Chapter 32 Chapter 32 Exploring "New York"

The alarm on the watch woke up Dr. Gao An from his deep sleep. For a while, he was in a daze, not knowing where he was.He sat up on the crib, rubbed his eyes, and then remembered that he was in the Rama and had slept for five hours. He put on his clothes in the dark, groped around for a long time, found the big backpack, touched the contents inside, and felt relieved.Putting the bag on his shoulder, Gao An walked towards the door of the small tent.Carefully peeking out, it was dark outside the door, and the other tents didn't even have a single light.He took a deep breath and walked out the door lightly.

The world's number one Rama expert left the camp and walked towards the Sea of ​​Columns.When he got to the beach, he slowly walked down the 50-meter-high steep wall along the steps and came to the ice.He sat on the last step and looked back up.The cliffs are so high that you can't see anything.Takagishi took out a special device from his bag and attached it to his shoes.Before stepping onto the ice, he looked at his personal guide device and got his bearings.When leaving the coast, don't get lost. When it was 200 meters away from the coast, Dr. Gao An reached out from his pocket and took out a portable weather instrument.But with a "snap", the weather instrument fell to the ground. In the silent night, the sound was particularly loud.Takagishi bent over and lifted it up. The weather instrument showed that the temperature in Ramari is now minus 2 degrees; the breeze of 8,000 meters per hour is gently blowing the ice surface of the Cylindrical Sea.

Gao An took a deep breath, he was surprised, there was a very familiar smell here.A little puzzled, he sniffed again carefully. No problem, it's the smell, cigarettes! He quickly turned off the light, stood still on the ice, his mind was spinning rapidly, looking for the answer.Among the astronauts, only Sabatini smoked.Had she followed him quietly as he left camp?Did she see him when he checked the weather gauge? Listen to the surroundings, in the night of Rama, there is no sound or movement.He still stood still.The smell of cigarettes gradually disappeared, and it took a few minutes before Dr. Gao An resumed his trek.Every few steps, he looked back to see if anyone was following him.In the end, he was finally convinced that Frances wasn't stalking.However, Takashi still turned off the light cautiously, and did not turn on the light again until he had walked 1,000 meters.Because at this time he was a little worried, afraid that he would deviate from the route.

Forty-five minutes later, he reached the edge of "New York" island.When there were still 100 meters away from the shore, the Japanese scientist took out a headlight from his backpack.Unscrew the light, a beam of light shoots out, very bright.The ghostly shadows of the city's skyscrapers brought him a nameless joy; the euphoric feeling made the hairs stand on end and chills down his spine.No, he's here!At least he'll have the answers in his lifetime, without some bossy bore being delayed! Dr. Takagishi knew exactly where in "New York" he was going. The city of "New York" is composed of three circular districts, and each district is divided into three small districts, just like cutting a round pie with a knife.There are three circular urban areas, each with a central square.All buildings and streets are arranged and unfolded around the square.

Takagishi knew all of this from the books of the first Rama expedition from his childhood in Kyoto.Gao An has been thinking, if one day he stands in the center of the square of the alien spacecraft and looks around, what kind of enlightenment will those alien buildings give people?Gao An concluded that by studying "New York", not only can the mystery of Rama be solved, but it is likely that these three squares can provide clues to discover the mysterious purpose of the alien spacecraft's visit. Just as he is familiar with the streets of Kyoto where he was born and raised, the map of this "New York" city has long been firmly etched in his mind.It's a pity that there was too little time to survey "New York" during the first expedition. Among the nine districts in the entire city, only one of them has a detailed map.From cursory observation, early expedition members assumed that the rest of the city was exactly the same.

When Gao An walked briskly, along the pre-planned route, he walked towards the quiet center of the city.He found that the place he was visiting now showed very subtle differences compared with the neighboring community he knew well, that is, the community mapped by the members of the first Rama expedition.The layout of the main streets of the two districts is the same, however, when he approaches the square, these similar streets show different patterns.Gao An was so excited that he kept stopping to write down his observations and discoveries on the computer. He entered the area tightly surrounding the square, where the buildings are arranged in concentric circles.He crossed three streets and found himself standing in front of an octahedron.It is about 100 meters high and has a reflective mirror surface.As soon as his high-intensity light hit its surface, it reflected and refracted away, forming a dazzling array of light around him.Takashi walked around the octahedron building, trying to find an entrance, but he couldn't find it.

The other side of this octahedron building is the square in the center of the city.This is a circular open space with no buildings.Gao An deliberately walked around the square for a week, studying and observing the buildings surrounding it.He pondered, still unable to determine the purpose of these buildings.He turned around and looked at the square carefully again.Here he saw a number of low, inconspicuous metal frames dividing the square into smaller sections.He entered these details into a computer. Gao An came to the front of the octahedron building again, took out a thin hexagonal metal plate covered with electronic components from his backpack, and placed it in the square, which is about 3 to 4 km away from the octahedron building. rice.He turned on the switch of the instrument, calibrated the working status of the instrument with the radio remote control, then left the square and walked quickly towards the Sea of ​​Columns.

Gao An had just walked to the middle of the second concentric circle street when he heard a short "bang" from the direction of the square behind him.He stopped and turned around.After a while, he heard another voice.It was exactly the "strange sound" they had heard when they first came to "New York."The frequency is very high, like the sound made by metal scraping.Gao An turned on the strong light and shone it in the direction of the square.That voice is gone.He turned off the light and stood quietly in the middle of the street. A few minutes later, the scratching sound came again.Gao An quietly moved towards the square and circled behind the octahedron building.Just when he was about to reach the side of the square, there was a "wow, wow" sound in his pocket. This was the signal from the instrument he had just placed, indicating that his instrument had failed.Gao An reached out and turned off the alarm, the sound disappeared, and the city of "New York" was silent.Gao An waited, but heard nothing, and there was no sound around him.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his fear, and continued to cheer himself up.Curiosity finally overcame his fear, and he stuck his head out to see what was going on. To his surprise, his hexagonal metal plate was missing. where is itWho took it? Gao An knew that he would make a major scientific discovery, but he was very scared and wanted to run away.He turned on the bright light and looked around, trying to find some clues that could explain the mysterious disappearance of the instrument.At a distance of 30 to 40 meters from the center of the square, there was a flash of light. Takagishi instinctively felt that it must be the reflection from his instrument, and he walked over quickly.

Gao An leaned over to take a closer look at his instrument, but could see no obvious damage.He just took out the remote control to check, and found that there was a rope-like thing with a diameter of about 15 centimeters beside the beam of the strong light.Dr. Gao An casually picked up the bright light and walked over.This thing has black and gold stripes on it, is about 12 meters long, and one end of it stretches and disappears into a strange metal hut that is 3 meters high; the other end is soft and furry.For a moment Gao An felt that this was cutting the rope.He picked up the end and tried to feel it with his hand, when suddenly it began to move.Takagi was startled, and immediately threw it away, watching it slide slowly, and retracted into the hut.As it moved, it kept making that "strange sound" like scratching metal that Takagi had heard before.

Gao An heard the sound of his own heartbeat, and he restrained his urge to run again. "The world is far away, and life is short, so what is there to be afraid of?" He recalled that when he was in college, an eminent Zen monk once said to himself.Gao An's heart calmed down, he was no longer afraid, and forced himself to walk towards the hut. The yellow and black "rope" disappeared, and the square was quiet.Takashi approached the hut, where the "rope" disappeared just now.He turned the corner and shone the light into the cabin.He couldn't believe his eyes, a bunch of tentacles-like "ropes" were entangled and wriggling under the light. A high-frequency, whining cry suddenly broke out, and Gao An looked at his shoulders in shock, his eyes widened, and he screamed.Three tentacles had grabbed him.The inner wall of his heart seemed to collapse, and his body fell limply, being swept by the strange creature.