[The Wandering Earth] Short Story Collection: The Age of Roses

The future AU of the semi-original work, the deputy CP should not insist

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He stared at the light for a long time.

Through the strengthened glass of the national base, Wang Lei can see the star known as "Proxima Centauri" according to most people's word of mouth.A light flashed from the dark blue metal shell of the spacecraft "CN171-11" parked in the base. It pierced the scientist's eyes and forced him to take a step to the left of the French window.

At the farthest point of view, a huge concave device with a diameter of 5000 meters stands on the barren field.The device is called 'Eye of the Sky'. It looks like a telescope, but its real function is to search for radio waves from the universe.Human beings are always trying to find some companions who can communicate with them, even if they always receive meaningless vibrations and the sound of star explosions.

The base was extremely quiet in the afternoon, with only the faint sound of central air-conditioning and Wang Lei's own breathing in the entire space.The scientist narrowed his eyes slightly and turned his head to look at the burning planet in the sky.As long as he can remember, the Proxima Centauri has been spinning steadily and burning tens of thousands of kilometers away from the earth.It supplies the earth with light and heat, and for tens of thousands of years, it has allowed human beings to take root, reproduce, and live on the latter until the formation of the current eighth-level civilization [10].

When the emergency assembly signal resounded throughout the base, the scientists felt a sense of nostalgia in their hearts. It was probably a human being's feeling for the life-giving star that is rooted in the blood.Wang Lei looked at the loudspeaker closest to him in surprise—emergency assembly signals are extremely rare, and if he hadn't been familiar with the base order manual, he wouldn't even believe the credibility of this signal.But this is indeed the case, so the scientist sorted out his mood, changed the folder in his right arm to his left, and walked quickly to the auditorium.

The scientists gathered in the auditorium greeted the most explosive news in the past 50 years with silence—you can’t expect people to welcome everything with cheers in an age that despises emotions, not to mention that the people who can sit here are probably the most calm among the human group of a group. The 'Eye of the Sky' received the signal. Unlike the usual messy radio waves that are difficult to decipher and analyze, this time the code arrangement of the signal is very organized.

It’s not that it’s so simple that it can be deciphered easily, on the contrary, the key set of the coded signal group is very complicated. According to common sense, it will take at least a whole year to decipher the key set—”But this time, God is on our side" - said the curly-haired young scientist, he introduced that the whole process went smoothly as if someone guided him, which almost made me, an atheist, believe in fate.

He is Liu Qi's friend.

Wang Lei stared at Li Yiyi's radiant face on the podium, and deserted for a while.He held the pen in his hand in a daze, staring straight ahead, completely ignoring that several pages of the PPT on the projection had already been turned.When he came back to his senses, even half of the auditorium was almost empty.Wang Lei sighed softly, he closed the folder, got up like most people, and moved slowly to the narrow hall of the auditorium with the flow of people.

"Senior Wang Lei!"

Someone behind him called his name, and he stopped.

Away from seven or eight people, Wang Lei saw that Li Yiyi was holding the tablet computer in his arms with one hand, and clenched the other hand into a fist above his head, waving at him continuously, obviously wanting to talk to him.

He nodded and approached the latter through the crowd.

"Senior Wang Lei." Li Yiyi said, he breathed out as if he was relieved, his raised fist was hanging in the air on Wang Lei's palm, Wang Lei felt that he put a memory card in his hand, "Can you Do me a favor?"

Wang Lei shifted his gaze from the memory card to his eyes, and the auditorium was almost empty.

Li Yiyi scratched his hair and smiled embarrassedly.

"That's right," he explained, "The signal received by the 'Sky Eye' comes from a level nine civilization. It not only has the same science, religion, and art as us, but is even more developed than us in some aspects." and fine——so," he paused, "the work of decoding and sorting has become extremely important. This is the work of the Information Department where I work, but we don't have enough manpower, and some content corrections must be done by humans .”

"what can I do for you?"

Li Yiyi smiled, and pointed to the memory card in Wang Lei's hand, "There is a projection file in it, which lasts about an hour, and can only be opened with the computer in the analysis center. I have made an appointment for you tonight at the analysis center on the 11th." In the conference room, after reading it, just answer a questionnaire."

Wang Lei nodded, "Yes," he said, "Is the purpose still to fill the artificial intelligence's moral algorithm?"

"Maybe it should be called MOSS now." Speaking of this AI that is still being perfected, the corners of Li Yiyi's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

"--Manned orbital space station" manned orbital space station?

"Perhaps, it was originally intended to be the artificial intelligence of the space station." They walked out together, and when they passed the revolving door, Li Yi turned to one side and squeezed through the gap nimbly.As if thinking of something, he suddenly raised his head and blinked at the calm senior, "But Professor Liu Peiqiang insisted that it meant 'moss'."

Almost as soon as he stepped into the analysis center, Wang Lei felt regret... There is no other reason, but the person who arrived in the meeting room before him turned his head.

Like most scientists at the base, Liu Qi also wore a standard white coat and black trousers.He was facing Wang Lei sideways, his face reflected the glowing blue light from the electronic display screen on one side of the meeting room, and leaning against the long geometric table on the side of the meeting room.

His recent experimental schedule is probably not very tight, and his hair is cut short.This is not a highly recognizable hairstyle, but Wang Lei can still recognize him at a glance, even if Liu Qi is thrown into the bustling crowd.

It has been nearly half a year since they broke up.

It is not accurate enough to say that it is a breakup. After all, the relationship model advocated by the coalition government today is not a contractual relationship.This era pays more attention to reality than emotion. Even if it has evolved to develop art and civilization, it seems more like a vassal of rule than an inner pursuit of human beings.

Therefore, it is not affection that is used to maintain a relationship.At the same time, due to the existence of government foster centers, most people do not need to find a partner for reproduction.Even Wang Lei himself sometimes doubts the authenticity of the process when he and Liu Qi were together, explaining it in a scientific way, it is more like a temporary hormone, and then two people who follow the fate live together naturally, and then Separated.

But even knowing that everything is on the right track, two people still feel uncontrollably awkward in the same space.The moment Wang Lei met Liu Qi's eyes, his walking movements paused slightly, and at the same time he noticed that Liu Qi frowned as if responding to his movements.

"...Liu Qi."

The older scientist broke the silence. He took out the memory card from his pocket, inserted it into the computer attached to the monitor, turned his back to Liu Qi, and stared at the slowly crawling analysis reading bar.

"Li Changtiao asked me to come."

The air was as oppressive as if someone had soaked the room in nutrient solution, and even Liu Qi's voice to interrupt Wang Lei seemed unnatural.He slammed the next sentence stiffly, and then pursed his lips tightly.

"He asked me to assist you."

Seeing that Wang Lei hadn't answered for a long time, he frowned and added another sentence.His heels tapped the ground impatiently, and his arms were tightly locked in front of his chest.

"...Let's read the document first."

Finally, he heard Wang Lei say that.

The older scientist straightened up and leaned against the other side of the long table, not looking at him.

The reading bar finally reaches [-]%, and the file starts to play.The lights in the room dimmed and stars lit up on the walls.

There was a rustle all around, like they were standing in the rain.

That document sounds like a memoir.

The relevant information given by the analysis center is "Paleo-Earth Language".Coincidentally, the pronunciation pattern it adopts is extremely close to the language used by the water-blue planet they are currently on.Different from the cosmic signals received before, this audio file not only has few irreversible noises caused by analysis, but also gives people a very strange feeling.

Using "feeling" to describe it is often an irrational explanation.Thinking of this, Wang Lei couldn't help frowning.Liu Qi beside him also blinked in confusion, pulled out a chair and sat down.

It's like... the trembling that a person feels when standing in the wilderness at night and looking up at the starry sky, or drifting aimlessly in the universe like a space station, and the nearest beam of light comes from a few light-years away the kind of loneliness.From the depths of their souls, scientists feel a very strange resonance, as if the voice of speaking does not come from the document, but from themselves.

Wang Lei took a deep breath, and he also pulled out the chair and sat beside Liu Qi.It was the voice of an old man, it was old and gentle, and it was eloquent.

It was like a story, and even said, it looked like something in a fantasy novel.In his story, Proxima Centauri is called the "sun", which is the parent star that provides light and heat for free and allows life on earth to grow and survive.However, because of the explosion of solar helium flashes, human beings had to lead the earth to migrate.The idea of ​​this so-called "Wandering Earth" project spans 500 years and lasts for [-] generations.

Humans built [-] planetary engines in the northern hemisphere, and they successfully took the earth out of its original orbit. However, when they passed by a planet named "Jupiter", they suddenly detected a sudden increase in the gravity of Jupiter, and the earth was gradually forced to escape. Close to the orbit of Jupiter.

The narrator said that he was 21 years old that year.

The scientist noticed that Liu Qi's brows were furrowed.His elbows rested on his knees, his fingers were tightly together, and his thin chin stood on it, his lips were drawn into a straight line.

That was the age when he first met Liu Qi, the latter was 21 years old, and joined the research institute as a new scientific blood specially selected by the coalition government, with a youthful heart and high spirits.He came into contact with the most complex, precise, concise and beautiful truth in the universe early on, and devoted his life to discovering and interpreting the truth.

"Did you decide to give your life at the age of 21?"

One time Wang Lei asked this, when they had just finished a fierce battle, their shoulders were leaning on their shoulders.Covered with the same sheet.Liu Qi's breathing has not yet calmed down, and his face is still flushed.He wiped the sweat off his collarbone and turned to look at Wang Lei.

"The truth is worth it." There was a smile in his voice, "You are worth it."

Why did I get involved, Wang Lei laughed along with him.He moved his body so that the young man leaning over could rest his chin on his shoulder.The young man's chin was so sharp that it hurt him.

But Wang Lei didn't move, nor did he want to.He suppressed his eyes and looked at Liu Qi, the young man's eyes were bright, and Wang Lei's shadow was reflected in his pupils.For the first time, Wang Lei discovered that his pupils were not pure black but dark brown, gradually getting lighter from the inside to the outside, and a little watery light appeared on the edge.

"While attending the coalition government meeting, I heard them discuss whether to open the perceptual thinking authority of human beings." The older scientist said.

"What is the purpose?"

Wang Lei shook his head, "There is more than one," he said, "For example, 1% of people are aware of the restraint of rational thinking on human beings, and another example is that sometimes sensibility can make people keep fire."

Liu Qi rolled over from him, "What about you?"

"Me? Either way."

As Wang Lei said so, he stretched out his hand and pulled Liu Qi into his arms.

He kissed him kindly.

Where should the balance of thought lean?emotional?Or rational?A sage on earth once wrote that melancholy is the enemy of independent rationalism and individualism[2].I don't know if it's because after this truth was once debunked by humanity, the government controlled by this eighth-level civilization resolutely pushed the balance of thinking to the rational side.Everything has been rigorously calculated mathematically, everything has been analyzed logically, and everything is under control... People have no desire, no spirit, and no heart.

"You know what, MOSS," said the scientist, "sometimes I even think AI is more human than human."

He is over 40 years old, but still has a baby face.Liu Peiqiang reached out and tapped the screen, watching the effect of the operation ripple away like water ripples.

"Theoretically, this is entirely possible," the artificial intelligence replied quickly. He was holographically projected on Liu Peiqiang's right hand, and his malachite green eyes were watching him. "When my moral algorithm is perfect enough, my neurons The system is no different from a human being."

"Is that day far away?"

"It's up to you, Mr. Liu Peiqiang," MOSS nodded slightly to his creator, "but I hope that day comes sooner."

Liu Peiqiang blinked.

"I really used to..." He tapped the screen, and quickly called up the signal file received by the 'Sky Eye' that afternoon.When he saw the screenshot of the window, he couldn't help frowning, "Have you ever thrown a bottle of vodka at you?"

Artificial intelligence spread its hands noncommittally.

"I don't know, sir, but there was such a saying in prehistoric—" MOSS paused in a rare way, he shook his head, stepped forward, and observed the image that seemed to be the interior of a space station with Liu Peiqiang, "— 'According to the calculations of scientists, everything we experience now will reappear in 430 million years. Whether it is deserts, oceans, buildings, or pedestrians on the street, fish in the water, and dust flying in the air. Even if we Inevitably separate, there will be a day when we meet again.'”

Liu Peiqiang smiled, "It's not very consistent with string theory."

"It's an interesting angle."

The scientist closed the folder with a flick of his finger. He looked up at MOSS, as if he wanted to say something, then shook his head again.

"MOSS?" he said, curtly.

"gentlemen?"

"Although what you said just now is very unreliable," Liu Peiqiang raised his head, and he looked into the malachite eyes of the artificial intelligence, his eyes were frank and sincere, "but, I am very glad to have known you."

"It's my pleasure too, sir."

The voice of the narrator still surrounds him at a leisurely pace. It is clearly just a narration in a calm tone, but it makes people feel as if they are wrapped in a huge emotional force, and they can't even breathe when they are depressed.That is not the experience as a listener, but the memory as a narrator.Not to watch, but to experience.

A raging blizzard.A city sleeping in a sea of ​​ice.The black body of the delivery vehicle.Collapsed road.Mayday signal on wristband.The long rope in the elevator room creaked ominously.The hand on the waist.Blood and tears.A red winter suit that disappeared on the ice sheet.

gunshots.A dungeon engulfed in magma.white mist.Honk.Shaking hands.Jupiter's giant eye.A world where the sky glows red.frozen soil.Engine that goes out.A whale frozen in mid-air.

— "Is that a whale?"

--"probably."

——"Why is it here?"

——"Swimming so far is probably also to go home."

The teenager shouted happily.Dark eyes under the helmet.division of labor.departure.The passenger's gaze.Tight lips and serious eyes.Thoughtful face.firing pin.run.Collapsed walls.Smile one last time.

run.

Liu Qi suddenly let out a painful sob.Before he realized it, Wang Lei held his hand tightly.

Fingers intertwined.

"I'm here," he said.

400 million years ago, MOSS said helplessly that keeping human beings rational is a luxury.When he said this, the entire navigator space station's operation cabin was burning with raging fire, and the last instruction he gave himself was to use the camera to record the image of the irrational and model astronaut Liu Peiqiang, and transmit it via radio waves. Saved it.As an artificial intelligence, he knows that sensibility can mess up many things, and human beings' overflowing hormones and willingness often become the source of their own pain.

However, a civilization that overemphasizes rationality or even completely ignores sensibility cannot exist for long.Those indescribable things called "Love" or "Passion" or "Hope" that mess up 90.00% of nine point nine things are exactly the necessary reactants that humans need to exist, reproduce, and continue.It is because of them that human beings are human.

"Probably... we are going to open the permission of perceptual thinking."

Similar conversations sounded from various analysis rooms in the analysis center.It is small and soft, but in the near future, the whole planet will be swept, shaken and changed by it.

From tens of millions of years ago, the earth left itself for its own salvation.

"……sorry Sorry."

Liu Qi repeated a sentence over and over, his face buried in his hands.Tears trickled down his cheeks, soaking a whole sleeve.Suddenly two hands were held separately, and he raised his head.

Wang Lei half-kneeled in front of him, with the light from the screen in his eyes.

"Look at me, Liu Qi." He said, "I'm here."

I am here.

Be here all the time.

They gradually approached.Until Wang Lei's face was stained with Liu Qi's tears, Liu Qi's eyes reflected Wang Lei's eyes.

The narrator's voice didn't stop, probably because it was coming to an end, his narration carried an imperceptible and gratifying smile.

He said: Hope is the best thing that our age has.

Our planet has been wandering in the universe for a long time. It has evolved for tens of thousands of years, allowing animals, plants and humans to give themselves life, and then due to unknown and intricate reasons, it will be destroyed at different times. So once... millions of years later, he spent a long time waiting for himself to recover, waiting for the emergence of the next round of life, waiting for destruction, and so on.

From the moment when life first appeared on the planet to the moment when Wang Lei and Liu Qi stood under the telescope and looked up at the starry sky, I don’t know how many of them have existed on this ancient and young planet: they lived in the same building in a certain arrangement. Apartment, in a certain arrangement they met by chance, and then saved the world in 36 hours, in a certain arrangement...

We have experienced countless pasts and countless presents together.Dinosaurs, like Tokyo Tower, have gradually become part of their peers in the long evolution.

Is it you, where, when and where—what does it matter if you ask questions like that?The earth is you, the starry sky is you, and the snowflakes are you.Everything is you, including myself.

When they looked at each other, they also heard each other's voices.It resounds like a proverb in the sky: the water in the sea is exhausted, and the rivers are gone and dried up.

——However, under the sky, tiny human beings hold each other's hands tightly.

【End】

"After tens of thousands of years, I heard the echo of the words you left me."

The author has something to say:

Note:

1. Level [-] Civilization/Level [-] Civilization: The civilization setting in the British drama "Doctor Who" is borrowed here.Theoretically, it can be explained like this:

Seventh-level civilization: The civilization at this stage can already be called a "god" civilization. The life of this level of civilization has mastered almost complete laws of space and time, can move across galaxies at will, and may be able to directly create a planet.

Eighth-level civilization: It has a higher ability to master the laws of time and space than the seventh-level civilization, and may be able to directly create a star system and create a new kind of life.

Ninth-level civilization: able to move in any range in the universe, able to directly create a galaxy, directly create a new low-level civilization, and almost grasp the laws of the universe to the extreme.

But we can find that the gap between the above-mentioned levels of civilization and the current human civilization is too great.In fact, the current earth civilization has just reached the point where it can break free from the gravity of the parent star and try to establish a survival system on other planets (highly dependent on the supply of the parent star), which is probably in the middle and late stage of the second-level civilization.So the content of the article is basically what I made up in my head, so please feel free to read it.

2. Quoted from Montaigne's "Montaigne Essays"