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.