Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

Woolamulla is a prosperous planet, located in the range of the Earth Alliance, an outpost of the Alliance.This is the last stop of the Sisu before flying to the meeting place.Food and raw materials were plentiful there, what Flaki lacked were artefacts.The Sisu had sold out her cargo from Lothian, and sold many of the diamonds she had brought from Finster.But the Woolamulah merchants couldn't produce much that could make a profit after the Sisu was resold, and they also lacked radioactive metals—Woolamulla only developed a limited amount of uranium mines, and they wanted to keep that stuff for themselves. Supply their own start-up industrial facilities.

So the Sisu only bought a little uranium, but bought a lot of high-quality meat and rare food.The Sisu has been stocking up on delicacies, and this time, they stocked up tons of extra food for the whole family, just to show off at the party. For the difference in the transaction, the counterparty pays in tritium and deuterium.There is a hydrogen isotope factory at Woollamulla, which was built for Confederate ships, but the products were also sold to other ships.The last time Sisu refueled was in Jubul—the reactor of the Rothian spacecraft is different, and the fuel cannot be used universally.

In the new Melbourne port of Woollamurla, my father took Soapy up and down the street a few times.The locals use Galactic English, which Krause understands, but Flackey speaks very quickly, omits some letter pronunciations, and makes strange umlauts to vowels, so Captain Krause finds it difficult to understand .But Soapy thought the words sounded normal, as if he had heard them before.So Krause took him as a helper when he went out. On this day, they had to go out to negotiate a fuel business, and at the same time sign a waiver of private sales.Commercial bids that have been accepted by Sisu's side must first be agreed and signed by the central bank before they can be handed over to the fuel plant.After all the formalities were completed, stamped and paid, Krausa sat down and chatted with the factory manager.Kraussar gets along well with Frakki, treating them both as equals, never mentioning the vast social differences between them.

As they talked, Soapy was a little moved.That Frakey said of Woollamulla: "Anyone who is healthy enough and smart enough to tell his ears apart can go out and make a fortune in the Outback." "That's right," agreed the captain. "I've seen your food animals. They're nice." Soapy felt the same way.Woolamoura may lack paving building materials, technology and plumbing equipment, but the planet is full of opportunity.Other than that, it's a pleasant, very relaxed place.Soapy remembered Dr. Mudd's words: "... When the ship reaches a democratic, free, and reasonable planet, disembark and flee."

Although he still feels that this home is fully enclosed and his personal movements are extremely restricted, life on the Sisu is happier than before.He began to want to be an actor, thinking that it would be a pleasure to attract the attention of the audience.In a sense, Soapy has even learned the knack of winning Grandma over.Besides, even though it was acting, the feeling of hugging Luo Yan was not bad.She would kiss him and whisper softly, "My husband! My good husband! We're going to travel the galaxy together." Those words made Soapy's skin crawl, and he decided that Luo Yan was a good actor.In this way, they became good friends.Luoyan was very curious about the work of the fire controller.So, under the supervision of Aunt Torah, Soapy accompanied her to visit the computer room.Seeing those instruments and equipment, Luo Yan was dazzled: "What is a multi-dimensional space? You know the length, width, and height... What are the other dimensions?"

"It's a logical measurement. You already know four dimensions...length, width, height plus time. Oh, you can't 'see' a year, but you can measure it." "Yes, but how can logic—" "That's easy too. For example, what is a point? A point is a location in space. But now we assume that there is no space, not even ordinary four-dimensionality, that is, in the absence of space , can you imagine a point?" "Well, let me think about it." "If there is no space, there is no point. If you want to think about a point, you have to think about where it is. If you have a line, you can imagine that the point is somewhere on the line. But, a A point is just a location, and if there's nowhere to locate it, it doesn't exist. Do you understand me?"

At this moment, Aunt Tora intervened. "You two boys, go to the bar and talk? My feet hurt so bad I can't stand." After arriving at the bar, Soapy went on to say: "Do you understand that a point needs a line to support it?" "Well, I guess I get it. Remove the location line, and there's nothing left." "Now think about a line. If it's not on a face, can it exist?" "Well, this question is more difficult." "If you understand the previous problem, you can understand this problem. A line is an ordered sequence of points. But where does this sequence come from? It comes from a surface. If a line does not stay in A face, then it can't exist. A line doesn't have any width, you won't even know it's gone... and there's nothing to compare it to. Every point has to be 'ordered, continuous' next to every other dot, otherwise it's insanity. Do you understand me?"

"Maybe." "A point needs a line, a line needs a surface, and a surface must be part of a three-dimensional space, otherwise it cannot form a surface. A three-dimensional solid needs multi-dimensional space to support it...and so on and on. Every dimension There needs to be a support, otherwise the geometric figure will disappear, and the universe will cease to exist.” He slapped the table, “But you see, we are here and have not disappeared, so we can see that the multidimensional space still exists, although we Not seeing it, just like we can't see every second that is passing."

"But this multidimensional, where does it end?" "It cannot end, the dimension is infinite." Luo Yan was taken aback, "It's really scary." "Don't worry, let alone you, even the chief engineer has to struggle with the most basic ten-dimensional. And, hey, when the ship 'enters the chaos space', you know, we all flipped over. Do you feel that?" "No, this doesn't seem too believable." "It's okay because we can't feel it. When the boat turns over, even a bowl of soup turns over. You drink soup and it doesn't spill. It's just math for us." Concept, like the square root of negative 1. This problem has been confusing us when we travel faster than the speed of light. Multidimensional is like this, you don’t have to feel it, see it, understand it, but you have to use logical symbols to make it Calculate it. We can't think that anything is real only if it is 'real'. No one has seen electrons, nor has they seen a kind of thought. You can't see the thought, and you can't measure the content of the thought. Size, weigh, or taste thoughts, but thoughts are the realest thing in the galaxy." Thorby was quoting Baslim.

Luo Yan looked at him with admiration, and said: "You must be very smart, Thorby. 'No one has seen a certain kind of thought', this sentence is too true." Soapy accepted her praise very politely. When Soapy returned to the bedroom, he found Fritz lying on the bed reading a book.He was happy because he had just heard the longed-for praise. "Hi, Fritz, are you studying, or are you wasting your time?" "Hi, I'm studying art." Soapy glanced up and said, "Don't let Granny see." "I want to find something that I can sell to those idiots next time I'm in Fenster." Woolamulla is a "civilized" planet, so the unmarried men on board added some art works, "You seem to have gotten some extra money from the Rothian, what's so happy about it?"

"Oh, I just talked to Luo Yan for a while. I introduced her to multi-dimensional space...I didn't expect her to understand it soon." Fritz said, as if judgmentally, "Yes, she's smart." Then he added, "When is Granny making the wedding announcement for you?" "what are you talking about?" "No announcement?" "Do not be silly." "That's it... so you have found a good partner. She is really smart. Do you want to know how smart she is?" "what?" "She's a genius. She used to teach at the El Ned Spaceship School. Her major is mathematics, to be more precise, multi-dimensional geometry." "I do not believe!" "I happened to have copied her resume. If you don't believe me, you can ask her." "I'll ask! So why doesn't she teach math here?" "You're going to ask Granny about that. Soapy, my idiot brother, I think you've been coaxed all over the place. But though you're a big fool, I'd rather you wipe the drool off your chin. Your graceful posture. Would you like to hear advice from someone older and smarter than you?" "Go ahead. Say what you want." "Thank you. Luoyan is a good girl, and it might be a pleasure to solve equations with her for a lifetime. But I don't like a man who sells his inventory at a low price before he finds out the market situation. As long as you wait until the next day Once you stop, you will find that there will be a group of young girls among the compatriots, thousands of them." "I'm not looking for a wife!" "Tut, tut! This is a man's duty. But please wait until the coming party. Then we will look everywhere. I will not talk about it now. I want to study pictures." "Who's talking?" Soapy did not inquire about Royen's condition on El Ned's ship.But Fritz's words opened him up to the fact that, unknowingly, he might be playing a leading role in a love-marriage.The situation frightened him.As he fell asleep at night, Dr. Mudd's words lingered in his ears again: "—slip away before the patriarch grandma decides to find you a wife. Because if you survive until then, you are finished!" Soapy fidgeted as Father and Woollamulla officials continued to chat.Should he leave Sisu, he wondered?If he didn't want to be a trader all his life, he had to go away while he was a bachelor.Of course, he can also delay for a while to see if what Fritz said is correct.It's not that he has any bad opinion of Luo Yan, he feels that even if Luo Yan lied to him, it's not a big deal. He did doubt, however, whether he could ever endure such a rigid and unchanging way of life, governed by the forces of habit.If he were to go, then Woollahoollah might be the best opportunity that was hard to come by in the next few years because there was no hierarchy, no guilds, no poverty, no immigration laws.Hey, they even accept freaks.Soapy had seen sixfingers, longhairs, albinos, werewolves, giants, and other mutants here.As long as a man is willing to work, Woollah Mullah will accept him. What should Soapy do?Do you just say "I'm sorry" and leave the room and start running?Hide and wait until the Sisu takes off before going out for activities?He can't do that!It was a disservice to his father, and a disservice to the Sisu family. He felt he owed them too much. How can I do?Did you tell grandma that he was leaving?Even if grandma lets him go, the place where they talk will become the coldest place in the universe.Granny would have considered ingratitude to the Sisu an unforgivable sin. Besides...the party is coming.He wanted to see what the party was like.It was originally promised to perform, but now he leaves without saying goodbye, which is not good.He had an idea in his subconscious: Although he was a little stage frightened, he really wanted to play the leading role in that legendary play—he couldn't wait. So, in the end, he put the problem aside for later. Captain Krause patted Thorby on the shoulder and said, "We're going." "Oh, sorry, Dad, I was wondering." "Keep thinking about it, it's a good thing." The captain turned to the officer and said, "Goodbye, sir, thank you, and hope to see you again when I come next time." "You won't run into me next time, Captain. I'll be leaving this post soon, and I'm going home. I've got a place for you and your kids, if you get tired of your steel-deck career." There was no look of disgust on Captain Krause's face. "Thank you. But we don't know how to plow the land and grow crops. We are merchants." "Each cat has its own mice to catch." When they came out, Soapy asked: 'What did he mean by that?I saw the cat, but not the mouse. " "He's saying that everyone will have their place." "Oh." They walked quietly.Soapy wondered if he had found his place. Captain Kraussar was also considering Thorby's position.A mail ship lay right behind the Sisu, and its presence was a reprimand to the captain.This is an official Confederate mail ship, and the entire crew is a member of the National Guard.After seeing the ship, Baslim's command sounded in the captain's heart: "Once there is a chance, I ask you to hand him over to the supervisor of any warship of the Allied Powers." "This is not a 'warship'." But this sentence can only be an excuse.Baslim's intentions were clear, and the ship fit the bill perfectly.Debts must be paid.But my mother just wanted to cling to the literal meaning of the message.Oh, the captain knows why.She was determined to show the child at the party, to show that the Sisu had paid off all the traders' debts, and then to take advantage of that for all the benefits it could possibly reap.Well, it's understandable to do so. However, this is not fair to children! Is it fair or not?According to his own plan, Krause would like to take Soapy to the party.Now he believed that Soapy's blood must be like theirs, and he hoped that the relevant records in the records of the merchant navy would confirm his belief. But there was another difficulty.He had agreed with his mother on the matter of Marta Kingsolver.A reckless girl cannot be allowed to break a taboo, and it seems to be the best policy to send her away immediately.But did it occur to Mother that Soapy would take the opportunity to see how Marta was doing? He will never allow him to do that!For the sake of the Sisu, he would not agree.The child was too young for him to go...at least until he could prove that the child was born in a fellow family before agreeing to let them meet, and by then the debt to Baslim would have been paid. But the mail-ship that lay there seemed to whisper reproaches to him, and he was as unwilling, as the mother he reproached, to pay that undeniable debt with justice and equity. But this is for the benefit of the child! What exactly is fairness? Yes, there is a fairest way, thought the captain.That is to take the child, go to the mother to show the cards, tell the child all Baslim's message, and then tell him that he can go to the central world by mail, and tell him how to find his home when he gets there.But at the same time let him know that he, Krause, believed that Thorby was born one of his kind, and that this conjecture could and should be verified first.And tell him straight out that his mother is trying to tie him hand and foot by marrying a daughter-in-law.Of course, after hearing these words, the mother would cry out and bring up the law to defend herself.But this matter cannot be decided by the patriarch, and Baslim's message was given to him by Clausa.In addition, it is also certain that children themselves should have the right to choose. Then the captain straightened up, though still trembling a little, and strode to his mother. After they went up in the elevator, the deck master was waiting at the door of the elevator. "Sir, the patriarch said, she wants to see the captain." "What a coincidence," Clauser laughed. "Come here, son, we're all going to see her." "Yes, Dad." They went around the corridor and came to the chief's cabin, only to see Krause's wife standing in the doorway. "Hello, dear. The deckmaster says mother wants me to see her." "I want to see you." "So, he got the message wrong. Don't worry about it, please hurry up, I want to see my mother right away." "He was right. The patriarch did look for you before he died." "what?" "Captain, my mother has passed away." Upon hearing this, Clausa was stunned.After a while, he came to his senses, pushed the door open with a bang, and threw himself on his mother's bed, hugging the thin body of the dead mother lying on the bed and crying loudly.A steel tough guy who is usually calm and calm, once he bursts into tears, it is uncontrollable. Seeing all this, Soapy was both frightened and sad.He went back to his room and thought about it quietly.He wanted to know why he was so sad and lost when he didn't love grandma—even didn't like her. Why? He was almost as sad as when his father died, but he loved his father more than her. Soapy found that not only he was grieving, but everyone on board was shocked.Everyone felt it was unthinkable without her.She is Sisu.She is like an inexhaustible, indestructible, and invincible force that propels the spaceship forward like an inextinguishable flame.But now, she suddenly left. It turned out that Granny was dozing off as usual, and had been whining earlier that Woolamoura was procrastinating, which was typical of Flaki, disrupting their original plans.But she fell asleep according to the unshakable habit of years. When the daughter-in-law went in to call her, grandma could no longer wake up. There are many things written on the pad next to grandma's bed: some words to her son, some tasks for Torah to do, some instructions for the chief engineer to adjust the temperature, and some words for wanting to review the banquet menu with Athena memorandum.The captain's wife, Rhoda Krause, tore off the papers and put them away for reference, then straightened up and ordered the deck master to fetch the captain. The captain did not eat his supper.Grandma's bed was moved away, and the new patriarch Rhoda sat on the chair where grandma used to sit.In the absence of the captain, she signaled to the chief engineer, who then took the lead in praying to the dead, and the new patriarch led everyone to answer.Then everyone began to eat in silence.As for the funeral, it will wait until the party. After a while, the first officer stood up. "The captain wanted me to tell everyone," she said quietly, "he thanked the people who were going to see him, but he was free only tomorrow. "Pause for a while, and then said, "Everything comes from the sky and returns to the sky, but the spirit of Sisu will continue. " Suddenly Soapy no longer felt lost and hopeless.