How to Feed an Abyss!

"How do you know you're going to succeed?" Shi Yuan asked Wu Zhengqing.

"I have worked in the space center all my life." Wu Zhengqing smiled until his eyes narrowed. "I have several colleagues and subordinates who are now working in the data center. They told me."

"It turned out to be like this." Shi Yuan recalled that he asked Alice half a month ago about the progress of "Overview", and Alice also said that it was too late.

Wu Zhengqing was very excited, and talked with Shi Yuan for a long time.

"By the way, I haven't talked to you about the spacecraft yet." Wu Zhengqing said, "The only surviving spacecraft is called 'Seeker One', and it is now underground in the main city. Do you still remember that the chief engineer and I Did Tan Yingguang fly the first frigate?"

Shi Yuan nodded.

Wu Zhengqing: "It can't reach the speed of light, and it has many defects, but it means that we can travel freely in the universe. After that, Lao Tan and I continued to study and built three more frigates, one of which was damaged, and one with detection equipment. One of them is 'Seeker 1'. It can reach the sublight speed of 30, and if the planet 15 light-years away from us is confirmed to be habitable, it will reach the end in only 50 years!"

Shi Yuan: "Wow!"

"Isn't it great! As long as, as long as the two astronauts are alive, they can start a new civilization, and the landing frigate will be their first home. Even if the astronauts die unexpectedly, as long as one robot is still functioning , it can wake up and cultivate fertilized eggs and seeds according to the program, and its hard disk stores all our languages ​​and cultural heritage, which can be taught to newborns." Wu Zhengqing's old face turned red, "This It's a daunting task, but it's also a new hope."

He grabbed Shi Yuan's shoulder and said, "Shi Yuan, can you stay until night today? I want you to take a look at Xinghai."

Shi Yuan agreed.

He told Lu Tinghan: [I'll be home later today]

Lu Tinghan: [Is there something wrong? 】

【I want to see the stars】

【With whom? 】

【Mr. He Wu】

Lu Tinghan: [Well, come back early]

Shi Yuan felt that actually Lu Tinghan didn't care about Xing Xing, but only cared about who he stayed with.

Mr. Wu is an answer that satisfies him.

Shi Yuan had dinner at the welfare center, and then went back to Wu Zhengqing's small room.

The room has a small loft.

The attic didn't exist originally, but the ceiling was sloped in one section, with a small skylight wide enough for two people. This is also the only window in the house, Wu Zhengqing took a fancy to it, and decided to get it that day.

He is an old and weak mutant, but also an engineer with a strong hands-on spirit. He stacked beds, cabinets, chairs, cardboard boxes and iron boxes, and stood on top to reach the window—as soon as the staff came in, they saw a thin old man standing on the rickety pile of sundries, reaching out to touch it. Skylight, scared them to death.

After that, no matter how much he tried to persuade or stop him, Wu Zhengqing would go to the window.

The rooms in the welfare center have no windows to prevent the mutants from posing a threat when they get out of control. Many patients have complained because of this, feeling that it is like a big prison cell. Wu Zhengqing's skylight is the only exception.

At that time, the general manager of the welfare center was a lady surnamed Wen, and it was she who suggested that Wu Zhengqing live here permanently.

The staff asked her what to do, if she should simply change Wu Zhengqing to a room without a window, to dispel his idea. Ms. Wen sighed and said, "Why don't we build him an attic—I'll pay for it."

A week later, work on the loft began.

Simple planks, thin pillars, and cheap ladders.

But Wu Zhengqing was able to touch the skylight.

Someone asked Ms. Wen why she was so kind and kept Wu Zhengqing, who was penniless, and paid for him to repair the attic.

"Well, there's no particular reason." Ms. Wen said, "It's just that he reminds me that my father also liked to drag me to watch the starry sky when I was young."

Later, Ms. Wen resigned, and it is said that she went to the main city, and no one saw her again. And Wu Zhengqing lived there for 16 years.

Shi Yuan followed Wu Zhengqing to the attic.

The attic space is very small, full of debris, such as planet models of different sizes, tomes of dust, notebooks, cardboard boxes, tool boxes and posters from the past space center. There is an open space in front of the skylight, and an astronomical telescope is placed.

Wu Zhengqing mentioned to Shi Yuan more than once that he wanted to show him the telescope, but every time Shi Yuan came over, he dragged him to listen to popular science. In the past few months, I have never seen it with a telescope.

"Come, come and sit down." Wu Zhengqing waved, "You are lucky, the weather is fine tonight, and the night sky is clear."

He adjusted the binoculars, aimed at the night sky, and called Shi Yuan to take a look.

Shi Yuan leaned over and saw the uneven mountains, they were dark shadows on the shimmering sphere.

Wu Zhengqing explained: "This is a satellite mountain range. I told you that there will be familiar terrain and landforms on other satellites and planets."

"Has anyone been there?" Shi Yuan asked.

"Most of the planets and satellites have been visited by Alliance astronauts." Wu Zhengqing said, "Including the one you saw, of course."

Wu Zhengqing adjusted the telescope again.

Shiyuan saw other planets, including colorful gas giants, ice and rock planets, bright and hot desert planets, and small planets full of cratered and ancient volcanic regions. In addition, ice dwarfs and asteroid families can also be seen.

They have a strange brilliance.

"It's a pity that I can't see comets and meteors." Sitting beside him, Wu Zhengqing said, "I have been lucky enough to have seen meteor showers twice, one was a full moon, and only the brightest meteors could be seen under the moonlight, and the other time the moonlight was so dark that the sky was full of clouds. It's a burst of meteors, more than a hundred in an hour."

"That must be beautiful." Shi Yuan said.

He guessed that when he was an abyss, there was also a meteor shower, but his consciousness was sunk in the black mist and he couldn't see it.

"Yes, it's so beautiful that you can't imagine." Wu Zhengqing stretched out his hand and adjusted the telescope again, "Look at this satellite again, it is red and polluted by iron and organic compounds in the planet's star ring. And this satellite The moon is blue because it is covered with ice particles."

Shi Yuan has seen planetary models and astronomical photos, but what he saw with his own eyes was completely different.

Those planets are separated by tens of millions, hundreds of millions of kilometers, which is an unimaginable distance. Now, in front of this simple attic and narrow skylight, through this old telescope, the universe is wonderful.

Wu Zhengqing spoke enthusiastically for two hours.

He said: "Unfortunately, the habitable planets we search for cannot be seen with this telescope. They are too far away, in another planetary system-the double spiral galaxy. 55 years ago, a frigate took the probe to the double spiral galaxy. Spiral galaxies, its mission is to observe planets, put down probes, and look for habitable planets, which is our "Looking" project."

It's getting late, and it's almost curfew time, Shi Yuan has to go back.

Before leaving, Wu Zhengqing said to him: "The day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, Alice will be able to complete the final calculations and observations. The results will not be made public for the time being, but the data center will witness the moment when we unveil the veil of the planet. I trust the relationship Someone take me in, do you want to come with me?"

"Okay." Shi Yuan said, "That's great."

No one knew that he played an indispensable role in the "Looking" project and was qualified to witness the final result.

He said goodbye to Wu Zhengqing.

Wu Zhengqing said that the results would come within two days, but in fact, after half a month, the plan reached the final stage.

That day, Shi Yuan followed Wu Zhengqing to the data center.

It was a huge white building, with busy staff everywhere, and light blue holographic projections, and the data on the screen flashed quickly.

They went to the semi-circular building in the center and entered the largest room, where there were countless tables, chairs and computers lined up, and a huge holographic projection hung in the middle, reminding Shi Yuan of the top floor of the Iron City communication tower.

The huge room was crowded with people, I don't know how many people gathered here, and they were excited. Shi Yuan and Wu Zhengqing couldn't squeeze into the middle, so they could only stay in the corner, and Wu Zhengqing blushed with excitement.

"Old Tan," he murmured, "Old Tan, I saw this day for you."

Images begin to appear on the screen.

Over the years, the Alliance's unmanned frigates sailed to the double spiral galaxy, while sending back observations of the universe. It carried several probes and arrived in the double spiral galaxy not long ago, but it is a huge project to calculate the angle and speed, understand the environmental characteristics of each planet, and let the probe land on the planet safely—the most important thing is , they have no chance to fail again.

Now, Alice has calculated the landing route of the probe. The frigate dropped probes and landed on three potentially habitable planets.

The probe is sending back images from the first planet "17 Diplo b".

The three planets all have extremely thick clouds and fog, and the surface conditions cannot be directly observed from outer space, and the same is true for 17 Spinos.

But this means that they all have water sources.

Liquid water is the source of life, what's more, the temperature of Spine 17b is suitable, it is simply a perfect second home.

The screen lights up.

This is the first time the Alliance has actually seen the surface of Spin 17b. Everyone can't help but hold their breath—

I saw the vast sea, the vast ground, and the clouds in the sky were as thick as a wall, which was blue-purple. The surface temperature is 1 degree Celsius, there is no harmful gas, and there is a small piece of moss-like vegetation not far away.

Just by looking at it, it is known that it is a habitable planet.

There was a mighty cheer, and everyone was screaming.

The probe moved forward, cautiously toward the vegetation, ready to scan. It keeps a fair distance from the vegetation to avoid surprises.

As it progressed, people saw new images.

Very strange picture.

"...What is that?" One person murmured, "Is it a cliff? Why does it look so familiar?"

"It's not like a cliff."

"It may be a break in the simple rock layer, and the detector can be brought closer."

"No, no, that's not a cliff, it's not a cliff!" One person screamed, "Look at the infection detector!"

The detection instrument of the detector showed that the infection rate was terribly high, almost breaking the table.

That touch of moss-like vegetation was moved.

It slowly stretched out its tentacles and crawled away like an octopus.

This small movement awakened the entire planet, the broken stones gathered together, turned into a flock of birds and flew away, little green grass floated up from the sea, chasing each other in the wind, dancing lightly, the shadows passed by in the purple clouds, and the water vapor lingered Looking at the huge mountain-like fish monster, it made a roar that shook the earth—

This scene is strange and familiar.

That's not a cliff.

That is the abyss.

This is an infected planet.

…

The league has never disclosed the progress of "Overview" to the public again.

Every day, many people ask about "Overview", and the official answer of the alliance is always that Alice is still calculating and observing, and there is no result yet.

Everyone knows that the universe is too vast, and it may take several lifetimes to explore it.

Everyone expressed their understanding and expectations for the "Looking" plan.

The first person to talk about this with Shi Yuan was Lu Tinghan.

They went up to the abandoned energy tower and looked side by side at Fengyang City in the night.

Lu Tinghan said: "You also saw it at the scene, the double-spin seat 17b was infected."

Shi Yuan asked: "...Well, what about the other two planets?"

"It's the same, the abyss appeared on their surface, infecting all living things." Lu Tinghan leaned against the railing, the wind blowing through his black hair, "We always thought that the abyss suddenly appeared on this planet, no Thinking that we are not a special case, planets have been invaded long before us. Now the guess of the scientific research center is that the abyss is like... travelers in the universe, they are constantly spreading and expanding, and this is not their terminal. "

Lu Tinghan smiled, and continued: "It's unbelievable. Humans need spaceships to navigate space. After hundreds of years of research, they can't reach faster than the speed of light even with all their strength. We never thought that there might be such a kind of existence that can ignore Huge to eternal distance, passing through the stars. The distant stars, which we cannot touch in our lifetime, are just stops along the way for them.”

"This world is really... very strange," he said.

Shi Yuan didn't speak.

He hugged Lu Tinghan's waist.

Lu Tinghan: "In retrospect, when the first frigate was built, people's morale was high, and the headlines in the newspapers were full of 'The journey has begun, the starry sky is our new territory' and 'Colonize alien stars, let the alliance flag Floating in the universe'. Biological instinct is to reproduce and expand, natural selection, desire/desire will never fade."

"I don't know if the abyss can be called a kind of creature, but they... should be the most idealized existence, polluting, multiplying infinitely, and going to the next galaxy. If it were us, we might do the same thing."

"...However," he added, "humanity has lost too much in this contest. Even if the planet is really habitable, how to launch spacecraft, how to ensure the survival of astronauts, how to ensure that new civilizations can be established, everything is almost It's all impossible."

"Besides, 'Overview' can't save the city, it's just a thought for the future. As I said before, let's pretend that 'Overview' never existed. The city is still there, and this battle will continue to be fought. We're not yet at the point where we're dropping our armor."

"We have to fight until the last moment." He pinched Shi Yuan's face, his expression soft.

Shi Yuan was silent.

After a long time, he looked up at Lu Tinghan: "I don't understand... Where did the abyss come from? It, it should have an original home, right?"

"I don't know," Lu Tinghan replied, "I just have a guess."

They are too close. Lu Tinghan lowered his head slightly, almost sticking to Shi Yuan's lips, watching him and whispering: "You..."

He didn't go on.

He smiled. "It came from beyond the stars."