Chapter 37 Chapter 35 Military Intelligence Conference

No one is asking for a re-download, once is enough. There was a brief silence after the download ended.Chairman Dr. O'Connor took off the head cap, massaged her shiny scalp, and said slowly: "You taught me an idiom from your time, which seems to be very suitable for the current situation. It's a 'hot potato.'" "But it was Bowman-Harman who threw it," one of the members said. "Does he really understand how something as complicated as a slate works? Or is this whole scenario just figment of his imagination?" "I don't think he has much imagination," Dr. O'Connor replied. "Everything fits, especially the part about Scorpio Nova. We assumed it was an accident, but it's clearly a—judgment."

"First Jupiter, now Scorpio Nova," Dr. Clausmann said.He is a famous physicist, recognized as the reincarnation of the legendary Einstein.But there are also rumors that minor plastic surgery has made him look even better. "Whose turn will it be next?" "We've been guessing," said the chairman, "that the slates are watching us." She paused for a moment, then added sadly, "It's our bad luck—it's bad luck—that the report turns out to be the most recent in human history." Send out the bad times!" There was another silence.As we all know, the 20th century is often called "the tragic century".

Poole listened quietly without speaking, waiting for a consensus to emerge.It was not the first time that the quality of the committee had left him in awe.Nobody wants to prove their beloved theories, or criticize other people's arguments, or self-aggrandizement.In his day, he couldn't help but draw comparisons to the fiery debates between NASA's engineers and managers, members of Congress, and industry leaders. Yes, there is no doubt that mankind has progressed.The brain cap not only helps to remove the chaff, but also greatly improves the efficiency of education.But there are gains and losses, and there are very few memorable characters in this society.He could only think of four at the moment: Indira, Captain Chandler, Dr. Khan, and the Dragon Lady from his wistful memory.

The chairman asked everyone to discuss back and forth calmly, and she didn't start to summarize until everyone had spoken. "The obvious first question is: How seriously should we take this threat? It's not worth wasting time at all. Even if it was a false alarm or a misunderstanding, its potential danger is too high, we have to assume it is real No, unless we have absolute proof to the contrary. Agree? "Fine, and we don't know how much time we have. So we have to assume that this crisis is imminent. Perhaps Harman can give us further warnings, but by then it may be too late.

"So the only thing we have to decide is: How do we protect ourselves against something as powerful as a slate? Look at what happened to Jupiter! And obviously Scorpio Nova... "I'm sure brute force is useless, but we should explore the feasibility of that as well. Dr. Clausmann—how long would it take to make a super bomb?" "Assuming all designs are 'saved' and no further research is needed - about two weeks. Thermonuclear weapons are simple and made of common materials - after all, they were manufactured in the second millennium It's out! But if you want something smarter—like an antimatter bomb or a micro black hole, well, that might take months."

"Thank you, can you please start immediately? But as I said, I don't believe it will be useful. A thing that can master such a powerful force must be able to resist those weapons. Do you have any other suggestions?" "Can't we negotiate?" one committee member asked without much hope. "With what...with whom?" Clausmann replied. "Basically, as far as we know, the slate is a purely mechanical structure that does what it is programmed to do. Perhaps there is some flexibility in the programming, but we have no way of knowing." .We certainly can't appeal to 'headquarters', which is 500 light-years away!"

Poole listened in silence, he was of no help in the discussions, in fact he just couldn't understand most of the time.He began to feel more and more frustrated, and he wondered if it would be better if this information was not made public.Then, if it was a false alarm, it couldn't be worse anyway.And if it wasn't... well, no matter what the doom is doomed, human beings at least have peace of mind. He was still chewing on this pessimistic thought, when a familiar sentence suddenly pricked up his ears. A short committee member suddenly dropped a sentence.His name was so long and awkward that Poole could not even remember it, let alone pronounce it.

"Trojan Horse Massacre of the City!" What followed was a period of silence that could be called "brewing", followed by a burst of "I didn't think of it!" "Yes!" "Good idea!"Until the chairman yelled silence for the first time in this meeting. "Thank you, Professor Sirignana Pandamoresy." Dr. O'Connor said verbatim. "Could you be more specific?" "Of course. If the Tablet is basically a mindless machine with limited self-preservation capabilities, as everyone believes, then we may already have enough weapons to defeat it, locked in the 'Chamber of Secrets'."

"The delivery system is - Harman!" "Exactly." "Wait a minute, Dr. Xi. We don't know the structure of the slate, or even know nothing at all. How can we be sure that our primitive human inventions can effectively deal with it?" "No. But you have to remember that no matter how clever the tablet is, it must obey the universal laws of logic written by Aristotle and Boole centuries ago. So what is locked in the secret room may— No, it should! It would kill it. We'll have to juxtapose the things locked in the Chamber so that at least one of them will work. That's our only hope—unless someone comes up with a better idea."

"Excuse me," said Poole at last, losing his patience. "Would anyone be kind enough to tell me what and where is this famous 'chamber' you're talking about?"