Chapter 2 Chapter One

By this time, physically speaking, John Cheng William Washington--"Sandy" as he was known to his childhood nurse and six of his friends--was nearly twenty-three.Even though years on Earth were not counted on the Heckley starship, he considered himself about 22 years old.In fact, this age does not accurately reflect the time that has passed since his birth, because the dilation of time has tampered with the clocks, and the spaceship travels at relative speeds most of the time.Sandy was a typical good guy, if you put aside minor flaws like deafness and short stature.In fact, with the help of hearing aids custom-made for him by his shipmates, his deafness has been easily corrected.He is only 1.67 meters tall, but weighs 91 kilograms-this is still assuming the weight on the earth, and under the gravity conditions of the Heckley spacecraft, he will be 30% heavier; he has a strong physique and can easily straighten Arm, prop yourself up on one arm.In this case, though, Einstein was right long ago, as he asserted about so many other things: everything is relative.Compared with the Heckley on the huge starship, Sandy was as thin as a puppy, so when his companions got angry at him, they called him "little useless"-his Another nickname.

[①The people of Highkley call him Lasander, and Sandy is his abbreviation. 】 Sandy was still sleeping soundly, and vaguely heard a small voice calling: "Little useless Sandy, don't press me down, come down quickly." This is not a dream, but his teammate Polly's love and annoyance sound.Sandy's hearing aids had slipped out again during the night, so Polly's voice sounded rather small. "We've got work to do in the morning!" cried Polly, with a sour but pleasant breath that made Sandy itch.He quickly shrank away from her.Of the six Highkleys in Sandy Washington's squad, Polly wasn't the burliest, but she was sometimes the most bossy.

Sandy let go of the two arms he had held on to Demi and Helen in his sleep, sat up, stretched, and yawned.He puts on his hearing aids and looks around. The whole squad is sleeping in a mess on the floor in the corner of their gym.Usually he woke up with Bolton's huge right leg on his back, or with Titania's two-thumb hand stuffed into his mouth.But last night he slept on top of the pile, jumped off the pile, and the others got up again, jostling and jostling as usual in the morning. They splashed some water on them, wiped them off, and one of them came to bring the breakfast cart.Instead of the chunks of plant roots and meat that they ate for their main meal at noon, they ate shortbread and soup for breakfast, which they called "biscuit milk."When they got up, they were still a little bit sleepy, so they didn't talk much.At this time, morning music was playing on the spaceship, and like the airport managers on Earth, the Haikeli people didn't like silence very much.Of course, what Sandy and the others heard was the earth music played on the special channel for the squad cabin.Sandy hummed "Yesterday" by the Beatles and pulled his clothes from the locker.He leaned forward and kissed the picture of his mother taped to the inside of the cabinet door.It was a weekday, so he hurried back to the breakfast car.Everyone sipped hot, salty soup and crunched shortbread.They didn't have any special rituals related to eating that day—they didn't have time to play games like "kitchen" and "restaurant" on weekday mornings—after breakfast, they hurried to the door of the squad cabin.There was only a sharp "click", followed by a harsh "hiss", and then a deep and loud "bang", and the pressure isolation door opened.Out of this door, the air pressure is different.Sandy swallowed hard.The air pressure in the cabin area of ​​the team is 1000 millibars set according to the earth’s level, and it is raised to 1200 millibars in the main cabin of the Heckley spacecraft. It is reasonable that this change will not cause any damage to Sandy’s ears. But he was always uncomfortable.Of course, his fellow Heckley teammates didn't notice the air pressure difference at all.

Obiye boldly bent over and stepped into the corridor outside the door, looking left and right. "Ching Tai Chi Law isn't here!" he cried. "He's late! Maybe we don't have to work today!" "Maybe you're dying, come in!" Polly ordered.Aubie hurried back, and Polly slapped the base of his stubby tail. "But it's too hot." Aubier muttered, stretching his springy legs and stretching his tail towards Sandy, expecting his comfort.He did this to get Sandy to lick his tail, which Sandy did.Everyone knew that Polly had a point, that Aubie shouldn't have walked out of their cabin without permission.Going out without permission is strictly prohibited.But everyone still hated Polly's overbearing attitude, and Sandy felt the same, because he and Aubie were best friends.

Polly felt it was her duty to say something. "The reason it's so hot in the boat," she said gravely, "is because we're going to be doing a diversion maneuver, and the navigator has to steer the boat close to the star. Hot spots can't be helped. Besides, it's much cooler now." .” "What a navigator!" Aubier couldn't help but praise. Helen also yelled: "The navigators are really good!" Of course, she said this just to flatter Aubie.Aubie's estrus period is coming soon, and Helen is making preparations in advance, trying her best to attract his attention.At that time, whether to be rejected or become a partner for a successful mating is all in his mind.

But Aubie didn't listen to her at all.He was once again daring to peep out the movement in the corridor, and soon he regained his energy, and couldn't help shouting: "Marshala is here!" Everyone rushed forward to meet Marsala.Especially Sandy, he was very happy to see Marsala coming instead of the instructor, he grinned, and threw himself on Marsala's back as soon as she came in.Marsala tossed him off, staggering a bit herself.She pretended to be a little angry: "Come down, what's wrong with you (this) Si (is), Lasan (Sang) De?" Sandy hurriedly backed away, and Marsala didn't call him by his nickname, which meant that she was real. 's angry.Marshala said: "You are a 'Chez', Ma Sang (above) has important work to do, and you still have to make trouble, this is not absurd! Qing Taiqi Luo can't come today, your work depends on you. I'll take care of it. Everyone follow me!"

With tears of joy in their eyes, everyone followed her into the hallway and across the spaceship.Everyone on Earth Squad liked old Marsala, and of course only Sandy thought Marsala was the most like a real mother of anyone he knew.Masala's full name is How Ma Iq Po Sara-Tok 3151. "How" and "Ike" represent her family lineage, and "Ma" indicates her status - she is a mature adult, but not an 'elder'. "Sarah-Toke" was her own name; "Bo" indicated her age—it was near the end of her life, Sandy knew it, but tried not to think about it; "3151" The numbers set her apart from others of her generation and blood—it was sort of the batch number of frozen eggs she belonged to.Sandy sometimes had the audacity to call her Sarah Toker, but formally, young adults, like members of the squad, should call her Marsala.

As the time to land on Earth drew nearer, Sandy and his teammates had to take turns doing the work on the ship.Sometimes it is a harvest task, they have to pull out the food crops one by one, wash the mud off the tubers, and then separate the branches from the leaves; of course, if the crops are in flowering period, they have to remove the flowers one by one ; If it has already borne fruit, you have to pick off those round white fruits first.Pulling up tubers is dirty work, but it's clean compared to what happens after harvesting.Once the harvest was over, it was time to prepare for the next round of planting—they had to fetch buckets of filth and sewage from the recycling station and mix it into the soil.This kind of crop eaten by the Haikeli people is quite strange. Every part of its body can be eaten, and each part can be eaten in hundreds of ways, so after harvesting, the soil is clean and there is not much left.Also because of this, all nutrients must be recycled, whether it is the food leftovers in the garbage bin or the waste discharged from the digestive system of the crew, it will eventually return to the recycling station and become the sludge at the bottom of the recycling tank.

Yet such a job was not the worst of jobs compared to cleaning Husik's corral.Husik is a four-legged meat animal with mane and gray skin, fat as a boar, and very tame.They are about the size of a Lasander, and they are very affectionate with people.But the smell of them, especially the smell of feces, was unbearable.Even so, sometimes some Husiks would nuzzle Lasander in a gesture of affection, even when he was driving them to the slaughterhouse.And when they wait quietly for the blow that will end their lives in the slaughterhouse, they will stretch out their stubby hooves, patting and touching the butchers, and they are very affectionate.Husik didn't look like the cats and dogs Sandy had seen on Earth TV, but was the most cat-like thing around him.Sometimes Sandy wishes he could have a little Husick as a pet, but of course this wish doesn't work.Things like pets are not allowed on the Heckley starship.

If there were any pets, it was Lasander Washington herself. "Hurry up, hurry up!" Marsala kept urging them.The members of the squad walked lazily, staring at the passing cabins and passages, feeling itchy and a little disappointed. They used to be able to wander freely in these places, but now they are prohibited.The other Highkleys along the way looked back at them, because these days, on board the ship, the Landing Squad was more visible than ever.Under normal circumstances, these players have no status.By Heckley standards, they were just "Chess," which meant they were adults, but young and immature.Under normal circumstances, even if the team members were six years older, no one would be considered qualified to take on any serious mission.However, now is a special time, and there is no time to wait for them to grow up and be wiser, because the time when they need to take on the mission is imminent.The other Hekleites viewed them as a cynical Japanese judged those seventeen or eighteen-year-old kamikazes in World War II on Earth.The great task they were about to undertake might even cost them their lives, which earned them a certain respect.But then again, they're just stupid kids.

Their job this morning is to install the protective netting for the nursery.After the spacecraft enters orbit around the planet called "Earth", all engines will be turned off, and all objects on board will suddenly lose weight.The team members now install the protective net, which will play a vital role.With the protective net, the new romping little Highkleighs in the nursery will not be able to bang their tender little heads against the hard fence when the time comes. They checked the nursery, and Demetrius ordered, "Climb up, Sandy, you're the lightest of us." "You assigned me the hardest work." Sandy complained.Working on the upper part of the wall required hands and feet to hold on to the fence while keeping hands free to catch heavy clumps of bungee cord thrown at them. "You deserve it," Helen said viciously in a hoarse voice from the side, "you should really do some work." However, she was assigned to climb the opposite wall to catch the rope thrown by Sandy, because Apart from Sandy, she was the smallest on the team--of course, much bigger than Sandy. In order not to waste time, the team members played a casual game together—they called it “Question and Answer”—asking each other hard questions.This was Helen's idea, so she had to think about what kind of topic to choose. "Just test the middle part of the name!" She decided. "How about testing the middle part of the names of previous US presidents?" Bolton suggested cautiously.In the squad, he was the timidest and also the shortest and fattest.The clumsy way he hops and jumps while walking makes everyone laugh.But if he makes a suggestion, as long as someone is willing to listen, it will generally be considered a good idea by everyone. "Okay," Sandy said eagerly, adjusting his hearing aids so he wouldn't miss anything. "I'll go first. What's the middle part of Herbert Hoover's name?" "It's Clark!" said Demme at once. "The middle part of his name is Clark. Herbert Clark Hoover, in office from 1929 to 1933. He was president when the stock market crashed in 1929, and the crash caused After the Great Depression, the streets were full of apple sellers, people lined up to receive relief food, a large number of people lost their jobs, and those who were good at golf would switch to playing miniature golf indoors..." Polly picked up a ball of rope and threw it at Demi, who said impatiently, "Just say the middle part of the name, and start over." Demi caught the rope with a giggle, tears of triumph and pleasure in his eyes.He threw the rope to Sandy, and Sandy, listening to their answers, looped the rope around the grating of the wall and tied it tight.He said, "Okay, so what's that middle part of Richard Nixon's name?" "It's Millhouse!" snapped Polly, who had already thought of the next problem: "Who knows the middle part of Calvin Coolidge's name?" Self-confidence everyone is stumped by her.But Bolton tricked her. [①John Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States (1923-1929), a Republican. 】 "I know, it's Calvin!" Bolton said triumphantly, "Calvin is the middle part of his name, and the beginning part of his name should be...it should be..." "What, what is it?" asked Polly forcefully, "You didn't answer my question correctly!" "I got it right!" Bolton roared. "you have not!" "You skinny, silly suckerbird," said Burton, hissing Polly, taking pride in his ability to blurt out earth-speak and a series of "S" sounds, "I got it right. !" [①Sapsuker: The original English text is sapsuker, which is a type of woodpecker called a juice-sucking woodpecker, which is produced in North America.Slight changes are made here due to translation needs. 】 "You just don't, no! As I said, his name starts with Calvin, and you have to say what the middle part is, or you lose. I'm going to start over again—ouch!" She said honestly Wheezing, Bolton threw himself on her, hitting Polly's stomach with his triangular head. The fight brought the work of erecting the net to a halt.Helen also jumped off the wall to join in.But Sandy stayed on the wall.This melee was not very dangerous for his friends.The young Highkleys were each twice his weight, and most of their fights were even draws with each other.Sandy was different.He was neither so big nor as thick as an elephant to take the fight with ease.And to fight the Heckley, his muscles look pitiful.Any young Highkleite could tear Sandy's limbs off as easily as a lover rips a petal from a flower.They had come close to it a few times when they were kids. This is not to say, however, that Lassander Washington was a weakling.If the earthlings saw him, probably none of them would think so, but the size of the Haikeli people is not comparable to that of the earthlings.They also know this.If any of them were to throw a tantrum at Sandy, they wouldn't throw a punch at him.Partly because they knew what would be waiting for them if something happened to the only earthling in the squad.On the other hand, they were grateful to Sandy, and everyone owed him a debt.They understood that if it weren't for the need to find some companions for Lasander Washington, an earthling, to grow up with—of course, such companions cannot be human beings, because there are no other earthlings on the spaceship, the Haikeli can only try to give San Di finds some companions who are as similar as possible to the people on Earth—it is very likely that they are still frozen in the huge low-temperature incubator on the spacecraft, and they are eggs that have not yet hatched. While the rest of the team was still fighting, Sandy slid off the wall and huddled in a corner behind a stool.There were rows of nests where the Heckley babies would be used—their future young masters were still in the incubator—the nests served as a protective barrier from the brawl.Sandy felt at ease and happy to be able to get off the wall.He huddled comfortably in a corner, took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, buried his head low to avoid being hit by things flying in the air, and then began to write poems. Writing poetry is nothing out of the ordinary for the Hekleites—certainly, to those illiterate brutes who were born to do the heavy lifting on the exterior of a spaceship, or to work in the harmful radiation environment of an engine room. , writing poetry is a rare thing.Sandy's six teammates often wrote poetry, a way to show off their talents.Sandy had already written a great deal of poetry, but, like those of his teammates, his poems were written in Hycklen.Highkleigh is an ideographic script, not an alphabetic script.When writing poetry, the Haikeli people pay much attention to the shape of the poem presented on the paper after cleverly conceived, and they believe that this is as important as the meaning of the words.What Sandy wanted to do now was something no one else had done: write a Hackley poem, but in English. Sandy had already drawn up a rough draft and began to reassemble the words in the most ingenious way possible.At this time, an adult voice came from the door, speaking in Heckley language: "Hey, troublemaker! The guy who doesn't work hard! He just cares about playing and doesn't know how to work. Stop it! Stop messing around! Do you hear me? " Sandy recognized whose voice it was: Marsala was back.She was so angry that she hiccupped lightly, straightened her legs, and looked down at the team members.She reprimanded them in English, and in a fit of rage, her pronunciation became more unclear and some words were missed: "What's wrong with you four (yes)? Why are you like a bunch of Husiks? These dolls are about to hatch, How can we do without an Anchuan (full) environment!" The players froze in place, embarrassed, snorting.They made a mess all over the room, and most of the bungee cords that had been bound were torn off, torn in strands, hanging in the nest of babies, useless.Demi was out of breath, and said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, Marsala, but Bolton is to blame for this, he was the one who jumped at..." "Don't keep talking about Bolton! Look at what you have done! Now quickly clean up this pile of rubbish, and do it!" After the working period of 3 1/12th ① was over, they returned to their cabin area.Marsala urges Sandy to try on clothes.Sandy was really hungry--everybody was hungry--but Marsala's word was an order.In the past 20 years, most of the time Sandy felt that Marsala was the wisest and the best person in his little world.He still thinks so.Out of an inexplicable impulse, Sandy asked Marsala a question that had troubled him for a long time: "Marsala, will you be promoted to 'Elder' in the future?" [①1/12th (and the "12th" that appears later): The Haikeli people use twelve decimals to calculate time. 】 Masala was taken aback: "Lasan Sand, why do you think like this? My monk was not born to be an 'elder', I know ?" "yes?" "Fourth is like this. You know, before the eggs hatch, scientists have to slightly change their genes. Because of this, your teammates can learn English All the sounds are pronounced accurately, including the terrible S sound of Zhe (this)." "I know, who doesn't?" Sandy said. "Moreover, I don't have the endowment required to be an 'elder'; for example, to ask (speak) words (wisdom) wisdom, to..." "You have nothing short of wit and talent," said Sandy sincerely. Masala was quite moved and said: "Good boy, but fourthly, I don't have the genes necessary to be an 'elder', right? This is also a matter of course. Love. Four (actually) I am very happy. My work is very meaningful, and the real happiness lies in this, Sandy, in doing my duty." "What meaningful work?" "What do you mean, Lysander?" "You said you were doing meaningful work. I guess you were just looking after me." "Four (yes), isn't this (four) very meaningful? Three Sandy, do you know, you (four) are priceless treasures. You (four) are unique on the entire spaceship That's why you're different. Come and see these clothes, okay?" She leaned over and grasped the handle of the monitor behind Sandy's back with her four thumbs.Pictures of earth men in various costumes soon appeared on the screen one after another. Deciding what to wear when Lysande landed on Earth was not an easy task, and it must be blamed on humans, who are constantly changing their clothing habits with the changes of the times.To make matters worse, the TV stations on the earth always broadcast some historical films in a mess, especially some of the classic old films. If you want to know when they were filmed, there is no trace at all.What the Hekri are sure of is that the toga is out of fashion on Earth, and neither are swords and feathered hats.Apparently, business attire is guaranteed no joke—but which one?Single breasted or double breasted?Big lapel or small lapel?Tie or not?Should the collar be made stronger?Do you want to add some frills to the trousers?Do you wear a vest?And if so, do you make one that matches the color of the jacket you're wearing outside, or do you do it in red or yellow fabric, or plaid? [①Toga robe: a loose robe worn by ancient Roman citizens. 】 Of course, besides all this, there is another nagging question: What kind of fabric should the clothes for Sandy be made of?Among the images transmitted by the Earth TV programs, the clearest ones allow people to see the color of their clothes, and sometimes even the shallow texture. Still no one could figure it out.The smartest scholars on board have carefully studied the images transmitted from the earth in the past 100 years, compared and analyzed them repeatedly, and have mastered a lot of the weaving methods of the earth's cloth through study and deliberation.Still, they don't know whether a coat should be single or double, whether it should be lined, and if so, how the lining is attached to the garment.And these are much more important to Sandy than to his teammates.His half-dozen fellow Hackleys also wore Earthen clothes, or at least dressed like that.Since their legs are thick, long, and curved, their shorts are carefully sewn to make them comfortable.They wear short-sleeved jackets and sometimes even top hats.Shoes are out of the question with their big feet, but sometimes they like to wear flat sandals or something.As for Lasander, he had to dress like a human from Earth at all times.He even had to practice "tying a tie" in front of a mirror, like they'd seen Earth men do on TV.But it never occurred to him that choosing clothes and hats could be torture. "I don't want to wear these things!" he yelled. "How can I poop in them?" "Experts say it's best to take your underpants off when you urinate," Marsala reassured him. "You can do it, Lasander." "I look like an idiot in these!" "No, you'll look good in these!" Marsala said confidently.She tapped on the keyboard and entered the last few pictures of the clothes into the machine, "Women on earth will lick your tongue, I promise!" Sandy frowned at her, pretending not to be very happy on the surface, but actually a heart pounding Jumping wildly, Marsala finally said, "Okay, let's go to lunch." The lunch car hadn't arrived for a while. In order to find something to do, and to relax the endocrine system overflowing with energy in a tense state, the team members simply played basketball. The rules of the basketball game are not very clear in their minds.There are only three people on each side, plus a referee.They wouldn't even have referees if Lasander hadn't taken care of the clothes chores.Nor does it play like the New York Knicks or the Los Angeles Lakers on Earth TV.And there is no place near their room that can be used as a venue that complies with the rules of the game.But they try to overcome difficulties.Sandy Washington urged his teammates to play whenever he could, because the only time he got a chance to show them something was when he was playing basketball.They were stronger than he, but not as quick as he. Sandy easily persuaded Obiye, who didn't like playing basketball very much, to quit being a referee, and then joined the game himself.Playing basketball is not as fun as it used to be.Back then they played with dozens of mates who grew up together, sometimes as many as 12 on each side.Since the members of the team going to the ground were determined, they were isolated from those companions.But the game still went well.The air temperature in the cabin has dropped a bit, because the spacecraft has now finished orbiting close to the sun to slow down.This is both a good and a bad thing for Sandy. The good thing is that his teammates don't sweat like rain, and the bad thing is that they don't get tired so easily. But Sandy herself was tired.There was still a long time before the meal, and he withdrew.The others were running loosely, and Aubier came on again, kicking Polly's thigh at an opportunity on the way.Polly rubbed her thigh and limped towards Sandy. "He hurts me," complained Polly. "You're bigger than him, beat him up," Sandy urged jokingly. "Oh, that won't work!" Polly sounded a little taken aback.She didn't say why she couldn't, in fact she didn't need to say it, now everyone could see that Obiye was about to go into heat, so why she wasn't angry with Obiye, wasn't that obvious? "You're not playing now, why don't you bring the lunch cart?" asked Polly. "I went there yesterday, and it's Helen's turn today." "If Helen goes, the game will stop." Polly was a little annoyed. "I don't care." Sandy said, turning away. Sandy walked to a corner, turned on his personal monitor, and watched the TV.According to regulations, during the meal time, the team members can watch TV programs at will, which can help them practice English.This time Sandy chose a movie called "Sea Green Flower."Of course it wasn't his favorite kind of film, and he didn't really think watching it would help him understand what was going on on Earth.The film tells the story of the French Revolution. The costumes worn by the characters in it are not the same as those of that era. In addition, the plot is so complicated that even those Heckley scholars can't tell whether some characters are friends or enemies. determined.But Sandy watched it over and over again, enthralled, because the film's main character was a spy.After all, the Haikeli people sent him back to make him a spy. [①"Sea Green Flower": Based on the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by British writer Baroness Orczy, "Sea Green Flower" is the alias of the character Sir Percy Blackney in the book. He rescued the victims of the Reign of Terror and helped them smuggle them out of France. 】