Chapter 71 first quarter

It took several hours for the spaceship flying out of the space station to reach the vicinity of the Far Star, and Trevize felt that these few hours were like sitting on pins and needles. Under normal circumstances, Trevize would try to call the spaceship, expecting a response.If no response is received, he will initiate evasive action. Since the spaceship was unarmed and he hadn't heard back, the only thing he could do now was to wait.Now the computer has a very strict selection of his instructions, if he issues instructions related to the movement of the spaceship, the computer will not respond at all.

Still, at least everything inside the spaceship is fine.The life support system maintained its optimal working condition, so he and Pelorat had no physical discomfort.However, this was of no avail. The tedious waiting and the unknowns he was about to face made him more and more tired physically and mentally.He found that Pelorat seemed to be very calm, and an unknown anger rose in his heart.And Pelorat seemed to be adding fuel to the fire on purpose, and chose to open a can of chicken when he had no appetite.After the can was opened, it heated up automatically, and steam came out after a while, and Pelorat started to eat immediately.

Trevize said angrily, "My God, Janov! It stinks!" Pelorat seemed taken aback, and quickly put the can to his nose and sniffed it. "I think it smells delicious, Grant." Trevize shook his head. "Leave me alone, I'm just babbling. You gotta use a fork though, or your fingers will smell like chicken all day long." Pelorat was surprised, and quickly looked at his fingers. "Sorry! I didn't notice, I was thinking about something else." Trevize said again in a mocking tone: "Would you be interested in guessing what the inhuman creature on that spaceship should look like?" He felt ashamed now that he was not as calm as Pelorat.He had served in the fleet anyway (though of course no combat experience), while Pelorat was only a historian.But now, this traveling companion can sit there safely.

Pelorat replied: "It is impossible to conceive how evolution would have taken place in an environment so different from that of Earth. The possibilities may not be infinite, but they must be infinite. However, I Presumably they are far from unreasonable or murderous, and I am sure they would treat us in a civilized manner. Otherwise, we would be dead by now." "At least you can still think calmly, good friend, you can still keep calm. My nerves seem to be fighting against their invisible sedatives. I have an abnormal urge to stand up and take a few steps... that damn ship Why hasn't the spaceship arrived yet?"

Pelorat said: "I am a passive person, Gulen. I have been waiting for new documents to be unearthed all my life, and usually I can only bury my head in the existing materials. I have nothing else to do but wait. There are ways. You are a man of action, and when you can’t do anything, you feel miserable.” Trevize's tense mood suddenly relaxed, and he murmured: "I underestimated your observation ability, Janov." "No, you didn't underestimate me." Pelorat said calmly, "However, even a naive scholar can sometimes learn some truths from life." "And even the savviest politicians can sometimes be obsessed with it."

"I didn't say that, Grant." "You didn't say it, I said it, so I'm going to be positive. I can at least observe it visually—the spaceship is quite close, and it can be seen that it seems extremely primitive." "seem?" "If it's made by other intelligent beings, then the apparent primitiveness may actually just be a hallmark of an inhuman civilization," Trevize said. "You also think it may be a product of non-human civilization?" Pelorat asked, his face flushed with excitement. "I'm not sure yet. I think man-made artifacts, no matter how different they may be due to cultural differences, are at best similar to artifacts made by another creature."

"That's just your guess. So far, we have only come into contact with different cultures, but we have never discovered different intelligent species. It is impossible to judge how different the artifacts of non-human civilizations will be." "Fishes, dolphins, penguins, squids, which are said to be creatures derived from the earth, and even non-earth species, the way they move in the viscous medium is to evolve the body into a streamlined shape. Therefore, the body of these creatures The genetic make-up is vastly different, but the physical appearance isn't much different—and so may be the products of civilization."

"The squid's tentacles and corkscrew vibrator," Pelorat retorted, "are very different, and bear no resemblance at all to the fins, webs, or flippers of other vertebrates. —and so may be the products of civilization.” "Anyway," Trevize said, "I'm feeling a lot better. Talking to you about all this nonsense has loosened my nerves. I think we'll soon know what we're going to meet. That ship The spaceship can't connect with us, so no matter what kind of creatures are on it, they have to swing by the old-fashioned chains, or they will use some method to drive the two of us to swing by themselves-unless there is something really wrong on it. Human beings have a completely different connection system."

"How big is that spaceship?" "I have no way to calculate the distance with the computer and radar of FarStar, so I can't estimate its scale." Suddenly, a cable chain meandered towards the Far Star. Trevize said: "There are two possibilities, one is that it is indeed human, and the other is that non-human creatures also use the same device. Perhaps in this case, there is no second method other than the chain. tool." "They could use a pipe," said Pelorat, "or a horizontal ladder." "Those things are not resilient, and it's hard to connect two ships. You have to use something that is both strong and resilient."

The hard shell of the spaceship (and the air inside) vibrated with a muffled clang as the chain touched the Farstar.Then, the spacecraft began to fine-tune the speed to bring the two to the same speed, and the cable chain looked like a long snake walking in space.After the fine-tuning is completed, the cable chain finally reaches a relatively static state. Then a black spot appeared on the surface of the spaceship, growing bigger and bigger like a pupil. Trevize muttered, "It's not an automatic sliding door, but a flex partition." "Inhuman civilization?" "It's still hard to tell, but it's interesting."

A human figure appears on the screen. Pelorat pursed her lips tightly, and after a while, she said in a disappointed tone: "It's a pity, it's human." "It's still hard to say," Trevize analyzed in a calm tone: "What we can conclude now is that the body seems to have five protrusions, which may be the head, hands, and feet, but they may not be at all— Wait a minute!" "what?" "It moved quicker and cleaner than I expected—ah!" "What's the matter?" "It's got some kind of propulsion, I can tell it's not a rocket, but it's definitely not just pulling on a chain. That doesn't guarantee it's human, though." Although the figure came quickly along the chain, the people in the spaceship felt that they had waited for a long time.Finally, there was finally a noise outside. Trevize said, "Whatever it is, it's about to come in, and I decided to do it as soon as it appeared." He had already clenched his fists. "I think we'd better take it easy," said Pelorat. "It may be stronger than we are, and capable of controlling our minds, and there must be others on board that spaceship. We'd better be quiet, Let’s see what character you are facing first.” "You're getting more and more thoughtful, Janov," Trevize said, "but I'm getting more and more impulsive, little brother." They heard the sound of the airlock opening and closing again, and finally, the figure finally appeared in the spaceship. "Almost normal size," Pelorat murmured, "a human can be stuffed into that spacesuit." "I've never seen or even heard of a space suit of this type, but I don't think it's beyond the realm of human artefacts—no further clues at all." Now, a figure in a spacesuit stood in front of the two of them.The top of the space suit is a round helmet. If the panel of the helmet is made of glass, it is also a kind of one-way light-transmitting glass, and the inside cannot be seen at all. The figure lifted an upper limb to the side of the helmet, and quickly touched a switch. Before Trevize had time to see clearly, the helmet came off the spacesuit and was lifted up. What was presented before their eyes was a young and charming face.The visitor was undoubtedly a beautiful girl.