Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven The Changing Mind

In Joseph Schwartz's sense, the occurrence of change was rather vague.Many times, in the absolute stillness of the night (how quiet are the nights now, were there before loud, bright, bustling nights, enveloping millions of living beings?), in fresh silence, he Going back in time.He likes to think that the here and now is the "now." That day, he came to this strange world alone, it was a day full of fear and chaos.That day was as clouded in his mind now as his memory of Chicago.Then he made a trip to Chicago, which ended in a strange and complicated way.He often thinks about those experiences.

Seems to have something to do with a machine, and the pills he swallowed.After a few days of recovery, he escaped and began wandering outside, culminating in some inexplicable incidents at the department store.He couldn't remember that process clearly.And yet, for the next two months, everything was so vivid, how accurate his memory became. Even so, things are starting to get a little weird.At the beginning, he was suddenly very sensitive to the surrounding atmosphere, feeling that the old doctor and his daughter had been restless and even fearful.Did he know this then?Or, it was just an erratic impression at first, and the current feeling is the result of strengthening by hindsight?

But at the department store, just as the burly man was about to grab him—a split second before—he became aware of the impending attack.It was just that the warning came too late to get him out of danger in time, but it was a sure sign of a change in his mind. The next change is a headache.No, it wasn't a real headache, it should be said to be throbbing, as if a dynamo hidden in his brain started to run suddenly, and because this movement was so unfamiliar, every piece of his skull vibrated.In Chicago—assuming the Chicago he imagined was real—even in his first few days in the real world before him, nothing like this had happened.

Did they do anything to him that day in Chicago?that machine?Those pills—must be the narcotic, so it was an operation?It was the hundredth time he had thought of this, but here again his thoughts stopped abruptly. He was taken out of Chicago the next day after his escape plan aborted, and life is now easy. Gru, who is sitting in a wheelchair, often talks non-stop to him, pointing to the west and making pictures, just like the girl Paula did back then.Until one day, Gru stopped talking nonsense and started speaking English.Or not that, but himself—he, Joseph Schwartz—stopped using English and started talking nonsense.It's just that for him now, those words have meaning.

It was such a simple matter that he learned to read within four days, much to his own amazement.Back in Chicago, he had had a superior memory, or so he thought.However, he was not able to reach this level at the time. But Grew didn't seem surprised, so Schwartz stopped thinking about it. In late autumn, when the earth turned golden and everything became clear again, he also began to work in the field.His ability to learn was astonishing, and the unthinkable happened again—he never made any mistakes, and even a fairly complicated machine, after some explanation, he could immediately operate it effortlessly.

He had been waiting for cold weather, but never really got it.Throughout the winter, they were busy preparing the land, fertilizing, and making various preparations for spring plowing. He had asked Gru and tried to explain to him what snow was.But Gru just stared, and replied, "Frozen water falls like rain, huh? Oh! Its name is snow! I know it happens on other planets, but not on Earth." From that day on, Schwartz carefully observed the fluctuations in temperature, and found that there was almost no change from day to day—however, the days gradually became shorter, just like a city in a northern region, such as Chicago, must change at this latitude.He didn't know whether he was on Earth, and he was only half-believing all the time.

He tried reading some of Gru's film books, but quickly gave up.The characters in the book are still ordinary people, but the details of daily life, all kinds of knowledge taken for granted, and historical and social metaphors have no meaning to him at all, and finally he can't read any more. Strange things happened one after another.Such as evenly distributed temperature and rain, such as he had been severely warned that certain areas should never be approached... At dusk one day, he looked at the shining horizon and the blue light emerging from the south, and finally couldn't suppress his curiosity anymore.

After dinner, he sneaked out.As a result, before walking a mile, the ultra-low noise of the two-wheeled vehicle engine came from behind, and Yabin's angry shout resounded through the sky in the dusk.He was quickly stopped and taken back to the farm. Yabin paced back and forth in front of him and said, "As long as it is a place that glows at night, you should not approach it." Schwartz asked gently, "Why?" The tone of the answer was sharp and blunt: "Because it's taboo." After a long pause, he said again: "You really don't know what's going on there, Schwartz?"

Schwartz spread his hands. Yabin said, "Where did you come from? Are you a—a stranger?" "What is an outsider?" Yabin shrugged, turned around and left. But for Schwartz, it was a hugely important night.Because during that short mile, strange sensations in his mind coalesced into "telepathic contact."That was his own name for it, and no matter then or later, he could not find a more appropriate name. At that time, he walked alone in the dark purple dusk, stepping on the elastic driveway, not even a sound of footsteps.He saw no one, heard no sound, and touched nothing.

Not really... There was something like a touch, but not any part of his body.It was in his mind...not a real touch, but a presence—like velvet scratching his mind. That contact suddenly becomes two -- two different, separate contacts.And this second (how could he tell the two apart?) became louder (no, that's not the right word), more different, more definite. Then he knew it was Yabin.When he understood this, it was at least five minutes before he heard the sound of the two-wheeler; at least ten minutes before he saw Albin. Since then, this kind of thing has happened again and again, and it has become more and more frequent.

He gradually understood one thing, whenever Yabin, Luoya or Gru came within a hundred feet of him, he would always notice it immediately—sometimes there was no reason for him to notice it, and even various signs required him to do so. Contrary predictions.It is difficult to take this phenomenon for granted, but it gradually seems quite natural. He started some experiments and found that he could know the exact location of each of them, all the time.He could tell the three of them apart because the contact was different from person to person.However, he never had the guts to mention it to anyone else. Sometimes he would mutter to himself, wondering whose was the first contact he felt as he walked toward the shining horizon?That didn't belong to Yabin or Loya, nor Gru.Ok?What does it matter? Later, it did have a relationship.One evening, when he was leading the cattle back, he unexpectedly encountered that "contact" again, which was the same as before.So he went to Yabin and asked: "What is there in the forest behind Nanshan, Yabin?" "Nothing," Yabin replied sternly, "it's the patriarch's estate." "What is that?" Yabin seemed annoyed: "It doesn't matter to you, does it? Everyone calls it the Patriarch's estate, because it's the property of the Patriarch of Earth." "Why not farm?" "It's not for that purpose." Yabin's voice was somewhat shocked, "In the ancient days, it used to be a great center. Now it is still very sacred, and ordinary people must not disturb it. Listen, Shi Vaz, if you want to stay safe here, put away your curiosity and focus on your work." "But if it's so sacred, it's impossible for anyone to live there?" "That's right, you're right." "are you sure?" "I'm sure... you must never break in, or you'll be screwed." "I will not." Schwartz walked away, still puzzled and unspeakably uneasy.That contact came from that woodland, and it was quite powerful.Now it's adding some other feeling, an unfriendly touch, a threatening touch. Why?Why? He still dare not speak out.They wouldn't believe him, and if he did, something unpleasant would happen.He knew this too, in fact, he knew too much. These days, he's getting younger too.In fact, this does not refer primarily to the physical aspect.Although his belly shrunk, his shoulders broadened, his muscles became stronger and more elastic, and his digestion improved—all as a result of his outdoor work.However, what he noticed was mainly another change, that is, a change in his way of thinking. Old people tend to forget what they thought when they were young. They forget the quick mental activity, the bold youthful intuition, and the quick and fresh insight.They become accustomed to a more stable mode of thinking, but since the accumulation of experience more than compensates for this decline, the old people still think that they are smarter than the young. For Schwartz, however, it wasn't the experience that changed. What made him exhilarated was the discovery that he could understand things in an instant.He has gradually progressed from having to act according to Yabin's instructions to predicting what he will say, and even finishing it first.The reason for his feeling of youth, therefore, was very subtle and far from being explained by physical fitness. It took two full months before he finally realized it.At that time, he was playing chess with Gru in the gazebo. For some reason, except for the names of the pieces, the chess pieces were completely unchanged, exactly as he remembered them, and this was always a comfort to him.In this respect, at least, poor memory did not play tricks on him. Gru once told him many new chess games, such as "four-player chess": each person has a chessboard, and the four chessboards are assembled into a square, and the gap in the middle is filled with a fifth chessboard, which is used as a public "vacuum area". ".In addition, there is "three-dimensional chess": eight transparent chessboards are stacked into a tower shape, and the chess pieces that originally walked on the plane can now move in three dimensions.The number of chess pieces is twice the original number, and the opponent's two kings must be checked at the same time to win the game. Plus, there are even some generalized new-style rules.For example, roll the dice to determine the initial position of the chess pieces, or set some favorable or harmful conditions for the chess pieces on certain chess grids, or introduce several new chess pieces with strange functions. Chess itself, though—the original chess—remains unchanged. Fifty games of the chess tournament between Schwartz and Gru have now been played. At the beginning, Schwartz had only a superficial understanding of chess skills, so he lost consecutively in the first few games.However, the situation gradually changed, and the number of times he lost chess gradually decreased.Gru's movements became more and more slow and cautious, smoking his pipe desperately between two moves, making the tobacco burnt red.In the end, he was finally unable to reverse his decline and became a general who was often defeated, so his complaints increased. Gru's pawn is Bai, and now his pawn has come to the position of "King Four". "Let's play chess." He urged the other party in a sour tone, his teeth were biting his pipe hard, and his eyes were already fixed on the chessboard. Sitting in the growing twilight, Schwartz couldn't help sighing.The chess game really became very boring, because he felt Gru's mind more and more clearly, and even guessed what he was going to do next, just like a hazy skylight opened in Gru's head.He knew how to play chess almost intuitively, and this, in fact, had the same source as his other problems. They use a "night chessboard," which glows blue and orange in the dark.In the sun, it looks like a chess piece made of red clay, but it will change strangely at night.Half the pieces would be bathed in opalescent light, looking like cold, bright porcelain, while the other half would shimmer with a red gleam. The first few moves are played very quickly.Schwartz's "before the king" pawns advanced forward, blocking the enemy's attack head-on.Grew moved the "king side" knight to the "bishop three" position, and Schwartz moved the "rear side" knight to the "bishop three" parry.Bishop White then jumps to Backside Knight Five, and Schwartz's Backside Fort Front pawn slides forward one square, forcing the Bishop back into Castle Four.Then, he moved another knight to "bishop three". Those shining pieces dashed across the board as if possessing a strange will of their own, for the hand that manipulated them had long since disappeared into the darkness. Schwartz felt very guilty. The questions he was going to ask might reveal his insanity, but he had to figure it out anyway.Suddenly he said, "Where am I?" Grew was carefully shifting his "rear side" knight to "bishop three" when he looked up and said, "What?" Schwartz didn't know what to say about "country" or "state," so he asked, "What world is this?" As he spoke, he moved his bishop to "King II." Gru simply answered: "Earth." After speaking, he "entered the castle" with exaggerated movements. First, the tall king moved to one side, then let the heavy castle pass over the king's head, and then put to the other side of the king. That's a completely unsatisfactory answer.The name Gru said, Schwartz mentally translated as "Earth."But what is "Earth"?Inhabitants of any planet refer to their world as "Earth". Schwartz moved his "back-riding forward" pawn two squares forward, again forcing Gru's bishop to retreat, this time to "knight three".Then, Schwartz and Grew pushed their "back-to-front" pawns one square forward to help their respective bishops clear the way and prepare for the upcoming battle in the center. Schwartz asked in a calm and casual tone as much as possible: "What year is it now?" After speaking, he also began to "enter the fort". Grue paused, probably taken aback. "What have you been nagging about today? You don't want to play anymore, do you? It's 827, if that pleases you." He added, sarcastically, "Yinji." Said Finished, he frowned at the board, then repositioned his "Queen" knight on the "Queen Five" for its first attack. Schwartz dodged quickly, moving his "backside" knight to "Castle Four" as a counterattack.The skirmish was in full swing. Gru's knights ate the opponent's bishop, and the chess piece flew up from the board, like a red flame, and then fell into the chess box beside it with a crisp sound.It lay there like a buried warrior who would not play again until a game of chess was played.Next, the meritorious knight was immediately eaten by Schwartz's queen.For a moment, Grew hesitated in his overcautious attack, and pulled another knight back to King One for refuge, but it was of little use there.Now, Schwartz's "backside" knights imitate the opponent's suicide attack, eating the opponent's bishop first, and then becoming the prey of the "front" pawns. Another short break ensued, and Schwartz asked softly, "What is Yinji?" "What?" Gru pressed unhappily. "Oh—you mean you still don't know what year it is? How can you be so stupid... Well, I keep forgetting that you only learned to talk about a month ago, but You're really smart. Don't you know? Well, it's the year 827 of the Galactic Era, and the Silver Era is the Galactic Era. Get it? Eight hundred and twenty-seven years have passed since the founding of the Galactic Empire years; that is to say, the coronation of Franken I is now eight hundred and twenty-seven years old. Now, please, it is your turn." However, Schwartz held the knight tightly in his hand and refused to let it go for a long time. His heart was full of frustration. "Wait a minute," he said, placing the knight in the "Queen Two," "have you heard of any of the following names? America, Asia, United States, Russia, Europe..." He was trying to ascertain where he was. In the darkness, Gru's pipe glowed dark red, and his dim figure pressed against the shiny chessboard, as if it was less vital than the chessboard.He probably shook his head casually, but Schwartz couldn't see it.He doesn't need to see it, but he can also perceive the other party's negation, just as clearly as Gru once spoke. Schwartz did not give up: "Can you tell me where I can find the map?" "There's no map at all," growled Gru, "unless you risk your life to go to Chicago. I'm not a geographer, and I've never heard those names you mentioned. What are those names? Human names?" risking one's life?Why?Schwartz felt a chill.What crime did he commit?Does Gru know about this? He asked in an uncertain tone: "The sun has nine planets, doesn't it?" "Ten." The answer was very firm. Schwartz hesitated.Well, they might have found another one, he just never heard of it.But why did Gru know?He snapped his fingers and asked again: "How about the sixth planet? Are there many halos beside it?" Grew slowly moved the "King's Side Jiaoqian" pawn forward two squares, and Schwartz immediately took the same action. Grew said: "You mean Saturn? Of course it has a halo." He began to think secretly: he could choose to eat the pawns of the opponent's "prince" or "queen", but the consequences of the two are still unclear. too clear. "So between Mars and Jupiter, is there an asteroid belt? I mean, between the fourth and fifth planets." "That's right." Gru murmured, and then lit the pipe again, falling into selfless contemplation.Schwartz captures that painful sense of uncertainty that annoys him.For him, since the identity of the earth has been confirmed, the game of chess becomes unimportant at all.With many questions racing through his mind, one of them slipped out of nowhere. "So, the contents of your film books are all true? Are there really other worlds? Humans live on them?" Gru withdrew his gaze from the chessboard, raised his head, and stared meaninglessly in the darkness: "Are you serious?" "Do you have?" "I swear to the Milky Way! I, believe, believe, you, true, no, know, way." Schwartz is ashamed of his ignorance: "Please—" "Of course there are other worlds, millions of them at least! Every star you see has several worlds, and most stars you don't see at all. They're all part of the Empire." When Gru responded excitedly, Schwartz subtly felt a vague echo in his heart, jumping directly into the gap between their hearts like a spark.Moreover, Schwartz felt that this spiritual touch became stronger every day.Maybe soon, even if the other person doesn't speak, his heart can hear the words in the other person's mind. Only now, at last, had he thought of an explanation other than insanity for the whole mystery.Did he somehow jump through time?Perhaps, a long sleep? He said in a hoarse voice, "How long has it been going on, Gru? How long has it been since there was only one planet?" "What do you mean by that?" He suddenly became extremely cautious, "Are you a member of the ancients?" "A member of what? I'm not a member of any organization. But wasn't Earth the only planet? . . . well, wasn't it?" "That's what the ancients said," Gru replied sullenly, "but who knew? Who really knew? As far as I know, those worlds in the sky have always existed in history." "But how long has that been?" "Tens of thousands of years, I think. Fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, I don't know." Tens of thousands of years!Schwartz felt his throat rattling, and quickly suppressed it, feeling unspeakable panic in his heart.Everything is just a matter of two steps?In the blink of an eye, in one breath, in one moment, he leaped tens of thousands of years?He found himself escaping again into amnesiac explanations, his misperceptions of the solar system must be the result of damaged memories penetrating the fog. But Gru continued to play—he took the opponent's "pre-teacher" pawn, and Schwartz immediately noticed that it was a wrong choice. This mental reaction was almost mechanical.Now every move is interlocking, and there is no need to think about it.Facing a vanguard of two white pawns, his "king side" castle charged forward and captured the first one.Then, the white knight moved to "bishop three", and Schwarz's bishop moved to "knight two", which is a preparation action for entering the battlefield.Grew followed suit and moved his bishop to "Queen II". Schwartz paused before launching his final attack.He said, "Earth is the boss, isn't it?" "Boss of what?" "Of course it's the emperor..." Unexpectedly, Gru suddenly raised his head and let out a roar that shocked all the chess pieces: "Listen up, I'm so tired of your questions. Are you a real fool? What does the earth look like?" The boss?" With a flat hum, Gru's wheelchair circled the little table, and Schwartz felt his arms gripped tightly by a few fingers. "Listen! Listen!" Gru lowered his hoarse voice. "Do you see the horizon? Do you see it shining?" "I see." "That's the earth—the whole earth is like that. Except for a few lands to the east and west, like this place." "I don't understand." "Earth's crust is radioactive, and the soil glows, always glows, glows forever. Nothing grows, nobody survives—don't you know that? Why do you think we have Sixty limit?" The hemiplegic old man finally calmed down. He steered the wheelchair around the small table and returned to his original position: "It's your turn to go." Sixty limit!Now the telepathic contact again carries an indescribable sense of menace.As Schwartz speculated on the matter with a tense heart, his pieces seemed to know how to move. His "queen" pawn eats the opponent's "prime" pawn; Grew moves his knight to the "queen four"; Schwarz's castle moves sideways to capture the "knight four" position; The knights attacked again and came to "Bishop 3"; Schwartz's castle still avoided conflicts and went to "Knight 5" for shelter. Now, Grew's "front of the king's side castle" pawn timidly moved forward one square, while Schwartz's castle charged forward, eating the opponent's "front of riding" pawn, against the enemy king's general.Grew's king immediately took the castle, but Schwartz's queen immediately seized the opportunity and came to the "Knight Four" to join the army.The king of Grew hurriedly fled to "Castle One", Schwartz picked up his knight and put it in the place of "King Four". Grew then moved his queen to "King Two" in a desperate attempt to mobilize defenses.And Schwartz's contingency is to push his queen two squares forward to the "Knight Six", turning the battle into a hand-to-hand fight.Gru had no choice but to move his queen to "Knight Two," and the two female supremes finally came face to face. Grew then moved his queen to "King Two" in a desperate attempt to mobilize defenses.And Schwartz's contingency is to push his queen two squares forward to the "Knight Six", turning the battle into a hand-to-hand fight.Gru had no choice but to move his queen to "Knight Two," and the two female supremes finally came face to face.Next, Schwartz's knights continued to attack, eating the opponent's knights in "Bishop Six".Seeing that Bishop Bai was about to be attacked, he hurried to the "Three Bishops", while the black knight chased to the position of "Five Queens".After hesitating for several minutes, Gru decided to let the besieged queen cross the long diagonal to eat Schwartz's bishop. Then he paused and let out a breath of relief.A cunning rival has a castle in jeopardy and is about to be generaled.His own queen is ready to gallop into battle.In addition, he had one more castle than the opponent, but the opponent only had one more pawn. "It's your turn." He said with satisfaction. Schwartz finally said, "What—what's the sixty limit?" Gru's voice was obviously showing unfriendly emotions: "Why do you ask? What exactly do you want to do?" "Come on," said Schwartz in a low voice, his morale gone. "I'm a non-threatening person. I don't know who I am or what happened to me. Maybe I'm an amnesiac." "Very likely." Gru replied contemptuously, "Are you avoiding the sixty limit? Answer the truth." "But I tell you, I don't know what the sixty limit is!" This sentence really took effect, followed by a long silence.Gru's telepathic contact seemed ominous to Schwartz, but he couldn't put it into clear words. Gru said slowly, "The sixtieth limit is your sixtieth birthday. The earth can only support twenty million people, no more. To live, you have to give birth; if you can't give birth, you have to give birth." You can't live anymore. And after sixty, you can't be productive." "So..." Schwartz couldn't close his mouth. "You will be eliminated, and there will be no pain." "Will be killed?" "That's not murder," he said stiffly. "It must be done. The other worlds won't take us in. We must try to make room for our children and grandchildren. The older generation must give way to the younger generation." "What if you don't let others know that you are sixty?" "Why would you do that? After sixty, life isn't very interesting anyway... Every ten years a census is held to catch people who are stupid enough to want to live a few more years. Besides, they record your age in case." "I don't have mine," said Schwartz, but couldn't take it back. "Besides, I'm only fifty--next birthday." "That doesn't matter. Don't you know they can examine your bone structure? There's no way to hide it. Next time they'll catch me... Hey, it's your turn." Schwartz ignored the other party's urging: "You mean, they will..." "Of course, I'm only fifty-five, but look at my legs. I can't work, can I? We're registered as a family of three, so our production quota is based on three working people. I had a stroke After that, it should have been reported immediately, and then the quota would be reduced. But in this way, my sixty limit will come earlier, and Yabin and Luoya are unwilling to do this. Both of them are fools, because it means that they Tired to death—until you come. Anyway, they'll have me next year . . . and it's your turn to go." "Is next year the census year again?" "Yes...it's time for you to go." "Wait!" Schwartz asked eagerly. "Is everyone over sixty going to be eliminated? No exceptions at all?" "You and I will make no exceptions. The Patriarch can die, and there are also members of the Order of the Ancients, and some scientists, or some people who have made significant contributions. Not many people qualify, maybe only a dozen a year... round It's your turn!" "Who decides who qualifies?" "Of course the dean. Are you going down or not?" But Schwartz stood up: "There is no need to play, you will be checkmate if there are five more moves. My queen will first capture your pawns, and then your army, you must go to 'Knight One' Go; then I'll move the knight to 'King II', then you'll have to go to 'Bishop II'; my queen will go to 'King VI' general, and you'll have to flee to 'Knight II' ;Then my queen goes to 'Knight Six', when you are forced to go to 'Castle One', my queen will checkmate you in 'Castle Six'. "Good chess." He added naturally. Gru stared blankly at the chessboard for a long time, then let out a roar and lifted the chessboard off the table.All the shiny chess pieces fell on the grass and rolled listlessly for a while. "It's all your damn chatter that's distracting me," Gru yelled. But Schwartz was oblivious to all this, and only felt that he had to escape the sixty limit no matter what.For, though Browning once said: Grow old with me! Good days and beautiful scenery can be expected... But the earth at that time had billions of people and inexhaustible food.Today, the so-called beauty on a good day is the sixty limit—that is, death. Schwartz was sixty-two years old. sixty-two years old...