Aletheia has recently been working hard to repair the broken log information of Vault 53. According to the records left by the main control terminal, it can be seen that the disaster occurred in 2066, and it is already 3020.
Lu Xiao was not sure to what extent human science and technology had advanced in the first season of the Zero Dawn world, whether they had developed genetic drugs that could allow humans to survive for nearly a thousand years, or whether they had adopted semi-mechanical transformation to maintain alternative longevity.
If these messy possibilities are ruled out, Lu Xiao speculates that the person responsible for managing the cradle may not be human at all.
The Faro Corporation's war machines can absorb biological energy to replenish their own energy. They have destroyed the earth's ecosystem, and all animals and plants have been sucked away.
Those crazy robots are not as "gentle" as the mechanical beasts in the wild today. When they absorb biological energy, they can desolate an entire forest in a short time.
Lu Xiao didn't know how the earth recovered from a completely ruined ecological environment, but at least he was sure of one thing.
Even if there were immortal humans, it would be impossible for them to return to the surface despite the harsh ecological conditions, which meant that they, or they, would be trapped in the shelter for hundreds of years.
Being forced to move around in a cramped underground space for a long period of time is unbearable for social creatures like humans.
Just like the unruly protagonist in The Wandering Earth, people living in shelters always yearn for the vast outside world. Even if they wear protective clothing, they still have to venture to the surface to look up at the real starry sky.
Lu Xiao is also very concerned about the level of civilization development of human beings in the second season, which is similar to that of primitive humans.
No matter what countermeasures Elizabeth Sobek takes, they should preserve the complete history of human civilization and leave the most important technological and cultural heritage of mankind to the newly born ignorant descendants.
These primitive tribesmen in the outside world obviously did not inherit the legacy of their ancestors, and could almost be said to be groping and developing from scratch.
At most, they can obtain some high-tech raw materials from mechanical beasts in the wild, but the level of technology contained in these intelligent machines far exceeds the limits of what humans can understand today, and some parts have little effect on the scientific progress of the entire civilization.
With complicated thoughts swirling in his mind, Lu Xiao's steps did not stop.
He remotely connected his personal Focus to the main control terminal of Vault 53, and Aletheia could intuitively witness the entire exploration process through Lu Xiao's perspective.
There is a large amount of high-tech equipment stored in Cradle No. 9. Lu Xiao is not a scientist and cannot know the precise purpose of these equipment.
But through those cabins that resembled cultivation tanks, Lu Xiao basically confirmed what he had guessed when he first entered the cradle.
"Sure enough, the so-called cradle is an artificial womb that nurtures the new generation of humans."
By scanning the remaining voice, text and holographic image records inside the cradle with Focus, Lu Xiao had a general understanding of everything that had happened in Cradle No. 9.
Lucia is the name of a project whose purpose is temporarily unknown, and the cradle is only part of Lucia's plan.
The written records in Cradle No. 9 describe the purpose of this laboratory in detail.
"Quick! Tell me, what are these mechanical equipment used for?"
Faced with Aletheia's urging, Lu Xiao smiled bitterly and spread his hands: "The text message is too long, I will use Focus to send all the documents to the base first, and you can sort and read them later."
"In summary, the cradle preserves all the biological seeds of the earth in the old age."
"Not only frozen human fertilized eggs, but also a large number of plant seeds that have grown on the earth, genetic factors of various animals, etc."
"I also read an interesting term in the document - Apollo."
Aletheia's expression changed: "The god of light and prophecy in Greek mythology?"
"Yes, judging from the context of the document, Apollo should also be the code name of a project. Like Elucia, its purpose is temporarily unknown."
"Um……"
Aletheia thought about it for a moment: "No matter what, you first leave the spatial coordinates in Cradle No. 9 so that you can enter it at any time to dismantle the transportation equipment."
"Continue to explore, maybe our questions will be answered in the core area of the cradle."
…
Half an hour later, Lu Xiao stood silently in a vast computer room.
Hundreds of personal terminals are neatly arranged. After thousands of years of baptism, these personal terminals can still operate normally.
But the significance of their preservation has been lost, and the Apollo program died before it could be implemented.
"Hello, kids."
Lu Xiao activated one of the personal terminals through Focus, and a projection record of a female Arabo woman with a white cloth on her head appeared in front of him, introducing herself with a smile in English with a strong accent.
"I'm Samina Ebaji, the director of the Apollo program."
"Today is an important day. You will enter school starting today."
"There is so much knowledge waiting for you to learn. You will develop your potential here and find your own future."
The record left by the woman who called herself Samina Ebaji only ends here. When her holographic image disappears, a stupid synthesized beep sounds.
"Warning, fault, Apollo is offline."
"Ha~"
Lu Xiao patted his forehead: "Aletheia, I understand why the new generation of humans are so ignorant and primitive."
"I guessed it too."
Aletheia said with a wry smile: "The Apollo project preserved all the knowledge and cultural heritage of human civilization throughout the history. For unknown reasons, Apollo was damaged, and new humans were unable to inherit the knowledge left by their ancestors."
"This is the cemetery of human civilization and the mausoleum of knowledge."
Lu Xiao put her chin on her hand and asked thoughtfully: "Why did Apollo malfunction? Aletheia, can you find out the source?"
"I tried it, and just like the prompt said, Apollo was completely offline and couldn't connect to its database."
"Hey~"
Lu Xiao scratched his hair irritably: "Why was the most critical information not retained? Who is behind the plan to save human civilization?"
"Elizabeth Sobek? Farrow Tedder? Samina Ebaji? Is there a kid with an antisocial personality hidden among the research team?"
Until more clues are obtained, everything is unknown, and Lu Xiao can only give up on this meaningless learning computer room and move on.
…
In the office in the core area of Cradle No. 9, Lu Xiao looked at the silver-white device that was only the size of a palm in his hand speechlessly.
"...Aletheia, are you sure you can't crack this little information recorder?"
Aletheia said with some frustration: "It's a pity, but the answer is yes."
"This information recorder uses a special floating encryption algorithm, and the method of cracking it is constantly changing."
"If I guess correctly, its encryption algorithm should be designed by artificial intelligence."
"In addition to the designer himself, one must possess a specific DNA sequence to unlock it."
"As a reminder, the designer is not the low-level AI that you think can only act according to a predetermined level, but a true artificial intelligence with the ability to learn and improve itself."
"Lu Xiao, congratulations on your guess."
Aletheia sighed and said: "The person responsible for managing the cradle is indeed not a human being, but an advanced artificial intelligence developed by the old humans under the pressure of desperate circumstances."
"The office keeps some documents related to it. We can call this artificial intelligence, Gaia."