Chapter 12 Chapter 5 Stowaways

There was still a little more than a month before the real start of summer, but Hommyr Moon was almost ready to go.He finished writing the year-end report for this fiscal year; carefully examined the acting librarian sent by the government, and confirmed that he was qualified for this not easy job--the person last year was really bad; The yacht "Single Sea" was towed out of the boathouse that had been sealed for nearly a year.The strange number of his spaceship was named after a mysterious and sensitive event twenty years ago. When he left Terminus, he was filled with depression and dissatisfaction.No one came to see him off at the space station—naturally, because there never was.In fact, he also knew that the trip had to look normal, but he still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable, and there was an unknown anger in his stomach.He, Hommyr Moon, risked his beheading, was engaged in an absurd mission, and had no companions!

At least, he thought so at the time. But because he made a mistake, there was a chaotic situation on the "Dan Hai" the next day.At the same time, Dr. Darryl's home in the suburbs also caused a commotion. Chronologically, chaos erupts at Dr. Darryl's home first.The trigger was the family's maid, Polly, who had returned to work after a month's vacation.Now, suddenly, she rushed down the stairs in a panic, yelling in exasperation. She rushed to the doctor in one breath, wanting to report her discovery.As a result, he spent a long time figuring things out by hand, but he couldn't squeeze out a word, so he could only hand him a piece of paper and a square object in the end.

Dr. Darryl had to take the things over and asked, "What's the matter, Polly?" "She's gone, Doctor." "Who's gone?" "Argadia!" "What do you mean she's 'gone'? Where? What are you talking about?" Polly stomped her feet anxiously: "I don't know, she just disappeared, along with a suitcase and some clothes. She only left this letter, why don't you just stand there, why don't you read it?" How about reading the letter? Oh, you men!" Dr. Darryl shrugged and opened the envelope.The content of the letter is not long, except for the clumsy signature "Icarty", it is all in elegant and beautiful fonts, obviously printed by the dictation machine.

dear dad: I dare not say goodbye to you in person, I would be too sad, maybe cry like a little girl, and make you feel that I am not up to date.So I decided to write this letter to tell you that although I will have a very happy summer vacation with Uncle Hummel, I will miss you very much.I will take good care of myself and will be home as soon as possible.Besides, I leave you with one of my own, which you can open right now. Beloved Your Daughter Ikaty He read the letter several times, and the expression on his face became more and more gentle.At last he asked stiffly: "Have you read the letter, Polly?"

Polly immediately defended herself and said, "You can't blame me for this matter, doctor. The envelope clearly says 'Polly'. I didn't know it was a letter for you. I'm not the kind of person who likes to pry into privacy. Man, Doctor, over the years..." Darryl held up a hand, made a calming gesture to her, and said, "Very well, Polly, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to make sure you understood what was going on." .” He thought about it—it was absolutely useless to tell her to forget about it, the word "forget" was not in the dictionary of the enemies they faced.And if any advice is given to her, it will make the matter appear more serious, which is enough to be counterproductive.

So he put it lightly: "She's a queer little girl, you know, very naive and romantic in her ideas. Ever since we decided to send her on a trip to space for the summer, she's been so excited. " "But why hasn't anyone told me about it?" "It was arranged when you were on vacation. We forgot to say it later. It's as simple as that." Polly's original excitement was now all condensed into a fierce anger.She retorted: "Simple, isn't it? The poor little girl has just a suitcase without a single decent dress in it, and she's going by herself. How long is she going?"

"You can be sure of that, Polly, there's enough clothes for her on board the spaceship. Will you just go to Mr. Anthel and tell him I want to see him? Oh, wait a minute—isn't that What Argatia left me?" He turned and looked at the square object in his hand. Polly shook her head violently: "I assure you I don't know, all I can say is that the letter was placed on this thing - even said that I forgot to tell me, really, if the child's mother is still alive..." Darryl waved her away: "Please go and get Mr. Ansel." Regarding this sudden change, Yasuo had a completely different view from Argatia's father.His reaction was extremely strong. When he spoke, he clenched his fists and pulled his hair desperately. Later, he showed a frowning expression. "Oh my God, what are you waiting for? What are we two sitting here waiting for? Hurry up and use the video call to contact the space station and ask them to notify 'Dan Hai' immediately."

"Don't get excited, Perris, don't forget that she is my daughter." "But the Milky Way doesn't belong to your family." "Calm down, Perris. She's a smart girl, and she's planned this action carefully. We'd better try to figure out what she's thinking while it's just happening. Do you know what it is?" " "I don't know, what does it matter what this thing is?" "Because it's a sound collector." "This thing?" "It's done by hand, but it still works, I just tested it. Can't you see it? That's how she told us that she was actually there when we were discussing the plan. She She knew where Hommier Moon was going, and what he really wanted, and she thought it would be a very thrilling experience to go with him."

"Oh, my God," the young man moaned, "another mind is going to be the prey of the Second Foundation." "That being said, the Second Foundation should have no reason to suspect a fourteen-year-old girl—unless we act rashly and divert their attention to her. For example, by ordering the immediate recall of the Have you forgotten who our opponent is? How easy it is to discover our intentions? And once discovered, what else can we do but sit and wait to die?" "But we can't entrust our fate to a crazy kid." "She wasn't crazy at all, and we had no choice. She didn't need to write that letter, but she wrote it anyway, because she didn't want us to think she disappeared for no reason and didn't want us to call the police. She Insinuated in the letter that we should interpret the matter as if Meng En took the daughter of an old friend on vacation, and why not? He and I have known each other for nearly twenty years, Argarty I brought her back from Trantor when she was three, and he's been watching her grow up. It's only natural, and, in fact, should reduce suspicion. Because the real spy is Not running around with a fourteen-year-old niece."

"Okay, but what will Meng En do when he finds her?" Dr. Darryll raised an eyebrow. "I don't know—but I'm sure she's got her way." But at night, the house suddenly seemed very deserted.Dr. Darryl finds that the fate of the galaxy doesn't seem to matter at all when his deranged daughter's life is at stake. However, the commotion on the "Shanhai" involved relatively few people, but the level of tension and thrills was much higher. Agatha has been hiding in the luggage compartment.She found that at the beginning, she could rely on experience to cope with various situations, but the subsequent development made her feel at a loss immediately.

In detail, she was able to maintain her composure during the initial acceleration; and during the first hyperspace jump, although she felt a little nauseous, she could still manage it.She had experienced the jump before, experienced these uncomfortable feelings, so she knew how to be prepared.In addition, she knew that there was an air-conditioning system in the luggage compartment, and even a wall light lighting device-but she didn't turn on the wall light because she subconsciously felt that it was too unromantic.She kept herself in the dark (which is what a conspirator should do), while she tried to hold her breath and listened to the noises around Hummyr Moon. Those were ordinary noises, the kind a man must make when he is alone.Including the sound of shoes rubbing against the floor, the sound of clothes rubbing against metal objects, the wailing of chair cushions being squeezed by weight, the sharp sound of pressing the control device, and the crackling sound of palms tapping photocells, etc. Later, Argadia finally ran into problems due to her inexperience.Whether it's on film books or Supervision movies, stowaways seem to have a knack for hiding things so that no one can find them.Of course, there will always be some accidents, such as accidentally knocking something down, dropping it on the floor and making a loud noise, or being unable to resist sneezing... There must be similar plots in Supervision movies, and the audience also loves it. Take it for granted.She knows all of this well, so she is very careful everywhere.She also expected that she would be hungry and thirsty, so she took a lot of canned food from the food compartment in advance.However, it is impossible for novels and movies to take into account all practical issues. Agatha gradually understands one fact - no matter how lucky she is and how well-prepared she is, she must not hide in this small cabin for too long , This is something that she would not believe even if she was killed. However, in a single-person space yacht like "Danhai", there is only one cabin for activities, so she doesn't even have the opportunity to sneak away to other places, because Meng En will never leave there. She waited desperately patiently, hoping for some sound that said Meng En had fallen asleep.It would be nice if you could know if he snores or not.But at least she knew where the bed was, and if there was a turning sound, she should be able to tell the difference.I don't know how long it took, and finally there was a deep breath, followed by a yawn.Argadia continued to wait patiently.In the silence, only the bed occasionally made some noises, indicating that the person on the bed changed positions or raised a leg. She finally plucked up the courage, gently pushed open the door of the luggage compartment, and was about to poke her head out... The voice that was clearly heard, but stopped abruptly at this moment. Arcadia froze with fright.There was no sound, a dead silence! She tried to stick her eyes out the door and keep her head inside the cabin like the cartoon characters did, but she couldn't; her head involuntarily stuck out with the eyes. Hommier Moon was of course not asleep—he was lying in bed just now, reading by the bedside lamp.Now, his whole body was enveloped in a soft, undiffusing light, his eyes wide open, gazing into the darkness, while one hand sneaked under the pillow. Arkadia didn't even think about it, she quickly retracted her head.All the lights outside went out immediately, and then Meng En made a sharp and trembling voice: "I'm holding a nuclear gun, the Milky Way is above, I'm going to fire—" Argadia immediately cried out, "It's me, don't cum!" Romantic fantasies are so easily shattered. A nuclear gun in the hands of a nervous person is enough to destroy everything. Immediately, the whole cabin was brightly lit, and Agatha saw Meng En sitting upright on the bed, with some gray chest hair exposed on his thin chest, and the beard on his face hadn't been shaved all day, making him really look like a fugitive. Argatia stepped out and tugged on the metallic coat.In fact, it is superfluous, because this kind of outerwear is guaranteed not to wrinkle. Meng En was so surprised that he almost jumped off the bed.But he seemed to have thought of something suddenly, not only did not jump off, but he quickly pulled the sheet to the height of his shoulders, and asked in a vague voice, "Why...how...how..." He was completely bewildered. Argatia said meekly: "I'm sorry, can you excuse me? I have to wash my hands first." She knew the structure of the spaceship, and disappeared in no time. When she came back, courage returned with her.Already in a faded dressing-gown, Hommier Moon stood before her, ready to burst into a fit of rage. "What the hell are you doing... what are you doing on this spaceship? How... how did you get up here? What do you want... what do you want me to do with you? What the hell is going on here?" His questions could go on and on, but Arkadia interrupted him in a gentle tone: "I just want to go with you, Uncle Hommier." "Why? I'm not going anywhere." "You're going to Kalgan to gather information about Second Base." Meng En let out a wild howl, and his whole body collapsed immediately.Argadia jumped, thinking he was going to go hysterical, or bang his head against the wall—he still had the pistol in his hand!When she saw that powerful weapon, she couldn't help feeling a chill in her stomach. "Be careful - calm down -" She could only think of these two sentences for a moment. Fortunately, he quickly returned to normal.He threw the nuclear gun on the bed with all his strength, almost causing the powerful weapon to go off, blasting a big hole out of the hull. "How did you get here?" He spoke slowly, as if he had carefully gritted each word so that the words would not tremble in the air. "It wasn't easy. I walked into the boathouse with my suitcase and said, 'Mr. Moon's luggage!' The steward waved me over without even looking up." "You know, I have to send you back." When Houmier said this, a burst of ecstasy suddenly surged in his heart-the Milky Way is above, and this is not his fault. "You can't do that," Arcadia said calmly. "It would raise suspicion." "what?" "Of course you know. You will go to Kalgen this time because you are the best candidate. It is a very natural action for you to go to Kalgen and ask for information about mules. So your move Every movement must be natural, and no one should be suspicious. If you turn back halfway and send a girl who is a smuggler back, maybe even the super TV news will report this matter." "About Kargen, where did you hear... from? This... ah... really naive idea..." Of course, no one can be fooled by his words, even if he knows better than Agardy It is impossible for people in Ya Shao to believe these few words he said. "I heard it myself," she said proudly, "with a sound collector. I know all about your plans, so you must let me go." "What will your father think?" He played the last trump card, "He will think you have been kidnapped...dead." "I left a text message." She responded with a bigger trump card. "He probably knows that there is absolutely no fuss. You may receive a space telegram from him soon." She had just finished speaking, and just two seconds later, the receiving signal suddenly sounded.For Meng En, it seems that only magic can explain all this. "That must be my father's telegram, I bet," said Agathia, and she was right. The telegram was written to Argatia, and the content was only a few sentences: "Thank you for giving me that lovely gift. I believe you must have made good use of it. I wish you a happy holiday." "You see," she said, "that's what he ordered." Hommier quickly got used to her presence, and later enjoyed her company even more.In the end, he even felt that without her, he would not be able to complete the journey by himself.She loves to babble!She looks so excited!And most importantly, she wasn't afraid at all.She clearly knew that she was making an enemy of the Second Foundation, but she didn't care at all; she also knew that after getting Kalgan, he would have to face a group of hostile bureaucrats, but she just couldn't wait.Maybe it's just because she's only fourteen. In any case, for Meng En, this week's journey finally had someone to chat with, and he no longer needed to talk to himself all day long.In fact, there was nothing constructive in their conversation. Almost all of them were the girl expressing her opinions and talking about the clever plan she had in mind to deal with the leader of Kargan.It was both funny and absurd, but she made a serious point and said it very seriously. Hou Mier couldn't help laughing heartily after hearing her high-sounding remarks.He found it very strange—from which wonderful historical novel did she get these strange views? On the night of preparing for the final jump, Kalgan's sun was already visible from among the sparse stars on the outer rim of the Milky Way.Seen through the spacecraft's telescope, the star was a tiny twinkling speck. Now Agatha was sitting on the only chair with one leg crossed.She was wearing Homer's home trousers and shirt, but she didn't look too baggy.Her own clothes had been washed and ironed, waiting to be worn after landing. "Did you know? I'm going to write historical novels in the future." She enjoyed this trip very much, and Uncle Houmier always listened carefully to her conversations.It is a great joy in life to be able to talk to a truly intelligent person, and the other person listens carefully to what you have to say. She went on: "I've been reading biographies and biographies of the greats in the history of the Foundation, you know, Seldon, Harding, Marlowe, Devas, and all the other heroes. What you wrote about the Mules I've read most of the articles. However, the history of the base's defeat is really uncomfortable to read. Wouldn't the history be better if those stupid and tragic parts were deleted?" "Yes, it will look better." Then Meng En said in a serious tone, "However, that is not a faithful history, are you right, Ikaty? Unless you can present the historical facts completely, otherwise it is No academic status will be gained." "Oh, bah, who cares about academic status?" She thought he was really cute, and he didn't forget to call her "Ikaty" these days.She added, "My novels have to be well-written, to be bestsellers, and to make me famous. If you can't sell your books, you can't be famous for it, so what's the point of writing? I don't just want to Let a few old professors know me, and I must become a household name." The thought excited her so much that the color of her eyes changed.She shifted her body to a more comfortable position, and continued, "Actually, I'm going to Trantor as soon as I get Papa's permission. You know, I'm going there to collect the First Empire's Background information. I was born on Trantor, you know that?" Of course he knew, but he purposely said, "Really?" and added the right amount of surprise to his voice. Arcadia returned him a look that was somewhere between a real and a smirk, and said, "Oh—my grandma...you know, that's Beda Darrell, you must have heard of her...she My grandpa lived in Trantor for a while. In fact, they were there to stop the mules when the whole galaxy was trampled underfoot. And my mom and dad went back to Trantor once when they got married. I was born there, and I lived there until my mother died, and I was only three, so I don't remember much. Have you ever been to Trantor, Uncle Houmyer?" "No, it can't be counted as having." He leaned against the cold bulkhead and replied casually.With Kalgan so close, he felt the uneasiness return. "Is it the most legendary world? Dad told me that during the reign of Starnell V, the population on it exceeded the sum of the ten worlds today. He also said that it was a world covered in metal, A single metropolis, the capital of the entire galaxy. He showed me pictures of Trantor, now in ruins everywhere, but it still looks spectacular. How I wish I could go there again. Actually... Hommier!" "what?" "Why don't we go to Trantor when we're done with Kargan?" Meng En's face showed obvious fear again, "What? You don't want a wave of ups and downs, and a wave of ups and downs. We are doing business, not sightseeing, and don't forget that." "But it's business," she protested sharply. "Trantor may have innumerable important documents, don't you believe?" "No, I don't believe it." He got up and stood in front of her and said, "Now please stay away from the computer, we are going to make the last jump soon, and then you should go to bed." Anyway, he thought, There was always one thing that would improve after landing, and he already hated sleeping wrapped in his coat on the metal floor. The calculation of the jump is not difficult. In the "Space Channel Manual", the route from the base to Kargan is described in great detail.They routinely felt one moment of convulsions when the space yacht entered hyperspace, and the next moment the last light-years of distance vanished. Kalgan's sun now looked just like any other sun—big, bright, and radiating opalescent light.However, the two people in the space yacht could not see directly, because the porthole on the side of "Sunshine" had already closed automatically. After waking up, you can reach Kalgan.