wandering planet

After the third transition ended, Faust entered a place with higher temperature. The external temperature testers on the spaceship paused for a moment, and then all the red lights turned on and a short beep sounded.

.

Ovid ate up the Baiyun chicken feet and was sucking the bones when he saw Jiang Che coming in from outside with his head downcast.

"What's wrong?" Ovid asked.

Jiang Che has no intention of talking to anyone now.He sat down on the edge of the bed, without saying a word, raised his hand and scratched his head.

The transition cannot be stopped, and they will go all the way to the galaxy core.

"Do you know what a galaxy nucleus is?" Jiang Che asked suddenly.

Ovid spat out a small piece of chicken paw bone: "I know."

Every child born in Marseille has the opportunity to receive free compulsory education, and an important part of the education curriculum is to teach them about the universe and the stars.The galactic bulge is a whole chapter in the textbook, because it is a key target of the Maasai people's interstellar exploration.

The Milky Way is a huge whirlpool, and the nuclear bulge is the center of the whole Milky Way whirlpool.Since there are more than 400 million stars in the 200 cubic light-year space around the nuclear bulge, the light and heat they emit make the center of the Milky Way extremely high in temperature, making it never dark, as bright as the most blazing day.And beyond this long and huge wall of stars, you can reach the core of the galaxy.

At the heart of the galaxy is a giant black hole.

Its mass is equivalent to 400 million suns, and it is running all the time, devouring everything around it and constantly releasing powerful radiation storms.

It is this wall of stars that guards the nuclear bulge that the science ship departing from Marseilles will arrive at.

Because a large amount of energy is accumulated in and around the center of the nuclear bulge, far exceeding that of ordinary stars, this abnormal energy accumulation and circulation method has aroused the strong interest of various intelligent creatures in the universe, including human beings naturally.Marseille's resources have warned that they are running out of time and must choose the path most likely to succeed and keep going.Once the Maasai can draw energy from the core of the galaxy, the energy crisis in Maasai can be resolved immediately, and it can fully support the Maasai to continue to explore, expand territory, discover more resources and get acquainted with new cosmic life.

It has been 600 years since humans discovered the existence of a massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way and began to explore the core.The information and technology brought out when they retreated from the earth allowed the Maasai to start interstellar travel very quickly, and were able to get closer to the center of the galaxy.

More than 100 nuclear ball explorations, sailing and returning to Hong Kong again and again, nearly 118 explorers have opened up the [-] route to the nuclear ball little by little.

"Do you know the Copernicus?" Ovid kept talking as if telling a story, "It sailed on January 432, 1 in the Marseille calendar. It has been almost 1 years, and its whereabouts are still unknown."

Jiang Che: "Did the rest of the science ships come back safely?"

"No." Ovid said, "Less than half of them can come back. But every scientific ship that sails has pushed the 118 route forward. So in Marseilles, when it comes to the 118 route, everyone who knows it knows What is it used to develop, so every time the science ship leaves the port, there will be many, many people to see them off. They are all human warriors."

The lives of explorers perish among the stars.But the road they opened up, the ideals and technologies they left behind, continue to guide the latecomers to sacrifice their lives.

Jiang Che was silent for a moment, then wondered, "How do you know so many things?"

Ovid looked at him: "Didn't you learn these things when you were in school?"

Jiang Che fell silent.

Ovid stared at Jiang Che, and found that this young man with black hair and black eyes had a very straight nose and a smooth and beautiful jaw. At first glance, he only felt that his facial features were correct and comfortable, but after careful inspection, he found that he was actually a very handsome person. But because of the lack of energy in his expression and demeanor, he was not noticeable.He looked at it happily, although his face was still a little pale, but he still gnawed on the chicken feet with relish and kept looking at it, taking Jiang Che as something interesting.

Jiang Che realized his gaze, frowned and glanced at him, and asked, "Is your stomach hurting badly? Your face is pale."

"It's not very painful, it's bearable." Ovid said, "I'm seasick... no, seasick."

Jiang Che: "..."

"This is the first time I've been on a ship." Ovid put down his chicken feet reluctantly. "I'm particularly dizzy when jumping. I get dizzy every time I jump. It's okay now. I vomited when I jumped for the first time."

Jiang Che immediately looked at the mattress and the ground.

Ovid was very embarrassed: "No, no, I didn't vomit this time."

Jiang Che was about to ridicule him a few words, but saw Ovid sitting up straight, reaching out to remove the bandage on his abdomen.

"doing what?"

"I ate all your stuff." Ovid quickly removed Jiang Che's random bandages, "I'll go to the kitchen and steal something else for you."

The wound on his abdomen that was still bleeding before had healed now.

Jiang Che was taken aback, couldn't help pressing his shoulder, and reached out to touch the scab of the wound.

It did heal, but there was still some swollen bruising under the skin.Ovid shrank his shoulders as if he was ticklish: "Is this indecent?"

Jiang Che found that Ovid's wound had indeed healed.After thinking for a while, he suddenly understood: "...you are a member of the 'Gene Survival' project."

A strong reluctance suddenly surged in Jiang Che's heart.He is going to die, and everyone on Faust is going to die. They will all be annihilated in the extremely high temperature, and will be completely reduced to insignificant dust in the universe.This unavoidable ending was coming, and it opened a crack in Jiang Che's long-term numbness and calmness.

"Me too," he said to Ovid.

More than 500 years ago, after discovering that the asteroid was inevitable, human beings immediately launched an immature immigration plan.This unprecedented human immigration is called the "Great Retreat". It survived most of the biological genes on the earth, and after landing in Marseilles, most of the genes, including humans, successfully reproduced.

However, the interstellar immigration plan is not mature enough. The combined capacity of all ships capable of interstellar travel is only enough for more than 100 million human members to migrate.At that time, the population of the earth was 60 billion.

Therefore, before the "Great Retreat", an extremely harsh and cruel screening was carried out first.

More than half of the 60 billion people have no chance to know about this screening at all.They are the ones who were given up from the start.

Among the remaining 30 billion, astronauts with technology are the first choice, followed by scientific researchers.

After counting all the numbers, people found a serious problem: more than 100 million biological beings can guarantee the survival and reproduction of "smart people" in the universe, but they cannot continue the existing civilization level.

That is to say, even if all these more than 100 million people successfully arrive in Marseille and settle down, the productivity and technological level of the society are very likely to regress back to a certain historical era, and human beings will have to cultivate and develop from nothing.

"I remember." Ovid said, "It is said in the history textbook that after 50 years after Marseille landed, human productivity and technological level will fall back to the Renaissance period of the earth age. If you want to maintain the current civilization, you need at least 300 million people."

"Yes, that's why we have the 'Gene Survival' plan." Jiang Che nodded.

If the level of social production is too high, it will cause a devastating blow to the resources of the planet, while if the level of social production is too low, the problem will be more serious for the people on earth at that time: these people who immigrated from the earth to Marseille themselves are already in a fairly developed world. Surviving in society, their skills and knowledge levels far exceed those of the Renaissance era. Once they land, these people may not be able to adapt to Marseille at all, causing various problems.It is unavoidable that during the long-term interstellar travel, people will have physical and psychological diseases due to cosmic rays or various sub-social problems, which is fatal to human reproduction: the population is already too small, But must face the law of natural elimination.

On this issue, no one will discuss morality with you.Morality and social laws all give way to the most basic survival needs.

Human beings have climbed to the top of Maslow's pyramid of needs, but because of a menacing asteroid, they all fell to the bottom.

But there is no time to argue and arrange a better method. In the continuous controversy, the "gene survival" plan was put on the table.

The "Gene Continuation" project intends to preserve and continue all biological genes including human beings, so that after landing in Marseilles, they can immediately start to reproduce new human beings with high intelligence and physical levels.This plan is realized in two ways: freezing humans with superior genes, and transforming and cloning humans with superior genes.

"You are the second type." Jiang Che pointed to himself, "I am the first type."

Jiang Che lives in a small city in the mainland of China. He is a registered national first-level athlete, but because he has not won a valid medal in international competitions, he soon retired and went home to study and work.

The "Gene Survival" project started from people with high intelligence or good physique.

When Jiang Che received the notice to go for a physical examination, he thought it was just a routine examination and didn't care.A week later, when the results of the inspection came out, he found a red stamp stamped on his inspection list: the first inspection was passed.

Then it went to the province for inspection, and finally entered the country's scientific research institutions for inspection.Jiang Che's intelligence and physical level have passed the test, and he has become one of the members of the "Gene Survival" project in Asia.

It was also here that Jiang Che learned the details of the "Gene Survival" plan and the "Great Retreat" for the first time.

From the 60 billion people in the world, more than 100 million people were carefully selected for transfer, and the rest of the human beings were discarded——Jiang Che approached the person in charge as soon as he knew the inside story, and put forward his own request: "You can freeze me, or you can freeze me." Take my blood for transformation and cloning. But I request that my sister must also be transferred with me."

"You have a younger sister?" Ovid was curious. "Does she look like you?"

Jiang Che ignored his question, and continued slowly: "My sister is impossible to transfer, she is the kind of person who was excluded from the transfer plan from the very beginning."

He pressed his left chest, where there was a vague pain that had nothing to do with physical factors.

"She is a congenital heart disease patient."

The screening of "The Great Retreat" is extremely cruel, and the old, weak, sick and disabled are completely eliminated unless they have an excellent brain.Jiang Che's younger sister, Jiang Mu, has no special skills other than singing. It is impossible for her to board the ship bound for Marseilles.

Jiang Che, who was dependent on his sister for life, stubbornly made this request.Because all the indicators on his list were excellent, after a long stalemate, he finally managed to win a place on the ship for Jiang Mu.

Ovid was extremely nervous, he stared into Jiang Che's eyes, eager to hear better news: "That's great! She also came to Marseille..."

"She didn't." Jiang Che said.

His gaze fell on the wall behind Ovid.There is a brightly colored pictorial posted there, but the design style is obviously a replica of the old era.There is a silhouette of a woman in the pictorial, standing in the crowd, holding a stand microphone in front of her slender hand.

Of the more than 100 million migrants, only 30 people arrived in Marseille after going through numerous dangers and storms.

Jiang Mu was not among the 30 people.

Jiang Che woke up in the Science Department.He woke up from a drenching hibernation pod and had to undergo three months of rehabilitation before he could walk.

After realizing that he could speak, the first thing he did was to find Jiang Mu.

Jiang Mu disappeared somewhere in the path of the "Great Retreat" together with the more than 60 people.The fleet lost almost half of its ships, and Jiang Mu was among the half that disappeared.No one can tell what happened to Jiang Che at that time, and every day of the migration is full of dangers: the fleet went the wrong way due to the huge gravitational force, the fleet strayed into the asteroid belt, and the fleet collided with some unknown objects in the universe ...In short, Jiang Mu is gone.There was no body, no last words, what they left for Jiang Che was a certificate from Jiang Mu's physical examination at that time.

Her photo was pasted in the upper right corner of the list, and Jiang Che also saw his signature on the list.

He had no way to ask for an explanation.Countless people are on the road alone, and the moment they decide to board the ship, they have already said goodbye to their loved ones forever.Crying goodbye to the person he loves the most, the far traveler turned around and boarded the ship with the hope of human existence.Jiang Che told himself over and over again that he could not blame anyone, that he was the one who gave Jiang Mu the opportunity to relocate, and relocation is risky.

It made sense, but he couldn't convince himself.

As Jiang Che spoke, he found that the pictorials on the wall were blurred, and Ovid in front of him was also blurred.

"I want to go back...I want to go back to Earth." He whispered, "She disappeared on this road, we go back along this road, maybe we can..."

Before he finished speaking, Ovid opened his arms and gave him a gentle hug.

"Jiang, you are very brave." The food thief who disgusted him whispered softly, "So is your sister. Those who are brave will get medals."

Jiang Che gave a hoarse laugh in his arms.

But he didn't want medals.

Ovid stroked Jiang Che's head like comforting a child.After touching for a while, he found that Jiang Che was wiping tears on his shoulder.

"Let me help you, Jiang." Ovid said, "To thank you for giving me such delicious eggs and claws."

Jiang Che calmed down.Leaving Ovid's arms, he was suddenly embarrassed: he had just been hugged and comforted by a man.

"No way." He said, "Faust is still jumping forward, and there is no way to stop it. Pimi forgot the secret order to stop the jump."

Jiang Che told Ovid that Pimi was the captain.

Ovid was still touching Jiang Che's head: "Does the captain only know the suspension order? Where is the deputy captain?"

"I probably don't know..." Jiang Che suddenly paused at this point.

He remembered that there was another former captain on Faust.

Before setting out to find Bering, Ovid strongly urged Jiang Che to find himself a coat.

His previous clothes were no longer wearable, and it was impossible for Jiang Che to take the initiative to wash him, so Ovid threw it away first.

Jiang Che had very, very few clothes, except for the work clothes on Faust, there were only a few replacements.Ovid was less satisfied after putting it on.

"Although it fits, it doesn't look good." Ovid said, "I'm not a killer for the time being, but a passenger on Faust. I don't think passengers who have the ability to participate in interstellar travel will wear such clothes."

He pointed to the words "Barker's 120th Anniversary Commemorative Shirt" on the front of the shirt.

Jiang Che thought he was right, but he was powerless: "Sorry, there are no other clothes. Now the temperature inside the ship is 31°, and it is impossible for you to wear a winter coat."

"Change to one without words, can you?"

Jiang Che had no choice but to find him one with relatively small characters.

Ovid licked his mouth while changing his clothes, and he couldn't stop thinking: "Mr. Jiang, the cleaner, your claws are really delicious. It turns out that claws can still do this, it's amazing."

Jiang Che's mood has calmed down, and he was thinking about asking whoever wants the passenger's accommodation list, and he responded casually: "Chicken feet are not only eaten in this way, but also salty, wine tank, fish-flavored, and special white. It’s called Crystal Phoenix Claw, the name sounds good, but the best taste is the salty one.”

"What's the smell of salt?" Ovid put the clothes on his head and leaned over to ask.

"It's salty and fragrant." Jiang Che said, "The Baiyun chicken feet you just ate are sweet and sour. If the salty chicken feet are soaked in brine, the taste is much better than the sweet and sour ones. If you are particular, use Jinhua ham for the brine. The bones are used to make a thick soup, and a lot of spices are put in the soup. The skin of the claws is crispy, because it needs to be dried after cooking. But the tendons in the skin are soaked in the marinade, which is particularly delicious, and even the bones are fragrant. "

Ovid, who had just finished gnawing on the bone, swallowed.

"Some people are very good at cooking. From the skin to the tendon to the bone, it becomes saltier and more fragrant, and the saltiness is very interesting, and there is a little sour in the spicy." Jiang Che himself has some nostalgia, "But there is no such thing in Marseilles. Jinhua ham cannot produce that kind of taste.”

He turned his head and saw Ovid swallowed again.

Jiang Che thought this food thief was funny.

It's also very interesting.

He helped Ovidella take off his clothes, and when he saw the wound on his stomach, he felt a little uneasy, so he reached out to touch it.

"It really doesn't hurt?" he asked.

Even if the modified gene can heal quickly, the pain should still be there.

Ovid didn't answer the question of whether it hurt or not, but smiled and said, "You molested me again."

Jiang Che: "This is not indecent."

"It's okay." Ovid raised his hand and said generously, "Jiang, I allow you to moleste me."

Jiang Che: "..."