Chapter 33 second quarter

"Okay," Trevize said, "I wasted the day." "Oh?" Pelorat was carefully indexing the collection of books, he raised his head and asked, "How do you say that? l Trevize spread his arms. "I didn't trust the computer at first, because I didn't dare, so I made a comparison, comparing our current position with the scheduled position of the transition. The result is that the difference between the two is below the measurement error, which means that it cannot be detected at all. to any error." "That's great, isn't it?" "It's not just great, it's incredible, I've never heard of such a thing in my life. I've been through many jumps, and I've done it myself with various methods and equipment. In school, I only Can use a palmtop computer to do the calculations, and then send a hyperwave repeater to check the results. Of course I can't use the real spaceship to do the experiment, because in addition to financial constraints, I will probably let it , appearing in the belly of a star.

"Of course, I've never done it that badly," Trevize went on, "but every time there is a considerable error, even if it is performed by an expert, error is inevitable; it is an inevitable phenomenon, Because there are too many variables. Let me put it this way, the geometry of space is already too complex to handle, and hyperspace, the complexity of the two is added and multiplied, making it impossible for us to pretend to understand. This is Why do we have to go step by step instead of jumping directly from here to Seychelle through a big jump. Because the farther the distance is, the bigger the error will be."

Pelorat said: "But you just said that the calculation of this computer does not have any errors." "It said that there is no error. I ordered it to compare the current 'real position' with the original 'predetermined position', and it said that it was within the range of measurement error, and the two were completely consistent. So I thought: it has Is it possible to be lying?" Pelorat put aside the printer that he had been holding all along, showing a surprised expression. "Are you kidding me? A computer never lies unless you mean that you think it might be malfunctioning."

"No, that's not what it means. My God! I really think it's lying. This computer is so advanced, I think it's almost like a living person—maybe a superhuman. It has a human-like self-respect, Therefore, it may also lie. The instruction I gave it at the beginning was to calculate a route to reach the capital of the Sechelle Alliance through hyperspace—the space near the planet Sessel. As a result, it did so and drew a A course that includes twenty-nine jumps is the ultimate expression of arrogance." "Why do you say it's arrogant?" "The error caused by the first transition will greatly reduce the accuracy of the second transition, and the addition of the errors of the two will make the third transition more unstable and unreliable, and so on. That's terrible. Who can count twenty-nine jumps in one go? At the end of the day, we could end up anywhere in the galaxy, anywhere. So I ordered it to take only the first jump, so we'd be Being able to check the results before moving on to the next steps."

"Every step of the way, I fully agree!" Pelorat praised. "Yeah, the problem is that I'm only asking the computer to perform one jump, will it feel bad that I don't trust it? Will it tell me to save face when I ask it to do a comparison? No inaccuracies at all? Would it feel unable to admit it was wrong, unable to admit that it was not perfect? ​​If so, we might as well not have computers at all.” Pelorat's long, still face was suddenly clouded with gloom. "If that's the case, what can we do, Grant?" "All we can do is do what I did—wasting a day. I checked the positions of several nearby stars using several primitive methods, including telescopic observations, photogrammetry, and manual surveys. I put these Comparing the measured positions of the stars with their unerring expected values ​​took me all day and left me exhausted."

"Okay, how did it turn out?" "I found two huge errors, but after careful inspection, it turned out that the problem was my calculations, which were my own mistakes. So I corrected my calculations, and then ran the computer from beginning to end to see See if it will come up with a consistent answer on its own. It turns out that it does not differ from my answer except for a few extra decimal places, which means that my numbers are correct: this also proves that there is no error in the jump. This computer may be a mother-bred egomaniac, but it has its own set of egos."

Pelorat let out a sigh. "Well, that's great." "Not bad at all! So I'm going to make it another twenty-eight jumps." "Do it all at once? But..." "Not all at once, don't worry, I haven't become so desperate for death. The computer will make the jumps one by one, but after each jump, it will automatically check the surrounding starry sky, if the position of the spacecraft is within the allowable error Within the range, the next jump can be made. At any step, as long as it finds that the error is too large - please believe me, the limits I set are very strict - it must stop the spacecraft , recalculate the following steps."

"When are you going to do it?" "When? Now, of course. Listen, you're not indexing your bibliography—" "Oh, now is the perfect time to do it, Grant. I've been meaning to do it for years, but something always got in the way." "I have no objection, you continue to do your work, don't worry about it at all, concentrate on compiling your index, and leave other things to me." Pelorat shook her head. "Don't be stupid, how can I relax before this matter is over, I'm so frightened that my whole body froze." "So, I really shouldn't tell you, but I have to find someone to talk to, and there is no one else here except you. Let me explain to you frankly, when we are in the process of leaping, there are always It could happen that somewhere in the interstellar space, there happens to be a high-velocity meteoroid, or there is a micro-black hole, and the spacecraft will crash, and we will die. In theory, this kind of thing has a chance to happen.

"However, the chances of that are extremely small. After all, when you're in your own home, Janov—you're sorting through microfilm in your study, or you're sleeping soundly in your bedroom, a meteoroid might pass by. The atmosphere of Terminus star, all the way down from the sky with lightning speed, will hit your head impartially, and you will definitely not survive, but the possibility of this is really very small. "In fact, when we return to ordinary space, we want to happen to appear on the trajectory of a celestial body, and that celestial body is just too small to be detected by the computer, but it is enough to cause fatal damage to us. The chances of this happening , much, many times less than your chances of being hit by a meteor at home. In the history of hyperspace travel, I have never heard of any ship being wrecked by this, and other dangers, such as appearing in the stars The chances in my stomach are even smaller."

"Then why are you telling me so much, Grenn?" asked Pelorat. Trevize paused, looked down for a moment, and then replied, "I don't know—no, I know. What I have in mind is that, no matter how small the chances of disaster, if many people try Many times, then sooner or later this catastrophe will happen. No matter how sure I am, how sure nothing can go wrong, there is always a small voice inside me saying, 'Maybe it's going to happen this time. ' It makes me feel guilty—I think that's why. Janov, if anything goes wrong, forgive me!" "But, Grant, my dear brother, if there is any mistake, both of us will be reimbursed in an instant. I have no chance to forgive you, and you have no chance to accept my forgiveness."

"I understand this, so please forgive me now, okay?" Pelorat laughed. "I don't know how, but I feel much happier now, and there must be something interesting about this question. Of course, Grenn, I will forgive you. In the literature of all worlds, there are many stories about various deaths. The myths and legends of the post-world, if there is such a place—I think, this chance is similar to that of us falling into a tiny black hole, maybe even smaller—and the two of us happen to be in the same underworld, then I will definitely do it for you. You testify that you have really gone all out, and my death should never be counted on your account." "Thank you! Now I feel relieved at last. I am willing to take the risk myself, but the thought of you having to accompany me in it makes me feel bad." Pelorat held each other's hand tightly. "You know, Grant, I've only known you for less than a week, and there are some things that shouldn't be jumped to conclusions, but I do think you're a brilliant fellow—let's get to it now and get this over with. " "Exactly! All I need to do is touch the sensor pad lightly. The computer has already received the command, waiting for me to say: 'Go!' Do you want to..." "No! It's only yours! It's your computer." "Fine, and it's my responsibility. Look, I'm still trying to get away with it. Keep your eyes on the screen!" Trevize stretched out his hand calmly, with a sincere smile on his face, and began to make contact with the computer. After a short period of stillness, the astrological field began to change, changing again and again and again and again.On the display screen, the scattered stars became denser and brighter. Pelorat silently counted the number of jumps, and when he counted to "fifteen", the changes on the display screen suddenly stopped, as if a certain mechanism was stuck. "What's wrong? What's going on?" asked Pelorat in a low voice, apparently fearing that if the sound was too loud, the mechanism would jam forever. Trevize shrugged, and replied: "I guess it is recalculating, it must be a certain celestial body in the nearby space, causing the overall gravitational field to have a non-negligible deformation, and the computer did not take that celestial body into consideration. Maybe Is it a dwarf star that is not on the star map, or a planet that has broken away from the galaxy..." "Is there any danger?" "Since we are alive now, there is almost certainly no danger. A planet a hundred million kilometers away can still generate enough gravitational perturbations that the computer has to recalculate; Dwarf stars outside, can also..." At this time, the picture on the imaging screen began to change again, and Trevize immediately stopped talking.The scene changed again and again, and when Pelorat counted to "twenty-eight", all the actions stopped abruptly. Trevize checked the computer and said, "We're here." "I counted the first jump as 'one', and in the successive jumps just now, I started counting from 'two'. So we only made twenty-eight jumps in total, but you said there should be Twenty-nine times." "After the fifteenth time, the computer recalculated and maybe saved us a jump. If you want to find out, I can check with the computer, but there is no need. We are now in Seychelle near planets, that's what the computer told me, and I don't doubt it at all. If we orient the viewscreen correctly, we can see a big, bright sun, but I don't see the need for additional viewscreens Unnecessary burden. Sessel is the fourth planet in this galaxy, and the distance from us is about 3.2 million kilometers. This is the normal distance left after the general jump. We can reach it in three days, if If you hurry up, two days will be enough." After finishing speaking, Trevize took a deep breath to relax his tense nerves. "Do you know what this means, Janov?" Trevize continued, "Any ship I've ever been on, or heard of, if you want to complete this series of jumps, you have to do it after each jump." , would take at least a day of painstaking calculations and double-checks, even with the help of a computer. So the whole trip would take a month, two or three weeks at the fastest—if they wanted to Reckless; and we did it in half an hour. When every ship has a computer like this..." "I really can't figure out why the mayor would let us use such an advanced spacecraft, it must be unimaginably expensive," Pelorat said. "It's just an experiment," Trevize said sarcastically. "Perhaps that kind mother-in-law would be more than happy to let us take charge of the test flight to see if anything goes wrong." "Are you serious?" "Don't be nervous. In short, there is nothing to worry about. So far, we haven't found anything wrong. However, I don't dare to expect her. This kind of thing doesn't require her to be a bodhisattva. Besides, she doesn't trust us and doesn't care about us. Not giving us any offensive weapons at least saves a considerable amount of money." Pelorat said meaningfully: "I was just thinking about this computer. It seems to be adjusted very well for you-it can't be so tacit with everyone, and I have almost no way to cooperate with it." "We're lucky enough that at least it fits in well with one of us." "Yes, but is this just a coincidence?" "What else is possible, Janov?" "Obviously the mayor knows you quite well." "I think she does, that old 'aircraft carrier.'" "Will she ask someone to design a computer for you?" "why?" "I'm just a little skeptical. Where the computer doesn't want to take us, I don't know if we can go." Trevize's eyes widened. "You mean, when I'm communicating with a computer, it's the computer that's in control—not me?" "I'm just skeptical." "The idea is ridiculous. It's persecution delusions. Come on, Janov." After finishing speaking, Trevize turned around to operate the computer, causing the computer to display the planet Sessel on the screen, and draw a normal space route to it. Absurd! Yet why would Pelorat instill such ideas in him?