorial service for him by the way. Over time, their hatred for the murderer has faded, and what remains is more of pity.

After the ceremony, Tianle asked Sister-in-law Xu to take the grass away to play, and said to his wife: "I want to visit a welfare factory in the civil affairs system, you can accompany me." ”

This matter was a bit abrupt, but Yu Leshui didn't ask too much and quickly arranged for helicopters and cars. This welfare factory is in a town not far away, and it is jointly run by the civil administration system and the Christian church, and the female factory director, surnamed Bai, is a Christian. She didn't expect that the well-known Chu couple would come to the factory in person, and under surprise, they received them warmly. In the office, she introduced the situation of the welfare factory. The factory was small and had forty-three workers, all of whom were disabled and mentally retarded. The product is also very simple, it is a bucket and basin of recycled plastic, etc., and there is no technical content; In addition, the productivity of these special workers is relatively low, so the factory is at a loss, and it has to rely on the support of the civil administration and the church to survive. She led the Chu couple to visit the production workshop. Although the equipment here is simple, the management is okay, the environmental protection measures are in place, and there is no peculiar smell in the process of plastic hot pressing in the workshop. Dozens of workers, though visibly clumsy, were all very engaged. Chu Tianle visited it silently and said to the factory director:

"Trouble the factory director, can you introduce a few mentally retarded people?"

Director Bai called a worker from the side. This is a typical congenital stupid patient, with a round face, small cleft eyes, squinted eyes, small and low ears, short neck, short stature, and swaying walking, which appears to have loose muscles. He looked at the director with a dull gaze flatteringly. Director Bai asked kindly:

"Erbao, how are you doing today? Can you get a safflower? ”

Erbao nodded vigorously and said incoherently, "Sure!" ”

Director Bai said to the guests: "We have to put red flowers on the blackboard every day. They did a good job, almost every person got a red flower every day. Who will cry bitterly when they don't get it? She turned back to the man and said, "Erbao, can you write your name to the guest?" ”

Erbao nodded again and again, took the pen handed by Director Bai, and worked hard to write the three words "Ding Erbao". However, the word "Bao" is lying horizontally. Director Bai praised him, and he left in high spirits. Director Bai smiled helplessly: "I have corrected it many times, but the word 'bao' is still lying down, and I simply don't correct it." ”

She called two more and introduced them. Chu Tianle pointed to a middle-aged man not far away and asked, "That should also be a mentally retarded person, I think his limbs are all sound." ”

Director Bai hurriedly shook his hand and whispered, "Don't let him hear it." This is a special mentally handicapped person, who used to be the CEO and chief engineer of a technology-based enterprise, and the company is quite prosperous, and has generously funded our factory many times. Later, he unfortunately contracted a brain tumor, and his intelligence was greatly reduced after surgery. In fact, with his financial resources, he can stay at home and be cared for by a special person. But he offered to come here, but the family couldn't resist it, so he came. I guess maybe he made a deep impression of this place when he funded our factory? When he came here, he could only do the simplest jobs, but I always felt that he still had some memories of his old life. Sometimes he would fall into deep thought, trying to remember, and when he couldn't remember, he would have a seizure and make some manic moves. We treated him with special care. ”

Chu Tianle asked in a low voice, "Can I go over and have a look?" ”

"Yes, he was in a better mood today. But it's best not to say anything after you've passed. ”

The Chu couple went over and observed silently. The worker was neatly dressed and had a well-maintained face, which was clearly different from the worker next to him, and did not look like a mentally retarded person. But when he looked up at this side, it was obviously not the clear gaze of a normal person, but the dazed and cringe peculiar to mentally retarded people. He's threading wire handles for buckets, and he's doing it seriously. The Chu couple looked at him silently, pity and respect. The fact that this mentally handicapped man took the initiative to come here as a worker shows that he is not willing to be a waste and that he still maintains the dignity of the year. The man looked up at the guest from time to time, and it was evident that the gaze of the two guests had disturbed him. His uneasiness was clearly growing, and he looked up at his guests more and more often. Director Bai realized it and hurriedly motioned for the two guests to leave, when the man suddenly asked:

"Are they going to test me to read and write? I haven't forgotten. ”

There was fear in his expression. Director Bai reacted quickly and said with a smile: "Yes, Mr. Lin, they know that you have not forgotten to read and write, and it is not easy, so they want to test you." ”

She took out a notepad and motioned for the guest to write a few simple words, and Yu Leshui wrote the words "people, days, and days", and the person recognized them smoothly. Director Bai and Yu Leshui praised him in unison, and his expression slowly turned to harmony.

On the way back to the office, Director Bai said with emotion that one of the most fearful things for this mentally handicapped person now is that he will forget to write and recognize, so that he feels that he has become a real waste, "In fact, he has indeed forgotten most of the Chinese characters, and we can only circle twenty or thirty of the simplest words, ask often, and constantly strengthen his memory, which can be regarded as a comfort to him." The Chu couple were very moved, and from the details of Director Bai's name "Mr. Lin" just now, they also deeply felt Director Bai's good intentions.

Before leaving, Chu Tianle left a check for 500,000 yuan, and Director Bai thanked him again and again, and Chu Tianle said sincerely:

"You're welcome, it's you who should be thanked. Disability and intellectual disability are all inexpensable human suffering, and in this sense, it can be said that these disabled people are suffering in place of normal people. You care for them and take this as a lifelong career, and Leshui and I thank you. ”

Director Bai's eyes were red, and he clasped his palms in thanks.

On the way back, both of them were relatively dull. As soon as they got home, they quickly turned on the TV, which was showing the Martian wedding. There is enthusiasm and excitement, although Ji Renrui in the camera has a calm expression, the excitement in his heart cannot be hidden. This is in stark contrast to the dullness of the house. Chu Tianle looked at his wife and said with a smile:

"Leshui, you met Elaine today, you know you have something to say, you can say it."

Yu Leshui jokingly said: "You made me lose face today!" For such a big thing, I won't tell you in advance. I'm so sad. ”

Although it is a joke, it also contains fifty percent seriousness. But Chu Tianle didn't care much, "It's not that serious." I just don't want to irritate you too soon. I'd like to inquire about the possibilities first. If not, then the matter should not be mentioned at all; If it does, I'll tell you right away. ”

"But the results of the consultation are feasible."

"Yes."

"And you've literally scratched Professor Elaina's itch and allowed her to show off her skills."

Chu Tianle heard his wife's dissatisfaction, and still smiled and said, "You are not wrong about this. ”

Yu Leshui turned sideways and looked at him fixedly, looking at him for a long time. She sighed: "Tianle, I want to ......"

Chu Tianle interrupted his wife's words, "Leshui, I know what you think. But some words may be difficult to say, so let me say it, and then you will judge whether it is your inner thoughts. It's kind of a guessing game. ”

He was deliberately lightening up the conversation. Yu Leshui responded, smiled and said, "Okay, let's start the game." ”

"You and I believe in my godfather's words: people live to enjoy the pleasure of living, not to escape death. In the process of being alive, anything done in order to survive is natural and reasonable. So far, you and I have no disagreement, but then the disagreement begins. You think that the living subject should be a human being, and not, like a hybrid monster with a human head and a machine body, which you think has lost the meaning of being alive. We might as well define these two types of 'living' as: physical living and conscious living. I believe that in the long run, the survival of humanity should be the latter, and it may have various ways, including a mind that flows in a large unified electronic network. ”

Yu Leshui shook his head, "Those prospects have transcended my heart, I don't want to say anything against or disgust, it's just - leave it to future generations to experience." ”

Chu Tianle's tone suddenly changed sharply, "But the differences I said are extreme. I believe that what I mean by 'being conscious alive' will eventually come true, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to do it. You're right, leave that prospect to posterity. Like you, I want to have a body, and even though this unqualified body has caused me a lot of pain and a lot of less pleasure, including sexual pleasures, I still value it. Leshui, I like you to be by my side, rubbing my skin, tickling my hair, and blowing me softly. Leshui, you don't know how much I value you, some people falsely praise me as a 'friend of music' brain or something, but this brain is nourished by your love to have spirituality. ”

Chu Tianle is generally more introverted and does not open his heart to the outside world, and today's very emotional words, Yu Leshui heard them for the first time. She was so moved that she leaned over and hugged her husband in her arms, and the two enjoyed the resonance of their hearts. After a while, Chu Tianle said:

"But you must ask, why am I going to let the head live out of my body? It was a last resort. ”

Yu Leshui's heart suddenly sank. She couldn't guess what her husband was going to say, but the fear and despair that had been gone crept back again. How is that possible? Human beings have escaped the catastrophe of the collapse of the whole universe, are developing Mach 100 million spaceships, with endless energy, no longer have to worry about environmental pollution, the future is bright, human beings can be said to have begun to enter the realm of God, into the kingdom of freedom, how can it be...... But she knew that the devil was coming again, and that it had something to do with her husband's visit today. The husband looked straight at her, always looking into the depths of her heart, and sighed and said:

"Yes, you guessed it. That Satan didn't really leave. Here it is again, and it is eerily entrenched in the path of humanity, and perhaps it is an even more terrible devil. ”

That night, Chu Tianle recounted in detail another disaster that humanity was about to face.

He said that the space contraction, which began 61 years ago, has greatly increased human intelligence through a certain quantum effect, and according to Proust's verification and Pauli's formula, human intelligence has increased by 45 percent, and it is likely to continue to increase. Human society has achieved a big explosion of science and technology in just 30 years, and both the scientific and technological elite and the general public have fully enjoyed high intelligence and regarded it as a normal thing. However, we already know that this surge is an isolated wave, with a half-cycle of sixty-two years, which will peak after a year, and then the intensity of the contraction will gradually decrease, and the increased human intelligence will gradually decline. Sixty-two years later, space will return to the standard vacuum, and human intelligence will return to pre-cataclysmic levels. At that time, there will no longer be such genius and wisdom as it is today, and the science of human development will still have to bump into each other with poor intellect as it did in the past, like a rat drilling into a labyrinth. Without this surge in intelligence, humanity would not have realized the pitiful nature of its own intelligence. But after experiencing a surge in intelligence and then losing it, how can human beings be embarrassed?!

But this is not a catastrophe, which is followed – followed by an isolated wave of inflation, also over a period of 124 years. What will be the effect on human intelligence when space skyrockets? In fact, the Pauli formula has already predicted, the formula is about origin symmetry, and the shrinkage rate can be replaced by both positive and negative values. The curve has extreme values in the positive and negative ranges, which are:

Et

/EO

=e±2/3

(Et

/EO

i.e., the ratio of the changed intelligence to the original intelligence);

The specific values are:

The highest increase in intelligence was 94.8%;

The maximum drop in intelligence was 48.7%.

Pauli didn't know that the universe would shrink at the time, so he said that the negative segments were purely mathematical deductions and might not have actual physical significance; But he also said that the formula, though empirical, had a simple and symmetrical beauty, and that, with his intuition, it might be able to be upgraded to a theoretical formula, like Planck's formula of blackbody radiation. If it is a theoretical formula, then the negative segment may have practical physical significance. God is still very kind, he gives an asymmetrical value in a formally symmetrical formula: an increase of 94.8 percent, and a decrease of 48.7 percent, which does not allow civilized creatures to have their intelligence cleared in the space skyrocket—but such a large mental decline is enough to cause technology to be cleared. Perhaps, this kind of technological clearance, which takes roughly a 100,000-year cycle, is a Fermi paradox [2]

The real explanation? "Pauli's last words before his sacrifice reminded me to pay attention to this formula."

Chu Tianle said again: "Although Pauli didn't know that this cosmic contraction was just an isolated wave, he had an excellent intuition. He muttered to me many times: I am afraid that this very violent spatial contraction will not last, just like an old Chinese saying: its rise is also vigorous, and its death is also sudden. So back then, he was worried about the prospect that a contraction might turn into a boom and that a boom might lead to intellectual decline. Pauli reluctantly said that it was a pity that he could not verify the results of the formula in the negative range with experiments or observations. Previously, there was a fundamental difference between physics and metaphysics - physics has laboratories, and any metaphysical ideas must be verified by experiments. But unfortunately, there are no laboratories left for the development of science to the stage of cosmology. For example, how is it possible to create a space in the laboratory to skyrocket and thus verify whether human intelligence is declining? This expansion occurs in the fourth dimension of space, and it is absolutely uncontrollable by humans. So, he only discussed these concerns with me, and we never told a third person. ”

"But now it's different. The solitary wave theory of the expansion and contraction of the universe has been confirmed, and space inflation will be a reality sixty-three years from now. If the prediction of the Pauli formula is correct, human intelligence will be reduced by up to 48.7 percent, which would be below the chimpanzees of today. ”

"If human beings are still in the age of drinking blood, there is not much danger in such a reduction in intelligence. Isolated waves of cosmic expansion and contraction have swept across the universe many times, with recent intervals of about 100,000 years, but have not caused mass extinctions with a 100,000-year cycle. Imagine this: Perhaps during the period of mental improvement, chimpanzees quickly learned to catch termites with branches, learn to smash nuts with stones, and even learn to use natural fire and evolve simple language; Unfortunately, when it was the turn of the mental downturn, it forgot all about these advances - and it didn't matter, they could still pick bananas, eat leaves, call their companions in the animal language of an orangutan, and still live. It's a pity that human beings are no longer ignorant animals, human beings have nuclear power plants, airplanes, 10,000-ton giant ships, barrage dams, virus laboratories, genetic engineering companies, not to mention nuclear submarines, intercontinental **, biological and chemical weapons...... These require wisdom to control. If you give these switches and buttons to a bunch of ignorant chimpanzees, imagine what the world will look like. ”

Yu Leshui shivered. She couldn't help but think of her husband's fanatical thinking about the almost "flying car" in the past six months, it turned out that he knew that the wisdom of Shaohua was about to pass, and it would even turn into an intellectual collapse! He was trying to seize the remaining time, trying to paint a picture of what would happen after the collapse of the human intellect.

Chu Tianle said bitterly:

"What to do? It's impossible to think about it right now. Although the cataclysm this time is soft, it is actually more profound than the last time. Leshui, human science and technology have developed to the level of today, even if all human beings lose their hearing or vision, lose their ability to speak, lose their legs, arms and even their hearts due to some kind of disaster, it doesn't matter, highly intelligent science can give a way to deal with it. But if you lose your intelligence, then everything is over, and there really is nowhere for humanity to escape! I am more afraid of this than of a physical terminality. Today in that welfare factory, looking at those mentally handicapped people, especially Mr. Lin, who has been reduced from a normal person to a mentally handicapped person, I feel like I see my own tomorrow. He sighed, "Because the situation is completely hopeless, I didn't tell anyone about these worries, not even Ji Renrui." But—and the gloomy prospect I predicted, others would have anticipated as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if, in a few months' time, there was a worldwide suicide frenzy. ”

This prospect once again made Yu Leshui shiver, and she suddenly stood up, "No, I should tell everyone, I should tell Ji Renrui first." Let's figure it out together. I think he's more resilient to these soft issues than you are. She said bitterly, "At least we should discuss how to clean up the mess when we really can't do it." ”

"After the last incident, I won't hide it from him again." Chu Tianle pointed to the screen, "He has already arrived at the space launch site, he will come back before dinner, I estimate that he will take the initiative to come to us, he has made a lot of big moves recently, he will definitely come to inform us." ”

"The Peking duck you asked Sister-in-law Xu to buy was prepared for him?"

Chu Tianle nodded, "Yes." ”

They put the topic aside for the time being and continued to watch the live stream. It is estimated that when Ji Renrui was about to arrive, Yu Leshui made tea for him. During that time, the two did not speak, and each combed his thoughts in his heart. Soon, the blue light of the "little bee" appeared on the top of the mountain, and after a while, Ji Renrui hurriedly came in.

After listening to Chu Tianle's speech, Ji Ren's eyebrows furrowed, and he tried to digest this too abrupt bad news. Yu Leshui looked at him silently, expecting his wisdom. In the field of science, she admires her husband's genius; In the social and political field, she admires Ji Renrui's wisdom more; And the current catastrophe should be across two areas. Ji Renrui has all five flavors in his heart at the moment: there is a deep loss, a deep pathos, and a desperate resentment. Thirty years ago, mankind suddenly learned of the existence of that boiling water pot, had a few hard jumps, achieved thousands of years of scientific and technological progress, and walked to a brilliant and bright road - but suddenly learned that an even greater disaster was yet to come! It's no wonder that after he made a few big moves, Tianle always seemed absent-minded, it turned out that it was not that he became sluggish, but that he was too optimistic. The bright prospect in his own eyes turned out to be just a beautiful soap bubble.

God is so good at playing tricks on people.

Ji Renrui was silent for a while and asked, "Are you finished?" ”

"It's over." Yu Leshui said.

"No, it's not over. You didn't say that these situations have anything to do with 'skull survival out of body'. ”

Yu Leshui was stunned for a moment, yes, he ignored this in shock. She looked at her husband, Chu nodded, and said:

"You're right. This plan involves one of my assumptions, but it's so vague that I don't know if it's a 'necessary adventure' or an 'unnecessary madness'. ”

"If humanity is in a desperate situation, there is no 'unnecessary madness'. Please go on. ”

"The wave of space that will emerge in sixty-three years and peak in one hundred and twenty-five years is still cosmic-free, and humanity has nowhere to escape, with perhaps only one exception."

Yu Leshui immediately pricked up her ears, and she saw that Ji Renrui was the same.

"As you already know, a wormhole ship can only travel inside a wormhole, and its hull must not go beyond the wormhole. Because outside the wormhole is non-native space, where objects still follow the system of relativity, including the well-known mechanisms such as the need for force to produce acceleration, the mass tends to be infinite when the ship is close to the speed of light, and so on. Therefore, even if the spacecraft only has a small bump out of the wormhole, it will cause a great impedance to the spacecraft's travel. I don't use 'resistance' here because this resistance is not a nature of force. ”

"Yes, we do."

Therefore, the first rule of wormhole spaceship design is that the diameter of the spacecraft entity must be smaller than the diameter of the wormhole. It's the golden rule. But now let's think backwards - if the technologists can overcome the great difficulty and stretch a bulge the size of a human head out of the wormhole, while trying to keep the ship moving inside the wormhole - of course, this travel must be lower than the speed of light, otherwise it violates the theory of relativity - if so, what kind of vacuum will the bulge be in? Imagine that as this bulge moves, the still space of the universe will come to you, like the wind blowing in a convertible car. So, for this bulge, the space is greatly compressed. ”

"Artificial vacuum!" Yu Leshui said excitedly.

"Yes, an artificial vacuum. This is similar to the Doppler effect, but in essence it is not, because what is useful to us is not the increase in the wave frequency, but the compression of space, the compression of the deep structure of the vacuum. Normally powered ships can actually cause vacuum compression, but unfortunately their speed is too low for the effect to be obvious. I've roughly calculated that if wormhole flight is maintained at half the speed of light, the space compression effect will be enough to counteract the space surge. If the bulge is loaded, such as a human head, he should be able to maintain peak intelligence, so that he can have a waking goose whistle in the middle of the sleeping flock. Of course, this bulge will have to withstand enhanced cosmic radiation, and if it contains a human brain, it must be solidly protected, and the 'neutron-like matter' is very suitable. ”

The two read what he didn't say: That's why I'm thinking about keeping the skull alive in violation.

Chu Tianle said: "If the above conjecture can be realized, it will be easy to do, let the refugees sit on the spaceship, and then, as long as there is such a head on each ship that stretches out of the space of the domain, it can direct the normal operation of the spacecraft and monitor the situation of the earth." This will continue until the end of the space skyrocket. ”

Yu Leshui frowned, "Slow down - this approach, letting the human brain in the bulge command the operation of the spaceship, does it violate the iron law that you said that 'information from different universes cannot be communicated'?" This is because the native and non-native spaces inside and outside the wormhole are essentially unphased. ”

Chu Tianle looked at her with a smile, "Leshui, don't say that you are not good at rational thinking in the future." You're right, if this is successful, it does break that iron rule - it's not a violation, because it's done through wormholes. The so-called wormhole is a passage connecting different universes, and we used to say that the universe is not passable, just because we have not found a suitable wormhole. But because of that, I wasn't too sure about what I envisioned. I don't know if this iron rule can be broken. ”

Ji Renrui said: "Since we have broken the iron law of 'the speed of light cannot be surpassed' and surpassed the relativity system, it is not a great thing to break another law." Well, let's sit down and think about it for three days, and then we meet to discuss what to do in the future. Tianle, thank you for your trust, this time you told me about this catastrophe in time, and did not hide it like last time and take individual action. ”

His praise is actually criticism, and it is a sprinkling of anger from the last nest. Chu Tianle said: "Yes, I won't hide it from you anymore, this is also Leshui's opinion." ”

"Really? Then I would also like to thank Leshui. Leshui: Do you know the public's evaluation of us? Although repeating it is a bit of a boast, I'll talk about it anyway. This evaluation is: Chu Tianle is the brain responsible for thinking at the 'Friends of Music', Ji Renrui is the cerebellum responsible for action, and Yu Leshui is the mind that guides the direction. Although the evaluation of me is exaggerated, it is also appropriate. What is the cerebellum? Without the command of the brain, it can only make simple vegetative responses; Without the command of the mind, it may go down the wrong path with swift steps. So- thank you both. He let out a desolate sigh, "I hope we can find a way out this time." ”

4

Ge Qihong, vice president of the Friends of Joy Foundation, said: "When everyone is together, let's sail." I said, Captain, it's been fourteen years, why are you still an old fellow? ”

The captain smiled and scolded back: "You are not dead, can I die before you?" ”

"Don't flick with me. Let's sail, drive well, you know ......"

The captain cut him off, "I know what you're farting down there, stop it as soon as possible." These people are the top scientists in the world, and if the boat capsizes, physics will have to go back a hundred years. Isn't it? ”

Ge Qihong smiled, "You're so smart, you don't have to say more about it - yes, let's stop talking nonsense, Mr. Rogge, who came last time, is also here, and he understands Chinese." ”

The captain drove the boat and asked Ge Qihong quietly: "Hey, President Ge, I have a serious question." Is there going to be a secret vote this time? I know that as soon as I finished voting here last time, Fermilab in the United States immediately pressed the button and burst out a huge hollow ball. ”

"I'm sorry, the content of the meeting is just kept secret to ......"

"Your level?"

Ge Qihong shook his head, "No, this time it's kept secret to the level above me, and I don't know what the content is this time, I only know that all the people who came were physicists, cosmology experts, wormhole spacecraft manufacturing experts, brain science experts, and so on." Inquire and concentrate on driving your boat. ”

The captain stared at him, "Not bad news?" I see that there is a black breath between your eyebrows, and you laugh with a crying taste. ”

Ge Qihong actually knew the content of the meeting, but of course he wouldn't reveal it, "You drive a boat and work part-time to see the photo?" Stop, drive your boat. ”

Rogge, who was sitting in the bow of the boat, heard the conversation at the stern, and he just glanced back and didn't answer. Today, there are also eight members of Ji's team (Ji Jichang, the original six captains plus Xi Mingzhe), Kang Ping, and Aaron Dyche of the United States (who are representatives of the spacecraft manufacturing industry). They didn't know anything about the content of the meeting, and they couldn't help but secretly guess in their hearts when they listened to Vice President Ge and the captain playing dumb riddles. After all, the meeting was held too suddenly.

Egg Island has arrived. The island is still as desolate as it was back then, and there is no pier to build and guests are allowed to reach the island via a makeshift wooden boardwalk. There is a significant difference between this and the shore, which is already full of transparent spherical buildings, and the bright houses look like a fairyland from a distance. Chu Tianle, Yu Leshui and Ji Ren stood on the shore to greet them. When all 30 delegates went ashore, Yu Leshui said:

"Welcome to Egg Island. Some are returning to the same place, but most are visiting for the first time. Before the meeting, would you like to take you on a tour? ”

Everyone agrees. So, Ge Qihong led everyone to visit, and Chu, Ji, and Yu went to the underground conference room to wait first. The hemispherical glass enclosures were admired with great interest, and the broken eggshells and barefoot footprints on the ground were still frozen in time—fourteen more years than the last time they visited. Twenty-five stone pillars are still there, but the cameras on them have been removed. Rogge always felt that there seemed to be a white figure on the shore, looking up at the sky with his hands behind his back. Of course, this was his imagination, Pauli had been dead for six years, and that genius brain was forever embedded in Moon Rock. They hurriedly looked at it and came to the basement. There was still a circle of grass futons in the basement, and the grass had dried up. At that time, it was Tianle Ma and Liu Ye who were weaving grass balls, Liu Ye had been in the sky for nine years, and Tianle Ma had also passed away for three years.

Ji Renrui presided over the meeting. His expression was desolate, and he said straight to the point:

"Mankind is full of disasters and difficulties. While the previous catastrophe has proven to be a false alarm, there is another catastrophe waiting for us, and it is unlikely that it will still be a false alarm. Chu Tianle will elaborate on this later, and then we will discuss the response. This catastrophe ...... How to put it, it is soft, but perhaps more terrible than the hard disasters of the past. Therefore, if no workable solution is found for the time being, participants should swear secrecy to avoid causing violent social unrest. Confidentiality is indefinite until a new decision is made at a certain meeting. Do you all agree? If you do not agree to make this commitment, please leave the venue now. He looked at them in turn, and they nodded their heads in turn. Okay, Tianle you start. ”

So, Chu Tianle began to talk about the coming vacuum isolation wave and the worry of the collapse of human intelligence. He spoke very truthfully, both about his deep concern and for making it clear that the catastrophe was unproven and could not be verified in advance. The room was silent, except for the metallic voice of his voice converter. After the speech, the venue was silent for a long time, and Yu Leshui thought that everyone suddenly heard such bad news, and they really had to work hard for a while to digest it. But she wasn't all right, and at least four of those in attendance were silent for other reasons. After a while, Rogge let out a long sigh:

"Thank you for convening this meeting. Mr. Chu, I have also taken into account the prospects you are worried about, and I took them into account half a year ago. I think that although it is only a mathematical deduction of Pauli's formula, there is no need to doubt that the space explosion will bring about a sharp drop in intelligence just by comparing it with the explosion of intelligence caused by the collapse of space. The reason why I have remained silent for the past six months is because I have never thought of a way to deal with it, and I don't even have the least direction. Since I can't think about it, I don't want to wake up the world with noise. Frankly, I'm ready to kill myself, and if it weren't for this meeting, maybe I'd be acting in a few weeks. "Because I fear losing my mind more than I fear death." ”

There were three people in the room who nodded their heads one after another: physicist Kou Shipeng, astrophysicist Krigu, and quantum physicist Matsumoto Puzzle. They said:

"Rogge, I thought of it too."

"I've kept it a secret as well."

"Maybe I'll kill myself out of despair."

The most surprising people in the venue were the eight members of Ji's team, Kang Ping and Dai Qi. They have devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the offensive war against the new era, and are full of expectations for the splendor of tomorrow. They had just attended a space wedding on Mars, and the excitement of the newlywed was still beating in their hearts, but now they suddenly heard the bad news, it turned out that the rear had completely fallen! Ji Jichang stared sideways at his father, and his father nodded bitterly: "Child, I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance." I understand your feelings at this moment, this bend is too steep for a vanguard officer who has already put on his armor and gone into battle. ”

Chu Tianle said: "I was also silent for a long time, trying to find a solution. But so far, I've only found a very reluctant solution. ”

Despite his low tone, the attendees believed in his wisdom and the atmosphere changed. Next, Chu Tianle calmly recounted his "Goose Whistle Plan", asking everyone to judge whether it was feasible. Everyone pondered silently.

After a while, Rogge spoke first: "Salute to Mr. Chu." You didn't succumb to this Satanic coercion and managed to come up with a solution, and I think it's doable. This has loosened the bonds for us psychologically, so let's also let our wisdom fly to the fullest, I'm going to fly now! He smiled and nodded at Chu Tianle, "Chu, your method has inspired me a lot, and I immediately had a little inspiration. That is—" he said slowly, "we already know that when the wormhole flies, the non-native space outside the ship will shrink and explode; So in the wormhole, how will the local space dragged behind the spaceship change? Is it not in sync with the non-local space? ”

He looked at Chu Tianle with blazing eyes. Tianle was visibly shocked, and responded: "This is a very valuable question. Read on. ”

"I don't think it's going to sync, there's no reason to sync. The local space and the non-local space are different and isolated from each other, and the exchange without information will naturally not be synchronized. Therefore, according to logical reasoning, it will still remain in its original dense state, and as long as the flight does not stop, the state will not change. It's like a dead deposit in the banking industry, the bank has been calculating interest based on the interest rate when you deposited it, regardless of whether the interest rate has changed since then; Once you withdraw and re-deposit, you will have to apply the new interest rate. ”

Chu Tianle thought about it and nodded slightly. Yu Leshui said, "I understand. You are saying that while the universe is still in a dense vacuum, let the spacecraft enter the wormhole, and then keep flying continuously, so that the local space behind the spacecraft will remain in a dense vacuum until the outer space returns to a standard vacuum. Of course, during this period, the spacecraft will fly blindly and will not be able to exchange any information with the outside world. Isn't that so? ”

"Yes, that would avoid that period of intellectual collapse. To use an analogy, a spaceship that is constantly flying is like a completely sealed wisdom storage room, reserving a batch of wisdom seeds for humanity. The premise is that the spacecraft cannot be grounded in the middle of the flight, so the fuel on board must be enough to last for 186 years, which is one and a half cycles of the isolated wave. Rogge said.

Chu Tianle praised the festival: "That's right! It's better and easier to implement than my approach. As for the 186 years of continuous flight you mentioned, it is not a problem for wormhole spacecraft. Changchang, you say? ”

Ji Jichang keenly understood what he meant, and said, "There is about ten ships long in the local space behind the spaceship, and it can hold at least three or four ships, which can be used as auxiliary fuel tanks. This is similar to the locomotive pulling several carriages, but the two are actually different: the train pulls more power, and the auxiliary fuel tank I am talking about is carried by the space, and does not increase the power consumption, which can be regarded as free consignment. With these ships of spare fuel, there is absolutely no problem with flying continuously for one hundred and eighty-six years. ”

After an in-depth discussion, the participants agreed with Rogge's approach. Ju Shipeng said: "However, Chu Tianle's method also has a unique advantage, because it is an active intelligence enhancer, even if the isolated wave has all passed and the universe returns to its original gentle expansion, it can still be used to create a local dense vacuum; And during a cataclysm, it is able to maintain active intervention in the planet, while Rogge's 'sealed smart crisper' is only a passive defense. ”

Krigu said: "But Chu Tianle's method has two limitations. First, it is impossible for such a spacecraft to reach the speed of light, otherwise the mass of the protrusion protruding from non-native space would reach infinity; Second, the spacecraft in the wormhole can no longer be accelerated and decelerated instantaneously as in the past, but must be added or decreased at a constant speed. In other words, the flight state inside the cave must be consistent with the outside of the cave, otherwise the force curve will appear sharp and cause the spacecraft to be destroyed. And this kind of spaceship is very difficult to build, because the wormhole spacecraft of the past are inherently powerless and can be made very light. Now, the protrusions that protrude out of 'non-native space' will bring huge impedance, the spacecraft must have great strength and rigidity, and the material properties must be improved by several orders of magnitude. Considering these factors, Chu Tianle's method may not be realized immediately, and can only be used as a record. ”

Kompin discussed in a low voice with Kovalev, a young materials scientist under his command, and then said in a high-spirited manner: "Don't worry. As long as there is a direction of effort, technical problems can always be solved, especially now, we now have a neutron-like substance with excellent performance! ”

At noon, everyone had a simple working meal and continued to discuss in depth. Before dinner, Ji Renrui made a summary:

"Today's discussion is sufficient, let me summarize. The main conclusions of this meeting are as follows: 1. Ask the United Nations to consider the Rogge method, build a sufficient number of 'smart rooms', and put a fleet of 100,000 people, so that in case of civilization destruction, these people can return to their home planet to rebuild civilization. This fleet is based on the Mach 100 million landing spacecraft being developed by Ji Jichang and others. 2. The circum-universe expedition continues, but there are a few changes, that is, it must also ensure continuous flight for 186 years in its early flight. 3. Chu Tianle's 'goose whistle' method began to be studied at the same time, but it is subject to the progress of the first two without hindering it. Do you have any comments on these three conclusions? ”

Everyone nodded their heads in turn, indicating approval. Ji Renrui, the moderator of the meeting, said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, according to accepted data, the contraction of space will peak next year, that is, the human intellect will reach its peak, after which it will be time to go downhill. The red face is easy to pass away, while we have an efficient brain, let's work hard. The meeting is adjourned! Please eat your working meal before leaving. ”

Afterwards, the staff began to distribute lunch boxes to everyone. At this time, a staff member hurriedly came in and handed Ji Renrui a phone record paper, Ji Renrui hurriedly browsed it, raised his head, and looked at the Chu couple in shock. Yu Leshui, who was taking care of her husband's meal, asked:

"What's the news?"

"A call from the Noah. Alex: They have repeated all of our findings – no, not repeatedly. Noah was four light-years away when it called, so the discoveries we receive today should have been made four years ago, long before us. ”

"All the finds?" Fish music subconsciously repeated.

"Yes—except for the 'goose whistle' method." He handed the piece of paper to Chu Tianle, "There are just two isolated waves about the collapse of the whole universe; About the Mach 100 million spacecraft; As for the impending period of intellectual breakdown and the method of continuous flight to escape it, etc., they were discovered independently before us. And they have already put it into practice, since they sent this message four years ago, they have decisively entered a continuous wormhole flight state. It will not be until one hundred and thirty-one years after they entered blind flight, that is, one hundred and twenty-seven years from now, that they will regain contact with the outside world. Their hydrogen fuel is not enough to fly continuously until the end of space dredging, but they have already figured out a way to solve this problem. ”

"Why one hundred and thirty-one years?" Yu Leshui asked suspiciously.

Chu Tianle had already finished reading the contents of the paper, and said with a long sigh: "That's right, they made exactly the same discovery as us, except for one point - the cycle of isolated waves. We say the half-wave cycle is sixty-two years, while they say forty-six and a half years. Brother Ji, we must immediately and strictly review this data! Personally, I think sixty-two years is accurate, after all, the observation equipment on the spacecraft is inferior to that of the Earth, plus their observations are disturbed by the state of flight. However, if this is the case, the 'Noah' will be annoying. ”

Yu Leshui quickly made a silent calculation, and couldn't help but shiver. If the 62-year and a half-year cycle observed by the Earth is correct, then 127 years later, when Noah thinks that space is back to normal, it excitedly emerges from the wormhole and is greeted by the peak of space expansion. They will suddenly go from a dense vacuum to an extreme vacuum! Such a steep mutation will definitely cause the intellectual collapse of Noah's crew, and it will also inevitably bring about the destruction of the spaceship!

- But what to do? There is no way to think about it. "Noah" has entered the expected continuous wormhole flight for one hundred and thirty-one years, it is completely cut off from the outer universe, and there is no way to notify them. Moreover, they could no longer observe the universe outside the wormhole after entering the blind flight, so they were certainly unable to correct their mistakes.

Yu Leshui looked at her husband sadly, and her husband patted the back of her hand and said, "Let's immediately start the review of the isolated wave cycle." Leshui, don't despair, there is always a way to think of it. ”

But there wasn't much confidence in his voice.

Half a month later, the results of the review came out. The sixty-two and a half years observed by the Earth is correct, while the forty-six and a half years drawn by "Noah" is wrong.

5

Mom, Brother Tianle, Sister-in-law Leshui, Cao'er niece:

Hello. Those four important findings have been elaborated in the work report written by Zizhou, and I would like to add just a little background information. In the five years since the ship set sail, our 'meditative thinking' has yielded fruitful results, and it is clear that it is far more efficient than conventional thinking on Earth. Although Noah has become indifferent to the right to invent, I still want to brag a little in front of my relatives: one of the four discoveries is my contribution, and Zizhou also has one.

After making four discoveries, we immediately turned back to Earth in order to let our fellow Earthns know as soon as possible - after all, a Mach 1.8 spacecraft can travel faster than radio waves. The return trip lasted two years. Now we are less than four light-years away from Earth, but we dare not go any further. Today is the fifty-seventh year of the universe's contraction, and it has been ten years since the peak, and we have to seize the opportunity when the space is still a dense vacuum to enter the wormhole state, so as to preserve a high-quality seed for the earth's civilization. As for the Earth Society, we estimate that if you proceed as soon as you receive the message, you will be able to launch the spacecraft before the end of the vacuum. That way, you will at least maintain the level of intelligence you had before the cataclysm. If it is too late, then you must prepare for the worst possible in order to do your best to avoid the destruction of civilization when the human intellect collapses.

Dear relatives, I am worried about you. But I think that there are a large number of geniuses on the earth, such as Brother Tianle, Luo Ge, and Ji Jichang, and they will definitely come up with a way. I have a bold guess: perhaps you made the same discovery before the message reached Earth. Dear relatives, I bless you!

Is Mom's body okay? In the past two days, I have a strong feeling that my mother has left us. I seemed to see the light of the fire on the crematorium. If this conjecture does not conform to the facts, I hope my mother laughs it off. I know that Mom has never been afraid to listen to unlucky words. If I am unlucky, then pay tribute to my parents' spirits and say goodbye to the second elder on my behalf. I also want to say goodbye to you. Noah is about to enter a wormhole state, which will last for one hundred and thirty-one years, during which time no information will be exchanged with the outside world. By the time Noah is out of the wormhole, I'm sure I'll be old, and even my little angel (if he's alive) will be one hundred and thirty-five years old.

Fellow relatives, farewell. I love you, I miss you, and I bless you!

Willow Leaf was in the spacecraft for five years

6

After half a year of discussion, the world's scientific community basically approved the next catastrophe predicted by Chu Tianle and Pauli. Although there is no observational evidence to confirm it, it is a very natural corollary that "the space explosion will bring about a sharp drop in intelligence", given that humanity is experiencing a surge in intelligence caused by the collapse of space. Thousands of scientists jointly wrote a letter to the UN Security Council, urging them to pay attention to the prophecy of Chu Yi Pauli. The letter said that science (especially cosmology) has reached a watershed moment after it has reached the stage of cosmology, because it is no longer possible to test a theory by experiments like classical physics, and human beings can only believe in the power of logic and reason. Of course, verification still needs to be done, but it must be carried out by the universe itself, and it can only be a one-time, post-facto verification.

After a year-long discussion, the UN Security Council finally adopted the "New Disaster Response Plan" drafted by "Friends of Joy". This is largely due to the SCAC's strong push. After all, "mental decline" is only a soft threat to the people, not a hard disaster, not to mention that the people have endured too many sharp accelerations, sharp turns and sharp braking in the past 30 years, and have developed a general sense of boredom. They prefer to throw away all their worries, forget all their fears, travel to space in a faster-than-light spacecraft, and enjoy the affluent life of the hydrogen era. However, after all, this is an era of brilliant wisdom, and the people finally use reason to overcome sensibility.

The new plan consists of four main points:

First, we must do our best to ensure the safety of the planet. The United Nations will establish an authoritative intelligence monitoring room to observe the average human intelligence at all times. When intelligence drops to a critical point, all high-tech equipment will be resolutely shut down, so that mankind will return to the era of slash-and-burn cultivation to avoid secondary disasters caused by high-tech equipment. The preparation for the catastrophe was extremely arduous, including a large amount of food reserves and planning how to distribute food during the period of mental decline. But there is a fundamental contradiction in this plan - whether it is possible to make a judgment that "human intelligence has fallen to a critical point" for human beings whose intelligence has fallen to a critical point. This can be said to be a philosophical paradox that arises from self-referentiality, and cannot be resolved. There was an offer to let the computer be the judge (the vacuum would not affect the computer's intelligence), but this was ultimately rejected. It is impossible for human beings to hand over the power of life and death to computers. There are also some transactional contradictions in this plan that are also difficult to solve, such as: once humans return to the age of animals, the earth will definitely not be able to support seven billion people, and perhaps only one in a thousand people will survive. So who to live and who to die? No one can make this decision, only leave it to fate.

But in any case, the preparations that need to be made still need to be made. This is done by the Council at the urging of States.

The other three points have been agreed upon by the Friends of Joy:

2. "Smart Fresh-keeping Room" plan. Construct nine Mach 100 million landable spacecraft that will be in the sky and in continuous flight within ten years at the latest, until the end of the vacuum (one hundred and eighty-six years from now), and then out of the wormhole.

These spacecraft have improved the "auxiliary fuel tank method" proposed by Ji Jichang at the Rendan Island meeting. The nine spacecraft are divided into three fleets, namely "heaven", "earth" and "people", each team has three ships, one is the main ship and two are the auxiliary ships, which are connected to each other by soft pipes. Each ship could accommodate 6,000 people, but in reality it was manned only 2,000 people. The auxiliary vessel is mainly loaded with fuel, but it is also equipped with all the equipment and can fly alone. This is for safety reasons, and if the main vessel's power system fails, the auxiliary ship can take over – and most importantly: continuous flight during the takeover! The Friends of Joy Academy has found a way: once this happens, quickly transfer the crew and useful items of the main ship to the auxiliary ship, and then when the main ship is not stopped, the auxiliary ship begins to excite and continue straight through the main ship, turning the main ship into a hole wall behind it. In this way, even if only one auxiliary ship remained in the end, it could barely accommodate the six thousand crew members of the fleet.

Three flotillas will fly in different directions. Because it is unreliable to rely on the spacecraft's own instruments to correct the direction during the 186-year-long flight, the three fleets should be spread out as much as possible to avoid collisions in blind flight.

3. One of the three fleets will follow the route of the circumnavigation. It will continue to fly towards outer space until it returns to Earth from the other direction – or disappears into the depths of space. But its early flight will also have a 186-year continuous flight to ensure that the crew can survive the period of intellectual collapse safely.

The other two teams of spacecraft will fly along a circular course, and after one hundred and eighty-six years, they will theoretically return to the vicinity of Earth. At that time, they will lead the remnants of humanity on Earth, which may have become beastly, to rebuild civilization.

Fourth, the goose whistle plan. Build a spaceship according to Chu Tianle's envisioned method and carry a thousand crew members. Ascend to the sky and enter continuous flight after twelve years at the latest. It will fly around the Earth and monitor anomalies on Earth at all times.

It can be seen that the latter two plans take into account the content of "smart preservation". The "Aerospace Association" that has already been established will still be retained, but the operational direction will be changed from "offensive" to "defensive." It will assist the "Friends of Le" Association and the People's Republic of China in carrying out the above-mentioned plan.

The building of the headquarters of "Friends of Joy" has been completely demolished and rebuilt, which is the return of Kangping. He said that it was the "Friends of Joy" who taught him the skills, and of course he had to repay the "Friends of Joy" first. The new buildings are all in the current "ball style", which is composed of transparent balls as the basic unit. There are three towering main buildings in the hospital, which are the "Friends of Music" one meeting and two hospitals, among them, the Academy of Sciences building is spiral-shaped, like a spiraling ladder, which is connected by spheres; The engineering institute building is pyramid-shaped, but it is thinner than the Egyptian pyramids. The Foundation is more conservative and cylindrical. Other minor buildings are even more colorful, especially a tall bean[3]

Residential buildings are the most eye-catching. After the architects were convinced of the excellent strength of neutron-like matter, the two ends of a single sphere were flattened and joined together to form a thin column, with only two elevators installed in the columns, which rose until a few tens of meters before expanding into a residential area. This kind of building looks crumbling and gives a thrilling feeling, and it is indeed crumbling, and the wind can make the upper part appear a swing of several tens of centimeters. However, young people like this "swing with the wind" because it is a "pure high-rise building" and there are no unpopular low-rise units.

A nearby cement bridge was also rebuilt, a deformation of the "ball style". Kangping has been able to produce rectangular bridge units with cambers, shaped like curved sausages, which can be spliced together to form arches by flattening the ends. The bridge is fully enclosed, the deck is inside, insulated from wind and rain, and thanks to the high transparency, walking in the corridor does not feel cramped. The production process of this "curved sausage-shaped" building material has matured, and it will be used in general buildings in the future, so that the architectural styles will be more diverse.

The office is on the highest floor of the Foundation Building. Today, she asked Ji Renrui to meet. After Ji entered the house, Yu Leshui explained to his secretary Xiao Li:

"I'm going to talk to Dean Ji about an important business, and I won't see any other guests in two hours."

Xiao Li made the tea, adjusted the walls to translucent, closed the door, and exited lightly. Yu Leshui first asked about the situation of Brother Ji's grandson Xiao Doudou, and the little guy was already one year old. Ji Renrui said with a smile: "That little thing is hierarchical to the family, grandma Miao is the closest, mother is second, father is third, and my grandfather can only be ranked last." After gossiping for a while, Yu Leshui said:

"Brother Ji, I asked you to come today, I want to talk about a big thing. You know that Tianle has decided to do head surgery in vitro, and it is obviously not suitable to lead the Friends of Joy Academy anymore. I plan to spend more time with him, and I would like to quit my job at the Friends of Joy Foundation. ”

Ji Renrui looked at her and sighed, "Actually, it is me who should abdicate the most, I am sixty-six years old this year, and I should have retired a long time ago." But...... I can't help but think of Zhuge Liang's words, Sima Yi predicted that he would die soon, Zhuge Liang's subordinates advised him to take care of his body and not to bow down to everything, Zhuge Liang sighed and said, "I don't know how it should be, but I'm worried that others are not as dedicated as me." ’”

"Brother Ji, I understand you. Over the years, you have been the dean of the Academy of Engineering, but you are actually the chief housekeeper of the 'Friends of Music'. ”

"Leshui, today with you, I might as well have the most frank self-analysis. The reason why I am in love with stacks is that in addition to the sense of responsibility mentioned above, I also have an obsession with power. When I think that it is precisely under my spur that the car of human civilization has suddenly accelerated, unmatched at any time in history, this kind of spiritual satisfaction is wonderful. Here, responsibility and the desire for power are intertwined and inextricably linked. ”

Yu Leshui smiled and nodded, "I understand." I understand very well. ”

"Of course, you know the common saying among the people that the 'Friends of Joy' plus half of the SCAC is the de facto leader of the world, and it is called 'scientific governance.'"

"I've heard of it. This is an exaggerated rhetoric, and the 'Friends of Music' is just a think tank of the United Nations. ”

"You're overly modest. Realistically speaking, over the years, the direction of human civilization has indeed been determined by the 'friends of music'. We are, in fact, the Politburo of the United Nations. I have even seriously considered that it would be more efficient to simply let the 'Friends of Joy' take over the leadership of the world and lead humanity to deal with the catastrophe in the form of a world army. But you dissuaded me at the time, and then, when I pushed for the creation of the Aerospace Society, I wanted it to be the political center of the space age—a short-lived era. ”

"Yes, I know. However, Tianle and I both believe that we should not tie a heavy chariot behind us, it will prevent us from charging into battle. 'Friends of Joy' is more suitable to play the role of a pioneer who travels lightly. ”

"I'm afraid that's not the whole reason. You are also worried that such a military will turn into a personal dictatorship, for example, my dictatorship. ”

Yu Leshui smiled, "Where are the words?" Renrui, you are serious. After a pause, she added, "Of course, I also know that from the heart of you are a believer in Machiavelli, and believe that history should be guided by heroes." You are never indifferent to power, believing that power should be in the hands of heroes. You have never been afraid to manipulate power and use not-so-glare means to achieve noble ends. But your worldview is based on goodness, and there is a very clear moral bottom line in your heart. Tianle and I have complete trust in you. Brother Ji, Tianle and I are too 'clean' to get rid of nerds, so, seriously speaking, you are the real driving force of 'Friends of Music'. ”

"You're right about me. However, if a person of my character goes down a certain path unchecked, it is true that he will develop into a personal dictatorship. I can feel the temptation of the Banshees of Power all the time. The reason why I am still awake in the midst of her temptation is because of the balancing effect of you and Tianle. So – thank you. ”

Now that Ji Renrui has said this, Yu Leshui is no longer lying. Ji's self-analysis is correct, his sense of responsibility or desire for power may indeed develop in another direction, but fate did not give him that environment, which can also be said to be fate's love for him. In fact, even Chu Tianle's character contains some kind of danger, Tianle is more extreme, and he can do anything for the survival of human beings: his calmness about human alienation, his calmness about "wormhole spacecraft will cause destruction all the way", his calmness about the separation of the head from the body, and so on. To be fair, without the almost ruthless determination of Ji Renrui and Chu Tianle, 'Friends of Joy' would not have been able to make such a big achievement. But in her heart, in the deepest and softest place of a woman's heart, there are always vague hidden worries. This is also one of the reasons why Yu Leshui wants all three of them to abdicate. She said:

"Brother Ji, I admire your frankness and sobriety. Is there any perfect man in the world? The world is made up of imperfections. So, you're ready to step down? ”

"No, you give me another year, before the three of us step down, we should improve the organizational structure of the 'Friends of Joy' as much as possible, and establish a check on power on the premise of ensuring efficiency. I have said that humanity cannot enjoy the luxury of 'power constraints' during cataclysm, and I still think that is true. But now, the situation is basically stable, and it may be stable for a long time, and it is time to impose a minimum check on power – of course, the premise of restraint is that sufficient efficiency is still ensured. Leave this job to me, and let a power-obsessed person make the terms that bind power, which is a good way to fight theft by stealing. ”

Yu Leshui laughed and said, "Brother Ji, your self-judgment is too harsh. If you are a 'thief', then there will be no gentleman in the world. However, even if this matter is decided, the three of us will retire after a year, and before that, we must improve the organizational structure of 'Friends of Music'. ”

"Okay. If Miao Ji heard the news, he would definitely be crazy. She used to be a powerful accelerant for my obsession with power, but now her 'aura' has been corrupted by Xiaodoudou. ”

The two talked about some details. Ji Renrui said that Changchang has already said that when the construction of the nine spacecraft is basically completed, he will resign from his job as secretary general of the Aerospace Association and prepare to serve as the captain of the "Tianzi No. 1" to carry out the long-awaited circumnavigation expedition. Yu Leshui is more regretful, she thinks that Changchang's child is more comprehensive, suitable for the son to inherit his father's business, and be the chief housekeeper of the 'Friends of Joy' organization, but she still respects the children's choice, and the captain of the Huanyu Expedition also has a great responsibility. Ji Renrui suddenly thought of one thing:

"Speaking of the captain, I remember, yesterday a man suddenly came to me and said that he had decided to go to heaven too. Can you guess who it is? A young billionaire once said, 'If you kill me, you won't go to heaven'. ”

“…… Kangping? ”

"Yes, it's really unexpected, it seems that the restless gene of the old man Kang Buming has also been passed on to him."

Ji Renrui was about to say goodbye, Yu Leshui looked at him with a smile for a while, and said abruptly: "Brother Renrui, sometimes I really want to apologize to you for Tianle, it was he who ruined your beautiful vision." ”

This is, of course, a joke. The new catastrophe discovered by Chu was an objective existence, not summoned by Chu with a spell, but Ji Renrui still couldn't help but sigh. He was the first to see the bright future of the space age, far more brilliant than any other era in history. If it comes true, then as the three major heroes of the new era, the names of Chu, Ji, and Yu will be written in gold in the annals of human history, and even become gods admired by future generations. It would be nonsense to say that anyone is not moved by this prospect, not to mention that Ji Renrui has never thought that he is a person who is indifferent to fame, fortune and power. Even now, the conditions for the development of that prosperous era still exist, but the new catastrophe discovered by Tianle is blocked, and that paradise is out of reach. Ji Renrui smiled and said:

"Yes, he should apologize to me, this guy is so sober, why does he see so far."

Yu Leshui sent him out and returned, and Xiao Li greeted him and said, "President, Professor Elaina wants to see you, and she has been waiting for an hour." ”

Yu Leshui hurriedly came to the reception room, stretched out his hand to Elaine with a smile and said, "Professor, you have been waiting for a long time, please come to my office." ”

Today, the beautiful Professor Elaine is obviously preoccupied, she returned to the headquarters of the "Friends of Music" a month ago, and has been discussing the operation with Tianle. This time, Yu Leshui has not asked, and when she gets along with her husband, she will tacitly avoid this topic. Yule Shui invited Elaine to sit down and went straight to the point:

"What's the matter with the Professor? Please feel free to speak. ”

The professor smiled bitterly: "President Yu, I already said when I came here last time that Chu Tianle is a scientific god I admire very much, and I am willing to do anything for him." ”

Yu Leshui smiled and shook his hand, "It's over, it's over." Yes, Tianle is a great man, but he is by no means a god. ”

"No, he's a god in my mind. I also understand very well the fear of a genius like him about losing his intelligence. I think that as long as he can maintain his extraordinary wisdom, even if the head is out of the body, it is worth it. ”

"Yes, you said that last time."

"But the situation has changed! Now with the Wisdom Freshroom, he was able to continue to maintain his intelligence in good condition. In this case, I feel that I can no longer perform ex vivo surgery on him, and I feel that is a crime. ”

Yu Leshui was a little surprised. The last time we talked, she thought that Professor Elaine was a typical strong scientist, willing to use scientific knives and saws to improve the human body at will, without any ethical or emotional taboos, but she did not expect that she would have such an attitude. Yu Leshui asked softly:

"Oh, I see. What does my husband say? ”

"For the past month, I've tried to persuade him to give up, but he hasn't been moved. Yesterday I gave an ultimatum that if he insisted on having surgery, I would quit and ask him to ask him to ask for another master. He hesitated for a moment and said, 'Then you might as well go to my wife, and she will make the final decision, and I will respect her opinion.' So I came. ”

Elaine looked at her expectantly. Yu Leshui was silent for a moment and sighed, "Professor, you can fulfill his wish." ”

"You agree?" Elaine asked in shock, "The last time you talked to me, although you didn't explicitly disagree, I have the impression that you don't approve of it. ”

"I didn't have time to understand his full thoughts. Yes, you can keep your intelligence alive with a smart crisper, but those ships will be completely cut off from Earth for one hundred and eighty-six years. According to Tianle's method, his head will always be at the junction of the two dimensions, and he can maintain observation and contact with the earth. In other words, if the human intelligence sleeps, he can still maintain a sober goose whistle in outer space, and if danger comes, he can at least shout at the sleeping geese. Of course, it is likely that his shouting will not have much effect, because by then human intelligence is no longer enough to react rationally. But...... He at least did his part. ”

Elaine was silent.

After a while, Yu Leshui said bitterly: "Actually, I should accompany him to go with me." In order to maintain the balance of impedance, the Goose Whistle spacecraft will set up two protrusions that extend into the out-of-phase space, and the extra one is simply specially prepared for me. But my mind was too conservative, and the fear of losing my mind was not enough for me to overcome my fear of the situation—a lone human head, connected by several pipes, through a long, hollow arm, and connected to a hard-boiled offering machine. Tianle said that this is 'the living of consciousness', and said that the separation of thinking from the body is the highest state of the development of human civilization. But I can't accept it, I just want to 'live in the flesh'. But I also figured it out, I won't drag my husband back, he is willing to do that, let's fulfill his hard work. By the way, Dean Ji Renrui also has this opinion. ”

Elaina was silent for a long time, apparently determined—it wasn't until twelve years later that she knew what she had decided—and said, "Well, I respect your opinion. ”

"I have only one request: to postpone the ex vivo surgery as much as possible and wait until the goose whistle spacecraft is in the sky. During this time, you will do your best to prepare for the research, and you must be foolproof. ”

"Of course. Please rest assured. ”

"During this time, I want him to spend as much time as possible with his family, and accompany us with a complete, carnal Chu Tianle."

"Okay, I believe this is also Mr. Chu's wish."

"Dad, Mom, I had a dream last night, I dreamed of Aunt Liu Ye and Uncle Yangyang."

Fourteen-year-old Cao'er said with interest. Today is Sunday, and the couple gave Sister-in-law Xu a holiday, and the two of them played with Cao'er. The more this IVF grows more and more like his mother, and his grandparents came not long ago and exclaimed that Cao'er "is simply a copy of Shui'er back then". Tianle also said that when he saw the grass, he thought of the ten-year-old Yu Leshui he met on the road. Leshui himself doesn't have a deep memory of his childhood, but after hearing his parents and husband say this repeatedly, he believes it. During the holidays, when this over-energetic little girl was jumping around in the courtyard of the house without stopping, she always admired it silently, recalling her lost childhood, and her heart was full of a slightly bitter sweetness.

"Really? What are they doing in their dreams? Tianle asked.

"That dream is messy. In the dream, grandma didn't die, and grandma chased to the spaceship and said to Aunt Liuye, it's terrible, you miscalculated an important number, not forty-six and a half years, it should be sixty-two years. If this number is wrong, you will never come back. Aunt Liu Ye smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry, we don't know now, Sister-in-law Leshui will catch up with us in a few years, and we will know at that time." Cao'er giggled, "She already knows about this, why should her mother tell her in a few years?" Typical logical confusion. ”

"Although the logic is confusing, the general context is still correct. We're really trying to figure out how to pry open the wormhole coffin and notify them of the error. Moreover, this method is generally eyebrow-raising. Tianle said.

"I also dreamed that my father went back in time on a lightspeed spaceship and rescued Grandpa Chu, as well as Grandpa Kang and Uncle Pauli, who were embedded in the moon rocks. I know this is cranky, and it is impossible to go back in time even on a billion-fold speed spaceship. ”

"Yes, you can't go back to the past, the two martyrs on the moon can't be saved, but Grandpa Chu, who hibernates in space, can be saved." Chu Tianle said, "Cao'er, what do you want to do when you grow up?" ”

"Flying a spaceship, of course. I'm going to be the captain of that goose whistle ship. I knew my dad was going to get on that ship, and I could take care of my dad by the way as a captain. No, it's taking care of Daddy's head, or taking care of Daddy who only has one head left. Mom, Dad, which statement do you say is the most accurate? ”

Leshui reluctantly smiled and said, "It should be the last statement that is more accurate." There's only one head left, and it's your complete dad too. ”

Cao'er's last two sentences made Yu Leshui feel gloomy, but he was relieved to think about it. The course of human civilization is such that certain boundaries that are difficult to cross in the minds of the previous generation will be taken for granted by the next generation, and thus will be free from the corresponding spiritual tribulations. She looked at her husband silently, but Tianle diverted the topic and asked:

"Elaina talked to you?"

"Yes."

"You must not fight the idea of 'accompanying your husband on the spaceship'. If you have a healthy body, stay on earth and live a normal life, which is given to you by God. As for me, I was unfortunate enough to have such an inferior body on the table, and I was already tired of it, and that operation was actually a relief for me. We had a weightless flight on the Chu's once, and that was always my dream. ”

Yu Leshui looked at her husband steadily. No, that's not liberation, it's just taking responsibility on your shoulders. He didn't want to worry about the mentally broken humans, and wanted to keep a pair of clear eyes, so he did not hesitate to let his head out of his body, imprisoned in a thick box of neutron-like matter, and roamed in the "vacuum wind" that came in his face. He also knew that he would lose the joy of life in this way, and without his wife's body gently touching him, his hair tickling him, and his breath blowing softly on him. But...... Maybe Cao'er will really become the crew of the goose whistle spaceship in ten years, so let his daughter take care of him on his behalf. She smiled and said:

"I didn't have the courage to let my head out of my body, so I had to stay on the ground. However, I want to spend the next ten years with you before the spaceship goes into space. Both of us, as well as Brother Ji, resigned from the position of 'Friend of Music'. Then let's pick up my parents and live a good life in the world of five. ”

"Okay." Friends of Joy is all in the hands of the younger generation, and we enjoy our family life. ”

They pulled the grass over, and they put their arms around her. The ghost spirit grass sensed something abnormal, and asked suspiciously, "Dad, Mom, what's wrong with you?" I think your eyes are shining brightly at this point. ”

The two did not answer, laughing and kissing their daughter's forehead.

[1]

Flying car is a proper term for a diesel engine, once its speed control fails, if the diesel supply is not cut off, it will spin faster and faster until the machine falls apart.

[2]

Fermi's paradox is that if there were other civilizations in the universe that were similar to Earth's history, they should have come to Earth, because life could have been born on other planets billions of years ago.

[3]

Beans are a kind of ancient Chinese drinking vessel.