Chapter 4 Chapter Three Two Worlds

Anders came to the car with a serious expression on his face.He stared at the emptiness where the flames took place, and shook his head in confusion. "How could this be!" he said. "You—" Rick became anxious. "Drake, don't worry." Anders smiled suddenly, "I've talked to that Martian friend, and he said it seems that your father and Mackey have acquired the ownership of the asteroid. I don't know how did they do it. "But, that flame..." Rick asked, "isn't it CT? "It's a CT explosion." Anders nodded, affirming, "but they caused it themselves—unthinkable! Van Forschauberg said this is how they avoided the collision of two planets, and they will An asteroid blasted out of orbit.

"Are they injured? "It's safe and sound," Zides said, "I waited in the building and had Van Falkenberg give them a call; they answered it right there on the asteroid they christened 'Liberty Star' , They wanted him to testify that they had obtained legal title to the asteroid because they had successfully avoided its collision with the CT star. "Thank you, Colonel." Rick smiled weakly. "I thought they had crashed together. Do you know how they stopped the Star of Liberty from crashing?" Anders nodded. "They had to tell Van Falkenberg all about it in order to get permission to take ownership of that asteroid. They didn't have the time or the equipment to move that asteroid, so they used what we saw." The explosion that arrived changed the orbit of the CT planet.

"But how did they get the CT to explode?" Karen interjected. "People don't even dare to touch a CT!" "That's the amazing thing!" Anders said with a smile. "They didn't touch it, and they didn't even go into the area where the law doesn't allow it. Van Falkenberg said they were only at 20,000 kilometers In addition, a piece of iron ball weighing only ten kilograms was ejected, and the iron ball just collided with the CT planet along the orbit they designed. "Is this how the mobile CT planets work?" "That's enough." Anders looked at Rick and frowned. "It's strange that almost no one can hit a non-stop planet with a small iron ball at such a distance. But your father And Mackey predicted exactly when the explosion would happen, and they even described the new orbit of the CT planet. It's unbelievable."

"I believe that's possible," Rick nodded gravely. "I know Mackey, he is a special person, he doesn't talk much. But he has a kind of perception, a special intuition about space and time, matter and motion, even he can't explain it. He often says , just a feeling. Karen sat watching Rick, her eyes wide open. She whispered, "Anyway, they're really using CT energy to alter the orbits of planets." "Great job," Anders praised. Rick nodded, but his initial surge of success slowly faded away.Father and Mackey were safe and sound, but all they had to do was find a suitable location for that "metallurgical laboratory."In theory, an operationally safe CT chassis is still considered impossible to manufacture, and it is illegal to study CT without a license.He was beginning to regret having said so much about his father and Mackey.

"A strong sense of time is very useful." Karen looked at his watch, a little surprised, "Uncle Austin is going to end the meeting soon, and he will worry that something will happen to me. Paul, please take me back to my residence first, and then help me Mr. Drake settle down, okay?" "Okay," Anders nodded, "There's a nice hotel on Silk Street, and I know the manager in charge. After they sent Karen back to the luxury hotel where the senior committee members lived, Rick stayed at the hotel on Silk Street.Before he had time to open his backpack and take out his luggage, the phone rang.

"Mr. Drake?" It was Karen's voice, "I just met my uncle and he wanted you to have lunch with him. "Mr. Hood, Senior Commissioner?" Rick held his breath in surprise, "Just today?" "At Government House at two o'clock this afternoon. Are you free?" "Everyone your uncle invites will be available, please tell him that I will be there." She hung up and Rick turned to unpack his bag, uneasy at the unexpected invitation. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Rick came to the restaurant for officials on the ground floor of the government building, which was richly decorated and resplendent.

He told a waiter his name, he went to announce it, and then stood in the corner of the noisy hall and waited until the dignitary came out.Max Vickers, Interstellar's department manager, and a swarm of consultants mingled behind him.Hood, a tall, ruddy man, left the large group and walked towards Rick when the waiter pointed him out. "Drake, nice to meet you." He shook Rick's hand enthusiastically, "If you don't mind, please have a meal alone with me. We have some business to discuss, but that can wait until after lunch. He waved to Vickers, then motioned for Rick to follow him into a luxurious private room.His order was as important as the government's decision, and in the end he chose broiler chicken and a non-sweet wine from Mars.

Rick was nervous at first, maybe the wine made him feel more confident.Slowly, he began to like his master a little bit.There is one quality that Hood needs to be able to hold such a difficult position-he has a good appetite. "Drake, don't you think I'm a cheerful person?" Hood said kindly. "Only a cheerful person can hold a job like me. Three committee members before me suffered from gastric ulcers and had to go back to recuperate." , but my stomach days are not affected in the slightest by the troubles at work." Rick was still wondering what exactly he wanted to know.Hood never talked about anything serious.It wasn't until they finished their drinks and patted their brown Cuban cigars that he leaned forward and said to Rick:

"My niece said you wanted to build a CT power station." "I just want to see a plant like that built," Rick replied cautiously. "You told Karen that you could use a CT chassis to place a CT machine on a pedestal made of matter." Hood's voice was still casual, but his eyes were alertly hidden behind the white smoke. Watching Rick, "How does the CT chassis work?" "If you need to spend ten billion dollars to do research, the answer will seem so cheap," Rick told him, "but it involves using a force that works without contact— "

"Oh?" Hood blinked. "Is that possible?" "Same as how you can pick up a nail with a magnet. "Won't they touch each other soon?" "There's going to be some other way," Rick said with a smile, "but the theory is there, and the problem will be solved sooner or later. I have an idea to try." He picked up a pencil and a napkin, " You can put some permanent magnets like this, half matter, half CT, and connect them together like this—" "No need to draw." Hood held up a broad hand to signal him to stop. "I can't read the sketch. But Paul Anders is my CT expert. Your father used CT energy to move the planet. It left a deep impression on me. He hoped that I would keep you to work for Interstellar Corporation, with an annual salary of 50,000, which is a high salary for someone who has just graduated, but Karen insisted on paying so much."

"What work am I going to do?" "You just need to prepare a detailed report on CT for us, summarizing the relevant information you can find, such as its origin, distribution, total weight, etc. Then analyze the various methods of putting CT into use feasibility." "Is it used for energy?" "For energy, of course." Hood said with narrowed eyes, "but Karen said you also mentioned CT missiles. "She doesn't owe me anything." Rick replied angrily, "I would never design CT missiles for people for money." Hood said calmly: "Paul and Karen both think that our company needs someone like you. If you think CT should be used for peace rather than war, you can write your thoughts into the report. You can still work on it and try to get a sketch of the CT chassis. If Paul Anders thinks that thing will work, Interstellar has enough money to make it. Fair enough?" "It's okay." Rick nodded in disbelief, "It seems that this is indeed a great opportunity, but I still hope to think about it for some time. My father and Robo Mackey are looking forward to me going back to be with them Work." "Okay, think about it." Hood nodded kindly, "Once you decide, you will sign a contract with Max Vickers." Rick thought carefully.He remembered that his father and Robo Mackey had neither tens of billions of money nor a research license, and it was impossible to build a CT chassis on the asteroid that Ann O'Barian named Liberty Star. .The next morning, he went to sign the contract, and he was going to work for StarCorp for a year. Then he called Ann O'Barian.He knew she couldn't understand, so he was glad they were tens of millions of kilometers apart. "Ann, I don't plan to go home this year," he said with some embarrassment. The company's take on, "I'm going to be working on a classified project." He's glad he can't tell her more because he didn't want to say what the project was. "Hopefully my dad isn't hurt," he said. "Please tell him I'll be writing back. Tell him I'm making good money now--I'm sure I'll be back next year." After speaking, he anxiously waited for her answer. "Rick, I'll pass it on." Ann's voice sounded strained and strange, "but I'm worried he'll get hurt." Weakly said: "Goodbye, Rick." Vickers assigned him a big, cold office.He spent most of the next year locked away in his office.He scoured dusty piles of data for information on CT meteor swarms, and analyzed unsuccessful attempts to control CT matter in electric, magnetic, or inverse gravitational fields to design a new device of his own, but His installation designs are often rejected by Anders. "Most of your designs look good on paper," Anders told him once, "but that doesn't mean they'll work in practice." The designed sketch frowned, "From the picture, your CT iron piece should be suspended in the reverse gravitational field. As we all know, the effect of reverse gravity is extremely short-lived. What if the coil is short-circuited?" "I've designed three separate circuits," Rick replied, "any one of which will be safe." "Until some hapless mechanic drops his wrench on the CT stuff," laughs Anders. "At that point, your whole setup explodes." "There's no one with a wrench working in the CT area," Rick countered. "Any CT device has to be remote or fully automated." "Here's where you're contradicting yourself," Anders said. "Once an automated CT machine is running, it will naturally make more automated CT machines. But how do you want to make the first such machine?" "The first tools needed can be just two pieces of naturally generated CT iron," Rick patiently explained to him, "We can gather the machines made of matter around them and operate in a magnetic field or an inverse gravitational field. One piece of CT iron can be used as an anvil and another as a hammer, so you can start to forge them into more sophisticated door tools." "The Arabian Nights." Anders smiled mockingly, "Unless you can find someone who dares to play with these things with bare hands," "I know people who dare to do that," Rick said quietly, thinking of his father and Robo Mackey, though he didn't name them, "and know people who are skilled enough— If we design the right equipment." "Anyway, you haven't shown me that suitable device yet." Anders frowned at the sketch again, and shook his head, "I wouldn't buy such a design for Interstellar. If you really want to build a CT chassis, you better keep trying." Rick started his design again.This time he designed and placed several rows of permanent magnets to ensure that the CT iron sheet will not fall when the line goes wrong.But Anders still shook his head. "It's better to think of some other effective way." But Rick always couldn't think of an effective way.Still, he couldn't help liking the tall Earthen engineer.Anders is handsome and full of wine, and Rick can't help but feel a little jealous when he sees the look of admiration in Karen's eyes several times.This Earthling has thick hair, black fists, piercing eyes, and a tall and straight figure.He has a casual appearance, but a quick mind. Anders is very modest and doesn't talk much.But Rick learned a lot about him working with him.Clearly, his family has been in the privileged class of Star Corporation for generations.Rick knew that a generation wasn't long enough to produce that air of poised confidence.Anders has traveled across the planets, and no matter the occasion, he is at home in water.He was of Karen Hood's world. Rick is not of their world, though he sometimes tries to believe that he can learn to be their world.Karen is now the deputy manager of the department.He often met her in the office elevator, saw her at the parties he was invited to, and he often saw her walking down the street with Anders.She smiled at him, and at first he thought it was just gratitude to him for saving her eyes, or because he was useful to the company.But when he waited in the hallway outside her office one morning and invited her to lunch with him, she graciously accepted. He took her to dinner in the government building.The next night they went dancing together. With Karen, Rick forgets that he is neither asteroid nor terrestrial, lost between the two worlds.For the few hours she danced with him, Karen was little more than a redheaded girl, a little headstrong but lovely.However, when Rick bids her farewell, she reverts to her regal, unapproachable visage.In that moment, Rick was suddenly more aware than ever of the gulf that existed between them.This made him so miserable that he didn't even want to think about her anymore.Either way, the CT chassis is what matters, and the whole new world built on top of it is what matters.For two weeks, Rick tried to think only of his unfinished sketches, but his pen kept crossing Karen's name.Finally he couldn't bear to call her again, but found that he had waited too long. "Thank you, Mr. Drake." Her voice sounded too sweet. "It's kind of you to think of me again, but I can't go out with you tonight. Paul and I are going to the Martian The dance, and I have a full schedule for the next few days."