Chapter 26 Chapter 26 The Second Assault

David Brown found a large piece of paper, and Frances cut it into small pieces on the table in the middle of the control center to record what to do every hour.At the moment, she is busy transcribing David's dictation on paper. "This damn action planning software is annoying as hell, it's better to write it by hand like this," Dr. Brown told Tabouri and Walkerfield. "The best way is to combine the planned sequence of actions into a pre-action plan." plan." Gallos walked to a terminal. "Perhaps you are better at it than I am," continued Dr. Brown, "but I am more comfortable with pen and paper this morning."

Gallos brought up the action planner and began typing data. "Wait a minute." Walkerfield cut in.Gallos stopped and turned to listen to him. "We don't want to make any plans here. Isn't the next step is to build a base? It may take 10 to 12 hours to complete. We leave some people here to make plans. The two tasks go hand in hand. When the time comes, the plan will be completed." Done." "Richard is right," Frances added. "Let's not rush. The Astronautics officers can go up to Rama to set up the base, and the others stay to work out the details of the course of action."

"That can't be done," replied Dr. Brown. "Only the officers know how long each project will take, and without them we cannot fix an exact time." "Then, just leave one officer behind." Gallows said with a smile, "We can let Hellman or O'Toole also go in, so that one more person can work, and it won't have a big impact on the progress." After half an hour, everyone decided on the candidate.Nicole remained on board the Newton until the preliminary groundwork was completed; and, on behalf of the officers, she assisted in the planning and coordination of the work.Hellman entered Rama with four other professional astronauts, installed the remaining vehicles and placed another 12 portable monitoring stations on the north side of the Sea of ​​Cylindrical Sea, and also completed the construction of the Beta Camp north of the Sea of ​​Cylindrical Sea.

As Walkerfield and his team were reviewing the details of the mission, Reggie Wilson, who had been silent all morning, suddenly jumped out of his chair: "This is all bullshit!" he exclaimed. , "Absurd!" Richard stopped; Dr. Brown and Gao An, who had already started discussing the attack plan, were also silent, and all eyes were fixed on Wilson. "Four days ago, a man died," he said. "He was killed, probably killed. Who and how moved that huge ship. But we didn't care At three or seventy-one, I still broke in. The light came on, and then turned off strangely." Wilson looked around at the other team members, his eyes were a little crazy, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, "Then what are we doing? What? Huh? How do we answer these aliens whose intelligence is far superior to ours? We just sit back and plan to explore their spaceships further. Don't you ever think about it? They don't want us Get in, they just want us to leave, to go home, to Earth!"

Wilson's outburst was followed by an embarrassing silence.Finally, O'Toole came to his side and comforted him: "Reggie, we are all deeply disturbed by Posov's death, but no one has found any connection between it..." "You can't see, you're all blind. I was on that goddamn helicopter when the lights went out. For a full minute, the light was as bright as the summer sun, and then it went dark all of a sudden. Here's the proof, it's fucking unbelievable .Somebody turned off all the lights, but no one asked why. What's the matter with you? You're too smart to be afraid?"

Wilson roared loudly for several minutes, repeating the same meaning over and over again, that is: Rama had concocted Posov's tragic death, and turned on and off the lights to warn the intruders.If the team members insist on going their own way and go in to explore again, it will definitely lead to greater and more disasters. General O'Toole stood by his side all the time he yelled. After Dr. Brown, Frances and Nicole discussed briefly, Nicole came over, interrupted his scolding, and said softly: "Reggie, why don't you and General O'Toole come with me? Let's have a good talk and don't delay other people."

He glanced at her suspiciously: "You? Doctor, why should I go with you? You were not there at all, and you never saw it." Wilson walked up to Walkerfield and said, "You were there, Richard Dude, you've seen that place. You know the intelligent beings, and their incredible powers—they built ships that big, and they sailed in interstellar space. Hey, man, we can't beat them. We're like Poor ants, we don't stand a chance." "I agree with you, Reggie." After hesitating for a moment, Walkerfield said calmly, "We can't match them, which is worrying. However, there is no evidence that they are hostile, and they may even be hostile to them." Our visits don't bother us either. Perhaps on the contrary, our clamor can..."

"Look!" Elena suddenly called out, "Look at the monitor!" On the large monitor in the control center, the frame is still and a crab-like creature takes over the entire shot.Its body is low and flat, twice as long as it is wide, with six three-legged legs supporting the weight; two pincer-like pincers and a row of small-sized mechanical hands protrude from the front.These manipulators are next to each other, and some of them look like human hands at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they look like an open hardware toolbox with pliers, probes, files, and even drills.

Its eyes, if they were eyes at all, were sunken deep in a protective membrane and raised like periscopes.The eyeballs are like crystals, or a kind of jelly, with a blue luster.There is absolutely no expression in these eyes. It is noted below the picture that this picture was just taken by the telephoto lens of the detection robot, at a location about 5,000 meters south of the Cylindrical Sea, and the picture covers an area of ​​6 square meters. "Boy, we've got company in Lamari," Taburi said.The other astronauts all stared at the monitor in amazement, silent. To the team's surprise, it appeared just when Reggie was in a state of extreme agitation.Despite Reggie's uncharacteristic behavior, his words also reminded the team of the dangers of their trip, and no one was completely free from fear.In solitary contemplation, all team members faced the chilling suspicion that the Rama might not be friendly.

Of course, most of the time, they kept this fear deep in their hearts. Danger was part of their job, just like the astronauts of the early American space shuttle, they were very aware that the spacecraft could crash or even explode.The astronauts on the Newton also knew that there might be dangers that could be difficult to manage with them. In fact, it is a healthy attitude to avoid discussing unsolvable problems and focus on those controllable aspects, such as what should be done tomorrow and what should be done next. Reggie's hysteria and the sudden appearance of Rama's creature made the situation change suddenly, aroused everyone's discussion, and also brought back everyone's memories: these issues have actually been discussed together many times.

O'Toole has long said that he is in awe of the Rama people, but it is not fear or fear.He believes that God has called him to join the action, and if God decides that this is the time for him to devote himself to O'Toole, then he will die for the will of God. Richard Walkerfield's unswerving words expressed the common wishes of his companions.He believes that the whole operation is not only a challenge of exploration, but also a test of personal courage.The danger, of course, is obvious, but it's also exciting.There is a lot of fun to be had in taking risks, not to mention the immense historical significance of meeting an extraterrestrial civilization.Richard, who had never had the slightest qualm about the operation, decided that the operation would make his life so glorious that even if he died in the process, it would be worth it.Life is short, and it is enough to do two or three meaningful things. Nicole listened to the discussion with great attention and said nothing.She found that in the process of talking, she also formed her own opinion.She watched people's responses and expressions with great interest.Obviously, Takashi is standing with Walkerfield.When Walkerfield was talking, Gao An kept nodding his head in approval.Now, Reggie may have felt a little ashamed of the previous high-level argument. I saw that he was ashamed, and he only answered other people's questions briefly, and no longer insisted on his point of view.Heilmann seemed uncomfortable all the time, and kept silent throughout, only reminding everyone to pay attention to the time at the end. Surprisingly, Dr. Brown did not expound his philosophical grand theories in a long way as usual, but only a few words and a passing paragraph.There were a few times where it felt like he was on the verge of breaking out, but he didn't.He simply said that he believed that the truth about Rama had not yet been revealed. At the beginning, Frances also acted as a middleman, reconciling the differences between the two parties and clarifying the facts.Later, however, she couldn't help but express her personal views candidly.But her view of this Rama operation is very different from that of O'Toole and Walkerfield. "I think you're making the whole thing too complicated and idealistic," she went on, after Richard's tirade on the immortality of human ingenuity, "to me, though it's A major decision in life, but I don't need any deep spiritual reasons to support myself, it just needs to weigh the size of the risks and rewards, that's all I have when making major decisions about things. Considering all the reasons, I think the rewards for being in action are great: fame, status, money, and maybe the fun of the adventure, all worth it. And I definitely can't agree with Richard about life and death. If I died in action, I'd be very Not happy, and all my rewards are lost. If I don't get back to Earth, I get nothing." Frances' words aroused Nicole's curiosity.She wanted to ask the Italian reporter more questions, but then thought that this was not a good time to ask questions.After the discussion, she was still pondering what Frances had just said. "Is life really that simple for her?" She thought to herself, "Everything is just a reward or a risk?" She remembered Frances's expressionless expression when she drank the abortion potion, " But does she have principles and values? Does she have emotions?" Nicole admits that, to date, Frances remains a mystery to her.Nicole observed Dr. Gao An carefully, and was very satisfied with his performance today. He controlled his emotions better than yesterday. "I've brought a manuscript on raid tactics, Dr. Brown," he said, waving the four-inch typewriter paper in his hand, "to remind us of some basic principles of raid operations. It took a year to elaborate. Shall I read the outline?" "I don't think you need to read it," replied Dr. Brown dismissively. "We're all familiar with it." "I don't think so." General O'Toole interrupted Brown. "I'd like to hear it again. General Hellman has brought this matter to my attention and will give him a summary." Dr. Brown waved his hand impatiently, signaling Gao An to read quickly.The little Japanese scientist cleverly used Brown's own documents to persuade Brown to make the assault on "New York" the first task of the second operation, rather than hunting for crablike creatures. Reggie Wilson apologized for what he said just now, and went back to his room to rest an hour ago. The remaining five people argued all afternoon without any results. They still did not reach a consensus on the content of the second assault. Brown and Gao An held their own opinions and refused to give in to each other. At the same time, behind them, images of Admiral Hellman and others who were working in Laman were intermittently shown on the big screen.Now, Taburi and Elena can be seen checking and adjusting the electronic system of the second motorboat that has just been installed at the camp on the coast of the column. "...the sequence of raids has been carefully arranged," Takagishi read, "to be consistent with the guidelines and priorities for the overall operation, International Space Agency-NT-0014. The primary objective of the first raid was to establish transport The engineering system and the superficial inspection of Rama's interior, the most important thing is to confirm whether the second Rama spaceship is similar or different from the first one. "The mission of the second raid was to map the interior of Rama in detail, with a particular focus on places that had not been explored seventy years ago, such as densely built cities and places that were destroyed during the first raid. Confirmed as different from 'Rama 1'. During the second action, avoid encounters with creatures, even if they are also in the action area. "Communication with these creatures should be delayed as much as possible, until the third assault. And, after enough observation of them, can... "That's enough! Dr. Takagishi," interrupted David Brown, "we've got the gist of it. It's a pity that this dry stuff was done in the months before departure, and it didn't take our The current situation. Rama's lights came on and went off; now a group of crab-shaped creatures appeared on the south side of the Sea of ​​Columns." "I don't agree with you," said the Japanese scientist politely. "The fact that the light went out unexpectedly is not an important difference between the two Rama spacecraft. We did not see a completely strange Rama, I think the investigation should proceed as planned." "So, you're inclined that this second raid should start with a detailed survey of Rama, including even the detailed structure of 'New York'?" "Exactly, General O'Toole. If anyone is reluctant to include the 'strange voice' that Walkerfield, Sabatini, and I heard as an official 'outlier', then the city of 'New York' The surveying and mapping of the area is an unmistakable and highest priority task, which should be completed in this assault operation, which is very important. The temperature in the central plain has risen to minus 5 degrees, and Rama is getting closer and closer to the sun , the heat is entering the spaceship from the outside to the inside, I estimate that within three to four days, the cylindrical sea will melt from the bottom up..." "I never said that the exploration of 'New York' was not the stated goal," interrupted David Brown again, "I have insisted from the outset that these creatures are the real scientific asset of this journey. Look at these amazing guys," he said, calling up a video on the center monitor.In the film, six crab-shaped creatures are slowly crawling across the vast and monotonous plains in the area south of the Sea of ​​Cylindrical Sea. "We may not have another chance to capture them. Robotic probes have surveyed the entire interior of Rama and found no other creatures." All the team members, including Takagishi, were staring at the monitor ecstatically.Arranged in neat triangular formations, these fascinating alien creations head towards a pile of metallic junk with a pile of tools large and small, long and short, on their heads.The leading crab-shaped creature walked straight to the middle of the rubbish, stood there for a few seconds, and then cut and flattened a large pile of rubbish with three taps of its claws.The two crab-shaped creatures in the second row took the compressed garbage and passed it to the back of the crab-shaped creatures in the row behind the line.After a while, garbage piled up high on the backs of the creatures in the third row. "They must be Rama's garbage collectors," said Frances.Everyone laughed. "You'll understand why I insist on starting the hunt quickly," continued David Brown. "Now, what you see in this video is what we sent to Earth Network about the Rama creature ...tonight, more than a billion viewers will watch this video with the same excitement and half fear that we do. Imagine what kind of laboratory we will build to study such a creature; imagine , we will learn from…” "Why do you think you can catch one?" General O'Toole asked. "They look strong and scary." "We are sure that these creatures are actually just robots, although they look like creatures. The name 'creatures' is actually a popular term on the first expedition. According to the reports of Captain Newton and other team members, every A creature is designed to have a single function, to perform a single task. As we all know, they are not an intelligent being, and we can certainly defeat them ... catch them." The camera zooms in on the pincer-like claws, and it seems that this thing is very sharp. "I dare not be so optimistic," General O'Toole said hesitantly. "I am inclined to Dr. Gao An's suggestion. Before capturing them, it is best to observe carefully." "I don't agree." Frances stood up. "As a reporter, I think there is no better news subject than the capture of such a creature." She paused, "The International Space Agency has been urging, Ask us to provide some encouraging news. The 'Posov incident' has not really convinced taxpayers around the world that their space grants are worth spending." "Why not do both, and just do both?" General O'Toole asked. "One team goes to 'New York,' and the others hunt." "No." Nicole replied, "If this operation involves capturing creatures, all manpower and material resources must be supported in that direction. Don't forget, our manpower and time are limited." "No way," David Brown forced an ugly smile on his face, "Since the few of us can't make a decision, I have to make a choice... So, the goal of the next operation is to capture the Rama creature. I assume Admiral Heilman agrees with me, and if he disagrees, the matter will be brought to a general meeting for a vote." The meeting was coming to an end, and Dr. Gao An wanted to speak again to argue, pointing out that according to the observations of the members of the first Rama expedition, most biological species did not appear until the cylindrical sea melted.However, other people no longer want to listen to it, and everyone feels tired. Nicole approached Takagishi and quietly turned on the body scanner.it is good!Nothing unusual. "Calm as water," she said with a smile. Takagi looked at her seriously: "Our decision was a mistake," he said apprehensively, "We should go to 'New York'."