The next day was clear and clear, and the desert was like a rolling piece of khaki silk that stretched to the end of the sky. "Hey!" Opal was debugging a small minecart.
Rickett was wearing an opal overalls suit. He was tall. The miner's suit showed clean ankles behind him, and the sleeves were shorter than the wrists.
"I'm going to look for a place to stay," Recht said.
Opal put down what he was doing and came over and said, "Are you rich? What to eat?"
Rickett: "No, let's think of a way."
Opal: "If you don't eat, you will starve to death in the mountains! Don't go!"
Lecter insisted on leaving, so Opal had to pack some food and pack a blanket for Lecter, followed him out, and the two left the village and walked among the rolling rocky mountains.
Rector glanced at E7.
"My mother made it while she was alive," explained Opal.
Rickett said, "Did your mother crash land on this planet?"
Opal nodded, remembering what she told herself before her death - Opal, leave this planet and go to the vast universe to find the meaning of life.
But he has no money, only a ruined spaceship left by his mother, the tools and materials for maintenance, Opal has inquired about the merchants from the B11 star of Chiyan, and with his current ability, he can't afford to mine for a lifetime. . There may be many secrets about this man. His rescue capsule is something he has never seen before. Can he take him away
Why did Recht come here with a whole body wounded? Where's his rescue capsule? Countless questions filled Opal's mind, and he remembered the day when Rector's body healed, and the rescue capsule disappeared without a sound.
"What is this place?" Rector asked after walking for a full half day.
"Crimson bedrock," Opal said. "The mine has been dug, and there are many caves in the mountains. How long do you plan to live here?"
The rescue capsule is gone, and Rickett has no spaceship. Is it going to be like Opal's mother, who will live here forever? Opal looked at Rector, who was wearing a miner's uniform. He looked stronger than any miner, and might be capable of many jobs.
Recter stood on a cliff and looked down, seemingly satisfied.
"I had a fight with a tough guy near the C47 nebula." Rickett frowned slightly in the dry sandy rock wind and motioned for Opal to follow him: "I lost, almost At his hands. Thanks to a supernova explosion there, I escaped."
Opal asked, "What is a supernova?"
"The dramatic changes before the end of a star's life, it goes through a red giant or a white dwarf, and finally explodes, causing distortions in the surrounding space, possibly forming a black hole," Recht replied.
Opal was confused and asked, "Where?"
"It was 30 million light-years away from B11, and I made a space jump in time to escape here," Recht said.
Opal asked, "Where's your spaceship? Is it ruined?"
Rickett pondered for a moment, as if it was difficult to answer, and finally said: "For now, yes."
Opal thought for a while, and he came up with a bold idea, saying: "Will you repair the spaceship, I have an abandoned spaceship, I think if I can repair it... Wait!"
Rickett walked in the wind, found an abandoned mine, and let out a long breath, as if deaf to Opal's proposal. He glanced at the mine and asked, "Where do you want to go?"
Opal shrugged and said, "I didn't think so."
"I'm not going to overhaul the ship," Rickett said.
Opal sighed.
Satisfied with this place, Recht started to clean up the mine. And Opal still remembered what Recht said last night before going to bed.
"What is a slave?" Opal suddenly asked: "You said, I am a slave, what will happen to the boss of this planet?"
"In this universe, every intelligent being is equal, and they have their own innate freedom," Recht explained. "But a few oppress others for their own benefit, requiring them to act without any principle. Serve yourself, like your work, whether you like it or not, you have to do it, you can't leave it, that's slavery."
"It violates the principles of interstellar labor laws, but the slave owners of this galaxy are very smart. They did not use violence to imprison you, but used trade, material conditions and the isolation of the planet itself to restrict all workers."
"Ferry tickets are sky-high, and you can only dig a lifetime for him, so you are not free."
Opal understands.
My body is imprisoned, but my heart is free, Opal thought.
Rickett's dark blue eyes stared at him, and there seemed to be a look of prying eyes in his deep pupils.
"How can I be free?" Opal asked.
Recht said: "Resist, take up the weapon in your hand to fight, fight, bleed and sacrifice."
"I'm not going to fight," Opal said.
"Then you're going to be a miner all your life," Recht said.
Rickett removed the metal supporting the inner mine. With great strength, he took off a lot of brackets in an understatement. He took it outside the mine and looked at the materials at hand, as if thinking about how to use them.
The yellow sand was rolling on the ground, and the exposed red rock bed had a desolate aura. His cloth robe fluttered in the wind full of yellow sand. Opal said to him, "Can you help me?"
Rector glanced at him, and Opal said, "I mean teach me how to get out of here. I don't have a working spaceship and I don't have any money."
Rickett said casually, "When you start thinking about this, you're already thinking of ways to help yourself, so why not keep it going?"
Opal seemed to understand something.
What Recht said had a great impact on him, as if a light had been injected into his chaotic consciousness, and Opal vaguely felt that he would be an important person who would change his life, and he could not be let go no matter what.
After a long time:
"I'm a star knight." Rector sat down on a stone and said seriously: "Now I have to officially tell you that I need your help, Opal."
Opal confused: "What is the star knight?"
He looked at the man in front of him. He had thick eyebrows and fair skin. When he sat upright, he was as tall as a mountain, with a high nose bridge and warm lips. His eyes were like stars in the sky, spotlessly clean.
Rector thought for a while, then said, "Help me get out of here."
Opal took the initiative: "I can lend you my spaceship as long as you can drive it."
Rickett shook his head and said, "No, I don't need a spaceship, I just need energy, a lot of energy. Can you try to get me a red spar? About half a million energy units."
Opal was taken aback and said, "I can't do it!"
"Then I'll figure it out myself, please don't tell anyone what happened to me here," Recht said.
Opal said: "I try, you only have this request?"
Rickett thought for a while and said, "I still need water and food, and in return I'm willing to teach you something."
Opal was stunned and asked after a while, "Teach me what?"
Recht said: "It depends on your qualifications. There is no way to promise now. Do you know how to read? I think your E7 can read information magazines. You should know how to read."
Opal nodded immediately and said, "Yes, my mother taught me, I will find you a spar mine, and I will work hard."
Rickett pointed to the cave and said, "I will be here to recover from my injuries during this time. You can come and find me at any time."
Rector stayed in the cave, and Opal went back to his hut. He put the E7 on the table and thought about it for a long time. The bell rang, and the miners came out of their residence and followed the tunnel to work.
Opal was wearing a hard hat, and his headlights illuminated the flickering underground space.
"You know what?" Opal said to his partner Locke, "We are slaves."
Locke absentmindedly said: "Yes, the slave of money and material things."
Opal asked: "You never thought that one day you would be able to leave here?"
Locke replied: "Of course, save enough money and go."
"The money is always not enough." Someone echoed: "They say that the prices outside are getting more and more expensive, I don't know who is working for, who is working for, and I am so busy that I can't even buy a passport, can you? What to do? Let’s dig honestly.”
"Opal." A tall and thin man came over and asked, "How much have you saved?"
This man is the captain of their mining team. There are five people in the team, including Opal and Locke. The miners live and die together. Because of accidents such as landslides, explosions, etc., the entire team is often trapped. Inside, each team is a special small group with deeper feelings than others.
But not long ago, two old miners suffered from a serious underground disease and could no longer participate in the cave operation, so they could only wait outside to pull the mine. The foreman did not regroup them, and used the remaining three-person team as five people. So Opal, Locke and Oman as the captain were left in the team. The stronger opal is responsible for cutting the minerals, while the Rock and Oman are loaded and transported.
Oman has a sister named Anya, who is responsible for making bread for many people and doing some hand work. Oman's only wish is to buy a ferry ticket and send his sister away, so that she will no longer suffer with them on this planet, after all, she is sixteen years old.
"150,000 energy units." Opal said without raising his head: "What's wrong?"
Locke asked: "Oman, do you want to scrape together the money to buy the ticket?"
Aman said: "I heard from the merchants that there are many places in the Chiyan galaxy that invite waiters. They like to let people order food and serve dishes. Anya can sing. I want her to issue a pass and buy a boat. Tickets, get a job on the Crimson Star."
Locke said, "The ticket is now 800,000 yuan. How much do you have?"
Opal said, "You only have two hundred thousand energy units, Oman."
Aman nodded, and Locke said, "How are you going to give it back to us?"
Aman said: "Anya said that she is willing to stay on Crimson Star, provided that she can find a job, work part-time to earn money, save the money, and then entrust someone to bring it to us."
Locke whispered: "I heard that everyone who leaves B-11 must sign a contract first, and can no longer contact people here, and can't tell the story here, is it true?"
Aman said: "Impossible! She is my sister! Where did you hear that?"
Opal used a magnetic drilling machine to vibrate against the wall of the mine, shaking the red spar ore down. Locke pushed the mine cart to load it in the back. Opal thought about the alien visitor all day. , what the man said.
The magnetic drill is stuck.
"Be careful!" The foreman slapped Opal on the head and shouted rudely, "You can't afford to sell it."
Aman immediately blocked the foreman's hand and said, "I will pay attention, don't hit my team!"
Opal looked at the foreman angrily, and Locke hurriedly apologized and motioned Opal to move on.
Locke said as he walked, "You're still not enough."
"Yeah, not enough," Aman said absently. "Or wait a few more years."
The mine tunnel was opened, and the dirt fell rustling from the top of the head, and Opal breathed a sigh of relief.
"The mines here have been dug out." Opal said: "Oman, how much do you need in total?"
"Change direction." Locke looked down at the map.
Aman said: "If we add it all together, if we have a million energy units, maybe it will be enough. I heard from businessmen that working on the crimson planet has to pay an introduction fee. If you don't use a career agency, say Maybe it can be cheaper. Forget it, think about it in a few years.”
At noon, several miners gathered in one place to rest, have lunch, and exchange their work progress. Someone dug up a body in the depths of the new mine. It was a worker who died in the mine collapse a long time ago.
The planet was being hollowed out, and they had to explore along the formerly dangerous terrain.
Opal has been thinking about the 500,000 energy units that Lecter needs, 500,000, and a kilogram of high-quality red spar is ten energy units, and Lecter needs the energy after purification of 50 tons of ore. .
So much energy, where to inject it? Does he have a load
Before the sun went down, Opal dragged a small car of mines out of the tunnel, which contained the mines he left behind. The B11 star was not strictly managed. Overweight ore can't be taken away. In such a barren planet, except for ore, which is ore, and even metal can't be extracted, can it still be used as a spaceship to escape
Opal banging, he came back very early today, the sky was clear and there was no sign of a sandstorm. He pulled the mine car away from the miner's village and headed to the abandoned mine in the red rock bed.
"Rector," Opal called.
Rector came out of the cave, and Opal handed him a bottle of water and a piece of brown bread.
Rickett said, "Is there a way?"
Opal said: "I only have this spar, but how do I convert it into energy?"
Rickett said: "I teach you, come with me."
There was a strange thing in the cave. It was less than half a meter high and looked like a stove. The bare wires were thrown on the ground, exposing the core.
"I've seen this," said Opal.
He did see this thing in the spaceship left by his mother, but he just didn't know the purpose.
"It's called an atomic furnace, and it's capable of dissolving ore and turning it into a universal energy source for the universe," Recht said.
"What is this?" Opal looked curiously at a round box the size of a palm, and Rickett immediately said, "Don't touch it."
The sixteen wires on the atomic furnace go directly to that round box.
"It's called the Heart of the Universe." Rickett said, "I will explain its function to you slowly in the future."
"I'll help you." Opal stepped forward and poured the spar in together with Recht. Recht activated a button, the spar rolled, smashed, the slag settled to the bottom, and the high-purity spar was aggregated into a small piece Crystallization of energy.
The red light on the crystal flashed and was completely evacuated, and the edge of the round box lit up with a faint light.
"Three percent," Recht said. "There's still a long way to go."
Opal said, "This is all my possessions."
Lecter stared at him and didn't speak. Opal was not distressed because his ore was decomposed in this way. On the contrary, it was a bit of a sense of accomplishment to help him, as if it was his goal - sure that it could be achieved and quantified. The goal.
"How much does it need to be?" Opal asked.
"About seventy percent," Recht said.
Opal said: "And then what happens?"
Rickett said: "This is a part of my spacecraft, which is equivalent to an energy pool. When its energy storage reaches 70%, it will automatically perform mass-energy conversion, repair damaged parts, and I can leave here. already."
Opal wondered: "Do you still have a spaceship? Where is it?"
"I'll show you when there's enough power," Recht said.
Opal didn't doubt his words and nodded.
"What is mass-energy transformation?" Opal asked.
The two sat in front of the cave and shared the opal supper, and Rector absentmindedly broke the bread and said, "The mutual transformation of mass and energy comes from an axiom of invariance in ancient physics, as if you burn Wood can emit light and heat, and radiate to the surrounding continuously. The mass is consumed and becomes disordered heat. Similarly, pure energy can also be converted into matter as long as certain conditions are met. Three hundred thousand energy units are enough to be converted into Repair what the ship needs - the outer shell, the inner core, etc. to break into. Two hundred thousand energy units will allow it to continue sailing."
Opal nodded and said, "You know so much."
Rickett looked at Opal and said, "This is the preliminary knowledge of the Interstellar Union School. After you leave here, you can find a place to go to school. The whole universe has compulsory education."
Opal said, "Will the Interstellar Union School let me in?"
"I think so," Recht said.
Opal sighed, barely half full, lying on the exposed rock bed, looking at the starry sky above.
The night sky was full of stars, and the two were lying side by side. Opal recalled what Recht said yesterday and asked, "You said you were a star knight, what is that?"
Rickett stared at the stars and murmured, "I don't know what a star knight is, and I'm also very confused."
Opal: "?"
"You talk about these stars." Opal has too many questions. In the past many years, he has never had anyone to ask and answer. At this moment, like a child who finally has a teacher, he asked curiously: "He Are we the same here?"
"No." Lecter laughed and said, "Of course it's different. There will never be two identical gravels in the desert, and there will never be two identical stars in the universe."
Opal asked: "What are they like?"
"Blue, gold, orange," Recht said. "Glowing, not glowing, some planets burn themselves, and we call them stars..."
Opal said: "I know this, the ones that don't emit light are called planets, and not all planets have life on them."
Rector nodded slowly, and Opal smiled: "My mother taught me."
Recht praised: "You know a lot, there are many places in the universe, there are hidden stars with very high density, they are called black holes, you can't see it, you can only feel the gravitational force it produces. There is also a substance called Dark energy, it can't even be called matter, it's just a projection of massive objects in the higher dimensional universe, in our four-dimensional space, where dark energy gathers is empty, there's nothing there, but space will be in this projection It bends under the effect, thereby creating a gravitational force."
Opal didn't understand at all: "What? What is that?"
Rickett didn't explain further, he changed the subject and said, "The brightest star on your left is the main star VCU07 of the Chiyan Galaxy."
Opal nodded in confusion, Rickett got up and went into the cave, took out a transparent crystal plate, pressed a button, beep beep, the edge of the crystal plate displayed a line of small characters: X337, Y160, Z19 γ-B11. There is a long series of numbers at the back.
Opal took the board, and Recht said: "The front number represents the planet's position in the universe, γB-11 is its name, and the back number is the current point in time."
"In interstellar voyages, each planet is positioned through three-dimensional space, plus a time coordinate. So this is a self-positioning sky map, try to put it in front of your eyes."
Opal raised the crystal plate, and the blue lines crisscrossed, dividing the starry sky into many small areas, and the stars visible to the naked eye instantly turned into a star map. Each star is marked with a name.
"I've been to a lot of places," Recht said. "I've even been in some stars. Some are full of plants, some are permanently shrouded in lightning and thunder, some are raining all the time, some are Filled with water, like a drop of water in space."
Opal was fascinated, and Lecter added: "Like the stars around Sirius, there are six planets suitable for survival, and the creatures on them are strange and wild civilizations. They are 8,000 lights away from here. year."
Opal said, "What do you mean by light years?"
"It's a unit of length that you don't understand right now," Recht said.
Opal listened with interest and said, "Let's talk about something else."
"The Milky Way, two million light-years from here, has a Perseus galaxy in one of its spiral arms, where civilizations are highly developed, and the planets around this system form a republic, governed by a parliament," Recht said.
Opal heard many unfamiliar words, but did not ask them one by one, but blindly memorized them, Recht said: "The residents of the Republic only need to do a small amount of work to support themselves. Their social welfare is very good, and they are rich in materials. .If you live there, you can get fresh milk from the cows when you wake up every day. The development of science and technology doesn't even require you to do it. Just say a word or connect to a brain wave capturer, and a robot will solve all the problems for you. thing."
Opal said, "Then what do they do?"
Recht replied: "Entertainment, indulge in art and philosophy, and seek the ultimate state of the development of intelligent biological civilization."
Opal said, "I don't understand. Do they have money without doing anything? What if someone gets sick?"
Recht said: "People who are sick are cared for by robots. Those who are willing to work can accumulate wealth by working. Those who do not want to work can enjoy government benefits as long as they complete a small amount of labor quota. Perfect legal constraints Everyone, like the Interstellar Charter of Human Rights - a law that both the Empire and the Republic must abide by."
"It respects the right of every intelligent being to exist, and as long as it is within the republic, it should not be oppressed, at least on the surface, officials claim."
Opal said: "Is the B-11 also in the Republic? Why are we not being treated so well?"
Rickett didn't answer, and Opal asked, "Is it because it's too far away and no one has found it?"
Rickett replied, "Yes."
"If they knew." Opal frowned.
Rickett replied: "Then it's a bet on luck. Maybe the court can be bought with money, or it may not have any effect. There is also a possibility that all the miners on this planet will be silenced."
Opal was silent for a long time, and neither of them spoke.
Opal asked again: "What else? Tell me more."
"In the other direction of the universe, 35 million light-years away from the Milky Way, there is a galaxy in the constellation Leo, which consists of three galaxies, one of which is called M66, which also has a high altitude," Recht said. A developed civilization, which is led by a centralized body that rules nearly 300 billion stars, is called an empire. They believe that there is only one god in the universe and pray to him for guidance.”
"They have a long life and pursue the same philosophy of art and religion. The interstellar bards and singers only sing for the gods. The emperor of the Golden Lion Republic holds a celebration every five years, inviting performers from many small countries to take the stage."
Rickett said: "The emperor was assassinated seventy years ago, and a certain dark force was involved. Some people believe that this was a conspiracy to stir up turmoil."
Opal could hear God, and Recht said: "In addition to empires and republics, there are many small countries scattered among the galaxies, forming their own civilization systems and social rules. For example, the God of War galaxy famous for its mercenaries... It's very late, I'll give you this star map, you can take a look when you go back."
Opal said, "It's something that's important to you, isn't it."
Rickett said: "You're welcome, you saved my life, and I need to give you far more. I'm not someone who likes to give thanks in words. Take it away and don't let others see it."
Opal said: "No no, I didn't save you for your reward."
Rector was silent, staring at Opal for a long time, as if looking at another person through him.
Opal smiled and said, "You..."
Rickett waved his hand and said, "Go back and rest."
Opal said: "I will come tomorrow, I will find a way to bring you more ore."
Rickett nodded and said, "The premise is to protect yourself."
Opal took the board, walked backwards, and said, "Thank you, you told me a lot."