Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Reasoning

Nicole finished his lunch.The rice was tasty and came with compressed roast duck, dehydrated broccoli and mashed potatoes.She looked up and saw that the other astronauts were still sitting around the temporary long table eating quietly.In the corner by the door, a monitor tracked the crab-shaped creature.Their formation remains the same.It can be seen from the video that every ten minutes or so, they will turn around and walk in the opposite direction. "What will they do when this area is over?" Walkerfield asked.He was standing in front of a temporary bulletin board, looking at the computer-drawn map on it, and studying it.

"Last time, they followed the path between the tessellations to the big shaft," Frances replied from the other side of the table, "and then they dumped the rubbish on their backs. What do they do in this area?" None of them were picked up, so everyone is guessing what they will do next." "Is everyone sure those creatures are garbage collectors?" "The evidence is overwhelming," Brown said. "Jimmy Peck saw the same creature 70 years ago when he saw a solitary creature and thought it was a garbage man." "We are lying to ourselves." Gao An interjected after swallowing the last bite of the meal. "Dr. Brown himself said that what happens to Rama is very different from our human understanding. Our conversation reminded me of that old Indian fable: The blind men touched the elephant. Each of them only touched the elephant. A part of it, everyone said differently, in fact, no one was right."

"Don't you think that the work done by our big crab is under the control of the Rama Health Department?" Taburi wanted to ask. "I didn't say that," Gao An replied, "I'm just suggesting, don't jump to the conclusion that these six big crabs are just doing some garbage cleaning. Our observation data is still very insufficient." "Inference is also necessary," Dr. Brown replied furiously to Gao An, "sometimes it is possible to make guesses with very little data. You should also know that the birth of new science depends on the utmost imagination rather than certain facts .”

"Before we get into deep science and its methodology," Taburi said, standing up with a grin, "I propose that we all play a game. It was actually Richard who came up with the idea, but I put it in It becomes a game. Play with the lights of Rama." Taburi took a sip of water. "Since we first came to this land of Rama," he said with affected seriousness, "there have been three alternative ways of lighting." "Bah! Hush—" Walkerfield shooed him, and Gallows laughed. "Well, you bastard..." the little Hungarian resumed his usual casual tone, "what will happen to these lights? They come on, go off, come on again, what will happen to them in the future ?I propose that everyone contribute 20 marks, set up a bonus, and each write down a prediction, predicting the changing law of Rama’s lights during our operation, and whoever’s prediction is closest to the actual situation will get the money.”

"Who's going to be the referee?" Reggie Wilson asked sleepily, having yawned several times in the past hour. Guess what Rama is up to. Personally, I don't think there's any pattern to the lights, they turn on and off at will. Leave it to you guys to guess!" "We wrote down everyone's predictions and passed them on to General O'Toole. Richard and I both thought he was a great referee. When the operation was over, he'd compare it and see who got the prize." Dr. David Brown pushed back his chair and shouted, "Is your game over yet, Tabouli?" Without waiting for an answer, he added, "If it's over, please clear the tables and get to work."

"Hey, Captain," Gallows said unhappily, "I just want everyone to relax..." Before Taburi finished speaking, Brown had strode out of the tent. "What's the matter with him?" Richard asked Frances. "I guess he's worried about the hunt," Frances replied. "He's been in a bad mood since this morning. Maybe he feels a great responsibility." "Maybe he was a monster!" Wilson also stood up from his chair, "I'm going to take a nap for a while." When Wilson went out, Nicole remembered that everyone should be scanned for physical data before hunting.She took out the scanner, walked over to everyone, and turned on the scanner. After 45 seconds, the data transmission is completed, and she only needs to check if there is any warning mark file, if not, everything is normal.Now all the data of the people are normal, Nicole is very happy.After checking Gao An, she whispered to him, "Excellent."

She went outside, looking for Brown and Wilson.Dr. Brown's cabin is at one end of the camp.The huts of the team members are all the same, like a pointed hat, standing on the ground; 2.5 meters high, with a radius of 2 meters at the bottom of the circle, all white, made of a high-strength, extremely light soft fabric. Shipping is very convenient.The hut looked like an American Indian tent, Nicole thought. In his cabin, Dr. Brown sits cross-legged on the floor with a laptop in front of him.The screen was displaying text from the chapter on Rama's creatures in Tall's Atlas of Rama.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Brown," Nicole greeted him as he poked his head in. "Well, what's the matter?" He snorted, not hiding his displeasure. "I want to check your physical data." Nicole ignored his emotions, "Since the first assault, your data has not been checked." Brown gave her an unhappy look.Nicole doesn't budge.The American shrugged, muttered something, and pushed the computer away.Nicole knelt down beside him and turned on the scanner. "There are folding chairs in the hut where things are stored, why don't you take them?" Nicole said to him seeing him constantly changing positions on the ground and sitting very uncomfortable.He ignored her.Nicole wondered, "Why is he so upset with me? Is it because of the report I gave Posov? No, it must be because he thinks I'm not very respectful to him."

Data began to appear on Nicole's monitor.She typed the order carefully, extracting the inspection's comprehensive conclusions and warning files. "In the past 72 hours, your blood pressure has intermittently increased, including today." She said calmly, "This situation is usually caused by excessive mental stress." Dr. Brown stopped reading and turned to look at the monitor, but couldn't read it. Nicole explained: "You see, this graph is blood pressure, which is the increased part, and within these two lines is the allowable fluctuation tolerance range. Of course, one indicator alone cannot explain the severity of the problem. If Other indicators also exceed the standard, and the trouble will be big.”

"I'm a little stressed." He murmured, looking at Nicole absently.She pulled out other data, and as she expected, many of Brown's physical data showed abnormalities. On the monitor, a warning red light flashed. "Is it serious?" he asked.Nicole looked at her patient: "If it continues or worsens, it can lead to a stroke, paralysis or death." He whispered, "Then what should I do?" "First of all," Nicole replied, "you have to get enough sleep. Your metabolic profile shows that you've only slept a total of eleven hours since the death of General Posov. Why don't you tell me you don't sleep enough?" it is good?"

"I thought it was just excitement. I took a sleeping pill one night and it didn't work." Nicole frowned slightly: "Why don't I remember giving you any sleeping pills?" Dr. Brown smiled. "Damn. I forgot to tell you. One day, I told Frances I couldn't sleep, and she gave me a pill, which I took without thinking." "What day is it?" Nicole asked.She typed commands to pull more data from the registers. "I'm not sure," replied Dr. Brown hesitantly, "I think it's . . . " "Oh, here," said Nicole, "I can see from the biochemical analysis that it was March 3rd, the night after Posov's death, the day you and Hellman were elected commanders. .From the analysis data, you have taken a piece of 'Medyville'." "Can you tell from the physiological data?" "Not exactly," laughed Nicole. "The conclusion is not unique. What did you say at dinner? Sometimes reasoning and guesswork is necessary." They stared at each other for a moment. "Is that fear?" Nicole wondered inwardly as he looked into his eyes. Dr. Brown looked away and said, "Thank you for the report on my blood pressure, doctor." He said stiffly, "I'll try to relax and get some sleep. I didn't tell you about the medication, I Sorry." He waved her away. She wanted to protest, but after a second thought, she gave up. "He's not going to follow my advice anyway," she said to herself as she walked toward Wilson's cabin. "Of course, his blood pressure isn't dangerously high." She reflected on their last two minutes. conversation.He seemed taken aback when she immediately and correctly identified the name of the drug. "Is there something wrong here? What am I missing?" Before reaching Reggie's door, she heard him snoring.Nicole hesitated, deciding to wait until he woke up to scan him.She returned to her tent and soon fell asleep. "Nicole, Nicole." A voice woke her up. "It's me, Frances, and I want to tell you something." Nicole sat up slowly.Frances has come in.The Italian woman had a sweet smile on her face that Nicole had only seen her use on camera. "I spoke to David just now and he told me about your conversation after lunch." Nicole got out of bed yawning as Frances spoke, "Of course I'm very concerned about his elevated blood pressure. Take it easy, he and I have made a deal not to report it, and to my embarrassment I didn't tell you about the pills I gave him. I'm disturbed and we should have told you right away." Frances spoke so quickly that Nicole was a little overwhelmed.She had been in a deep sleep, dreaming that she was in Beavers, when suddenly she heard Frances babbling about sleeping pills.She is not fully awake yet. "Can you wait two minutes and let me wake up?" She stopped.Nicole poured a glass of water from the makeshift table and took a few slow sips. "Oh, let me see," said Nicole, a little annoyed, and she went around Frances, sat down at the table, picked up a glass of water, and drank it slowly, "you woke me up to tell me: You gave Dr. Brown sleeping pills? I already know that." "Of course," Frances was still smiling, "I know, but that's just part of the story. I remembered that I also gave Reggie medicine." Nicole shook her head: "I don't understand, Frances, are you talking about Reggie now?" Frances hesitated for a few seconds: "Yes. Didn't you scan his body data after lunch?" Nicole shook her head again and said, "No. He was asleep." She looked up at her watch. "I'm going to check on him before the meeting. Well, maybe in an hour." Frances was a little flustered: "Okay then. When David said that you could tell from his body data that he had taken 'Medyval', I thought..." She stopped abruptly, and it seemed that she was trying to figure it out. Clear your head.Nicole waited patiently. "A week ago, Reggie said he had a headache," Frances finally continued, "after the docking of the two Newtons... We used to be very good, he knew I had some drug knowledge... You know, my resume has It said...he asked me for some headache medicine. At first, I didn't give it to him, but then, after he begged again and again, I gave him some 'Neo-Methadone'." Nicole frowned: "It's a very powerful medicine, how can it be used casually to treat simple headaches! Even a doctor can't prescribe it at will before other methods fail..." "I told him," said Frances, "but he's very stubborn. You know Reggie, sometimes, he's just out of his depth." "How much did you give him?" "A total of 8 tablets, adding up to 200 mg." "No wonder his behavior is so strange." Nicole leaned over, picked up her portable computer from the other side of the small table, and called up the basic data about 'Rubisu' in the medical manual. "It's so simple," she said, "I'm going to have General O'Toole pass me the entire Encyclopedia of Medicine. There was a discussion, if I remember correctly, about 'Rubisu' ' will remain in the body for weeks." Nicole wasn't sure. "I can't remember," replied Frances.She stared at the monitor in Nicole's hand, quickly reading the words on it. Nicole was annoyed, and she was about to reprimand her, but then changed her mind.Her mind had vague memories of Frances handing Posov a glass at a banquet in the hours before his death.She couldn't help but her heart trembled, and a chill surged over her body.Are her instincts correct? Nicole turned around and stared at Frances with stern eyes: "Now, you admit that you played the role of doctor and pharmacist to David and Reggie, so, what else do you have to tell me?" "What do you mean?" asked Frances. "Did you give other team members any medicine?" Seeing Frances turn slightly pale and hesitate, Nicole felt her heart beat faster. "No, no, of course not," replied Frances.