Chapter 42 Chapter 42: Two Explorers

"Let me get the situation straight. You say you're alone? And we can't get across the Sea of ​​Columns?" Richard nodded.For Nicole, this was brutal. Five minutes ago, she was still cheering, thinking that her bad luck was over, and she was already imagining that she returned to the earth and met her father and daughter.Now, he says... She stepped aside and rested her head on the wall of one of the buildings that surrounded the square, tears rolling down her cheeks, venting her disappointment.Richard followed behind her. "I'm sorry," Richard said. "It's not your fault." Nicole quickly regained her composure, and she replied, "It's just that I never thought that I would see one of my companions again, but I still couldn't be rescued..." She stopped mouth.It wasn't fair, she would make Richard sad.She walked towards him and smiled at him.

"I don't usually get sentimental like this," said Nicole. "I interrupted your story." She paused, wiping away her tears. "You were just saying, when you crossed the Sea of ​​Columns, 'Turtle The fish were chasing the motorboat. You found them right in the middle of the Sea of ​​Columns?" "Almost." Her disappointment also made Richard a little depressed, and he smiled uneasily, "Remember, at the summary meeting after the simulated training, they criticized us, saying why we didn't take an The manned jet skis were put in the water first to see if the new design disturbed the 'ecological balance' there. At the time I thought that was a ridiculous suggestion. Well, I don't dare to think so now. Those sharks It hardly interfered with our boat, but it was obviously aggressive towards my high-speed motorboat."

Richard and Nicole sat down together on a gray metal box.Those square boxes are scattered in the square area. He continued: "I managed to dodge them once, but it was just luck. After that, I didn't have a chance. So, I just jumped in and swam for my life. I was lucky, they were all busy chasing the motorboat When I was swimming, no one noticed me until I was only 100 meters from the shore." "How long have you been in Rama?" Nicole asked. "Nearly seventeen hours. I left the Newton two hours after dawn. I've spent too much time trying to fix that goddam comm station at Camp Beta, and it's never been successful."

Nicole touched his flight suit: "Except for your hair, other places are not wet." Richard laughed. "Oh, this is a miracle of the textile industry. Believe it or not, the clothes were already dry before I warmed up? At that time, even I couldn't believe that I just swam in the icy sea water for more than 20 minutes!" He said Look at the companion.She seemed to be slowly relaxing, "But I'm surprised, Cosmonaut de Jardin, that you haven't asked me the most important question; how did I know you were there?" Nicole pulled out her scanner and began to read his body data.Although he swam from the terrible sea just now, all the data are within the normal tolerance range.

She gradually understood the meaning of his words. "Do you know where I am?" she asked finally, raising her eyebrows. "I thought you were just wandering around." "Come on, ma'am, although 'New York' is small, it's not so small that it's not so easy to find a person. Inside this wall, there is an area of ​​25,000 square meters, and the radio is unreliable here." He smiled mischievously. Laugh, "Let me see, if I call your name once every square meter I pass, then I have to call you 25 million times. If I call once in 10 seconds - because I have to hear your answer , and then walk to the next square meter - I can only call 6 times in a minute, so I have to spend 4 million minutes, that's a little more than 60,000 hours, or 2,500 days... ..."

"All right, all right," interrupted Nicole, with a last laugh. "Tell me how you know where I am." Richard stopped. "Can I?" he said in a dramatic tone, pointing to the breast pocket of her flight suit. "I guess so," she replied, "although I find it hard to believe..." Richard reached into her pocket and took Prince Henry out. "It drew me to you," said Walkerfield. "You are a good man, my Prince. But for a while I thought you had failed me." Nicole didn't know what Richard was referring to. "Prince Henry and Falstaff have a guided pulse system," he explained. "They send out 15 strong electrical pulses a second. I hung Falstaff in my little tent at Camp Beta, and A receiver of the same frequency is placed in Camp Alpha, and you can use triangles to analyze and compare signals to find out your location, so I know where you are. That is, I have an X-Y coordinate system that can track you. But my simple arithmetic system doesn't design the Z coordinate."

"So, Mr. Engineer is saying that I'm going to visit the bird's den along the Z coordinate?" Nicole laughed again. "Quite right." Nicole shook her head: "I don't understand, Walkerfield, why did you wait so damn long when you always knew where I was..." "Because you disappeared, or rather we thought so...until I went back for Falstaff." "In the past week, I've been a big fool, or these things are so complicated that I can't figure it out." This time it was Richard's turn to smile: "Maybe I should express it more systematically." He paused and straightened his thoughts, "It's very unpleasant to say. In June, the engineering director The team decided not to use the guide pulse system as a backup personal locating device. I have been arguing with them without success. This system is specially designed to deal with emergencies, or events that cannot be foreseen in advance. Because it is not difficult to imagine , we may experience loss of audio radio signal from the intercom. So, I have installed this system on my little robot."

Nicole studied him as he spoke.She could hardly believe that he had always been so eccentric and had such a great sense of humor and love to make people laugh.She was sure now that if she asked the right questions, he too could keep on talking for an hour at length. "...then Falstaff couldn't detect the signal. At that time, I was not on the scene, but I was preparing to pick you up by helicopter with Hiroshi Yamanaka. But Falstaff had a small recorder and time marker, After I found out that your signal disappeared, I called up the data and found that your signal disappeared suddenly.

"For a while after we spoke to you, the transmission was fine, and then a few minutes later, there was a short period of interruption. This usually indicates a hardware problem. I think this is Prince Henry. Failed. When Frances said you walked with her all the way to the central square, so I was actually sure it was Prince Henry..." Nicole mused as she listened to him, and when he mentioned Frances a flash of alarm flashed through her mind. "Stop!" Nicole interrupted him, clenching her fists. "What do you think she told you?" "She said you left the 'barn' with her, and that in a few minutes you went the other way to find Tall Bank..."

"It's total nonsense," said Nicole. "What do you mean?" Richard asked in surprise. "She lied, outright. Frances was there when I fell into that well, or she was out of there for less than a minute. She hasn't seen me since." Richard thought for a moment, then said: "That would explain why Falstaff has lost contact with you, you have been in the 'barn', the signal has been blocked." He asked in bewilderment, "But , why did Frances make up such a story." Nicole thought to herself: "That's exactly what I want to know. She must have some special purpose in poisoning Bosov. Otherwise, why would she deliberately..."

"Something must have happened between you?" Richard was still going on. "I've been thinking, and I've found..." "Maybe it's jealousy." Nicole interrupted him. "Frances and I have taken completely different paths. The distance between us can be measured in light years." "Can you say that again?" Richard laughed, "I've spent the better part of a year sending out all kinds of signals, because I find you smart, funny, and charming, but all you have is self-restraint and good manners." And outside of work, I never get any response. But Frances is different, even if you occasionally glance back at her, she is very enthusiastic." "That's another matter, quite a different thing," Nicole replied.She was not at all offended by Richard's remark that he was interested in her because she was a woman. For a while, neither of them spoke. Nicole looked at his watch. "I don't want to waste time here talking about Frances Sabatini!" she said. "In an hour, it's going to be dark again. We still have to figure out how to get out of the island. Plus, we have some logistical issues to sort out, like food, water, and things like personal hygiene. I Being stuck in that well for so many days is killing me." "I have a portable tent with me, should I need it." "Excellent!" Nicole clapped her hands. "We'll need it when it rains. She reached into her pocket automatically, trying to get some managua, but the grocery bag was gone. She asked:" Did you bring any human food? " After a while, the tent was erected and they were ready to sleep.Nicole felt that it would be safer to be close to Ai Yunniao, so they decided to set up the tent on the side of the central square.They were her friends, she felt, and they might help in case of emergency.Also, only they know where the food comes from.Nicole and Richard didn't have enough food and water to last them two Rama days. Nicole had no objection to Richard's suggestion that the two share the tent.Of course, Richard also said that he was more than happy to sleep outside "if she felt more comfortable sleeping alone".But the tent is very spacious, the two of them occupy one side, and there is a distance of half a meter between them, which makes it easier to talk. Nicole recounted so much of what she had been through during this time, except about the vial and the hallucinations.Richard listened fascinated, and Ai Yunniao aroused his keen interest. "I mean," he said, resting his head in his hands, "come to think of it, how did they get here? From what you've said, they're no more prehistoric than the prehistoric Humans advanced. It would be amazing to know their secrets." "The possibility that they are machine creatures cannot be completely ruled out." He continued, becoming excited, "As creatures, their performance is not surprising, but God, if it is artificial intelligence, it will be a masterpiece!" He said Sitting up, "Think about what the two situations mean! We've got to find out. You're a linguist, maybe you can learn to talk to them." Nicole was amused, and said, "Have you ever thought, Richard, that if no one gets us out, these ideas are pretty pedantic." "Brothers and sisters." Richard smiled, lying down again, "When I asked to go back to Rama, that damned Hellman ignored me and said that my behavior was 'in violation of the regulations' , he threatened me that they would not come back to me under any circumstances." "Then why did you come back?" "I'm not entirely sure," he said slowly, "I'd like to get my Falstaff back and see if something miraculous happens to make it pick up your pulses again. Of course, I want to There were other reasons too. The operation was becoming more and more of a political game rather than a scientific expedition. I think the bureaucrats on Earth clearly wanted to abort the operation, supposedly for 'security reasons', while The players won't be returning to Rama either. I know the discussions among the politicians could go on for another day or two." He paused. Yes, the most incredible scenery." Nicole was silent for a while, and said softly: "You are obviously not afraid, because until now, I can't see a trace of fear in you. Could it be that you will be thrown into Rama to die slowly? There is no such thought Does it affect your thoughts?" "A little." Richard replied, "but it's better to die happily than to live dullly." He raised his head again. "I've been looking forward to this operation for three years. Likely to be chosen. Apart from my robot and Shakespeare, I have no other concerns in life than work, I have no family, no friends to miss..." His voice gradually deepened. "...and, for me, going home is as scary as death. At least Richard Walkerfield, the astronaut on the Newton, has a clear and definite goal to pursue..." he murmured He said something, then stopped suddenly, lay down on his back, and closed his eyes.