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Chapter 53 Triumph of Karidasha

fountain of heaven 阿瑟·克拉克 3642Words 2018-03-14
In the last days of the last short summer on Earth, before the equator went into ice, an emissary from the home planet of the starcraft arrived at Mount Yakkajara. This messenger has the ability to dominate the transformation of matter, and he took the appearance of human beings not long ago.His resemblance to human beings can be said to be astonishing if one ignores some trivial details; however, the ten children on earth who accompanied the alien always looked at him in disbelief. He eats and laughs non-stop. "What are you laughing at?" he asked in a barely accented tone.However, the children made up their minds and were unwilling to explain clearly to this alien whose eyesight is completely in the mid-infrared region of the spectrum: human skin is definitely not made up of green, red, blue spots and other messy things of.Even when the outsider threatened to instantly turn into a dinosaur and eat the children whole, the children refused to satisfy his curiosity.The children even looked to him—a creature who had traveled dozens of light-years to come here, and who was erudite about the knowledge of the three thousand years on the earth! ——Pointed out that if he wanted to become a huge dinosaur, his total material of only about a hundred kilograms might not be enough.

The Outsider did not pick a fight with the children—his patience was excellent, and the physical and psychological state of these children on Earth was an interesting study object for him.In fact, this is true of the children of all living beings of all kinds—certainly of those that have children.After studying nine such biological forms, the aliens can almost imagine what it means to develop, grow, reach maturity, die... .But only "almost", not completely. Unfolded before ten humans and one non-human was an empty land; its once lush fields and forests had been destroyed by the cold winds from the north and south poles.The graceful coconut palms disappeared long ago, and even the stout pines that replaced them were reduced to skeletal trunks, their roots frozen in permafrost.Life on the surface was gone; only in the depths of the oceans, where the earth's internal heat still prevented the formation of ice, a few blind and long-starved creatures crawled, swam, and devoured each other.

However, for a creature born on a planet that periodically revolves around a dim red dwarf star, the sunlight pouring down from a clear sky is unbearably bright.Although a severe "disease" wounded the heart of the sun a thousand years ago and robbed it of all its warmth, its fierce cold rays still illuminate the "battlefield" where the forces of nature wrestle for a long time. ’, causing blinding flashes of advancing ice. The children were full of excitement and looked very proud of the festival of life, and the sub-zero temperature had a stimulating effect on them.They danced naked in the snowdrifts, kicking up shiny dust with their bare feet.The mischievous behavior of the children forces the electronic protection system they are equipped to issue a warning from time to time: "Don't damage the temperature sensor!" After all, the children are still too young to freeze without the help of adults. It is impossible to restore the function of the limbs...

The eldest of the boys made a fine show: after declaring himself the element of fire (a term that the Outsider took note of to study it later, but the results led him to a dead end), he Launched an attack on the severe cold.Where the little blowhard stood, all that could be seen for a moment was steam and flames rolling like ancient pipe fires; It's like ignoring this kind of not-so-great performance. But, to the Outsider, the show reminded him of a most interesting anomaly.Why are these people always retreating to the planets near the sun, instead of fighting the cold with the strength they now possessed like their brethren on Mars?He has not yet received a satisfactory answer to this question.He could not help thinking of Aristotle's arcane statement; it was a pity that Aristotle was not here, otherwise dealing with it would have been so easy.

"Any choice has a certain time." The brain of the world (that is, Aristotle, which stores a lot of information.) explained: "Sometimes you need to fight against nature, and sometimes you need to listen to nature True wisdom lies in making the right choices. When winter is over one day, humanity will return to a restored Earth." It is for this reason that, in the course of the last few centuries, the entire population of the Earth has ascended into the air through these space-orbital towers on the equator, and then flew towards the sun: to the young oceanic Mercury on Venus Fertile plains in temperate regions.After five hundred years, when the sun recovers, the exiles will return to their hometown.Mercury will become an uninhabited area except for the two poles, while Venus will remain as a place where human beings often live. The grim fact that "the sun is gradually going out" provides a motivation for human beings to conquer the lifeless world beyond the earth, and the development of science and technology provides this possibility.

Of course, all of these things are of great importance to human beings, but not of direct concern to the guest; his main interest lies in the more subtle realms of human civilization and human society.Every rational biological form is unique; they all have their own inherent strengths and weaknesses.In the solar system, the alien gained the concept of "negative information" that made him lose confidence.In Earth terms, "negative information" refers to: humor, fantasy, fiction. After being exposed to this strange phenomenon, the alien said to himself more than once: "We will never really understand human beings." At the beginning, he was so uncomfortable that he was afraid that he would Involuntarily becoming another image, resulting in various unpleasant consequences.Since then, however, he has come a long way; he always vividly remembers the satisfaction he felt when he first learned to joke and all the children were amused.

Studying human beings through their children is also what Aristotle suggested to him: "There is an old proverb that children are the ancestors of mankind. Although the biological concept of 'fathers' is equally important to both of us." Not applicable, but in the context of the proverb, the noun has a double meaning..." Therefore, the outsider hopes that children can help him deepen his understanding of adults, because children are gradually becoming adults.Sometimes they say positive things, and even when they are amused (again, a not so simple concept) and send "negative messages", the aliens are not discouraged by this.

But it also happens that neither a child, nor an adult, nor even Aristotle can tell the truth.It often turns out that there is an extended lineage between absolute fantasy and unshakable fact, yet with all the conceivable minor differences of a transitional nature.At one end of the spectrum are such historical figures as Columbus, Leonard, Einstein, Lenin, Newton, Washington, etc., who in many cases even left voices and images behind.At the other end of the spectrum are Zeus, Alisa, King Kong, Gulliver, etc., who cannot exist in the real world anyway.But where do Robin Hood, Tarsan, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sherlock Holmes, Odysseier, Frankenstein, etc. belong?You must know that if some insinuation and attachment are allowed to some extent, then it is entirely possible for them to be found in real life...

For three thousand years, the "Elephant Throne" has hardly changed, but it has never had the opportunity to receive such a strange guest.While looking to the south, Tianwaike compared the 500-meter-thick hollow cylindrical tower stretching from the top of the mountain to the technological achievements of other worlds.For such a young creature-form as a human being on Earth, the cylindrical tower he created was probably enough to impress his guests.Although it looks like it is about to fall from the sky, it has actually been standing for fifteen centuries. It goes without saying that the original shape was not what it is today.It is now a space city at the nearest hundred kilometers to the earth (some of its spacious floors are still full of people), and at some point, on its sixteen pairs of tracks, a million passengers.Only two of these roads were navigable now; and in a few hours the Outerworlder, with his vigorous entourage, would be flying upward through the great tower of corrugated cylinders and back to the ring city round the earth.

The alien adjusted his eyesight to the level of the telescope, and gazed toward the lofty zenith.Yes, it was it that they saw--it was not easy to see by day, but it could be seen at night, when the sun's shadows were shining around it still brightly. It's clear.What appears to be a luminous band cutting the sky in half is actually a whole world where half a billion people have chosen to live in eternal weightlessness. It was there, near the Ring City, that the probe that had flown the Angel of Heaven and all the rest of its crew across the interstellar abyss was moored.Preparations are now under way for the craft to fly again—not in any particular rush, but always years in advance—with the next leg of the voyage to last six hundred years.Of course, to the extraterrestrial, this time does not matter anyway: he does not intend to transform into some other form again until the end of the trip.But now, in the pursuit of his ultimate goal, he now faces perhaps the most critical juncture of his long life, for the interstellar probe is "dead"—at least silently—it is barely Strong to reach our planetary system.This is the first time this has happened.It is very likely that the probes have finally met the mysterious ones who have left their traces in so many worlds, and have also been unbelievably close to the "source of all things".If an alien can feel admiration or awe, then, as long as he imagines his future six centuries later, he will undoubtedly feel both admiration and awe.

However, the extraterrestrials are standing on the snow-covered peak of Yakkajara Mountain at the moment, far away from the human road leading to the stars.He greeted the children Munks (who always knew when he really needed them to be obedient) to him, and pointed to the mountain towering in the south. "You know very well," he said in a tone of great excitement (of which he was only partly feigned): "the first Earthport was built on a later date than this ruined palace. Two thousand years later..." All the children nodded in agreement. "But why..." The Outer Spaceman asked, scanning the route from the zenith to the top of the mountain with his eyes: "Why do you call this cylindrical tower Karidasha tower?"
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