Chapter 24 Chapter 22 Seasons

Cao Cang almost completely understood all the information about entering the different sea experiment. At this time, Cao Cang remembered one thing, and said to Karin: "Our Chinese history has repeatedly recorded that there are fairy mountains in the East China Sea. Can you analyze it this way? The East China Sea recorded in those historical records is actually a different sea. If this inference is true, then There must be land in the alien sea.” Karin thought for a while and said, "Perhaps the existence of the alien sea land is not a vast land, but a rare island." At night, the monkey ran to the roof of the cockpit again, fiddled with the searchlight, and still flicked the switch every two seconds.

Cao Cang felt very curious why the monkey would enjoy this action so much.Cao Cang watched quietly from the side, and finally figured out that the monkey was actually imitating the actions of the previous crew members. After all the people on board disappeared, the monkey repeated this action in the same way. The original crew of this ship must have drifted in some unknown space for a while, and then came to another sea.But when the ship appeared in a different sea, all the humans on board disappeared completely, only the monkey remained. After thinking for a while, Cao Cang found Karin and Ivan and said to them, "The crew on this ship must have abandoned the ship, and the situation is very urgent, so there is no time to take the monkey with them."

"What does that mean?" Ivan asked. "It shows that Professor Pang's calculations are still not perfect." Karin understood, "There is still a space similar to the different sea, which can adapt to human survival, and those crew members are left there." The alien sea and the earth should not be as isolated as previously imagined, and even the connection between other spaces and the earth and the alien sea is more active than imagined. The three of Cao Cang realized at the same time: There may not only be humans in the different sea, but there may be a lot of them.When they thought of this, their mood suddenly brightened.

Originally, Cao Cang thought that they had escaped from Remus' control, and maybe the three people on the ship were drifting alone in a different sea.Finding a way to return to Earth using a pocket watch is out of the question.This feeling of loneliness in the space is frustrating. What follows is a long period of time.Cao Cang watched the sun rise and set every day on the boat, counting the days. The direction of the ship is opposite to the course set by the scientific research ship and the submarine.Cao Cang thought: "It's been so long, the distance between the submarine and the ship must be very far."

One evening, the three of them were watching from the deck, and Karin suddenly asked, "Have you noticed a very strange phenomenon here?" "All the phenomena in Yihai are very strange." Ivan said relaxedly, "Does this issue still need to be discussed?" "Do the math, how long has it been since we entered the different sea?" "Four months..." Cao Cang replied, "Five months soon." "Yes." Carlin said, "It's been almost half a year for such a long time. On Earth, such a long time should have spanned two seasons."

What Karin said reminded Cao Cang.That's right, after such a long time, they have not encountered the change of seasons in the different seas.The temperature was still the same as they had just entered the different sea, without any change. "If we are on the equator of the planet Yihai, there should be no seasonal changes." Karin said, "However, our azimuth should be a little north of 30 degrees north latitude. This latitude should be four seasons." distinct area." "Can you imagine it this way," Ivan said, "The planet where the Yihai is located is different from the earth, and the axis of the earth has no oblique angle."

This statement is more convincing.Sudden changes in the ocean currents of the different seas can provide evidence for this statement.The flow of ocean currents is a result of the complex environment of the earth. A large part of the root of the earth's climate change comes from the inclination angle and orbit of the earth's axis. According to this assumption, the environment of Yihai is much simpler than that of Earth. However, a simple environment is sometimes not a good thing, because complex environmental factors will check and balance each other, and the environment is relatively stable.And a simple environment means—extreme!

Among the nine planets in the solar system, the surface environment of the earth is the most complex and varied.On other planets, the environment is very simple. Life itself is a complex carbon-based structure, and it is very fragile.So it needs to evolve in a complex environment like the earth.If the environment is changed to other planets or the moon, no life will evolve. Now that Karin said such a thing, maybe he has already analyzed a result: the climate change in Yihai must be very extreme, and there is no transition at all. Cao Cang thought of Sister Zhou. It seems that it is very reasonable to send a climate researcher into the different sea.

"Why do you propose this idea now?" Ivan asked. "Because," Karin replied, "here is also twenty-four hours a day. Compared with the earth, there is no error of one second. This shows that the rotation of the planet where the different sea is located is no different from the rotation of the earth. The revolution of the planet where the different sea is located It must be not much different from the earth. The environment here is not much different from the earth, which means that the distance between the sea and the sun is also kept at a very suitable distance."

Ivan already understood what Karin meant: "The only thing that changes is the deviation of the earth's axis." "Now, we have not noticed a change in temperature for nearly half a year." Karin added. When Karin said this, Cao Cang also understood what Karin was worried about, which was extreme changes in the climate. Combining these conditions mentioned by Karin, it can be analyzed that there is climate change in Yihai.But it is much simpler than the earth.What he means is that this extreme change is coming.Because, they have been in the different sea for nearly half a year.

If there are seasonal changes in the different seas, there are probably only two types, normal temperature and extreme cold. (The direction of extreme heat can be denied, because even if the climate changes, it must be within the acceptable range of living things.) Now the temperature has been constant for nearly half a year, which shows that this change is coming soon.Since there are only two seasons, they must be in balance with each other, and the time must be equal.A season and half a year. Carlin's speculation is completely correct. After eight days, the climate suddenly changed. In just one day, the temperature in Yihai plummeted by at least thirty or forty degrees.This is a number experienced with human senses.In the evening, Karim nearly froze on deck when he went up to experience the temperature for the last time. The clothes on them were not enough to keep out the cold.There are no particularly warm clothes for the supplies on the ship, only cotton clothes. Cao Cang, Ivan, and Karin put on cotton clothes layer by layer, still shivering from the cold. Everyone hid in the engine room and leaned on the boiler for warmth. But the outside temperature was too low, and the bitingly cold air froze the entire ship. Cao Cang felt the cold coming from all directions, so he had to get as close to the boiler as possible to keep warm. On the second day, the sun rises, and the temperature during the day should be higher than that at night.But when Cao Cang walked on the deck, he found that the sun's light was pale and feeble, and he couldn't feel any warmth at all. At this time, Cao Cang looked at the sea and couldn't believe his eyes. The sea is freezing everywhere.There are already flakes of ice floating on the sea, and looking at this trend, these scattered ice will connect into a whole piece in a short time. Karin's worries became a reality. This kind of extreme environmental change caught people off guard and they simply couldn't deal with it. In just a few days, the climate of Yihai has completely entered the severe winter. The three people on the ship moved all the food to the engine room. There are coals and boilers here, which can more or less resist the severe cold outside.Now ships do not need the power of boilers to sail, because the ice floes on the sea surface are getting bigger and bigger, and the gaps between the ice floes are getting narrower and narrower. In this case, it is very dangerous for the ship to drive forcibly, and the consequence is very likely that the hard ice floe will break the ship, and then the ship will sink and people will die. According to Carlin's deduction, this kind of weather may last for another six months. The food on the ship can support three people for more than three months, and they also have a way to break the ice on the sea. Fishing must be very convenient.So food is not the most worrying thing for the three of Cao Cang. What Cao Cang, Karin and Ivan were worried about was fuel.According to the current rate of burning coal, it can be calculated that the coal on the ship is difficult to last for six months. Even if three people try their best to save fuel, they can barely survive these six months.When the ice and snow melted and Yihai returned to its normal environment, the ship without power was still a difficult problem for the three of them.But now the three of them couldn't think of a way out. "Why is the climate in Yihai so extreme?" Cao Cang said, "The changes in temperature, the movement of ocean currents, and the arrival of wind and waves all appear suddenly without warning, and then end suddenly." Karin said embarrassingly: "It would be great if Ms. Zhou was here, she will definitely give you a reasonable explanation." When Cao Cang heard Kalin talking about Sister Zhou, he couldn't help worrying about the safety of Sister Zhou and her party.When they escaped in the purple mist, the scientific research ship had been hit by a submarine and was slowly sinking. Will Remus rescue the people on the scientific research ship and let them board the submarine? Karin thought for a while, and then said: "We live in a complex and constant environment on the earth. From single-celled organisms, we have been integrated with the earth's environment, so we take the stable environment on the earth as a matter of course. .” "However, in the universe, even in this endless space, the environment of the earth is a very accidental phenomenon." Ivan followed Karin's train of thought and said, "Even the different seas, compared to the environments of other planets, are also Relatively stable. Yihai is a special case, the special case most similar to the earth." Cao Cang said: "So in the universe, the real normal is simple, simple is bad, and it is not suitable for human survival." "The environment of Yihai is simpler than that of Earth, so when a decisive condition changes, there are no other environmental factors to restrict this change." Karin brought the topic back to the status quo, "This makes Yihai appear like this. A sudden change. The environmental changes in Yihai are very sharp and extreme, and there is no middle way. The temperature can only be two degrees - tens of degrees below zero, or more than 20 degrees above zero. Either it is a dead sea area, or it is rushing and intertwined The huge ocean currents are either calm, or hurricanes and tsunamis. What makes these earth-shaking changes is just because the environment is simple." Karin majored in paleontology, and his knowledge of the environment was much better than that of Cao Cang and Ivan.But now he rambled on these words, maybe just to pass the boring time. Carlin still speculates wildly: "Using the seasonal changes on the Yihai Sea as an example, maybe the temperature change on the Yihai Sea is just a slight change in the distance between the planet and the sun. The environment of the Yihai Sea has fewer factors that affect the temperature, so it cannot Maintaining a stable threshold can only develop towards two extremes. The earth is different. The earth’s environment is a mixture of a huge number of conditions, which restrict and complement each other. Because the earth’s axis has an included angle, the heat received from the sun is not balanced , when the temperature of a certain part of the earth drops, there will be large-scale convection of air temperature and ocean currents, which will delay the drastic changes in the environment." "If you draw this phenomenon graphically," Ivan said, "it's similar to vector graphics in mechanics." After all, Ivan has worked with Professor Pang for a long time, and he likes to use metaphors in the way of analyzing things. "The environment of Yihai can be represented by a line segment. The factors that affect the environment are the two opposing forces at both ends of the line. When external conditions are applied to this line segment, they can only be superimposed in one of the directions. This gives the magnitude at one end of the line segment an absolute advantage..." "So when Yihai deviates slightly from the normal orbit," Cao Cang understood, "the climate in Yihai will cool down rapidly. When Yihai's orbit is slightly closer, the external force will It is completely applied in another direction, and then the climate of the different sea will quickly reach the other top of the line." Ivan went on to say: "The earth is different. Think of the various factors of the earth as vectors on the mechanical graph, so that the environmental factors of the earth are endless, just like the center point, countless straight lines extending outward, three hundred There are vectors in the sixty-degree directions, and finally the strength of these vectors reaches a balance, which is a perfect circle. When external factors are applied to any point in this circle, the influence it produces will be affected by countless other vectors. In this way, even if there is a huge change, it can only slightly change the shape of the circle, but cannot produce a decisive change.” "The earth is the most stable bubble." Cao Cang said. Ivan and Karin agree with Cao Cang's metaphor very much. Karin went on to say: "The different sea is also a relatively stable bubble, because after all, it is still a line segment that restricts each other. And the environment of other celestial bodies in the universe is completely extreme. For example, stars always have only one fusion environment. This absolute An extreme environment is even less likely to produce life." "But you also said that in the universe, the earth and the different seas are very accidental special cases." Ivan said to Karin, "This shows that the universe itself is a very simple environment. And all the matter and space in the universe Energy changes in a single, balanced direction. This is the ultimate law of the universe—entropy.” "Yes, the evolution of all matter in the universe is a process from complex to simple. But single elements to compounds—inorganic substances in compounds to organic substances—organic substances to macromolecular clusters—macromolecular clusters to complex composites— - Synthesis finally forms amino acids - Amino acids form the basis of life - Life goes from unicellular to multicellular - Multicellular continues to develop into plants and animals - Animals develop from the simplest virus cells to advanced life forms - Consciousness Creation—the birth of civilization..." Karin paused, and then continued, "The essence of civilization is the process of intelligent creatures—such as human beings—trying to adapt the environment to their own continuation. All of this is anti-entropy!" Cao Cang was chilled all over by Kalin's words.This chill does not come from the outside, but slowly penetrates from the heart to all parts of the body. Yes, the anti-entropy behavior of human beings on the earth is so small and insignificant compared with the universe.Just like a speck of spray in the entire alien sea, no matter what kind of efforts you make, you will eventually be obliterated without a trace by the general direction of the entire universe. At this level of thinking, Cao Cang felt that everything human beings do is so feeble and insignificant.Even if it is possible to travel through the space of a different sea, what can be changed?Even a civilization that has lasted for tens of millions of years is just a drop in the ocean in the environment of infinite space and endless universe. Time passed day by day.The three of them seldom go out in the cabin, and try to keep the temperature of the cabin as high as possible. The three of Cao Cang looked at the supplies around them, and began to calculate how to maintain them until the next season change.And this monkey, is it necessary to kill it now and put it on the deck to freeze it as a food reserve for the future. But Cao Cang couldn't convince Karin and Ivan, so he had to let the monkey survive and increase food consumption.The monkey was scurrying about in the cabin without stopping for a moment. Ivan joked that he hoped Karin's speculation was correct and the temperature would pick up within half a year.If the cycle of seasonal change is not half a year but a year, or many years... When Ivan said this, seeing Karin and Cao Cang's serious faces, he could no longer maintain a humorous attitude. The incident that Ivan unintentionally mentioned is not impossible.The time for the experiment to enter the different sea is close to half a year, which means that the cycle of seasonal change is at least half a year.But if the influence of the external environment of the different sea is slightly different from Karin's speculation, then the result of this season change is likely to be a longer cycle. A few days later, the hull made a "click" sound.The three of them understood that the ice on the sea surface had joined together and was slowly squeezing the steel outer wall of the ship. The three decided to go to the deck to see the situation. As soon as the door opened, a bone-piercing cold air rushed in, taking away all the heating inside the cabin. The three stood on the deck shivering from the cold. Cao Cang saw that the entire sea was silvery white and boundless.What surprised Cao Cang even more was that the vast ice field was not completely silent, but there were actually several animals crawling slowly on the ice tens of meters away from the ship. "The Yihai is not an ocean planet." Karin said to Cao Cang and Ivan, "The environment of the Yihai is that the land and the ocean change with each other." "This is the land of the different sea." Cao Cang echoed Karin, "So it's that simple." Carlin jumped onto the ice to catch those distant animals.He wanted to study how the animals could adapt to such extreme environmental changes, and what was special about their morphology and physiology. But Ivan stopped Karin. Ivan has served on submarines for many years, and submarines have been performing missions in the Arctic Ocean all year round. He knows the ocean in cold climates very well.He warned Karin that although the ice floes on the sea seem to be one piece, the slabs of ice are still moving with each other. solid.In a word, there are many dangers on the ice.And those animals, it is not sure whether they are ferocious or not.It's too risky to capture like this. It was too cold on the deck. It seemed that Yihai's current climate had maintained a constant subzero temperature. Ivan reminded Cao Cang and Karin that it was time to go back to the cabin.If you stay in the cold air for a long time without measures to keep warm, your body will freeze unknowingly.Ivan gave them an example as he walked. One of his subordinates stayed in the cold environment for a long time and didn't notice it at the time, but later his fingers were frozen to death and almost all his fingers were amputated. When the three returned to the cabin, the monkey suddenly ran out the moment the door was opened. Karin chased on the deck for a long time, but couldn't withstand Ivan's persuasion, and returned to the cabin. "This is the way it is seeking its own death." Cao Cang said to Karin, in fact, he was glad that there was one less animal that consumed food. The three of them were still in the cabin, and the hull of the ship not only made "click" sounds from time to time, but sometimes there were sharp friction sounds.In addition, when the steel itself is under stress, it also makes a strange "hanging" sound, which is very subtle and intermittent.However, the further back, the higher the frequency of the sound. Cao Cang felt that the ship was not only being squeezed by the ice, he felt that the hull was being squeezed by the ice and moving. So the three of them were on deck again.They found that the hull had risen by two meters, and the distance of the rise was easy to judge, because thick ice was condensed on the outer wall of this part of the hull.This shows that the part that was originally below the waterline has reached above the ice surface. "Squeeze like this," Cao Cang asked, "will the ship be pushed out of the hole, and then we can only wait to die?" "Don't be so pessimistic." Ivan said relaxedly, "Even if the ship is crushed out of cracks, it will not affect us for the time being. Because before the water enters, the outer wall of the ship, including the bottom, will freeze. Ice here very fast.” Hearing what Ivan said, Cao Cang felt more at ease. Karim searched the boat in vain for the monkey, but of course found nothing.The monkey did not freeze to death on the deck of the ship as Cao Cang hoped, and became their food reserve, but disappeared without a trace.It must have run to the ice field, Cao Cang thought, probably eaten by some kind of animal on the ice field. After all, it was only a monkey, and the three of them entered the cabin again without thinking about where the monkey was going. Ivan was right, and after another two or three days, all the sounds around the hull stopped.There is no slow displacement of the hull either.The three inspected the hull carefully and found cracks in many places, but no water seeped in.The exterior of the hull, which can be seen through several large cracks, is a hard layer of ice. In the bilge where the storage room was located, the three saw that the bilge floor had also been pushed out with a crack.As expected by Ivan, looking down from the crack, the bottom of the ship is also hard ice. How far can the sea of ​​different seas condense?Karin discussed this topic with Cao Cang and Ivan: Now it is at least seven or eight meters deep.It seems that the icing is still going on. In another half a year, how deep will the ice in Yihai freeze?From the analysis of the current situation, it will definitely reach a thickness of more than ten meters. The three of them now moved closer and closer to the hearth of the boiler, hoping to gain more warmth.Now the bottom of the ship is not warm sea water, but a thick layer of ice.The chill came up from below, making it even more unbearable. The communication between Cao Cang, Ivan and Karin became less. Everyone sleeps longer and longer, even when they wake up, they don't know what to do, they don't bother to talk, they don't even bother to add coal to the fire, and their desire to eat is also decreasing.This is a very dangerous sign.Perhaps it is an instinctive choice of human beings in extreme environments - to make the body's functions infinitely close to stagnation and reduce calorie consumption. The three discovered this physiological reaction and decided to implement mandatory shift duty rules: one person must be kept awake, and then at the moment of shift change, the next person must be woken up.One person has eight hours, and when the time is up, wake up the next person.The time cannot be short or long.Three people must not fall asleep at the same time, otherwise they may all die in their sleep. Everyone has agreed that this rule must be compulsorily implemented, and it cannot be changed just because someone is trying to be brave or unable to persist. Now everyone sleeps sixteen hours a day and eats only one meal, but everyone eats very little. When Ivan and Karin slept, Cao Cang was awake for eight hours alone.Cao Cang looked at his sleeping companions, doing nothing, and thought to himself, it seems that human beings have unlimited potential, can adapt to various environments, and can perform as well as those wild animals. Cao Cang had a thought in his mind: If... if the people who entered the different sea really couldn't go back, and survived in this space, after hundreds of years and thousands of years, the human descendants who entered the different sea would definitely show up. It has become a physiological structure adapted to the alien sea.What kind of form will it be, and the way of thinking will definitely change, and what will it change into? Cao Cang thought shudderingly, if people really become like that, can they still be called people? Remus is leading everyone in this direction. The most important part of this experiment is being able to come in and go back.No matter from which point of view, Cao Cang knew that his mission must be completed.Moreover, Karin and Ivan in front of him must have the same idea as him.They must all want to go back to Earth and bring all kinds of environmental information of Yihai back to Earth. The next time they enter the alien sea will be the big countries on the earth—from the current point of view, only China, the United States, and the Soviet Union colonize the alien sea on a large scale, and it will no longer be such a trivial experiment as an experiment.Every country will strive to continue its own race in the alien sea. But all of this requires returning to Earth by oneself. But no matter how much Cao Cang studied the pocket watch, he couldn't find anything special about it, nor could he find any details similar to similar machines on Earth.It seems that they can only listen to what Professor Pang said at the beginning and find a place in Yihai.Perhaps only in that place can the function of the pocket watch be brought into play. But where is that place?Even if you know that place, how can you get there? Cao Cang thought, even if everyone can persist until the ice is over.This ship is also riddled with holes, and will definitely sink in the sea by then.At that time, relying on the lifeboat on the ship and drifting at sea, it was difficult to survive, let alone find a place. Cao Cang didn't know how to complete the task, but he knew that he could only persevere. If he gave up, there was only one possibility, that is, he died in this operation. The three took turns sleeping and resting.Every time Cao Cang was woken up, it meant another day had passed.When Cao Cang and Ivan were on duty, they would draw a vertical line with coal on the surface of the boiler.When it's Karin's turn to row, he will use a horizontal line to run through the vertical line, which means that a day has passed. When Cao Cang saw the "艹" symbol on the furnace wall and drew more than fifty, they finally waited for a turning point. One day, the sound of "bang bang" came from the outside of the ship, which was very rhythmic, which was artificial percussion. "Are you still alive?" someone outside shouted, speaking in English. Cao Cang immediately opened the hatch and ran to the deck.Ivan and Karin also woke up from their sleep immediately and ran out. Standing on the deck, Cao Cang saw eight people standing on the ice beside the ship, beside them there was a pile of cube objects, very conspicuous in the pure white world. The man at the head was beating the hull of the ship with an iron implement. Seeing these people, Cao Cang, Karin, and Ivan couldn't wait to cheer.