12 Taro Urashima

"One day in the sky, one year underground." After listening to Wang Chen and Yazi's explanation, Gao Jie muttered to himself.

Bud also closed her eyes and said something in Japanese, the translator on Gao Jie's ear translated as "Dragon Palace", she didn't know this legend, but she heard the sadness in Budko's tone.

Wang Chen shook his head and said, "At least Urashima Taro can come back." He then put his hand on Bud's shoulder to comfort her, who nodded slightly to indicate that he was fine.

However, Gao Jie did not know how much the conclusion of "1 hour for us, 10 years over there" would subvert the cognition of human scientific theories.

——

The difference in the speed of the passage of time can be traced back thousands of years, when different civilizations on Earth had stories or legends, even if they were not yet discovered to contain scientific principles. In modern times, the theme of "time delay" has also been used in various science fiction works, among which the 2014 movie "Interstellar" created the classic bridge of "1 hour on aliens, 13 years on earth", and many works have followed or borrowed from it, thus highlighting people's infinite reverie about the results of the difference in the speed of time passing. Of course, this seemingly fantastical scientific phenomenon has long been explained.

From Einstein's theory of relativity, it can be inferred that the greater the gravitational pull, the slower time is. Because the theory of relativity was perfected, some of which were later confirmed many times, and for a long time, people believed in it. If we continue to derive, then we will naturally conclude that in the space on both sides of the wormhole, the speed of time flow should be "10 years for us, 1 hour over there" to be more consistent with this theory, rather than the completely opposite result of Minerva's detection.

What went wrong? Is it the theory of relativity? Or the results of the Minerva's data analysis? Or are they all wrong?

The four astronomers aboard Minerva have debated this bizarre result several times, even before the date when the N-star consciousness memory hit Minerva (November 13, 2099). Of course, the same debate took place on Earth, where a number of astronomical and physical authorities were secretly convened to analyze the results. But neither the four astronomers on Minerva nor the secret discussions on Earth have come to a definite conclusion, and there are only the following possible speculations:

The first conjecture is based on the assumption that the theory of relativity is correct, and that time becomes relatively slow as gravity increases, and that the relative velocity of time tends to be close to zero. If the gravitational force continues to expand infinitely at this time, the relative time flow velocity breaks through the "zero" and becomes negative, and the "reverse flow" of time is formed, but the "reverse flow" is not "time reversal", it is also a form of time flow, but as a human being living in three-dimensional space, this "reverse flow" is actually the same as the "normal flow of time", and it will also bring about a day and night cycle, birth, old age, sickness and death, which is essentially not in conflict with the normal time theory, and the time flow speed into the "reverse flow" will increase with the increase of gravity, and then there is a conclusion that "we are 1 hour, there is 10 years", which is contrary to human scientific speculation. This speculation arises because human beings have never been exposed to gravitational force beyond the scope of imagination, and the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is such an existence. (The above speculation, you can draw a horizontal number axis, once the forward time flow slows down and breaks through 0 to the left, it will enter the "time reverse flow" region, and the time flow does not distinguish between positive and negative, only the absolute value, so the greater the gravitational force, the more the time flow speed to the left of the number axis, the faster the flow rate will appear.) ）

The second hypothesis: Similar to the first hypothesis, it recognizes the correctness of the theory of relativity and assumes that the flow of time will break through a certain extreme value when the gravitational force reaches a large enough point (as in the first hypothesis "0"). However, this speculation suggests that the rules of the passage of time are not like a straight line or a number axis, but rather a numerical loop of maximums and minimums (e.g., 123123123...... ）。 When the speed of time passage is continuously slowed down by the increase of gravity, and finally breaks through the "extreme" at one end, the time flow speed will jump directly to the "extreme" at the other end, that is, "slowest" to "fastest". Again, this speculation is based on the influence of the massive gravitational pull of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. (To illustrate this speculation with an interesting example: there is an interesting bug in the game Civilization that the most peace-loving Indian civilization will become a warmonger who throws nuclear bombs everywhere under certain conditions - because India's aggression value is set to 1 point, and some options will reduce the aggression value by 2 points, and since there is no negative value, India's invasion value will become an explosive 255 points.) If we compare the speed of time to the value of aggression, and the effect of gravity to the option of reducing the value of aggression, we can get the exact opposite. ）

The third hypothesis is that the effect of gravity on time is in a waveform state, with peaks and troughs - both slowing down and accelerating. But this speculation will invisibly partially overturn the theoretical basis of the original theory of relativity, and thus make this speculation the least supported. (Drawing a number line and then a sinusoidal curve would basically explain this speculation.) ）

The fourth speculation: This speculation is the last and most violent speculation to appear. It does not involve the theory of relativity, but directly considers the role of N stars and N particles in it. The N-star consciousness once said that they had already used N particles to improve the environmental conditions of the star field on the other side of the wormhole, so that humans could have enough environmental and material conditions to survive after escaping through the wormhole. However, due to the long time it takes for the N particles to improve the environment of the star field, the N particles also change the speed of time there (speeding up, of course) to ensure that the N particles have enough time to complete the transformation of the star field before the arrival of humans. This speculation was inferred after Minerva transmitted the recording of the consciousness of the N stars to Earth, and people fully realized the terrifying technological strength of the N stars (such as consciousness storage and light-speed transportation), since the N stars themselves admit that the N particles are a product that they fear and can rewrite the rules of the universe, it is better to directly admit the power of the N particles and the rationality of this speculation. However, to the dismay of the proponents of this view, the N-star consciousness does not answer this kind of question directly, they only mention that they have modified the star field on the other side of the wormhole with N particles, but they do not admit whether it has changed the flow of time, and they have always answered "I don't know" in the face of such questions, and this reaction also makes it confusing whether this speculation is true.

None of the above four speculations has definite evidence to prove whether it is true or credible, and whether any of them is accurate or inaccurate, many top scholars of human civilization have been amazed that the journey of human civilization to the sea of stars is not even a fledgling child. The pity of the N people for the civilization of the earth made them spend a lot of time and energy to create opportunities and space for humans to escape. Is this the destined fate of Earth's civilization? Or is it the benevolence of a higher civilization? Or is it due to the rules of the universe?

Either way, it's a reality that can't be defined.

——

"I have a proposal, if what you just said is true," Gao Jie said to the somewhat lost Yazi and Wang Chen, "We can send some people through the wormhole to colonize and focus on the study of science and technology, after all, time is fast there, and then pass back all kinds of advanced technology, and we can ...... here."

Wang Chen interrupted Gao Jie: "The huge gravitational force will interfere with the transmission of signals, and the most that can be strung back is only a few words, and complex formulas, images, and data cannot be transmitted at all." ”

Gao Jie patted his head, as if to express "forgot this", and then thought for a moment and then mentioned: "Then it can also be like this, let the person who can manipulate the N particles go to the (wormhole) side, so that there will be enough time to develop various voice-activated commands, maybe you can find a way to crack the invincibility of the Nt fleet." ”

Wang Chen held his chin and thought for a while: "It's not very clear how many of our 25 people can control N particles (Wang Chen and Yazi don't know how many people were in the test results the day before), even if they do get there, it may take several generations, or even dozens of generations, to be able to develop instructions and send them, but this is too risky, it is very likely that these people or the civilization they built will not be able to complete this mission in the end...... Alas, at least the spark of human civilization has survived, but it is imprisoned there forever...... Besides, who really wants to go over there, or how many people can we send there? It can be seen that what Wang Chen is worried about is actually the factor of "the base number of experimental subjects" mentioned by the consciousness of the N-star people, which is indeed a difficult problem to solve in his opinion. "But Gao Jie, the method you proposed does have a certain degree of feasibility, and it may be a good foreshadowing."

The bud next to him nodded slightly, but his eyes were always on the PDA in Gao Jie's hand. "I heard that the invasion of the Nt fleet has not been announced," Muttered Meizi, "Is this really good?" It won't be at the last minute, only those in power will be able to flee, and everyone else will die in anger and despair, right? ”

"No...... I won't ......," Wang Chen'an said, "No...... No......" Gao Jie could hear it, and Wang Chen was also entangled and hesitant in his heart.

“…… If we're going to reveal the truth......" Bud muttered to herself, her voice muffled.

"What?" Gao Jie didn't hear clearly, the translator didn't respond, and Wang Chen also poked his head over to signal to say it again.

"No, nothing." Bud shook her head and said with a wry smile, then glanced at Gao Jie's PDA again.

……

In just half a day, all kinds of news related to the survival of mankind gathered to Gao Jie: she learned the names of two members of the Minerva space station who could manipulate N-particles, an American and a French black; She learned that the N-star consciousness did not take the initiative to tell humans, and learned that human life forms were actually copied by another cosmic intelligent civilization as "experimental subjects" as tens of billions of people, and continued to reproduce for more than one generation; She also knew that there was a difference in the speed of time on both sides of the wormhole, and that the wormhole was much faster than the earth, but it was currently of little use; She is also told that the Earth public is unable to understand the truth about the Nt invasion, as if foreseeing a tragic future like a conspiracy theory......

But Gao Jie knows that she is not the one who can save the civilization of the earth, and she prefers to be a bystander - to hide from the center of the vortex and accept the unstoppable fate.

As for human civilization, will it be able to survive this difficult time? It's still unknown, even the day before the end comes.

But it's still that sentence -

- Human beings, there are still infinite possibilities.