Chapter 18 Chapter 18 The Winner

For a moment, everyone's vocal system seemed to be paralyzed.Even Yu Ke could only stare blankly at Varona, and then turned to Terrence, showing disbelief in his eyes. Then, with Sting's sharp laugh, the silence was finally broken. Sting said: "I believe it, really! Let me just say, that local guy must be employed by Fafu. Now you know what kind of person Fafu is? He will hire local people to... " "It's a vicious lie." It was not Fa Fu who spoke, but the mayor.He stood up, his eyes gleaming with anger. Abel seemed the calmest of them all. "What lie?" he asked.

Terrence stared at him for a moment, not understanding what he meant at first, and then said excitedly: "What the tycoon just said - I am not employed by any Sark." "What did the girl say? Is it also a lie?" Terrence licked his parched lips with the tip of his tongue. "No, it's true, I'm the mind reformer." He then said, "Don't look at me like that, Lorna. I didn't intend to hurt him, and what happened later was not my intention." Sit down again. Fafu said: "This is a trick. Abel, I don't know what you are planning, but it is obvious that this criminal cannot commit crimes alone. Only five big tycoons can have the necessary information and channels. I'm sure. Could it be that you arranged this false confession because you were anxious to get your man Sting off the hook?"

Terrence clasped his hands tightly and leaned forward in the seat: "I also didn't take Trantor's money." Fafu ignored him. Qiangzi was the last one to come back to his senses.For several minutes, he could not accept that the mayor was not in the same room as him, but in another corner of the embassy; More real, and the latter was twenty miles away.He almost went up to the mayor and tried to grab him by the shoulders and talk to him alone, but it was impossible.Finally, he said: "Until we let the man confess, there is no point in arguing. Let him explain the whole story. If he is the mind reformer, then the details of what he said will be urgently needed to know; if he No, then there must be flaws in his explanation.”

"If you want to know what happened," Terrence exclaimed excitedly, "I'll tell you. I won't do me any good by hiding the truth, it's either Sack or Trantor, so go to hell space. Doing so at least gives me a chance to make a thing or two public." He pointed at Fafu contemptuously: "This is one of the five big tycoons. This tycoon said that only the five big tycoons can have the necessary information and channels to do what the mind reformer did. He is really categorical. Actually What did he know, and what did all the Sacks know? "It's not them who run the government, it's the Florentines! The Florentines in the State Department. They get the papers, they fill them out, they store the papers, and it's the papers that run Sark. Of course, we Most are too tame to even cry, but do you know what we can do if we do, even in front of those goddamn tycoons? Well, you've seen what I've done.

"A year ago, I was a temporary traffic controller at the space station. That was part of my training, and it's on the record. You'll have to dig a little, though, because the traffic controller on deck ten is a Sa He has that title, but I do the actual work. My name can be found in the section labeled 'Local Personnel'. None of the Sarks want to look at that part lest they pollute their eyes. "That day, the Local Analysis Bureau sent a cable from the space analyst to the station and advised us to send an ambulance to pick up his spacecraft, and I was the one who received that message. I passed the safe part on to the unit, the destruction of Florenna is kept secret.

"I arranged for the space analyst to land at the small air station in the outskirts of the country, and I went to pick him up myself. I could do it easily, with the tethers for Sark at my fingertips. Don't forget, I was in State Department. None of the Big Five can do what I do, unless he orders some Florentine to do it for him; and I can do it alone without anyone's help. Questions about intelligence and channels, My explanation ends here. "I received the space analyst and hid him in a place where neither Sack nor the Analysis Bureau could find him. I extracted as much information as possible from him, and began to use the information to help Florenna fight Sack. .”

Fafu managed to spit out a few words: "You wrote the first letter?" "Yes, I wrote the first letter, tycoon." Terrence said calmly, "I thought I could force you to hand over most of the thistle fields to me, so that I would have enough chips and Trantor. Make a deal and drive you off that planet." "You're crazy." "Maybe, it didn't work out anyway. I once told that space analyst that I was the rich man. I had to do that because he knew that the richest man on the planet; and as long as he thought I was Fafu, he will be willing to talk about it. He thought that Fafu was eager to do everything in his power to help Florenna, which really made me laugh out loud.

"Unfortunately, he was more impatient than I was. He insisted that losing a day was a catastrophe, while I understood that dealing with Sack took more time than anything. I found it difficult to control him and eventually had to Use the mind reformer. It is not difficult to get this thing, and I have seen how to use it in the hospital, and I have some understanding of this instrument, but unfortunately I don't know enough. "I set up the reformer and prepared to eliminate the anxiety on the surface of his mind. It was a simple operation, and I still don't understand what happened. I think those anxieties must be hidden deep and deep, and the reformer naturally pursued it. Dig out most of the layers of consciousness together, and you're left with a mindless idiot...I'm sorry, stupid."

Yuke, who had been listening intently, said sadly, "You shouldn't have done that to me, Mayor, but I know how you feel very well." "That's right," said Terrence, "you've lived on that planet, and you know the difference between a cop and a tycoon, and the difference between Lower Town and Upper Town." He went on to tell his story: "So in my hands is a space analyst who has completely lost his mind. I can't let anyone who might find out his identity find him; I can't kill him, I am sure his memory will will recover, and I still need his knowledge. Besides, killing him won't get the kind response from Trantor and the Bureau of Analysis, which I will eventually need. Besides, at that time, I can't play this kind of Violent hands.

"I arranged for myself to be transferred back to Florence to be mayor, and I took the space analyst with me on forged papers. I arranged for him to be found, and I picked Varona to take care of him. There was no danger from that, except The time when the doctor found it. I had to break into the power plant in the upper city, which is not impossible. The engineers were Sark, but the guards were Florentine. In Sark I learned enough electrical engineering to know how to short out a power line. It took me three full days to figure out the correct time to break the power. Since then, it has been easier for me to kill people. However, I never knew , the doctor keeps a record in the upper and lower clinics, and I hope I haven't overlooked that."

Terrence could see the well-groomed chronometer from his seat: "Then, a hundred hours ago—it seemed like a hundred years ago—Yu Ke began to regain his memory. That's the whole story, and now you all know gone." "No," Chandz said, "not yet. What are the details of this space analyst's story of planetary destruction?" "Do you think I understand the details of what he said? That's kind of—sorry, idiot—crazy." "No," Yu Ke was furious, "That can't be crazy." "The space analyst has a spaceship," Janz asked. "And now the ship?" "It's been sent to the waste pile long ago," said Terrence. "Following an order, signed by my superiors. Of course, the Sacks never read official documents, and I scrapped it without difficulty. " "And what about the foolish documents? You said he showed you some documents!" "Give this man to us," Fafu said suddenly, "we will ask him everything he knows." "No," Chandz said, "his original crime was against the Bureau of Analysis. He kidnapped a space analyst and damaged his mind. He should be ours." "Jonzi's right," said Abel. Terrence said, "Listen to me. I won't say a word without security. I have stupid papers that neither Sark nor Trantor will ever find. If you want Those papers, you have to admit I'm a political refugee. What I do is out of patriotism, out of the needs of our planet. Sarks or Trantors can call themselves patriots, why Florentians Can't?" "The ambassador said," Chandz said, "that you would be turned over to the Bureau of Analysis. But I assure you, we will not turn you over to Sark. You will be tried for your persecution of this space analyst .I can't guarantee the outcome, but if you cooperate with us now, we will take it lightly." Terrence looked at Qiangzi with sharp eyes: "I would like to bet my luck on you, doctor... According to that space analyst, the sun in Florence is in the pre-nova stage." "What!" Everyone except Varona exclaimed. "It's about to explode and turn into ashes with a bang." Terrence said sarcastically. "At that time, everything on Florenna will be vaporized and turned into a puff of smoke." Abel questioned: "I'm not a space analyst, but I once heard that there is currently no way to predict when a star will explode." "That's true, at least until a few days ago. Did Yuke explain why he thought so?" Chandzi asked. "I think he stated something in the document, all I can remember is that it has to do with the flow of carbon atoms." "what?" "He kept saying 'flow of carbon atoms from space, flow of carbon atoms from space,' and 'catalytic effects,' and that was it." Si Ting giggled, Fa Fu frowned, and Qiang Zi opened his eyes wide. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." Qiangzi whispered, walked out of the receiving space, and then disappeared without a trace. Fifteen minutes later, he was back in place. After Qiangzi came back, he immediately looked around in a panic.Except for Abel and Fafu, everyone else disappeared. "They..." he asked. "The two of us are waiting for you, Dr. Jands." Abel replied without waiting for him to finish. "The space analyst and the girl are on their way to the embassy. This meeting is over." "It's over! Galaxy, we're just getting started. I'll have to explain the possibility of nova formation." Abel moved uneasily in his seat: "There's no need to do that, Doctor." "It is very necessary, absolutely necessary, give me five minutes." "Let him talk." Fafu said while smiling. So Janz said, "I have to start from the beginning. In the earliest documented scientific literature of galactic civilizations, it has been known that the energy of stars comes from nuclear reactions inside them. It is also known that under the known physical conditions inside stars , there happen to be only two nuclear reactions that can produce the necessary energy, both of which result in the conversion of hydrogen nuclei to helium nuclei. The first is a direct reaction—two hydrogen nuclei and two neutrons combine to form a helium nucleus. The second is an indirect reaction, which includes several steps, and the final result is still that hydrogen nuclei become helium nuclei, but there are carbon nuclei participating in several intermediate steps. These carbon nuclei will not be used, and will be used during the reaction. Regenerated, so a small amount of carbon nuclei can be used again, and a large number of hydrogen nuclei are converted into helium nuclei. In other words, carbon nuclei play a role as a catalyst. These theories can be traced back to prehistoric times, back to human A period confined to a planet, if there is such a period." "If everyone knows about this," Fafu said, "I'm going to say that what you said is useless and just a waste of time." "But that's about all we know. No one has ever been sure which nuclear reaction a star uses, or both. There have long been schools of thought in favor of both possibilities. Usually the majority opinion The direct hydrogen-to-helium conversion is preferred because it is the simpler of the two. "Well, the stupid theory must be this: the direct hydrogen-to-helium conversion is the normal source of energy for stars, but in some cases the increased importance of carbon nuclei catalysis accelerates the indirect conversion process, raising the temperature of the star. High. You are well aware that there are many streams of atoms in space, and some of them are streams of carbon atoms. The stars passing through these streams absorb countless atoms, but the total mass of the atoms attracted by the star is almost equal to the mass of the star itself. No comparison, no effect at all. The only exception is carbon atoms! Pass a stream of atoms with an unusual concentration of carbon and the star becomes unstable. I don't know how many years, centuries, or It will take millions of years for the carbon atoms to diffuse into the interior of the star, but it may take a long time. This means that the flow of carbon atoms must be wide enough, and the angle between the star and it must be small enough. In short, once saturated into the interior of the star Above a certain threshold of carbon atoms, the star's radiation suddenly explodes. In impossibly violent explosions, the star's outer layers collapse, forming novae. "Do you understand?" Janz waited for their reaction. Fafu said: "According to the few empty words that the space analyst in the mayor's memory said a year ago, you figured all this out in two minutes?" "Yes, that's right, it's not surprising at all. Space analysis has amassed enough knowledge that even if Yuke didn't propose this theory, someone else would soon. In fact, similar theories have appeared before , but it was never taken seriously. Those theories were put forward before the development of space analysis technology. At that time, no one could explain how those stars suddenly acquired an excess of carbon nuclei. "But now that we know that there are streams of carbon atoms in space, we can map their paths, find which stars have intersected those paths over the past 10,000 years, and check these results against our record of nova formation and radiation changes. Yuk What he did must be this research, and what he tried to explain to the mayor must be his calculations and observations. However, these are not the current focus. "What must now be arranged is that the evacuation of Florenna begin immediately." "I knew the conclusion would be like this." Fafu said calmly. "I'm sorry, Jands," Abel said, "but that's almost impossible." "Why is it impossible?" "When will the Florenian sun explode?" "I don't know. Yuke was in a hurry a year ago, so I don't think we have much time." "But you can't set a date?" "Of course not." "When can you set a date?" "There's no guarantee at all. Even if we get stupid calculations, we'll need to check them all over again." "Can you guarantee that the results will prove the space analyst's theory correct?" Janz frowned. "I'm pretty sure myself, but no scientist can vouch for any theory in advance." "Then you're asking us to evacuate Florenna purely on a hypothetical basis." "I don't think the life of an entire planet should be risked." "If Florenna were an ordinary planet, I would agree with you. But Florenna is the source of thistles for the entire galaxy, so this cannot be done." Qiangzi was furious: "Is this the agreement you and Fafu reached when I was away just now?" Fafu joins the discussion: "Let me explain it to you, Dr. Jands. The Sark government would never agree to the evacuation of Florence, even if the Bureau of Analysis claimed to have solid evidence for this nova theory. And Trantor couldn't force We, the galaxy as a whole, may support war against Sark in order to maintain the thistle trade, but we will definitely not support a war to end the thistle trade." "Yes," said Abel, "I'm afraid our own countrymen would not support such a war." There was a strong revulsion in Qiangzi's heart.How insignificant is human life on an entire planet compared to economic necessity! He said: "Listen to me, it's not about one planet, it's about the whole galaxy. Now the Milky Way produces twenty new stars every year; Radiation signatures can vary greatly, making surrounding habitable planets uninhabitable. Humans are currently scattered across a million star systems in the Milky Way, which means that every fifty years, on average, an inhabited planet somewhere It becomes too hot to support life, and the historical record abounds, and every 5,000 years, on average, an inhabited planet has a half-chance of being gassed in a nova explosion. "If Trantor ignores Florenna and lets its inhabitants vaporize with it, it would send a message to all of humanity in the galaxy—rescuing some will thwart the efforts of a few powerful people when disaster strikes. economic interests, then they can't hope that anyone will help. Can you take the risk, Abel? "Conversely, if you reach out to Florence, you prove that Trantor puts his responsibility to the people of the galaxy above the protection of property, so that Trantor will win the hearts and minds that force can never win." Abel lowered his head, and shook his head again in a sleepy motion: "No, Chands. What you said touched my heart, but it was unrealistic. Regardless of any political effects that the attempt to end the thistle trade will inevitably have. , I can’t count on emotional resolution. In fact, I think it might be wise to avoid investigating the theory. Just thinking it might be true is enough to do a lot of damage.” "But what if it's true?" "We have to act on negative assumptions. I guess you left just now to contact the Bureau of Analysis?" "yes." "Anyway, I think Trantor would have enough leverage to end their investigation." "I'm afraid that these investigations will not stop. Gentlemen, we will soon learn the secret of cheap thistles. Within a year, whether there are new stars or not, the monopoly of thistles will cease to exist." "What do you mean?" "This meeting is only now discussing the real point, Fafu. Of all the inhabited planets, thistle grows only in Florenia. Everywhere else, its seeds produce only ordinary cellulose. Chance Of all the inhabited galaxies, perhaps only the Florenian sun is currently in the prenova stage. And, perhaps when it first entered the stream of carbon atoms, perhaps thousands of years ago, it became a A pre-explosive nova, as long as the intersection angle between the two is small enough. From this point of view, it seems likely that Ji An and the pre-explosive nova stage are mutually causal." "Nonsense," Fafu said. "Really? There must be a reason why thistles are thistles on Florenia and cotton elsewhere. Scientists have tried many methods of artificially producing thistles on other planets, but those experiments were blind Yes, so they always fail. Now, they will know that rising star is the key factor.” Fafu said in a contemptuous tone: "Didn't they try to copy the radiation properties of the Florenian Sun?" "Using special arc lights, yes, but that only replicates the visible and ultraviolet spectrum. What about infrared and further radiation? And magnetic fields? Electron emission? Cosmic ray effects? I'm not a physical biochemist, so maybe There are factors that I don't even know about. But physical and biochemists all over the galaxy will start working on it right away, and within a year, I assure you, they'll have the answer. "Right now, the economy is on the side of humanity. People all over the galaxy want cheap thistles, and if they find them, or even think they'll find them soon, they'll be glad to see Florenar evacuated. Not just out of humanitarian considerations, but also because they desperately wanted to bring down the Saks who made money from thistle, and this day finally came for them." "Stop threatening me!" Fafu roared. "Do you think the same way, Abel?" Janz demanded. "If you help those tycoons, then in the eyes of the world, Trantor will not be the savior of thistle trade, but the savior of thistle monopoly. Can you risk this?" Is it dangerous?" "Can Trantor risk the war?" Fafu asked rhetorically. "War? Ridiculous! Tycoon, within a year, whether there are new stars or not, your property on Florence will be worthless. Get rid of it, sell all of Florence, Trantor can afford it. " "Buy a planet?" Abel panicked. "Why not? Trantor has the money and can win the hearts and minds of the world for it, and it will be worth a thousand times more. If telling them you're saving hundreds of millions of lives isn't enough, tell them you'll be doing it for them." If you buy a cheap Jiji, it will definitely work." "I'll think about it." Abel said and looked at Fafu, the tycoon lowered his eyelids. After a long pause, Fafu also said, "I will consider it." Qiangzi let out a piercing laugh: "Don't think about it for too long. Thistle's secret will spread quickly, and there is no way to stop it. At that time, the two of you will no longer have the freedom of action. Now the two of you You can negotiate a better deal." The mayor seemed deflated. "Is this true?" he kept repeating. "Is this true? Florina is going to disappear?" "It's true," Janz said. Terrence spread his arms and lowered them again: "If you want those stupid documents, they are hidden in my town, together with the demographic data. I specially selected a group of dusty files, which are at least one Records from centuries ago, no one will check those materials for any reason." "Listen," said Chands, "I'm sure we can make an agreement with the Bureau of Analysis. We're going to need someone in Florenia who must know the Florentines and who must be able to tell us how to They explain things, how to best evacuate, how to choose the most suitable refuge planet. Will you help us?" "What do you mean, this way of atonement? Murder is fine? What's wrong?" The mayor suddenly burst into tears, "But I will lose after all. I will lose my world and my home. We all lost, the Florentines lost their world, the Sarks lost their fortune, the Trantorians lost their chance at that fortune, and there were no winners at all." "Unless you understand," Chandze said softly, "in a new galaxy--a galaxy free from stellar instability, a galaxy where everyone has thistles, a galaxy where political unity is at hand — there will be winners in the end. A thousand trillion winners, all the people of the galaxy, all winners."