This is the largest and most spacious wooden building in the base of the island, and it is divided into many separate small laboratories. In the open space of the houses next to them, there stood several strangely shaped metal components that had been removed from the temporary tent of the lady on the apron of the collector - these were antennas for communication. They have been reinforced here in a way that is not as special as before, so that each pedestal is very high.

In the house next to the antenna, the lights on and on various devices turn on or flicker, and the display displays data and graphics. Some of that data is rolling, some is changing, some is not moving. In front of the backs of the two people, there are monitors facing each other. Both of them were very thin, one had long gray hair, a little hunched back, and he looked very old from the outside, and he was Ivan. The other was also a little hunchbacked, but judging by the completely brown hair and the level of shine, he was noticeably younger, and this was a scientist named Lang Dai.

From time to time, the two of them talk or point at the display screen with their hands.

"What are the coordinates of the images taken by the satellite?" Ivan asked.

"Latitude 47 degrees 23 minutes north longitude, 100 degrees 61 minutes east longitude." Lang Dai replied.

"Can I measure the size?"

"You can wait a while." Lang Dai said: "Computer, please double the image again, okay, please call up the ruler to measure the size of the target, the diameter of the circle is measured, move up three squares, move four squares to the right, the circle is reduced, and then zoomed down, in the shrinking, okay, please read out the data." ”

The computer's mechanical voice said, "Forty-three centimeters, do you need to be accurate to millimeters?" ”

Lang asked Ivan, "Does the doctor need to reach the millimeter?"

"No, just take a preliminary look and study, and it's okay if there are differences. What is their size and size range? ”

"Within fifty centimeters."

"Are the results of the 3D scan out?"

"Come out, I'll bring up the three-dimensional map for you."

On the monitor, a hemispherical object is displayed, and if you look closely, you will see that there is an upward protrusion in the middle of the hemisphere, under which are connected to irregular branches that protrude out to the surrounding area. The hemisphere appears to be transparent, while the protrusions and branches are grayish-black.

"You're still cladding? Is the material right? ”

Lang Dai shook his head and said: "The material is inferred from the scan, which can let us see the general texture, just to show it more vividly." ”

"Why don't we send a probe over there first?"

"Hmmm! It's to look carefully first. ”

"I'll send one of the closest planes to that position."

Ivan wore reading glasses and entered data into the computer key by key, and he still muttered: "Latitude 47 degrees 23 minutes north longitude 100 degrees 61 minutes east longitude, right?" ”

Lang took aside: "Hmm! ”

Ivan still chanted: "Flight altitude!" Let's set it at 100 meters! Well, when you get to the fixed position, don't reduce the altitude.,Just sound the prompt first.,Whew! You still have to set the speed, just set it at the usual speed of 300! Anything else? ”

"Time, how much time does it take?" Lang said.

"Yes, computer, please calculate the time."

Computer: "Estimated to arrive at the scheduled location in 1 hour and 22 minutes." ”

"Nothing, right?" Ivan asked.

"It's gone." Lang said: "There is still more than an hour to get to the place, wait patiently!" He threw his head up, stretched out his waist, and yawned.

Ivan didn't have that patience: "You guard, I still have something to go to the construction site." Something to inform! ”

"Hmmm! Feel relieved. ”

Lang took a person to stare at the display screen in front of him, only to see that there were several windows open on it. One of the windows shows a flat map, with a point on top of the map, moving little by little, and as it moves, there are several sets of data changing next to it.

There is also a window with a point on it, and this point is different, it is on a grid of undulating surfaces, and it moves at a certain height, and there are several sets of data next to that point that change from time to time - this window is a 3D terrain matching map.

At a glance at the third window, it was clear which should be the instant picture taken by the camera in front of the detector.

Lang stared at one point with his eyes, and then stared at another, and after a while, he fell asleep dizzy and dizzy.

White, everything on the ground is white, even the mountains that rise above the flat ground are white, and occasionally you can see the east side of a particularly steep mountain—a place with the west wind on its back, and you can see a few piercing black stones or the color of the earth. If you use your finger to draw from a distance, the area of these stones or earth is not as large as the area of a finger, because when you finger shift, they are not in your eye. On the flat white three-dimensional surface, you can occasionally see cracks of different widths, and the appearance of the cracks is irregular, just like other natural forms of display, some of them are several cracks gathered in one place, and some are extended far away to make people feel endless. In terms of depth, some are very shallow, and the blue snow at the bottom of the seam can be clearly seen, while others are not visible at the bottom of the seam.

Suddenly, dots appeared on the white ground, some of which reflected sunlight piercing the camera lens. These points are also irregular, that is, they are distributed in irregular directions and different intervals, but in general they are arranged in lines.

The computer's buzzer makes a "beep" "beep" sound. Lang Dai was woken up by "beep", he looked at the screen, and saw that several sets of data next to the points of several windows on the screen had stopped changing, and the floor plan, three-dimensional map and camera pictures were no longer moving. He was sure that the probe had arrived at the intended location.

"Computer, please send a command, the detector is lowered to a height of thirty meters above the ground." The dots on the display screen are zoomed in and enlarged into smaller circles. It seems that the distance of 30 meters is still a little unclear to see the target.

Lang band searched the magnified circles, found the one he thought was the most suitable, and pointed his finger on the screen: "Detector, move to the top of this position." ”

"Lower the height to ten meters above the ground."

"Lower the height to one meter above the ground. Doctor, look! Oh yes! The doctor is out. ”

Ivan received a call and rushed to the laboratory. He leaned on the table and looked at the screen with him: "This outermost hemispherical transparent body should be the solid ice of water, and under the hemispherical ice body, there should be an empty space wrapped by it." You see, judging by the color of the ice at the top of the ball and the refraction of light, it has a thickness, and from here it can be pushed out, and what is wrapped inside is an empty space, well! Let's put a laser on its side, and the laser will be reflected and refracted through the ice, which can almost be used to determine. ”

Lang Dai was not quite convinced: "That's it?" ”

"It doesn't matter if it works or not, it won't damage anything."

After a moment of struggling on the computer, under the lens, the display screen showed that a red laser beam passed parallel to the ground through the hemisphere, during which there were two refractions, once when the incident hemisphere was formed, and once when it was shot out of the hemisphere at a certain distance from the hemisphere.

Ivan nodded: "Yes! It was indeed empty, not an all-ice entity. ”

"Do you want to use the probe's manipulator to drill a hole and stick a probe inside?"

Ivan: "Wait a minute, I'll think about it, and I'll wait for a few other scientists from the scientific community to take a look, and they'll make a decision." ”

"And now?"

"Now! Pick a few hemispheres that you think will work, place the integrated sensor next to it, choose the right position and fix it. The sensor will tell us something at a later time. Attention, be sure to choose a good location, yes! In my opinion, it is best to choose the east side of each hemisphere, so that it can be blown by a stronger westerly wind, and the hemisphere can also be shielded. ”

The next day, they first called Duojik and Lu Yuan, and both of them thought that since the number of such hemispheres was not small, it was better to open a few first.

The tip of the robotic arm of the detector was replaced with a drill bit - the operation of the drill bit was tested under the monitor - the motor drove the drill bit to rotate and make a "buzzing" sound. Adjust the drilling angle, the fast-rotating drill bit goes deep into the hemisphere little by little, the drill bit is close to the edge of the hole on the hemispherical surface, and constantly rolls out and flies out fine white foam. Half a minute later, I saw white foam leaking from the top of the drill to the inside of the hemisphere.

Lang Belt: "It's done." What to do again, pull out the drill bit? ”

"Pull it out!" Lu Yuandao.

The robotic arm gently retracts the drill bit into the hemisphere.

Shortly after the drill bit was pulled out, hoarfrost began to condense near the borehole in the inner wall of the hemisphere and began to spread around. Several people watched the changes in the hemisphere.

"It may be due to the temperature difference between the outside and inside of the hemisphere. What is the temperature around the sensor. "Dokik Road.

Lang said: "It is more than 30 degrees below zero during the day and more than 40 degrees below zero at night. ”

"What about the temperature measured in the hemisphere for half the day and at night?" Dorkik asked again.

"-5 degrees Celsius at night and 10 degrees Celsius during the day."

"Hmmm! That's why. Dorkik replied.

"What next?"

"I think I might as well just watch it for a while." Lu Yuan frowned and said: "I'm still used to that, make a process first, see what happens to the research subject, record it, and then do the next step." ”

"Alright! I agree with Lao Lu's opinion. We'll see what happens in the hemisphere tomorrow. ”

When the sunlight once again made the hemisphere show a crystal clear texture, several people from the previous day gathered in the laboratory one after another, and came along with Le Siya and Tamin.

"I'm going to surprise you today." Lang sat down with a smile.

"Really? What's the surprise method? Are you a person who has never seen the world!? Why do you think we're going to be surprised? Tamin laughed.

"Wait a little longer for the probe to get there. Are you going to wait and see the results or are you going to hear me now? ”

"Tell us about it first, and let us know your point of view." Taming Road.

"That's right, I came early today. As soon as I came over, I checked the data log of sensor number two, which was only placed next to the hemisphere where the cave was built.

I found it! Which hemisphere where we caved yesterday has changed its temperature again. ”

"What's so surprising about this, there will be temperature changes both at night and during the day. And since the time between which hole was opened and you have seen the data in a few days, to say the least, more than ten hours have passed, can it not change in such a long time? Dorkik said dismissively.

Lang Dai didn't think that Dorkik's attitude hit him badly, he said: "The problem is that a few hours after we made the hole, the temperature in the hemisphere gradually returned to the original temperature value, that is, the lowest temperature at night - about minus five degrees, how do you understand this?" The ambient temperature of the surrounding atmosphere sensed by the sensor at night was more than minus 40 degrees! ”

Dorkik and the people who were there yesterday were incredulous, and Dorkik said: "You can call up the recent data of the sensor and we'll take a look!" ”

After Lang took the computer a few times, a table was displayed on the display screen, and there was data in each box of the table, and there were many grids in the whole table, and the data in the grid was also full. Dorkick and a few others sat down in a circle or looked at the data in the table.

Ta Ming said: "Could it be caused by a malfunction of the sensor?" ”

Lu Yuan said: "This possibility cannot be ruled out. ”

"Whether it is a sensor failure or not depends on the detector to see the place to see. Isn't there more and more sensing points on it! Let it measure the temperature again, and it can also video. ”

"I wondered again, isn't it too general to name this kind of thing, it's too meaningless, it's too meaningless." Lang led the way.

"Yo he! Do you already have a name, let's hear it. Tamin laughed.

"I wanted it to be called a snow bubble."

"That's not a bad name! Tell us about your idea for the name? Lu Yuandao.

"I don't have any ideas, I just think that these things are like half-exposed translucent glass on the snowy ground, and half of the soap bubbles and bubbles that have been blown out. So, I think the name is quite vivid. ”

"What do you think of Lao Lu, Lao Ta and Le Siya?" Dorkik asked.

"That's a good name." "Yes! That's it. "Isn't a name just a symbol! If you think you can, you can do it. Several people replied.

"Yo! The probe is in place. Lang Dai said when he saw a virtual light on the screen.

"Computer, please control the probe to be positioned at the same position it was yesterday at 3:41 yesterday." He turned to the people around him again, "The location of the probe is the same as the position we made yesterday when we punched holes in the ice bubbles. ”

"Computer, turn on the camera, the camera is also placed at the angle and position at 3:41." Lang took another order.

When I turned on and adjusted the camera, the somewhat shaky image stabilized after a while. The display shows one side of a hemispherical ice bubble.

"No, isn't there a hole from yesterday!" Tamin gestured on the screen.

"The sensor now measures the temperature inside and outside the ice bubble, and the detector, it also measures, and compares the two measured values, don't you know if the sensor is faulty, and the measured temperature" Dokik said.

"Hmmm! That's it. Ta Ming said.

"Good! Right away. Lang replied.

After Lang Dai made a computer for a while, the display screen showed two tables side by side, the format of the two tables was the same, and it was the same as the last time Lang Dai showed it. The data was displayed in the top row of each table, and several people watched patiently.

Ta Ming twisted his eyebrows and said, "The four sets of data in the two tables are the same!" ”

"Yes! That is, the sensor is working fine. That's weird! ”

A few people were staring at the screen except for Lang Dai, and everyone else straightened up and turned away and thought: What the hell is going on?

Lu Yuan suddenly stood up and said, "Which hole do you aim the camera at?" ”

"Isn't it just right?" Taming Road.

"I mean, look at the opening of the hole?"

Lang Tape commanded: the camera was aimed at the opening of the hole.

"Zoom in." Lu Yuan said: "Enlarge again, zoom in again." Waited for a while: "I see that this hole seems to be sealed again, you look at the hole, where there seems to be a reflected light, which is a special surname of ice, right?" ”

"I can't see it, I'm afraid it's the reflection of the ice that appears in the ice bubble!" Taming Road.

"Do you want to verify? This is easy to do, put a probe on the robotic arm, and it will be clear if you probe it. Lu Yuandao.

After the command is given, the robotic arm with the probe appears on the display.

"I'm here I go." Lang asked with a belt.

"Let's explore!" Lu Yuandao.

"It's not a big deal, but it's verbose." Dokirk Road.

The buzzer was heard with the sound of a mechanical arm moving. The slender probe about a dozen centimeters long stretched into the hole at a constant speed, and when it felt almost to the bottom according to the thickness of the ice bubble, the front part of the probe began to bend, and the mechanical arm continued to push inward, and the probe bent even more.

"Well, I'm right!" Lu Yuan said proudly.

"It's unbelievable that this thing can seal itself from the inside."

Lang said, "What if the ice is all broken?" As soon as his words came out, several people laughed lightly, hehe!

Ta Ming patted Lang Dai's head and asked, "I only drill a small hole in your head, can the organization in your head bridge by itself?" ”

"Hey, hey! I don't know. ”

"Surely, fool!" Le Siya said: "Even if it can't be completely, it can be bridged." ”

"And what if I beat him to pieces?" Tamin asked.

A few people around laughed.

Dokik said: "Your metaphor is good, not only vivid, but also vivid, both are spheres, right?" ”

Lu Yuan solemnly said: "According to the usual amount, does this kind of thing have to be picked up and studied?" ”

Lang Dai: "I don't want to collect or take your looks, anyway, this is not a project I research, as long as you give the order, the errand will be left to me!" ”

Tamin quipped: "You can wear more, where the temperature can reach minus forty or fifty degrees, and it can only be dried during the day, not at night, because you can't see clearly, otherwise you will accidentally hang into the ice crevice, and even if you can be found by then, you will be frozen into a popsicle, right?" ”

"If you can arrange for a beautiful woman to go with me, it will fall into the ice crevice, and the two of us can still warm each other, right?! Still want to freeze me to death? I'll envy you to death first. ”

Another burst of laughter reverberated through the lab's space, through the cracks of the house, through the doors and windows, through other buildings, through the piles of miscellaneous materials, and falling until they were dissipated, absorbed, and destroyed. (To be continued.) )