Chapter 3 Chapter two

There are about 22,000 Hyckleys living on the massive starship, but only one Sandy Washington, so he can feel outnumbered at times.Not only was he alone, but besides those meat animals, he was the smallest adult creature on the spaceship.An adult Heckley always weighs 160 to 340 kilograms, depending on his age and purpose for which he was born.For example, the workers who worked in the power plants and the exterior of the spaceship grew almost as large as the oldest elders, although because of their work, they rarely lived to the latter age.The body structure of the Heckley is basically the same: short and flexible forearms, legs as strong as a kangaroo's hind limbs, and a long and pointed face like that of a collie.However, some special species have stronger hands, or shorter tails, or even no tails.The hands of the Haikeli people have two thumbs and three fingers, plus a thick and short finger called "auxiliary finger" with hard nails. It looks quite like a human palm, except that there is one more Secondary fingers protruding from a person's wrist.If the Hykleites on the ship were diverse and varied, they were more diverse on home soil—partly because they were adapted to a greater variety of uses, and partly because they were simply too numerous.Altogether there are over 3 trillion Hyaklians in their own "solar system" and the planets in the two neighboring galaxies they occupy.The Hekri on the ship had never seen any of the other 3 trillion of their kind, and neither had the 3 trillion Hekli since the ship began its voyage 3,000 Earth years ago.

Before the movie Sea Green Flowers had reached its emotional conclusion—the refugees escaped, Leslie Howard triumphed, the heroine flung himself into his arms—the dining car delivered a sumptuous lunch. The team members swarmed over, only Sandy slowly lagging behind.He never learned how to eat "properly," and all his friends in Return to Earth sadly concluded that he never would.This is evidenced by his lack of self-confidence when snatching food, for the "well-behaved" Heckley swallows rather than eats at his meals. Sandy's teammates wolfed down their lunch, making loud noises as they ate it.Sandy chewed the meat tenderly, and his friends tore at the cooked meat in large chunks, filling their mouths with clumps of tubers and crackers, chewing loudly with their long, powerful jaws, The muscles in the neck trembled with every swallow.He could see clump after clump of food slid down their throats, chasing each other.Although none of them would actually snatch the morsels that Sandy had cut for himself, he kept them under wraps.As they chewed, they gulped down the soup, a clear soup with a fishy smell, with chunks of noodle cake floating in it.They made a sound like six oil pumps roaring at once.

The Highkleites don't talk much at the table, it's just things like "pass me the soup bowl" or "hey! That's mine".Sandy didn't try in vain to talk to them, but just sat patiently, eating his meal slowly, waiting for their binges to die down.It's just a matter of minutes.The chunks of food eventually reach their respective stomachs, and the circulatory system pumps blood to the digestive organs to meet the needs. The chewing movement becomes slower and slower, and finally stops.One by one, they became blind and their limbs were weak. Within five minutes, they all lost consciousness and fell down straight, entering their "fainting time".

Sandy sighed and walked slowly to the dining car.There was also a large chunk of Husik that had been bitten into in the leftovers, and a few pieces of seasoned crispbread. He took what he could, walked to his work room, and finished the meal quietly.His teammates lost consciousness while digesting food, and he had nothing else to do, so he watched a movie, which was his favorite thing to do. Some of the best and most important times in Lasander Washington's life were watching those old TV show tapes from Earth.He and his teammates must watch it, because this is how they learn the language and way of life of the earth.Still, he loved watching it.When watching, he likes to curl up next to Tanya or Helen, or even Polly, if she is in a good mood that day, enjoying the smell of their scales and the warmth of their bodies.Their body temperature was at least 10°C higher than his.Together they watch documentaries and news, which are mandatory, but given the chance of free choice, they watch "I Love Lucy," "Mr. ".The recordings of these videos are not very good, because they were recorded from places more than ten light-years away.In fact, they were just electrical signals, picked up by the ship's constantly searching sensors, and it was these signals that first alerted the Hekleites to the tiny 6-2 star they had spotted through their telescopes. There actually exists life with intelligence and technology on a certain planet in the universe.

Most of these old family TV sitcoms were hilarious, but watching them made Sandy feel a little wistful.Sometimes, he wondered what his life would be like if he had grown up on Earth, among humans instead of the Hekri.Can he play baseball (which is impossible on a spaceship, with no field, no players, and low enough gravity to hit a ball as far as Duke Sindel and Joe DiMaggio)?Will he be soaking in "malt taverns" with his "buddies" (and whatever the hell "malt" is. No cooking show on TV has ever taught it how to make it, and the Hackley experts can't be sure it's sweet or sour)?Would he... could he... have a girlfriend?

This was the biggest question in Lasander's mind.There is a girlfriend who can touch her (the touch feels "like fire," "like an electric shock"—if so, how can it be pleasant? But that's what the book says), and can kiss her (like Wine and sweet kisses! Whatever the "wine" is), maybe even...   Can do what humans do in the sex phase.What it was, he couldn't be sure, he only knew what the Haikeli people did.He's much more visible to his teammates at this stage.Do humans do the same?Unfortunately, he has no way of knowing.If TVs on Earth had porn channels, the ship's receivers didn't pick up any.Apparently, men and women on Earth kiss each other, and this action does it a lot.They undressed each other and went to bed together.Sometimes, they got under the sheets, and the sheets kept moving... But they never lifted the sheets, so that people could see what made the bulging sheets keep going up and down.

Lysander dreams every night.Almost all dreams are exactly the same.The dreams were full of women who knew exactly what to do and did (although when he woke up he couldn't remember exactly what they did). The elders had promised that sooner or later Lasander would return to Earth, where all the unmarried women of Earth lived.He can't wait. Sandy turned off the movie he had chosen to watch. It was called "Superstar--Jesus Christ."He took out a picture of his mother from his cabinet and looked at it.She is beautiful, with a slender figure, fair skin, blue eyes, and is very cute.

One thing confuses Sandy.He knew from movies on Earth that people always carry a picture of their mother with them, and take it out whenever the mood strikes them.But he never saw any of the mothers in those pictures naked in the movies.Neither his teammates nor the Highckley scholars who have spent their lives trying to understand the way of life of Earthlings like himself can help him solve this puzzle.He felt that looking at nude photos of his mother was inappropriate, not only inappropriate, but disturbing.As he looked at the picture of his mother, so naked, so beautiful and alluring, he couldn't help but to conjure up some exciting thoughts that he was almost sure were completely inappropriate in the circumstances.

He couldn't figure out why this was happening. Today he decided not to think about it either.After eating, he took the rest of the meal back to the messy dining car, and went back to his workshop to write his poems. Sandy fell asleep without knowing why.He didn't realize this until Aubie leaned over and woke him up. "You're about to become a real Heckley," said Aubier, approving of Sandy's after-dinner slumber. "what is that?" "Just a poem I wrote," Sandy said, hastily covering it up. "Come on, let me see. We'll show you what we wrote."

"It's not finished yet," protested Sandy, getting up just as Polly was coming toward them sullenly. "Lasander," she reproached, "you don't clean up when you're done eating. We're always going to get worms here, and then we'll have to go find the hawks and kill them." Sandy was outraged by this unfair treatment. "Why do you blame me? Why do I always have to clean?" "Because you are the only one who doesn't sleep after eating, you know that." "Oh, then I slept today, so I don't have time to clean."

"But you have time to write poetry," Aubier revealed cunningly, and turned to Polly. "He still hasn't shown it to me, saying that the poem is not finished yet. But I think it should be considered finished." "Let's see your poem," Polly ordered, and Sandy handed it resentfully, between two thumbs together meaningfully.At this time, the other team members woke up.Yawning and stretching, he stumbled over. oh i almost Forgotten earth home! I dream of you every day in my sleep miss you but wish to step on your soil The time of the earth is at hand, oh earth moreover ball it and that beautiful and old the moon "I want to write a Hackley poem in English," said the poet uneasily. "Well," Polly snorted, without comment. "I think it's kind of hard to write," Bolton commented. "Perhaps it's not worth writing at all," put in Helen. "It's nothing like a real poem, you know. Those little wiggly words are ugly." "And," added Aubier the Astronomer, thumping his fist on his notebook, "you've got it all wrong, the proportions are not accurate. The moon should be much smaller." "Then the space wouldn't be big enough for a few words," Sandy retorted. "Then you should make the Earth bigger. And the spheres are so flat they look like that planet they call 'Jupiter.'" Sandy roared, "This is poetry, not an astronomy textbook!" "Yes," said Polly gravely, "but you ought to write it well. Besides, how could the Earth be 'forgotten'? How can you forget it? You have never been to Earth, and have no memory of it, Isn't it? We found your parents in space." "This is a poetic exception." Sandy still refused to let go. Polly fought back violently. "But poets are not free to falsify facts," she said. "Anyway, poets of Heckley don't do that, and even if poets of Earth did, he can't deny it, can he? Now, that's the end of the argument! I propose Marsala Let's watch a few movies before we come back." The movies they picked weren't Sandy's type, they were all about war and terrorism and all those notoriously nasty crimes humans committed against their own kind in the 20th century.When Marsala returned, the team was arguing about the movie.Bolton said smartly to Sandy, "I think your Earth government is full of idiots." Marsala paused at the door, frowning. Sandy said sadly, "You don't understand, maybe they have their own reasons for doing what they do." "What's the reason, Sandy? A reason for killing each other? A reason for destroying each other's farms when we can't get enough to eat? This kind of government isn't led by wise leaders. A wise leader should be like Senator Highckley, Born to be trained to be leaders. Have you ever seen such atrocity on a ship? Husik breeders attacking workers working outside the ship, for example?" "They'll be slaughtered if they do that," Aubier interrupted. "Those workers are tough." "That's not the point! This kind of thing doesn't happen on a ship, that's the point. The Hekleys don't do anything they want." Sandy still stands by his point: "It's easier to manage a few thousand people than billions." "Oh? Really?" Bolton stuck out his tongue mockingly, "Then, the population of our hometown in Haikeli is one billion and several thousand times. Have you heard of such a war?" "I don't have a clue what's going on at Hackley's house," said Sandy, hotly. "Even you don't. When was the last time the ship contacted them?" This was too much to say, and even his good friend Aubie was trembling with anger.Masala gasped, "Three (Sandy)! How can you (s) so (speak) so?" "But it's true," he said, and quickly shut his mouth again.He didn't care if he pissed off his teammates, but Marsala was someone he really liked. "Dear Lasan (Sand)," she said solemnly, "you shouldn't be so flippant about the most horrific tragedy in () our () history. Don't you remember how I taught you ?” Sandy looked at her remorsefully. "I'm sorry, Marsala." A long time ago, the elders at that time, after a lot of painful thinking, made up their minds to continue the mission of the spacecraft after losing contact with the planet Heckley.Every Highkleite on board grieved at that moment, and he knew it all too well. Obiye defended Sandy loyally: "He's just a little nervous. The time to visit the earth is getting closer. He even wrote a poem about it." "Oh? Let me see," said Marsala.When she was done, she put her stubby arms around Sandy and gave him a passionate lick. "What a beautiful Si (poetry)! Lasan (Sand), can I (copy) a copy? Oh, thank you, Imamori (life) I will cherish it for four generations. Now, But the fourth is the time of the work department. As usual in Tibet, we adopt the partner system. Lasan Sander, you and Polly will first discuss the rail gun." The seven members of Sandy's team had a whole planet to learn—the language of the earth, the customs of the earth, the ecology of the earth.The six young Heckleys still have all the knowledge they need to learn as part of normal socialization.They also have their own more difficult professional courses: Demi's agronomy; Burton's sprayer and food chemistry; Polly's navigation and magnetizing machinery; Tanya's genetic control; Aubier's astronomy and interplanetary navigation study.Helen studied chelation, vitrification, and crystal bonding—the processes that dissolve toxic and radioactive materials.What Sandy has to learn is simple, but much more.He has to know a little bit about other people's skills, not only him, everyone is like this, because when it is really on the earth, accidents may happen to some of them at any time.Besides, Sandy had to learn a little more than the others, because he would be the first contact with the Earthlings and had to know what to say. Polly wasn't Sandy's favorite subject to study with, and she snapped when he wasn't getting the lesson fast enough.As soon as the two of them arrived at her workshop, she ordered, "Explain what the railgun is for," and, expecting him to make a mistake, she burst into tears. "Okay," he said resignedly, "but don't pinch me, okay?" "Maybe not, tell me quickly!" Sandy sat cross-legged beside her, not too close, and began to say, "For all the good things the Heckleys are going to do for the people of Earth, in return for all the good things they are going to do for the people of Earth, we just ask them for a few favors. Like asking them to We replenish our stockpiles of mundane items that are of little value to them. We specifically need carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. In exchange, you'll show them how to build a system of inclined orbits, powered by magnetism, that can move water and their Shotguns fueled by solid carbon called 'coal' are fired into the spacecraft's orbit." "Why do we need these things?" "Because they are fuel," he replied immediately, "and all of this will be used in the landing craft. The landing craft will be powered by hydrogen peroxide and ethanol, and the excess hydrogen will also be used in the reactor as the main power. You want me to explain How do rail guns work?" "Exactly, it's useless. Tell me in detail, don't make mistakes." He drew back a little, pricking up his ears to listen to the background music, which was his favorite song called "The One I Love".He couldn't help imagining the song was sung to him by some Earth woman.But he said nothing, fearing Polly would immediately order it to be shut down. "A railgun is to be built somewhere on the Earth's equator to take advantage of the Earth's rotation..." "It spins rather slowly," added Polly contemptuously.A day on the Heckley spacecraft is equivalent to just over 17 hours on Earth. "Yes, but they have only 7/12 of our normal gravity." Sandy pointed out. On high ground, it would be great if they could build it on the western slopes of a mountain range. Place magnetic rings every 1/12th of a 1/12th of a kilometer along it, and charge each ring in turn. These magnetic rings would have to be surrounded by superconducting material, and perhaps a power station would have to be built just for them..." "But not nuclear power. We don't want to encourage them to go nuclear." "Polly," Sandy said cautiously, "we're talking about my people, not the Husiks, and they'll do what they want." Polly's two thumbs were pointed at him threateningly, and he bowed hastily Dodge, but fortunately Marsala's cry saved him from being strangled. "It's (time) time. Swap partners now," she ordered, "Lasan (Sound), it's time for you and Aubie to study astronomy." By the end of the 8th 1/12th, they were all exhausted and waiting for the evening meal of "biscuit milk". But this is not the time to rest.Under Masala's command, they began to rehearse the scene in the fast food restaurant on Earth.Demi and Tanya took turns standing at the counter, while others prepared "money" and lined up to buy. "Cheeseburger, french fries, vanilla milkshake." Sandy ordered these, calculated the price in his mind, and then took out two "one dollar" and seven "25 cent" coins. Demi looked at him angrily. "You should give me three 'dollars' and three 'quarters'," he grumbled, but Sandy wouldn't budge. "I wanted to get rid of some change," he explained, a situation he'd seen on a sitcom.Demi scratched his stomach with his fingers angrily, but took the money anyway, counted it, and gave Sandy twenty-two pennies. "I want to get rid of the change too," he said through triumphant tears. Oh, that doesn't make sense.Sandy was sure that the counter sellers didn't leave change.However, he didn't want to fight Demi again, so he took the tray, went to a table and sat down. He checked the food. "Cheese" is another matter. From the cooking programs on Earth TV, they know that "cheese" is a kind of thing obtained by souring milk and doing several treatments, but no one is sure what it is. Microorganisms act as acidifiers.So, as usual, Sandy carefully peeled that piece of "cheese" off the meat and set it on the side of the plate.The burger 'bun' isn't a real bread, all their experiments to make carbs into something edible failed, they had to substitute a piece of plant tuber in the shape of a hockey puck and reheat, not too bad bad. "French fries" are more tubers sautéed in hot oil, which Sandy actually likes (he never adds "ketchup" or "mustard powder". Whatever the original, Heckley knockoffs suck anyway). The "milkshake" was the real shocker.It's made with Hoosik's milk, that's pretty clear, the rest of the ingredients are a bit of a guesswork.Unfortunately, this time it was seasoned and tasted like "cheese". Sandy swallowed the fast food reluctantly, hoping not to throw up.Fortunately, with such a small meal, there will be no fainting after a meal.When they were about to finish eating, Chief Instructor Qing Taiqi Luo walked in.Before he could speak, Polly boldly stopped him and showed him Sandy's poem.He seemed in a good mood, didn't scold her, and praised Sandy: "Yes, this poem is well written, Lasander. The whole thing looks like this, it is not good to write a good poem in such poor language." Easy. But..." he added, "I didn't come here to interrupt your dinner. I couldn't come this morning because the final plans were almost finalized. Soon you will go to see the Senators!" Excited, no one has seen the elders yet! "Also, I have 'watches' to send you guys." "Watch?" asked Polly suspiciously.Qing Taiqi Luo immediately began to send out, these are some metal objects hanging on the belt, and the team members turned them over and over to look at them curiously. "This is worn on the arm to tell the time." He explained, "From now on, you will start to use the time of the earth to count the days. The research department informed me that it is July 12th when you land, Wednesday, 4:23 a.m., and the clocks have been set to this time." He paused to let the team study the dials, and then added softly, "On Monday, July 24th, you will land on Earth. .”