Chapter 8 chapter eight

Glenn Gersh was really sleepy, dizzy, unable to support himself, so he temporarily handed over the work of searching for planets to the co-pilot Steinberg, and went back to the dormitory to rest for a while.Hearing Anderson's knock on the door, he quickly rubbed his sleepy eyes and got up to open the door. "Anything new?" he asked hopefully. "It's hard to say." Anderson shrugged, "Let's say it's visible, it's invisible, and I haven't found it yet. However, calculation data shows that there seems to be a planetary gravitational field nearby. It's just that this situation is not yet certain, but , I thought you'd be interested."

"I'll be up right away." Glengarsh excited. "Does it smell like coffee?" Anderson seems to have noticed the aroma in the cabin, which is a strong smell of coffee, "It smells so good! Is it authentic coffee?" "This is a gift from Steck." Glenn Gersh said as he walked to the coffee pot and poured a cup for Anderson. "Before boarding the ship, he asked his subordinate Hinch to smuggle a batch of delicious food. The delicacies are packed on board for the two of them to enjoy in the future." "It's really unlucky, how come we ran into bastards like Steck and Rock!" Anderson said bitterly.

"Three bastards, if you count Hinch." "Really? I don't know that guy yet." Anderson frowned, "But I've learned about that Rock in the confinement room. I've known him since he first patrolled the base. , and played chess with him. He is better than me, and beat me more often. I thought that he would be good at everything, but he was not good. Such a person is generally useful for our exploration team. But I found out later... ..." "He couldn't bear the fright, his nerves went wrong, and he became a disabled person." Anderson shrugged and continued.Raking praises for Chinese science fiction

"He claimed that he was innocent, he just wanted to live a stable life on earth, and he didn't want to take risks in space, but he was blocked on the ship for no reason and couldn't get out of the ship, so he was brought to this space. He said, that's really unfortunate. Anyone else would have gone crazy." At this point, Glen Gersh suddenly darkened his face and continued: "But the cruel reality is that there is a bastard who tried to Kill us." "Of course, it could be that Mexican." Anderson shook his head while talking, "I really don't want to think that way, because I believe he wouldn't do that kind of thing."

"You mean Carlos?" Glenn Gersh raised his eyebrows and asked, "I heard he works in your group?" "Yes. He is much better than Rock. Both are homeless dogs with different coat colors." Anderson said with a sneer, "Regardless of Carlos' background, he is an excellent person. Don't rely on his poor English Draw conclusions. Compared to Roque, Carlos's brain is much better. He has a natural affinity with computers, and even his daily thinking is almost done in binary." "How did you get him into your search party?" "That's the work of Crick and Washburn from the Security Department. They imprisoned the two suspects and took them to space together. As a result, Rock had a mental breakdown, but Carlos was like a fish in water, and it was too late to be happy. Just According to the situation held by the security department, there is no evidence to prove that Carlos is a spy of the "Equilibrium" or other saboteurs. It seems that he is innocent. He himself is actively asking for a job. Therefore, Washburn Asked him to help manage the computer equipment. Some of those equipment were paralyzed by the impact of the ship's launch surge. Carlos repaired the computer and recovered all the files that were lost. Later, Washburn heard that he was responsible for the search Carlos was sent to me after a similar failure in the mission's computer. Carlos did a great job of fixing the computer and proved himself to be useful with his work."

"Smart people are better at lying." Glenn Gersh was still worried and retorted. "But Carlos said he loves computers because they never lie." Anderson defended Carlos vigorously. Glenn Gersh stroked his black stubble thoughtfully, and then asked, "So, you think Rock is the real culprit?" "Yes, but there is no evidence." Anderson replied, "Carlos was indeed involved. He himself confessed to this. He also admitted that he had been helped by the protesters of the 'Equilibrium Society'. That body That's what they gave him, and that's what they put in the 'Equilibrium Newsletter' in his pocket. Anyway, Washburn likes him, and I like him. I think Carlos is just lucky: himself He wanted to steal passengers, but he happened to be plotting to blow up the ship. How could he justify the two things together?

"As for that Rock..." Anderson frowned, pondered for a while, and said, "Washburn testified that when he found himself trapped on the spaceship and couldn't disembark, he was restless and restless. He didn't do anything but pace the cell and sleep curled up on the iron bed. He went on a short hunger strike. Anyway, Washburn didn't believe him." Kip was woken up by the ringing of the phone calling for Rima.Mom was going to a meeting, and Kip agreed to stay in the cabin and watch his sister.Rima took the elevator to the control cabin.Stepping through the door is like falling into the midnight starry sky.The huge monitor screen covering the entire domed cabin simulated the scene outside the spaceship, which was grand and deep, truly spectacular.

"Rima!" Glenn Gersh greeted enthusiastically in the dark, "These two are Cruz and Anderson, you both know each other. This one is the new Mr. Carlos Monteragón." In the control cabin, it was dark, and nothing could be seen, only the dim lights of various control instruments.After a while, with the help of the dim light of the stars on the monitor screen, Lima could distinguish the figures of several people. "Ms. Virili, hello!" Someone was greeting Rima politely. She recognized the voice of the Mexican passenger stowaway. "I am honored to know your son, a smart boy." The other party continued.

"Uh—hello." Lima reluctantly responded.It was something Lima was extremely reluctant for her son to suddenly make friends with this type of person.Just don't mention it, she will be angry when she mentions it.Chinese sci-fi failure "I have notified the team leaders of each team." Glenn Gersh turned from the console and said in a stern tone, "Lieutenant Washburn and Dr. Sen cannot attend the meeting, one is busy with security work, and the other has to monitor Radar is looking for landable objects, but they can't get away. As for Captain Steck, Mr. Hinch said, he is sleeping and must not be disturbed."

"It's better not to come!" Anderson muttered angrily. "Looking for the land?" Lima asked eagerly, "Have you found it?" "Still searching in the dark. One planet has been discovered so far. Cruz will tell you the details." Anderson replied.His voice was deep and sonorous, as if amplified by the dome of the control cabin.Lima felt that this voice was so beautiful that she could sing a bass. "We launched a probe satellite," Cruz said, his voice clear, precise, machine-like, without emotion. "Tracking this satellite, we detected a gravitational anomaly. According to this, Calculated the position of this planet. At that time, the discovery of Neptune was Adams and Le Verrier (1811-1877, French astronomer, who was once the director of the Paris Observatory. In 1845, the position of Neptune was calculated mathematically. ——Translator's Note) the result of applying this gravitational effect. I must say that all this should be attributed to Carlos of the computer center, without his computer calculation, we would not have found this planet.”

Cruz nodded to Carlos, then pointed to a dark red disc in the starry sky, and continued. "This is a radar data imaging image. Of course, the colors here are not real. In fact, the side of the planet facing us is completely covered in ice. If there is light, then its color should be white or gray. It is precisely because of this Attracted by the planet and its parent star—the dwarf star, our spacecraft was able to slow down, escape from the quantum wave state and return to normal, and rushed toward them at a speed of 7,000 meters per second." "Can you land?" Hearing this, Lima couldn't wait to ask Glengersh. "Maybe." Glenn Gersh looked at Cruz and Anderson, and replied hesitantly, "This is exactly what we are going to discuss right now. Without further ado, please express your opinions." "I'm not interested in that planet. It must be very cold there, close to absolute zero (that is, -273.15°C. There is no upper limit for the highest temperature, and the lowest temperature is only -273.15°C, and there is no lower one. So, this temperature is called absolute zero.——Translator’s Note),” Anderson said, shuddering exaggeratedly. "To be sure, it's not a good place." Cruz nodded in agreement, "However, I think this planet once had the same history as the Earth. Its mass is slightly larger than that of the Earth. From the mountains on its surface, it's okay. It can roughly see its early geological activities. The orbit is almost circular, about 9 million kilometers away from the dwarf star. The operation mode is tidal gate (this is a bit like the relationship between the grinding center and the grinding handle, and the grinding handle revolves around the grinding center , but it always faces the same side towards the center of the mill, that is, standing on the center of the mill, you can only see the same side of the handle of the mill forever. This is also the case when the moon revolves around the earth.——Translator’s Note), that is, although It revolves around the sun, but it always has the same side facing the sun, the side facing away from us." Cruz pointed to the picture and continued. "These ice sheets tell us that its surface was once covered by an ocean. Naturally, an atmosphere was also present. Then, as the star died, the ocean disappeared, or it froze." "What about the other hemisphere? Will it be warmer?" Rima asked. "Historically it may have been warmer, but now it's the same in both hemispheres. "Observe closer, the situation may be..." "Who allowed you to have a meeting here?" A hoarse roar came, and Lima was taken aback.Looking back, it turned out to be Xin Qi.At some point, he got out of the elevator, dragged his scrawny body, and stood behind Lima like a ghost.Behind the thick glasses, a pair of thief eyes flickered in the dark, creepy. "You must obtain the consent of Captain Steck!" he added. "Didn't you say that he was sleeping?" Glenn Gersh retorted resentfully, turned around again, and continued to say to everyone: "We must take action immediately, because the spacecraft has just left the quantum wave state and is traveling at high speed. Flying. If you brake now and put it into planetary orbit, it will take a lot of fuel. But I believe that the landing can be successful. However, once you land, you don't like the place, and if you want to leave, it will be impossible, because we There isn't enough fuel anymore. That means landing means we're stuck on this planet forever..." "Don't panic!" Hinch yelled, "Stop all actions until Captain Steck wakes up." "Before making a decision, there are still some things that need to be told to everyone." Glenn Gersh didn't seem to hear Hinch's yelling, as he said, he motioned for Cruz to continue. "There's nothing here that we expected." Cruz's thin voice sounded again.Rima was both anxious and nervous.But in Cruz's voice, there was no such emotion at all. "There is no doubt that this planet was once very warm, and possibly even had life, but that was a long time ago. You know, it takes a long time for a star to cool down. About a billion years ago, The dwarf star in front of us has stopped emitting any form of thermal radiation. That is to say, the planet we detected has not received any form of thermal radiation for 1 billion years. So far, we can assume that it long dead. "However, don't draw conclusions early, let's listen to Anderson's report." Anderson pressed the button on the console behind him, and the small dark red disc on the screen gradually enlarged, filling the entire window.Zooming in further, a light green dot appeared in the center of the huge ice sheet, and then the green dot turned into a long strip, extending from the ridge of a mountain and expanding towards the ice sheet.Play the role of stick concave stick version stick stick Chinese sci-fi Baoba tied Angban "Anderson and Mark San have been looking at planets through telescopes, and he can tell you..." Cruz said.But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by another voice. "What? What is that?" Hinch, who was right behind Lima, yelled again in horror. "You tell everyone." Anderson gave Hinch a white look, and replied.Then, he turned around and started talking to everyone: "Now what you see is a radar data imaging map. Similarly, the colors are not real, and only indicate the difference in height. From the picture, the towering ones are a series of high-rise The unidentified objects with an ice surface of 2,000 to 3,000 meters are huge in size. At first glance, they resemble mountain peaks, but several of them have extremely regular geometric shapes. Sen believes that these unidentified objects can only be unnatural objects.” This news is too unexpected.When Lima heard this, she was so shocked that she couldn't breathe.All the people present were also silent, except for Hinch's swearing, and an electric fan humming. "In other words, they were built by spiritual animals... Sen believes that's the case." At this point, Anderson paused, staring at the mysterious monster with green light, horrified.It seemed that the horrible sight frightened him too. "They appear on the ice, and they may be made of ice. It's hard to imagine that spiritual animals can build such a huge building. Is it a castle, a fortress, or something else? Everyone can imagine." "Maybe it's a natural thing?" Rima didn't want to think about it, so he explained, "At present, we don't know the geological structure or freezing process of that planet, so how can we draw conclusions? Everyone knows that activities The glaciers may sometimes rise up and form ice mounds; sometimes they will break off and form giant valleys. Besides, it is entirely possible for huge icebergs to appear in the sea.” "Rima, this seems to be another matter." Glengersh couldn't make up his mind about what those unknown objects were, so he had to say, "In short, the situation shows that there is indeed something there. But what is it? What, I don't know. Everyone should listen to Anderson's briefing." "In the search team, Sen was in charge of radar tracking, and I was in charge of telescope observation." Anderson continued, "Of course, what I saw was not the planet itself, but its shadow projected on the background of the starry sky. Everything was black, The observations were poor. I didn't expect to find anything. But right on top of that shadow, I spotted a flickering light, about the center of the radar image." Hearing this, Xinqi behind Lima seemed to be hit by something, and gasped. "It is indeed a light, it goes out and then shines. It's just that the brightness is very small, and it can only be distinguished... You know, we are still a million kilometers away from the target planet. After discovering the situation, I immediately notified Cruz." "At the time, I imagined that it was just a bolt of lightning. But theoretically, it couldn't be lightning." Cruz's narrow shoulders twitched, as if he was sorry that he couldn't give a satisfactory explanation, "Because, in such a star that neither Lightning is impossible on planets with air and temperatures as low as near absolute zero. If the light is a mystery, its changing color is even more so. At first, the light is red, then flashes , turned purple, and finally went out. After a short pause, the bright light reappeared, and it always appeared after our radar waves were scanned. It seems that the unknown object received our signal and responded with bright light." "You said that unknown object?" Lima asked, "What exactly is it?" "'Ice God'?" Anderson replied, seeming to be teasing Lima, but also as if raising his own guesses, "or is it an ice giant? What other creatures do you think there are on the ice? From ancient times to the present, except for the eternal stars What kind of creatures can survive in such a place?" "Are you... sure?" Lima said to herself. No one spoke anymore, and everyone silently watched the mysterious object on the background of the simulated starry sky.Only Hinch suddenly turned around and retreated into the elevator. "I feel powerless to explain this properly," Cruz's calm voice sounded again, "Anderson and Sen couldn't either. Carlos also saw that phenomenon and was equally at a loss. We agree that: that unknown object, and One human's knowledge is not enough to explain." "If you decide to land, I will volunteer." Carlos the stowaway said, his voice was so low that Rima barely heard him, "We must find out what is sending us a signal from the ice." "Before landing, our job should be to understand the situation more than to act hastily." Anderson added. "This is a difficult decision." Glenn Gersh turned around, glanced at everyone, and said, "If you don't land in time, the high-speed spacecraft will go straight over the planet and reach an orbit close to the dwarf star. Because, with the spacecraft As we approach the planet, the gravitational force will gradually increase, and the speed of the spacecraft will be greatly increased, reaching twice the current speed. And that high speed is enough to throw the spacecraft out of the range of the planet's gravitational force, rushing towards the dwarf star, and never returning .” "Landing means that it will never be possible to leave again; not landing means that there will never be a chance to land again. In any case, there is only one chance." Cruz added. "What if there is never a chance not to land... so what?" Rima asked tremblingly.Looking at the dark starry sky, she felt a little scared in her heart. "Then it can only float around in this dwarf galaxy. Because, there is no indication that there is a second planet in this galaxy—" Cruz replied. "Floating around?" Hinch asked in a rough voice. It turned out that he retracted into the elevator, but did not leave. "How long will it take to float? Floating until a group of people sit and eat the mountains? Floating until they cannibalize each other? Floating until the last guy is finished." ?” "I don't think that's the case." Glenn Gersh said in a deep voice, "At any rate, we are all civilized people." "We need to study further. I'll wake up the captain." Hinch stood in the elevator, staring. "As you please," Glenn Gersh said to him. "Don't forget to remind your master to read the Operation Seeding Membership Pact. Everyone signed that Pact before boarding the ship, and he should too. He will understand that his position has changed as soon as the ship has left Earth. We are now a new community, governed by self-discipline rather than by external forces. Here, all the old laws and regulations Applies again. I don't believe Steck can keep his word, but that's the way it is, it's not up to him." "Idiots!" Hinch howled. "What a shitty convention the captain has never seen. You're a bunch of fucking idiots if you think he's bound by a dead letter!" The elevator descended with Xin Qi who was cursing endlessly. "We are educated people, at least most of them are." After Hinch left, Glen Gersh said to himself. "And the lucky ones," Anderson added. "We were lucky enough to come back from the wave state without damage to the ship, and we were lucky to find a planet. Even though it wasn't that ideal, we were lucky." " With that said, he mouthed at the planet on the screen, feeling satisfied. "The environment in that place looks harsh." Lima couldn't hold back anymore, and forced a smile, "Fortunately, we have all the equipment, no matter what kind of world we arrive at, we can transform it into an environment suitable for human survival. We It is hoped that there will be soil under the ice, or at least rocks, which can be ground into soil. The ice itself can be very useful, not only as a source of water, but also as a source of hydrogen for nuclear energy. Besides, no one promises However, the place we are going to is the Garden of Eden." "Reform the environment? That's no problem! In the hiding place, I saw the 'Iron Mole' excavator." Carlos said with a smile. Rima had always looked down on this passenger stowaway, but now she couldn't help but look at him with admiration. Hinch left and never came back.It turned out that he had already quarreled with Steck.When the waiter brought the breakfast to Steck's cabin, he found that the two were arguing at the dining table. The table and deck were in a mess, and the plates and wine bottle fragments were thrown all over the floor.They took a brief truce and glared at each other while the waiter picked up the debris.As soon as the waiter left, the two started working again.Hinch cursed Stirk for tricking himself into leaving Earth and coming to this hellish world of ice. When Rima returned to the cabin, Kip was already awake.He listened silently to his mother's account of the meeting, and then asked her what the "Ice God" was. "How can there be any ghosts?" Rema replied, "Dr. Anderson borrowed this Norse mythological figure, but he wanted to show that he himself could not explain the mysterious thing that sent the signal-if it could really send out the so-called 'signal' words. In fact, there is no 'Ice God' at all." "Anyway, they've always seen something real," Kip insisted. "If that towering thing on the ice was a castle, and if the castle's towers were 2,000 meters high, you say the mystery should be How gigantic! If they weren't 'Ice Gods,' what could they be? What could build such giants?" "Didn't you say it? We don't know what they are." Lima said impatiently, frowning.Such an answer is not so much an answer to Kip, but a comfort to himself: "I never thought that we would stop at such a place. I really don't know what else will happen." "Are you afraid you might run into a giant?" Kip said earnestly, "If the other party really sent out that changing rainbow because they received our radar waves, then that rainbow is some kind of signal to tell us something. But what are they going to tell us?" "Only God knows." "Mom, are you afraid?" "Yeah, I'm worried. Glenn Gersh and everyone are worried." Rima nodded, his tone full of anxiety, "I think we have to land, but not on our side, but on the In that way, we can stay away from that mysterious light as much as possible. If there is any mysterious object that finds us, then it is best to avoid the other party and land quietly. Even if we will be discovered by the other party in the end, it is best after we understand them. Alright , don't think about anything now, forget Anderson's 'Ice God', go to sleep." Kip lay down and said no more. "Mother?" Kip asked suddenly. "Do you regret it? Regret coming here?" What does Rima think?In any case, nothing should be hidden from the son. "Yes, for you and Dai, I really regret it." Lima replied. "Don't regret it, Mom." Kip said to his mother. "I am very happy that I can go to a strange world and have a real adventure like the captain of the 'Comet' and his 'Justice Corps'. Now, the adventure It's officially started, and I'm just trying to figure out, what exactly is the 'Ice God'?" Soon, Kip fell asleep.Lima listened to her son's even snorting, but she couldn't fall asleep.She thought about the future of Kip and Dai, and made various assumptions about it.What a world they will live in!Silent ice, bare rock, a dark sky that hasn't seen the sun for millions of years.There, she wants to survive, build a home for her children, spread the fire of humanity, and so on, can it be done?She has no confidence.She thought it would be great if her son could give her some confidence.Thinking of this, she finally fell asleep. After an unknown period of time, the children's chatter and laughter woke her up.It turned out that the children woke up early.Kip was busy playing video games, and Dai was playing with playdough, pinching a little panda like Mimi.The playdough was something she had brought back from the recreation room. "Mom," Kip exclaimed excitedly when she woke up, "I had a dream last night, and you will be glad to hear that. I had a great expedition with the warriors of the 'Justice Corps'. We Landed on the ice cap of the planet ahead with the spacecraft 'Eagle Star' and found the 'Ice Gods' there. As you say, they are not gods at all, but a group of monsters in the shape of thunder clouds. They are Ice, lightning, and hail are weapons against us. "We fought back with heat radiation. Their hailstones melted into water before they hit us. A monster tried to strike me with ice lightning, and when I exhaled, the heat dispelled the lightning. We kept advancing , The roar of the engine was loud, releasing a large amount of radiation, and swept across the way. As a result, all the monsters were driven out of the ice accumulation area, and we won a big victory. "In this way, we made the 'Ice God' ourselves, ruling With that world! " "May the dream come true. At least, we still have hope." After listening to his son's dream, Lima said softly.