Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Late Night Worry

At night, the magistrate's mansion looked almost like a fairyland.The night flowers (not native to the earth) bloomed with white and plump petals, spreading the elegant fragrance to every corner of the mansion.The building of the mansion is made of stainless aluminum alloy and cleverly mixed with man-made silicate fiber.In the polarized moonlight, the fibers glowed a dull purple that contrasted with the surrounding metallic sheen. Ennias gazed at the stars in the sky.In his view, the stars are the real beauty, because they represent the empire. Earth's night sky falls somewhere between the two extremes.It is not like the night sky of the central world, which has a spectacular sky phenomenon that cannot be watched - the brilliant stars are crowded together, competing to emit dazzling light. When the stars are full, the so-called dark night can hardly be seen.It is also not as lonely and majestic as the night sky on the outer edge—only a few dim lone stars facing each other hang on the celestial sphere, barely breaking through the dense darkness, and the Milky Way is a milky white lens across the sky, which also seems to be floating in the sky. Diamond powder, which is completely invisible to be composed of countless stars.

From Earth, two thousand stars are visible at any one time.Now Ennias could see Sirius, and a certain planet around it was one of the ten most populous planets in the empire.He could also see the Big Horn, where the capital of his home sector was located.As for the sun of Trantor, the capital of the empire, it is hidden in a corner of the galaxy, and even with a telescope, it cannot be distinguished from the sea of ​​light. A soft palm suddenly pressed against his shoulder, and he reached out to hold that hand. "Flora?" he whispered. "It's best," came her half-joking voice, "do you know that you haven't closed your eyes since you came back from Chicago? And do you know that it's almost morning now?...Do you want me to call someone?" Bring breakfast here?"

"Why not?" He looked up at her lovingly, groping for a strand of brown hair next to her cheek in the dark, and then held it tightly in his hands, "You must watch the night with me, blurring the last pair of galaxies. beautiful eyes?" She pulled her hair back and replied softly: "And you, you want to blind my eyes with sweet words. But I have seen you like this before, and you can't hide your thoughts from me at all. What's going on tonight Worrying about you, dear?" "Ah, it's the thing that has always worried me, that is, I let you be buried here. In fact, no matter which governor society in the galaxy, you will be the most outstanding beauty."

"Is there anything else? Well, Ennias, I don't want you to fool me." Ennias shook his head in the dark, and said again: "I don't know. I think it's a lot of little problems accumulating and finally getting too much for me. Schechter and his synaptic amplifier are one thing; this The archaeologist, Alvardan, and his theories are another one. There are other things, other things. Oh, what's the use, Flora, I can't do anything right here." "This morning is certainly not the best time to test your morale." Ennias gritted his teeth and said: "These earthlings! How could such a small group become such a big burden on the empire? Do you remember, Flora, when I was just appointed to take over the position of administrator, that old Pharaoh How hard was the job given to me—the former administrator—to warn me?... He was right. If he was wrong, he didn’t warn enough. I didn’t Laughing at him, privately, I think that's the result of his old age. I'm a young, active, brave man, and I'll do better..."

When he said this, he suddenly stopped, not knowing what he was thinking.When he spoke again, he obviously switched to another topic. "However, there is so much independent evidence that it seems that the people of Earth have gone astray again, and are once again dreaming of rebellion." He raised his head and looked at his wife: "Do you know what is the central dogma of the Ancients? They believed that the earth was once the only home of mankind, so the earth is destined to be the center of mankind and the true representative of mankind." "Ah, that's what Alvardan said the night before yesterday, didn't he?" At times like this, it's always best to let him talk.

"Yes, he did," said Ennias in a despondent tone. "Even so, he referred only to the past, and the Order of the Ancients talked of both the past and the future. The earth, they said, would once again be the home of man." Center. They even claimed that this imaginary Second Kingdom of Earth was coming. They warned that the Empire would be destroyed in a total catastrophe, and that Earth—” His voice began to tremble, “a backward, wild, land The polluted primordial world will be the glorious victor in the end. This absurd dogma has provoked three rebellions in the past, but the resulting destruction of the earth has not shaken their foolish faith in the slightest."

"They're just a bunch of poor people," Flora said, "I mean these earthlings. What else could they have but that belief? They've obviously been deprived of everything, including a decent world, a decent life. They even lose their dignity as human beings, because other humans in the galaxy cannot accept them on an equal basis. So they are closed in their own dreams, can you blame them for that?" "Yes, I can blame them." Ennias exclaimed angrily, "They should wake up from their dreams and try their best to converge with the entire galaxy. They don't deny being different, but they just want to use 'more You can't expect the better 'to replace the 'worse', and you can't expect others to allow them to do that. They should throw away their sense of exclusion, and their outdated and crude conventions. They have to be human in order for others to treat them as human. If they had to be gangsters, that's the only way they'd be seen.

"But don't worry about it. For example, how is the progress of the synaptic amplifier? It's just a small problem like this that keeps me awake." Ennias frowned, looking thoughtfully at the east. In the sky, the dark night sky has gradually revealed a hazy dawn. "Synaptic amplifier?... Ah, isn't it the device that Dr. Alvardan mentioned at the dinner party? You went to Chicago to investigate this matter?" Ennias nodded. "What did you find there?" "Nothing," said Ennias. "I know Schechter very well. I can tell when he is at ease and when he is worried. I tell you, Flora, he Talked to me, worried like hell all the way through. When I went away he was nearly weeping with gratitude. It's an unpleasant mystery, Flora."

"But does the machine work?" "Am I a neurophysicist? Schechter said it didn't work. Then he called me and told me a volunteer almost got killed. But I couldn't believe it, he was so excited! Not only that, He is so proud! His volunteer is still alive, which means the experiment was successful. If he is not happy then, I have never seen a happy person in my life... Well, why do you think he treats me Lie? Do you think that synaptic amplifier kicks in? Do you think it produces a bunch of geniuses?" "But if that's the case, why keep it a secret?" "Ah! Why? Can't you see that's obvious? Why do rebellions on Earth always fail? They're outnumbered and have no chance of winning, right? If the intelligence of the people on Earth can be increased generally to double, triple times, how much will their chances of winning become?"

"Oh, Ennias." "At that time, our situation may be the same as that of apes and humans. What's the use of the number of people?" "You are really stalking the wind, they can't hide this kind of thing. You can always ask the Alien Province Administration to send a few psychologists to continue to conduct random sampling tests on the earth. If there is any abnormal IQ increase, of course It can be checked out immediately." "Yes, I think you're right...but it may not be so. I can't be sure of anything, Flora, except that a rebellion is imminent. Like the last one, except that It might be worse."

"Are we prepared? I mean, if you're so sure..." "Ready?" Ennias laughed like a dog barking, "I did. The garrison is ready for battle, and all the equipment and supplies are complete. I have done everything within my ability. But, Flo La, I don't want a rebellion, I don't want history to record me as an administrator who suppressed a rebellion, I don't want my name to be associated with death and massacre. I will be awarded a medal for it, but a century later, history textbooks would call me a bloody tyrant. Isn't that the governor of Santani in the sixth century, the best example? He killed millions of people, but what else did he do? At that time he He has been greatly praised, but who has a good word for him now? I would rather let posterity remember that I once stopped a rebellion and saved the worthless lives of twenty million fools." His tone sounded quite despair. "Are you sure you can't do it, Ennias—even now?" She sat down beside him, stroking his chin with her fingertips. He grabbed her finger and held it tightly in his hand: "How can I do it? Everything is against me. The Authority itself also joined in the fun, and stood by the group of earth lunatics, even taking that AI Vadan sent it here." "But, my dear, I don't think the archaeologist will do anything terrible. I admit he looks like a curious man, but what harm can he do?" "Ah, isn't it obvious? He wants to prove that the earth is indeed the birthplace of human beings, and he wants to provide a scientific proof for that subversive statement." "Then stop him immediately." "I can't, frankly, you've hit me where it hurts. Some people think the Governor is omnipotent, but he's not. That man, Alvardan, has a warrant from the Alien Province Authority, which was issued by His Majesty personally approved it. There is nothing I can do about it. I can't do anything without first appealing to the Central Council for approval, which would take months...and what reason can I give them? On the one hand, if I forcibly stop him, it will be tantamount to my own rebellion. You also know that since the civil war in the 1980s, the Central Council has not hesitated to replace those administrative officials who they think have exceeded their authority. Then what will happen? So what? I'll be replaced by someone else who has no knowledge of the situation, and Avardan will still get his way. "That's not the worst thing, Flora. Do you know how he's going to prove the age of the earth? Guess." Flora smiled softly: "You are kidding me, how can I guess? I am not an archaeologist. I think he will try to dig out ancient statues or bones, and then use methods such as radioactivity to to date them." "I hope so. What Alvardan is really going to do, he told me yesterday, is to go into the radioactive zone of the earth. He wants to find artifacts there, and use similar dating methods to prove that the earth's soil is radioactive. Those artifacts existed before, because he insisted that the radioactivity of the earth was the result of man." "But it's pretty much the same as what I just said." "Do you know what it means to enter a radioactive zone? Those places are restricted areas. This is one of the strictest customs of the people on Earth. No one can enter the restricted area, and all radioactive areas belong to the restricted area." "But that's good, Avadan will be stopped by the earthlings themselves." "Oh, well, he'll be stopped by the Patriarch! Then, how can we convince the Patriarch that this whole project is not government-sponsored and that the Empire is not condoning this deliberate act of sacrilege?" "The dean can't be that sensitive." "Wouldn't he?" Ennias stood up, his eyes fixed on his wife.The night had gradually faded away, and her face was faintly visible in the gray morning light. "You have the most touching innocence, and of course he's sensitive. Do you know, oh, about fifty years ago, what happened? Let me tell you, and then you can judge for yourself. "The thing is, the people on earth will never allow any sign of imperial rule to appear on their world. Because they have always insisted that only the earth is the legal ruler of the galaxy. However, the young Starnell II ——It was the doll emperor who was a bit insane. He was assassinated after two years in power, you should remember!——He ordered the national emblem of the empire to be hung in the Earth Council Hall in Washington. This order itself This is not an unreasonable request, because the national emblem is hung in the council halls of all the planets in the galaxy, as a symbol of the empire's unification of the galaxy. But what is the result of this? On the day the national emblem was hung, riots broke out in the entire city. "Those insane guys in Huasheng took down the national emblem and armed themselves to fight against the garrison. Staniel II is really crazy enough to insist on implementing his orders, even if he kills all the people on earth. But in the massacre Before the opening, he himself was assassinated and died, and his successor Erdard canceled the original order, so that everything returned to peace." "Those insane guys in Huasheng took down the national emblem and armed themselves to fight against the garrison. Staniel II is really crazy enough to insist on implementing his orders, even if he kills all the people on earth. But in the massacre Before the opening, he himself was assassinated and died, and his successor Erdard canceled the original order, so that everything returned to peace." "You mean," Flora said in a tone of disbelief, "the imperial coat of arms hasn't been hung back?" "That's exactly what I meant. By the stars, among the billions of planets of the Empire, only the Earth Council has no national emblem. It is this humble planet on which we now stand. Even today, if we want to try again, They're going to fight to the last man to stop us. And you ask me if they're sensitive, and I tell you, they're crazy." In the graying dawn, the two remained silent for a while.Then Flora spoke again, her voice thin and unsure. "Ennias?" "Ok." "You have more to worry about than that your expected rebellion will affect your reputation. If I can't read half of your mind, I'm not worthy to be your wife. It seems to me that you expect something to A real threat to the Empire... You shouldn't hide anything from me, Ennias. You're afraid these Earthlings will win." "Flora, I can't talk about it." There was a look of pain in his eyes, "That's not even a premonition... maybe four years in this world is too long for any normal person .But why are these earthlings so confident?" "And how do you know?" "Oh, absolutely right, I have sources of information myself. After all, they have been suppressed three times, and it is impossible to have any illusions. However, they are facing 200 million worlds, any one of which is stronger than the earth, but they Still confident. Do they really have such firm belief in their so-called fate, or some supernatural power, something that means something to them? Maybe... maybe... maybe..." "Perhaps what, Ennias?" "Maybe they have unique weapons." "A weapon that can make one world defeat two hundred million worlds? You're overwhelmed. No weapon has that kind of power." "I already mentioned synaptic amplifiers." "I told you how to deal with it, too. Did you know they had other types of weapons?" "No." The answer was reluctant. "That's right, it's impossible to have such a weapon. Let me tell you what to do, my dear. Why don't you take the initiative to contact the Dean, and tell him Avadan's plan in a serious and sincere manner? Then, in a circumstantial way, insisting that he should not have been allowed. That way they wouldn't—or shouldn't—suspect that the Imperial Government had anything to do with this unconventional folly. Meanwhile, you Still have to stay behind the scenes and stop Avadan's actions without showing. Then, let the Authority send two good psychologists - or preferably four, so that they can guarantee at least two —Let them examine the possibility of synaptic amplifiers altering intelligence... other things, our fighters can handle, as for future problems, leave it to our descendants. "Now, why don't you just sleep here for a while? We can put the back of the chair down, and you can use my fur shawl as a blanket. When you wake up, I'll have my servants bring your breakfast. In the sun, every piece Things will be different." Therefore, Ennias, who had not slept all night, finally fell asleep five minutes before sunrise. Eight hours later, the headmaster heard the name of Bel Avadan for the first time, and the special mission he had, which was told to him by the magistrate himself.