When the XK-1 celestial body passed through the orbit of Mars, it made another "sudden stop" in front of all observers. It took less than 24 hours to increase its flight speed from the original 90km/second.
reduced to 20km/second! This allowed UNISDR and various observing agencies, which were always ready to issue warnings, to make a final and accurate judgment on the properties of this celestial body - this is an aircraft of an advanced extrasolar civilization! If this celestial body continues to
If it travels at this speed, the remaining time for it to reach the earth will be extended from the original seven or eight days to about a month. After the shock was over, people couldn't help but think more and more about its ultimate purpose of entering the solar system. Since Xinghui Company still hasn't made any substantial progress in its research on Eisen, and the data center has no clue about deciphering those symbols, Ding Yushi's self-confidence has almost disappeared. Despite the abnormal deceleration of the XK-1 celestial body,
It seemed to temporarily relieve the tension between her and Gao Tianjun, and made them begin to believe in an inference - since this probe is highly intelligent, it may not hit the earth rashly. But even so, facing such a probe that can travel through
The infinite universe, and the free celestial body that can go straight without being interfered by the gravity of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and other large planets after entering the solar system, cannot help but awe Ding Yushi!
She had a vague feeling that the symbols that appeared on Aisen's phone might be the key to solving all the questions. So she focused more on deciphering these symbols.
She has loved Sudoku games since she was a child, and she considers herself to have certain talents and attainments in logical reasoning. Therefore, in a sense, she is already immersed in it based on her innate interest and will. However, these
There were symbols like a book from heaven, but she couldn't find any inspiration.
After sending Aisen back to Nanbin, the superiors seemed not to care about Ding Yushi's deciphering work anymore, which actually caused an invisible pressure on her mentally.
One weekend in early summer, Ding Yushi was invited by several colleagues to go on a trip to relax. She had long wanted to relax. They took two SUVs, and Ding Yushi was in the same car with a couple. The couple took a
A 6-year-old boy named Kaikai will go to primary school in two months.
Kaikai's parents also work in the data center of the
Smart, Ding Yushi likes him very much.
Kaikai's father was driving, his mother was sitting in the passenger seat, and Ding Yushi and Kaikai were sitting in the back seat. Along the way, the three adults were concentrating on talking about the XK-1 celestial body, while Kaikai was playing with it alone without saying a word.
He carries the small toys he brought with him. He is also like this at home. As long as the adults are talking, he will never interrupt, showing a good family upbringing.
Ding Yushi accidentally noticed the plastic toy in Kaikai's hand - it was a winding "snake-shaped stick" connected by many special-shaped structures.
"Kaikai, what kind of toy is this in your hand?"
"Magic ball. Dad bought it for me."
"I brought that back to him when I went to BJ on a business trip last time," the child's father said. "I saw that this thing was more fun than a Rubik's Cube, so I bought him one."
"Is the gameplay the same as the Rubik's Cube?" Ding Yushi asked.
"There are many kinds of Rubik's Cubes," the child's father said while driving. "The one we usually see most is called the third-order Rubik's Cube. Kaikai's cube is a special-shaped Rubik's Cube. It looks like this when it is opened, and it becomes a spherical shape after it is restored.
The gameplay is different from the three-level Rubik's Cube. It focuses more on training people's spatial imagination."
"Kaikai, can you play?" Ding Yushi teased the child.
"No..." Kaikai pouted and said.
"This Rubik's Cube has never been able to be restored since it was opened by Kaikai," the child's mother said with a smile, "Neither his father nor I can!"
"Really? Can my aunt help you take a look?"
"If auntie can help me recover, I will treat you to KFC!" Kaikai happily handed the "snake-shaped stick" to Ding Yushi.
Ding Yushi held the toy and observed it for a long time before trying to restore it. However, she tried many times without success.
"There must be a gameplay guide for this, right?" She said to herself.
"Yes! There are some online. But it's meaningless if you look at the guide!"
The child's father's words seemed to stimulate Ding Yushi. She made a face at Kaikai and said: "Kaikai, we will definitely find a way ourselves! What do you think?"
"Then if you can't recover, treat me to KFC!" Kaikai said naughtily.
"Okay! That's it!"
...After they returned to the base in the evening, Kaikai got his wish and enjoyed the KFC meal Ding Yushi bought for him.
At night, Ding Yushi lay in bed unable to fall asleep. She was thinking about Kaikai's special-shaped Rubik's Cube. She felt that the dozens of small special-shaped structures looked similar to something - the symbols received by Eisen's mobile phone.
, could it be the structure that forms another "Rubik's Cube"?!
The more she thought about it, the more she couldn't sleep. She looked at the time and saw that it was already past two in the morning. She simply got up, sat down at the desk, took out a pen and paper and kept drawing.
Gradually, a strange excitement surged in her heart...
According to Gao Tianjun’s request, the focus of Xinghui Company’s work is to assist the
Monitor.
Aisen didn't adapt to this new environment, especially the days without Ding Yushi by his side. After a few days, he felt bored.
What bothered him even more was that Ai Bin fell into silence for a long time!
After Aisen returned to Nanbin, Cao Ziming often called him and occasionally visited him. In order to comply with confidentiality regulations, Aisen was inconvenient to talk too much with Cao Ziming, let alone matters related to the earth's crisis.
exocelestial bodies.
Cao Ziming saw that Aisen was depressed, and with Qiqi's instigation, he decided to help Aisen find a girlfriend. He finally got through the work of his shop assistant Xiaoqin, and wanted Aisen to meet her. Who
Zhi Aisen was very impatient and said that he was not in the mood right now.
Xiaoqin was originally a pretty good girl in all aspects and had never had a boyfriend. Now she was rejected without even meeting her. You can imagine how she felt in her heart. For this reason, she stayed there for three days in a row.
She didn't even come to the store to work. Cao Ziming had no choice but to ask Qi Qi to apologize and explain to her in person. Xiao Qin had always treated Qi Qi as a sister, so her heart softened and her resentment disappeared.
After the incident, Qi Qi said to Cao Ziming aggrievedly: "It seems that this is all my fault. I didn't expect Aisen to be so neurotic! Let's not be sentimental in the future!"
"After Aisen came back, I always felt that he seemed to be a different person." Cao Ziming expressed his thoughts to Qiqi. "It turns out that when I mentioned to him about finding a girlfriend, his reaction was not so strong, but now he is touched.
It's like he's lost some nerve, he's obviously angry!"
"Isn't he already in love with someone?"
"You mean... Yushi?!"
"The last time Yushi came to Nanbin and met him for the first time, his eyes looked a little weird!"
"Really?" Cao Ziming recalled seriously, "I didn't see it. Maybe it's possible! You can ask Yushi later. If she doesn't like Aisen, it will save us the trouble of meddling! But," he
Then she became worried again, "Yushi didn't meet us when she sent Aisen back this time, and she didn't even make a phone call... I don't know what happened between her and Aisen! Could it be that she has given up on Aisen?
Too wild?"
"Yushi is not such a person! Whatever she decides to do, she will not give up easily if there is no result. I understand her!"
"But what if this 'no result' is the result? Eisen said that he has not dreamed about Ai Bin for a long time. Now it seems that this has simply become a worry that bothers him!"
In the evening, Qiqi chatted with Ding Yushi on her mobile phone for a while. She wanted to test Ding Yushi's feelings for Aisen. Ding Yushi was noncommittal, but she told Qiqi that she was still paying attention to Aisen's feelings.
The research and deciphering work has not ended, it just takes time. She also suggested that Qiqi and Cao Ziming contact Aisen more. Only by making him feel that everything is normal and there is no burden, will the research work be helpful.
"She kicked the ball back!" Qiqi muttered to Cao Ziming.
On May 10th, Base X, together with many astronomical observation institutions around the world, once again witnessed a major eye-popping spectacle: the celestial body numbered XK-1 suddenly began to "brake" rapidly from 10 a.m.
By around 12 noon, its flight speed had dropped sharply from 20km/s to 0, and its position when it stopped was about 0.2 astronomical units from the earth's orbit; however, just a few minutes later, it returned almost perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.
Flying away at an angle, and the speed is increasing rapidly - 100km/s, 300km/s, 500km/s, 800km/s... That night, according to the final observation and calculation results of the Webb Space Telescope located at the L2 Lagrange point of the Earth and the Sun
, the speed of XK-1 celestial body has reached an astonishing 3000km/second!
On the same day, another phenomenon also attracted great attention - just before the XK-1 celestial body decelerated, the "China Sky Eye" FAST radio telescope located in Pingtang, Guizhou received a set of radio signals from the direction of the Cygnus constellation.
A mysterious radio pulse signal of less than 10 milliseconds!
"Is this group of FRBs a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization to the XK-1 celestial body?!"
That night, at an impromptu incident analysis meeting convened by Li Zhanxiong, Gao Tianjun boldly put forward this hypothesis.
"According to the situation report sent by the FAST base, the set of FRB signals they received lasted less than 10 milliseconds. However, the XK-1 celestial body began to brake almost at the same time as this set of signals appeared, and then quickly
Just change orbit and fly away, I believe there is very likely to be some kind of connection. Unfortunately, at present we only know that this set of FBR signals comes from the direction of Cygnus, but we cannot yet determine its source."
The participants were all staring intently at the large screen, which displayed the real-time trajectory of the XK-1 celestial body as it flew out of the solar system. Since its speed has now reached 1% of the speed of light, the screen display range has expanded from the orbit of Mars to asteroids.
With peripherals.
People can intuitively see that the orange-red trajectory representing this unknown celestial body turns an almost standard right angle in the solar system, is perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, and extends toward the boundless deep space...
"It looks a bit like 'Oumuamua!" Li Zhanxiong said, "We haven't figured out what 'Oumuamua is yet, and now this XK-1 celestial body has opened our eyes again!"
"There is a phenomenon that needs our attention!" Gao Tianjun said. "In the past, exoplanets such as 'Oumuamua and 'Borisov' entered the solar system at angles almost perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, which is also consistent with
The logic of entering from the galactic disk of the Milky Way. However, the angle at which the XK-1 celestial body entered the solar system this time was parallel to the ecliptic plane. And coincidentally, the moving positions of the major planets in the solar system in the first half of this year, except for Mercury and Venus,
All on the same side of the sun! We already know that the orbit of this exoplanet almost passes Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, and is within a stone's throw of the Earth. Is this a coincidence, or is it intentional?
”
"You mean, it's similar to a 'scout'?" Li Zhanxiong asked.
"This possibility is very high! Now, it may have completed its reconnaissance mission to the solar system and returned after receiving instructions!"
"At least it won't hit the earth again." Someone joked in a low voice in the corner of the venue.
As of 20:00 that day, neither the IAWG nor UNISDR had released any news on this matter. International astronomical agencies are still closely tracking and monitoring the status of the XK-1 celestial body.
Before the incident analysis meeting ended, Li Zhanxiong received a notice from the National Space Administration, asking him to represent China at a research meeting held next week at the ESA headquarters in Paris, France. The core content was about the intrusion of the XK-1 celestial body.
Li Zhanxiong knows that almost everyone now has a common question: If the XK-1 celestial body is a probe of an advanced extrasolar civilization, then why did it suddenly leave when it was about to arrive at the only planet with human civilization in the solar system?
Go?!
After the meeting, Li Zhanxiong stayed with Gao Tianjun and said to him alone:
"Tianyi, although the early warning of the XK-1 celestial body has come to an end today, it has actually brought greater pressure to us. Because all our work cannot be recognized from a scientific point of view. We
It's like gambling! Frankly speaking, we can neither believe in theology nor pseudoscience. However, when many things can no longer be expressed and explained by scientific laws, our only choice can only be: respect objective reality.
Facing the challenge of unknown things! I hope you can understand what I mean. Next, you need to pay more attention to the situation in Nanbin. If necessary, you can send Ding Yushi there. This meeting held by ESA is expected to be
The research on XK-1 celestial body has determined a new direction. The Eisen incident should be valuable, so I don’t want to give up!”
Gao Tianjun felt excited when he saw the change in the chief's attitude towards Aisen. Before he could express his position, Li Zhanxiong then warned:
"This is just my personal opinion. Just understand it!"