Chapter 17 fourth quarter

"Mom, Dad, wake up, I want to talk to you." Nicole is dreaming: she is walking in the woods behind her house; spring is here and the flowers are blooming.It took Nicole a few seconds to wake up and see Simone sitting on their bed. Richard leaned forward and kissed his daughter's forehead. "What's the matter, dear?" he asked. "When Uncle Michael prayed with me in the morning, I could feel his pain." Simone's calm eyes moved back and forth between the parents. "He told me everything you talked about with the Eagles yesterday." Nicole stood up quickly, and Simone continued: "I have thought about everything carefully, and I have thought about it for more than an hour. I understand that in your eyes I am just a 13-year-old girl, but I believe there is a solution to the problem. I have come up with a great distribution that is sure to please everyone in the family."

"My dear Simone," Nicole replied, putting her arms around her daughter, "it is not your duty to solve this problem..." "No, mother," Simone interrupted Nicole politely, "listen to me, my method is beyond the imagination of you grown-ups, it's just my idea. To everyone related to this For people, this is the best way." Richard frowned and said, "What are you talking about?" Simone took a deep breath: "I want to stay in Nord with Uncle Michael. I will be his wife and we will be what the Eagles call 'the man and woman who breed the next generation'. There is no need to stay Leave the rest. Michael and I would be very happy if Ben was with us."

"What?" Richard yelled, never expecting his daughter to say such a thing, "Uncle Michael is 72 years old, and you are not yet 14! It's ridiculous..." Richard paused. The son stopped himself and fell silent. His daughter, the mature little woman, smiled and said, "Absurd? Is it more absurd than Hawkman? We have traveled to a place 8 light years away from the earth and encountered a triangular alien body full of intelligence. Now we Is there anything more absurd than that some of them will sail in the opposite direction?" Nicole looked at her daughter in admiration, said nothing, could not say anything.She stretched out her arms and held her daughter tightly in her arms, letting the tears flow.

"It's going to be all right, mother," said Simone, "and when you get over the shock, you'll realize that my advice is the best one so far. If you and Dad are going to make this return trip together— I think you should stay together - it's just me or Katie or Ellie staying in Nord and having a baby with Patrick or Ben or Uncle Michael. Genetically, it can only be me or Katie with Uncle Michael. All I've thought about all the possibilities, Michael and I are very close, we share the same religion. If we stay and marry and have kids, other people will have the freedom to choose whether to stay here with us or be with us. You return to the solar system together."

Simone put her hand on Dad's shoulder and said, "Dad, I know this is going to be harder for you than it is for Mum in many ways. I haven't mentioned my idea to Uncle Michael, who will certainly not approve of it." .If you and Mom don't support me, this can't happen. Even if you don't object, this marriage is hard enough for Michael." Richard shook his head. "You are incredible, Simone." He hugged his daughter. "Please let me think about it. You have to promise me that you won't say another word until I talk to your mother about it, okay. ?"

"I promise," said Simone. "Thank you very much, Mom and Dad. I love you!" She added as she walked out of their bedroom, stopping by the door. Simone turned and walked into the bright hall.Her shiny black hair flowed back and forth from her waist. "You are already a woman." Looking at Simone's graceful steps, Nicole thought, "You have matured, not only physically, but in many ways beyond your actual age." Nicole imagines Simone and Michael as husband and wife and suddenly discovers that this is not unacceptable.Of course, Nicole also realized that Michael would definitely object to this proposal. "Your choice is the most satisfactory in our difficult circumstances, Simone," said Nicole to herself.

Michael was adamantly opposed to Simone's proposal, which he called a "martyrdom proposal".Yet Simone's determination remained unwavering, and she patiently explained to Michael that their marriage was the only possibility.The first is that, as everyone knows, Katie and Michael are completely incompatible personalities, and Katie is just a little girl now--a little girl who is not fully developed and will take a year or two to fully mature.The second is that Simone would never marry her half-brother for incest. Michael saw that he really had no choice, and Nicole and Richard had little objection before reluctantly agreeing.Richard said he had agreed "under the extraordinary circumstances".Michael could sense that Simone's father had simply been forced to accept the idea of ​​marrying his thirteen-year-old daughter to a man good enough to be her grandfather.

The children were all involved in the discussions and within a week a decision was made: Katie, Patrick and Ellie might join Richard and Nicole for this return trip.Patrick was reluctant to leave his dad, but Michael kindly told his 6-year-old son that it could be a "more fun and fulfilling" experience.All that's left is Ben, who can barely comprehend what's going on with the family when the sweet little boy, with the intelligence of a three-year-old, is told to choose between returning to Rama or staying in Nord, And obviously do not intend to make such a major choice.The whole family's decision frightened him, and he was completely confused.Ben was distraught and in great pain.In the end, the family decided to discuss Ben's fate later.

"There is still one and a half to two days before we should set off for Rama to participate in the redesign." Hawkman said to Michael and the children, "Rama is already waiting for us 10,000 kilometers away from us." .” "I'd like to go too," Katie said impatiently. "I've got some good ideas for the Earth model, too." "You'll be part of the future programming," Richard assured Katie, "and we'll design with people next to us, in the conference room." After saying goodbye to everyone, Richard, Nicole and Hawkman walked into the hall together and changed into special clothes.As they passed the common area, Nicole sensed that Richard was extra excited and excited, and said, "You're adventurous, aren't you, dear?"

Richard nodded. "I think this is what Goethe said: people have four needs—love, adventure, power, and fame. For me, adventure is very important." They got into a waiting airship with the Hawkman, the roof closed.As before, they arrived at the transit center without seeing anything. "Adventure is important to me, too," thought Nicole. "Before, when I was young, reputation was my paramount aim," she smiled to herself. "And now the most important thing to me is love. . . What a boring life of change." The airship was the same as the one they had come to Nord.Hawkman sat in front, Nicole and Richard behind.Looking back at the bright triangle with its three spheres and transport channels, they were thrilled.

They headed for Sirius, the bright star that shone brightly in the sky around Nord. "How did you choose this position for Nord?" Richard asked Hawkman after an hour and a half of flight. "What does that mean?" Hawkman asked. "Why here? Why in Sirius and not elsewhere?" Yingman smiled: "This place is only temporary, we will start changing locations as soon as Rama leaves." Richard was even more confused. "You mean the whole Nord moves?" He turned around, looked at the triangle that appeared and disappeared in the distance, and asked, "Where is the propulsion system?" "Each section has small propulsion systems, but these are used only in emergencies. Transportation between the various locations is accomplished by means of what you call tugboats - these tugboats are fixed to the sides of the sphere and provide the required change in acceleration .” Nicole was a little worried when he thought of Michael and Simone."Where is Nord going?" she asked. "Not very clear," Hawkman replied vaguely, "this process is a random function, depending on the circumstances of each step." After a moment of silence, Hawkman continued, "When we are on a mission somewhere When complete, the entire Nord, Hanga, and Weiss stations will be moved to another area of ​​interest to us." Richard and Nicole looked at each other silently in the backseat.It was difficult for them to understand how important what the Eagle Man said was. "It's incredible that the whole Nord is moving!" Richard decided to change the subject. "What do you think defines a spacefarer?" he asked Hawkman. "A person or thing, by itself or through his (or its) robotic agents, who ventures out of the living space of the planet on which he (or it) itself resides and ventures into space. If the planet on which he (or it) lives has no air, or if the If a species does not have a planetary home of its own, then the definition will be more complicated." "You mean highly intelligent creatures that evolved in a vacuum? How is this possible?" "You are fanatics of the air," said the Hawkman, "and you, like all creatures, have limited the development of your own minds, always thinking that life is going on in an environment similar to yours." After a pause, Richard asked, "How many distant space travel species are there in our galaxy?" "This is one of the subjects of our research, and we also want to get an accurate answer to this question. Remember, there are more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and about a quarter of the stars have planetary systems around them. If a million If there is only one planet in each star as the home of spacefarers, then there are 25,000 faraway races in our galaxy alone." Hawkman turned and looked at Nicole and Richard: "The estimated number of spacefarers in the Milky Way and their distribution density are all third-level information. But I can tell you one thing: in the Milky Way In some regions of dense life, the average number of space travelers is quite large." Richard whistled. "It's astonishing!" he said excitedly to Nicole. "It means that we were created by a miracle of local evolution, which is very common in the universe. Species like ours must be among the unique ones." species because of our ability to shape our world and at the same time understand it and fit into its general arrangement." Nicole was lost in thought, recalling the photos she and Katie had seen in the Octopus Cave Museum a few years ago.At that time, it was difficult for her to understand the grandeur of the universe, but at this moment she realized that the pursuit and understanding of knowledge by human beings is just a drop in the ocean. Compared with the understanding of every sentient creature in the universe, how poor human knowledge is!