An orange-yellow holographic isolation belt was suspended in the corridor, enclosing a large isolated area. This was the location of the impact accident.
A lifeboat-class civilian spacecraft crashed into the hull of the Orion cruiser, and half of the hull was directly inserted into the Orion cruiser's hull.
Even if we look at the relatively short space history of human civilization, this is considered a quite explosive accident.
What is especially puzzling is how this small boat passed through the deflector shield defense and broke through the almost impossible to break through the hull shell.
Fortunately, the gymnasium in the living area on the lower deck was damaged. At that time, because the spacecraft was about to enter the hyperspace channel, such entertainment facilities were blocked, so no one was injured.
This is also the reason why many people came to watch later.
The ship's safety and maintenance department immediately shut down the air exchange system in the damaged area and isolated the damaged area in accordance with the plan in the safety manual.
Although only a small cabin was actually damaged, the safety director sealed off the entire related area based on the assessment report of engineers from the fourth department.
At this moment, engineers wearing aerospace exoskeletons were standing around the isolation belt, operating the tablet in their hands. Seeing Luo Yi coming over, one of the engineers stepped forward and said.
"Hey, this is a controlled area, you have to put on your space suit before coming in."
Luo Yi hung the respirator around his neck and showed his three IDs at the same time. "The modified prosthetic body on my body has the function of resisting low-pressure environments. Is there a risk of secondary explosion?"
The engineer turned back and exchanged glances with his colleague standing next to the isolation belt, then looked at him and replied, "That's not true. We have shut down the reactor and chemical battery of the accident spacecraft."
"That's enough, I'm just taking a look outside to understand the situation here." Luo Yi patted him on the shoulder, walked through the isolation belt, and walked to the door of the room with the [Under Repair] sign.
The alloy door was tightly sealed, with a layer of folded titanium alloy reinforcement plates affixed to the inside and outside.
The staff standing next to him handed him a tablet, and the screen of the tablet was connected to the camera of the repair robot.
Through the screen on the tablet, Luo Yi saw the situation in the room. He saw that the fitness equipment had been hit by the huge impact force in a corner of the room, and the outer shell of the ship was dented inward by the spacecraft.
There is a breach with a radius of about 1 to 2 meters.
That scene could simply be described as tragic. Luo Yi frowned.
To be honest, it's not like the damage a lifeboat-class civilian craft could do.
"It's almost like an explosion, isn't it?" The engineer looked at him and shrugged, grinning and said, "But actually no, we didn't find an armor-piercing warhead on the spacecraft. This is indeed a ship for scientific investigation.
It is a civilian spacecraft, and there is an obvious oxidizing environment on the surface of the spacecraft... From this, it can be inferred that this ship should usually work in the atmosphere."
The staff on the side also said.
"Anyway, we rescued the people as soon as possible. The other damage could not be dealt with with the repair tools on the ship, so we had to hand it over to the construction workers of the star port."
Luo nodded, recorded the information on the memory chip, and then continued to ask. "The child you rescued said that there is another person in this... scientific research team, who should be a little girl. Have you found out?"
The staff standing at the door exchanged glances in confusion, and then looked at him with a strange expression.
"How can it be?"
"At that time, the eight rescue teams rushed in directly. There was only one sleeping cabin in the whole ship." "Did he crash his brain?"
Luo Yi didn't speak. He tapped the screen twice with his index finger, controlled the repair robot to move forward a few steps, and focused the camera on the cockpit that had been deformed by the impact.
There is really nothing there.
While he was deep in thought, the engineer standing next to him suddenly spoke.
"Speaking of which, something strange happened."
Luo Yi looked at him.
"What a weird thing."
The engineer continued.
"Some people heard the explosion, and some people didn't."
Luo Yi was stunned for a moment.
He remembered that he heard it, so he rushed to the scene as soon as possible.
But there were indeed some people who didn't hear it, such as his comrade Xiao Yong, who came over after hearing the alarm.
It's strange to say that the alarm should have sounded as soon as the explosion occurred, but the alarm failed.
Instead, after the relevant units on the lower deck reported the damage information to the first unit, the first unit manually sounded the sound.
This was also the main reason for the gathering of people at that time.
After all, based on everyone's past experience, if the alarm doesn't go off, it means it's not a big deal, and it's normal to want to take a look.
What's unusual is that some people heard the explosion and some people didn't.
Luo Yi carefully recalled the scene at that time. There were indeed not many people in the room, only a few dozen.
Compared to the thousands of people on the lower deck, this number is indeed too small.
"Is there any pattern to this?"
"I can't tell," the engineer shook his head, "I also wanted to ask you if you have any clues."
The staff on the side laughed and joked.
"In other words, this should be the work of the fifth department. The war is over, and that department should play a role."
"Didn't that guy say time traveler?"
"Haha, according to what he said, we have to buy ourselves personal accident insurance now."
"Personal accident insurance is okay, let the alliance" pay for it?"
"Hahaha."
Obviously no one believes that the child comes from the future. After all, it is an indisputable fact that they are still alive.
At this moment, the engineer suddenly thought of something and spoke.
"By the way, there's one more thing."
Luo Yi, who was deep in thought, raised his head.
"Can you finish the sentence in one sitting?"
"I just remembered it." The engineer looked at the adjacent rooms and pointed to the one at the end of the corner. "That's the canteen in the living area. There were a few people in it at the time, but they didn't react.
After hearing it, they didn't realize something was wrong until our people came in."
Luo Yi was stunned again.
His duty room was relatively far away from here, and everyone heard the violent explosion, but the people near the center of the explosion heard nothing?
"It's weird, isn't it? The sound insulation effect there is actually not very good. More than once, someone complained that the people dining there were too noisy." The engineer shrugged his shoulders and said in a joking tone, "Maybe we should find a real
Pastor." "It makes sense."
Luo nodded, returned the tablet in his hand to the staff on the side, then looked at the engineer and said seriously.
"This information is very important... I want to circle the people on the lower deck who heard the explosion and those who did not hear the explosion, and then mark what they did and where they were when the explosion happened. This may be
It will help solve the dilemma we are facing at the moment.”
"Good idea," the engineer snapped his fingers, "Go and discuss it with the people from the Eight Departments. This is their job."
Department Eight is the ship safety and maintenance department, which is equivalent to the security management department on the entire starship, including the security director, peace officer, emergency rescue team, etc.
Although Department 4 (Engineering and Maintenance Department) also has the word maintenance in its name, it is mainly responsible for technical work such as equipment maintenance and outer space operations.
A starship with 3,000 people is like a small town sailing in space, with almost everyone assigned specific duties.
But sometimes Luo Yi couldn't help but want to complain. They had too many departments, and even they themselves had to think for a while about whose job it was.
But fortunately, everyone was very responsible. At most, the work was not divided enough, and no one kicked the ball. Luo Yi wrote down the collected information, nodded neatly and said.
"I'll be there."
The weapons and defense department as the third department is the quasi-combat department of the Orion guided missile cruiser and is also the emergency response department.
Although the Eighth Department is responsible for general public security incidents, the Three Departments will usually be involved in major accidents that are serious enough to cause damage to the ship's hull, threaten the lives of all officers and soldiers on the ship, and where the suspicion of a KB attack cannot be ruled out.
As a professional soldier, Luo Yi acted very quickly. After inspecting the accident scene and the torpedo library, he immediately went to the Eight Departments to exchange information and obtain the access control status of various functional facilities.
This method can easily determine the location of everyone at that time.
Regarding the intelligence provided by the third department, the eighth department also showed a considerable degree of attention and sent almost all security personnel to visit and investigate all 1,600 crew members on the lower deck.
The results of the investigation surprised everyone. Only about two hundred people heard the explosion, but because the alarm did not sound, most people did not take it seriously.
In the conference room of Department 8, a three-dimensional holographic image of the lower deck of the Orion cruiser was suspended on the conference table.
According to the opinions of the three combatants, they marked the area where those who heard the explosion were in red, and the areas where those who did not hear the explosion were marked in yellow.
The light blue holographic image is almost filled with red and yellow colors. The meandering red is like a long dragon spreading on the inside of the ship. Unfortunately, there is no obvious pattern.
But what is interesting is that there is no situation where some people in the same area hear the explosion, but others do not. In other words, there is no third possibility between red and yellow.
"It seems that the problem lies in the space." Looking at the marked map, Luo Yi said thoughtfully, "I think we should conduct key inspections on these rooms marked in red." The security director of the Eighth Department stood at the
Beside him, the unshaven face was filled with subtle expressions.
He seemed to have thought of something, but thought it was too ridiculous, but finally coughed and said, "Do you know what I thought of?"
Pairs of eyes gathered around the conference table looked at him, and Luo Yi asked for everyone present. "What?"
The security chief said immediately. "Schrödinger's cat."
There were whispers in front of the meeting table, and this statement was recognized by some people. Looking at the silent Luo Yi, the security director continued in an uncertain tone.
"Aren't we stuck in the hyperspace channel now? Such a strange thing happened again... Do you think we are stuck in a place similar to quantum space?"
Not liking this ambiguous statement, Luo Yi asked seriously. "What is quantum space? What is its specific definition?"
The security director was speechless for a moment, rubbed his index finger on the stubble, and said with a wry smile. "Actually, I was just guessing. I'm not doing physics... I'm studying logistics management." The security officer standing aside boasted.
Whistling, he said teasingly.
"It seems that we don't have a professional counterpart on the ship." "Isn't the person from the fifth department a professional counterpart?"
"It speaks volumes, but it's of no use."
Unexpectedly, someone was persecuting Dr. Wu here. Luo Yi made a helpless expression. "I plan to ask him for his opinion later...about the quantum space you mentioned." The security director coughed awkwardly.
"That's the name I made up... Anyway, it means something similar, just ask." Joking aside.
That guy is a top student after all.
He actually still believed in Dr. Wu’s professional knowledge and diploma. After the meeting.
Luo Yi rushed to the fifth department without stopping, only to find that Dr. Wu was not here. There was only an intern he led on duty. After some questioning, he learned that the guy had gone to drink again.
There is too little work in the Scientific Research and Technology Department, and it is a marginal department that is completely useless. Most of the people who work here have loose personalities and are accustomed to being lazy.
In desperation, Luo Yi could only contact Babu's friends, and finally found this drunk guy in a bar in the corner of the middle deck.
Looking at Dr. Wu lying on the bar, Luo Yi sighed and walked to sit next to him, then looked at the bionic robot bartender in front of him.
"Two glasses of lemonade."
"Is it iced or room temperature?" "One cup of ice and one cup of room temperature." "Okay sir."
The bionic robot replied with a gentle voice, and soon there were two more glasses of water with lemon slices on the table. He pushed the hot glass in front of Dr. Wu, and Luo Yi picked up the glass with ice cubes floating in it and drank it.
mouth.
From 8 o'clock in the morning standard time to now when he got off work, he had been busy for ten hours without eating a bite. However, this was not entirely due to busyness, but also partly due to lack of appetite.
Looking at Wu Xinghuan reaching out to touch the glass, he said in a casual tone, "Is it appropriate to drink during work hours?"
"never mind……"
Wu Xinghuan grabbed the cup and took a sip. He found that there was no smell of alcohol and it was still hot, so he frowned. Seeing this guy's bad attitude, Luo Yi raised his eyebrows.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Didn't you discover new physics? You said we will miss you... the one who never leaves your hand with the wine bottle?"
Hearing this, Wu Xinghuan laughed self-deprecatingly, shook the lemonade in his hand, and cast his blurred eyes towards the wine cabinet in front of him.
"It doesn't matter anymore... No one will remember us, I haven't discovered new physics, the old building has not collapsed, it is even stronger. We are still in our cage, we just happen to be on the rollers."
The hamster that came down."
This guy was obviously drunk. Luo Yi couldn't understand what he was saying at all. He seemed to deny his previous conclusion. "So... now you think that guy is not a time traveler anymore?"
"Isn't it important?" Wu Xinghuan shook his head, picked up the cup and took a sip. Luo Yi frowned and stared into his eyes seriously.
"Listen, you are the only one on the ship who can hopefully help us understand the current situation. We need to know what is happening to us. I don't know what problems you encountered in your research, but I hope that at least now, you can cheer up!
"
This sentence seemed to have some effect. Wu Xinghuan raised his head and looked at him, staring directly at him. "Let's make a hypothesis."
Luo Yi looked at him and motioned him to continue.
Wu Xinghuan placed the cup on the table, took two seeds from the lemon slice and threw them in. Looking at the sinking lemon seeds, he said slowly.
"There is a video game with many, many people in it.\n.\n.\n.\n.\nJust assume there are 10 billion." Luo Yi frowned.
"Then what?" Wu Xinghuan continued.
"Our eyes have limits, and of course the lens also has limits. Now let's assume that this lens can only see 100 million people, and our game console supports 100 million people on the same screen."
Without waiting for Luo Yi to ask, he said non-stop.
"Then the question is, what about the 9.9 billion people outside the camera? Where did they go?" Luo Yi was stunned by this question for a while and answered with a weird expression. "Of course they are outside the camera.
"
"Smart!" Wu Xinghuan gave a thumbs up and grinned, "It's a pity that we only saw the surface...The truth is that they are all in the quantum state."
"You know they exist, and the host also acquiesces that they do exist, and even each of their names is recorded, but they are not actually generated directly in our program, right? Or they are saved in the cache,
Only when we move the camera over will they be generated in real time and be seen by us." "People in the old era used this method to make games at low cost, as long as the perspective is limited to a certain range and cleverly
Using screen loading, you can create a planet with just a few textures."
"I can probably understand what you mean," Luo Yi frowned and said, "But what does this have to do with the situation we are facing now?"
Wu Xinghuan did not answer directly, but knocked over the cup on the bar. Looking at the stunned Luo Yi, he said slowly.
"Now there is an explosion outside the camera, and it really happened. You have even seen the number of casualties, the aftermath of the explosion, and the subsequent effects... But did the explosion really happen?"
"Do you still need to ask?" Luo Yi looked at him in confusion, "You said it yourself, there was indeed an explosion there."
"I am the host, I am the narrator, and I am telling you about the explosion." Wu Xinghuan stared into his eyes and said with a smile, "But what you should know is that before you move the camera over, the special effects of the explosion, people
The screams and what someone saw and did before they died were not actually generated on my program, were they?"
"Perhaps when the explosion happened, some guy was gesturing his middle finger to you outside the game. I bet you would be amazed when you saw it, because a certain NPC not only awakened to self-awareness but also broke the fourth wall.
...But you have no chance to see it, because when you move the camera over, you may not even be able to find his body."
Luo Yi looked at him blankly, vaguely seeming to have understood something.
"Event horizon," Wu Xinghuan slowly spit out a word from his mouth, and then said, "We call the space-time interface where an event can just be observed the 'event horizon', and in this exaggerated example, the angle of your lens
The edge is what I call the horizon."
"And for us sitting here, we in the hyperspace channel are just outside the "event horizon". Including the kid who went astray, we are all put into a world that is impenetrable to the outside world.
Black box. Our ending is an established fact for him, and his ending is irrelevant to us, because no matter what he tells us or what happens in the future, we are already dead in his timeline."
When he said this, Wu Xinghuan smiled to himself again.
"The universe is much crueler than we imagine, isn't it? According to this theory, no matter what we do at this moment, it is meaningless, even if we carve words on the wall and write down our legendary experiences,
Whatever should be erased will be erased.”
"Perhaps we have encountered time travelers countless times in history...but there is no exception. They are just like the NPC I mentioned standing outside the camera and gesticulating the middle finger at the player. No one knows that he has broken through time.
The fourth wall was broken. When the God who was overlooking us came back to his senses, he had been completely erased. And the reason is exactly the result we saw...because we had never heard of this time traveler at all."
Luo Yi couldn't help but hold his breath, and after a long time he slowly said, "But...how did we get in?"
Just because of hyperspace travel?
But since the outbreak of this war, we have experienced countless hyperspace voyages, and we have never heard of any starship encountering something like this...
etc.
It's not necessarily that they haven't encountered it before.
A drop of cold sweat slowly ran across Luo Yi's forehead and dripped on the bar of the bar. Maybe someone had met him before, but no one knew about it.
It's like no one knows what the afterlife is like, whether it's reincarnation or going to a place called heaven. They have only one piece of information left to the outside world - or "inside the horizon".
That is undisputed death.
"How did we get in? Haha, only God knows how we got in."
Wu Xinghuan laughed out loud, looked at Luo Yi who seemed to be enlightened, and said slowly, "This kind of thing is not important at all. Maybe a big explosion killed us all in an instant, but we don't
Just know it..."
When he said this, he burped, drunkenly stared into Luo Yi's eyes, and said every word.
"So why did I say you were doing something meaningless? Because that guy was telling the truth! We may have... no, it's not possible, it's certain!"
"We are dead!"
"And you and I sitting here...are just ghosts." There was silence at the bar.
Only the bionic robot wiped the cup skillfully and made a chirping sound.
Luo Yi stared at Wu Xinghuan blankly, stared at that face for a long time, and finally looked at the robot bartender. "...Two glasses of the fountain of life."
The android bartender said in a gentle voice.
"I don't recommend that you drink alcohol during duty hours, especially strong cocktails." "But you gave it to him." Luo Yi pointed at Wu Xinghuan sitting next to him. A troubled look appeared on the face of the android bartender.
"But this gentleman said he was from the Fifth Department, and you all said that the Fifth Department didn't have to work..." Luo Yi's brows twitched, but he still said calmly.
"I'll give him what he wants."
This statement seemed to be recognized by the android bartender, and two glasses of clear and transparent spirits were quickly placed on the bar. Luo Yi pushed one of the glasses in front of Dr. Wu, and then sprinkled a few grains of salt into his own glass.
"Everything you said is just your inference. I can also speculate that we are actually on different timelines...just like that parallel universe theory."
Wu Xinghuan shrugged.
"You don't understand what the parallel universe theory is at all. If you really understood it, you would know it. It is actually no different from what I said. The fate of our part of time and space is doomed, almost doomed -"
"I think there is a difference. The difference is that I am still breathing, I still have a heartbeat, at least now I am still alive." Luo stared at his eyes intently and continued word by word, "A living person is
You should do the things of living people, and leave things after death to other living people to think about."
"But I have to apologize for my previous prejudice. It's not that you haven't done anything. In fact, you have done far more than any of us."
In front of the surprised Dr. Wu, Luo Yi drank all the strong wine in the cup and stood up with his hands on the table.
"There are still things I can do. Although it may seem meaningless to you, I don't want to give up just like that." Just as he was about to leave, monotonous applause suddenly came from the door of the bar.
Including the android standing behind the bar, the three of them looked at the door and saw their captain standing there.
"Hello, Mr. Captain." The android behind the bar greeted with a smile.
As for Wu Xinghuan, he hid the wine glass behind his back in embarrassment, and then slid off the bar stool. Because right behind the captain, his cousin Wu Mengke was standing.
He could already feel the sharp eyes staring at his drunken self. "Well said."
Zhao Tianhe put down his applauding hands, nodded towards the android bartender, and then looked at the two people standing in front of the bar with a smile. "This is the attitude that a People's Federation soldier should have, and he will never do it until the last moment.
Give up." "You're flattered..." Luo Yi said solemnly after giving a military salute.
Zhao Tianhe simply returned the military salute, then looked at a guy who couldn't stand up straight because he was drunk, and continued with a smile.
"Dr. Wu, I noticed that when you mentioned "our destiny is destined," you used the word almost." "That's it..." Avoiding Wu Mengke's sharp eyes, Wu Xinghuan touched the bridge of his nose.
Said awkwardly.
Zhao Tianhe said with a smile.
"So there is actually a way to change it, right?" Wu Xinghuan was stunned for a moment.
Before he could speak, the captain paused for a moment and continued.
"For example... keep the established future unchanged and only change the unknown part." Wu Xinghuan said with a wry smile.
"But how is this possible..." Zhao Tianhe looked at him and said.
"Gemini is the sister ship of Orion, and we share the same design drawing." Wu Xinghuan looked at the captain with a strange expression.
"what do you mean……"
Zhao Tianhe said logically and clearly.
"The spacecraft that hit us does not have interstellar cruising capabilities. We reasonably suspect that the location of the accident was near the earth...at least somewhere that can be reached by a working medium engine."
Wu Xinghuan glanced at Luo Yi who was standing next to him. Seeing the latter nodding, he whispered, "It seems...that's it."
Not paying attention to his little move, Zhao Tianhe continued.
"And we are in a hyperspace channel. According to what I understand, a hyperspace channel should have no end and starting point in the classical sense of space, only the end and starting point in the concept of time... Am I right?"
"It's not accurate, but that's pretty much what it means. The distance between us and two massive celestial bodies cannot be calculated... Wait, what do you mean -" Halfway through, Wu Xinghuan's eyes suddenly widened.
, looked at the captain in astonishment.
Zhao Tianhe looked at him and expressed his hypothesis.
"Is there a possibility that this time traveler who claims to have boarded the Orion actually doesn't know whether he is on the Orion or the Gemini?"
Luo Yi frowned and asked.
"But hasn't the Gemini already returned?" Zhao Tianhe raised his hand to interrupt him.
"They were sunk, and they were sunk by us." The air in the bar was eerily quiet.
Luo Yi and Wu Xinghuan were both stunned on the spot, and then the former subconsciously looked at Wu Mengke, the second in command of the starship and the administrative officer standing behind Zhao Tianhe.
There was no expression on that face, and there was no trace of surprise. It was obvious that the captain was not talking nonsense.
Luo Yi's Adam's apple moved, and he stared at Zhao Tianhe in disbelief, the officer he once respected so much. "...Why?" Zhao Tianhe looked at the young soldier, sighed slowly, and said in a complicated voice.
."Because...we have to do it."
"You...killed someone..." Wu Xinghuan looked at his cousin blankly, and squeezed out the last half of the sentence from his trembling lips, "Three thousand people?"
His eyes were staring at her, but this time she looked away, not looking at her brother. Zhao Tianhe coughed lightly, breaking the stiffness in the air.
"We must prevent the Air and Space Force from committing crimes. As for the specific process... everything is recorded on the black box. When I return to the space station at Lagrange Point, I will accept the arrest and explain my actions to the military court. In addition, this is
My decision alone has nothing to do with all of you."
"In short, the water behind this 'accident' is very deep. I don't want to bring shame to my glory, but we have to make a choice. If we don't take action, not only will we die, but many people will die, including many
What a survivor who has managed to survive these three years..."
Luo Yi looked at the captain blankly, unable to accept this scrawled statement.
The Gemini is the sister ship of the Orion, and the personnel on both sides often rotate, and there are many people he knows on that ship.
But now his most respected commander told him...those guys are dead. And they were the ones who killed them.
Or when most people don’t know...
Wu Xinghuan took a deep breath and tried to distance himself from the bad news. He did see some hope——
He muttered in a voice that no one could hear.
"There are two cats in the box... only one is dead, and the other one's life or death is unknown."
"We saw the person who opened the box, but the person who opened the box only saw a dead cat... As long as they are dead, we are alive."
Luo Yi couldn't hear clearly what he was saying and had no intention of listening.
Looking at this lost young man, Zhao Tianhe's slightly weathered face showed a trace of fatigue that had never been shown before, and he slowly spoke.
"I will explain about the Gemini and the orders from the Lagrange Point space station later. Let's discuss how to solve the current problem first."
(Thanks to the leader of "Aurora_" for the reward!!!)