Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Outer World Center

Trevize stared at Pelorat for a long time, with obvious displeasure on his face.Then he said, "What did you see that I didn't see and didn't tell me?" "No." Pelorat replied kindly: "You have seen it too. As I said just now, I tried to explain it to you, but you were not in the mood to listen to me." "Okay, just try again." Bliss said, "Don't be mean to him, Trevize." "I'm not being mean to him, I'm just asking questions, don't spoil him." "Please," Pelorat said, "listen to me, you two, don't talk to each other—do you remember, Gulen, that we discussed the early attempts to find the origin of human beings? That Project Arivo? You know, is an attempt to date the creation of each planet. This project is based on the assumption that humans colonized the origin world at the same time in all directions. So, if you go back from the newer planets step by step To the older planets, it can converge from all directions to the world of origin."

Trevize nodded impatiently. "As I recall, this method simply didn't work because the creation dates of each world were not reliable." "That's right, old partner. But the worlds studied by Yareve were all established by the second wave of colonists. At that time, hyperspace travel was very advanced. The colonized world must have been quite messy, because it is not difficult to colonize across planets. Colonized worlds are not difficult. It must expand radially and symmetrically. This, of course, increases the uncertainty of the age of creation. "But if you think about it again, Grant, think about those outer worlds. They were established by the first wave of colonists. Hyperspace travel was not so advanced at that time, and there may be little or no catch-up. Although in the second During the wave expansion, the establishment of tens of millions of worlds may be irregular; the first wave had only fifty worlds, and they may be distributed very regularly. Although the second wave of expansion lasted for 20,000 years, tens of millions of worlds were established world; the fifty worlds of the first wave are the result of several centuries—by comparison, they seem to have been established almost at the same time. These fifty worlds put together should roughly form spherical symmetry, and the center of symmetry That is the origin world.

"We already have the coordinates of these fifty worlds, you took them, remember, you sat on a stone statue and took them. No matter what force or whoever tries to destroy the data of the earth, he didn't ignore these coordinates, Just didn't expect them to provide the data we needed. What you need to do now, Grant, is adjust those coordinates, correct for the motion of the stars over twenty thousand years, and then find the center of the sphere, and that center will be fairly close to the Earth's Yang, at least close to its position 20,000 years ago." When Pelorat was eloquent, Trevize's mouth opened slightly unconsciously, and he finally closed his mouth after a long while after the long speech. "But why didn't I think of it?"

"I tried to tell you when we were in Melpomenia." "I'm absolutely sure you tried, and I refuse to listen, and I apologize to you, Janov. Actually, I didn't expect..." He was embarrassed and said no more. Pelorat smiled silently. "Didn't expect me to say anything important. I guess I usually don't, but it's my business, you see. I admit it myself, and generally you don't have to listen to me." nagging." "Nothing," Trevize said. "It's not like that, Janov. I feel like an idiot, and I deserve it. I apologize again—now I have to go to the computer. "

So the two of them walked into the cockpit together.When Trevize put his hands on the table, almost merging with the computer into a single "human/machine" organism, Pelorat looked at him, amazed and disbelieving as usual. "I have to make some assumptions, Janov." Since Trevize had become one with the computer, his expression was a bit dazed. "I have to assume that the first number is distance, in parsecs: the other two are angles, both in diameter, so it's hard to say that the first angle is up and down, and the other is left and right. I have to assume the angles The plus and minus signs are according to the galactic standard convention, and the triple zero represents the Melpomenian sun."

"Sounds promising," said Pelorat. "Really? There are six possibilities for the arrangement of numbers, and four possibilities for the combination of plus and minus signs. The unit of distance may be light-years instead of parsecs, and the unit of angles may be degrees instead of diameters. This constitutes ninety-six." Also, if the unit of distance is light-years, I'm not sure which year to use; another problem is that I don't know exactly what convention is used to measure angles - one of them, I think, would be On the equator of Melpomenia, but where is the prime meridian?"

Pelorat frowned. "Hearing you say that, it seems that you are desperate again." "No despair. Aurora and Solari are on this list, and I know where they are in space. I'll try to find them by coordinates, and if I'm in the wrong place, I'll switch to another protocol , until the coordinates give the correct position. Then I can see where the assumptions I made in the coordinate convention are wrong. Once the assumptions are corrected, I can start looking for the center of the sphere." "With so many possible variations, will it be difficult to make a decision?"

"What?" Trevize was getting more and more absorbed.After Pelorat repeated the question, he replied: "Oh, fortunately, these coordinates are likely to follow the Galactic Standard Protocol, and it is not difficult to find the unknown prime meridian. The various systems appeared so early that most astronomers are pretty sure they were even established before interstellar travel. Humans are very conservative in some ways, and once they get used to a set of numerical conventions, they don't change anything. I think , some people even mistake them for the laws of nature-in fact, this is fine, because if every world has its own measurement protocol, and if it changes every century, I believe that the development of science will definitely be hindered, or even stagnated forever forward."

He was apparently working while he was talking, for his speech was always broken.At this point he murmured again: "Now keep quiet." After saying this, his whole face wrinkled, and his expression seemed extremely focused.After a few minutes, he leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and said in a calm tone: "The statute is indeed established, and I have found Aurora. Absolutely no problem—see it?" Pelorat stared at the field of stars, focusing on a rear star near the center. "are you sure?" Trevize said: "My own opinion is irrelevant, what is important is the computer's confirmation. After all, we have visited Aurora, and we know its characteristics very well--diameter, mass, luminosity, temperature, spectral detail, etc., and more Not to mention the pattern of nearby stars—the computer says it's Aurora."

"Then I think we've got to take it at its word." "Believe me, we have to accept it. Let me adjust the video screen and the computer will start working. Fifty sets of coordinates have already been entered, and it will process them one by one." As Trevize said, he began to adjust the screen.Although computers usually operate in four dimensions of spacetime, there is rarely a need for a display screen to go beyond two dimensions when presenting results to humans.Now, however, the screen seemed to unfold into a black three-dimensional space, as deep as it was long and wide.Trevize extinguished the lights in the cabin almost completely to make the starlight images easier to observe.

"Now it's time to start." He whispered. After a while, a star appeared -- then another -- and then another.Every time an additional star appears, the image on the screen changes once, and all the starlight is incorporated into the screen.It seemed as if space was receding before their eyes, so that they saw more and more panoramas.In addition, there are up and down movements, left and right movements... In the end, all fifty points of light appeared, all suspended in three-dimensional space. "I was expecting to see a beautiful spherical arrangement, but this looks like a hastily made snowball, made of too hard, too gritty snow," Trevize said. "Will all previous efforts be wasted?" "It would be more difficult, I suppose, but it can't be helped. The stars themselves are not evenly distributed, and neither are the habitable planets, so the new worlds will certainly not form perfect geometries. The computer will take into account the past twenty thousand year's most probable motion pattern, adjusting each point of light to its current position - even after such a long time, not much adjustment is actually required. Then, use them to construct an 'optimal sphere', in other words In other words, it is to find a sphere in space, so that the distance between all light points and it is the minimum value. Finally, we find the center of the sphere, and the earth should be near the center of the sphere, at least we hope so—— It won't take too long." Sure enough, it didn't take much time.Although Trevize was accustomed to the wonders the computer could perform, he was amazed by its speed. Trevize had given an instruction to the computer just now, asking it to make a soft and lingering tone after determining the "best center of the ball".There is no special reason for doing this, but it is just for psychological satisfaction, because once you hear this voice, it may mean that this exploration is coming to an end. The computer beeped after a few minutes, and it sounded like the soft sound of a gong being tapped.The volume increased from low to high, until they could feel a slight vibration, and then slowly disappeared into the air. Almost immediately, Bliss appeared at the hatch. "What's that sound?" She asked with wide eyes. "Is it an emergency?" "No, it's fine," Trevize said. Pelorat added enthusiastically: "We may have found the Earth, Bliss, and that beep is the computer's way of reporting the good news." She goes into the cockpit. "You should have told me beforehand." Trevize said, "Sorry, Bliss, I didn't expect it to be that loud." Feilong followed Baoqisi in and asked, "Why is there that voice, Baoqisi?" "I can tell she's curious too." Trevize leaned back in his chair, feeling very tired.The next step is to verify this discovery in the real Milky Way—focusing the search on the coordinates of the center of the outer world to see if there are really G-type stars.But again he became indecisive, unwilling to take this simple step, unable to expose himself to the possible answers to the real test. "Yes," said Bliss, "why shouldn't she be curious? She's human just like us." "Her single parent doesn't think so," Trevize said absently. "This kid worries me. She's a nuisance." "How do you know?" Baoqisi asked. Trevize spread his hands and replied, "It's just a feeling." Baoqisi gave him a blank look, then turned to Feilong and said, "We are trying to find the earth, Feilong." "What is Earth?" "Another world, but a very special one, from which our ancestors came. Have you learned from those readings what 'ancestor' means, Feron?" "Is it XX?" The last word is not a galactic standard language. Pelorat said: "That is the ancient word for ancestry, Bliss. The closest thing to it in our language is 'ancestor.'" "Great." Bao Qisi suddenly showed a bright smile. "Our ancestors all come from Earth, Feron. Yours, mine, Pei's, and Trevize's ancestors are all." "Your, Baoqisi...and mine too," Feilong seemed puzzled, "They all came from the earth?" "There is only one kind of ancestor," Baoqisi said, "your ancestor is my ancestor, and everyone's ancestors are all the same." Trevize said, "It sounds like the kid really understands that she's different from us." Bao Qisi whispered to Trevize: "Don't say that, make her think that she is no different, there is no fundamental difference." "Androgyny is fundamentally different, I think so." "I mean the mind." "Switching lobes is also a fundamental difference." "Hey, Trevize, don't be so hard to serve. Regardless of the details, she's smart and human." She turned to face Feilong and returned the volume to normal. "Just think about it, Feron, and what this means to you. Your ancestors, like mine, in every world—many, many worlds—everyone had a common Our ancestors, who lived in a world called Earth. Does that mean we are all relatives, sir? Now go back to our cabins and think about what I said." Feilong glanced at Trevize thoughtfully, then turned and ran away, and Bao Qisi patted her buttocks affectionately. Then Bliss turned to Trevize and said, "Please, Trevize, promise me to stop saying those things when she's around, lest she think she's different from us." Trevize said: "I promise you, I don't want to hinder or destroy her learning process. But, you know, she is not like us." "It's just that there are differences in some aspects, just like I am different from you, and Pei is not exactly the same as you." "Don't be so naive, Baoqisi, the difference is much greater in Feilong." "Just a little bit bigger. In comparison, she is much more similar to us. She and her compatriots will one day be part of the Gaia galaxy, and I believe, a very useful part." "Okay, let's stop arguing." He turned to face the computer with great reluctance. "Now, I'm afraid I have to check whether the earth is in that position in real space." "I am afraid?" "Well," Trevize shrugged his shoulders, hoping to make an action that was at least somewhat joking, "What if there are no eligible stars nearby?" "If you don't have it, then you don't have it." Bao Qisi said. "I don't know if there's any point in checking now, we won't be able to jump in for a few days." "But for a few days you'll be fidgeting trying to guess the answer. Find out now, waiting won't change the facts. " Trevize sat there with his mouth tightly pursed. After a while, he said, "You're right. Well, then—let's begin." He turned to face the computer again, and pressed his hands on the palm outlines of the desktop, and the display screen immediately became pitch black. Bliss said, "Then I'm going, I'll put your nerves on my nerves if I stay." She waved her hand and left the cockpit. "What we need to do now," Trevize murmured, "is to check the computer's galaxy map first. Even if the Sun of the Earth is really at the calculated position, the map should not be included. But let's..." His voice gradually disappeared in surprise; a background of stars flashed on the display screen, the number of stars was extremely large, and they were evenly distributed on the screen, most of them were very dim, occasionally interspersed with a brighter star.But quite near the center, there is a bright star that eclipses all the stars. "Found it!" cried Pelorat loudly: "We have found it, brother, and see how old it is." "The stars in the center of the coordinates seem to be very bright." Trevize obviously tried to suppress the premature joy, so as not to prove to be nothing in the future. "After all, the image source of this image is only one second away from the center of the coordinates. But having said that, the star in the center is obviously not a red dwarf or a red giant, and the light is not high-temperature blue-white. When the data comes out, the computer is looking for it database." After a few seconds of silence, Trevize said, "The spectral type is G 2." He paused for a while before continuing. "Diameter, 1.4 million kilometers - mass, 1.02 times that of the terminal star sun - surface temperature, absolute temperature scale 6000 degrees - slow rotation rate, period close to 30 days - no abnormal activity or abnormality Rule changes." "Aren't these typical conditions for a habitable planet?" Pelorat said. "Typical," Trevize said, nodding in the gloom. "So it fits with what we would expect from an Earth-sun. If life did originate on Earth, the Earth-sun sets the original example." "So there's a pretty good chance there's a habitable planet around." "We don't need to speculate on this." Trevize's voice was a little confused. "According to the records of the Milky Way Atlas, it has a planet with human life—but a question mark is added after it." Pelorat's interest grew. "That's exactly what we expected, Gulen. There is indeed an inhabited planet there, but the mysterious force is trying to cover up this fact, so the relevant information is vague, making it impossible for the computer atlas maker to be sure." "No, that's what disturbs me." Trevize said, "That's not what we should have expected. What we should have expected was something more extreme. Think about how thoroughly the Earth's relevant information has been cleared, The cartographers shouldn't know that there is life in that planetary system, let alone human life. They shouldn't even know the existence of the Earth's sun, the outside world is not in the map, why is the Earth's sun included?" "Well, anyway, it's there. It's a fact, why question it? Is there any other information on that star?" "Have a name." "Ah! What's it called?" "Alpha." After a pause, Pelorat said eagerly: "That's right, old friend, that's one last little piece of evidence—think what it means." "Does it mean something?" Trevize said. "To me it's just a name, and a weird one at that. It doesn't sound like galactic standard language." "It is indeed not the standard language of the galaxy. It is a prehistoric language of the earth. The planet of Baoqisi is called Gaia, which is also derived from this language." "Then what does Alpha mean?" "That ancient language, whose first letter was 'Alpha', is one of the most reliable fragments of prehistoric knowledge. In remote antiquity, Alpha was sometimes used to represent the first thing, and if a certain sun was named Alpha, which means it is the first sun. Wasn't the first sun the star around which the earth orbited, the first planet of mankind?" "you sure?" "Absolutely," said Pelorat. "In the earlier legends—you're a mythologist, after all—are there any very special properties mentioned about the Earth's sun?" "No, how could it be? By definition, it should be the most standard, and the characteristics that the computer tells us, I guess can't be more standard. Is it?" "I think the Sun of the Earth should be a single star?" Pelorat said: "Well, of course! All the inhabited worlds, as far as I know, revolve around single stars." "I should have thought of that earlier," Trevize said. "The problem is, the star in the center of the display screen is not a single star, but a pair of double stars. The latter of the double stars is indeed standard, and the computer provides Ours is the data about it. However, there is another star orbiting it with a period of about eighty years and four-fifths the mass of the later one. We cannot tell with the naked eye that they are actually two stars , if you zoom in on the image, I'm sure we can see it." "Are you sure of that, Grant?" Pelorat was really taken aback. "That's what the computer told me. If we're seeing a double star, it's not the Earth's Sun, it can't be." Trevize lost contact with the computer, and the cabin was suddenly brightly lit. This was obviously the signal to invite Baoqisi to come back, and Feilong followed closely behind her. "Okay, how did it turn out?" Bliss asked. Trevize said in a flat tone: "It's somewhat disappointing. Where I expected to find the Earth's Sun, there is a pair of double stars. The Earth's Sun is a single star, so the central one is definitely not." "What now, Grenn?" said Pelorat. Trevize shrugged. "I didn't expect to see the Earth's sun in the very center. Even the worlds built by the Outer Worlds don't happen to be perfectly spherical. Aurora—the oldest Outer World—may produce its own Colonists, this may distort the sphere. Besides, the speed of the Earth's sun in space may not be the same as the average speed of the outer world." Pelorat said, "So the earth could be anywhere, don't you mean?" "No, you can't say 'anywhere'. The sum of all possible errors will not be too large. The sun of the earth must be located near the coordinates of the center of the sphere. The star we are looking for is almost exactly on the coordinates. It must be the earth A close neighbor of the Earth's Sun. It is astonishing that the Earth's Sun should have such a similar neighbor—except that it is a binary star, but it must be." "However, in this case, we should be able to see the Earth's sun on the map, right? I mean-near Alpha?" "No, because I'm sure the Earth's Sun is not on the map at all. That's why my confidence was shaken when we first found Alpha. No matter how close it is to the Earth's Sun, just because it's included in the This point in the map makes me suspect that it is not genuine." "Okay, then," said Bliss, "why not focus on this set of coordinates in real space? Then, if you find a bright star near the center, but not in the computer map, and if this The nature of a star is very similar to that of Alpha, but it is a single star, so isn’t it the sun of the earth?” Trevize sighed. "If everything is as you said, I am willing to bet half of my property that the star you mentioned is the sun of the planet Earth. But now I am hesitant and don't want to test this hypothesis." "Because you might fail?" Trevize nodded. "However," he said, "give me a moment to catch my breath and I'll force myself to do it." While the three adults were looking at each other, Feilong approached the computer desktop and stared curiously at the outline of the palm on it.Her hand reached for the outline, and Trevize quickly stretched out his arm to block it, and at the same time said sharply: "Don't touch it, Feilong." The little Solari seemed to be taken aback, and jumped into Baoqisi's warm arms. Pelorat said: "We have to face reality, Gulen. What do you do if you find nothing in space?" "Then we will be forced to go back to our original plan," Trevize said, "to visit the other forty-seven outer worlds one by one." "What if nothing is gained that way, Grant?" Trevize shook his head distractedly, as if to stop that thought from taking root in his mind.He looked down at his knees, and suddenly said: "At that time, I will think of other ways." "But what if there is no world of ancestors at all?" Hearing this soprano-like voice, Trevize suddenly raised his head, "Who is talking?" This was actually an extra question, and he quickly thought of who the questioner was. "I said so," Firon replied. Trevize looked at her, frowning slightly. "Can you understand our conversation?" Feilong said: "You are looking for the world of the ancestors, but you haven't found it yet, maybe there is no world at all." "'That' world." Bao Qisi corrected her softly. "No, Feron," Trevize said gravely, "someone took great pains to hide it. Trying so hard to hide something means that it must be hidden. Do you know what I mean? " "I get it," Feron said. "Just like you won't let me touch the hand shadow on the table, which means it would be fun to touch." "Ah, but it's not for you, Ferron-Birkis, you're making a monster, and she'll destroy us all. Don't let her in again unless I'm sitting in front of the computer; even if I'm In front of the computer, please think about everything first, okay?" This little episode seemed to drive away his indecision. "Obviously, I'd better get to work now. If I just sit here and can't decide what to do, the clowns are going to take over the ship in no time." The lights in the cabin dimmed immediately, and Bliss lowered her voice and said, "Promise me, Trevize, don't call her a monster or an ugliness when she's around." "Then keep an eye on her and teach her proper etiquette. Tell her that children should not talk to adults, and that they should appear in front of adults as little as possible." Baoqisi frowned. "Your attitude towards children is simply too much, Trevize." "Perhaps, but now is not the time to discuss it." Then, he said in a satisfied and reassuring tone: "That is the Alpha in real space—on its left side, slightly above, is an almost equally bright star that is not included in the Milky Way map. The stars. I'll bet all my fortune it's the Earth's sun." "Okay," said Bliss, "even if you lose, we won't take any of your property, so why not just find out? As soon as we can make the jump, we'll visit the star." Trevize shook his head. "No—this time not out of hesitation or fear, but out of caution. We have visited three unknown worlds, three times we have encountered unexpected dangers, and three times we have been forced to leave. This time it is The most important thing is that I don't want to act blindly anymore, at least within the scope of my ability. Until now, all we know are vague legends about radioactivity, which is not enough. But no one would have expected that at a distance of about One parsec away, there is actually a planet with human life..." "Around Alpha, is there really a planet with human life?" Pelorat asked, "You said that the computer put a question mark behind it." "Even so," said Trevize, "it's worth a try. Why not go and see? If there are humans living on it, we'll ask them what they know about Earth. After all, to them, The earth is not an unreachable world in the legend, but their close neighbor. In their sky, the sun of the earth must be bright and dazzling." Bliss said in a thoughtful tone, "Not a bad idea. It occurred to me that if the Alpha had an inhabited world, and the inhabitants were not your typical isolated beings, then perhaps they would be friendly and we might gain some Food for a change.” "And meet some nice people," Trevize said. "Don't forget that. Would you agree to that, Janov?" Pelorat said: "It is up to you, brother. Wherever you go, I will accompany you." Feilong suddenly asked, "Will we find Jianbi?" Bao Qisi hurriedly answered before Trevize: "We will look for it, Feilong." So Trevize said: "Then it's decided, go to Alpha." "Two big stars." Feilong pointed to the display screen and said. "That's right," Trevize said, "There are two——Bliss, remember to keep an eye on her, I don't want her to touch anything." "She's fascinated by mechanisms," said Bliss. "Yeah, I know," Trevize said, "but I don't dare take it—but to tell you the truth, I'm as fascinated as she is by seeing two stars twinkle on the picture screen at the same time." Those two stars were indeed quite brilliant, almost disk-shaped, both.The screen has already automatically enhanced the filter density to eliminate "hard radiation" and reduce the degree of starlight to avoid damage to the retina.As a result, there are only a few queen stars left on the screen, and the pair of double stars hang high in the sky as proud and almost isolated kings. "In fact," Trevize said, "I've never been this close to a binary galaxy before." "No?" There was some surprise in Pelorat's voice, "How is it possible?" Trevize laughed. "Although I come and go in space, Janov, I'm not the Ranger you think I am." Pelorat said, "Before I met you, Grant, I had never been in space. But I always thought that anyone who goes into space..." "Just go anywhere. I understand, that's a natural thought. The biggest problem with people who stay on the ground is that no matter what their intellect tells them, they still can't imagine the actual size of the Milky Way. Even if we travel in space for a lifetime, the Milky Way Still out of reach for the vast majority of places. Besides, no one has ever been to binary galaxies at all." "Why?" Bao Qisi frowned and said, "Compared to isolated bodies that travel the Milky Way, we people on Gaia don't know much about astronomy, but in my impression, double stars don't seem to be uncommon." "That's true." Trevize said: "In fact, the number of double stars is more than that of single stars. However, after two stars are formed very close together, planets cannot be formed through the normal process. Double stars have Planets have less material than single stars, and even if planets form in binary galaxies, their orbits are usually not stable, and planets suitable for habitation rarely appear. "Early interstellar explorers, I suppose, must have studied many double stars at close range. But after a while, when exploring for colonization purposes, their targets were limited to single stars. Of course, once the galaxy was full of colonized worlds , almost all interstellar travel is related to trade or transportation, and they are all carried out between the inhabited worlds of single stars. During the period of frequent military activities, I think that if a certain pair of double stars happens to have a strategic position, sometimes it will be in the orbit around one of the double stars. small, uninhabited worlds. But as hyperspace travel becomes more sophisticated, such bases will become unnecessary." Pelorat said humbly, "I can't imagine how ignorant I am." Trevize just grinned. "Don't let me fool you, Janov. When I was in the fleet, I heard countless lectures on outdated military tactics that no one planned or intended to use. Discussion of them is purely a tradition. I'm just showing off Point—by the way, you know so much mythology, folklore, and ancient languages ​​that I don't know anything about them, and only you and a few experts understand them." "That's right," said Bliss, "but those two stars do form a binary system, one of which has an inhabited planet in its orbit." "We hope so, Bliss," Trevize said. "There are exceptions to everything, and adding a formal question mark makes it even more puzzling—no, Ferron, those buttons aren't toys. —Bliss, either handcuff her up, or take her out." "She won't break anything." Bliss, though defending Ferron, still pulled the Solari kid to her side. "If you're so interested in that habitable planet, what are we waiting for here?" "One of the reasons," said Trevize, "is that it's human nature to want to take an opportunity to observe binary galaxies up close. Besides, it's human nature to be cautious, and I'm no exception. As I've explained, since After we left Gaia, there was nothing that didn't make me more cautious." "Which of these two stars is Alpha, Glenn?" said Pelorat. "We won't get lost, Janov. The computer knows which one is the Alpha, so we know it too. It's the hotter, yellower one because it's bigger. And the one on the right one, with a distinct orange glow, sort of like Aurora's sun, if you remember. Did you notice that?" "After you reminded me like this, I noticed it." "Very well, it is the smaller one. What is the second letter of that ancient language you mentioned?" Pelorat thought for a moment, then said, "Beta." "Then let's call the orange star Beta, and the yellow-white star Alpha, and our target now is Alpha."