At a time when the stars are twinkling again, distant rovers have found a ray of life on the perceived boundaries of the population.

In the vast and boundless deep space of the universe, the distant stars have remained silent in the eternal darkness for hundreds of millions of years. Across the distance of several light-years, even the most blazing stars can only reach this place with a little cool brilliance. airspace, and in this dark space lit by cold stars, a ripple suddenly broke the long silence.

Ripples appeared in the universe, the stable space-time structure was instantly distorted and reorganized, and a shock that surpassed the speed of light suddenly reached the predetermined coordinates, and then the shock broke away from the deep sea state and began to quickly condense its original appearance in the material universe—

A light starship with a length of no more than 100 meters, its streamlined and rounded silver-white shell gleams under the starlight, shaped like an elegant and slender arc, and the slight light undulates slowly on the edge of its alloy shell. , with the stars in the distance.

This beautiful aircraft has been roaming in this long sea of ​​stars for a long time. It is difficult to leave many traces on its special shell with the passage of time. Inside the aircraft, all the equipment and cabins still maintain the most basic. Run silently.

In the core control cabin of the "Rover" starship, extremely dim lights slightly illuminate many terminal systems that are in an automatic state. There is no sound in the spacious cabin, and this lifeless appearance seems to have continued. For thousands of years, on a protruding platform at the front of the cabin, a hemispherical crystal container is gradually lighting up with the wake-up procedure.

Under the dim light, it could be seen that the crystal container was filled with a viscous and translucent biomass solution, but nothing else.

This silent and lifeless state lasted for an unknown time. Suddenly, a remote probe finally sent back the long-awaited signal from the starship, and a soft voice sounded in the cabin, breaking the self-disciplined "rover" "The silence that lasted a thousand years:

"The last jump coordinates have been determined, and the marginal rover Z-377S15 applied for transfer to manual control...started manufacturing control personnel..."

With the announcement of the automatic system, a series of foams suddenly appeared in the crystal container in the front section of the cabin, and then a series of drastic changes began to appear in the solution that seemed calm and dead - the preset biological template was injected into the guidance system. , complex biological structures began to be quickly printed and grouped in the container, flesh and bones grew and matured within a dozen seconds, and nerve fiber implants spread out from the four walls of the container, connecting with the rapidly growing biological nervous system in the solution. , fusion.

During this process, the broadcast sound of the automatic system continued to sound:

"The controller goes into the production process and the estimated time to complete...three minutes.

"Connecting to the Matrix of Immortals... The Eligible has responded, downloading the Controller.

"Confirm the basic information of the controller... Loren race-Cecile selection branch-neurosymbiotic derivative branch, Renee Parrama, service record 3507, mental code verification passed.

"The controller is activated, and the ship is switched to manual control."

With the sound of the system's announcement, the crystal container filled with the biomass solution was finally opened, and a slender girl walked out of the container, her iron gray eyes still had a bit of lack of vitality, but the next For a second, those eyes blinked smartly, and then they looked to the side of the "Captain's Seat" that had been turned into a state of manual control.

She took the short robe sent by the self-discipline machine and put it on her body. Renee stepped forward to the captain's seat. She reached out and grabbed the back of her neck. She pulled the nerve connector out of her spine and connected it to the control panel. At the same time, the other hand activated the communication interface next to it: "Here is the Marginal Rover Renee, I have reached the last jump... I arrived 'in person'."

There was a brief silence from the communicator, followed by a steady male voice into Renee's ears: "How is your body feeling?"

The nervous system, which was born less than a few minutes ago, was processing the sound coming into the ear. It sounded a little distorted at first, but it quickly stabilized into a familiar voice. Renee rubbed her eyebrows: "I feel a little dizzy... After all, it was teleported from a server node thousands of light-years away to the bridge of the Marginal Rover in a matter of minutes, and downloaded into a blank body that just took shape, you know, it's not easy manual labor…"

"I thought that an 'immortal' like you would be more used to this kind of ultra-long-range transmission and temporary download," the voice from the communicator was calm, "After all, your soul was digitized thousands of years ago. "

"There is also a difference between the immortal and the immortal," Renee waved her hand. "What's more, this is not only related to the derivative, but also related to the individual's physique. I am an ordinary person, and I am a forty thousand years old. The old man who is still able to download the body and run the land is incomparable..."

"...I don't know much about your immortals," the voice from the communicator paused. "Okay, now you should have passed the download stun, start reporting the situation - what did you find?"

On the captain's seat, the slender girl's expression finally became slightly serious. Her gaze swept across the parameter projection displayed on the console, and then turned to the cabin wall that had been switched to the optical penetration mode. As far as I can reach, there is only a vast darkness and a distant and icy sea of ​​stars.

"...I was about to report this strange situation," Renee said after a moment of silence, shaking her head. "There is nothing here."

"Nothing at all?"

"Yes, it's empty and barren, this is just a vacuum," Renee exhaled softly, "I confirm that the coordinates are correct. The location reported by the remote probe is here. There should be a vibrant planet here. A lush planetary system, a blazing star... but I didn't see anything."

"Could it be that there is something wrong with the transition process of the marginal rovers? Z-377S15 is an old antique. The last time it passed the border of the convoy was four thousand years ago... That was the age of the sixth great development."

"I have checked the log of the warp system, and now my nerves are still connected to the ship, and I grasp the state of the ship as if I knew my own body - this old antique is very healthy, there will be no such low-level mistakes, Renee shook her head. "I have sent the log data and the observations here to the convoy. I think... I might need a little help here."

"Understood," the voice from the opposite side of the communicator carried a hint of inexplicable seriousness. Obviously, it is not a trivial matter that a living planet that originally appeared in the probe is now "missing". Things are weird enough to make the Servo-brained partner who has worked with Renee for thousands of years serious, "The Fleet Council is already aware of the visions found by the marginal rover Z-377S15, and a senior advisor is expected to take over. thing."

The communication channel was temporarily quiet, and the slender **** the captain's seat breathed a sigh of relief. After the short wait, she relaxed. She sat on the large seat, and the slight fatigue caused by the remote thought transmission gradually followed. dissipate.

The cold starlight brushed over the hull of the Marginal Rover. In the simulated perception transmitted by the nerves, the starlight seemed to directly touch her skin.

The rover starship of the last era seems to have some kind of defect in nerve conduction and simulation. This imprecise touch made Renee a little trance for a while - she gave up her "original" body thousands of years ago. , like many Loren races, she entered the Immortal Matrix and became a member of the Immortals, and after that, the way she perceives the world has changed a lot, and more accurate and broad data streams have replaced The inefficient nervous system of the original body, even if she occasionally comes to the material world by downloading, she also has an advanced neural enhancement system to help herself deal with environmental parameters, and uses an outdated perception system to face the universe. For her, it was a... long-lost and novel experience.

Her thoughts could not help but diverge a little.

It is said that in the ancient times, when the immortal technology just appeared, this kind of mental data conversion was an extremely rare honor. At that time, only very good and great people had the opportunity to enter the immortal matrix and become the people behind the civilization. Firm trump card, and the immortal technology at that time had many flaws, and those who uploaded it to the Internet were almost considered to have no chance to "return to the world" again, but what about now?

Forty thousand years have passed, and the so-called immortal has long since become a common one in the Loren-Noy complex... "Derivative Branch", within the vast territory of the combined fleet that spans the sea of ​​stars, the immortal's thinking node With the expansion and spread of the fleet's trajectories, they are engaged in various jobs suitable for them.

For example, participating in interstellar expeditions, such as joining the Eternal Army, such as farming in the Milky Way... or undertaking long-term online game boosting.

The number of immortals is endless, and it can even be said that the entire Loren-Noy complex is an immortal empire, but it is rare for immortals like Renee to sign up to be the "captain" of the Marginal Wanderer.

Because the Immortals do not like loneliness, the prosperous and closely connected nature of the neural network will make them instinctively reject the "touch" of breaking away from the group and sailing beyond the frontier of civilization, and the marginal wanderer is responsible for the fleet. The "post" that collects intelligence outside the track is doomed to be lonely.

But some things have to be done by someone—and experienced.

"If only I were a siren," Renee froze for a long time under the starlight, and finally couldn't help sighing, "How happy they are... They can't be a giant dragon, they go far away to explore It's like going out for a walk for eighteen hundred years with a single drill on the boat..."

"I don't think the Kraken is suitable to be a marginal roamer," the partner's voice suddenly came from the communicator, as always calm and indifferent, "They will always die suddenly of unknown AOEs in apparently very safe missions, sudden death. They die even faster than flipping a book—and there's always some equipment wear and tear. Their lives may not be worth much, but teleportation takes up neural network bandwidth."

"...You made the chief navigator hear that something big was about to happen. Let me tell you, she has to fill your life support pump with salt water, and your brain will be salty by then..."

"Don't say such a terrible thing," the partner's still indifferent response came from the communicator, and then the other party suddenly paused for a moment, "The consultant who went to assist the on-site investigation has arrived."

Hearing her partner's words, Renee immediately adjusted her somewhat lazy sitting posture, and then her eyes turned to the distant star sea, and almost at the same time, she noticed the strange light and shadow changes around the star boat.

Threads of shadows are gathering—even though this is a dark and boundless space itself, the thicker shadows still emerge from the darkness in incomprehensible ways, and quickly condense in Renee's perception. A gesture acceptable to the mortal mind.

The slender **** the captain's seat was suddenly a little surprised, and subconsciously blurted out: "Is it you?"

The tall mountain-like being that condensed in space "heared" Renee's exclamation in the spaceship, and he turned his head slightly, his face seemed to be covered by clouds, and a pair of amber eyes were in the clouds. A smile appeared below, and his voice entered Renee's mind directly: "They are very busy, I just have time - and, I read the data you sent back, I am afraid that my strength is needed here. "

"You mean... Shadow?" Renee blinked, looking at the towering figure in space through the starship's series of barriers, armor and sensors, looking at the man who was named the **** in ancient times. Ancient existence, "But I have just scanned the entire airspace with a multi-frequency scanner, and there is no..."

"The scanner of the marginal rover has a limit, it can deal with the camouflage built by most low-level civilizations, but if the civilization that builds the camouflage has touched some more powerful forces, the universal scanner carried by the rover But it doesn't work as well."

The majestic figure in the space left these words with a smile, and then he turned around and looked at the vast darkness in front of the Marginal Rover.

After a long time, a sigh suddenly entered Renee's mind.

The **** the captain's seat seemed to understand something.

"They're... here?"

"Yes, right in front of you," the towering figure shrouded in clouds raised his arms gently, pointing to the darkness in the distance, "shrouded on the other side of light and shadow."

"… Incredible technology," Renee slowly opened her eyes. "Is this some kind of defense? A civilization that has developed to a considerable degree? Then why 'they' didn't respond to our presence?"

The majestic figure in the space did not answer for a while. He was silent for a long time before suddenly bringing up something that seemed to be irrelevant: "Rene, have you studied ancient history? The history of forty thousand years ago is about to set sail. Before the era, in the era when Loren and Noy were still trapped in their respective home planets."

"I did," Renee nodded slowly, "I still remember that there were a lot of extracurricular readings in that class, including a set of ancient readings called "The Emperor's Words"..."

"She actually put the "Book of Holy Words" into extracurricular reading..." The majestic figure in the space was stunned for a moment, but then shook his head slightly, "Forget it, they both like it anyway. Anyway, it's not important, the important thing is In that period of history, the Loren civilization faced a crisis, a choice, a trap that was summed up by later generations as a trap that could end all futures and all roads, do you remember?"

Renee was stunned for a moment, and then the powerful memory retrieval implant came into play. She quickly remembered what she had learned thousands of years ago: "You mean... 'cradle trap'?"

"Yes," the voice that entered the girl's mind seemed to be accompanied by a sigh, "a group of lunatics tried to build an eternal cradle, to hide from the universe by shrouding the entire planet in some kind of barrier that never opens. The world-destroying natural disaster, they hoped to give up future development in exchange for permanent security, and even set off a world war that was almost a disaster for the Loren civilization at that time..."

Renee listened quietly, and finally came to her senses. Her eyes widened, and all the sensors on the Marginal Rover instantly pointed to the dark and empty space ahead: "Wait, what do you mean..."

"A layer of barrier, a barrier constructed based on some powerful shadow force, although the principle is different from the crazy plan 40,000 years ago, but the essence is so similar..."

In the space, the majestic figure named Ms. Ye let out a sigh, she already knew the secrets hidden in this space, so all the secrets vanished in her sight-a curtain of light and shadow on the edge of the wanderer. The smoke disappeared from the sensor.

Renee saw the blazing star that had appeared in the probe but has now disappeared, saw the planetary system orbiting the star, and saw the tiny planet described in the report as "vibrant".

"...when was the rover's previous report back?"

Madam Ye's voice suddenly came to her mind, Renee was stunned for a moment, and quickly replied: "About three hundred years ago, a remote detector reported that it had found life here, but then lost its interest in this area. After induction, the marginal rover Z-377S15 judged by itself that it has investigation value, and wandered here for three hundred years to find the coordinates reported by the detector at that time. It didn't find it until a few hours ago and called me. come over…"

"Three hundred years... Considering the latest shock cycle of the magic tide, they have at least two centuries to slowly prepare and develop to meet the challenges of adulthood..."

Madam Ye said, and finally let out a long sigh.

He paced into the void beside him, as if to give Renee a clearer view of the star-lit, dead planet.

"Not all cradles of eternity will be overturned by the tide, but when it is overturned, few civilizations have survived its infancy - perhaps just a small crack, perhaps just a trivial flaw in its design, when it When it erupts, civilizations that voluntarily give up the future are doomed to be powerless.”

Renee sat quietly on the captain's seat of the Marginal Rover. The cold starlight spanned the far distance, shining on the shell of the starship together with the scorching sun that was close at hand, touching her five senses.

She stared at the little planet shrouded in sunlight, at its once glorious and prosperous surface, now only a scorched earth and countless grotesque depressions and hideous rifts remain.

In the 40th millennium after the United Fleet set sail, before the eyes of Renee the Wanderer on the Edge, a civilization had chosen the Cradle of Eternity.

(Pretend to be a Children's Day gift~~)