Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

They didn't beat him because the benevolent giants had outlawed torture.They just tied him to an iron frame, stripped him of his clothes, inserted electrodes into his muscles, and inserted steel needles into his blood vessels. Teams of black-clothed and blue-faced men from the security department sometimes roared and yelled at him, sometimes whispered and booed.They shot bunches of harsh lights at his eyes, and they kept accusing him of crimes, and they tortured him without forgetting the temptation of confession.The computer squeaked endlessly, repeating their questions.He couldn't sleep, and he didn't explain.

They never let him rest. They wanted to know more about the monster he had seen than he could recall. How did he accidentally pick up the signal from the probe?Why didn't Captain Brunn report?Did he make up all this?He would be amazed at how much they knew, if he had any feeling.They knew it was he who drove Jason Cowan to visit the wreckage of Spica.Can he describe the aliens who attacked the ship?Or were there no aliens at all, no so-called attacks?Is Jason lying?They knew that Commander Kirvan had met him recently in Jannot and invited him to join him on the Aperture expedition. Why had he declined?What kind of alien is the Commander looking for?Are the aliens more believable this time than the aliens in the wreckage last time?They knew that Captain Brunn had invited him back into space as an engineer.He had never had formal training, how could this happen?Why did he refuse?Did he know that she sympathized with the rebels?Why did he come down from her boat without a sun mark?Didn't he know he was going to be punished?Didn't he know his mother was dead?Who is his father?Why don't you know?Why didn't mother tell him?What did he want from Olaf Thorsen?How would you like to get in touch with him?How much did he know about Thorsen's political activities and attitudes in the Sun Kingdom?Where is Olaf Thorsen now?At first he tried to answer truthfully, but it seemed like they wouldn't give him a chance to speak at all.

Then he was so dazed from the drugs and so tired as hell that he had to make up what they wanted to hear.But they are not always satisfied. For a moment he thought he saw Jason Cowan among the interrogators.Jason Cowan tried to convince him, promising him a seat on the Seven-member Council and giving him a villa in the Sun Kingdom he owned, on the condition that he join the holy war against aliens. In those nightmares, he avoided the weird things coming from the dark, and Jason's red eyes shot out contemptuous glances. The problems never end. "Quinn?" Her voice came from the darkness, "Isn't this Quinn?" It gave him hope, but it seemed like a prank.The sudden light blinded him.Then he found himself lying on a pile of hard iron plates, the iron frame, the sharp needles, and the interrogators were gone.The medicine left in his body made him a little delirious, but he managed to sit up.

"Don't remember me?" Then he saw who it was. Mindy Zion! He struggled to stand up, but the anesthetic in his body made him unable to do so.Under the effect of the gravity of the earth, he sat down again, staring at her blankly, blinking his eyes.She was taller than he remembered, and she looked so beautiful, he couldn't help but think that she too was in his dreams. "Are you—Mindy?" "Oh, Quinn!" She came along the bars of the cell and stopped there, smiling at him.He vaguely accepted her existence, but still had doubts.The black hair was not as long as her mother had kept it for her, nor was it as straight as it used to be.The annoying freckles on my face were gone, and the sun marks on my cheeks were very prominent, newer than the last time I saw them.The golden space suit was tailor-made, and it outlined her slender figure very charmingly.

"You're suffering," she took a step closer, "are you all right?" "have no idea." He shook his head, feeling a little dizzy. Knowing that her appearance was not a dream, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he still felt slightly uncomfortable, and he also saw the round yellow badge she hung on his chest.She was charming but foreign, even as she recalled the affectionate first kiss in the Balloon Stadium; those purple eyes looked at him like a veil. "Mindy—" He licked his chapped lips, still staring at her blankly, "Are you from the Ministry of Security?"

"It's a good thing for you," she smiled mysteriously (—he hoped it was true), "and I'm arranging bail for you." He stared at her blankly. "But there are two conditions. First of all, you are not allowed to talk about space monsters to any outsiders." "That's easy," he said, "nobody believes me anyway." "Secondly, you must swear to accept my guardianship, so that the Ministry of Security will be there at any time." "What does the Ministry of Security want to do?" Frowning, she stood for a long moment, with a look of uneasiness in her eyes. , "We'll talk about it later," she touched her lips with a finger, "if you want to get bail."

"Why wouldn't I?" He put on a smile. "I miss it too much." "Great," she wrinkled her nose at the smell of the prison, "let's get out." She gave him a gold-edged badge containing a full-length photograph of him.Looking at the test results printed out by the computer, the doctor from the security department frowned, and then gave him an injection to make him feel better.The black-clad guard returned him his dirty pillowcase and led them through a series of rattling iron doors.When they got outside, a ferry took them a long way along Skynet, to the middle of the G floor.

The shot given by the medic didn't really bring him back.Following Mindy all the way, he felt top-heavy and still a little dazed.She didn't speak, just frowned and looked at him worriedly.He saw her biting her lips tightly, just like the expression she had when she said she didn't like him and Jannot a long time ago. They stepped off the ship and followed a moving circular corridor to what she said was the Diplomatic Zone.After going down the aisle and walking along a wide corridor to the end, they stopped in front of a tall fence.She said something to the voice lock, and the fence rose automatically.led him into a luxurious house.He followed her and stopped in the hall.

The lobby looked larger than Jannott's Balloon Stadium. "These?" He turned to her in surprise, "are they all yours?" "No, it belongs to Benito Baraka." She seemed to be able to hold back a bit of laughter at his awed expression, and then said seriously, "He is my uncle's adopted son. You will see him soon, I think, now you Time to take a shower." She led him into a large living room, taught him how to use the unfamiliar plumbing, and brought him a change of clothes. "It's Benito's clothes," she said. "You're about his height."

The blue flight suit seemed to fit me well.He walked out of the dressing room barefoot and found her waiting for him.She had prepared a pair of boots for him. They were made of soft material and had a strong smell. He couldn't help but think of Clay's Starmist. "Benito's boots," she said, "are made of the skin of a lizard that's so endangered that it's illegal to kill them!" He puts on the boots and thinks they are too big, but his own shoes have already gone to the recycling furnace along with all the dirty clothes.He followed her into another room, wondering if he might like Benito, stopped and opened his eyes again.On a high wall, a large screen showed the earth's mountain cliffs, glacial canyons, and snow-covered mountaintops.

The floor was smooth and slightly black.Looking through it, his heart almost stopped beating, and he found that the earth was under his feet!It seemed to be covered with a veil of light, and it seemed surprisingly close, and it looked extremely magnificent in the empty night.The opposite wall is covered with transparent boxes containing all kinds of unfamiliar stuffed animals. "Benito's prey," Seeing his curious eyes, she explained, "It was hung up for exhibition." The African antelope, the giant winged bird that roared over, the smooth-limbed cheetah on the granite, and the smoother dolphin. She said that Benito shot these animals in the game reserve of the Kingdom of the Sun, and she never hunted herself. .She led him to a seat where they could see the dazzling globe.He looked around, then at her, and couldn't help smiling wryly. "This side of the sun," he said softly, "and you. I dreamed that when I got here, I would find you first! But now, I have become a prisoner—" "A guest," she corrected, "at least for now, you are my guest." "What about in the future?" He glanced at her troubled face, "What can I expect?" "It depends," she bit her lip, showing her white teeth, "how the situation develops." "Can you tell me?" "There are a lot of things I can't say." She narrowed her blue-black eyes slightly and looked at him. "I think you should understand that none of your interrogators liked what you heard. The Chen family doesn't like your space monsters." because they claim that the alien story was all made up by Kowan. Kowan didn't like it either because it sounded too scary--they'd rather hear something milder, like Alien Things like birds and skyfish." Her concern seemed genuine. "Quinn, you're like a pawn on a chessboard. The Chens would love to kill you, but Kowan won't allow it - at least not now - because they hate the Chen family. Jason's friends are not happy, Because your appearance makes him a liar. His enemies suspect that you are too close to him. "In a word, no one trusts you." "Why?" He looked at her face, wondering how she treated him, "I don't understand—" "You joined the rebellion at Jannot. You came here without the sun-mark, and you were looking for death. You also said you were looking for your mother and Olaf Thorsen. Because of her research on flying fish, you My mother has been on the blacklist of the Chen family for the past few years, and as for Suo Sen—” She paused, biting her lip. "Can you help me find him?" "Impossible," she smiled faintly. "His nuclear engine has been making everyone unhappy, because this machine from Earth is a potential threat to the Solar Empire's energy monopoly. Thorsen is now missing." "What happened to him?" "The Ministry of Security doesn't know either." He sat there, losing his mind for a while.His mother died, Suo Sen couldn't find him, and Mindy was his guard again—he felt extremely frustrated and confused.However—his throat tightened.She was there, as lovely as ever.He smelled the scent of wild wood that she had stolen from her mother in the past. "Mindy—" he blurted out. "I—I love you!" "I loved you," he seemed to shake her head in pain as he saw her. "In Jannott—a long time ago. We're on this side of the sun now, and I'm from Security." "Security Department—" He stared at her, choked by the word, "how could this be?" "I didn't want to." She stared at the round earth under her feet, and after a while, she seemed to shrink back in pain, and then continued. "I wrote to tell you what happened to my parents. Soon, my mother's brother brought me here.His name is Claudio Baraka, and he is Benito's adoptive father. "They are Earthlings, and they don't have the sun mark on them. But Uncle is very capable, and he makes up for these shortcomings. His company is called 'Baraka Business Agency', and it is the middleman between the Earth and the Sun Empire. He sells energy and stones. to space and successfully established their own business kingdom." "Where's Benito?" He frowned when she heard her talk about their brilliant achievements. "Does he live here?" "He comes and goes as he pleases. His genes are no worse than anyone else's. In fact, he also passed the genetic test, just to prove that he was capable of passing. Now he is our chief of staff at Kodo, has many friends in the council, even The giants all want to meet him." "Meet your cousin?" "Not a cousin." She didn't say any more.He looked at her, wondering how much Benito held in her heart, but all he saw was the dazzling sun mark on her face.He decided not to press further. So he turned to ask, "What about the Ministry of Security?" "I joined because the 'Holy Clan' killed my parents. That's all I can say." "Do you know why they wanted to kill my mother?" "Why do harm?" She shrugged unhappily. "Bombs went off. Then came the boasting and threats, from 'the Holy People' or people who claimed to be 'the Holy People'. We investigated, but rarely succeeded. Those A killer is ready to kill himself at any time, just not telling the truth." "They killed my mother?" "That's what they said," she nodded resignedly. "We haven't closed the case yet." "us?" "I was in charge of this case. I volunteered because I knew her. The bomb was disguised as the equipment they ordered and sent to the laboratory where she and Thorson worked." "They work together?" "It was like this last year. His enemies cut off his support, so she arranged a place for him. Above the space laboratory, where she was studying Skyfish. The laboratory is now sealed off, and our investigation is not yet complete." "Skyfish—is it still alive?" "Alive, I suppose," she nodded, not quite sure. "They must have tried to kill it with the bomb. The thugs thought it was dead. When your mother's assistant came in, it was not dead, just frightened by the explosion. Poor little thing, lying in the cage." , I can't see that it's still alive, it's as if it's dead." "Can I see it?" She hesitated for a moment. "I think so. I'll have to make arrangements first." She leaves him and comes back in a moment to say that arrangements have been made. "I'll go this afternoon." She frowned. "One more thing. I talked to Benito. He has a banquet tonight and wants to invite you to it, but I'm afraid—" "afraid of what?" "Scared of some guests," she shook her head uneasily. "Benito's banquet was unusual. He called the banquet the interface between the earth and the sun.He invites all kinds of people, and some of them come just to see you. " "see me?" "You're notorious," she laughed helplessly. "Despite the scrutiny, word about the space monsters you talked about spread. People will ask you what you saw—questions you can't answer, and it's time for you to get bail." a condition." He nodded. "Be careful, Quinn!" Her eyes darkened.It was obvious that her concern was genuine. "You have many enemies—that's why I began to disagree with your presence at the banquet. The Chen gang will never let you say anything about aliens. " Before she voluntarily performed the reconnaissance mission, Lu Ensang had eavesdropped on the conversations of the planetary people for more than half a year in the Nuclear Star Observatory. Watching them clumsily try to leave the planet they had grown up on, she realized they were repeating the same evolutionary process their own species had gone through.She began to feel a sense of kinship with them. Although she was amazed at the mistakes they made, she tried to understand and forgive them.They reproduce without restraint, kill each other, destroy the living environment, and follow the basic law of survival of the fittest in their extremely primitive world. She was delighted to have the opportunity to observe them up close.She was very careful at first, watching from the long cloud of waste they had thrown from the orbital station. What she saw was very interesting, although it often puzzled her.Their wasteful habits were astounding, and her amazement remained unabated even after she developed a keen interest in what they were throwing away.They throw away broken machines that are completely repairable.There was also a piece of vegetable fiber, covered with enigmatic writing, and many more strange fragments, each of which became an interesting piece of the mystery she finally solved.All of these are rich in precious elements that anyone in an Aperture civilization would have preserved and recycled. All the while she saw no sign that she had been found.The supply ships continued to come and go.There was nothing alarming in their signal from the aperture. They were extremely cunning, never letting her suspect that the most alluring scum was just bait for a trap.Even when she found the laser beam sweeping by, she thought it was just a challenge. Suddenly they opened fire. Those violent shocks at first nearly killed her.She was too hurt to report to the observatory.She felt doubly hurt, the musculoskeletal lasers didn't hurt her more than the loss of that closeness in her heart.The planetary people dragged her to a supply ship, brought her back to the center of their orbital network, and ended up in a crude laboratory on the planet's surface. The guy who caught her was bigger than the girl, hairier and aggressive, and at first they tested her clumsily, so brutally that she almost thought they were going to dismember her.The reason she is still alive is not because they have any pity for her, but because they are determined to make her talk. The person who rescued her was a woman named Dr. Naya.Much gentler with her, freed her from the planet's gravity, fed her, tried to heal her laser-induced burns, and even showed a kind of love.After slowly recovering, she had the strength to report to the director of the center. "Those guys hurt me," she admits, "but their mistakes are forgivable. Primitive as they are, they have reached a very critical point in their evolution. They need to get in touch with Elder a lot. "Can I start contacting them?" The observatory was at the edge of the aperture, and by the time she got the reply, the planet's day had passed for many days. "Not allowed." The signal was very weak due to interference from electronic equipment and radiation from the star itself. "We are very concerned about the murderous misbehavior of the specimen planetary beings under your sister's observation. They have been arguing so much with each other that we have to consider their presence in the aperture as a threat to Elder. Our respect to you We deeply regret their plight, but please remember that we warned you in the first place. Given the mistreatment you are currently receiving, we are surprised by your concern for them. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to help, and your order remains efficient. "No contact." She obeyed. She stopped talking.However, Dr. Naya seemed to sense the reason.She asked no more questions, but kindly told her about the cultures of the planets, fitted her with electronic receivers, and read to her books and magazines she half understood. She was so moved that she called the director again and asked him to reconsider.Some planetary beings, she said, had evolved to such a high degree that they could be singled out into the Aperture, or trained to eventually become members of the Aird. She didn't expect that the director didn't give her any answer at all this time.She was a little scared, so she started to modify some of the planetary equipment into a relay receiver, using the entire orbital network as an antenna, reaching deeper into the aperture. The doctor named Naya didn't stop her work, didn't even come to take a closer look at the machine she was designing.However, before she could finish, a strange package arrived from the laboratory.She watched Dr. Naya open the package. By the time she felt what was in the package, it was too late. Sun Blood: Most of the complex genes suitable for space survival are not caused by mutations, but are extracted from the existing human gene pool.Therefore, those with solar blood flowing in their bodies are actually a member of human beings, but they have become a new elite family because of adapting to living in space, thus incurring the hatred of people who are not suitable for living in space.The Saints called them "Satan's offspring" with "the mark of the beast" engraved on their faces.