Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven The Captain

Indeed, it was the first time that Captain Resty had failed to master a passenger.Even if he meets one of the five big tycoons, he may still be able to count on the cooperation of the other party.On the tycoon's own continent, they may be exclusive, but on a spaceship, they'll learn that there can only be one master, and that's the captain. Female passengers are different, as are any females.And if she was the daughter of one of the five big tycoons, it would be completely unreasonable. He said: "Miss, how can I allow you to meet them privately?" Samiya Fafu's black eyes were burning: "What's wrong? Do they have weapons, Captain?"

"Of course not, but that's not the point." "Anyone could tell they were just a couple of very scared men and women, they were scared to death." "People who are afraid may be very dangerous, Miss, their actions cannot be judged by common sense." "Then why do you want to frighten them?" She stuttered a little when she was angry. "You have three tall and strong sailors standing in front of them holding guns, two poor fellows. Captain, I don't want to Will forget about it." Yes, she will not forget, thought the captain.He felt ready to give in.

"If Missy is willing, can you tell me what exactly you want to do?" "Very simple. I told you I would speak to them. If they are Florentines, as you say, then I shall be able to collect invaluable information from them for my book. But , if they're too scared to speak, I can't get any information. If I can be alone with them, it's all right. Alone, Captain! Do you understand this simple word? Alone!" "If your father finds out, I allow you to be alone with the two criminals who are desperate without guards. Miss, how do you ask me to explain to him?"

"Desperate criminals! Oh, space! Just two poor fools, stupid enough to board a spaceship for Sark in order to escape from their planet! And how would my father know?" "If they hurt you, he'll know." "Why would they hurt me?" She pumped her petite fists back and forth, putting every ounce of strength she could find into her voice, "I demanded this, Captain." Captain Resty said, "Is that all right, then, and I'll be here, Missy? Get rid of the three crew members holding the pistols, and I'm the only one who won't show the pistols. Otherwise—" This time, It was his turn to pour all the determination into his voice: "I must refuse your request."

"Well," she breathed, "well. But if I can't get them to talk because of your presence, I'll make you a captain again." When Samiya walked into the confinement room, Varona quickly covered Yuke's eyes with her hands. "What are you doing?" Samiya asked sharply, only then did she remember that she was ready to talk to them nicely. Varona reluctantly opened her mouth: "He's not very smart, miss, he doesn't know that you are a lady. He may look at you, I mean look at you without any malice, miss." "Then let him see it," said Samiya, "for God's sake!"

Then she turned to the captain again: "Must they stay here?" "Do you think first class is more suitable, my lady?" Samiya said: "Anyway, don't want such a gloomy small cabin." "It's spooky to you, ma'am; it's quite luxurious to them, I'm sure. There's running water here, ask them if they have it in their house on Florenna." "Okay, tell these people to leave." The captain gestured to the three, and they immediately turned and walked out with quick steps. The captain opened a light aluminum folding chair that the captain had brought, and Samiya sat down.

"Stand up." He suddenly said to Yu Ke and Varona. Samiya said immediately, "No! Let them sit. You should not interfere, Captain." She turned to them both: "I hear you are from Florenia, miss?" Varona shook her head: "We are from Wortex." "You don't have to be afraid, it doesn't matter that you are a Florentine, no one will hurt you." "We're from Wortex." "Did you, miss? You've actually admitted to being a Florentine—otherwise why would you cover that boy's eyes?" "He is not allowed to look at ladies."

"Even if he's from Wortex?" Varona was speechless. Samiya asked her to think about it quietly, and at the same time tried to show a friendly smile: "Only Florentines are not allowed to look at noble ladies. So you see, you have admitted that you are Florentine." Varona suddenly shouted: "He is not." "And you?" "Yes, I am, but he's not. Don't hurt him, he's really not a Florentine, he just showed up one day. I don't know where he came from, but it's definitely not a Florentine." She suddenly became articulate. Samiya looked at her with some surprise: "Okay, let me tell him. What's your name, kid?"

Yu Ke widened his eyes.Is this what a female tycoon looks like?So small, so friendly, and smells so good.He was very glad she allowed him to look at her. Samiya said again, "What's your name, boy?" Yu Ke came back to his senses, but when he wanted to make a sound, his tongue got stuck. "Yuke," and then he thought, oh, that's not my name, "I think it's Yuke." He couldn't remember another name. "do not you know?" Varona, who looked sad, wanted to speak, but Samiya raised one hand, making a strictly prohibited gesture. Yu Ke shook his head: "I don't know."

"Are you a Florentine?" This point is quite certain: "No, I was on a spaceship, I came here from somewhere else." He couldn't take his eyes off Samiya, he seemed to see the spaceship Stacked with her.It was a small, very homely, homey spaceship. He said: "I came to Florence in a spaceship, and earlier I lived on a planet." "Which planet?" A thought seemed to force its way through a narrow spiritual tunnel.Yu Ke immediately remembered that the voice he uttered made him jump with joy, it was a voice he had forgotten for a long time. "Earth! I am from Earth!"

"Earth?" Yu Ke nodded. Samiya turned to the captain: "Where is the planet Earth?" Captain Resty smiled lightly: "I've never heard of it. Don't take this kid's words seriously, miss. The locals lie like breathing, and they spit them out naturally. He says what he thinks of first." "Listening to him doesn't look like a local." She turned to Yuke again, "Where is the earth, Yuke?" "I..." He pressed his forehead with trembling hands, "It's in the Sirius sector." The tone of this sentence was half like a question sentence. Samiya asked the captain, "There is indeed a Sirius sector, isn't it?" "Yes, there is, and I'm surprised he's right this time. Then again, that doesn't mean Earth is real." Yu Ke said excitedly, "It's real. I tell you, I remembered! I forgot it for a long time, and now I can't be wrong, no way!" He turned and grabbed Varona's elbow, tugging at her sleeve: "Lorna, tell them I'm from Earth. Really, really!" Varona's wide eyes were full of anxiety: "We found him one day, miss, he lost his memory completely at that time. He couldn't dress himself, he couldn't speak or walk, and he didn't understand anything. Later he started Bit by bit. That's how everything he remembered so far." She cast a quick, horrified glance at the captain's bored face. "He might really be From Earth, Tycoon, I don't mean to contradict you by saying that." The last sentence is a time-honored idiom.This sentence was always added to any statement that seemed to contradict the original words of the superior. Captain Resty muttered, "That doesn't prove at all that he isn't from the best region of Planet Sark, Miss." "Maybe, but there is something wrong with it." Samiya insisted.She insisted on making a female judgment, thinking in terms of legend, "I'm sure of that... why was he in such a bad state when you found him, miss? Was he hurt?" Varona didn't say a word at first, her eyes moved back and forth helplessly, first she looked at Yu Ke who was pulling her hair, then at the captain who was smiling, and finally at Salmiya who was waiting for the answer. "Answer me, miss." Samiya urged her. Varona was having a hard time deciding, but here and now, she couldn't think of a lie that could replace the truth: "A doctor examined him, and he said that I... my foolishness can undergo spiritual transformation." "Mind reform!" A slight sense of disgust hit Samiya.She pushed the chair back, scraping the metal floorboards and squeaking. "You mean he's mentally ill?" "I don't know what that means, miss." Varona muttered. "It's not what you imagined, Miss." The captain said almost at the same time, "None of the locals are mentally ill. Their needs and desires are too simple. I've never heard of a local being mentally ill in my life." "But that..." "It's very simple, Miss. If we accept the fantasy story told by this woman, we can only come to one conclusion, that is, this kid was once a criminal. I think that is also a kind of mental illness. If so, there must be someone to replace him." The local quack healed him, nearly killed him, and left him in some deserted corner to avoid detection and prosecution." "But this person must have a mind reformer." Samiya retorted, "You don't think the locals can use this kind of device, do you?" "Maybe not. But, how could a qualified medical person do such an amateurish thing? Since we introduced this contradiction, it proves that this story is a lie from beginning to end. If you are willing to accept my suggestion, Miss , you leave these two guys to us to deal with. You see, don't expect to ask anything from them." Samiya hesitated for a moment: "Maybe you are right." She got up and looked at Yu Ke with hesitant eyes.The captain followed her, raised the small folding chair, and snapped it into place. Yu Ke jumped up: "Wait a minute!" "If you have no objection, my lady," said the captain, opening the door for her, "my men will quiet him." Samiya stopped at the threshold: "They won't hurt him, will they?" "It's easy to deal with him, and I don't see the need for us to go to extremes." "Miss!" Yu Ke roared, "Miss! I can prove that I am from Earth." Samiya hesitated: "Let's listen to what he has to say." "As you wish, Missy," replied the captain coldly. She walked back, but still—kept a step away from the hatch. Yu Ke blushed.Trying to recall, he bit his lips into a comical grin: "Earth is radioactive, I remember. I remember the no-go zones, and the blue horizon at night; the soil would glow and nothing would grow; there were very few places where people could live ...that's why I became a space analyst, that's why I don't care about being in space, my world is a dead world." Samiya shrugged: "Come on, Captain, he's just talking nonsense." This time it was Captain Resty's turn to stand there in a daze, unable to even close his mouth.He muttered: "A radioactive world..." "You mean there is such a thing?" Samiya asked. "That's right." He turned his surprised eyes to her, "Where did he hear that?" Samiya wondered, "How can a world be both radioactive and habitable?" "But there is indeed such a world, and it is indeed in the Sirius region. I don't remember its name, it may really be called Earth." "It's the Earth." Yu can say proudly and confidently, "It's the oldest planet in the Milky Way, and it's the birthplace of all human beings." The captain said softly, "That's right!" Samiya felt confused: "You mean that human beings originated from this earth?" "No, no." The captain replied absent-mindedly. "That's superstition. But I heard from this legend that there is a radioactive planet. It is said that this planet is the home of all human beings." "I didn't know we had a home planet." "I think we do originate somewhere, my lady, but I don't believe anyone knows which planet." He suddenly made a decision, and quickly walked towards Yu Ke: "What do you remember?" He almost blurted out the word "boy," but stopped in time. "It's mainly the spaceship," Yu Ke said, "and space analysis." Samiya came to the captain, and the two stood side by side in front of Yuke.Samiya felt the excitement come and go: "So it's all true? But if so, how could he be mind-altered?" "Mental modification!" said Captain Resty thoughtfully. "Let's ask him. Hey, you, whether you're native or alien or something, how did you get mind modification?" Yu Ke looked confused: "You all say that, even Lorna, but I don't know what that means." "So, when did you start losing your memory?" "I'm not sure," he said again, desperately, "I was on a spaceship." "We know this, let's go on!" Samiya scolded: "It's no use yelling, Captain, you'll take away the last bit of his memory." Yu Ke tried his best to pull the dark corners of his heart, and had no time to accommodate other emotions. "I'm not afraid of him, Miss." The words surprised even himself. "I'm trying to remember. There's a crisis, I'm sure of that. Florina is in great danger, but I Can't remember the details." "The whole planet is in danger?" Samiya glanced quickly at the captain. "Yes, brought by the atomic flow." "What atomic current?" asked the captain. "Atom flow in space." The captain spread his hands together: "Nonsense!" "No, no, let him go on." Samiya has confidence in him, her lips are slightly parted, her black eyes are shining, and when she smiles, a shallow dimple emerges between her cheeks and chin, " What is the atomic flow in space?" "Many different elements." Yu Ke said vaguely.He had already explained it to Varona and didn't want to repeat it from the beginning. He spoke quickly and disorganized, thinking where to say, as if driven by those thoughts: "I sent a telegram to Sack's office, I remember that very well. I have to be careful, it doesn't It's just Florina's crisis. Yes, it's not just Florina. It's as big as the galaxy, and it has to be handled with care." He seems to have cut off all real connection with the audience, and seems to be living in a past world, and the curtain covering this world is showing a little gap.Varona put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him: "It's done! It's done!" But he didn't even notice it. "Somehow," he continued, panting, "some officer at Sack intercepted my transmission. It was a mistake, and I don't know how it happened." He frowned. "I'm sure I'm using the wavelength dedicated to the Analysis Bureau and sending it to the local office. Do you think sub-Ethernet communications can be tapped?" The term "sub-ether" came out so easily that he wasn't even intimidated by himself. He might have been waiting for an answer, but his eyes were blind: "Anyway, they were already waiting for me when I landed at Sark." He paused again, long this time, apparently in deep thought.The captain didn't interrupt him at all, he seemed to be lost in thought himself. Samiya asked anxiously, "Who is waiting for you? Who?" Yu Ke said, "I... I don't know, I don't remember. It wasn't from the office, it was a Sak guy. I remember talking to him, he knew about the crisis, he mentioned it, I'm sure he mentioned it .We sat at a table, I remember that table, he sat across from me, and the picture was as clear as space. We talked for a while, and I didn't seem to be in a hurry to give details. I'm sure of that, because I Had to speak to someone in the office first. Then he..." "How is it?" Samiya urged. "He did something. He... no, can't remember it, can't remember it!" He screamed a few times, and there was silence.Finally, the monotonous hum of the captain's wrist talker broke the silence. He said, "What's the matter?" The voice of the reply was sharp and thin, and with just the right amount of respect: "A telegram from Sark to the captain, requesting the captain to receive it personally." "Okay, I'm going to the sub-ether communication room now." He turned to Samiya: "Miss, can I remind you that anyway, it's dinner time now." He expected the girl to say that she had no appetite, and then urge him to leave, to leave her alone.So, in a more tactful way, he said: "Now is the time to feed these two guys. They may be hungry and tired." Samiya had no reason to object: "I must come to see them again, Captain." The captain bowed silently.This may or may not represent acquiescence. Samiya Fafu was in high spirits.What she did with Florenne satisfied a certain ambition of her intellectual self.But this "mysterious incident of a person on earth being transformed" (these words were put in quotation marks in her mind), teased her more primitive and greedy self, and aroused pure animal curiosity in her heart. This is a mystery! There were three big doubts that fascinated her, not including (in this case) perhaps the most plausible inference—whether the man's story was not the truth, but a delusion or a deliberate lie.If it is suspected that this is not a real event, its mystery will be destroyed, and Samiya cannot allow this to happen. Therefore, the three doubts are as follows: (1) What is the crisis that threatens Florence, or the whole galaxy? (2) Who is it that transformed the earthling? (3) Why did that person use the mind reformer? She is determined to peel off cocoons until she is completely satisfied.No one is humble enough not to believe that he is a competent amateur detective, and Samiya is by no means a modest person. She finished her dinner as quickly as she could be polite, and then hurried to the brig. She said to the guard, "Open the door!" The crew member still stood straight, looking forward with expressionless but respectful eyes: "Miss Qi, this door cannot be opened." Samiya snapped angrily, "How dare you say that? If you don't open the door immediately, I'll tell the captain." "Report to Miss, the door cannot be opened, this is a strict order from the captain." She bolted to the upper deck again, bursting into the captain's cabin like a compressed tornado. "captain!" "Miss?" "Did you order that I was not allowed to see that earthling and that local woman?" "I believe that we have reached an agreement, Miss, you can only see them when I am present." "Before dinner, yes. But can't you see they can't hurt?" "I see they don't seem to be doing any harm." Samiya suppressed the anger in her heart: "In this case, I order you to follow me now." "I can't do it, Miss Man. Things have changed." "How to change?" "They have to be questioned by the relevant authorities in Sak, and until then they shouldn't have contact with anyone." Samiya drooped her jaw, but almost immediately withdrew her immodest expression: "You're not going to send them to the Florentine Affairs Department, are you?" "Well," the captain said perfunctorily, "that was of course a preliminary plan. These two left their town without permission; in fact, not only that, but their planet without permission. In addition, they also used Sa Overcome the smuggling of aircraft." "They didn't mean to." "yes?" "Before the interview, you already know all about their crimes." "But it wasn't until that interview that I heard what this so-called earthling had to say." "The so-called? You said that the planet Earth does exist." "I mean it might exist. But, madam, may I venture to ask what you would like to see us do with these two?" "I think the Earthling's story should be looked into. He mentions Florina as a danger, and someone in Sark is trying to hide the truth from the authorities. I think the case should even be handed over to my father. In fact , when the time is right, I will take him to see my father." "It's so clever!" "Are you mocking me, Captain?" The captain immediately blushed: "Excuse me, miss, I'm talking about our prisoners. May I explain a little bit?" "I don't know what you mean by 'a little clarification,'" she replied angrily, "but I think you can start." "Thank you. First of all, Miss, I hope you will not underestimate the turmoil in Florenna." "What disturbance?" "You can't possibly forget the library case?" "You mean the patrolman was killed? You're outrageous, Captain!" "Another patrolman was killed this morning, Missy, and a local. It's not unusual for a local to kill a patrolman. This time someone has committed two crimes and is still free. Did he do it alone? This is An accident? Or is it all part of a carefully planned conspiracy?" "Obviously you believe the latter." "Yes, that's right. The local murderer has two accomplices who describe them quite like the two stowaways we caught." "You never told me!" "I do not wish to frighten you, my lady. However, you must remember that I have repeatedly told you that they may be dangerous." "Very well, what conclusion do you draw from all this?" "Could the murders in Florina be just a cover-up to distract the patrol so that these two could sneak aboard our spaceship?" "How stupid that sounds." "Really? Why did these two escape from Florenna? We haven't asked them yet. Let's assume they were evading the police, as that is certainly the most reasonable assumption. Why did they escape to Sark at all?" And it just happened to be on this spaceship that came to pick up Missy? And that kid claimed to be a space analyst." Samiya frowned: "So what?" "A year ago, a space analyst was reported missing, but it was never made public. I knew about it because my spacecraft was on that near-space search mission. The chaos on Florenna whether it was Whoever did it, no doubt took advantage of it. Just because they know a space analyst is missing shows how well-organized and incredibly efficient they are." "It is possible that this Earthling has nothing to do with the missing space analyst." "There is no real relationship, my lady, there is no doubt about it. But to think there is no relationship is to admit too many coincidences. We met a fake, so he claimed to have been mentally modified." "Oh?" "How can we prove that he is not a space analyst? First, he has no deeper understanding of the planet Earth except for the obvious fact of radioactivity. Second, he does not know how to drive a spaceship, and he knows nothing about space analysis. Yes. Thirdly, he insists that he has undergone mental modification in an attempt to cover up everything. Do you see that, Miss?" Samiya couldn't answer directly. "But what is his purpose?" she pressed. "To prompt you to do something, my lady, which you have just mentioned that you intend to do." "Investigate this suspicious case?" "No, miss, I'm taking that man to see your father." "I still do not get it." "There are several possibilities. In the best case, he might be a spy trying to spy on your father, working for Trantor if not Florenner. I guess old Abel of Trantor will come forward and identify He's a native of Earth. If for no other reason, he can humiliate Sac by questioning this fictional mind modification case. At worst, he's the assassin who killed your father." "captain!" "Miss?" "This is ridiculous!" "Perhaps, Miss. But if so, then the Ministry of State Security is just as absurd. You remember that just before dinner, I was called to receive a telegram from Sark?" "That's right." "This is it." Samiya took the translucent sheet, which read in red writing: "Two Florentians are reported to be smuggling in your spaceship. Arrest them immediately. One of them may claim to be a space analyst rather than Locals of Florenia. You do not take any action on this matter. You are absolutely responsible for the safety of these two people. Detain them until they are escorted to the Ministry of Homeland Security. Absolutely confidential. Absolutely urgent." Samiya was dumbfounded. "Department of Homeland Security," she said, "Department of Homeland Security." "Absolutely confidential," said the captain. "I am making an exception to reveal this to you, because you have left me no choice, my lady." "What will they do with him?" "I'm not sure," said the captain. "What's certain is that a suspected spy-assassin can't expect to be treated well. Maybe he'll make it real, and know what a mind-reformer really looks like."