Chapter 36 fourth quarter

All hamburger restaurants in Chuo Ward are run by robots.Two Lincoln robots systematically manage the busy restaurant; four Garcia robots take orders and serve customers; food is prepared by two Einstein robots, and a Tiasso robot keeps the dining area spotless.The entire restaurant has only the raw materials and the initial decoration expenses, which has brought a huge profit to its owner. Ellie voluntarily applied to work at the hospital after school, so she usually dined at this restaurant on Thursday nights. It was the first day of the Mishkin Proclamation, and Allie went to this restaurant for dinner with her teacher.Eponina lost her red armband on her arm.

After ordering French fries, Eponina said to Allie, "Strange, I've never seen you in the hospital, what the hell are you doing there?" "Most of the time I talk to sick kids," Ellie replied. "Four or five kids were very sick, and one boy had RV-41. They were grateful for someone to visit them. Thea The search robots that keep hospitals running are dedicated but lack empathy." "If you don't mind, I would like to ask." Eponina took a bite of the bread and asked, "You are young, beautiful, and healthy. You can do many other things. Why did you choose this?"

"Not exactly." Ellie replied, "You know my mother has a strong sense of responsibility and community, and I think it's worth talking to the children." After a moment of hesitation, she said, "Also, I know society well Rarely...Physically I am in my twenties, which is too old for high school, but I have almost no social experience." Ellie's face flushed, "One of my classmates told me that the boys said that I It's an alien." Eponina smiled: "Being an alien is better than being an RV-41 patient." She thought to herself: "It would be a huge loss for those young people to miss you."

After eating, the two of them left the restaurant and came to the central square. In the center of the square stood a 2.5-meter-high cylindrical monument, which was built to celebrate the first "settlement day".At the height of the monument parallel to the line of sight, there is a transparent sphere with a diameter of 50 centimeters, with a lamp representing the sun in the middle, and an ecliptic plane parallel to the ground, on which the earth and other planets in the solar system orbit.The twinkling lights of the sphere represent the relative positions of all the stars 20 light-years from the sun.

A beam of light connects the sun and Sirius, indicating the route of the Walkerfield family to Nord; another beam of light shines from the solar system along the orbit of Mars, which is the route of Rama 3 carrying human occupants.A flashing red light represents the spaceship they live in, which is currently located 1/3 of the distance from the sun to the constellation of Cetus. Standing by the monument, Eponina said to Ellie: "Your father told me the meaning of this monument at the earliest." "Yes, my father was very creative with science, electronics." Eponina stared at the bright red light and said, "Is your father angry that we're going in a different direction, neither Sirius nor Nord?"

Ellie shrugged, "I don't think so, we don't talk about it very much. One time he said none of us knew what these aliens were up to." Eponina looked around the square, and suddenly said very seriously: "Look at these people who come and go in a hurry, do they ever stop to see where they are? I come here at least once a week to see us. Where I am in space. You know, ever since I got the RV-41 virus, I've had a burning desire to know where I am in the universe, and I suspect it's a kind of fear of death on my part. idea." Eponina was silent for a moment, then put her hand on Ellie's shoulder and said, "Have you ever asked Hawkman about death?"

"No." Ellie replied softly, "I was only four years old when I left Nord. I didn't have any concept of death." Eponina said to herself, "Yeah, when I was a kid, I was only thinking about kids." She laughed, and went on to Ellie, "What did you talk to Hawkman about? " "I can't remember. Patrick said Hawk-man loved watching us play with toys." "Really? This is so unexpected. From your mother's description, I can imagine how serious the Eagle Man is. It seems unlikely that he is interested in the things he is playing with."

"I was very young at the time, but I still remember the appearance of Eagle Man very clearly, but I can't remember its voice." Ellie replied. "Did you dream about it?" Eponina asked again after a pause. "Yes, many times. Once I dreamed that it was standing on the top of a tall tree in the sky, looking at me." Eponina smiled and looked at her watch: "Oops, I have an appointment and I'm going to be late. When are you going to the hospital?" "Seven o'clock," Ellie said. "Then let's go our separate ways." Eponina went to Dr. Turner's office for a biweekly checkup.A Tiasso robot took her to a lab with lots of blood and urine samples, sat her down, and told her the doctor would be there shortly.

Also sitting in the waiting room was a bright-eyed black man with a friendly smile on his face.Their eyes met and the black man said, "Hello, I'm Amadou Diaba, a pharmacist." Eponina also introduced herself, and she thought the man looked familiar. "Great day, eh?" said the man after a moment of silence. "It feels so much easier to take off that goddamn armband." Eponina remembered: she had seen this Amadou once or twice at a meeting of RV-41 carriers, and had heard that Amadou had contracted the virus from a blood transfusion. A total of 94 patients with RV-41 virus, 5 of them were infected by blood transfusion.

“Good things come in pairs,” Amadou said. “While the Mishkin Proclamation was announced, news of the sighting of Recky spread within hours.” Eponina looked at him in bewilderment: "What did you say?" "Didn't you hear about Reki?" Amadou smiled. "Where have you been?" After a pause, Amadou explained to her: "The team members who explored the second residential area have been drilling the wall. Today suddenly six strange creatures crawled out of the hole drilled in the wall. These lakes— — that's what the TV reporter calls it, apparently the inhabitants of the second settlement, furry like golf balls, with six legs joined together, quick to move... They crawl on everyone, on machines and equipment, Returned to their own habitat an hour later and disappeared."

Eponina was about to ask something when Dr. Turner walked out of the office: "Mr. Diaba, Ms. Eponina, I have your detailed report in my hand. Who will come first?" Dr. Turner had exceptionally bright eyes. "Mr. Diaba came before me, so..." Eponina said. "Ladies first." Diaba interrupted her, "It's still the same in New Eden." Eponina walked into Dr. Turner's inner office.When they were alone, the doctor said: "So far, everything is normal. You do have the virus in your body, but there is no sign of erosion of your heart muscle. I'm not sure why, but the virus It spreads fairly quickly in some places..." "How is this possible, my handsome doctor?" thought Eponina. "You know all about my health, but you have never noticed my affection for you." "We're also going to continue with your usual immune system treatment, which won't cause serious side effects. We need to see how damaging this virus is...are you feeling better?" Together they returned to the waiting room, and Dr. Turner told Eponina as they walked that the symptoms indicated that the virus had progressed to another stage. They were talking when the door burst open and Eleanor Walkerfield rushed in. Dr. Turner didn't notice her at first, and it took him a moment to fix his eyes on the girl. He asked, "Can I be of service to you, young lady?" "I want to ask Eponina a question." Ellie replied politely, "If I hinder your work, I can wait outside." Dr. Turner shook his head, suddenly flustered, not knowing how to draw conclusions about Eponina's condition. Eponina didn't understand what was wrong with the doctor, and as she walked out with her students, she noticed that the doctor was staring at her students. "Three years," Evelyn thought silently, "three years, and I longed for him to look at me like this. I didn't think he would look like that, oh Ellie, bless you, don't missed." It's been a long day.Eponina was tired walking from the station to her home in Hanko.Removing the armband had brought her mental relief, but that passed quickly.Now she's frustrated and trying to shake off the jealousy she feels for Ellie. She stops in front of her apartment.There is a bright red sign nailed to the door, clearly reminding everyone that a patient with RV-41 lives here.Thanks Judge Mishkin!She carefully removed the sign, and immediately a clear mark appeared on the door. "Tomorrow I'll paint it off," thought Eponina. As soon as she entered the house, she plopped down on a soft chair.She took out a cigarette and put it in her mouth, and her whole body immediately experienced a kind of excitement that she had never had before. "I never smoke in front of my students," she thought, "I want to set a good example for them. I only smoke at home and only when I am alone." Eponina usually stays out at night, and the villagers of Hanko make it clear to her that she is not welcome.There were two other delegations that negotiated with her separately, asking her to move out of Hanke Village.Many obscene notes were pasted on the door of the apartment, but Eponina stubbornly refused to move.Her roommate, Kimberly Henderson, has never lived here, and it affords her plenty of personal space, more than she normally enjoys.She understood that a person with RV-41 was not welcome anywhere. Eponina fell asleep in a chair and dreamed of a meadow full of yellow flowers. At this time, someone was knocking on the door, and the sound was loud. Eponina was woken up and looked at her watch—it was 11 o'clock.She went to the door and Kimbelle Henderson walked in. "Hi, Eponina, it's good of you to be here. I need to talk to someone alone, with someone I trust," Kimberly said, lighting a cigarette. "Yeah, yeah, I know," Kimberly said, and she could see in Eponina's eyes that she didn't want to hear her. "You're right, I'm stubborn...but I need this ...Fake confidence is better than always thinking you're a piece of shit." After a pause, she continued: "He pushed me to a dead end... that son of a bitch, he thought he could do whatever he wanted, lawless..." Kimberly put out the cigarette, twisted her hand, and almost wanted to Crying, "tonight he asked me to move out... I said why? What do you mean? He said 'you have to move out'. He had no expression on his face and didn't leave me room for negotiation. He said' Pack your things and go behind Zanadu, there is a vacant house, you can live there'. "'That's a brothel', I said. He laughed and didn't say anything...'Am I just dumped like this?' I flew into a rage, 'You can't do this to me'. I hit him and he grabbed He slapped my hand and slapped me hard. He said 'you have to do what I order', 'I don't you bastard'. I picked up a vase and threw it at him. The vase hit the table and smashed Shattered. Two men came and twisted my arms behind my back. 'Take her away,' said the Japanese king. "They took me to my new apartment and it wasn't bad. There was a big box of rolling tobacco in the room and I smoked so much it felt like I was flying... 'Hey, this isn't bad', I said to myself. I went to the club and had a lot of fun there and felt like I was flying, higher and higher than a kite. I saw them...they showed up together, in public...I went mad with rage and screamed I rushed up and even hit him...someone hit me on the head...I fell to the floor.Junfu looked at me with a bow and said through gritted teeth 'if you dare to do that again,I will bury you alive'. " Kimberly covered her face with her hands and began to cry. "I know, I know, I should go back to work in the hospital. They need nurses, not robots but real nurses—hey, where's your Lincoln robot?" Eponina smiled and pointed to the closet.Kimberly laughed too, and she said, "It's good for you. Let them clean, wash dishes, cook when you need them. Put them back in the dark closet when not in use..." Kimberly jumped out of her chair suddenly and walked up and down the room. "I don't even know why I'm here," she said, lighting another cigarette, "I thought you and I...I mean, we used to be friends...I feel hopeless, it's horrible, I can't take it. I don't know what I'm expecting, but you have your life... I better go." Kimberly came over and hugged Eponina perfunctorily. "Take care," she said, "don't worry about me, I'll be fine." The door closed and Kimberly left.Only then did Eponina realize that she hadn't said a word while her old friend was chattering away in the room.Eponina was sure she would never see Kimberly again.