wandering planet

"The wanderer drifting on the edge of the universe marks a way from there to here. The stars become the navigation lights on this road, guiding the way for the returning guests.

We may be able to interpret the beginning and end of the development of the Phoenix Airway ten thousand times in a romantic way, but we will never be able to avoid the heroic spirits who sacrificed on this waterway.

At this very moment, I am writing the epilogue to my last book, beneath the Phoenix Passage Stele.Phoenix, Homer, Clara Lessing, at the end of this book, please allow me to write the names of these pioneer ships again.They pass through the vast sea of ​​stars, demonstrating the spirit of bravery, fearlessness and enthusiasm of human beings, allowing us to take such an important step on the road of exploring the unknown.

Welcome home. "—"A Brief History of the New Man and the Universe"

Among all the stars currently observed by humans, Eta Carinae, located in the center of the largest nebula in the Milky Way, is the most massive and brightest star known.

Astronomers call the cosmic space where the sun is located the "galactic wilderness". In this wilderness, the average distance between stars is about 7 light-years.

And the Ios star field is located in the corner of the wilderness. In its center, there was originally a huge star second only to the Carina star Eta: the Silk star.

But before humans observed Shilker's star, it had collapsed into a white dwarf.When human beings were finally equipped with eyes to look at the universe, the bright star in the center of the Ios star field not only completely disappeared, but even formed a huge black hole.

The black hole kept pulling the other stars in the Ios star field to its side, opening its mouth to swallow them.Since the Ios star field is in the wilderness of the galaxy, the stars are far apart, so the speed of this engulfment is very slow compared with the black holes in other star fields.

Stars are slowly attracted around the black hole, and over time, a wall of stars that is very similar to the bulge of the Milky Way is formed in the center of the Ios star field.Behind the wall of stars lies a slowly expanding black hole.

"We call this area the Cemetery of Ios." Fei Lian stretched his arms and drew a large circle in the center of the star map, "It is also the Cemetery of the stars."

Song Junxing frowned: "No, this title is wrong."

Fei Lian was very tired of explaining.It stands to reason that an artificial intelligence has no body and cannot experience muscle fatigue—but Fei Lian talked for a full three hours, and was constantly interrupted by Tang Mo and Jiang Che, two people who were curious about the common sense of the universe, and finally talked about it In the key part, instead of the expected surprise and amazement, a question appeared instead.

His emotional system tells him that he should be tired and that he should be irritated.

"What's your opinion?" Fei Lian asked Song Junxing fiercely.

"How can it be called a cemetery? It's not good, it's unlucky." Song Junxing ate mushroom crisps and said, "A star collapses and dies? That's definitely not the case. It will have other changes, right? If the development of a star is regarded as a cycle, then white dwarfs appear after the star collapses, why is it called a 'stellar cemetery' instead of a 'white dwarf delivery room'?"

After listening for a while, Jiang Che thought he had caught the crux of the problem.

He turned to Lin Ni: "Did you fight again last night?"

Linney buried himself in his voyage notes and made no reply.

According to Linney's character, since he didn't answer, he did.

Fei Lian raised his voice and drew everyone's attention back: "Okay, okay, the cemetery is also available, and the delivery room is also available. The point is, I want to remind you that if we find that the Homer has entered We have left this stellar cemetery, and we must suspend our operations immediately."

The gravitational force around the stellar cemetery is very strong. If a ship of the size and mass of the Phoenix gets too close, once it is pulled in, it will never be possible to escape.

Fei Lian went on to explain in detail the specific knowledge of the stellar cemetery and the Ios star field. Jiang Che gradually lost his concentration, and dragged a chair to Lin Ni's side to watch him write the voyage notes.

Before arriving in the Ios star field, Fei Lian had been writing the Phoenix's voyage notes.

Lin Ni didn't think about checking it at first. If Fei Lian was responsible for recording, the data must be absolutely accurate, so he doesn't need to worry.

But during the seventeen leaps before arriving in the Ios star field, out of curiosity, Lin Ni pulled out Fei Lian's flight notes.

Fei Lian recorded it in Chinese and English, and Lin Ni also asked Jiang Che to help translate it.

The content of the note is very simple:

"A certain day, arrive at Egret Space Station. Amber."

"One day, leave Egret Space Station. Amber."

"One day, arrive at the planet crab shell. Find the predator. Leave the planet crab shell."

In addition to the extremely simple written records, there are huge and complicated data: such as the size, temperature, and quality of the Egret space station, such as the temperature, humidity, atmospheric conditions, soil analysis of planetary spiders, etc. .

Linney asked him what these simple notes meant.

Fei Lian explained to him that this meant that the Phoenix successfully arrived at the Egret Space Station that day, and he was surprised to find that there was another AI with the same origin as himself in the world.He stood at the connection with Amber and chatted for a long time. Amber also shared some important data with him. His emotional system told him that he was very happy.The one said that they were leaving the Egret space station. Amber told him some secrets about the Egret space station and the Arlans star field. He saw the ship "Star Group" of the Arlans star field under the reminder of Amber. , It was very spectacular, but this kind of grandeur seemed to frighten the humans of Egret and Phoenix, and he couldn't understand it.

Linney: "... so complicated??? Then how did you record it so simply?"

Fei Lian answered him with the most common expression: "I can understand."

After that, Lin Ni only asked Fei Lian to record the data, and took the specific flight notes by himself.Everyone worked hard to find some still usable ones from more than 1000 pencils and hundreds of notebooks, and Linney restarted his creative career.

Jiang Che looked at it for a while, and felt that Lin Ni's writing was quite interesting. For example, he still called Song Junxing "garbage" and used words such as "this guy is garbage" and "I'm really tired of garbage".

Jiang Che: "It's very affectionate."

Linney: "???"

Jiang Che: "The paragraph you wrote about Song Junxing is very interesting, and there is a little affection in it."

Lin Ni: "Jiang, you may not be suitable for reading my works."

"Why do you write in such detail?" Jiang Che asked him, "You started from the day we left Faust? It took a long time to write. Do you remember?"

"I remember it all." Lin Ni said with a smile, "I remember it very firmly. It was the matter of the Flying Scenery Ship and the Ekaterina that inspired me. I recorded the voyage notes as detailed as possible. The people on board can restore the voyage all the way based on my notes. In case of failure to arrive smoothly, this note may give some important information to those who later find us or the wreckage of the Phoenix. "

Jiang Che was very curious: "As the captain, would it be inappropriate to say 'wreckage' like this?"

"Everyone in the Marseille Fleet has to learn a course called 'Imagination of the Near-Death'. Deep space exploration is very dangerous, and death is nothing, but as an explorer, at least you must leave some information for the latecomers. Linney answered his doubts, "Even if we become corpses, we can also become their road signs."

Jiang Che smiled and looked at the young man in front of him.Lin Ni is not very old, but along the way, he seems to be a captain who is still immature, but capable of acting on his own.

The seriousness and earnestness shown on the young man's face at this moment made Jiang Che feel respectful.

"Captain." Jiang Che whispered, "During this voyage, one of the luckiest things was to meet you."

"..." Lin Ni was really not used to his sincerity, and his first reaction was that Jiang Che had failed to learn from Song Junxing, so he quickly dodged and moved his chair to avoid, "Jiang, you are acting weird today."

Jiang Che: "I'm praising you!"

Fei Lian: "Excuse me, is there anyone else listening to me? Tang Mo, stop singing your songs. Ovid and Pierre, stop listening to songs. Can you listen to me? Why is Song Junxing only talking to me?! "

Fei Lian's small class in the Ios Starfield is finally over.

According to Linney's arrangement, in the following time, Fei Lian will transfer part of the energy of Birog's ring into Phoenix's off-ship detection equipment, and begin to explore the whereabouts of Homer in the Ios star field.

The three vanguard ships in the "Great Retreat" can communicate with each other and communicate at any time.As long as the Birog ring on the vanguard is still running, even if the AI ​​goes dormant, it can still receive messages from other vanguards.

"If successful, I can directly wake up Homer's AI." Teacher Fei Lian, who hadn't received due attention in the small class before, reset the data related to "frustration" and "anger" in the emotional system , and returned to the innocent and happy little AI, "The AI ​​of the Clara Lessing is a French girl. Her accent is very heavy, and our communication is not smooth. But I have a good relationship with Tolstoy."

He looked really excited.

"If I find the Homer, I can board the ship." His young face showed the same joyful expression as anyone else, as if it was not the effect of the program running, but a real smile, "Tolstoy Its system is partly the same as mine, and my builder had any part in Tolstoy's design. I can display this form on the Homer."

Fei Lian lifted his toes off the ground, and his whole body shone with bright silver light.He's searching for the Homer.

"I haven't left the Phoenix for...a long, long time."

They understood his joy, and even urged Fei Lian to hold another small class on Homer.

"The AI ​​of the Homer is called Tolstoy?" Tang Mo said with a smile, "What a good name, its maker may be an avid reader of Tolstoy."

The signal from the Phoenix is ​​being sent out, and it is looking for its old acquaintance in the vast Ios star field.

Fei Lian turned around and waved his fingers.

"The name Tolstoy was not given by the manufacturer, but was forcibly changed by Commander Volkonsky, the commander-in-chief of the 'Great Retreat' after the ship was delivered." Fei Lian retrieved some years old from the database. "The Homer was made in Europe, and the AI ​​was originally called Aeschylus."

The few people who listened carefully to the class did not respond.

Fei Lian waved his hand: "Aeschylus is known as the father of tragedy. Commander Volkonsky said after boarding the ship, why should the Homer be made tragic? AI, from today, your name will be changed. for 'Tolstoy'."

"So the real fanatic of Tolstoy is Commander Volkonsky?" Tang Mo understood.

Fei Lian seemed to be interested in lecturing: "Do you know much about Commander Volkonsky? I know him very well. Are you interested in hearing the story?"

It's certainly a more interesting story than a stellar graveyard or a white dwarf maternity ward.Tang Mo, Pierre, and Ovid immediately raised their hands, and Lin Ni put down the unfinished voyage notes in his hand.Jiang Che and Song Junxing looked at each other, both of them had the same thought in their hearts: would Fei Lian know about the large-scale "purification" 500 years ago?