Chapter 8 Chapter VIII Crime

No one asked him.No one stopped him either. In any case, as a space-time engineer who is isolated and excluded by others, at least there is this advantage.He walked through the passage of the time-space pot, came to a time-space gate leading to ordinary time-space, and turned on the controller.Of course, it would be strange for someone passing by on normal business to find this door in use.He hesitated for a while, and finally decided to put his personal logo on the controller's label.A time-space gate that is being used by a time-space technician is not very eye-catching; but if a door is in use without any user logo, it will be particularly eye-catching.

Of course, it would be broken if Finge bumped into this door by accident.But he had to take the risk. Noye is still standing where he was when he left.Since Harlan left the 482nd century, he has spent several hours (physical time) of miserable time in the lonely eternal time and space, but when he returns to the general time and space, the cut-in time node is the time point he just left , only a few seconds apart.So when he came back, Noye didn't move a hair. She looks surprised. "Have you forgotten to take something, Andrew?" Harlan looked at her eagerly, but didn't reach out to touch her.He still remembered Finge's words, and he was afraid of being rejected, afraid of being hit and hurt.He said emphatically, "You must do as I tell you."

She said, "Is something wrong? You just left and came back in a second." "Don't worry," Harlan said.With all his strength, he tried not to take her hand, not to comfort her, but spoke in a severe tone, as if a terrible demon was forcing him to do evil.Why did he sneak back as soon as he was free?In her eyes, he just left and came back, which only made her more confused. In fact, he knew the answer himself.The space-time observation plan gave him two days of spare time, and the sooner he acted within these two days, the safer he would be.In the beginning, almost no one noticed.According to common sense, the time node for him to re-enter the general time and space should be selected as long as possible after he left, although returning itself is already a stupid risky behavior.The time interval is so close, if he miscalculates, he may cut into the time before he left.What are the consequences?Among the first precepts he had learned as an observer was this one: If a man cuts twice into the same reality of ordinary space-time, he runs the risk of meeting himself.

This situation is absolutely to be avoided.Why?Anyway, Harlan knew that he didn't want to meet him.He didn't want to look at another Harlan, past or future, at all.On top of this embarrassment, that creates a kind of space-time paradox.How was Twissel joking about such a thing? "There are no paradoxes in general space-time, because space-time itself avoids paradoxes in clever ways." At this moment, Noy looked at him with a pair of big shining eyes. This was the dream scene that he couldn't get rid of in his mind. Then she came over, put her cold little hand on his burning cheek, and said softly: "Are you in trouble?"

In Harlan's eyes, her eyes were so kind and lovely.But how is this possible?She's got what she wants.Why is she still so nice to him?He grabbed her wrist and said hoarsely: "Will you go with me? Go now? Don't ask any questions, just do what I say, okay?" "Must?" she asked. "Must, Noy. This is very important." "Then I'll go with you." She replied simply, as if this kind of question would come up every day, and every time she would naturally agree. Standing at the entrance of the space-time pot, Nuoyi hesitated for a moment, then walked in.

Harlan said, "We're going to move up in time and space, Noye." "It means going to the future, right?" Ever since she took her first step into the space-time pot, the body of the pot had been humming slightly; before she could sit down, Harlan had pushed the switch with his elbow in a slightly precise manner. In this unspeakable "movement" through time and space, she did not show any symptoms resembling seasickness.He was worried that she would be a little dizzy. She sat quietly in her seat, so beautiful and so at ease that he looked at her with longing.At this time, the serious crime of entraining an ordinary time and space resident into the eternal time and space without permission has long been thrown out of the sky by him.

She said, "Do those numbers represent the year, Andrew?" "Represents the century." "You mean, we have arrived a thousand years later? So far?" "That's right." "I don't seem to feel anything." "I know." She looked around. "But how do we move?" "I don't know, Noy." "You don't even know?" "About eternal space-time, there are still many things that are too profound for us to understand." The numbers on the space-time counter kept scrolling.They danced faster and faster until at last they were spinning so fast that they could not be seen at all.Harlan kept pushing the joystick with his elbow, pushing the speed to the top.Such a high energy consumption may cause the energy station staff to be alert, but he thinks it should not be so unlucky.When he took Nuoyi into the eternal time and space, no one bumped into him. After passing that level, they had completed 90% of the mission.All that remains now is to find a safe place to hide her.

Harlan turned to look at her again. "Eternals are not omniscient." "I am not even Eternal," she murmured, "I know even less." Harlan's heartbeat quickened suddenly.Not yet the Eternal Man?But Finge says... Leave those things alone, he begged himself.Never mind those things, she's gone with you, and she's still smiling at you.What more do you want? But he asked anyway.He said, "You think the eternal man will live forever, don't you?" "Well, they all call themselves eternal, and everyone says that." She smiled brightly at him, "but they're not really immortal, are they?"

"Don't you think the Eternals live forever?" "After I stayed in the eternal time and space for a while, I don't think so. The tone of people's speech doesn't look like they can live forever, and there are no old people among the eternal people." "But you said I would live forever—for that night." She leaned towards him from the chair, still smiling. "What was I thinking at the time, who knows?" He couldn't hide the tension in his voice. "If the residents of ordinary time and space want to become eternal people, what actions will they take?"

The smile on her face disappeared.I don't know if it was his illusion, but Nuoyi's cheeks seemed a little flushed with excitement?She said, "Why do you ask that?" "To find out why." "It's so stupid," she said. "I don't want to talk about it." She looked down at her elegant fingers.Against the soft light in the space-time pot, her nails shone with colorless light.Harlan's thoughts were in a mess, and he drifted back to a certain night's party inadvertently.At that time, the light of the wall lamp will be mixed with a little ultraviolet radiation, and then these nails will appear pale apple green or dull scarlet - it all depends on the position of her slender hands.A girl as smart as Noi must be able to change her nails into six or seven colors, as if those colors could represent her mood at that time.Blue represents innocence, bright yellow represents laughter, purple represents sadness, and scarlet represents passion.

"Why did you have sex with me?" he asked. She shook her head, tossing her hair back, and looked at him pale and serious."If you have to ask, I would say part of it is the theory that a girl can become an eternity herself just by having sex with an eternity. But I personally don't care about being immortal," she said. "I remember you saying that you don't believe in that theory." "I don't believe it, but it never hurts for a girl to try. Especially—" He stared at her sternly, hoping to hide his inner pain and disappointment with the frosty moral face of the century standard in his hometown. "how?" "Especially no matter what, I want to do it with you." "Want to have sex with me?" "yes." "why me?" "Because I like you. Because I think you are very funny." "Fun?" "Well, or very individual, if it's more acceptable to describe you that way. You always try your best to suppress the desire in your heart, you don't look at me, but you are always powerless, and you secretly look at me again. You want yourself to hate me, but But I can see your desire for me. I think I sympathize with you." "Why do you sympathize with me?" He felt his face heat up. "I sympathize with you for suffering so much because of me. It was very simple. If you want to be with me, just come and confess. It's easy to be friendly. Why do you have to suffer so much?" Harlan nodded.This is the morality of the 482nd century! "Just confess." He murmured, "It's that simple. Nothing else is needed." "Of course, a girl has to be willing. Most of the time a girl will say yes, as long as she's not dating someone else. Why not? It's so easy." This time it was Harlan who lowered his head.Of course, it's that simple.Nothing wrong with that.This is the 482nd century.In the entire eternity of time and space, who else knows better than him?He'd be asking those questions, he was a fool, a complete fool.In his own native century, if a girl dared to eat in front of a man, he might rush up and accuse her of misbehaving. His demeanor turned to humility. "What do you think of me now?" "You're fine," she said softly. "It would be nice if you could relax a bit—can you smile?" "There's nothing funny about it now, Noy." "Please. I just want to know if your facial muscles are normal. Let me see." She grabbed the corner of his mouth and pulled it back.Startled, he jerked his head back and couldn't help but smile. "Look. Smile without breaking your face. You're not ugly, and if you practice a lot—stand in front of a mirror and practice smiling, learn to use your eyes to spark—I'm sure you'll be a handsome man." But the smile on his face was gone in an instant. Noye said, "We're in trouble, aren't we?" "Yes, there is trouble. Noy. Big trouble." "Because of something we did? You and me? That night?" "Not at all." "It's all my fault, you know. If you want, I'll go to them and confess and take responsibility." "Don't," said Harlan, vehemently, "don't feel guilty. You didn't do anything wrong, nothing, nothing. It was something else." Noye looked at the counter uneasily. "Where are we? I can't read the numbers." "You should ask what time we are." Harlan immediately corrected her statement.He slowed his upward movement, and the number of centuries jumped became clear. She stared at her beautiful big eyes, and her long eyelashes were clearly visible against her snow-white skin. "Is this number correct?" Harlan glanced at the number.It shows 72000 centuries. "I'm sure it's right." "But where are we going?" "Should say what time to go. We're going to Shangshi far away." He said grimly, "Beautiful and distant future. A place where they can't find you." In silence, they watched the numbers keep jumping.In silence, Harlan told himself over and over again that the girl was nothing like Finge had vilified her.She frankly admitted that her behavior was indeed partly motivated by that kind of utilitarian reason, but she also admitted more frankly that she did it because of the attraction of personal emotions. Noy moved his position again, and he looked up.She came to his side in the jug, and decisively pushed the joystick, causing the movement of the space-time jug to stop suddenly. Harlan swallowed and closed his eyes to let the decelerated faint.He said, "What's wrong?" She was pale, and it took a while to recover.Then she said: "I don't want to go any further. The numbers are already very high." Time meter display: 111394 century. "It's far enough," he said. Then he firmly held her hand and said, "Come on, Noy. This is your temporary home." Holding hands like children, they roamed the corridors.The lights on the main road are always on, and the rooms that are not turned on will be brightened at the touch of a button.The air is fresh and flowing, and although there is no sound, there must be an air circulation system in operation. Nuo Yi whispered: "Is there no one else here?" "No." Harlan replied.He wanted his voice to be firm and loud.He wanted to break the spell of the so-called "hidden century", but the words turned into a whisper again. He didn't even know what to call such a distant future century.Should it be called the one hundred and eleven thousand three hundred and ninety-fourth century?Usually people simply and generally say "more than 100,000 centuries". It's foolish to worry about such things.After carrying out a record-setting expedition through time, although he was somewhat proud, he found himself in the eternal space-time division that humans had never set foot on, and it didn't feel very good to be alone outside.He felt a little trembling, and then couldn't help but feel ashamed of it, especially when this fragility was seen by Noy, he was even more ashamed. Nuoyi said, "It's so clean here. There isn't a speck of dust." "Automatic cleaning system," Harlan said.He seemed to be struggling to speak at the top of his voice before he could raise the volume to a normal level. "But there is no one here. There will be no one for thousands of centuries." Noye seems to accept this fact. "All the amenities? We also passed the food warehouse and the video library. Did you see that?" "I see it. Yes, it's very complete. All the facilities are complete. Everything is there." "But why? If no one will come." "That makes sense," Harlan replied.Talking about it can ease the gloomy atmosphere.Speaking aloud what he knows about this abstract world seems to bring the world back to normal.He said: "In the early history of eternal time and space, about 300 centuries ago, people invented a large-scale matter replicator. Do you know what this means? As long as a resonance force field is set, the energy will be converted into matter, and even taking all uncertainties into account, the subatomic arrangement of the new matter is exactly the same as that of the sample matter. The result of this is a perfect replication." "We requisitioned this invention and used it on a large scale in the eternal space-time. At that time, a total of six to seven hundred divisions were established in the entire eternal space-time. Of course, we also have continuous expansion plans. The slogan at the time was 'a physical year Build ten divisions'. The advent of mass replicators makes those plans obsolete. We just need to build a new space-time division and equip it with complete food and water supply facilities and all the highest automation facilities, and then set up the machine so that every century division in the eternal space-time is copied. I don’t know how many century divisions they copied into the future—probably millions.” "Is it all like this, Andrew?" "Exactly the same. As long as the eternal space-time expands, we will follow up with new partitions and modify the architectural style according to the habits of the century at that time. Only when we encounter those energy-dominated centuries, we will have a little headache. We ——We Eternals haven’t set foot in this division yet.” (You don’t need to tell her that Eternals can’t pass through the barrier, and discover the lives of people in ordinary time and space in the hidden century. What’s the use of telling her?) He glanced at her, her expression still a little confused.He hurriedly said: "Building these divisions will not waste anything. The only thing consumed is energy, and energy comes from nova..." She interrupted him. "Not this one, I just don't remember." "Don't remember what?" "You say that the mass replicator was invented in the 300th century. But we don't see anything like it in the 482nd century. I don't recall any mention of it in the history books either." Harlan pondered for a moment.Although she was only less than two inches shorter than him, he suddenly felt like a giant now.She was like a child, a baby, and he was a demigod in time and space.He had to teach her, carefully guide her step by step closer to the truth. He said, "Noy, honey, let's sit down somewhere—something I need to explain to you first." Reality is not static and eternal, but can change. I am afraid that no one can accept this concept without changing face. In the dead of night, Harlan would sometimes think of his first novice days, how painful it was for him to cut off his psychological connection with his home century and ordinary time and space. Generally speaking, time and space novice will spend six months to slowly get in touch with the truth, and find that it is absolutely impossible for them to return to their hometown.It's not that the law of eternal time and space forbids them to go home, but that they have recognized the cold truth-the hometown no longer exists, or, in other words, it never existed. Novices will react differently.Harlan remembered Butch Ryderly's face suddenly pale and haggard on the day when Yarrow, the mentor, finally explained all reality clearly. No novice was able to eat that night.They gathered together for spiritual comfort, except for Raider.He is missing.They played pale jokes and pretended to be happy. A companion said in a trembling voice, "I don't think I even have a mother. If I went back to the 95th century, they would say: 'Who are you? We don't know you. We don't have any records of you. You don't exist.'" They laughed feebly and nodded.These lonely boys have nothing left but eternity. Before going to bed, they found Laidlie, who was sleeping on the bed, breathing weakly.On the inside of his right elbow, there was a faint red injection mark, luckily, they found it. They called Yarrow, thinking at the time that Laidre might be leaving the rookie team for good, but the lad eventually recovered.A week later, he was back in his seat.But Harlan knew that the evil imprint of that night would remain on his personality forever. And now Harlan was explaining the truth of reality to Noy Lambent.The girl was not much older than the novices, but he wanted to tell it all at once.He had to say, he had no choice.She had to know exactly what they were facing and what she should do next. He was talking to her.They ate canned meat and frozen fruit and drank milk at a long conference table, and he told her everything at the table. He spoke as softly as he could, but found it unnecessary.No matter where he talked, she reacted quickly; every time he was halfway through, she immediately saw the whole picture.And what surprised him the most was that she didn't react too violently.She has no fear, no sense of losing everything.She just looked annoyed. The anger burned on her face, causing her cheeks to glow slightly blush, which made her dark eyes even darker. "But it's a crime," she said, "and what right does an Eternal have?" "It's all for the good of humanity," Harlan said.Of course, she couldn't really understand the meaning.Ordinary time and space residents always have such limitations in their thinking, and Harlan felt very sorry for her. "Really? I think that kind of mass replicator has been erased from history." "We have a backup. Don't worry about it. We'll keep one." "You guys saved a lot. But what about us? We people in the 482nd century should also have this machine." She clenched her fists and made a slight gesture. "It won't do you any good to have that kind of machine. Look at you, don't get too excited, honey, listen to me." He reached out, almost trembling (he had to touch her with extra care, try not to foolishly offend her ), took her hands and held them tightly. At first she tried to break free, but finally relaxed.She even laughed a little. "Okay, go ahead. Don't be so serious, little fool. I won't blame you." "You can't blame anyone. There's nothing to blame. We do everything for granted. The mass replicator thing is a classic case. I learned it in school. If you can replicate matter, you can also replicate humans. Things will It became very tricky to evolve." "Shouldn't the problems encountered in each era be solved by this era?" "That's right, but we monitored the development of general time and space, and conducted research on the ins and outs of this matter, and they did not properly solve this problem. Remember, their failure will not only affect themselves, but also The entire future history. This is like nuclear war and the dream machine, it is not allowed to happen at all. The development of technology can never bring about a perfect ending." "How can you be so sure?" "We have computing instruments, Noi. Supercomputer arrays are much more accurate than products of any era. They can integrate hundreds of millions of variables, calculate all possible realities, and find the optimal solution." "It's a machine again," she said contemptuously. Harlan frowned, then stretched quickly. "Don't say that. Of course you will be annoyed to find that life is not as stable as you thought it was. You and the whole world you live in may have been completely erased and turned into a phantom at some point a year ago, but What does that matter? You have all your personal memories, don’t you remember them whether they actually happened or not? You remember your childhood, you remember your parents, don’t you?” "Of course." "So for you, those things are real experiences, aren't they? No? I mean, do you feel like you've experienced them?" "I don't know. I'll have to think about it. What if tomorrow the world is transformed, or phantom, or whatever you want to call it?" "Then there will be a new reality, a new you, with new memories. It will be as if nothing of the past has ever happened, only the well-being of humanity has been consolidated again." "That doesn't sound like a good thing." "However," Harlan said quickly, "you will not be affected by any changes now. There will be a new reality, but you are already in eternal space-time. You will not be affected by changes." "But you said that it doesn't matter whether it's changed or not." Noy said dejectedly, "Then why are you bothering so much?" There was a sudden frenzy in Harlan's voice. "Because I want you the way you are. The way you are. I don't want you to change. Not at all." He was on the point of blurting out his secret: in the new reality, without the superstition of the eternal and immortality, she would never see him again. She frowned slightly and looked around. "In that case, am I going to stay here forever? That's pretty—lonely." "No, no. Don't worry." He said excitedly, squeezing her hand so tightly that she cringed a little, "I'll find out what you're going to be like in the new reality , and then you can go back pretending to be like that, and that's it. I'll take care of you. I'll apply, establish a formal sexual relationship with you, and then make sure you're safe from future changes. I'm a space-time engineer, and I'm a A level technician, I know how to deal with change." He added firmly, "And I know a little bit more." At this point, he stopped talking. Noye said, "Is it okay to do that? I mean, you can take people into eternity and make them avoid the effects of transformation? Judging by what you just said to me, it seems a bit wrong to do it anyway. OK." For a moment, Harlan felt cold and shivering, as if swallowed by the vast nothingness of thousands of centuries.For a moment, he felt that he was stripped from the eternal time and space, lost his only home and his only belief, neither belonged to the eternal time and space, nor could he enter the ordinary time and space; only that woman was by his side, and he had already given up everything for her . He said leisurely: "Yes, it was a crime. A very serious crime, and I am deeply ashamed of it. But if I have to, I will do it again, and if I have to, I will do it again a million times." "For me, Andrew? For me?" He did not lift his eyelids to meet her gaze. "No, Noy, it's for myself. I can't bear the grief of losing you." She said: "If we get caught..." Harlan knew the answer.He'd known it from the moment he'd slept in Noi's bed in the 482nd century.But even so, he couldn't imagine that crazy fact. He said: "I'm not afraid of anyone. I have ways to protect myself. They can't imagine how much I already know."