Chapter 23 first quarter

"Mrs Walkerfield." The voice seemed to come from far away, calling her softly.Nicole was still awake from her sleep. "Mrs Walkerfield." This time, it was louder.Nicole struggled to open her eyes, remembering where she was now.She moved her body, the foam in the box made her very comfortable, and the memory slowly returned: New Eden, Rama, return to the solar system.Is all this just a dream? Nicole finally opened her eyes, having trouble concentrating for the first few seconds after waking up.It took her a while before she could see clearly that the hunched figure in a nurse's uniform was her mother.

"Mrs Walkerfield," said the man, "it's time to wake up. We have to prepare for our meeting." Nicole was taken aback. "Where am I? What is my mother doing here?" She remembered immediately. "It's a robot. There are five humanoid robots here, and the mother figure is one of them—a healthy Anavi Tiaso." robot figure. Nicole slowly got up from the bed, and the robot held her up with its hands.After a long sleep, the room looked unchanged. "Where are we now?" Nicole asked as she began to crawl out of bed. "We have completed the accelerated entry into your solar system." The robot replied, "We will be able to enter the orbit of Mars in another half a year."

Nicole moves her body.Fortunately, there is no abnormality in the muscles.Before leaving Nord, the Hawkman told them that there are special electronic components in each sleep box, which can not only maintain the normal activity of each person's muscles, prevent the atrophy of biological systems, but also monitor the health of all major organs.Nicole climbed down the ladder by the bed and stood on the floor stretching her arms and moving her body. "What do you think?" the robot asked.This is Anavi Tiaso robot No. 017, and its number is clearly marked on the right shoulder of the uniform.

"Yes," Nicole replied, "Yes, number 017." She looked at the robot carefully, and it did look like her mother. Before leaving Nord, Nicole and Richard had looked at all the robot models, but they had only seen the Benita Garcia robot before going to sleep.All other robots are built and tested on long spaceflights. "It's so like my mother!" Nicole couldn't help sighing, deeply admiring the great masterpieces of the unknown Rama artist. "It's great that they made changes to all the robot models as I suggested." Nicole heard footsteps coming towards her in the distance, she turned around and saw the second Anavi Tiaso No. 017 who was also wearing a white nurse uniform.

"No. 009 was assigned to assist in the completion of the initial procedure," said the Tiaso robot standing next to Nicole. "Appointed by whom?" Nicole asked.She struggled to remember her conversation with Hawkman about the wake-up procedure. "Execute the order according to the pre-edited plan instructions." 017 replied, "After all of you humans wake up, we will follow your command." Richard regained consciousness soon after, but seemed a little awkward as he descended the ladder.Two thiasso robots came to hold him before he fell.Richard was very happy to see his wife.He and Nicole hugged and kissed for a long time.

Richard looked at Nicole and said jokingly: "You still look young. More gray hair, but there are still a few black hairs." Nicole laughed and it was nice to be able to talk to Richard again! Richard continued: "By the way, how long have we been lying in those crazy coffins?" Nicole shrugged and replied, "No, I haven't asked yet. The first thing I do when I wake up is wake you up." Richard turned to the two tiathle robots: "You two kind women, do you know how long we have been away from Nord?" "You have slept in Traveler's Time for 19 years." No. 009 replied.

"Traveler time? What does that mean?" Nicole asked. Richard smiled: "That's a way of saying relativity, my dear. Time can only be expressed when there is a frame of reference. It means that 19 years have passed in Lamari, but this time only fits At……" "Stop it," interrupted Nicole, "I didn't wake up after such a long sleep to hear your relativity lecture. You can tell me that later. I have a more important question, and we What is the procedure for waking the child up?" Richard hesitated for a moment and said, "I have a suggestion. I understand your eagerness to see your children, and I do too. But why don't we let them sleep a little longer? Obviously a few extra hours of sleep won't hurt. They...we have a lot of things to discuss, the children's education plans, etc. Maybe we should really get to know ourselves again."

Nicole really wanted to talk to the kids right away, but her logic told her that Richard's suggestion was the right one.For everything after waking up, the family only made an imperfect plan, because there may be many unexpected things at the time.It might be easier to plan everything before the kids wake up. "Okay," Nicole agreed with Richard's suggestion, "as long as every child is safe and sound, why not?" Nicole said, glancing at the first Tiaso robot. "All the monitor data show that your child didn't show any abnormalities during sleep." The robot replied.

Nicole looked back at Richard, studying his face carefully: it was old, but not as bad as she thought it would be. "Where's your beard?" Nicole exclaimed suddenly.She found her husband's face cleanly shaved. "While you were sleeping yesterday, we shaved and shaved each man," replied No. 009, "We also cut everyone's hair and showered - all according to the pre-set program. .” "Every man?" Nicole repeated the robot's words, a little confused, and then said to herself, "Of course, Ben and Patrick should both be men." She took Richard's hand and walked quickly to Patrick's bedside.The startling face was seen through the small window: her little Patrick was no longer a boy, his figure had grown noticeably taller, and his round face had disappeared.Nicole stared silently at her son.

"His age is equivalent to sixteen or seventeen." No. 017 looked at Nicole's puzzled eyes and said, "Mr. Benjamin O'Toole is still one year older than him. Of course their ages are only approximate. The Eagles have explained to you before leaving Nord that we can stop the aging process in each of you, but not at the same rate. I tell you that Mr. Patrick O'Toole is now sixteen or seventeen years old, referring to the inside of his body Developmental status. We quote this age only to mean their average growth, development and aging.” Nicole and Richard stopped by each child's bed and watched their sleeping children through the window.Nicole kept shaking her head in bewilderment.

When her youngest daughter, Ellie, had turned into a teenage girl, Nicole wondered: "Where are all my little ones?" "We knew all this was going to happen," Richard said quietly, unable to understand Nicole's sense of loss as a mother. "You know what you know," Nicole said, "but it's a whole other thing to see and experience. It's not the feeling that an ordinary mother feels when she suddenly realizes that her children are grown up. What happened to our children Everything about them is astonishing. In the past eleven or twelve years, their intellectual and social development has been interrupted. Now they have the body of an adult and the mind of a child. How can we help them in the rest of the world? How about fully preparing for the meeting with other humans in half a year?" Nicole was completely bewildered and didn't quite understand what Hawkman had told her about the changes in her family, perhaps this unbelievable thing was completely beyond human comprehension and acceptance. Nicole mused, "As their mother, I have so much to do and our time is so limited. Why didn't I arrange this before I left Nord?" Nicole is worried about the development of the children, and Richard stands aside and chats with the two robots.They easily answered all his questions.Through the conversation, Richard was particularly impressed by the physical and psychological capabilities of the robot.Richard asked them: "Does each of you have such a strong memory?" "Only our Tiasuo robot has the detailed health history records of your whole family." No. 009 said, "But each humanoid robot can remember a large amount of basic data. After the first contact with humans, some of the data will be lost. Deleted. When we encounter other humans, all data and information stored in our database related to Hawkman, Nord or you before you wake up will be erased. Only your personal health status information will be kept— —And these materials are only kept by our Tiasuo robot." Nicole had been thinking about Nord, and at this moment, she suddenly asked, "Are you still in contact with the Eagles?" "No." No. 017 replied, "Eagle and other representatives of Nord intelligence only periodically supervised our mission. It is quite safe. Once Rama left Hanga, we had no direct contact with them." .You, us, and Rama will act alone until the mission is completed." Katie stood in front of the full-length mirror and looked at her naked body.It has been a month since she woke up, but she is still unfamiliar with the changes in her body.She loved touching her body, the way her fingers slid across her body.At night, she lay alone on the bed and touched her body, feeling extremely excited. Her mother explained the phenomenon to her.But the second and third time it came up, Katie felt a little uncomfortable. "Masturbation is a very private thing, honey," Nicole whispered to Katie one night before dinner. "It's something you usually only talk about with your closest friends." Katie would love to talk to her sister Ellie about it, but Ellie isn't helpful at all.Katie had never seen her sister examine her body, not once.Katie thought, "Maybe she doesn't have that at all, and of course she doesn't want to talk about it." "Have you finished your shower yet?" Katie heard Ellie ask her in the next room.Both girls have their own bedroom but share a bathroom. "It's over," Katie answered loudly. Ellie wrapped her body in a towel and went into the bathroom, and glanced at her sister standing naked in front of the mirror.Ellie seemed to want to say something, but stopped talking.She took off the towel she was wearing, stepped carefully through the transparent door, and entered the bathroom. Through the transparent door, Katie looked at her sister Ellie, and at herself in the mirror, comparing their body parts.Katie was very happy with her face and complexion, she was the fairest in the family, even fairer than her father, but Ellie had a much better figure than Katie. One night two weeks later, after reading some old magazines, Katie asked Nicole, "Why do I look like a boy?" "It's hard to explain," Nicole replied, raising his gaze from the book he was reading. "Genetics is a rather complicated subject, much more complicated than Loregor Mendel initially imagined." Nicole thought his words were ridiculous, and realized at once that there was no way Katie could understand. "Katie," Nicole continued in a less professional tone, "each child is a unique combination of the parents' genes, which are contained in molecules called genes. Every parent's Genes come in over a billion different forms, which is why the same parents don't have the same children." Katie frowned, as if expecting another answer.Nicole immediately understood, and she added in a comforting tone: "Also, your figure doesn't look like a boy's. It's more accurate to use 'athletic bodybuilder'." Katie pointed to her younger sister Ellie who was studying hard and said, "From any angle, I don't look like Ellie at all. She has a charming figure, and her breasts are more plump and round than yours." Nicole smiled naturally: "Ellie's figure is indeed very attractive, but yours is also just right, but there is a simple difference." Nicole looked back at her book again, wanting to end this topic. After a while, Katie added, "I rarely find anyone with my body size in these magazines." She held up her electronic notepad, but Nicole didn't look at her. "Did you know, Mom?" Katie continued, "I think something went wrong with Hawkman in my bed, and I was getting hormones that were supposed to be for Patrick and Ben." "Katie, honey," Nicole replied, finally realizing that her daughter was troubled by her size. "Obviously, you grew up according to the genes you had when you were conceived. You are smart and cute. Think about your strengths. Feel better, don't be too hard on your shortcomings, and don't expect yourself to be someone else." After waking up from a long sleep, the conversation between mother and daughter is like this.Katie felt that her mother didn't understand her, so she always gave her lectures and told her some famous aphorisms, such as "Life is not just about feeling good about yourself" and so on, which are often in Katie's ears.Also, her mom used to show her admiration for Ellie, things like "What a good student Ellie is, she's a late start..." "Ellie is always helpful." "Why can't you just be patient with Ben Son, like Ellie?" Katie lay in bed one night, thinking to herself, and sighing.She had just had an argument with her sister, and her mother was always blaming her. "So it was Simone, and now it's Ellie again! Mom and I never had a chance to communicate, we're so different, I better stop arguing with her." Katie thought sullenly, "Fortunately, there are some things I don't need Her help." She stroked her body. "Richard," said Nicole one night six weeks before Mars. "Yeah, yeah." He replied slowly, already asleep. "I'm worried about Katie," she said. "I'm glad the other kids are improving, especially Ben. But I'm really worried about Katie." "What on earth are you worried about?" said Richard, resting his head on one hand. "Mostly her attitude. Katie is very self-centered, short-tempered, impatient with the other kids, and even Patrick annoys her. She fights with me a lot about nonsensical issues. I think she's on her own now. Staying in the room for too long." "She's just boring and dull," Richard replied. "Nicole, don't forget this: Physically she's a young woman of twenty, old enough to fall in love and live on her own. There's no her here. Her peers... You have to admit that sometimes we treat her like 12-year-olds." Nicole said nothing.Touching her arm, Richard said: "We've known for a long time that Katie is the most sensitive, excitable child. Unfortunately, she's so much like me." "But you can focus on subjects that interest you," Nicole said, "and Katie is less constructive than destructive...Really, Richard, I wish you could talk to her. I'm terrified that we'll make trouble when we meet other humans." "What do you think I can say to her?" said Richard after a moment's silence. "Tell her that life isn't one stimulus after another? Why should I tell her to step out of her room, out of her fantasy world? Her fantasy world might be more interesting. Unfortunately for a young woman, there's nothing exciting about New Eden." "I hope you understand," Nicole replied, looking a little annoyed. "I need your help, Richard. Katie has been much nicer to you." Richard was silent again.He said impatiently, "Okay. I'll take Katie for a paddle tomorrow, she loves it, and then I'll tell her to think about the rest of the family." "Very good, great," said Richard, looking at Patrick's notebook.He looked at Patrick, who was sitting across from him, and continued, "You're a fairly quick learner and very gifted at mathematics. When there are other humans in New Eden, you can take college courses—at least courses like mathematics and physics. " "But my mother said my English wasn't very good," Patrick said. "My mother said my composition was written by a child." Nicole came out of the kitchen, heard them talking, and said, "Patrick, dear. Garcia 041 said you didn't take your composition seriously enough. I know you can't learn all your lessons overnight, But I don't want you to be embarrassed when you see other humans." “I prefer math and physics, though,” Patrick argues. “Our Einstein robot says it can teach me calculus in three or four weeks—if I’m not allowed to take so many courses.” They were talking when the front door burst open and Katie and Ellie rushed in.Katie's face was radiant. "Sorry we're late," she said, "but we had a great day." She turned to Patrick, and continued, "I drove the speedboat across Lake Shakespeare myself, and we left the Garcia robot on the shore .” Obviously Ellie's face was not so happy, and she looked a little angry. "Are you all right, dear?" Nicole said to the younger daughter.Katie was relishing telling her family about their adventures on the lake. Allie nodded at her mother and said nothing. Katie is still bragging about her adventures: "The most exciting thing was us speeding across the lake on the waves. Boom-boom, the waves bounced us over and over again and sometimes I felt like I was flying." After a while Nicole said, "Those boats aren't toys!" and she called the family to the feeding table for supper. Ben was fingering the salad in the kitchen and was the last to be seated. After the family sat down, Nicole asked Katie, "What will you do if the boat capsizes?" "Garcia robots will come to save us," Katie replied arrogantly. "Three Garcia robots are watching us from the shore...that's their job after all. Besides, we are all wearing life vests, and I also can swim." "But your sister won't!" said Nicole quickly, in a rather stern voice, "and you know she'll be terrified if she falls into the lake!" Katie was about to argue with her mother when Richard interrupted and changed the subject.Rama had entered Mars orbit a month earlier, and with no sign that anyone was coming to meet them from Earth, the family was restless.Nicole always thought they would meet their human friends as soon as they entered Mars orbit. After dinner, the family went to Richard's small observatory to observe Mars.This observation post is connected to all of Rama's external sensors.Ben especially enjoyed watching these with Richard, proudly pointing out where the Tassex volcanic area was, where was the Canyon of the Mariners, and where the Kryce area was where the Viking spaceship first landed two years ago. "What if other Earthlings don't come?" Katie asked, "Mom, please give us a straight answer this time, after all, we are not children anymore." Nicole ignored Katie's provocation. "If I remember correctly, our plan is to wait in the orbit of Mars for half a year." Nichol said, "If we don't see other humans during this period, Rama will head towards the earth." After a while She added, "Neither your father nor I know what's going to happen. Hawkman said he'll let us know if the emergency plan is going to be called." A large display on the wall shows different images of Mars' rotation.The room was extremely quiet, and no one made a sound. "Where's the Earth?" Ben asked. "The planet behind Mars and very close to the sun," Richard replied. "Remember, the lineup of planets I showed you on this computer?" "That's not what I mean," said Ben slowly. "I want to see Earth." It was a simple request, but Richard didn't know how to answer it.He has brought the whole family here many times, and the children are more interested in the blue light in the Martian night sky. "Earth cannot be seen clearly at this distance." Richard said, searching the database for the correct sensor output. "In fact, the earth looks a lot like other bright objects, such as Sirius." Richard still couldn't make it out.So, he fixed the position of the earth in the determined astronomical area, and then moved to the center of the image, and the surrounding background was eclipsed.At this time, all the children watched with rapt attention. "That planet is their home," thought Nicole.The atmosphere in the room made her feel confused. "They've never been there, but they still care about it." Staring at the bright little object, memories of Earth came flooding back to Nicole.She became very homesick, longing to go back to the blue world with countless beautiful things.She stood beside the children and held them tightly in her arms.Tears wet her eyes. "No matter where we are in the universe," Nicole said softly, "that blue planet will always be our home now and in the future!"