Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Like most newborns, he came into the world screaming. The world around him is formless chaos.The world had just appeared, and something was very close to him, making some strange noises, which frightened him.The thing backed away suddenly, leaving behind a loud sound. He began to cry.He tried to move the body, but couldn't.He continued to cry. Another thing approached him, and he screamed in terror, trying to run away, the only thing he had ever experienced before.The thing made some sounds and made some movements. Clear. It is as if the consciousness has put on a pair of corrective lenses.The world suddenly became orderly.Strangeness is strangeness, but all things have meaning.He knows that although he cannot recognize or call the names of the things he sees, they have names and properties.A part of him came alive, eager to sort things out, but couldn't do it yet.

The whole universe is on the lips but just can't say it. "Can you get it?" the shape ahead—a person—asked him.he can.He could hear the question, but he knew the other person hadn't said a word, the question had been thrust straight into his head.He didn't know how he knew this, nor how the other party did it.He also didn't know how to respond.He opened his mouth, trying to answer. "Be quiet," said the person in front of you. "Try to send me your answer. Faster than talking. That's how we communicate. Tell you how." A guide came to his mind—he got more than a guide, but the idea that everything he didn't understand could be defined, elaborated, and put into context.As he was thinking about this, he felt that the guide he had just received began to expand, and different concepts and ideas entered different neural pathways, looking for their own meanings, in order to establish a framework that he could use.These concepts and ideas came together into one big idea, and this gestalt gave him the ability to respond.He felt a growing desire to respond to the person in front of him, and his consciousness, aware of this, offered a series of alternative responses.Each content is automatically decompressed like a guide, providing meaning, context and supporting response content.

All of this took less than five seconds. "I got it," he said finally. "Very well," said the man in front of him, "I'm Judy Curie." "Hello, Judy," he said, before the brain unpacked the idea of ​​a name, explaining how you should respond when someone else gives their name and identity.He wanted to include his name, but that part was blank.He was suddenly very confused. Curie smiled at him and asked, "Why can't you remember your own name?" "tell him. "It's because you don't have a name yet," Curie said. "Want to know your name?"

"Thank you," he said. "Your name is Jared Dirac," Curie said. Jared felt the name decompress in his head.Jared: Names from the Bible (the definition of the word "from the Bible" decompressed, leading him to the definition of "books" and the Bible, he did not read the Bible because he felt that reading This book and the content that will be unzipped next cannot be read in seconds), Jared is the son of Mahalalel, the father of Enoch, the Book of Mormon (another unzipped but he ignored it book) leader of the tribe of Rijared.Meaning: offspring. "Dirac" has several definitions, most from Paul Dirac, a scientist.Jared had already decompressed the meaning of the name and the connotation of the naming convention.He looked at Curie.

"Am I a descendant of Paul Dirac?" he asked. "No," Curie said, "your name was chosen at random from a pool of candidates." "But my first name means offspring," Jared said, "and the last name comes from the family." "Even among real people, first names usually don't mean much," Curie said. "For us, even last names don't mean much. Jared, don't study your name too much." Jared thought about it for a few seconds, letting the thoughts free themselves.There is a concept called "real people" that refuses to decompress itself; the book of Jared will continue to explore, but put it aside for now."I'm confused," he said finally.

Curie replied with a smile: "In the beginning, I was really confused." "Help me not to be so confused," Jared said. "I will," Curie said, "but I can't stay with you for too long. Jared, you were not born according to the timetable. Your teammates started training two days ago. You must integrate as soon as possible, otherwise you will die." You may be behind forever. I will take you to meet your teammates, and I will try my best to talk to you on the way, and leave the rest to them to explain. Well, come out of the tank. Now that you can think, let’s see how you walk.”

The concept of "walking" decompresses itself, and the harness that binds Jared in the container is loosened. Jared stabilizes his body, sits up, jumps out of the container, and stands on the ground with one foot. "One small step for mankind," Curie said.Jared was surprised to find that the decompressed meaning of this sentence was extremely rich. "First of all," Curie led Jared through the Phoenix star space station, "You think you are thinking, but you are not." Jared's first reaction was to say I don't understand, but he resisted, and for the first time his intuition kicked in, telling him that was probably his reaction to most things these days.He changed his words: "Please explain."

"You have just been born," Curie said, "and your brain—the real brain—is still blank, without knowledge and experience. Instead of your brain, an internal computer called BrainPal is sending You pass on knowledge and information. Everything you think you understand is actually processed by BrainPal and sent back to you in a way you can understand. It is also BrainPal who advises you on how to respond to various things. Be aware of crowds. "Curie dodged left and right, avoiding a group of defenders gathered in the center of the passage. Jared followed her and dodged. "But I feel like I know all of this," Jared said, "as if I once knew it and now I don't."

"Brainmates tuned your brain before you were born," Curie said, "helping you lay down the neural pathways that all humans have, preparing the brain for rapid learning and processing information. Your brain is already ready. Ready to learn, so you feel like you already know. For the first month of your life, everything you look at will feel deja vu. Once you learn, the knowledge is stored in the real brain, and you don't need to use BrainPal as a crutch We are wired to gather information, process it, and comprehend it many times faster than real human beings.” Jared stopped, on the one hand to let his consciousness decompress what Curie just said, but there was another reason.Curie noticed that he had stopped, so he stopped and said, "What's wrong?"

"This is the second time you've used the term 'real person' and I can't find a definition for it." "The higher ups don't put words like that in BrainPal," Curie said.She walked on, pointing to the other soldiers in the passage, and said, "They're 'real people'—babies born, it takes a long time to develop, it takes years. You're born in sixteen minutes, they live sixteen years." Maybe not as much as you know. It's very inefficient to develop this way, but it's in line with the laws of nature, so they think it's right."

"You don't think so?" Jared asked. "I don't think it's right or wrong, it's just inefficiency." Curie replied, "I live like them. 'Real life' is not the right word, because we are also born. Born, lived, died. No the difference." "So we are like them," Jared said. Curie glanced at him over his shoulder and replied: "No, we are different from them. We are designed to be stronger than them both physically and mentally. We move faster, think faster, and even talk faster than them. Talking to real people for the first time, it feels like they're moving at half speed. Now, look." Curie stopped, made a confused expression, and patted the shoulder of a soldier who happened to pass by. "Sorry," she said—with her mouth, "I heard there's a restaurant on this floor with a really good hamburger, but I can't find it. Can you help me?" Curie's voice and Jared came to mind The voice heard in Li was similar, but the speed of speech was slower. At first, Jared didn't understand what she was saying. "No problem," the soldier replied. "The place you mentioned is a few hundred yards from here. If you continue walking in this direction, you will see it. The first restaurant you encounter will be there." "Great, thank you," Curie said to Jared, stepping back up, "see what I mean? It's like they're retarded or something." Jared nodded absently.His brain had decompressed the concept of "hamburger", which in turn decompressed "food", leading him to realize something that had absolutely nothing to do with the conversation."I think I'm hungry," he told Curie. "No rush," Curie said. "You should eat with your training teammates. It's part of the team experience. In the future, you will do most of the things with your training teammates." "Where are your training teammates?" Jared said. "It's an interesting question," Curie said. "I haven't seen them for several years. After training, it's very difficult to see your training teammates. After training, you will be assigned to the position that needs you, and then you will integrate into where you are. Squads and platoons. Now the Special Forces platoon I’m integrated into is responsible for instilling consciousness at birth.” Jared decompressed the concept of "merging" in his mind, but found it difficult to understand.Just about to try again, Curie interrupted his train of thought, and she continued to speak. "I'm sorry, but you're going to be at a disadvantage among your teammates," she told Jared. "They're part of the group when they wake up, they're used to each other's presence. It'll take a few days for them to get used to you. You should be with them. Out of groove and fusion at the same time." "Why didn't I?" Jared asked. "Here we are." Curie said and stopped in front of a door. "What is this?" Jared asked. "The waiting room of the traffic craft pilot," Curie said. "I'll take you for a flight. Come." She opened the door for Jared, and followed him inside. In the room were three pilots playing poker.Curie said: "I'm looking for Lieutenant Claude." "He's being fucked to death," said one of the pilots, throwing a chip into the pot. "Add ten." "I want to die," another pilot said and threw one, "Ten o'clock." "If we are really gambling, the ridicule of the two may be a little bit lethal," said the third person. According to the rule of exclusion, he is Lieutenant Claude.He threw down three chips, "I called at ten, add another twenty." "This is the worst part of the free tour of hell," said the first pilot. "Since the fee is free, there is no reason to send money to everyone. Follow." "If I had known my boss was a socialist, I wouldn't have applied for it," said the second pilot. "Follow." "Hey, it seems that besides being brainless, you two are almost dead now," Claude said, "Don't say that you are alienated by labor, you have already been alienated to the point where there is no scum left. In addition , It will cost hundreds of dollars to see this hand." He spread out the poker in his hand, "A pair of aces, three 8s. Relatively cry, you two." "Oh shit!" said the first pilot. "Thank you, Karl Marx," praised the second. "It's the first time anyone's ever said that at a poker table," Crowder said. "You should be proud." "Oh, I'm so proud," the pilot replied, "just don't tell my mom. Her old Texas heart would break into pieces." "I must help you keep a secret." Claude said. "Lieutenant Claude," Curie said, "can you answer me in this century?" "Sorry, Lieutenant," Cloud said, "I just had to go through the ritual verbal humiliation first. You'll understand." "I don't quite understand," Curie said, nodding towards Jared. "This is the recruit who will be sent to Camp Carson. You should have received the order and permission." "Probably." Claude stopped for half a minute, and visited BrainPal, "Yes, I got it. My traffic boat has also been repaired and filled with fuel. I will submit the flight plan and we can set off." He said Looking at Jared, "Just you, nothing else?" Jared looked at Curie, who shook his head. "No," he said, "just me." He was a little surprised to hear the sound coming out of his own mouth for the first time, the first time he understood how slow it was to form words.He was also aware of the presence of the tongue and the movement of the tongue in the mouth, which made him slightly sick. Claude noticed the exchange between Jared and Curie, and without comment, he gestured to the chair and said, "Okay, buddy, please sit down. I'll take you out right away." Jared sat down, looked up at Curie, and asked, "What should I do now?" "Lieutenant Crowder will take you to Camp Carson in the Phoenix Star in a traffic boat, and you will meet your training teammates," Curie said. "They will enter the training a few days earlier than you, but the first day or two is mainly about integration and stability. Personality. You don't necessarily miss out on real training." "Where will you be?" Jared asked. "I'm here," Curie said, "where do you think it would be?" "I don't know," Jared said. "I'm afraid. You're the only one I know." "Calm down." Curie said, and Jared felt an emotion conveyed by her, and BrainPal decompressed the concept of "empathy" for him after processing it. "After a few hours, you'll be part of the training team and everything will be fine. You'll understand the world better then." "Okay," Jared said, not entirely convinced. "Goodbye, Jared Dirac." Curie said with a smile, turned and left.Jared felt that Curie continued to linger in his consciousness for a few seconds, until she suddenly remembered that she forgot to close the link channel, and then suddenly disappeared.Jared couldn't help recalling the short time the two had spent together, and BrainPal helped him decompress the concept of "memory".The concept of recall triggers an emotion, and BrainPal decompresses the concept of "moving". "Hey, can I ask a question?" Cloud asked Jared as they began to descend to the surface of Phoenix. Jared pondered this question, and the ambiguity of its semantic structure allows for multiple interpretations.On the one hand, Claude has already answered his own question by asking; on the other hand, he clearly has the ability to ask Jared.Jared's BrainPal suggested (and Jared agreed) that this is not the correct interpretation of the question.Presumably Cloud knew he was procedurally capable of questioning Jared, and if he didn't know it before, he should know it now.Jared's BrainPal was still decompressing and cataloging additional interpretations, and Jared couldn't help but hope that someday he would be able to directly grasp the correct interpretation of a sentence without endlessly decompressing concepts.He was born and awakened within an hour, and already found it annoying to do so. Jared pondered the options available, and after a while—long for him but almost non-existent for the pilot—he ventured to throw out the answer that seemed to fit the context best. "Okay." Jared replied. "You're from the Special Forces, right?" Claude asked. "Yes." Jared replied. "How old are you?" Claude asked. "Now?" Jared asked. "Yes." Claude replied. Jared's BrainPal reminded Jared that he had a built-in astronomical clock, and he read the time and replied, "Seventy-one." Claude looked him up and down: "Seventy-one years old? According to everyone, you are very old in the special forces." "No, not seventy-one years," Jared said. "Seventy-one minutes." "It's not bullshit, is it?" Claude said. It took him a while to choose an interpretation, and finally replied: "It's not nonsense." "Damn, that's weird," Claude said. "How?" Jared asked. Cloud opened and shut his mouth, gave Jared a look, and said, "Well, you probably don't know, but for most humans, talking to a guy who's only been born for over an hour is weird. Shit, card When the game first started, you weren't born yet. Most humans haven't necessarily learned to breathe and shit at your age." Jared asked about BrainPal and replied, "I'm doing one of two things right now." This made Claude giggle, and said, "It's the first time I've heard you guys tell a joke." Jared thought for a moment and replied, "I'm not kidding, I'm really doing one of them." "Then I can only sincerely hope it's breathing," Crowder said. "Indeed it is," Jared replied. "That's good," Claude chuckled again, "I thought for a moment that I finally met a special forces soldier with a sense of humor." "Sorry," Jared said. "God, what's the point of being sorry," Crowder said, "you've only been born an hour, and some people live a hundred years without developing a sense of humor. I've had at least one ex-wife who couldn't even smile from marriage to divorce." Never laughed once. You have an excuse of being new, but she has no excuse." Jared thought for a moment, then replied, "Maybe you're not funny." "Look," Cloud said, "you're just kidding. So you're really only seventy-one minutes old?" "Seventy-three now," Jared replied. "How do you feel now?" Claude asked. "How do you feel about what?" "These," Claude gestured around, "life, the universe and everything." "Lonely," Jared replied. "Huh," said Claude, "I figured it out so quickly." "Why do you think Special Forces soldiers have no sense of humor?" Jared asked. "Well, it's not that you can't have it," Claude replied, "it's just that I haven't seen it. Let's talk about your friend at the Phoenix space station, beautiful Miss Curie. Trying to make her laugh. I see her every time I send Special Forces soldiers to Camp Carson. But it hasn't worked out so far. Maybe it's only her, but every time I take Special Forces soldiers to and from Camp Carson, I I've tried my best to make you laugh, but I haven't succeeded so far." "Maybe you are really not fun." Jared guessed again. "Look, you're joking again," Claude said. "No, I thought maybe that was true, but I have no problem making ordinary soldiers laugh, at least some of them. Ordinary soldiers rarely have Opportunity to meet you special forces, but everyone who has been in contact agrees that you have no sense of humor. We can only guess that this is because you were born as adults and it takes time and practice to develop a sense of humor." "Tell me a joke," Jared said. "Really?" Claude said. "Really," said Jared, "I must, I want to hear a joke." "Let me think about it," Claude thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, I've thought of one. You don't know who Sherlock Holmes is, do you?" Jared was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Now I know." "Your behavior was frightening," said Claude. "Very well. The joke goes like this. One night, Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Watson decided to go camping, understand? So they built a campfire and opened a bottle Wine, toasted marshmallows or something. It was the usual routine anyway, and then they each went to bed. In the middle of the night, Holmes woke up and woke Watson up. 'Watson,' he said, 'for God, tell me you see me. What happened.’ Watson replied, ‘Stars.’ Holmes asked, ‘What does this mean?’ Watson began to enumerate, for example, millions of stars, for example, the clear sky indicates that tomorrow will be sunny, for example, the proof of the majesty of the universe. God is great. When he had finished speaking, he turned to Holmes and asked, 'Holmes, what do you think the night sky means?' Holmes replied, 'It means that some bastard has stolen our tent!'" Claude looked at Jared expectantly, and seeing Jared looking at him blankly, he couldn't help frowning and said, "You didn't understand." "I get it," Jared said, "but it's not fun, someone did steal their tent." Claude stared at Jared for a few seconds, then laughed loudly, "Maybe I'm really not funny, but you're so fucking funny." "But I'm not joking," Jared said. "Ha, that's your charm," Crowder said. "Okay, about to enter the atmosphere. The joke exchange is over, let me focus on landing safely." Claude left Jared on the spaceport tarmac in Camp Carson, and said to Jared, "They know you've arrived, and someone is coming to pick you up. Be good and wait for them, don't run around." "Okay," Jared said, "thanks for the ride and your joke." "You're welcome," Claude said, "but I think one of the two things will be more useful to you than the other." Claude held out his hand, BrainPal decompressed the concept of etiquette, and Jared reached out to hold Claude. Lauder's hand.Two people shake hands. "Now you know how to shake hands," Claude said. "It's a necessary skill. Good luck, Dirac. If I send you back after you finish training, let's joke with each other." "With pleasure," Jared said. "Then you'd better learn a few more jokes," Claude said, "don't expect me to always carry the burden on my shoulders. Look, someone is coming. I guess he's here to pick you up. Goodbye, Jared. Get off the elevator Stay away." Claude got back into the traffic boat, ready to fly back.Jared walked away from the traffic boat. "Jariel Dirac?" said the one approaching quickly. "Yes." Jared replied. "I'm Gabriel Breher," said the other. "Your training class instructor. Come with me. Meet your training teammates first." Blaher walked up to Jared, turning around as quickly as he had come. Go to camp.Jared quickly followed. "You were talking to the pilot just now," Blaher said as he walked. "What were you talking about?" "He was joking with me," Jared said. "He said most soldiers think Special Forces don't have a sense of humor." "Most soldiers don't know anything about Special Forces," Brecher said. "Listen, Dirac, stop doing that. You're just adding to their prejudices. Real soldiers are insulting when they say Special Forces have no sense of humor." We, the implication is that we are not as human as they are. We have no sense of humor, so it is like inferior robots made by humans for entertainment, just emotionless robots to make them feel superior. Don't give their opportunity." After the Brain Pal decompressed Breher's impassioned statement, Jared recalled his conversation with Claude, and couldn't feel that Claude was implying that he was superior to Jared; but Jared must also admit that he was only a few hours old, It is possible that a lot of information is missing.Still, Jared felt that there was a discrepancy between Breher's words and his own experience—though perhaps not so much. He dared to ask: "Do special forces have a sense of humor?" "Of course, Dirac," Blacher said, glancing at him over his shoulder. "Every human being has a sense of humor. We just don't have their sense of humor. Tell me a pilot's joke." "Okay." Jared repeated Sherlock Holmes' joke. "Look, what a stupid story," said Braher, "as if Watson didn't know that the tent was lost. That's the problem with real people's sense of humor, always suggesting that someone is an idiot. No sense of humor like that at all." No pity." Blaher exuded annoyance, and Jared decided not to continue this topic. He changed the subject and asked, "Are all the special forces here?" "Yes," Breher said, "there are only two training camps for the Special Forces, and Camp Carson is one of them, and it is the only training camp on Phoenix Planet. See how the forest surrounds the camp?" Breher waved towards the edge of the camp. Shake your head, trees from Earth and giant flora native to Phoenix are competing for dominance. "There is no trace of civilization within a radius of 600 kilometers." "Why?" Jared asked, recalling Blaher's earlier comment to the real people, "The higher ups don't want us to have access to other people?" "The higher ups don't want other people to get in touch with us," Breher said. "Special Forces train differently than real people. We don't need the entertainment of ordinary guardsmen and civilians who might misinterpret what they see here. Don't bother." Us, let's just train quietly and alone, that's the best." "I knew I was behind schedule in training," Jared said. "It's not training that's behind," Breher said. "It's integration. We start training tomorrow, but integration is as important as training. You can't train without integration." "How do I fit in?" Jared asked. "First, meet your training teammates," Breher stopped at the door of a small barracks. "Here we are. I told them you were coming, and they're waiting for you." Brecher opened the door and let Jared in. The furnishings in the barracks are very simple, no different from the human barracks in the past hundreds of years.There were eight beds in a row on the left and right sides. Fifteen men and women sat on the beds or stood by the beds, all staring at Jared.Overwhelmed with sudden attention, BrainPal unpacks the notion of "shyness."He was eager to say hello to his training teammates, and suddenly realized that he didn't know how to use BrainPal to conduct multi-person conversations; at the same time, he also realized that he could just open his mouth and talk.The complexity of the communication stumped him. He finally opened his mouth and said, "Hello." A few future training teammates were amused by this primitive communication, and no one greeted him back. "I don't think I got off to a good start," Jared sent Blaher. "They're waiting for you to fit in and introduce yourself," Breher said. "When do I blend in?" Jared asked. "Now," Breher replied, incorporating Jared into his training mates. Jared was moderately surprised for a tenth of a second when BrainPal informed Jared that his boss, Breher, had limited access to Jared's BrainPal.At this moment, fifteen people came into the mind of Jared, and Jared appeared in the minds of fifteen people at the same time, which contradicted the previous information.The information was like lightning, piercing Jared's consciousness uncontrollably. Fifteen life stories poured in. His comparatively meager experiences diverged and flowed into fifteen channels.Greetings became superfluous, and Jared knew and felt in an instant all he needed to know about these fifteen strangers, who had become his closest companions, human relations at best.Fortunately, these fifteen periods of life are too short to conform to the laws of nature. Jared was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information. "Interesting." Jared heard someone say.He recognized the speaker almost immediately as Brian Michelson, even though they had never communicated before. "Hope he doesn't plan on getting into the habit," said another voice.Stephen Seaborg. "Don't make it hard for him," said a third voice. "He was born out of the group and suddenly can't process that much information. Give him a hand and help him up." Sarah Pauling. Jared opened his eyes.Pauling knelt next to him, and Breher and other teammates formed a semi-circle in front of him, all of them showed curiosity. "I'm fine," Jared sent everyone, and he typed the response into the communication channel for the class, including Breher.He chose to do so naturally, and it was part of the information that was poured into his head when he integrated. "I wasn't ready just now, I don't know how to deal with it. It's okay now." The emotions emanating from training teammates are like a halo, everyone is different, some are concerned, some are confused, some are annoyed, some are indifferent, some are funny.Jared followed the funny emotion back to the source, and Pauling's joy was obvious, not only the emotional halo, but also a strange smile on his face. "Well, you don't look so delicate," Pauling said, standing up, holding out his hand and saying, "Get up." Jared grabbed her hand and stood up. "Sara has a pet." Seaborg said, several teammates felt amused, but there was a strange emotion like a needle prick, and Jared suddenly realized that it was ridicule. "Shut up, Stephen," Pauling said, "you don't even know what a pet means." "It doesn't change the fact that he's a pet," Seaborg said. "Changing can't change the fact that you are a second-hand product." Pauling said. "I'm not a pet," Jared said, and everyone suddenly turned to look at him.He felt that this time was not as scary as the first time, because they were already in his mind.He focused on Seaborg: "Sara is just showing me kindness. I won't become a pet, and she won't become a master. It can only show that she has a good heart and is willing to pull me up." .” Seaborg snorted viciously and walked away from the semicircle, intending to find something more interesting to do.Several others followed him.Sarah turned to Breher and asked, "Every training session does this?" Breher smiled, "You think being in each other's heads makes it easier for us to get along? It gives you nowhere to hide. I'm really surprised you haven't gotten into a fight. Usually at this point, I don't use a crowbar The trainees are inseparable." Blaher turned to Jared, "Are you all right?" "Should be fine," Jared said. "I need a little time to get my head around. There's a lot going on in my head, and I'm sorting it out." Breher looked at Pauling again: "Do you think you can help him sort things out?" Pauling smiled and replied, "Of course." "Then Dirac will be in your care," Breher said. "Training starts tomorrow. See if you can help him catch up before tomorrow." Breher turned and walked away. "Looks like I've really become your pet," Jared said. Amused emotions flowed from Pauling to Jared, and she said, "You're funny." "You're the second to say that today," Jared said. "Really?" said Pauling. "Tell me a good joke." Jared told a Sherlock Holmes joke, and Pauling laughed out loud.