wandering planet

As a vanguard ship, the Phoenix itself was equipped with a sufficient number of lifeboats, but after 500 years, all of them were unusable.Hearing that Ovid said that Cicero would send one, Jiang Che couldn't help but become curious.

"He said that the small ship is a model that can land." Ovid explained, "With such a ship that can land, there is no need for the Phoenix to land when we explore the planet. We can just go down in a small ship." .”

It's certainly a very good activity for them.Fei Lian also reminded them that although the Phoenix is ​​still usable and the outer layer is not damaged, it is a ship 500 years ago after all, and its service life is very short. They want to find a way to reduce friction and loss. Let the Phoenix be supported all the way back to Earth.

Jiang Che stopped looking for the jar, and sat on the bed with Ovid, chatting without saying a word.

It seemed that Ovid's fingertips felt cool because he had just returned from the egret and there was a certain temperature difference.Jiang Che kneaded his fingers, and Ovid let out a vague laugh.

At this moment, Jiang Che felt calm and secure.

They don't seem to be in the universe, not around a highly developed but extremely dangerous cosmic civilization—they are like all ordinary lovers in the world, staying in an ordinary and small room, clinging to each other and exchanging temperature.

Jiang Che stretched out his hand, took Ovid over, and kissed his disheveled golden curly hair.

"Your hair grows so fast," he said, "like...like weeds."

"Cut it for me again," said Ovid lazily.He nestled in Jiang Che's arms, found a comfortable position, and put his hands deep into his clothes against his skin, Jiang Che was so cold that he gasped.

Ovid was depending on him.Something must have happened on the egret, and Cicero must have said something to Ovid that shocked him.

Jiang Che didn't ask directly.If Ovid would speak, he would.

He closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of Ovid's head.What kind of hairstyle will you cut this time?At this time, Jiang Che felt how poor he was, he didn't know much, and sometimes he wished he could give it all to Ovid.Some people depend on him, some people are attached to him, which makes him stand on the ground, a kind of solid and indestructible land.

Jiang Che actually didn't know who was relying on whom between him and Ovid.

Or this kind of intimacy is like this, people lean on each other and depend on each other, like two trees that are too close, the roots and branches are inseparably entangled in the earth and sky, and cannot be separated at all.

Ovid could hear Jiang Che's calm heartbeat, as if it were an ancient and quiet drumbeat.

"There are still 30 seconds." He looked at the time and said suddenly, "Look out of the porthole."

Outside, you can see half of the Egret Space Station, and the Arlans star field in the distance.

"What are you watching this time?" Jiang Che asked him, "Another beautiful trick?"

"That's right." Ovid shook his head with a smile, "Cicero said that this time the starship is called 'Constellation', and it is the advanced civilization of the Arlans star field that travels every 50 hours. Large fleet..."

Before he finished speaking, a very bright light suddenly burst out in the center of the Arlans star field in the distance.

Countless meteor-like shining light spots poured out from the center of the star field following an invisible trajectory, like a river of light rushing out of a water source, flowing out of the Arlans star field at an extremely fast speed. scope.

They were getting closer to the Egret Space Station and the Phoenix, and Jiang Che could finally see their shapes clearly: they were round things that radiated white light all over their bodies.

"These are all Arlans' ships?" Jiang Che was dumbfounded, "Can they also merge into a certain... shape?"

"Yes." Ovid huddled with him on the porthole, watching the stars moving fast in the black universe.

They seem to come from that precious light in the abyss, rushing all the way towards Egret space station.

Not far from the egret space station, the constellations converged.

Together, they formed a vast curtain of light, like a thick, shiny blanket, softly curled, rolling slowly over Egret and Phoenix.

Jiang Che and Ovid jumped out of the bed, rushed out of the corridor, and saw enough light to illuminate all corners of the Phoenix from the huge porthole in the corridor.

The strange thing is that the light is not strong, but extremely soft, as if these ships have adjusted their brightness when approaching Egret Space Station and Phoenix, so as not to damage the eyesight of the watchers.

—they are deliberate.

Jiang Che suddenly remembered what Cicero said before.

At this moment he finally understood fully what Cicero meant by "horror".

This is a show off of the advanced civilization in the Arlans star field.They carried out their voyage missions as usual, but they casually performed some simple tricks when they passed the castle built by the ants.

The light curtain formed by the "constellation of stars", as well as the curling of the light curtain, are movements that human beings still cannot understand.

Cicero and the others lived in such terror for more than 30 years.

"Cicero told me..." Ovid said beside Jiang Che, "We are all the dust of the stars."

Jiang Che suddenly felt that all the blood was boiling in his veins, and all the voices were shouting in his head and ringing in his ears—his soul seemed to be ignited by fear.

Something strange, born of fear.

In the cockpit of the Phoenix, Lin Ni and Song Junxing were also staring blankly at what was displayed on the big screen.

Both of them were stunned and couldn't say a word.Linney has received systematic study, and he is very clear that the trajectories and combinations of these ships have surpassed the current human understanding of interstellar ships.

"...Song Junxing." He said softly, "We can't delay. We have to set off immediately."

Mission and responsibility urge them forward.They were shocked by "Snowflake" and "Constellation", but they also understood that Phoenix had its own route to go.They cannot continue to stay.

Everyone who enters the universe has their own missions. The people on the Egret Space Station can sustain such fear for decades. It is fear that gives them strength—to approach and learn the source of fear. This is the Egret Space Station. and the hope of human survival.

The sliding door was opened, and Jiang Che and Ovid walked in.

Ovid told Linney about Cicero's proposal to present the small ship, and Linney was also very happy.

They didn't see any more grief and sorrow on the young captain's face.He seems to have quickly accepted the reality that the "Cicero" in Egret Space Station is just a replica, and quickly pulled himself out of the deep pool of memory.

Fei Lian walked through the sliding door and came to them.

On his immature and young face, there was a rare look of excitement.

"Huber sent me the messages left by the Flying Scene Ship and the Ekaterina. Fortunately, I can fully interpret these messages." Fei Lian raised his hand, and a star map was displayed on the big screen. display.

This is the route of the Phoenix back to Earth.

The two missing parts of the route have now been filled in by red lines.

"They have left a complete route back to Earth." Fei Lian said, "The route of the Phoenix has been supplemented and is ready to depart at any time. Our next destination is the Ios star field."

The star map suddenly enlarged, and a star field surrounded by dark gray nebula appeared in front of them.

"This star field was not called Ios before the great retreat." Fei Lian pointed to one of the places, "But because the Homer crashed and disappeared here, you changed the name of this star field. Star field The only thing that intersects with our route is here, and we need to find the Homer in this range. If we are lucky, we can bring two pioneer ships home."

The decision to depart quickly spread to the Egret space station.

Whether it is Cicero or Bai Ye who has made friends with Jiang Che, they are very reluctant.

Song Junxing was still talking about his lover who had never met Cicero, the doctor named Darcy; but under Lin Niru's sharp eyes, he quickly put down the idea of ​​seeing the doctor.

The ship Cicero gave them was a small exploration ship that could only accommodate three people.The load space on the ship is sufficient, but each operation requires the Birog ring to be filled with energy first, and the single operation time does not exceed 72 hours.

Linney thinks that's definitely enough.They can use this small ship to carry out basic exploration activities on the target planet. If they encounter enemies such as predators, they will be more mobile than the Phoenix.

Bai Ye gave them some food ingredients, and at the plea of ​​Song Junxing and Pierre, she even added more than ten catties of pork and beef.

Hu Po and Fei Lian said goodbye reluctantly.The two felt that each other was very speculative, and had a very happy chat, but unfortunately once they left the communication range, they could no longer be in touch.

Various preparations took a day.

After undocking, the Phoenix slowly separated from the Egret space station.

"That's right, brother."

Cicero's voice came from the communicator, and it was still a bit mature and lively.

"In order to see off the Phoenix, we have prepared a program for you."

Lin Ni didn't come back to his senses when he heard him calling his younger brother. Finally, Fei Lian answered, "What program? Watching the advanced tricks of the Arlans Starfield again?"

"No, it's a trick to watch the Apple planet." Cicero said with a smile, "It will start soon, Fei Lian, turn on the monitoring camera on the belly of the Phoenix."

The author has something to say: In this story, the star field where Homer fell was renamed "Ios" because Aristotle mentioned in his "On Poets" that Homer died in The small island of Ios (Ios).

But "On Poets" is a book that has been lost, and it is also commonly known as "a book lost in history". We can only know from other people's records and reports that Aristotle once wrote this book The book, and the place where Homer was buried was mentioned in this book.

----

I would like to recommend a book by chance, which is "The Lost Book" by Stuart Kelly, one of the "Xinshuhua" series of Sanlian Bookstore.

I probably read it when I was in college. There is no longer a reprint. I only bought it from Confucius last year.

This book is all about those works that have appeared in human history but have been completely lost due to various reasons, and can never be found or [temporarily unavailable].