As the most advanced and powerful space telescope of our time, the Mercury team is not ordinary. The scientific research team that has not reached a certain level of status wants to apply for its observation time, and it is not even qualified to queue up.

However, with the coordination of the Planetary Security Agency, no matter how important the follow-up observation program was, it was postponed. Five days later, Sun Yu's team's observation plan was successfully implemented.

In just these five days, it took a certain amount of time for the researchers in Sun Yu's team to make plans and mobilize personnel. Otherwise, the second team will be able to arrange for them as soon as the current observation mission is completed. The waiting time will not even be more than a day.

In the vast sky, the Mercury space telescope located at the second Lagrange point, under the precise fine-tuning of its attitude control engine, accurately aimed at the direction of the celestial sphere, and then began to collect information from that direction.

In a single day, enough data was generated to fill several high-capacity hard drives. The data was then transferred to Professor Sun's lab, and people immediately got busy.

By the next day, the preliminary analysis had been generated. But this result surprised the entire second action team, and even Professor Sun Yu himself.

“…… Yes, Sergeant Zhang, Sergeant Lu, we have not found any signs of the existence of that strange star in the observation data of Mercury. It, it's gone, yes, gone. ”

Professor Sun Yu's words were full of doubts and incredulity.

Lu Ming's brows furrowed deeply.

"Gone? …… How is this possible? ”

"The Mercury telescope has a very wide search range, and even if the speed of that star is really 2,600-4,000 kilometers per second, it will not be enough to run outside the search range during this time. But...... The reality is, we didn't find it. It's gone. ”

Lu Ming continued to frown: "Which possibility do you think?" ”

"I don't know."

Professor Sun Yu was full of distress: "If you barely guess, I think it will either suddenly speed up and leave the search range, or it will ...... It may no longer shine. ”

Excluding the obviously unreasonable possibility that it would suddenly disappear into thin air, it seems that only these two possibilities remain.

In both possibilities, a sudden change in speed means that it is almost certainly deliberately manipulated by some force. Because it is obvious that under the natural environment, in the deep space of the universe, its speed cannot produce such a huge change on its own.

The second possibility also has the probability of manipulation by external forces, but there is also the possibility of natural phenomena.

And a dwarf planet or asteroid that is smaller in size and mass than Pluto, if it does not emit light on its own, it is very difficult to observe it directly from such a long distance, even with the performance of the Mercury space telescope.

In the video conference room, several people were silent.

The reality is so real in front of us. That strange star, like such a glimpse, only showed its figure in front of the human world for a moment, and then disappeared without a trace, and could no longer be traced.

He Wei said: "I think, is it possible...... Is the Star Finder telescope malfunctioning? Or...... Did your data analysis go wrong? ”

Hearing He Wei's questioning, Professor Sun Yu did not get angry, but sighed: "I can only guarantee that based on the data we got from the Star Hunt team, our analysis must be correct." This is not only the conclusion of our team, but also the conclusion of external support experts. ”

So, if it does go wrong, it could only be a mistake with the Star Finder telescope.

Lu Ming thought for a moment and looked at Zhang Dingshan: "Captain, I apply for a third-party inspection of the Star Finder telescope. ”

Having a third party inspect the space telescope that you operate is a clear sign of distrust of your team. It is foreseeable that the operation team of the Star Finder telescope will inevitably be unhappy with this. This is not the same as cutting the queue to apply for an observation time.

This kind of thing, only Zhang Dingshan can make a decision.

Zhang Dingshan thought silently for a moment and said decisively: "Yes." Professor Sun, you ......"

Sun Yu waved his hand again and again: "This, I won't participate." I'm thinking about working with Star Seeker again. ”

This is also human nature. Zhang Dingshan nodded and looked at Lu Qingliang: "You contact the third-party team and start the test immediately." ”

"Yes."

Lu Qingliang once again exerted his ability of overall planning and coordination, found some experts in space telescopes from the "talent resource pool" he set up himself, formed a team, and obtained authorization from the Planetary Security Bureau.

Lu Qingliang personally led the team, and Lu Ming did not know how to negotiate with the operation and maintenance party of the Star Hunt. All he saw was that on the third day after the start of testing, a test report was submitted to the second team of operations.

“…… We have inspected in detail the hardware, space environment, interference shielding, data channel, encryption protection and other 27 major items and 95 small items of the spacecraft, and confirmed that there are some minor defects in the spacecraft, but none of these defects affect the normal operation of the telescope. Our final test conclusion is that the data obtained by Sun Yu's team is authentic and credible. ”

Lu Ming was silent.

Observations from the Mercury space telescope prove that the strange object has indeed disappeared. The results of the astronomical space telescope proved that the strange star did indeed exist.

Lu Qingliang looked at the three teammates who were silent in the video screen and asked, "Has there been any progress on the side of Subject No. 1?" ”

He Wei shook his head: "No." No progress at all. ”

Over the course of several days, with the assistance of a team of specialized researchers, Operation 2 inflicted all imaginable torture on Subject 1. Unfortunately, Subject 1 still shows no signs of cooperation.

Lu Qingliang sighed slightly.

"2,600-4,000 kilometers per second, a distance of about 1,000-150 billion kilometers, and the fastest, that thing will probably reach the earth in less than a year. The slowest is about two years. It emits light on its own, not like a spaceship, but even less like a natural star, and it comes from the direction of the CSK-9602 galaxy......"

Lu Qingliang's words that seemed to be talking to himself made the atmosphere in the video conference room more solemn.

The first thing to be clear about is that there must be a huge unpredictable risk in this thing.

Whether it is good or bad, what it is, and what purpose it holds, the human world does not know.

It is necessary to find out its information.

And, in any case, whether or not this thing is related to the current eucalyptus, whether it is the same thing or not, the current eucalyptus is the only possible clue to it.

Everything except this one is not next to it at all.

Lu Ming was a little irritable at the moment.

He felt that at this moment, it was like a huge spider spirit hidden in the shadows, always winding itself around with invisible silk threads. I obviously seem to be free, and I seem to be able to do many things, but under the constraints of these invisible silk threads, I have no strength and can't do anything.

There is no direction, no breakthrough, no clues, nothing. I don't know where to go next.

"Let's do this first, adjourn the meeting."

After silence, Zhang Dingshan gave an order.

Lu Ming left the conference room a little irritated. Zhang Dingshan and He Wei glanced at his back, and both sighed slightly in their hearts.

Both of them knew in their hearts that in this situation, Lu Ming was the one with the most pressure. But obviously, all this can only be borne by Lu Ming himself. No one can help him.

After leaving the conference room, Lu Ming went straight to the back of the huge factory building of this temporary base.

On one side there is a high fence with barbed wire, a number of sentry posts guarded by guards, and on the other side the walls of the factory. It is about 20 meters wide in the middle, and there are some flowers and plants planted in it, as well as some trees.

He pondered and walked on the path until it was getting dark, and then late at night.

The next day, instead of going out, he watched the computer and started looking things up. I searched until the afternoon, and then I came here again, and continued to walk slowly, thinking slowly, until it was dark.

The phone rang at this time.

"Lu Ming, where? Don't think about it yet, come back for dinner, I bought hot pot. ”

Usually, several people eat in the cafeteria, I don't know why, He Wei actually has the heart to deal with such a thing as hot pot today.

Lu Ming was a little puzzled, but he still came to the conference room. As soon as I entered the door, I saw that the conference table was temporarily used as a dining table, with an induction cooker and a mandarin duck pot on it, and the bright and bright red soup in the pot was constantly rolling. There are a variety of ingredients on the side, such as octopus balls, meat rolls, vegetable dipping sauces, and more. There were also several cans of beer next to it, with condensation droplets hanging from them.

Zhang Dingshan said: "Long-term and high-intensity thinking sometimes does not help solve problems. Proper relaxation is also necessary. ”

Zhang Dingshan's expression was calm, as if he was making work arrangements. He Wei smiled, directly pulled away a can of beer, and handed it to Lu Ming: "It's just a normal dinner, drink a little, and chat." ”

Lu Ming looked at Zhang Dingshan and then at He Wei, understood something in his heart, and was a little moved, but still refused: "You drink it, I won't drink it." ”

He Wei glanced at him: "It's boring for me to drink alone, come together." ”

"Captain?"

Lu Ming looked at Zhang Dingshan. Zhang Dingshan said calmly: "I'm on duty tonight. The two of you let go and drink, drink well and rest. ”

Lu Ming scratched his head, and his mood relaxed a little: "Pull up Qingliang." ”

"He is indispensable."

On the laptop next to me, the video application was displayed in the video conference room. He Wei connected, and Lu Qingliang's figure appeared on the screen.

He also had a few cans of beer in front of him, as well as some lo-mei.

"If you don't get drunk tonight, you won't come home, hahahaha."

"Come on, come on, make one first."

He Wei grabbed the beer, directly raised her head and drank it in one go, burped without any image, picked up the fast son again, picked up the mutton roll from the pot and stuffed it into her mouth, swallowed it, and then shouted: "Happy." ”

Lu Ming burst out with pride, and directly killed a can. Lu Qingliang had a bitter face, took small sips, and drank it for a few minutes. He Wei laughed: "Qingliang, why are you like a girl." ”

At night, the conference room was filled with smoke and laughter. All three of them opened their hearts and talked about many things. They didn't disperse until late at night.

The next day, when he woke up in the morning, Lu Ming felt that his head was still a little cloudy, and he didn't recover until noon. In the afternoon, he was still on the trail, walking and thinking. In the evening, the regular meeting was held again.

"I still haven't found the next step in my investigation."

Lu Ming's tone was a little heavy: "But I have some new ideas now. ”

"Oh? Let's talk about it. ”

"If you really can't find a breakthrough direction, maybe...... We'll have to try it out in the Cthulhu worldview. ”

He Wei's face was full of surprise.

"I always thought that someone like you, who believes in science and reason...... It's going to be very repulsive about this kind of thing. ”

"Nope." Lu Ming shook his head solemnly: "I never reject anything that shows a certain degree of rationality. It's just that with my scientific literacy, I don't believe in them. ”

Like, real scientists don't believe in ghosts and gods. But if there are clues that ghosts and gods really exist, then real scientists will be interested in studying them.

The difference is only whether the "clues" that show the existence of ghosts and gods are not high enough to be confident. After all, it is impossible for a rural lady to claim to have seen a ghost in her latrine, and scientists will have to go to great lengths to verify it.

Only when all other possibilities have been ruled out, and existing theories can no longer perfectly explain a certain phenomenon, and it shows a certain tendency, will scientists consider introducing ghosts and gods to explain and verify.

】

However, Lu Ming felt that at this moment, it had reached this point, and it was time when the existing theories could no longer find an explanation, and it was necessary to introduce the so-called Cthulhu worldview to try to explain the current situation.

At this moment, Lu Qingliang, who always thinks that the situation at this moment is related to the so-called Cthulhu worldview, is a little unacceptable: "But Lu Ming, you must know that the Cthulhu worldview has been born in the human world for more than a hundred years. Among them, those strange monsters, ancient gods, outer gods, old days, mythical creatures, etc., are also described by subsequent writers in literary works. You don't really think these things can be related to the real world, do you? ”

Lu Ming said: "I don't value these appearances, what I value is the cultural core of Cthulhu's worldview." ”