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

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

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

"Okay."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How are you doing?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Half a day?"

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

Chu Guifu was deeply shaken.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Meditate?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liu Ye shouted: "Uncle Chu! ”

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

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

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

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

Do it.

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

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

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

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

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

[Note 1] Jupiter's western name is Jupiter, the king of gods in Roman mythology.