Chapter 5 Chapter 5 A Rising Star

Jack's hiding place was on a rocky cliff overlooking the creek where Rod was knocked unconscious and dropped everything.Here the stone walls on both sides form a pocket-shaped valley, and the river meanders between the two banks, cutting an alluvial zone between the cliffs.This cave is actually a groove formed by the water flow, and the upper layer of stone flakes is still preserved, just like the roof of the room.The cliff below the cave is too steep to be climbed at all, and the huge rock on top protects the cave from above, and the river suddenly turns under the cliff.The only way to enter the cave was to climb up the stone wall from far upstream, and then climb to the edge of the cave groove against the stone wall. The upstream stone wall was not as steep as here, and they could climb up along the groove of the stone wall.

They climbed up the stone wall carefully, stooping and walking in the groove, the stone surface under their feet was wet and slippery.Only one side of the cave has an opening, and it is relatively long and deep.But here is a waist-high space, so you can only lie on your stomach, and you can only stand upright at the entrance of the cave.Jack picked up a few rocks and threw them into the dark hole, the dagger in his other hand. "I don't think there's anyone in the house." They crawled in on their hands and knees. "How do you like it here?" "It would be nice if it was higher...to stand up. You're lucky that something else could have gotten here as we just did."

"Maybe." Jack groped around for a while, and he pulled out some thorny dry branches, blocking the passage, and the branches formed a door in the hole, "This is my siren." "This thing can't stop anything, if it really wants to come in." "Well, but this will wake me up. I can attack it with stones. I have collected a bunch of stones here. I also have a pair of glow sticks." "I suppose . . . you didn't say you had a gun, did you?" "I didn't say, but I did, and of course, it's no use shooting when you haven't seen anything."

"It looks good, actually... I mean... very good. It's an honor to be your partner." Rhode looked around and said, "Are you hot?" "I've been in danger several times for setting fires during the day. I've had enough raw meat." Rhodes sighed deeply, "I know. Hey! But what are your plans?" "It was getting dark, and I never lit a fire while I could see. How about we roast some deer liver for breakfast tomorrow morning? Add some salt?" Rhodes' saliva was about to flow down. "Great, Jack, I'd like to get something to drink before dark. Come together, shall we? We can take care of each other."

"No, there is a skin bag behind you, and there is water in it, take it yourself!" Rhodes is very happy that he can partner with such an excellent butler.This is the skin bag of a small animal, because it was filled with water and opened, so it is hard to tell what kind of animal it is.Although Jack has peeled off the skin, it has not been specially treated, so the water in the skin sac tastes very bad.But Rhodes couldn't care less about the taste, he drank a few mouthfuls of water, then wiped his mouth with his hands, feeling much better. They didn't go to sleep right away, but just sat there in the dark, exchanging mutual feelings.Jack's class came a day earlier, but the exam requirements were the same.Jack also thinks that the recall signal should have been sent long past the time.

"I think I missed the recall signal, and I lost consciousness at that time." Rhodes said: "I don't know how long I was unconscious... I thought I was going to die." "That's not the case, Rhodes." "Why not?" "I've been fine and I'm keeping track of the time. There's never been any recall signaled at all." "you sure?" "How could I miss it? Sirens can be heard twenty kilometers away. There are beacon columns during the day and lampposts with spotlights at night. The law stipulates that such a signal must be maintained for more than a week and must wait until everyone All back...it hasn't been around at all these days."

"Maybe we're out of range. Actually... well, I don't know about you, but I, I have to admit, I'm lost." "I don't. I'm about four kilometers from the passage we're crossing. I can point it out to you. Let's face it, Rhodes, something must be wrong, there's no way of knowing what we're going to be here now How long." Jack said quietly, "That's why I think company is a good idea." Rhodes thought about it, and he thought he should express his own opinion. "I think so too." "Yes, if it's just for a few days, it's actually safer to go alone, but if you're going to stay here indefinitely, then..."

"That's not what I meant, Jack." "Ok?" "Do you know what planet this is?" "I don't know, of course, I have thought about this question before. It must be a newly developed planet, a bit like..." "I know what planet it is." "Oh? Which one?" "The earth is the earth." After a long silence, Jack said, "Rod, are you okay? Are you still having a fever?" "I'm fine, I'm well fed and drinking a lot of water now. Jack, I know this sounds stupid, but listen to me, hear me out. We're on Earth, and I think I know it too Where we are on Earth. They're intentionally not signaling a recall, they're going to let us figure out where we are and get out there. That's what Masson likes to do."

"But……" "Be quiet, okay? Listen, this planet is a lot like Earth, isn't it?" "Yes, but..." "Listen to me, the stars are also G-type stars, and the stars also move in the sky like they are seen on the earth." "But it's not." "I've made the same mistake as you. I thought it would take a week to turn around on the first night, but in reality we were terrified by some appearances, and it seemed that everything was so far away. Now I understand better, even the rotation is so consistent." "No, it's not the same. My watch shows that the planet rotates in about twenty-six hours."

"Then you have to find someone to repair your watch when you go back. Or just find a tree and drop it." "But... oh, go on, go on, I won't interrupt you." "Look, the flowers are similar, the grass is similar, and I know why they sent us here—to save money." "for what?" "Save money! Many people complain that the school's education tax is too high. Of course, it is really expensive to leave a time-space gate open like this. Besides, uranium is not regenerated like a tree. I know their As for the idea, Mr. Mason once said that the cost of such a test is indeed a bit high, but if the trained future explorers and pioneer leaders are not qualified, the cost will be even greater."

Rhodes continued: "One day after class, he told us that the people in charge of the school's money want to choose a place on the earth for training and exams, but Mason said that the core of the survival class is for the unknown environment of the outer domain, he said If the exam is done on the earth, what the students learn is still on the earth. He said that the students can completely understand the six basic environmental conditions on the earth through books and be able to deal with them...Students are not allowed to receive survival training, etc. It would be criminal to throw him out of Earth on a mission as an adult. It would be like teaching a child how to play chess and then sending him to a real battle." "He's right." Jack replied, "Instructor Benb said that too." "Of course he was right. He swore he was going to resign if they insisted on it. And yet they tricked him anyway." "How did you cheat?" "It's simple. Masson doesn't know that any environment is unknown to a man who doesn't know where he is, so they made it so that we couldn't know. First they sent us to On the moon, the moon gate is always open, and it doesn't cost much money, so that we can mistakenly think that we have experienced a long journey to Outland, and then we feel the original gravity environment-this is the second thing they do but they fooled us and they sent us back to earth, to africa. i think they used the moon tunnel to send us to the witwaterland portal next to johannesburg, all the things they did Just a good time to connect the dots for a switch and drop us in the bush. I think it's either Shaka Memorial Park or some other pristine sanctuary. Close to everything, so many antelopes and herbivores , and the many carnivores that prey on them, and I've seen a few lions, and..." "Is it really a lion?" "Okay! When I kill one, I'll prove they're lions. They've also set up many obstacles to confuse us, and the sight of the sky will tell us everything, especially the moon, so they set up a curtain over our heads Bill. I bet there's a cloud generator right around the corner. And they've got us a lot of puzzles. Have you been reminded of the 'Stabble'?" "yes." "Did you see it?" "Hmm. I'm not sure what 'Stabble' is." "Neither can I, and I bet no one can. 'Stubble' doesn't exist, it's just a figment that keeps messing with us. There's no such thing as 'Staple' on Earth, and we'd Thought we weren't on Earth. Suspicious people like me were duped by it - I was duped, I even found something I didn't recognize and took it for a 'stable', which Exactly what they wanted me to do." "Your explanation sounds logical, Rhodes." "Because once you realize that this is on Earth, it makes sense." He patted the cave floor and said, "But they don't let us know that, everything is in their hands, but It's up to us now. I'm preparing, just because my arm hurts, I can't go very far. But now we can get out together as soon as possible, that's my plan. I think it's in Africa , it may be South America or other tropical regions. It doesn't matter, as long as we go down the stream and be careful all the way, because it is indeed dangerous. Of course, you can also think that this is on an alien planet and die here .but a week later, maybe a month, there will come a day when we will come across a bridge. Then we will follow the road until we meet other people. If we come across a town, we can contact the city officials, please They sent us home ... so we could get our exam certificates - it was as simple as that." "Sounds easy," Jack whispered. "Oh, of course we'll have a lot of trouble, but we'll work it out because we know what to do. I didn't want to bring it up, do you have enough salt to salt a few kilos of meat? I don't want to have to Go hunting, so we can go faster, or take some dried fruit or something." "I have, but..." "it is good!" "Wait, Rhodes, that's not the case." "Huh? We're partners, aren't we?" "Don't be nervous, you see, Rhodes, everything you said is logical, but..." "There is no 'but'." "But that logic...is all wrong." "Huh? Listen, Jack..." "Now it's your turn to listen, you've been talking for so long." "But... well, well! Say it." "You said the sky was blocked, they put up a tent over the area." "Yes, they must have done that, at least at night. They wouldn't have exposed us to real natural weather. If it had, there would have been distinct features in the sky." "That's exactly what I'm going to tell you. There is indeed a distinct feature in the sky. It must not be obscured every night. Maybe you've been in the woods, or you missed it when it was clear. But I see On a clear night, Rod, I see stars." "Really? So what?" "It's not the starry sky on our earth, Rhodes, really, I'm sorry." Rhodes bit his lip and defended: "Maybe you are not familiar with the starry sky in the southern hemisphere?" "I could recognize Orion when I couldn't read. These are not the stars that I see on Earth, Lord. I can recognize them. There is a bright pentagonal constellation above the sunset point. You can't see it at all. Besides, everyone knows the moon, but there isn't one here." Rhodes was trying to recall the cycle of the moon's profit and loss, but he didn't remember it. He only had a vague understanding of lunar eclipse and profit and loss cycle. "Perhaps it went downhill?" "Impossible, I didn't see our moon at all, but I saw several other moons in the sky here... Two of them are relatively small and moving very fast, a bit like satellites of Mars." "You wouldn't say this is Mars, would you?" Rhode teased. "Do you think I'm crazy? Don't I know that the starry sky seen on Mars is basically the same as that on Earth? Rhodes, what are we fighting for? Just look at the way the sun sets? Let's climb out Look, seeing is believing.” Rhodes didn't speak, he followed Jack and climbed out.In the cave, except for the dark forest on both sides of the river bank, there is nothing else to be seen. Only when you climb to the edge of the cave can you see part of the sky covered by the shale at the entrance of the cave.Rhodes climbed to the side and looked up. "Be careful not to fall." Jack reminded him softly. Rhodes didn't say a word, there was a pentagon of six stars in the sky obliquely above the stream, with one star in the middle.These six stars are too bright to be fake, and are as easily identifiable as the Big Dipper on Earth-judging from its position on the star map, this galaxy has never been seen on Earth. Rhodes stared blankly, the theoretical system he had just constructed after hard thinking collapsed all of a sudden.He felt lost and alone.Even the trees by the river were suddenly scary.He turned to Jack, his confidence all but gone. "Yes, you are right." He said dumbly, "Then what should we do now?" Jack didn't answer. "What should I do?" Rhodes continued to ask, "Just stay like this?" "Rod, the star in the middle of the pentagon didn't exist originally." "Huh? Did you forget?" "No, no, I'm sure. Rhodes, do you know? We saw a new star." Rhodes didn't feel the joy and excitement of new scientific discoveries at all, and he was trying to reorganize his mind.The discovery of a newly formed star meant nothing to him. "Maybe it's those little moons you were talking about?" "Impossible, those moons are so large that you can see their circular outlines, like plates. It's a nova, it must be! What a fortune to see such a phenomenon!" "I can't see any lucky place." Rhodes said numbly: "It doesn't mean anything to us, it may be a hundred light-years away from us, or even farther away." "Yes, but don't you find it exciting?" "I don't think so." Rhodes lay down and crawled back into the cave.Jack took another look and followed back into the cave. Neither of them spoke, Rhode was a little depressed, and finally Jack said, "Now I want to sleep." Rhodes said to himself: "I just don't understand, how could I be wrong? It's really logical!" "Don't think about it. Our analysis teacher said that all logic is only relative. She said that for our unknown world, you can't get anything useful through logical reasoning." "Then what's the use of logic?" Rhodes complained. "Forget it, look, partner, I'm almost sleepy, I want to sleep." "Well! But Jack, if this isn't Africa--and I admit it isn't--then what are we going to do? They've gone and left us." "What to do? Just do what we've been doing! Eat, sleep, live. This is a planet on record. If we keep living, someone will show up one day. Maybe there is something wrong with the motivation. Maybe tomorrow they'll come and take us." "If so, then..." "If so, then, let's shut up and go to sleep."