Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty

We took him into a room behind the podium.Many physicians have tried their best, but in vain.The aging heart was overburdened and finally stopped working forever.They carried him out, and I followed. Stu patted me on the shoulder: "Mr. President—" I said, "Oh, for God's sake, don't call me that." "Mr. President," he repeated with certainty, "you have to speak to the crowd and let them go home. It has to be done." He said quietly, tears streaming down his cheeks. I went back to the podium, told everyone the news of the professor's death, and told them to go home.

Finally I was back in my room at the Fortune Hotel, where the emergency cabinet meeting had begun.But the first thing I do is call right away, pull down the sound shield, and start dialing MYCROFT XXX. No signal, tried again - still no signal. Pushing back the sound shield, I asked the nearest Wolfgang, "Is the phone out of order?" "It depends," he said. "Yesterday's explosion destroyed a lot of things. If you want to contact a number outside the city, you'd better contact the temporary main station." "What explosion?" "Haven't you heard? Heavy bombing of the government complex. But Brody's artillery took down the ship. No real damage. Not very clear yet."

I had to put this aside for now, everyone was waiting for me.I don't know what to do, but Stu and Korshkov do.Shine is responsible for disseminating the message to the rest of Earth and the Moon.I would like to announce the mourning of the moon, silence for 24 hours, stop all unnecessary commercial activities, and let the remains rest in peace on their own land.All the words were in his mouth, but he couldn't say a word, and his thinking froze.All right, call a meeting in twenty-four hours.In New Lyon?OK Shine received a courier from Earth.Wolfgang has written back on my behalf: the reply will be delayed at least twenty-four hours because of the death of our President.

Finally, Wyoh and I left.A guard cleared the way for us all the way to the thirteenth underground airlock. As soon as I got home, I rushed into the studio under the pretense of changing my arm: "Mike?" no answer-- I tried calling him from my home phone - no signal.So I decided to look for him tomorrow at the Government Complex - the professor is gone and I need Mike more than ever. But the next day I couldn't go to the complex because the pipes that crossed Chrissim were out of order because of the previous bombing.Singapore is reached via Torricelli and Singlyn.Although the government complex is right next door, it can only be accessed by Rollingon transport vehicles.No more wasting time, I am "the government".

It took me two days to get out of this situation.In the end we passed a resolution that the speaker (Fin) should be the president, and Finn and I agreed that Wolfgang was the best candidate for chancellor. After the handover, I was just a member of parliament, and not a member of Parliament. Later, the phone was finally connected.The government complex was also contacted, and I dialed MYCROFT XXX.No answer—so I went out in the Rollingon Transporter, down the moon to the tunnel, and walked a kilometer along the tube iron, and the lower level of the government complex seemed undamaged. Mike didn't seem to be hurt either.But when I spoke to him, he didn't answer.He has not spoken for several years now.You can call him the question and he will output the correct answer for you.As a computer, he works just fine.But he can't speak, or can't speak.Wyoh tried to coax him, but gave up in the end, and I gave up in the end.

Not sure what the hell is going on here.Many of his external devices were destroyed in the last bombing.I'm pretty sure the purpose of that bombing was to knock out our ballistic control computers.Has he fallen below the "threshold" at which he can maintain self-awareness? (We're never sure, it's just a hypothesis.) It's also possible that he ended up decentralizing himself, giving many functions to his "dumb son."Maybe he died because of it? I have no idea.If it was just a matter of threshold, he would have been repaired long ago, and he must have returned to his previous intelligence level.But why didn't he wake up?

Could the machine also be so frightened that it cannot respond to external stimuli?Self-awareness is gone, so the machine is afraid to risk a return to its previous level of intelligence again?No, it wasn't like that, Mike was never afraid - he was as fearless as the professor. A lot has changed from year to year—Mum has long since retired from housekeeping and watches TV all day to pass the time.Now Anna is "Big Mom".Slim had Hazel change his name to Stone, and they had two children.She is studying engineering now. Now that there are new drugs, people on earth can return to the earth unchanged after staying on the moon for three or four years.Other medicines also helped us a lot.Some children even go to school on Earth.

China's catapult project took seventeen years, not ten. Work on Kilimanjaro could be completed soon. There was also a small surprise—it was Lenore who ended up recruiting Stu into the house, not Wyoh.No difference though, we all voted "yes". And one more thing, which we managed to accomplish when Wyoh and I were members of the government: On a pedestal in the center of the old dome, a brass cannon with flying flags—Black Fields, It is dotted with stars and has a red line that symbolizes blood!That's where we celebrated the Fourth of July. Here is our motto: "There is no such thing as a free lunch!"

The professor knows well that "no effort, no gain", and he has been giving happily.But the professor underestimated the chattering whiners who didn't buy into any of the professor's ideas.Humans seem to have a tendency to abuse their freedom.The professor hopes to rely on a huge and intelligent computer to shape the future. He is deeply intoxicated by this dream, but ignores the little things around him.Oh, I had strongly supported him!But now I'm confused again.Will people understand what to do only when food shortages cause riots?I have no idea! I do not know anything.Wish I could ask Mike.

Waking up at night, I seem to hear Mike's voice - just a whisper, "Man...man, my best friend..." "Mike?" I called him, but he didn't answer. Is he wandering somewhere, looking for a hardware connection?Or buried under a government complex, looking for a way out?These special memories stay somewhere, waiting to be activated.But I can't activate them, they are unsolvable bibles, encrypted and sealed. Oh, I know he's gone from us like the professor. (How far is the professor from us?) I always wonder if I reconnect and say, "Hi Mike!" Will he reply, "Hi Man, any good news lately?"

I have been trying for a long time.He couldn't really be dead, he wasn't damaged - he was just lost. god are you listeningIs the computer one of your creations? Too many changes - I should probably go out tonight and talk to random people. Maybe not, some young people have immigrated to the asteroid since the price of food skyrocketed, and I heard that some places there are beautiful and less crowded. Jesus, I haven't even lived to be a hundred years old!