Chapter 8 Chapter 1 Argadia

Argatia Daryl read aloud to the input terminal of the dictation machine in a steady voice: "The vision of the Seldon Project, written by Al Daryl." Then she secretly thought that when she became a great writer in the future, if she wanted to publish those immortal works under the pseudonym "Ikaty", she would just use "Ikaty" without any surname at all.And a signature like "Al Daryl" is required to be used in the assignments of the "Composition and Rhetoric" course-it's really tasteless.All the other students in the same class had to do the same, except for the boy Marisas Dan.Because the first time he pronounced his name like that, the whole class burst into laughter. "Argadia" was just a little girl's name, and she was forced to accept it just because her grandmother had used it as a child—her parents had no imagination at all.

She had just celebrated her fourteenth birthday the day before yesterday.It seems like grown-ups should recognize the simple fact that she's grown up and should call her "Ikaty" instead.She suddenly pursed her lips in displeasure, because she remembered what her father had said to her just now.The father barely looked away from the reading glass, raised his head and said in a breath: "But if you try to pretend that you are nineteen, Agadiya, then when you are twenty-five, the boys will think you are It's already thirty, what should you do?" Now she was sitting in her own large armchair, her arms outstretched, and she could see the mirror on the dressing table when she looked up.One of her feet blocked the view a little, though, because the slipper was dangling from the big toe.So she retracted her feet, sat upright, and stretched her neck unnaturally straight.In this way, she seemed to be able to add two inches to her height, which made her figure look much more elegant.

She took a moment to look at her own face—too fat.So she pursed her lips tightly, stretched her chin, and looked at the thin face in front of her from all angles.She stretched out her tongue and licked her lips again, then pursed her wet lips slightly, and then slowly lowered her eyelids, showing her sophistication through the vicissitudes of life.Oh, my God, why are my cheeks pink, so ugly! She tried to put her fingers on the outer edge of her eyes, and slightly tilted the corners of the eyes, pretending to be the mysterious and exotic laziness of women in the inner galaxy.But in this way, half of his face was covered with his hands, so he couldn't see his own appearance clearly.

Then she retracted her chin, trying to take a picture of her side.She turned her head sideways, glancing as far as she could into the mirror, twisting her neck sorely.She seemed to be very emotional, and deliberately said in an octave-low tone: "Really, Dad, if you think that I care a little bit about what those stupid boys think, you really..." At this moment she suddenly remembered that the dictation machine in her hand was still on, and immediately let out a terrible scream: "Oh, my God!" and immediately turned it off. As a result, the dictation machine still spit out half a sheet of lavender paper with a beautiful peach lace on the left side of the paper.Impressively printed on it:

Visions of the Seldon Project by Al Darell Really, Dad, if you think that I care a little bit what those stupid boys think, you are right. Oh my God! She hastily pulled out the piece of paper and replaced it with another piece of paper for the machine. However, the anxious expression on her face quickly disappeared, and a satisfied smile was pulled out of her wide mouth.She brought the drawn paper to her nose, and gently sniffed it gracefully.It's so good, it should be such an elegant and charming fragrance, and the handwriting on the paper has nothing to say. The machine had arrived two days earlier as a coming-of-age birthday present from her father.

She remembers saying to her father: "Dad, but everyone—everyone in the class who has a little bit of ambition, everyone has such a typewriter. Only those old antiques can use typewriters..." The salesman also said to her father: "Our dictation machine is light and easy to use. There is no other model that can match it. It can print out the correct text and punctuation marks according to the meaning of the words. You Naturally, it can be seen that it is a good companion for students, because it will encourage the user to pay attention to tone and breathing, which is the only way to make it print the correct words. In addition, of course, use a suitable and dignified tone to get Correct punctuation."

However, her father only wanted to help her buy an ordinary typewriter, as if he really regarded her as an old antique scholar. But when the machine arrived, she found that it was the one she had dreamed of, and she was so moved that she burst into tears—perhaps too many tears, which were not suitable for her fourteenth birthday.The characters printed by that machine are purely feminine handwriting, which looks elegant, beautiful and charming. Even that "Oh, my God!" dictation machine handwriting just now is very charming. However, no matter how good the machine is, she must use it properly.So she sat on the chair again, put the draft in front of her in a serious manner, first raised her chest and then retracted her abdomen, carefully controlled her breathing, and was about to try again.Then, in a passionate tone, he recited clearly word by word:

"A vision of Seldon's plan, by Al Daryl." "Those of us who are fortunate to be able to receive a complete education under the high-efficiency, high-quality, and high-level teacher education system on this planet, everyone knows the past history of the base very well. This is an absolutely certain thing .” (Ha! Miss Elgin will be very pleased with this opening--the mean old hag.) "The past history of the base has almost always carried out the great plan of Hari Seldon. The two are basically one in two, two in one. But the question in most people's minds today is this great and wise plan. Whether the plan can continue, or will be severely damaged, or destroyed long ago."

"Let's first take a look at some key points that the Seldon Project has revealed to human beings so far. This may be the best way to understand this issue." (This part was easy to write, since she had taken Modern History last semester.) "About four centuries ago, when the First Galactic Empire was almost paralyzed and was on the brink of destruction, one man - the great Hari Seldon - foresaw this impending doom. He and his colleagues used the psychological Historiography—the miscellaneous mathematics that complemented this science is now lost—” (She stops suddenly because there is a small problem at this point. She is sure that the "complex" "fu" should be pronounced the third sound, but there seems to be something wrong with the words selected by the machine. Oh, don't worry, the machine is definitely not Could go wrong :-)

"Predicted the overall development direction of the galaxy's historical giant current. So they were able to discover a fact, that is, if history is allowed to develop like this, the empire will collapse and collapse, and then there will be anarchy and turmoil for at least 30,000 years, after that Only then will mankind be able to build a new empire." "It is too late to prevent the decline of the Empire, but at least it is possible to shorten the period of turmoil. Therefore, the main purpose of the Seldon Plan is to shorten the gap between the Second Empire and the First Empire to a thousand years. Nearly four centuries have now passed, flowers have bloomed, flowers have bloomed, and the plan remains unwavering."

"Harry Seldon established a base at two opposite ends of the galaxy. The various conditions he selected for these two bases corresponded to the best mathematical answers to the problems of psychohistory. One of ——Our base—is set up on this Terminus star, which concentrates all the physical sciences of the empire. With these sciences, the base is strong enough to resist the attacks of the surrounding wild kingdoms—these kingdoms have recently broken away from the edge of the empire and called themselves King's." "In fact, the base soon conquered the short-lived kingdoms, thanks to the presence of such valiant and wise men as Cypher Harding and Huber Marlowe. These heroes all interpreted Seldon's plan wisely, And led us through the…” (According to her draft, the next two words should also be "complex," but she decided not to take another chance.) "Difficult circumstances. Though centuries have passed, the worlds of the Base still remember and honor their exploits." "Later, the base established a huge business system, controlled most of the Anacreon and Sylvana star regions, and even defeated the last blow of the lingering old empire, that is, defeated the last empire of the empire. General——Bell Rios. At this time, there seems to be no obstacles to Seldon's plan. Every crisis planned by Seldon can appear at the right time and be resolved smoothly one by one. When a crisis is resolved, the base will once again take a big step towards the Second Empire and permanent peace. At this time, " (After reading this, she didn't catch her breath, and could only spit out these words gently through her teeth. However, the dictation machine still printed these words clearly and beautifully.) "The last remnants of the First Empire dissipated in smoke, leaving only many incompetent warlords ruling this huge remnant." (The "big stump" was something she had learned about last week from a Supervision thriller. But Miss Elkin, who only watches classical music and instructional shows, never gave a shit.) "Unexpectedly, at this time, the mule appeared." "This alien is not in Seldon's calculations at all. He is a mutant, and his emergence is completely unpredictable. The mule has a strange and mysterious power that can control and manipulate human emotions, so that all Man obeys his will. In an unbelievably short time, he becomes a conqueror and the founder of an empire. In the end, he even conquers the base." "However, he never completed the feat of dominating the galaxy, because the first wave of his offensive was finally stopped by a wise, brave, and great woman." (And now she's having the same old problem again—her father has never allowed her to reveal that she's Beda Darryl's granddaughter. But everyone knows that Beda is pretty much the greatest woman who ever lived, and that she was Single-handedly stopped the mule.) "However, there are very few people who really know the ins and outs of the whole incident." (Ha! If she had to read the composition aloud to the class, the above sentence could be read in a cryptic tone. That way, someone is bound to ask her what the truth is. And then, well, if they If you insist on asking, you have to tell the truth, right? She has already thought about how to say a set of grievances but plausible excuses in the face of her father's severe questioning in the future.) "After five years of totalitarian rule, another change occurred, and the reasons for this change are still unknown. In short, Mule has since abandoned all expansionary policies. The last five years of his reign have been strictly Enlightened autocracy." "It has been said that the mule's change was due to the involvement of the Second Base. However, no one has ever found the correct location of the other base, nor has anyone known its true function, so the above theory remains unproven." "Now, a whole generation has passed since the death of the mule. After the mule comes and goes, how will the future develop? The appearance of the mule interfered with Seldon's plan, and it seemed that the plan had been torn apart, but after his death Soon after, the base sprang up again, like a new star reborn from the ashes of a dying star." (These above are literally her creations.) "Thus, the planet Terminus once again became the center of a commercial federation. It has almost recovered its wealth and strength before it was conquered, and even became more peaceful and more democratic." "Is this development also planned? Is the great dream of Seldon still alive? Will there really be a Second Galactic Empire in six hundred years? Personally, I believe the answer is yes, because, " (This is an important part. Miss Elkin always likes to write big, ugly comments on students' compositions with a red pencil: "This is just a narrative. How about your personal experience? Think about it! Express yourself! Look into the depths of your own heart!" Look into the depths of your own heart, she really knows the human heart very well, and her ugly face has never smiled in her life...) "In our past history, there has never been such a good situation. The old empire has completely perished, and after the mule's rule, the situation of those warlords is gone forever. Most of the border areas of the galaxy Live a civilized and peaceful life." "Also, the interior of the base is much healthier than it used to be. The days of hereditary mayoral despotism before the conquest of the mules are over, and the base has once again returned to early democratic elections. No more dissenting worlds of independent traders in the galaxy; no more great wealth Concentration in the hands of a few people is such an unfair distribution. So, we have no reason to have fear of failure, unless the second base is really a threat to us. But those who think this way, except No evidence can be brought up at all but vague fears and superstitions. I think our confidence in ourselves, in our nation, in the great Seldon plan, should dispel any doubts in our minds," (Well—that's a horrible cliché, but there's always something like that at the end of an essay.) "Therefore I say," When this "Prospect of the Seldon Project" was written here, it had to be suspended again, because Arkadia suddenly heard a slight sound from the window pane.She supported the armrest of the chair with one hand, stretched her neck to look in the direction of the window, and found that she was facing a smiling face outside the window.It was a man's face, divided in half by a finger on his lips, which looked very comical. Arkadia was only stunned for a moment, and immediately put on a dazed expression.She climbed down from the armchair and approached the sofa in front of the large window sill, then knelt on the sofa and stared thoughtfully out of the window. The smile on that face quickly faded.He held on to the window sill tightly with one hand, and even his knuckles were white from the excessive force; with the other free hand, he quickly made a gesture.Argadia understood immediately, and flicked the switch, and the lower two-thirds of the window pane slid into the wall immediately.The warm spring air then enters the house and mixes with the conditioned air inside. "You can't come in," she said in a playful tone, pretending deliberately, "the windows are equipped with anti-theft screens, and only people who live here can pass through. If you get in, all kinds of alarms will go off. Immediately ring the bell." She paused, and then added, "Your feet on the ledge under the window are not very good at all. If you're not careful, you'll break your worthless neck and It will crush some precious flowers." The man standing by the window was worried about this very thing at the moment, but thought that the two adjectives should be exchanged.He said with difficulty: "In this case, can you turn off the anti-theft screen so that I can climb in?" "It's no use begging," Agathia said, "I think you may have come to the wrong place. Because I'm not the kind of girl who would let strange men into them... into her at this late hour." The bedroom." When she said these few words, her eyelids drooped slightly, revealing a sexy look—or it should be said that the imitation was too lifelike. For a moment, the naughty expression on the young man's face disappeared without a trace.He murmured, "This is Dr. Darryl's residence, isn't it?" "Why should I tell you?" "Oh, my God—bye—" "If you're going to jump, young man, I'll ring the alarm right away." ("Young man" is a sarcastic word she deliberately chose to show her sophistication and sophistication. Because in Arcadia's shrewd To the naked eye, the fellow was clearly at least thirty years old—very old for her.) After a stalemate for a while, the man said again in a serious voice, "Well, let me ask you, miss, what do you want me to do if you don't want me to stay here, and if you don't let me go?" "I think you can come in. Dr. Darryl does live here, I'll turn off the security screen now..." The "young man" first looked into the room carefully, then stretched his hand into the window, and got in straight out.After entering the room, he deliberately slapped the dust on his knees vigorously, as if making a silent protest, and then raised his flushed face to Arcadia. "If someone finds out that I'm here, are you sure your personality and reputation won't be damaged?" "If this is the case, the damage to your personality and reputation will definitely be much more serious than mine. Because as soon as I hear footsteps outside, I will immediately yell and accuse you of forcibly breaking into my room. " "Really?" He deliberately asked in a humble manner, "But you turned off the anti-theft screen yourself, how do you explain this?" "Hmph! That's not easy. In fact, there is no anti-theft screen at all." The man's eyes were wide open, and he seemed really angry: "Is that a bluff? Little girl, how old are you this year?" "Well, I think that's a very rude question, young man, and I'm not used to being called a 'little girl.'" "I don't doubt that. You may be Mule's grandmother in disguise. Should I just sneak away before you get friends and prepare to lynch me?" "You'd better not go—for my father is expecting you." The man's expression became extremely cautious again.He raised an eyebrow and asked softly, "Oh? Is anyone with your father?" "No." "Has anyone called on him lately?" "Only the peddler—and you." "Did anything unusual happen?" "only you." "Forgive me, okay? No, don't spare me, tell me, how do you know your father is waiting for me?" "Oh, that's not easy! Last week he received a private envelope, the kind that only he can open, with a self-oxidizing letter inside. You know, he also specifically threw that envelope in the trash In the resolver. Yesterday, he offered to give Polly a month's leave - Polly is our maid - to visit her sister in Terminal City. This afternoon, he is making the bed in the guest room again. So I know who he is waiting for, but he deliberately doesn't let me know, usually he will tell me everything." "Really! I doubt he needs to tell you anything. I don't think you know it before he even says it." "It's usually like that." She smiled and began to feel at ease.Although the visiting guest was not young, he looked very good in appearance, with curly brown hair and a pair of dark blue eyes.Maybe, she thought, when she was old enough, she would be able to meet similar characters again. "But," the man asked another question, "how do you know that I'm the one he's waiting for?" "Well, who else? He's mysteriously waiting for someone—I think you know what I mean. Then you come here with a ghost, and try to climb in through the window. If you have a little common sense If you don’t want to, you should know that you should go to the front door and call.” She suddenly thought of a sentence she admired, and immediately blurted out: “All men are so stupid!” "You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you, little girl? No, I meant 'Miss.' And as far as I know, your father is not waiting for me but someone else, so what should you do?" "Oh, I don't believe it. I didn't let you in in the first place. I didn't change my mind until I saw you drop your suitcase." "My what?" "Your suitcase, young man. I'm not blind, and you dropped it on purpose, not by accident. Because you glanced down to see where it would fall, and when you were sure it would Fall into the hedge so no one will see, drop your suitcase, and never look down again. Since you're deliberately avoiding the front door, and you're going to climb in through the window, it means you're not too daring. I want to make sure I found the right place, so I want to observe first. And when you were found by me, your first thought was the suitcase, not your own safety, which means that you valued the contents there more than You're more important. Now that you're inside and your suitcase is out—and we all know that—there's probably nothing you can do about it." She said this in one breath, and really needed to stop and take a good breath.The man took the opportunity to retort, "But I can also strangle you half to death, then escape, then pick up the suitcase and fly away." "But, young man, I happen to have a baseball bat under my bed that I can grab in two seconds, and I'm a strong girl." After a long stalemate, the "young man" finally said in a tone of affected politeness: "Since we got along so well, I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Perris Ansel. What's your name?" "My name is Aja... Ekaty Darrell, nice to meet you." "Okay, Ikaty, now can you be a kind little girl and go get your father?" Arcadia raised her head angrily and said, "I'm not a little girl, and I think it's quite rude of you to say that—especially when you're asking for help, especially when you're asking for help." Perris Ansuo sighed, and changed his words: "Well said—may I ask if you can be a kind, kind, and lovely old lady, and go and invite your father over for me?" "I didn't mean that either, but I'll call him. But don't think I'm going to take my eyes off you, young man." Finished.She started stomping on the floor. There was a sound of hurried footsteps in the corridor, and then the bedroom door was slammed open. "Argadia—" Dr. Darryl stopped halfway through the roar, he exhaled lightly, and then asked, "Sir, who are you?" Perris quickly stood up, obviously relieved: "Dr. Duron Darrell? I'm Perris Ansel. I think you have received that letter, at least Lingmei told me that you did receive it." .” "What my daughter said?" He frowned, and cast a reproachful glance at Argatia, but saw that her eyes were wide open, revealing an impeccable innocence, and immediately withdrew her stern gaze. After a while, Dr. Daryl finally spoke again: "I'm waiting for you, please come downstairs with me?" He stopped suddenly because he saw something flickering next to him. Argadia also noticed it at the time. She rushed to the dictation machine, but it was too late, because her father was standing next to the machine. He said softly, "You're always on, Arcadia." "Father," she shrieked embarrassingly, "it's bad manners to read someone's private letters, let alone their records of private conversations." "Ah," her father said, "but this 'conversation record' was recorded in your bedroom with a strange man! As your father, Argadia, I must protect you." "Oh my! That's not the case at all." Perris suddenly laughed and said, "Oh, that's what happened. Dr. Darryl, this lady is about to accuse me of many crimes. Even if I want to clear my grievances, I must insist on asking you to read it." "Oh—" Argadia fought back tears.Even her father didn't believe her, and that nasty dictation machine—if that idiot hadn't foolishly touched the window, she wouldn't have forgotten to turn off the machine.Now, my father must be preparing to give a tirade advising her on what not to do as a young woman.It seemed as if there was nothing they should do at all, with the only exception, perhaps, of hanging themselves. "Argadia," said her father in a mild tone, "I think a young woman—" Come on!She knew it, she knew it a long time ago. "——shouldn't be so indifferent to someone who is much older than me." "But who told him to peep by my window? A young woman has a right to privacy—and now, you see, I'll have to read this damned composition all over again." "Whether it's right for him to climb to your window or not is none of your business. You shouldn't have let him in at all, and you should have informed me immediately—especially you, thinking I was waiting for him." She said in a coquettish tone, "It's fine if you don't see him—you fool. If he keeps walking around like this, instead of going in and out through the gate, he will reveal all his secrets sooner or later." "Argadia, don't talk too much about things you don't understand." "Who says I don't understand, it's about Second Base, right?" As soon as she said this, there was a long silence, and even she herself felt her stomach twitching slightly. Then Dr. Darryl asked softly, "Where did you hear that?" "I didn't hear it from anywhere. Apart from this, is there anything else worthy of being so mysterious? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." "Mr. Ansel," Dr. Darryl said, "I must apologize to you for all of this." "Oh, it doesn't matter." Yasuo replied in a half-hearted tone. "It's never your fault if she betrayed herself to evil forces. Before we leave here, I want to ask her one more question." , I hope you don't mind. Miss Arcadia—” "What do you want to ask?" "Why do you think it's a fool to climb a window instead of a door?" "Because that's what you're talking about trying to hide, idiot. If I had a secret in mind, I'd never tape my mouth and let everyone know what I was hiding. I'd talk like I always do, as long as I don't Just mention the secret. Haven't you read Sepher Harding's motto? He was our first mayor, you know." "Yes, I know that." "Well, he once said: Only big lies can succeed; and he also said: Nothing has to be true, but it has to be believed. Well, when you climb in through the window, you have already violated the law." These two principles." "So if it were you, what would you do?" "If I have a top secret and I want to come to my father to discuss it, I will first get acquainted with him in public, and then use all kinds of high-sounding reasons to come to him. And when everyone knows you and thinks that you and I It is a matter of course that Dad is together, you can discuss any secrets with him casually, and it will never arouse others' suspicion." Ansel stared at the girl incredulously, then at Dr. Darryl, and said, "Let's go, I'm going to the garden to find my suitcase. Wait! One more question. Argarty Ya, you ain't got no bat under your bed, are you?" "No! I don't." "Ha, I knew it." Dr. Darryl stood at the door and said, "Argadia, when you rewrite that essay on the Seldon project, don't make Granny too mysterious for no reason. There's really no need to mention that." Then he and Perris walked down the stairs in silence. Halfway there, the guest lowered his voice and asked, "I hope you don't mind, Doctor, how old is Ling Ai?" "Fourteen years old, my birthday just passed the day before yesterday." "Fourteen? My God—tell me, did she say that she plans to marry in the future?" "No, she didn't mention it, at least not to me." "Well, if she brings it up one day, I think you'd better shoot him—I mean, the one she wants to marry." He stared into the senior's eyes and said in a serious tone, " I'm serious, when she's twenty, living with her will be the scariest thing in the world. Of course I don't mean to offend you by saying that." "You didn't offend me, I think I know what you mean." The object of these two people's careful analysis was still upstairs at this time, facing the dictation machine, holding back a stomach full of disgust and boredom.She read in a vague and lazy tone: "Xie, dun—plan, plan—, zhan, hope—" and the dictation machine played an extremely precise function, converting those voices into elegant and beautiful fonts: Outlook for the Seldon Project