Chapter 13 Chapter Six

Butin is right.Jared's pain was gone. "Honey," Butin said to Zoe, "introduce you to my friend. This is Jared. Say hello to him." "Hello, Mr. Jared." Zoe said in a weak and hesitant voice. "Hi," Jared didn't dare to say too much, he was afraid that he would lose his voice, so he quickly collected his mind, "Hello, Zoe. Nice to meet you." "Zoe, you don't remember Jared," Butin said, "but he remembers you. He's known you since we were on Phoenix." "Does he know Mommy?" Zoe asked. "He must know Mommy," Butin said. "Who doesn't know Mommy?"

"Why is he in that box?" Zoe asked. "He's doing a little experiment for Daddy, nothing." Butin said. "Can he come and play with me after the experiment?" Zoe said. "We'll see," Boutin said. "Now say goodbye to him, honey. He and Daddy have a lot of work to do." Zoe turned to Jared and said, "Goodbye, Mr. Jared." She went back into the corridor, presumably to her quarters.Jared stretched his neck to watch her leave, listening to her footsteps.Butin closed the door. "You know you can't play with her," Butin said, "it's just that Zoe is alone here. I asked the Obin to put a satellite over a small human colony and pirate entertainment to keep her entertained, Lest she miss the joy of the Colonial Union's educational program. She has no playmates here, though. There is an Obin nurse, though, but the nurse can only keep her from falling down the stairs. Only I am with her. "

"Tell me," Jared said, "how is it possible that she's still alive? The Obin slaughtered everyone on Korvir Station." "The Obin saved Zoe," Boutin said. "It was the Le Rai, not the Obin, who attacked the Kovill space station and Orma. The Le Rai came to revenge the Colonial Alliance for defeating them on Coral. They didn't want to To ask for Omar, I just picked the easiest target to attack. The Obin discovered their plan, calculated their time, and arrived after the first stage of the attack was over. The Lerays have not yet recovered from the battle with humans. Come here. They kicked the Rareys out of Kovill and started searching the space station and found the civilians crammed into a conference room and locked up. The Rareys killed all the soldiers and scientists because their modified bodies didn't taste good , but the colonists—well, they're not bad. If the Obin hadn't chosen that moment to raid, the Rarey would have slaughtered and eaten them."

"What about the other civilians?" Jared asked. "Uh, of course he was killed by the Obin people," Butin said, "You know, the Obin people don't take prisoners." "But you said they saved Zoe?" Jared asked. Butin smiled. "While the station was being searched, the Obins went around the science labs to see if there were any good ideas worth stealing," he said. "The Obins are great scientists, but not very creative. They can improve Found ideas and technology from everywhere, but not good at creating ideas. The scientific space station is why they are interested in Oma. They found out about my research on consciousness and became interested. They found that I was not on the space station, but Zoe was here, so I grabbed her and started looking for me."

"They used her to blackmail you," Jared said. "No," Boutin said, "it was more like a kind invitation. I asked them a lot." "Zoe is in their hands, and you still ask them?" Jared said. "Exactly," Butin said. "For example?" Jared asked. "Let's say this war," Boutin replied. Jane Sagan approached the eighth and final Spear cannon.It, like the other Spear cannons, began to track her.As she continued to approach, it sounded the alarm.She knew that if she got within three meters, the Steel Spear would fire.Sagan picked up a rock and threw it straight at the Spear Cannon. The rock hit the target and bounced off without damage. The Spear Cannon's control system tracked the rock but did nothing to deal with it.Steel Spear Cannons can distinguish between rocks and people.Great engineering feat, Sagan thought, but not kindly.

She picked up a larger stone, walked to the edge of the safety zone, and threw the stone to the right of the steel spear gun.The steel spear gun tracked the stone, and the other steel spear gun on the right was aimed at her.The steel spear guns were sharing aiming data, and she couldn't escape by diverting her attention from one of them. The depression they were in was so shallow that Sagan could look out along the side, and according to her observations, there were no Obin soldiers in the vicinity.They either hid or believed that humans couldn't go anywhere. "Caught it!"

Sagan turned to see Daniel Harvey approaching, holding something squirming in his hand.Harvey said, "Look who finds dinner." "What's that?" Sagan asked. "How the hell would I know?" Harvey said. "I saw it come out of the ground and I caught it before it crawled back in. How dare I fight back. I had to hold it by the head to keep it from biting me .I think we can eat it." At this moment, Seaborg also limped over. He looked at the thing and said, "I don't want to eat it." "Whatever," said Harvey, "you starve to death. The Lieutenant and I are half and half."

"We can't eat it," Sagan said. "The animals here don't match our digestive system. It's probably like eating a stone." Harvey looks at Sagan like she just took a shit on his head. "Okay," he said, leaning over to let the thing go. "Wait a minute," Sagan said, "I want you to throw it out." "What?" Harvey said. "Throw that thing at the Spear Cannon," Sagan said, "and I'll see what they'll do to the living thing." "There's no need to be so cruel," said Harvey. "You wanted to eat that shit just now," Seaborg said, "and now you're worried about being cruel?"

"Shut up," Harvey said, raising his arms to throw the thing. "Harvey," Sagan said, "don't throw it straight into the muzzle, thanks." Harvey suddenly realized that tracing the projectile back on its trajectory would come right back at him. "Sorry," he said, "I was being stupid." "Throw it high," Sagan said. "The higher the better." Harvey shrugged and threw the thing high, and it arced away from them, wriggling in mid-air.The steel spear cannon raised its muzzle as high as possible to track that thing, and the elevation angle was about fifty degrees.The gun body rotated, and as soon as the thing returned to the firing range, a burst of fine steel needles were fired from the muzzle. When the steel needle touched the body of the thing, it began to expand, smashing the thing to pieces.In less than half a second, the thing turned into a cloud of blood mist, and two or three pieces of minced meat fell to the ground.

"Great," Harvey said, "now we know the weapons work, and I'm still hungry." "Interesting," Sagan said. "What's the point of me being hungry?" Harvey said. "No, Harvey," Sagan said angrily, "I don't care about your belly now. The interesting thing is that the barrel can only be raised to a certain angle. This is a ground suppression weapon." "So?" Harvey said, "we're on the ground." "Trees," Seaborg said suddenly, "the sons of a bitch." "An idea, Seaborg?" Sagan asked.

"During training, Dirac and I won a war game by sneaking up from the trees to attack the enemy," he said. "They thought we would attack from the ground, but they never expected to look up. Overhead. I nearly fell off a tree and fell to my death. But it worked." The three turned their heads to look at the trees in the hollow—not real trees, but Arist's tree counterparts—large, slender plants that stretched several meters toward the sky. "Come on, don't we all have the same crazy idea," Harvey said, "I don't want to be the only one thinking about it." "Come on," said Sagan, "see what we can do with these trees." "It's crazy," Jared said. "There's no way the Obin will go to war for your request." "Really?" Butin said, with a sarcastic smile on his face. "You know this because you have a first-hand in-depth knowledge of the Obin? Because you have studied this problem for many years? Because your Ph.D. The paper was written by the Obin?" "No race goes to war just because you beg them to," Jared said. "The Obin won't do anything for anyone but them." “They don’t have one now,” Boutin said. “Of course this war has a purpose—they want one thing I can give them.” "What's that?" Jared asked. "I can give them souls," Butin said. "I don't understand," Jared said. "Because you don't know the Obin," Butin said, "the Obin are a created race, and the Consu made them just to see what would happen. Contrary to rumors, the Consu are not perfect, They make mistakes too. They made a big mistake when they made the Obin. They gave the Obin intelligence, but they couldn't give the Obin consciousness—they didn't have that ability." "Of course the Obin are conscious," Jared said. "They have society, they communicate; they have memory, they think." "So what?" Butin said, "Termites have societies, every species can communicate, you don't need to be intelligent to have a memory—the computer in your head remembers everything you do, but that thing never Not smarter than a rock at all. Speaking of thinking, does thinking require you to be introspective? Not at all. You can make a race of starships, but they're no more introspective than protozoa, Obinians It is a living example. The Obin people can collectively realize the existence of the race, but the members do not have the so-called 'personality'. There is no self, no 'I'." "It doesn't make sense," Jared said. "Why?" Butin said, "What are the markers of self-awareness? Do the Obin have them? Dirac, the Obin have no art, no music, no literature, no visual arts. They understand the concept of art intellectually, But they don't know how to appreciate art. Their communication is limited to telling each other the facts, where to go, what's on the other side of the mountain, how many people they want to kill. They don't lie. They don't have the moral prohibition to lie - speaking, they There's no moral prohibition against anything at all—but they can't invent lies any more than you or I can lift objects by thought. Our brains aren't built this way, their brains aren't made that way. Everyone lies— Everyone who has a conscious need to maintain their self-image lies, but they don't lie. They're perfect." "I don't think it's 'perfect' to be unaware of the self," Jared said. "They're perfect," Boutin insisted, "and they don't lie. They work perfectly with each other within their social structures, resolve challenges and disagreements the way they're meant to be, and never hurt anyone in the back. They're morally perfect." , because their morality is absolute and coded. They have no vanity, no ambition, not even sexual vanity. They are all hermaphrodites, exchanging genetic information is as normal as you and I shake hands. And they have no fear." "All living things have fear," Jared said, "even unconscious animals." "No," Boutin said, "biology is just a survival instinct, and it looks like fear, but it's not the same thing. Fear is the desire to escape death and pain, rooted in your awareness of the possibility that you may cease to exist .Fear is about existence. The Obin have no self-existence anyway so they never surrender and take captives, so the Colonial Union fears them, get it? Because you can't make them afraid. How amazing Advantage! This advantage is too great, if I were to be in charge of manufacturing human soldiers again, I would definitely suggest depriving them of consciousness.” Jared couldn't help trembling.Boutin noticed, and said, "Don't be stupid, Dirac. You don't want to say how happy you are to be conscious, do you? Consciousness lets you know that they made you for a purpose, not just It is to give you existence; consciousness to let you know that your memory is not your own; consciousness to let you know that the purpose of your existence is to kill the people and things that the colonial alliance wants you to kill. You are just a weapon with ego , I'm happier without myself." "What the hell!" Jared said. Butin replied with a smile: "Ha, well said. I'm afraid I wouldn't want to lose consciousness. Since you are supposed to be me, I'm not surprised that you feel the same." "If the Obin are so perfect, what else do you need?" Jared said. "Certainly because they don't think they're perfect," Butin said. "They know they lack consciousness, which, while it doesn't matter to them personally, matters to the race. They see my work on consciousness." Work - mainly on teleportation, but also my early notes on complete recording and storage of consciousness. They thought I could provide what they were craving - much wanted." "You gave them consciousness?" Jared asked. "Not yet," Boutin said, "but close enough to make them want it even more than before." "'Desire,'" Jared repeated, "is a strong enough emotion for a race devoid of emotional capacity." "Do you know what 'Obin' means?" Boutin asked. "Before this word was used to refer to their race, what did 'Obin' mean in the Obin language?" "I don't know," Jared said. "It means 'lack'," Butin raised his head and meditated, "don't you think it's very interesting? Tracing the etymology of the self-pronounciation of most intelligent races, you will always get some variant of the members of this race—because Every race starts out on their own little home planet, believing that they are the absolute center of the universe. But the Obin are different. They know who they are from the beginning, and the words they use to describe themselves say they know they lack others. Something that intelligent races all have. What they lack is consciousness. That's the only descriptive noun they have. Oh, and Obino, which means home of the lacking. Everything else is dry Baba. Arist means third moon. 'Aubin' is a great name, imagine if every race could name itself after their worst flaw. We Call our race 'arrogant'." "How do they know that lack of awareness is affecting them?" Jared asked. "How did Eve know that eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge had an effect on her?" Butin said, "It shouldn't have an effect, but it did. Eve can be seduced, and if you believe that God is omniscient, you understand that God intends to seduce." Eve makes mistakes. The trick is as bad as it looks, if you ask me. The Obin have no reason to desire emotional competence, it's not good for them, but they want it anyway. I don't think the Consu people screwed up and created An intelligent race without an ego, but deliberately made the Obin so that they longed for something they could not have." "why?" "What reason do the Kangsu people need to do things?" Butin said, "You are the most developed race in the vicinity. There is no need to explain the reason to us savages who dig wood to make fire. Let's just say that they are equivalent to gods. And the Obin are hapless Adam and Eve with no emotional capacity." "So you are the viper," Jared said. Butin couldn't help laughing when Jared retorted with metaphors."Maybe," he said. "Maybe I'll get the Obin people out of their egoless paradise. But that's something they need to deal with, and I get what I want out of it. I Will get my war and end the colonial alliance." The "tree" the three people looked at was about ten meters high and one meter in diameter.The trunk is covered with folds, which can channel rainwater into the interior.At three-meter intervals, the larger folds grow ring-shaped tendrils and twigs, decreasing in diameter as they rise in height.Sagan, Seaborg and Harvey watched the tree blow in the wind. "The wind is so light that the trees can shake like this," Sagan said. "Maybe it's windy up there," Harvey said. "It's not much bigger if it's big," Sagan said. "It's only ten meters high." "Hollow, perhaps," said Seaborg, "like the trees on the Phoenix. Dirac and I had to be extra careful about the Phoenix trees when we did the trick. Some of the twigs couldn't support our weight. " Sagan nodded.She walked up to the tree and hung her weight on a smaller fold, which held for a short while before Sagan broke it.She raised her head again, watching and thinking. "Going to climb trees, Lieutenant?" Harvey asked.Sagan didn't answer, but grabbed the folds and climbed up, trying to distribute the weight evenly so that no one fold was overstressed.Two-thirds of the way up, where the trunk tapered off, she felt the tree begin to bend, the weight bending the trunk.Three quarters out, the trunk is visibly curved.Sagan waited to hear the trees snap or split, but there was nothing but the rustling of folds against each other.These trees are very resilient, and Sagan estimated that they have seen a lot of strong winds. Aristor is an ocean planet, and terrible hurricanes often sweep across relatively insignificant land. "Harvey," Sagan said, moving back and forth slightly to balance the tree, "does it look like the trunk is going to snap?" "The bottom looks good," Harvey said. Sagan looked towards the steel spear gun closest to her and asked, "How far do you think this tree is from that gun?" Harvey guessed what she was going to do. "It's not far enough for what you want to do, Lieutenant." Not sure, Sagan said, "Harvey, bring Wegener here." "What?" Harvey said. "Bring Wegener here," Sagan said, "I'm going to do the experiment." Harvey looked at her in disbelief for a while, then stomped to move Wegener's body.Sagan looked down at Seaborg and asked, "How are you feeling?" "Legs hurt," Seaborg said. "Head hurts more. It just feels like something's missing." "Fusion," Sagan said, "it's hard to concentrate without fusion." "I can focus," Seaborg said, "just how much I'm missing." "You can do it," Sagan said.Seaborg snorted. A few minutes later, Harvey returned with Wegener in a fireman's carry position. "Let me guess," Harvey said, "you want me to hand him to you." "Yes, thank you," Sagan said. "Okay, hell, why not?" Harvey said, "There's nothing easier than climbing a tree with a dead body on your shoulders." "You can do it," Seaborg said. "As long as you don't distract me," Harvey muttered.He adjusted Wegener's position and began to climb the tree, adding his and Wegener's weight to the tree.The trunk creaked and bent more and more. Harvey could only climb slowly, bit by bit, keeping his balance without losing Wegener.By the time he climbed to Sagan's side, the tree trunk had bent to nearly ninety degrees. "Now?" Harvey said. "Can you put him among us?" Sagan said.Harvey grumbled and carefully unloaded Wegener, turning his body and leaning Wegener against the trunk.He looked up at Sagan and said, "I have to say something, it's not natural to spoil him like this." "He's helping us," Sagan said, "and there's worse things to come." She carefully put one leg across the tree trunk, and Harvey did the same in the opposite direction. "Count to three," Sagan said. On the count of three, the two jumped off the tree at the same time from a height of five meters. The tree got rid of the weight of the two people, rebounded vertically, and then swung to the opposite side. Wegener's body was thrown away from the tree trunk and flew towards the steel spear gun in an arc.The launch was less successful, as Wegener slid off a tree trunk at the last moment before launch, failed to borrow all his strength, and lost his center of gravity before ascending to the sky.The arc brought Wegener in front of the nearest steel spear gun, and he was blasted to pieces as soon as he came within range, falling to the ground in a heap of flesh and entrails. "My God," Seaborg said. Sagan turned to Seaborg, "Can you climb a tree with that leg?" "Okay," Seaborg said, "but I'm not in such a hurry." "You won't," Sagan said. "I'll go." "You saw what happened to Wegener, didn't you?" Harvey asked. "See," Sagan said, "he's a corpse, he can't control the trajectory; besides, he's heavier than me, and it's you and me that weigh the tree. I'm lighter, alive, and you two are heavier. I should be able to Fly over the Spear Cannon." "If you're wrong, it's meat paste," Harvey said. "At least a happy death," Sagan said. "That's right," Harvey said, "but it's embarrassing." "I said, when I'm dead, you'll have time to comment," Sagan said. "Now, let's climb trees together." A few minutes later, Seaborg and Harvey were standing to the left and right of Sagan, who was squatting on the curved tree trunk, trying to maintain his balance. "Any last words?" Harvey asked. "Harvey, I've always thought you were a fucking nuisance," Sagan said. Harvey smiled and replied, "I love you too, Lieutenant." He nodded to Seaborg. "Jump," he said, and they both jumped. The tree whizzed up, and Sagan adjusted his position to withstand the acceleration and maintain his posture.The tree trunk swung to the end, and Sagan kicked his feet, adding his own strength to the spring.Flying at an unattainable altitude, Sagan found it easy to avoid the steel spear guns, which tracked her but failed to fire.The gun barrel moved with her until she flew out of the perimeter and landed on the grass outside the perimeter.She only had time to think "this will hurt" before she got up and hit the ground.The protective clothing instantly hardened and absorbed part of the impact, but Sagan felt that at least one rib was cracked.The hardened hazmat suit made her roll further than expected.She finally stopped, lying in the tall grass, trying to figure out how to breathe.Returning to normal took several minutes longer than expected. Sagan heard Harvey and Seaborg yelling at her in the distance.She also heard a low hum from the other direction, growing shriller.She was still lying in the grass, adjusting her posture, trying to see what it was. It was two Obins flying small armed flying machines, flying straight towards her. "You first have to understand that the colonial alliance is evil," Butin said to Jared. Jared's headache came back with triple the force, and he was dying to see Zoe again. "I don't understand," he said. "Well, of course you don't understand," Butin said. "You are at most a few years old, and you have been doing things at the behest of others all your life. You have hardly made your own choices, have you?" "I've heard those words before." Jared thought of Kennan. "Who from the special forces said that?" Butin's surprise didn't seem fake. "It's a Rraey prisoner," Jared said. "Kennan said he met you once." Butin frowned, and replied: "This name is very strange. I have met many Lereys and Anisha people recently, and my impression is rather vague. But it is reasonable for the Lereys to say this to you. They think that the special forces The concept is morally appalling." "Yes, I know," Jared said. "He said I was a slave." "Of course you are a slave!" Boutin excited, "at least an indentured slave, trapped in a period of service beyond your control. Yes, they said you were born to save mankind, using fusion to bind you and a platoon of comrades in arms Together, it just makes you feel good. But at the end of the day, it’s just a means of controlling you. You’re a year old, maybe two at most. What can you know about the universe? You know what they tell you—the universe is full of Hostility, human beings are always under attack. But what would you think if I said that what the Colonial Union said was wrong?" "It can't be wrong," Jared said. "The universe is hostile. I've seen enough battles to know that." "But all you have seen is fighting," Butin said. "Besides slaughtering according to the will of the colonial alliance, where have you been? The universe is hostile to the colonial alliance. It is true, but it is full of hostility." There is a reason, the colonial alliance is full of hostility to the universe. Since humans entered the universe, almost every race they encounter has to fight. Although the colonial alliance thinks that certain races are useful and can serve as allies or trading partners, the number is very small Negligible. Dirac, within the transition horizon of the Colonial Alliance, we know of the existence of 603 intelligent races. Do you know how many of them the Alliance regards as a threat and allows the Defense Forces to preemptively strike at will? Five hundred Seventy-seven! Your hostility to ninety-six percent of the intelligent races you know is not a question of stupidity, but racial suicide." "Other races are at war with each other," Jared said, "and it's not just the Colonial Alliance that likes to fight." "Yes," Boutin said, "every race has something to compete with and fight against, but other races don't have to fight against everyone. Before they were forced to form an alliance by humans, the Lerays and the Anisha were Enemies of many years, God knows, may turn against each other in the future. But no race sees other races as a permanent threat. No one does, except the Colonial Alliance. Dirac, have you heard of the high-level conclave?" "No." Jared said. "The high-end secret meeting is a large-scale meeting jointly held by hundreds of races in this galaxy," Butin said, "It was held more than 20 years ago to formulate a government framework with practical effects in this region, hoping to systematically allocate new Colonies, instead of having the various races compete for the loot and fend off enemies trying to take it away, thus ending pointless turf grabbing conflicts. People will form multi-racial troops and attack anyone who takes the colony by force to strengthen the system. Not every All three races signed the ratification agreement, but only two refused to send representatives to the meeting. One was the Consu, because they didn't have to, and the other was the Colonial Union." "You expect me to believe that bullshit?" Jared said. "I don't expect anything from you," Butin said, "because you don't know a shit. The average soldier in the Defense Forces doesn't know about it. The colonists obviously don't know either. Man-machines and comsats, all the trade and little foreign affairs are handled on the space station. The Colonial Federation is the bottleneck of information flow, they decide what the colonies should know and what they should not know. Not just the colonies, but Earth. Shit, Earth is at its worst." "Why?" Jared asked. "Because the earth has been forced to become a social idiot in the past two hundred years," Butin said, "Dirac, the colonial alliance is shepherding humans on the earth, using rich countries to supplement the source of soldiers, and using poor countries as colonial seed banks. The colonial alliance really likes it. This arrangement is even trying to curb the social evolution of the earth. They don't want the earth to change, so as not to mess up the production plans of the soldiers and colonists, so they isolate the earth from other humans, and don't let the humans on the earth know that they are being Perfectly controlled in stasis. They created a disease - they called it 'castration disease' - and told the earthlings that it was an alien epidemic, and quarantined the earth under the pretense. They let the disease It happens every generation or two just to reinforce the excuse." "I've met people from Earth," Jared thought of Lieutenant Cloud. "They're not stupid. If they're forced to stay in a primitive state, they'll find out." "Oh, every few years the colonial union lets them invent a thing or two that makes them think they're on the curve, but neither is really useful," Boutin said. "This time it's a new computer, next time It's a music player, and next time it's an organ transplant. Occasionally everyone is allowed to fight for the land so that people don't lose their vitality. But on the other hand, the social and political structure of the earth is the same as it was two hundred years ago, and they think it's because Real stability point reached. Plus, they live to be seventy-five and die of old age! Ridiculous. The Colonial Federation runs Earth so well that Earth doesn't even realize they're being run. Totally baffled and all the colonies are kept in the dark. No one knows." "Except you," Jared said. "I'm involved in making soldiers, Dirac," Boutin said, "and they have to let me know. I have the highest level until I kill my own clone, so I know about the high-level secret society, so I know that if I don't eliminate Colonial alliances, and humanity will be uprooted." "We seem to be doing well so far," Jared said. "This is because the Colonial Alliance took advantage of the chaos," Butin said. "Once the high-end Secret Council passes the final agreement—that is, next year or two years—the Colonial Alliance will no longer be able to continue building colonies. The High-end Secret Council will kick humans out." If there is any planet they try to occupy, the colonial alliance will no longer be able to occupy other people’s colonies. Human beings will be restricted. If other races want to rob human planets, who will stop them? The high-end secret meeting will not protect or participate in the negotiation race. Humans will be driven back slowly but surely to their home planet—if they can make it back in the end.” "Unless there is war." Jared didn't hide his doubts. "Exactly," said Boutin, "the problem is not human beings, but the colonial union. Get rid of the colonial union, get rid of the current government that feeds the people and fools the people for its own self-interest, and replace it with a government that is truly committed to serving the people Instead, join the high-end secret society, and get a reasonable share of the new colony through distribution." "And under your leadership, right?" Jared said. "Until it's sorted out, yes," Butin said. "But get rid of the planets that your allies in action, Rraey and Anisha, will take," Jared said. "After all, it's too early to make money without profit," Butin said. "And the Obin occupy the Earth," Jared said. "That was for me," Boutin said, "a personal request." "It's not bad," Jared said. "You're still underestimating just how much the Obin craves for consciousness," Butin said. "I wish you were avenging Zoe," Jared said. Butin took a step back, as if he had been slapped in the face, he leaned closer to Jared, and said through gritted teeth: "You know what losing Zoe means to me, you do. Let me tell you something you don't seem to know. From After retaking Coral Planet from the hands of the Le Rays, the Military Intelligence Bureau predicted that the Le Rays would launch a counterattack, and listed the five most dangerous targets. Omar and Kovill Space Station are at the top, knowing how the Defense Forces dealt with it ?" "I don't know," Jared said. "Nothing," Boutin spat, "just because the Defense Forces were thinned out after the Battle of Coral, and a certain general thought he really wanted to snatch a colony planet from the Lobs. In other words, occupy new territory More important than protecting established property. They knew they were going to be attacked, but did nothing. All I knew was that my daughter was going to die because the Colonial Union failed to fulfill its obligations until the Obin contacted me : To defend the lives of my own people, to defend the lives of my daughters. Believe me, Dirac, this is all for Zoe." "What if your war doesn't go as planned?" Jared asked softly. "The Obin still want consciousness, but there's nothing for you." Boutin smiled and said, "You're implying that we've lost our two allies, Le Rey and Anisha?" Jared couldn't hide his surprise. "Yes, of course we do. I have to admit, I was worried for days. But now we have a way to get things back on track, and the Obin alone can take down the Colonial Union." "I'm afraid you won't tell me how?" Jared said. "I'd love to tell you," Butin said, "that's you." Sagan scratched the ground, looking for something to use as a weapon.Her fingers gripped something solid, and she pulled it out—just a lump of mud. Ugh, fuck it, she thought, jumping up and throwing the clod at the hover car that happened to pass by.A clod of mud hit the second Obin on the head, and he sat back on top of the first Obin, who, unprepared, lurched, fell off the saddle, sprawled fall to the ground. Sagan jumped out of the grass and onto the Obin in the blink of an eye.The dizzy Obin raised his gun to aim at Sagan, but Sagan stepped aside, grabbed the weapon, grabbed it, and smashed it on the Obin.The Obin screamed and fell to the ground. The hover car turned around in the distance, ready to rush towards Sagan.Sagan looked at the weapon in his hand, wondering if he could figure out how to use it before the hover vehicle returned, and then gave up the idea.She grabbed the Obin on the ground and punched him on the neck to prevent it from regaining its fighting power. She searched for a sharp weapon on the Obin, and found that there was something like a combat dagger hanging from the Obin's waist—its shape and center of gravity It's very difficult, but there is no other choice now. The hovercar had turned completely around and was lunging at Sagan.她看见炮管旋转，准备开火。萨根握着匕首俯身，另一只手拉起地上的奥宾人，闷哼一声，把奥宾人扔向悬浮车和炮口。针雨打得奥宾人在半空中手舞足蹈，萨根躲在他背后，跳到一旁，但尽量接近悬浮车，在驾驶者经过的那一瞬间挥起匕首。她感觉到胳膊被猛扯一下，自己转了大半圈，倒在地上，而匕首插进了奥宾人的身体。她在地上躺了几分钟，昏头转向，全身剧痛。 她好不容易爬起来，看见悬浮车在几百米外空转。奥宾人还坐在上面，脑袋耷拉着，只靠一小块皮肤连在脖子上。萨根把奥宾人推下悬浮车，收缴了武器和给养，擦掉座位上的血迹，花了几分钟研究怎么使用。她开着悬浮车掉头，飞向防护圈。悬浮车轻而易举地越过钢矛炮屏障，萨根在火力范围外降落，停在哈维和西博格面前。 “你看着很糟糕。”哈维说。 “感觉更糟糕，”萨根说，“好了，你是想搭车离开，还是再跟我继续磨嘴皮？” “那要看情况了，”哈维说，“去哪儿？” “我们有任务，”萨根说，“咱们还是去完成任务吧。” “那是，”哈维说，“咱们三个人，赤手空拳干掉几十个奥宾士兵，袭击一个科研前哨站。” 萨根拿起奥宾人的武器递给哈维，说：“现在你有武器了，只是你得学会怎么用。” “好得很。”哈维说着接过武器。 “你觉得奥宾人要过多久才会意识到他们丢了一架悬浮车？”西博格问。 “一秒钟都不需要，”萨根说，“来吧，咱们行动。” “你的意识似乎记录完了。”布廷对雅列说，转向他的桌面显示器。布廷还没开口，雅列就已经知道了，因为夹住大脑的老虎钳刚在半秒钟之前松开。“你说能让你回归袭击殖民联盟正轨的是我？什么意思？”雅列问，“我不可能帮助你。” “为什么？”布廷说，“你难道不想把人类从慢速窒息中拯救出来？” “就这么说吧，你的讲演没能完全说服我。”雅列答道。 布廷耸耸肩，说：“看来只能这样了。既然你是我——或者说是我的副本——我还希望你能理解我的思维方式呢。可到头来，无论你拥有多少我的记忆和个性，毕竟还是另外一个人，对吧？不过，只是暂时而已。” “这话又是什么意思？”雅列说。 “我会说到的，”布廷说，“但请允许我先给你讲个故事——能澄清一些事情。许多年前，奥宾人和一个叫亚拉的种族因为地盘起了争执。表面上看，亚拉和奥宾军力相当，但亚拉军队是由克隆人组成的。这意味着他们会受到同样的基因武器的伤害，奥宾人设计出一种病毒，这种病毒有一段潜伏期，时间长得足够让病毒传播开，然后融化倒霉的亚拉人宿主的肉体。亚拉军队被完全抹去，接着亚拉人也是一样。” “多么美好的故事。”雅列说。 “别急，还没到高潮呢，”布廷说，“不久以前，我开始思考怎么用类似的办法对付殖民防卫军，但说起来容易做起来难。首先，殖民防卫军的军用躯体对疾病几乎完全免疫，智能血不允许病原体的存在。其次，防卫军和特种部队的躯体其实并不是克隆躯体，所以就算能感染他们，也不会得到类似亚拉人的效果。可紧接着，我想到每一具防卫军躯体里都有一件完全相同的东西，而我非常熟悉这件东西。” “脑伴。”雅列说。 “对，脑伴，”布廷答道，“我可以制造出一种针对脑伴的缓释病毒，这种病毒将在脑伴里扎根，每次有防卫军成员互相交流就复制出去，潜伏到我选择的某日某时发作。它会导致由脑伴调节的所有身体系统发生紊乱，拥有脑伴的所有人瞬间死去，人类的全部星球都将对征服者敞开大门。快捷简单，没有痛苦。 “但有个问题，我无法把病毒传进去。我设置的后门仅限于诊疗使用。我能读出特定系统的指数，能关闭这些系统，但设计时没有考虑到上传代码。要上传代码，我需要有人接受代码，扮演携带者的角色。于是奥宾人就开始寻找志愿者。” “特种部队的那些飞船。”雅列说。 “我们觉得特种部队士兵若是被封锁了脑伴，会变得更加脆弱。你们从未离开过它，而防卫军的普通士兵离了它还能发挥功能。结果证明这个猜测很正确。你们到后来也还是能恢复，但起初的震惊阶段给了我们充裕的时间进行研究。我们把那些士兵带到这里来，尝试说服他们担任携带者。刚开始好言好语，后来威逼利诱。可惜谁也不肯屈服，倒是都很遵守纪律。” “他们都在哪儿？”雅列问。 “死了，”布廷说，“奥宾人的劝说手段比较有强迫性。唉，我应该改造一下的。有几个活了下来，我还在用他们研究意识。他们还活着，不过是作为广口瓶里的大脑活着。” 雅列一阵恶心，他说：“操你妈的，布廷。” “谁叫他们不肯当志愿者。”布廷说。 “他们让你失望了，我很高兴，”雅列说，“我自己也会这么做。” “我不这么认为，”布廷说，“狄拉克，你和他们都不一样，因为他们的脑袋里都没有我的大脑和意识，而你有。” “就算有你的大脑和意识，我也不是你，”雅列说，“你自己说过。” “我说过你暂时还是另外一个人，”布廷说，“我想你恐怕不知道，要是我把这儿的意识——”布廷敲敲他的太阳穴，“放进你的脑袋里会发生什么，对吧？” 雅列想起他与凯南和哈利·威尔逊的谈话，他们曾建议把记录下的布廷意识叠加到他本人的意识之上，不禁浑身冰凉。“会抹掉我现在的这个意识。” “对。”布廷说。 “你要杀死我。”雅列说。 “唉，对。”布廷说，“不过我刚录制了一份你的意识，因为我需要微调我本人的传输过程。那是五分钟之前的你，所以你只能算是半死。” “狗娘养的。”雅列说。 “等我把我的意识传送进你的躯体，我将亲自担任病毒的携带者。病毒当然不会感染我，但其他所有人都会尝到它的厉害。接下来，我要干掉你的战友，带着佐伊坐上俘虏舱——你们真是贴心，连这个都准备好了——返回殖民联盟的空域。我会告诉他们说查尔斯·布廷已经死了，奥宾人暂时偃旗息鼓，等脑伴病毒发作再发动攻击，强迫殖民联盟投降。事情就是这样，你和我将拯救人类。” “别拉我下水，”雅列说，“我跟这事毫无关系。” “真的吗？”布廷笑了，“听着，狄拉克，殖民联盟不会认为是我给他们画上了句号。到时候我早就死了，他们眼中只看得到你。唉，亲爱的朋友，你不可能置身事外。你没有选择。”