"It should be—right?" After Spred had finished speaking, Atlas replied in an uncertain tone.

"If this huge sphere represents what the planet's sea level looked like before it had risen." Spred continued, "That means there used to be a satellite around the planet before the waters rose. But, what about now? As he spoke, he pointed to the image that the probe had captured in space, "It's impossible to say that the satellite disappeared after the sea rose." ”

"Perhaps—maybe it's not a satellite—" The little girl hesitated for a moment before replying with a tone that she didn't quite believe. As she spoke, she controlled the probe to approach the ball above, wanting to take a closer look. Then, everyone, including Atlas, saw that the surface of the ball was carved into the same detail as the giant planet next to it. At this time, the little girl could only honestly admit: "Okay, Brother Spred, there is no problem with your judgment, its identity is indeed the most likely satellite." ”

"In other words, there is a good chance that the planet depicted in the sculpture is not the one we see now, but a different planet?" Zhou Xin muttered to himself thoughtfully, "Could it be that there is another planet in this star system?" So why haven't we found it until now? ”

"That's not right." At this time, even Atlas was in a state of confusion, "Except for the part where the sea level is rising, the terrain depicted in the sculpture matches the actual terrain very well, and even the shape of the coastline is the same in some of the higher places." Theoretically, the probability of two planets with such a high degree of similarity is too low, even lower than the probability of finding two identical leaves. ”

"Then you'll find a way to explain why that satellite disappeared." As soon as the little girl's words fell, Spred answered. Hearing this, Atlas fell silent again.

"Perhaps, the planet under our feet once really had a moon? And then that satellite suddenly disappeared for some unknown reason? After a long time, the little girl said slowly in a hesitant tone, "At least people think that this explanation is more likely than finding two planets with similar topography." ”

"Judging by the series of judgments you've made before." Spred concluded, "The sudden rise in sea levels must have occurred within a thousand years, and the civilization that once existed on the planet probably became extinct at the same time." Obviously, if the satellite had disappeared long before that civilization was extinct, it would not have been in the sculpture. In other words, that is, the satellite also disappeared in the last thousand years? Then he questioned again, "Let's not discuss the question of coincidence or not, even if the longest time is calculated, the disappearance of that satellite will not exceed a thousand years at most." How did it disappear without a trace in such a short period of time? Even if it could be done, the traces of the satellite's existence or the influence it exerted would not be completely disappeared in just a thousand years, right? Why haven't we made any discoveries about that moon until now? ”

"Could it be that the water suddenly rose because of the disappearance of the satellite?" Unexpectedly, Spred's questioning reminded Atlas, "In this case, Brother Spred, won't the impact you mentioned be there?" ”

Regarding the statement that there were two similar planets at the beginning, Zhou Xin naturally did not believe it. But he also felt that the inference made by the little girl in the next conversation was a little unreliable. After listening for so long, he finally couldn't help but say, "How can the disappearance of satellites cause a violent rise in global sea levels?" I don't think that's right either. ”

Next, the scene depicted in the sculpture was inconsistent with reality, and the people in the command cabin started a big discussion. But while they come up with many different ideas, they often only explain one aspect alone, and there are no ideas that fit both sides perfectly. Seeing that such a discussion did not yield any useful results at all, Zhou Xin had no choice but to stop everyone and let Atlas continue to search for reliable clues on the planet.

So, according to Zhou Xin's instructions, the little girl planned to start by deciphering the text on the base of the sculpture, and wanted to see if it recorded the reason for the inconsistency between the sculpture and the real situation. However, just as the probe was about to descend to the height of the base, a small episode occurred.

I don't know if it was because it was hit by the probe or because the connection was heavily corroded by being immersed in seawater for many years, but just as the probe changed its attitude, the small ball on the sculpture suddenly fell without warning. In the footage of the probe, it fell straight to the bottom of the sea without hindrance, and a small mushroom cloud was raised along the way. Seeing this situation, everyone in the command cabin was stunned.

After looking at each other twice, and when they realized what was happening, Spred burst out laughing, and he said in a joking tone, "Now, we can study the satellite 'up close'." ”

Hearing this, Zhou Xin smiled and continued: "Fortunately, the civilization on that planet is no longer there, if they are still there, I'm afraid they will have to grab us and ask for compensation." As soon as the words fell, many people around him also laughed.

Of course, such a hiccup did not affect the actions below the probe. It's just that in comparison, Zhou Xin and they have one more collection - the small ball. Everyone thought that since it had fallen off, there was no need to put it back on, so Atlas had another probe bring the ball back to Voyager.

"Let that little ball be a testimony to the existence of that civilization on the planet." When giving this order, Zhou Xin's emotions seemed a little complicated.

Then, more than a month passed peacefully. However, after all this time, the investigation on the planet is still making no progress. Not only did Atlas fail to decipher the script used by that civilization, but even the probes made far fewer new discoveries on the planet. Of course, although there have been some setbacks in the investigation, at least the maintenance work of the spacecraft, which Zhou Xin is most concerned about, is still going smoothly.

However, it didn't take long for this relatively calm situation to be shattered by a sudden attack......