Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Fifth Channel

Spaceships didn't conquer space, they just challenged it.The spaceship leaves the earth at the second cosmic speed of 11.2 kilometers per second, which is obviously too slow for the vast space.Only a little closer to the moon, but it will take at least four days.At this rate, it would take thirty-seven weeks to get to Mars, a horrific six years to Saturn, and half a century to Pluto for the rocket's usable orbits, an impossibility. The Ortega torch ship can travel around within the solar system.This is based on Einstein's mass-energy equation E=MC2, and they can make the entire journey with any acceleration the pilot can tolerate.Under such a gravitational condition, it only takes a few hours to travel from the earth to the planets in the solar system, and it only takes eighteen days to reach the distant Pluto.The change is like going from horseback speed to jetliner speed.

It's also a shame that such an intrepid tool has nowhere to go.From a human point of view, the solar system is full of unattractive things-except for this lovely earth like a green and beautiful gem.The gravity of Jupiter is two and a half times that of the earth, and the toxic atmosphere also makes humans daunting; the state of Mars is close to a vacuum, and the moon rock mountains on the surface of the moon have no air for people to breathe at all.None of these planets are suitable for human habitation. What humans need is a planet with oxygen, as close to a G-type star as possible, with a weather temperature around the freezing point of water...that is, like the earth.

If you were born somewhere, why would you go somewhere else?The answer is: children, there are too many children.Malthus pointed out long ago that the population growth rate will be a geometric multiple of the food supply growth rate.By the time of World War I, nearly half the people on the planet were already living on the brink of starvation.By the time of World War II, there were 55,000 more people on Earth every day than the day before.By 1954, 100,000 new mouths and stomachs were being added every day, and 35 million each year... The population of the earth has exceeded the amount that its land can support.

The panic over hydrogen, germs and nerve gas is no longer just a matter of politics.It is more realistic than the squabbles of beggars over a loaf or two of bread. The author of , once amusingly predicted that Irish babies would be too fat for English tables.There are also many students who have come up with many interesting methods of population control, but they are all similar.Life, all life, has the dual instinct of survival and reproduction.And intelligence is just a purposeless by-product of it, which also serves these basic instincts. But intelligence can also serve some unconscious life needs.There are more than 10,000 earth-like planets in our universe, each of which is warm and sweet like our human mother earth.The Ortega torch ship can reach these planets, and humans can also immigrate to these planets, just as millions of people crossed the Atlantic Ocean to multiply in the New World.

Yes, there are some things like this... Thousands of people can fly off the earth, but it is difficult for entire groups of people to do so.Because it is impossible to build and launch a hundred spaceships in one day, even if each spaceship holds a thousand people, it must be launched day and night, year after year, without stopping.Even if humans wanted to do it wholeheartedly (which, of course, the race never did), there isn't that much steel, aluminum, and uranium on Earth.Their reserves are not even a percent of what is needed. But human ingenuity can find some solutions that were not there otherwise.Psychologists once locked a gorilla in a room, and they designed four escape routes.Then they hid and watched to see which passage the gorilla would choose to escape.

The gorilla chose the fifth passage. Dr. Jesse Evelyn Ramsbotham has not had time to solve the problem of raising children, he has been trying to build a time machine.There are two reasons for this: first, because the time machine is an impossible thing; second, because his palms always sweat and he stutters when facing beautiful girls.He doesn't know whether the first reason is the complementary condition of the second reason, in fact, he himself is not very clear about the second reason—anyway, this is something he doesn't want to face in his heart. It's no use imagining when confronted with historical issues, as if Jesse Evelyn Ramsbotham's parents would have preferred to call him Bill rather than this fully feminine name, and he still original appearance.He could have been one of the best salesmen in America and had a bunch of kids, but he ended up being a mathematical physicist.

The development of physics is achieved by denying the problems that everyone takes for granted and accepting impossible challenges.Any nineteenth-century physicist could give an irrefutable reason for the impossibility of the atomic bomb, but his reason would solve nothing; likewise any twentieth-century physicist could Explain why time travel in real-world space-time is unthinkable.But Ramsbotham began to challenge Einstein's three great hypotheses, two of which were the theory of relativity about distance and time, and the other was the mass-energy equation, each of which included the problem of the speed of light. "Speed" is the derivative of distance with respect to time.Ramsbotham changed these hypotheses into a completely different form of expression, he played games with these hypotheses.He fed these results into the Lakitak computer, the successor to the Univac, Egnak, and Maniac computers.He never sweats his palms while doing these things, and he never stutters when he speaks.Of course, there are exceptions when having to deal with the young and beautiful female programmer of this giant computer.

His first model was a field not much bigger than a football in which time stood still and entropy stopped increasing.A burning cigarette inside provided all the energy needed, and even after a week, the cigarette hadn't extinguished.Ramsbotham took out his cigarette, took a drag, and thought. His next experimental subject was a newborn chick, which was witnessed by his colleagues.After three months, the chicks hadn't grown up, and they didn't show any signs of hunger.He switched the corresponding relationship and turned off the energy for a very short time.In less than a second, the chick is dead, and quickly shrivels and rots.

He knows that he just changed the curvature of space, but he believes that he is not far from real time travel.He hasn't found the way yet, though he thinks he has -- he re-demonstrated for some colleagues with chickens, and that night two of his colleagues unlocked his lab and let the chickens go, Replaced with an egg.In this way, Ramsbotham firmly believed that he had found the path of time travel, and when he was about to devote the rest of his life to the journey, two of his colleagues broke the egg, and he saw The order was a hard boiled egg. But he didn't give up. He made a bigger model, made it bigger and irregular, and allowed him to enter and exit the experimental area by himself. (He didn't call it a "time and space gate")

He flipped the switch, and the wall disappeared in the space between the two poles, and a jungle appeared.This must be a forest from the Carboniferous period, he thought.He had long believed that the distinction between time and space was a mere human prejudice, and that there was no such distinction in space and time; and he believed all the more in what he believed. He quickly took the pistol, and with great courage stepped again between the two poles. Ten minutes later, he was caught at Leo de Garnello's Arboretum for carrying a weapon with him.Due to his inability to speak Portuguese, language difficulties arose, which prolonged his stay in the tropics.Three days later, with the help of the North American consul, he was able to make his way home.He wrote down everything he thought along the way in his notebook.

A path to shorten interstellar travel has been found. Ramsbotham's discovery solved the problem of infinite population growth and eliminated the most basic cause of war.Tens of millions of planets are no longer far away, as if they are across the street.New continents, wild environments, primitive jungles, deserts, ice fields, mountains, etc., all fall outside the gates of the city, and human beings can go to places without street lights, or to street corners without friendly policemen, and may even walk Go where there are no factories, supermarkets, and mass merchandisers that produce food.Many places need humans to bite, tear, and gnaw with animal-like teeth again, because humans are thrown into the natural living environment again (just like they were before). However, the greatest nature of man has been preserved. He always adapts to the environment. The most urbanized, machined, and civilized cultures in history have trained human children to survive in the primitive conditions of the future and in the future. When facing nature naked, they will be the pioneers and leaders. Rod Volcker knew Dr. Ramsbotham as he knew Einstein, Newton and Columbus.But he seldom thought of Columbus, and seldom did he think of the name Ramsbotham.These are the characters in the books, they are many times larger than the real characters, they are full of water, and they are not real at all.He rarely thought of its inventor when he passed the Ramsbotham gate between Jesse and the Arizona Strip, just as his ancestors seldom actually thought of the inventor "O's" when they rode the elevator. "S" is the same name.If he could contemplate this miracle carefully, he would find this half-completed non-rotating passageway, the Heboken Space-Time Gate on the Arizona side far away from his parents' house, and here it is called the Kabab Time-space Gate , which is about 12 kilometers due north of Volker's home. Housing locations at that time were limited by pipeline conveyor belts and other urban amenities.Previously the living space of the house was built above ground, and only auxiliary rooms such as the basement, storage and heating rooms were built underground.The room in which people live is the kind of building that has four walls and a roof.Later, with the expansion of the Greater New York City, the human habitation zone expanded to the edge of the virgin forest.In order to protect the forest, human buildings are only allowed to be built below the ground. The Volkers have always covered the roof with dirt and plants, but they refuse to cover the windows.That is the eye of a house, through which you can see the beautiful scenery of the Grand Canyon.Community authorities have been trying to persuade them to remove the windows and replace them with the kind of recessed windows commonly used in underground dwellings, although they also reflect the view of the Grand Canyon.But Rhodes' father is a stubborn person, he thinks that nothing can be "interchangeable" with weather, women and fine wine.His windows have been kept. Rhodes saw his family sitting in front of the window, watching the changes in the Grand Canyon.Among them were his mother, father and, to his surprise, her sister Helen.Helen is ten years older than Rhodes. She is a lieutenant in Amazon's defense zone and rarely goes home. The joy that Rhodes' return brought to the family was not greatly discounted because of his late arrival. "Hi! Sister, I thought you were still at your post." "Yeah... I was there a few hours ago." Rhodes wanted to shake hands with his sister, but Helen hugged Rhodes, kissed him hard on the mouth, and put He raised it. Helen was wearing a uniform, so Rhodes thought she had just arrived home too.Although she seldom goes home, she often takes a bath first, and sometimes her hair is tied up while dripping water.She's still in her military uniform now, and she's throwing the weapon, the helmet, all that stuff on the ground. She looked up at Rhodes proudly, "My little one, oh, you've grown up and are almost as tall as me." "I am taller than you." "Do you dare to bet? Dare you? Don't you want to slip away? I will support you, you take off your shoes, and we stand back to back." "Sit down, children." Their father said kindly, "Rod, why are you late?" "Hmm..." He originally wanted to go around and say that the exam was coming soon, but before he could say anything, his sister interrupted. "Don't restrain him too much, Dad, it's better to give him some freedom. That's how I felt when I was a second lieutenant." "Okay, daughter. You don't need to remind me, I know how to do it." Rhodes felt a little surprised that his father answered his sister like this, but what surprised him even more was his sister Helen's answer. "Oh? Really, really?" And her tone was a little weird. Rhode saw his mother raised a hand, as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't say it.She looked a little depressed, and her sister and father looked at each other, neither of them saying a word. Rhodes looked at her for a while, then at him for a while, and said softly, "Hey, what's the matter?" Father glanced at him. "Okay, let's go here! Stop talking, it's time to eat. Come on, dear." He turned to his wife, reached out and pulled her up from the chair, and let her take his arm again. "Wait." Rhodes said, "I came back late because I went to the gate of time and space." "Very well, you are sensible, but as I said, let's not mention this matter again." The father turned and walked towards the elevator. "But there's something else I want to tell you, Dad. I might be going out next week." "Um... what? What did you say?" "I'm going away from home for a while, Dad, maybe ten days, maybe longer." Father shook his head with a complicated expression. "No matter what your plan is, you must stop your plan now. I will not let you go out at this time." "But, Dad..." "Okay, that's it." "But, Daddy, I must go!" "no." Rhodes looked anxious and distressed when his sister interrupted suddenly: "Dad, wouldn't it be better to ask him why he wants to go out?" "Now, daughter..." "Dad, the individual survival test I will take will start tomorrow morning!" Mrs. Walker choked up, then sobbed.Her husband reassured, "Don't worry, don't worry, honey!" Then he turned to his son and said sternly, "You've made Mommy unhappy." "But, Dad, I..." Rhodes exclaimed, frustrated that no one gave him any advice on his choice, as if he was the only one who was going to be thrown into the water or drowned , they seem to know everything, or... "Dad, you have to understand." His sister said again: "He has to do it, he has no choice, because..." "I don't think so, Rhodes. Of course I said yes before, but I didn't know that your exam would be given so early. The reason I signed off on you to take this class is because... I have to admit, I Ill-considered. I think the experience would have been more rewarding if it had been a little later... wait until you're in college to take this class. I don't want you to take a final exam for this class in high school, you still too small." Rhodes had nothing to say, and his sister still defended him. "wrong!" "Huh? Daughter, remember..." "It's just not right. The girls under me have no experience in dealing with such things. Many of them are not much older than my brother. What do you want him to do, Dad? Do you have to wear down his courage?" "You are not allowed to say that... well, let's discuss this issue later." "Okay! Okay!" Lieutenant Volker followed his parents into the elevator with his brother's arm in his arms.The supper was already on the table, and it was covered, so that it was not cold; they each took their places, Mr. Walker lit the peace lamp, and the whole family prayed together. This family has a pious tradition. Religious, Rhodes' grandfather was converted during the Great Reformation that swept Persia in the last decade of the last century, and Rhodes' father later became the family's evangelist. While praying, Rhodes responded involuntarily, and his mind turned to this new question.The older sister followed in a silent prayer, and the mother responded in a barely audible voice. In any case, this ritual still has a certain effect.Rhodes felt that he gradually calmed down.When his father finally said "...our Lord, our family, our food," he felt a little craving for food.He sat down and removed the bowl cover from the plate. The food was delicious, barbecued meat, baked potatoes... Rhodes' saliva was about to flow out. He noticed that his mother wasn't eating much, which he found strange.And Dad also didn't eat much, he would always eat up his own food quickly... He suddenly felt that his father was a little thinner, as if he was older than before.How could dad grow old so fast? His concentration was interrupted by a story told by his sister. "...the Commander told me I had to discipline my subordinates. I said to her, sir, a girl is a girl, and if I have to fire someone every time for something like this, I'll soon have to do everything myself Besides, Sergeant Dvořák is my best marksman." "Wait." Her father interrupted her: "You said Kelly was, not Dvořák." "Yeah! But she's also, she's my secret weapon, I've been hiding Dvořák and only doing defensive work. Teny Dvořák, she's bigger than me, we In the hope of winning the battle, firing her would put her, and us, completely out of the running." "So I stared and confronted my boss directly. The old woman was stunned and almost bit off her fingernails. Then I told her that I locked up both women in the barracks until those college students After the boy installed the new binoculars, she hummed and said that weakness is irresistible, and gentle wind and rain are useless. She made me responsible for this, and don’t let her be embarrassed by the scandal again—this is what she said, Not mine - an embarrassing scandal, especially when she confronts the rest of the team's commanders." "She thinks the commander should be responsible for her team, she made me responsible for it, now, shouldn't I back out? Shouldn't I let her training report go on peacefully? So I splash a glass of water When I got to her body, turned around and walked out, I felt like I made a big hole." "I'm very surprised." Mr. Volker said: "Should you really treat your boss in this way? After all, she is older and more experienced than you!" Helen picked the last piece of roast meat off the bone, chewed it and swallowed it. "She's full of bullshit and nonsense. I'm sorry, Dad! But if you've been in the army, you'll know better. I'm like a knife to my girls myself... which makes them Fighting in the most dangerous environment on the twenty planets. But if they encounter difficulties, I must care about them. If one day there is difficulty ahead, I must stand up and go head-on. This will improve the situation, I'll have Kelly as my right wing and Dvořák as my left wing, and they'll be Mau Volker's right and left. I know what I'm doing. Volker's team is one." Mrs. Walker's voice was a little trembling, "Honey, dear, I really hope you haven't done such...such a thing, so dangerous." Helen shrugged, "Actually, our death rate is the same as that of ordinary people... As long as we are human, we will die sooner or later. What do you think, Mom? On this continent, there are more women than men For 18 million, are you going to let me keep sewing until my prince charming comes to me? And where I work now, there are many more men than women, and I want to find one too , even though I'm so old and ugly." Rhodes asked curiously: "Sister, do you really want to give up your responsibilities and plan to get married?" "Me? I don't even know where his figure is. If there is such a person, he only needs to nod his head, and I will promise him anything. My goal is six children and a farm." Rhodes looked up at her, "Actually, your condition is still good. Except for the thicker ankle, the rest is still very beautiful." "Thank you, man. Thank you so much! How about some dessert, Mom?" "Oh! look, I forgot, do you want to open it, dear?" Dessert is iced mango, Rhodes likes it very much. The sister went on to say: "Military service is not a bad job, it is very lively and a little aggressive. My girls have become very strong, they are tireless, and because of their monotonous life, they have to fight each other. Will adapt to aggression. For me, confinement is more terrible than combat. I am planning to put my company on the march mission to the planet Baier." Mr. Walker looked at his wife, then at his daughter. "Honey, you've made mother worry again. Don't you think such a topic is not suitable under this peace lamp?" "Since I am faced with such a question, I must answer it." "Really? Maybe." Helen raised her head and looked up, "Should we turn off the lights now? It seems like we've already finished eating." "Why? Turn it off if you like! But it doesn't need to be so fast, right?" "The Lord knows that none of us will live forever." She turned to Rhodes: "How can you make yourself valuable, buddy? What I have to deal with is the intrigue between human beings." "Look, sister, you're acting like I'm..." "Go back to your room, buddy, and see you later." Rhodes left, feeling a little uncomfortable, he saw Helen blowing out the peace lantern, which is what he usually does. When his sister came to Rhodes' room, he was still thinking about the equipment for departure. "Hi, lad." "Oh, it's you, sister." "What are you doing? Are you checking out what you're going to bring?" "Even so." He picked up a book from Rhodes' bed and flipped through it, saying, "Mind if I stay a while? We'll all be there later." Rhodes thought for a while, "You mean Dad won't object?" "Yeah, I talked to him, and he sort of figured it out. But, I mean, we'll be over there later. I have something to say to you, boy." "Oh, what words?" "First of all, our parents are not as stupid as you think, in fact, they are very enlightened." "I never said they were stupid." Rhode responded, feeling a little uncomfortable thinking about it. "Really? But that's what I heard before dinner? You think so too, right? Dad didn't listen to you at all at that time. But brother, you may never have experienced the difficulties of being a parent, have you? Maybe this is the hardest thing in the world, neither you nor Dad, can be a father from birth. He knows the responsibility of being a parent, and he is trying to do his duty and do his best. Many times what he does is very Okay. Sometimes it doesn't work, like tonight. But, I have to let you know that Dad is leaving us for good." "What?" Rhodes was stunned for a moment, "I never heard that he was sick at all." "I didn't let you know. There's nothing to hide now. It's time to let you know. Daddy is very ill, and he's got a few weeks at most—unless a miracle happens. That's the reality of the situation, You have to be mentally prepared." She briefly described her father's condition: Mr. Walker had a digestive disease that would slowly wear him down until he died.The current level of medical treatment cannot cure his disease.He could only wait, losing weight day by day, maybe weeks, maybe months, but in the end there was no cure. Rhodes held his head with his hands, he couldn't accept this fact at all.Dad was dying...he didn't even notice, they kept it from him.He was like a baby, so stupid that he didn't notice anything. My sister patted him on the shoulder. "Cheer up, some things don't help being stupid, and neither do I. Anyway, we have to do something." "What to do? I don't think there's anything I can do." "Shut up, calm down. They want to time travel: one to five hundred, two weeks is twenty years! They've signed a contract with immigration. Dad's quit General Compound, his job is over Well, they're leaving us this Wednesday. Now you know why Papa insists against your plans. He sees you like the eyeball of his eye, and God knows why." Thousands of thoughts flooded Rhodes' mind.Time travel... yes!In this way, Dad can live another twenty years.But, "Sister, tell me, it doesn't work! Twenty years is just two weeks to them... Dad was still as sick as he is now. I know, they don't care about such things." Hank Robbins' grandpa did it, but he died right after they sent him out of the solar system, that's what Hank told me." Lieutenant Volker shrugged. "Perhaps it's a hopeless thing. But Dad's doctor, Dr. Hensley, said that Dad's illness ... after twenty years, is not hopeless. I don't know anything about medicine, but Hensley The doctor said they were close to curing Daddy, and twenty years from now they should be able to cure Daddy as easily as they can recreate an artificial leg today." "You really think so?" "How do I know? You can only listen to the experts in this kind of thing, you have to listen to everything he says. The problem is, if we don't do this, Dad will be finished, so we have to do this." "Yeah! Of course, of course, we have to." She stared blankly at Rhodes and said, "Well, do you still want to tell them about this now?" "Huh?" He was surprised by this change. "Why? Are they waiting for me?" "No, I convinced them to let you decide first, and then I just came over. Now you can decide what to do - you can pretend you don't know, or let your mother cry at you, of course you can To listen to a pile of last words, to take the man-to-man advice from Dad, the words you never listened to. In the middle of the night, you can still let your nerves relax and come back to study for your survival class exam- Just do it your way! I've told you all so you can avoid some things if you want to. It's good for everyone. If it was me, I'd love to be like little The way a cat leaves." Rhode's heart was shocked, not even saying goodbye seemed too abnormal, too unreasonable, and too unrealistic for family relationships.But if you want to say goodbye, it seems too unacceptable. "What will happen to the cat?" "When a cat is happy, it will jump up and down all day long, rub against your legs, and turn around in front of your eyes all day long, but if it wants to leave, it will go away quietly without looking back. Cats are Very clever." "Oh……" She continued: "I think, you remember, they're doing this for their own convenience, not for yours." "But Dad..." "Of course, Dad will, if he can get better." She wanted to say that the huge cost of traveling through time and space would make Rhodes not even get a single coin. After thinking about it, she decided it was better not to talk about this issue, " But mom doesn't have to do that." "She has to be with Daddy." "Why? Would she rather be away from you for twenty years just to spend two weeks with Daddy? Or, on the other hand, would she still be willing to leave you half the time as an orphan and half the time as a widow?" "I don't think it's fair to Mom," Rhodes replied slowly. "I'm not criticizing. She's going to make the right decision. They feel guilty about you anyway, and..." "for me?" "Yes, you! If you insist on telling them to go, their guilt will be overwhelming, and even though they don't want to stop you, they will do it anyway. It's good for us all. Not happy. I don't want this to happen, you are our family's hope." "Well, maybe you're right." "I'm not very logical, and I don't have much leadership skills. Humans are not rational animals, but animals that pursue reason. Well, let's see what you plan to bring." She looked at Rhodes' list and equipment, and muttered softly: "Oh my God! Rhodes, I have never seen so many loads, I think you are going to be unable to walk, who do you think you are? Ready to fight Ironclad warriors? Or white warriors?" "Oh, I'm about to lose some of it," he replied awkwardly. "I suppose so." "Hey, sister, what kind of gun should I bring?" "Huh? Why did you think of carrying a gun?" "What's the matter? Of course the places I go need guns. There's a lot of wild animals and unpredictable things. Mr. Mason says we might encounter very dangerous animals." "I don't believe he asked you to carry a gun. Dr. Masson is a very experienced professional. Listen, boys, on this tour, you're the rabbits, and when you see foxes, you run away from them, you I am not a fox." "What exactly do you mean by that?" "Your sole purpose is to survive, not to be brave, or to fight, or to rule the wild - you'll be fine as long as you're alive. Maybe one shot in a hundred will save you but the other ninety-nine guns put you in danger. oh of course Dr. Masson would carry a gun and so would I. But we have experience and we know when not to use it , instead of always thinking about how to use it. If someone shoots indiscriminately during the exam, the exam room will become a mess. If someone shoots you, it is useless for you to have a gun-because you will already be dead. If you bring A gun, it makes you feel safe, so you don’t cover yourself very well. But without a gun, you’re reminding yourself that you’re just a rabbit and you have to be careful.” "Did you bring a gun during the individual survival test?" "I did. But I lost my gun on the first day, and that saved my life." "What's the matter?" "I came across a Bethemere griffin, and without a gun I had to think about avoiding it instead of killing it. Have you ever seen a Bethemere griffin?" "Hmm, is it Spica-V?" "Spica-IV. I don't know how much they can teach you children about extraterrestrial animals today-I know from the children in my company that the new 'functional education' is to train them The poor personality is about to cancel the study. I have a girl who is also like this-in fact, this big monster has almost no organs to survive. Its nervous system has collapsed, and even its digestive system is over. Yes. But to kill it quickly you have to use a lot of strength, to shoot it is only a matter of pulling the trigger, but I don't know that, it would be bad if I had a gun. Because of this , it chased me for three days, during which time I had time to think about the philosophical, moral and tactical issues of self-preservation." Rhodes didn't refute, but he still felt that it should be convenient to have a gun at hand.This will make him feel bigger, stronger, and more confident.Just hanging it by his lap, he doesn't have to use it - unless he has to.In fact, he knows how to hide. No one in his class can do better than him.My sister is indeed an excellent fighter, although she may not know everything, and... The sister continued, "I know it would be so much better to have a gun. It will make you feel sharp-eyed, and you will feel tall and powerful, and you will feel fearless. You will feel that you can do anything, and you will look forward to it. There are things that make you try your hand at it. That's the danger of carrying a gun—because having a gun doesn't really help at all. You're still actually a fragile being, easily killed, even if you carry a A stun gun that knocks off half a hill, but you're not a chameleon - you can't see behind your head. Also, you can't see after dark. While you're preoccupied with what's going on ahead , death may suddenly come from behind." "But, sister, your own company is all armed with guns?" “我们是带枪，还带雷达、炸药、夜视仪、催泪弹，还有很多很多东西。但你不同，你不是要去攻占一座城市，小伙子。有时候我让一个姑娘外出侦察一个目标，她要成功到达那里进行侦察，还要活着把情报带回来。你知道我是怎么给她装备的吗？” "Go ahead." “好吧。首先，我不会派一个生手去执行这项任务，我会派一些身经百战的老兵去。她会脱下外套，只穿着紧身背心，涂黑皮肤，如果皮肤不够黑的话。她们就这样空手空脚，什么都不带，结果我一个士兵也没有失去。在毫无帮助和毫无防护的条件下，你必须得眼观六路、耳听八方，时刻留意你周围的一丝一毫的情况变化。我也是从一个和妈妈一样的老兵那里学来的这些东西。” 罗德很惊讶，低声说：“马森老师也跟我们说过这样的话，他说如果可以的话，他会让我们赤手空拳去参加考试。” “马森博士的确是个行家。” “好了，那你到底让我带什么呢？” “你再说一遍考试要求。” 罗德又说了一遍。沃尔克中尉皱了皱眉头，“嗯……没说什么啊，两到十天也许意味着是五天，天气是不会太糟糕的，建议你带一个婴儿睡袋。” “是吗？我有一套防寒服，我想我还是带着吧。如果考场环境不是太冷的话，我就把它脱在时空门里。其实我真不想丢掉它，它还不到半斤重，而且很贵。” “别想那个了，穿什么衣服不是最重要的事。除了你的那件衣服，你还得带四公斤的给养，5公斤的水，2公斤的杂物——药丸和火柴之类，你要把它们打个包……还得带把刀。” “只不过五六天的时间，最多不过十天啊。” “这是你能带的所有东西，还不算太重。看看你有什么刀，亲爱的。” 罗德有好几把刀，有一把是他最喜爱的。那把刀有二十一公分长，非常漂亮，刀刃锋利，握起来平衡性和手感都很好。他把刀递给了姐姐，姐姐轻轻地拂拭着。 “好刀！”她说。然后，她环视了屋子一圈。 “扔到那儿去！” “明白。”她把刀拈到了耳旁，“嗖”地扔了出去，刀刃深深地扎中了目标，不停地颤动着。她又把自己的刀拔了出来，“这把也不错。”她也把它扔了出去，落在了第一把刀的边上。 她走过去把两把刀都收了回来，一只手里拿了一把。然后她把自己那把刀的刀把冲着罗德：“这是我的，叫'麦克白小姐'，我考试时就是带着它。小伙子，我想你考试时也带着我的这把刀。” “你想换刀？好吧！”罗德觉得有点舍不得，他的刀不是其他的刀可以媲美的。但这又是一个没法拒绝的要求，他怎么能拒绝姐姐呢？ “我的乖弟弟！我不是要在考试前夺走你心爱的刀。我是想让你把这两把刀都带着。你也许既不会饿死也不会渴死，但是多带一把刀的作用远远不止这些。” “我明白，姐姐！可是你不是说你也有行动吗？我不应该在这时候拿走你的这把刀啊！我可以带自己的另外一把。” “我用不着它——我的姑娘们不会让我有用刀的机会的。我想让你在考试中带着'麦克白小姐'。”她把刀插回了刀鞘，从靴子上解了下来，递给了罗德。“你会用得着的，小伙子。”