Chapter 28 Section VI

The world is watching live on television for the upcoming launch of the Pinta spacecraft from Earth to Mars.The second vice-chairman of the government committee, Swiss Heinrich Jentzoll, gave a brief speech congratulating the successful completion of the three spacecraft, saying the feat ushered in "a new era of colonization of Mars".Then he introduced Mr. Ian McMillan, the commander of the "Pinta" base, Scotchman, and McMillan read out a six-minute speech: "These three spacecraft will carry nearly 2,000 humans on a 100 million-kilometer long-distance trip to another planet—Mars. At that time, we will establish a permanent human residence there. Most of our future Mars Inhabitants of all will arrive at Mars on the second spacecraft 'Nina' launched three weeks later. 'Pinta' and finally 'Santa Maria' will carry 300 passengers and several thousand kilograms of the living station supplies and equipment to Mars.”

In his speech, he carefully avoided the failure of the previous century's expedition to Mars, and then, like a poet, he compared the expedition with the voyage of Columbus 750 years ago.Finally, he called the future Martian residents a united whole, and introduced their age, occupation, nationality and other relevant information to the public.He concluded: "These men and women are representatives of the superhuman, and they have two things in common that no other group has. The first is that the inhabitants of these future 'Lowell' settlements possess a high level of intelligence. ——Their average IQ numbers are all over 1.86; second, they have great courage and boldness to face a new and unknown environment, and will spend long and difficult years there.”

After the speech, McMillan turned around and opened a bottle of champagne to the 1:100 scale model of the "Pinta" behind him. Next, the future occupants began to board the "Pinta", and McMillan and Yanzol held a press conference as originally planned. For Kenji and Nai, the journey to Mars is their second honeymoon.There was nothing for them to do now.The trip was pretty uneventful, at least from a historical point of view.Nye also had nothing to do because her high school students were on two other ships. Most of the time, the Watanabes hang out with Judge Mishkin and Max Puckett, playing poker and discussing their hopes for the Lowell settlement and life on Earth.

When the "Pinta" was still three weeks away from Mars, the crew members announced to everyone that the next two days would be "communication blackout days", requiring everyone to talk to their families before the wireless communication was temporarily interrupted.The holidays at the end of the year are here, and it's the perfect time to talk to your family. The connection speed of the communication is very slow, and it can only talk in one direction, Max is very dissatisfied with this.After learning about the family's Christmas arrangements in Arkansas, Max told the family he would not be calling again because he really didn't like "waiting a quarter of an hour to talk to someone and make a joke."

It's snowing in Kyoto, and Kenji's parents made a snow videotape.Fortunately, Nai doesn't feel particularly homesick when she is with Kenji.She made a phone call to Thailand to congratulate one of her younger sisters on a college scholarship. Potter Mishkin called no one.The Russian old man's wife was dead and he had no children. "I have a lot of great memories," he told Max, "but nothing on Earth is mine." On the first "Communications Blackout Day," an announcement was received on all communications lines asking everyone to tune in for an important program at two o'clock in the afternoon.Kenji and Nai invite Max and Judge Mishkin to their room to watch together.

Video recording begins.The chair of the government committee sat behind a large table with the director of the International Space Agency, and the chair simply asked Werner Koch, the director of the International Space Agency, to tell everyone about the importance of this message, which was intentionally sidestepped. "To all the passengers of the Pinta," said Dr. Koch, "four years ago our satellite tracking system deciphered a clear signal from deep space, including a video. You will see it in five minutes The entire content of this video." "As you will see, this video announces to us that the Rama spaceship will return to the solar system. Between 2130 and 2200, some extraterrestrial intelligence created Rama, orbited the spacecraft around the sun, and visited us Rama is 50 kilometers long, 20 kilometers wide, and cylindrical. But what is the purpose of Rama, we still don’t know. Rama 2 changes speed and sails towards the earth. To prevent it from colliding with our Getting even closer to harming Earth, we launched a battery of nuclear missiles that destroyed it.

"The video claims that another Rama spacecraft is approaching us with the sole purpose of 'capturing' 2,000 human representatives as 'study subjects'. This is odd, but our radar system has confirmed that Rama is already in It entered orbit around Mars a month ago. "Unfortunately, we must take this message from deep space seriously. We ordered you to meet with it in orbit around Mars. You will be shocked to hear this news, but we have no choice. If all this is as we As expected, is nothing more than a hoax arranged by some crazy genius, then you will turn around and continue our plan to establish a colony on Mars. If the video is true, then you and 'Nina', 'Santa Maria' The companions of the ship will serve as the advance representatives of human beings for the Rama people to observe and study.

"After careful consideration you will realize that the mission you are carrying out is one of the most important of all the plans of the Government Council, and that you know that it is necessary to maintain strict secrecy. Between now and the final resolution of the Rama problem, all your communications with Earth All will be strictly controlled. All voices will be monitored by the GIA. We will tell your friends and family that you have landed safely on Mars and that the Pinta's communications system is down. "You will see this video immediately, and then have three weeks to prepare. The International Intelligence Agency has drawn up a detailed plan and will be in contact with the International Space Agency. All information is transmitted to Commander McMillan through the advanced database. You Everyone in the game has special tasks, and each person is equipped with a file package that provides the information needed to complete the task.

"Of course, we hope that you are safe and sound. It is very likely that this Rama incident is nothing more than a farce. You are just postponing your plan to establish a settlement on Mars. Once the video is confirmed to be true, you must make a detailed plan Arrange for the arrival of the 'Nina' and the 'Santa Maria'. Keep the 'Nina' and the 'Santa Maria' off any news of Rama and any changes in plans." The tape of Koch's speech was suddenly interrupted, and a text message appeared on the screen: "Next video will be played in two minutes."

There was silence in Watanabe's room. "We're going to die," Max Puckett came to the only conclusion.