Chapter 19 Section VI

The design work of the panoramic model of the New Garden of Eden is arranged in the large conference hall, with a scale of 1:2000.The Earth-like residential area occupies an area of ​​160 square kilometers in the central Rama Plain.The scale of the New Eden model in the living simulation area is astonishing.It is equipped in a huge single room, and the designer can freely walk back and forth in any one of the structures.Hawkman uses his voice to control the changes in the computer-aided design program. "We changed our minds again," Nicole said, looking at some buildings in the center of the residential area, and started the third round of marathon design discussions with Hawkman, "Now we don't think it's good to have everything in one place Richard and I think that it is more reasonable to disperse the residential area and commercial shopping area in the village at the corner of the rectangle, and it is more appropriate to put the public building facilities in the residential area in the center."

"Of course, our new proposal will completely overturn the traffic flow we discussed yesterday." Richard added, "There will also be changes to the specific design of the park, including Lion Dragon Forest, Shakespeare Lake and Olympic Mountain, but New Eden will retain all of the original designs. Take a look at this sketch and you can see where we've changed." Hawkman looked helplessly at his human helper.He stared at the map on Richard's electronic notepad for a while and said, "I hope this is the last big change. If we completely overturn our original design every time, we will get nowhere."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Nicole said, "but it did take us a while to understand the importance of this matter. Now I know that we are designing a living environment for two thousand people to live in for a long time. To make this environment Well, we have to think over and over again, so we have to use some time to make changes." "I see that you have added some buildings to the central complex," Eagle said. "What are the buildings behind these libraries and concert halls used for?" "It's the Sports Center and the Recreation Center," Nicole replied, "We shall have a par track, softball field, soccer field, hockey field, gymnasium, and a swimming pool, and each field shall have seating for all the residents. Richard and I think physical activity will be very important in New Eden."

"You have also expanded the size of the hotel and the school..." “We were very focused on creating a space that we really lived in,” Richard interjected. “We designed the floors we were going to use, and the allocation of space to begin with was too conservative.” The first two design sessions lasted 10 hours.At first Richard and Nicole were amazed at how quickly the Hawkman could work with them, and he incorporated their input into the specific design.But by the third discussion, they were no longer so satisfied with the combined speed and precision of Hawkman's response to their proposal.The alien eagle sometimes surprises them.He showed a keen interest in the details of human culture.For example, when Nicole told him that the new residential area should have a name, he would carefully ask what "New Eden" meant and what special meaning it had.

"The name of the new residential area was discussed by our whole family." Richard explained, "We have many good suggestions, and most of the names come from human history and culture. Utopia is our preferred name, but after careful consideration , everyone thinks that New Eden is our best choice." "Did you know?" Nicole added, "the myth of the Garden of Eden was the origin of what we call modern Western culture. It was a lush and lush paradise designed for mankind by God, the supreme authority in the universe. The original Life forms were abundant in Eden, but primitive and untechnical."

"The New Eden is also a new beginning, but from every angle, it is completely different from the ancient Eden. Except for us humans, the New Eden is a technological miracle without life forms." After completing the main plan of the residential area, they still need to decide on hundreds of details.Katie and Patrick were tasked with designing the parks surrounding the four villages.Although the children have never seen a single plant or tree, never witnessed a real flower or a real tree, they have seen many movies and a lot of photos.In the end, they finally completed the design of four parks with different styles and high taste, and also designed quiet sidewalks for each village.

"Where do we get the flowers and plants?" Katie asked the Hawkman. "Someone will be brought from Earth for us," replied the Hawkman. "How do they know what to bring here?" "We'll tell them." Katie found that an important part of the design had been overlooked, an important part of the stories her mother used to tell her bedside when she was a child. "I've never seen a zoo, can we have one in New Eden?" Katie asked. Therefore, Yingren added a small zoo at the edge of Shilong Forest. Richard and Hawkman worked together on nearly every technical detail related to New Eden.Nicole is responsible for the design of the living environment.At first, Hawkman suggested that all houses should be designed with the same furnishings. Nicole thought this proposal was ridiculous: "Obviously you have never studied us as a species. Human beings must pursue diversity, otherwise our life will be boring." Fuck. Even if all the houses were built the same way, the people who live there would change them immediately."

Due to limited time, Nicole only designed eight basic housing schemes and four furniture arrangements, as well as thirty-two living areas in the residential area.Nicole finally designed the buildings of the four villages in a variety of ways, achieving the goal of being both non-uniform and original, and creating a good living space. Richard also proposed that there should be changes in the length of day and night, four seasons, and weather in the residential area.Hawkman said the variety of changes to the original design to increase the air in the living area would result in the use of more "programme resources."Hawkman also said that this may need to be restructured and tested, and this change will cause a delay in the departure time.Nicol also insists on the need for weather, seasonal changes, and explains to Hawkman that human behavior is largely dependent on both.

Finally, they came up with a compromise: the length of day and night changes in a year according to the design of the place on the earth where the latitude is 30 degrees.The weather in New Eden is allowed to vary naturally within the specified range, and the master controller only works when the environmental conditions reach the edge limit of the "design box".In this way, temperature, wind, and rainfall can all fluctuate freely within the allowed range.However, Hawkman insisted on not making concessions on two of them, that is, lightning and ice and snow are never allowed.Once these two phenomena appear, all indicators will be controlled by the "design box", which will automatically grasp and regulate the weather conditions.

Hawkman initially wanted to keep the Rama robot from the first two missions, but Richard and Nicole emphasized to him that robotic creatures like crabs, spiders, centipedes, and praying mantises were completely inappropriate. "The astronauts on the first two Rama missions cannot be regarded as ordinary people," Nicole explained. "In fact, we have been specially trained to deal with various complex machines, but your machine creatures do take We're terrified. Ordinary people in New Eden won't feel at ease with your strange mechanical contraptions." After several hours of discussion, Hawkman agreed to redesign the appearance of the robotic creature.For example: a robot that looks like a garbage truck on Earth can be used to pick up garbage, but it doesn't need a driver.Construction work could be done by robots that appear to be Earth-based construction vehicles.These strange robots will appear in a familiar appearance to humans, so as not to cause people to panic.

At the end of the meeting, Yingren asked: "How do daily activities be completed? We have thought about making machine creatures like humans and letting them share your daily trivial work. After you participated in the design, we have considered it many times. " Richard admired Hawkman's point of view, but Nicole disagreed."The robots have to be recognizable at a glance, and they have to be distinguishable from real people by anyone, including children," she said. Richard couldn't help laughing: "You read too many science fiction novels." "No, that might cause trouble," retorted Niccol, "I can imagine the quality of the robots that Nord can make. Now we're talking about these robots without minds of their own that will appear in Ramari ... how scary it would be if people couldn't tell the difference between a real person and a robot." "Then, we can limit the types of robots," said Richard, "and divide them into different functions. Are you satisfied? It would be a pity not to take advantage of these incredible technologies. " Nicole said: "That's okay. To design an easy-to-distinguish standard, you must ensure that there is no incident of identifying the wrong person." After weeks of hard work, they finally completed most of the major design work.Nicole and Richard's work load suddenly eased, and they could stay with the children and Michael again and lead a so-called normal life. One night, Hawkman visited their home and informed them that New Eden had entered the final testing phase and was now undergoing new computer tests for monitoring and control capabilities in possible emergencies. "By the way," Hawkman went on, "we've added gas exchangers everywhere, in Shilong Forest, in parks, around lakes, and around mountain peaks, wherever Earth plants might grow. They're like Like plants, absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which can prevent the high carbon dioxide content in the air after a long time and destroy the effectiveness of the weather system. The operation of the gas exchange device requires energy, so we have redesigned the energy system of the residential area. Once the plants After flourishing, the gas exchanger will be removed and there will be enough energy for normal life at that time." "Okay, Mr. Hawkman," Katie said, "we're all concerned about when we're going?" "I'll tell you about Christmas," Hawkman replied.He smiled, the corners of his mouth crinkled. "It's only two days until Christmas!" "Tell us now, please, Mr. Hawkman," Patrick said. "Okay...okay," said their alien friend, "we hope to finish redesigning Rama in Hangar on January 11th. Two days later, on January 13th, we will take your manned spacecraft from Nord goes." "Only three weeks," thought Nicole.After learning the exact time of their departure, her heart was pounding with tension. "There are still many things to do." She glanced at the room, where Michael and Simone were leaning against each other on the sofa. "My beautiful daughter, the first thing to do is to get married for you." "We're planning to have your wedding on your birthday, mother," said Simone. "We've always wanted to have it a week before you leave." Tears welled up in Nicole's eyes.She lowered her head not to let the children see her tears. "I can't bear to say goodbye to you. I'm not ready," she thought. "I can't bear not to see Simone again." The family was playing a game in the living room, and Nicole left temporarily under the pretext of helping the Hawkman revise some final designs, but her real purpose was to be alone for a while and arrange her life in Nord for the last three weeks.During dinner, she also kept thinking about what she should do, afraid that there was not enough time to forget something.She made a list of things she would do and when.Looking at the task list, she felt much more relaxed. In the list displayed on the electronic notepad, there is a task written completely in bold capital letters - "Ben".Sitting on the edge of the bed thinking about her flawed older son, Nicole blamed herself for not fixing the problem sooner.At this moment Nicole heard a loud knock at the door and she opened it—an incredible coincidence. "Mom...Mom," Ben said slowly with an innocent smile on his face, "Can I talk to you?" He thought for a while, and then said, "Right now?" "Of course, my dear," replied Nicole, "come in and sit next to me." Ben went into the room and sat down beside his mother.He threw his arms around her, then looked down at his knees, looking hesitant.A fierce ideological struggle was going on in his heart. "Are you and Richard and the rest of the - kids going - away for a - long time?" said Ben. "That's right," Nicole replied with mocked ease. "Papa-papa and Simone-Simone are going to stay here and get-married?" There is obviously a lot hidden behind this problem.Ben looked up, waiting for Nicole's confirmation.Nicole nodded.Tears welled up in Ben's eyes immediately, his face contorted in pain. "What about Ben--Ben?" he cried. "Ben--what happens?" Nicole took her son's head and put it on her shoulders, and the mother and son cried together.Ben was trembling with sobs.Nicole blamed herself deeply. "Yeah, it's been too long," she thought. "He's always known, since we first talked. He's been waiting, hoping someone needs him." "It's your choice, dear," said Nicole, trying to control herself. "We'd love you to come with us, and your father and Simone would be glad you stayed here with them." Ben stared at his mother incredulously, Nicole repeated slowly. "Is what you--told me true?" asked Ben. Nicole nodded vigorously. Ben smiled, looking away from his mother's face.After a long silence he summoned up his courage and said, "There's no-nobody here to play with me. Simone's going to be with Pa--Papa too." His eyes were still fixed on the wall. Nicole was amazed that Ben had summed up his situation so accurately.He sat there, expecting. "Stay with us," Nicole said softly. "Your Uncle Richard, Katie, Patrick, Ellie and I all love you very much, and we want you to be with us." Ben turned to look at his mother, tears welling up in his eyes. "I want to be with you, ma-mum," he said, resting his head on Nicole's shoulder. "He's made up his mind." Nicole hugged Ben tightly. "He's smarter than we thought. He's just here to make sure he's wanted."