wandering planet

More than 500 years ago, when discussing the necessity and feasibility of the "Great Retreat", there was a topic that troubled the participants.

"How many people are needed to continue the current human civilization and sustain the development of civilization" - this question is the same as the carrying capacity of ships, which is the foundation of the "Great Retreat".

Because the real purpose of the retreat is to preserve strength, to prevent human civilization from being smashed by an asteroid flying from outside the sky.

This research topic has actually been carried out for decades. After receiving the warning of the incoming asteroid, the compiled report was finally placed on the conference table.

"One million people." The researcher in charge of the speech said, "This is the lowest number that can continue human civilization."

After seeing the number, all the participants were surprised: it was just right - 100 million, exactly the total number of people that all ships capable of interstellar travel in the world can carry.

This number was written into the "Human Preservation Project White Paper" published later.

However this figure is inaccurate.

When presenting the final figures, several researchers responsible for reviewing figures and research reports all hesitated.

They quarreled, discussed, and even fought in the dark room, and finally violated their own principles and submitted the revised figures.

"What's the real number?" Linney asked.

He was calm, and everyone at the table was calm.Including Jiang Che.

They seemed to know this terrible fact for the first time, and because it was so terrible, they couldn't immediately confirm its authenticity and reliability.

Song Junxing stared at Lin Ni.Linney noticed that he had quiet, even dark eyes.

"The real number is 30."

After handing over the report, the researchers destroyed the materials recording the original numbers.

Their thinking was simple: who knows what might happen during the retreat?Who knows if the Earth will survive the baptism of that asteroid? 30 is too little, too little, which means that they have to carefully select 20 elites from the world's population of 30 billion in the cruelest way, and then take them away from the world that is about to become hell. Earth, headed for an extremely dangerous journey.

But what right do they have to decide the life and death of those ordinary lives beyond 30 people?

The number that was finally written down on the report was 100 million.They tampered with all research documents and data, risked their lives, and told a huge lie, in order to fill every ship evacuated from Earth with enough settlers, in order to ensure that enough people would survive.

Most of these researchers never got the chance to board the "Great Evacuation" ship.For various reasons, they stayed on the earth.

The oldest one among them could not sleep peacefully day and night.He violated his principles, but he was even more worried, would the 100 million that had just reached the line become a hidden danger of the "big retreat"?With so many people, can the fleet be dispatched smoothly?

In order to get a comfortable sleep, he began to drink heavily, and cried and told his children the secret after drinking.

The next day, his children came home with a soldier.The heroic soldier forcibly injected the old man with an injection, and in a haze and bewilderment, he told all the secrets to the stranger in front of him.

But it was too late. The preliminary work of the "Great Retreat" has ended, and all the reviews and screenings have been completed for both the "Great Retreat" and the "Gene Survival" plan.

The soldier walked into the fleet's office building with this secret in his arms, and finally delivered it to the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

The commander-in-chief did not continue to report, he cut off the secret circulation path in his office.

Just 100 million, we take 100 million people with us, and our task is to ensure that all of them survive, no matter 100 million or 30. "The commander-in-chief did not continue to report the situation.

But at the time, the other guy in his office was the second-in-command of the fleet.

He thought that the deputy commander's thoughts were the same as his own, but he was wrong.

Linney and Pierre looked at each other with astonishment in their eyes.

"The commander-in-chief at the time was Commander Volkonsky, a Russian." Pierre recalled what he had learned. "He was on the vanguard ship Homer, and he fell with the Homer."

"Where is the deputy commander?" Ovid asked quickly. He had learned this history, but he couldn't remember it anymore. "Who is the deputy commander?"

Song Junxing told him: "The deputy commander is April, she is the leader of the Purification Sect."

The purifiers Song Junxing mentioned were those who insisted on cutting 100 after learning that the 30 million written in the white paper was actually 70.Deputy Commander April is the core figure of the Purification Sect. She comes from an ancient aristocratic family, and she is a part of the Earth Fleet who always adheres to the elite theory.

After seeing the numbers in the white paper, Deputy Commander April once said fiercely: 100 million people is too many, at least it should be reduced to 80, leaving enough flexible room to deal with the number of people in interstellar travel. Emergencies.

Her suggestion was not adopted by Commander Volkonsky.

Therefore, after learning the real numbers, she quickly gathered a group of people who had the same thoughts as herself, and began to "purify" the retreated personnel according to her own standards.

Tang Mo was stunned when he heard that. "What standard?" She asked Song Junxing.

"To put it simply, according to her standards, even Lin Ni may just meet the passing mark." Song Junxing looked at Pierre, "Among us, only Pierre can definitely board the ship. April A crazy person, but before the 'Great Retreat', she kept it well hidden. There was no Beagle personality test, and there were a lot of people on the 'Great Retreat' fleet who thought like her."

Ovid subconsciously looked at Jiang Che.Jiang Che's face was pale, but he still didn't say a word.

Among all the people present, only Ovid knew about Jiang Che's younger sister Jiang Mu.She has congenital heart disease, she is not a healthy person, let alone a prominent family background and outstanding abilities.

Linney cursed harshly.

Song Junxing said calmly: "But in fact, Deputy Commander April is not the most critical in the entire 'purification' operation. Because her elite theory has been exposed in front of Commander Volkonski, Commander Volkonski She has been watching her all the time, and she has no way to do it. It is a group of brilliant executioners who really screened instead of her. Linney, among them, there is one person, you must know."

Lin Ni's expression darkened: "Who?"

"It's the soldier who gave the old scientist an injection." Song Junxing smiled suddenly, as if with malicious intentions, "He is very famous. Even today, his name is still printed in various history books, enjoying the enjoyment of future generations. admiration and admiration."

Linney opened his mouth silently.He felt his hands trembling from fear.

"He is Colonel Lees Wright, Linney, your ancestor... great-grandfather's great-grandfather 500 years ago? Sorry, I can't count the generations." Song Junxing whispered, "All the glory and fame that the Lees Wright family now enjoys , are actually inherited from this murderer."

Colonel Lees Wright's position at the time was not particularly important: he was the logistics chief responsible for manning the fleet.

But under his instruction, the people boarding the ship were subtly and implicitly divided into two parts: one could be discarded, and the other could not be discarded.They belong to different ships and will never cross.

Colonel Lees Wright once put forward his own opinion: Even if those who did not meet the "purification" standard died, the ships should be kept as much as possible, and the fleet should not suffer too many losses.

Deputy Commander April believes that "purification" is extremely dangerous.Although "this is the right thing, we are preserving the best part of human beings", they must also protect themselves and not let "purification" reveal the slightest trace of man-made.

"This is actually very simple." Deputy Commander April said, "We are doing a great thing that future generations will be grateful for. What great cause does not require sacrifice?"

She was right, it was so easy—after starting the mission, Colonel Leesright found that whether it was dividing people into two groups and boarding different ships, or taking advantage of various unexpected accidents during the voyage It is too simple for the ship to leave the team.

Never before has mankind embarked on such a long and dangerous journey.

They are underprepared, fearful, and therefore vulnerable.

The captain of the Purification Faction sits on the ship, with lofty ideals and the will to sacrifice his life, for the "great cause", he falls into the abyss with his ignorant passengers who are full of hope for the future.

Deputy Commander April trusted Colonel Lees Wright very much, but Colonel Lees Wright gradually retreated when performing the mission.

What made him finally change his mind was the accident that the most important vanguard ship, the Phoenix, crashed and disappeared.

The disappearance of the two vanguard ships, Homer and Phoenix, directly caused them to use the last vanguard ship: Clara Lessing.

But the Clara Lessing was not as capable of navigating as the Phoenix, or even the Homer.

With almost half the fleet lost, Captain Leeswright realized that he could not go on like this.

Since the fall of the Phoenix, Colonel Lees Wright refused to accept orders from Deputy Commander April.Since they were not on the same ship, and Colonel Lees Wright had a list of the purification personnel on each ship, he refused to give it to April, and April had nothing to do.

But the loss of the fleet continues. Every day, people and ships disappear in the universe.

Colonel Leesright sadly discovered that they didn't need to be artificially "purified" at all-the universe is the fairest "purifier".Without any bias, it involved both "standard" and "non-standard" people in its own vortex, devouring, crushing, and chewing.

After Song Junxing said the name of Colonel Lees Wright, neither Linney nor Pierre said anything.

Pierre was full of surprise and disbelief, while Lin Ni was pale, his hands were resting on the table, trembling slightly, and his fingers were tightly twisted.

The raw beef porridge was cold, no one was going to eat it.

In the silence, Tang Mo asked, "Has Deputy Commander April finally arrived in Marseille?"

"No." Song Junxing answered her question, "She is the captain of the Clara Lessing. In order not to waste fuel and compete for limited food resources, she and this vanguard ship passed through the Sirius planetary belt. They fell together in Virgil. You have all seen the ship that sank below the Fran Strait."

After a short pause, he spoke again.

"But Colonel Lees Wright arrived in Marseille safely. Apart from him, many people who once had the idea of ​​'purification' also arrived at their destination smoothly." Song Junxing said softly, "They are just like real heroes. Enjoy the glory and admiration, and become the dream of countless children in Marseille."

"How do you know these things?" Lin Ni said suddenly.

He recovered from the huge blow, and while feeling terrified, he questioned Song Junxing with difficulty.Even if he knew in his heart that Song Junxing wasn't lying - there was no need for him to lie to them.

Song Junxing crossed his hands and looked at the small window opposite the dining table.It was the evening of the Black Sea at this time, and the sky was getting darker, like a mass of thick blood that was constantly stirred up and melted in the boundless water.

"It was written by your ancestors themselves," he said, "or rather, it was told to me by your brother and father."

Song Junxing is not a student of the Marseille Aerospace Academy. He is just a graduate of an ordinary university. He participated in the assessment of the Marseille fleet and became a staff member of the management system.

The long-term strict screening and assessment of Marseille College gradually revealed its drawbacks: for ten consecutive years, their actual enrollment number was far lower than the planned enrollment number.

In order to supplement the fresh blood of the fleet, they gave up the method of "purification" and began to hold more general examinations. At the same time, the Marseille fleet began to accept ordinary people without the background of Marseille Academy.

This is how Song Junxing entered the Marseille fleet.

All this happened during the 30 years that Faust lost touch with Marseilles.

In the past 30 years, the Copernicus is still missing, and Faust has never found it, and every scientific ship that went to explore the galaxy's nucleus has returned without success.

The Maasai, who suffered from high taxes and countless disappointments, finally broke out, and a storm of public opinion swept across the entire planet. Everyone was asking: Since there are no suitable resources in the galaxy's core, why don't we What about going back?Isn't there still land and everything we need in the earth where we used to be?

A distant planet at the far end of the universe suddenly becomes endearing.

People began to recall those colorful documentaries, and began to print and sell various books promoting the earth.

"Even if it loses one-third, it is still the hometown that gave birth to us in the first place." Young people who didn't care about the earth before began to speak out, whether it is a virtual network or a real mailbox, all of them are congested. sound.

Song Junxing is also curious about the earth.He joined an organization under the banner of the "Homecoming Association", and because he was working in the Marseille fleet, he was quickly promoted to the top of the organization.Although most of the time the members of this organization just get together, hold science ship-related news publications and swear non-stop, then drink, play, and have sex with people in the homecoming meeting, but it still gradually becomes a small A well-known civil society organization.

Then Song Junxing received a letter.Someone invited him to a meeting.

Song Junxing did not say what kind of meeting it was, but at this meeting, he met Linney and Cicero's father, Colonel Lee Swright.

"You may not believe it, but it's true." Song Junxing touched his chin and looked at Lin Ni with interest, "Those who plan to go back to the 'Great Retreat' and return to Earth call themselves 'Returners', and you His older brother Cicero and his father, General Lee Swright, were both core members of the Homecoming Party."

Song Junxing began to frequently participate in the meetings of the returnees.Cicero was already dead at that time, and General Lee Swright was eager to find someone to take over Cicero's job. After many selections, Song Junxing came into his sight.

"...What job do you take over? What is my brother doing?" Lin Ni looked at Song Junxing blankly.

"If your brother didn't die in the explosion, he should be doing the same job as me now, as the administrator of the Black Sea transfer station."

Lin Ni opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

"The reason why I agreed to your father's request and came to the Black Sea to work as an administrator is because I read a memoir he gave me and told me that there is a 'treasure' buried in the Black Sea transfer station, or a secret "Song Junxing continued, "The person who wrote the memoirs is Colonel Lees Wright who performed the task of 'purification' during the 'Great Retreat'."

The "Great Retreat" fleet finally arrived in Marseilles, and the fleet began to reward them for their merits.

But Colonel Leesright resigned.He said that he was mentally weak and in poor health, so he resolutely rejected all the persuasion and left the fleet.

The "purification faction" people also hid themselves one after another.They kept silent about "purification", and planned to bury everything they had done along the way in the earth forever after they passed away.

Colonel Lees Wright's wife was puzzled by her husband's choice.She later discovered that after leaving the fleet, her husband often suffered from insomnia at night, and the only way to get a short rest was to take sleeping pills.But this short sleep was also full of nightmares. She was often awakened by her husband in the middle of the night, and found him covering his face, kneeling on the ground and crying bitterly.

Long-term emotional instability and excessive fatigue made Colonel Lees Wright suffer from severe bipolar disorder.The child hides all the offensive weapons in the house, reminding the mother to be careful about her own safety.

A year later, Colonel Leeswright committed suicide.He gave himself a bullet, sat crookedly at the desk and died.

In front of him was a memoir written by himself, which recorded everything about "purification" in great detail.

He seemed to hope that this unspeakable crime would finally come to an end on his side, so except for Deputy Commander April, he did not write down the names of any of the former members of the Purification Faction, but used various The regular code is represented.

The memoir has been preserved by Colonel Lee Swright's wife.She gave it to her child, and the child gave it to his child.

This is the secret of the Leeswright family, a felony committed by their ancestors in the name of "heroes".Every Leeswright must know, like Cicero.

Linney listened dumbfounded.he does not know.He didn't know about these things at all, and he never heard anything related to "purification" from his father or brother.

Song Junxing talked too much, and his throat was a little dry.He picked up the porridge bowl and drank the porridge water in it, then took the kettle on the table and poured himself a glass of water.

"Okay, the secret of the 'Great Retreat' is over, the next thing is about Cicero and the Marseille fleet..."

Jiang Che interrupted him.

"I have a question." Jiang Che looked calm, but Ovid, who was sitting next to him, knew that his left hand had been clenched into a fist under the table, "Song Junxing, do you know the Feijing Ship?"

"I know. Fei Jing, one of the 36 warships dispatched by the ancient Asian country China, a medium-sized civilian warship carrying 6 people." Song Junxing quickly replied, "It is very famous, and it is the most famous among the nearly [-] warships in the entire Asian region. Beautiful, very bright pure white."

Jiang Che knew that he was right, but he hoped that he had heard wrong.

"Why do you even know the color?"

"It's written in the memoir." Everyone including Song Junxing didn't understand why Jiang Che asked this question, "Colonel Lee Swright also thought it was very beautiful and wrote it several times."

"Is it... it's also...?"

Ovid was suddenly frightened.Like Jiang Che, he was shocked and afraid of the answer he was about to hear.

"If I remember correctly, the Flying Scenery Ship was among the first ships to be 'taken' down." In this passive voice, Song Junxing emphasized his tone.

Song Junxing's words drained Jiang Che's strength in an instant.

He looked at Song Junxing, but didn't seem to understand a single word he said.It must be because he hasn't learned Maasai yet...it must be because Song Junxing hasn't spoken to anyone for a long time, so the meaning is not clear...he must have made a mistake!

Everyone was wrong, General Lee Swright was wrong, including him, including Jiang Che himself, was also wrong.

Jiang Mu is not on the Feijing Ship.He was wrong.After all 500 years, what can't be wrong?

Ovid's hand reached out and closed his overstretched, knuckle-white fist.The roughly trimmed nails pierced into the skin, and the pain was not obvious, but after Ovid forcibly opened his fist, he saw the blood on the palm.

As if he had been hit hard in the head by something, Jiang Che's eyes instantly turned red.

He was wrong, from beginning to end, only he was wrong - he should never have let Jiang Mu board the ship!Jiang Mu should not be pulled into the "Great Retreat"!

"Jiang Che...?" Tang Mo was frightened by his terrifying expression, leaned over from the other side of the table, and grabbed Jiang Che's arm, "What's wrong with you?"

Her black hair and black eyes, her voice, and her frown slightly wrinkled out of worry made Jiang Che unable to tell where he was at this moment.

Tang Mo was startled and frightened: "Jiang? Why are you crying? What happened?"

Jiang Che closed his eyes, pushed her hand away, got up and left the room straight away.

Ovid immediately followed him out, but was grabbed by the corner of his clothes by Song Junxing: "What's going on?"

Ovid considered for a moment.Maybe Jiang Che didn't want them to know about this, but Ovid also knew in his heart that if Jiang Che still wanted to return to Earth, then everyone in this room would be his eternal companions.

"Jiang Che has a younger sister." He looked up at Lin Ni, "It should be on the Feijing Ship."

Ovid didn't wait for a response from anyone, including Linney's.For the first time, he felt helpless and bewildered. The grief on Jiang Che's body was too great and terrible. He had never seen it before, and he couldn't touch it.

It was getting dark outside, and seeing Jiang Che stumbling through the ruins, he quickly followed closely.

"Don't come over..." Jiang Che didn't turn his head, but stopped him with a hoarse voice.

Ovid kept saying: "It's getting dark..."

"Don't come here!" Jiang Che suddenly yelled, "Don't come here! Don't come near me! Get out!!!"

Ovid stood still slowly.The night on the Black Sea is very dark.Although there are no satellites like the moon that can reflect the light of stars, the sky and fields seem to be full of light.It is from the sky, it is from the ground, they light up one after another, casting a faint light on this desolate and lonely land.

Only when Jiang Che was far away did Ovid follow carefully.

I am flame.I am light.Ovid said to himself without confidence in his heart: He needs me, and I have to follow him.

The author has something to say: Like "Chang Yang", "Fei Jing" is also a famous sword in ancient China.

Tomorrow we will continue to talk about Cicero, the Marseille fleet and the secrets of the Black Sea.

The secret of the Black Sea is more important, that is, "Since it has been abandoned, why should an administrator be stationed here for ten years?".If you are interested, you can guess.This secret is related to a key word mentioned in the wedges of Volume [-] and Volume [-] (￣▽￣")

All in all, tomorrow's show is going to be exciting! (Wang Po style advertisement