The Three-Body Problem Part 11

"Who?"

"I have no idea. But I can sense the plan, a very comprehensive, intricate plan: damage scientific research installations, kill scientists, drive scientists like you crazy and make you commit suicide-but the main goal is to misdirect your thoughts until you're even more foolish than ordinary people."

"Your last statement is really perceptive."

"At the same time, they want to ruin science's reputation in society. Of course some people have always engaged in anti-science activities, but now it's coordinated."

"I believe it."

"Now you believe me. So many of you scientific elites couldn't figure it out, and I, having gone only to vocational school, had the answer? Ha! After I explained my theory, the scholars and my bosses all ridiculed it."

"If you had told me your theory back then, I'm sure I wouldn't have laughed at you. Take those frauds who practice pseudoscience-do you know who they're most afraid of?"

"Scientists, of course."

"No. Many of the best scientists can be fooled by pseudoscience and sometimes devote their lives to it. But pseudoscience is afraid of one particular type of people who are very hard to fool: stage magicians. In fact, many pseudoscientific hoaxes were exposed by stage magicians. Compared to the bookworms of the scientific world, your experience as a cop makes you far more likely to perceive such a large-scale conspiracy."

"Well, there're plenty of people smarter than me. People in positions of power are well aware of the plot. When they ridiculed me at first, it was only because I wasn't explaining my theory to the right people. Later on, my old company commander-General Chang-had me transferred. But I'm still not doing anything other than running errands.... That's it. Now you know as much as I do."

"Another question: What does this have to do with the military?"

"I was baffled, too. I asked them, and they said that now that there's a war, of course the military would be involved. I was like you, thinking that they were talking nonsense. But no, they weren't joking. The army really is on high alert. There are twenty-some Battle Command Centers like ours around the globe. And above them there's another level of command structure. But no one knows the details."

"Who's the enemy?"

"No idea. NATO officers are now stationed in the war room of the PLA General Staff Department, and a bunch of PLA officers are working out of the Pentagon. Who the f.u.c.k knows who we're fighting?"

"This is all so bizarre. Are you sure it's all true?"

"A bunch of my old buddies from the army are now generals, so I know a few things."

"The media has no idea about any of this?"

"Ah, that's another thing. All the countries are keeping a tight lid on this, and they've been successful so far. I can guarantee you that the enemy is incredibly powerful. Those in charge are terrified! I know General Chang very well. He's the sort who's afraid of nothing, not even the sky falling, but I can tell that he's worried about something much worse right now. They're all scared out of their wits, and they have no confidence that we'll win."

"If what you say is true, then we should all be frightened."

"Everyone is afraid of something. The enemy must be, too. The more powerful they are, the more they have to lose to their fears."

"What do you think the enemy is afraid of?"

"You! Scientists! The odd thing is that the less practical your research is, the more they're afraid of you-like abstract theories, the kind of thing Yang Dong worked on. They are more frightened of such work than you are of the universe winking at you. That's why they're so ruthless. If killing you would solve the problem, you'd all be dead by now. But the most effective technique remains disrupting your thoughts. When a scientist dies, another will take his place. But if his thoughts are confused, then science is over."

"You're saying they're afraid of fundamental science?"

"Yes, fundamental science."

"But my research is very different in nature from Yang Dong's. The nanomaterial I work on isn't fundamental science. It's just a very strong material. What's the threat to them?"

"You're a special case. Usually, they don't bother those engaged in applied research. Maybe the material you're developing really scares them."

"Then what should I do?"

"Go to work and keep up your research. That's the best way to strike back at them. Don't worry about that s.h.i.+tty countdown. If you want to relax a bit after work, play that game. If you can beat it, that might help."

"That game? Three Body? You think it's connected to all this?"

"Definitely connected. I know that several specialists at the Battle Command Center are playing it, too. It's no ordinary game. Someone like me, fearless out of ignorance, can't play it. It has to be someone knowledgeable like you."

"Anything else?"

"No. But if I find out more I'll let you know. Keep your phone on, buddy. Keep your head screwed on straight, and if you get scared again, just remember my ultimate rule."

Da s.h.i.+ drove away before w.a.n.g had a chance to thank him.

11.

Three Body: Mozi and Fiery Flames w.a.n.g Miao returned home, stopping on the way to buy a V-suit. His wife told him that people from work had been trying to get ahold of him all day.

w.a.n.g turned on his phone, checked his messages, and returned a few calls. He promised he'd be at work tomorrow. At dinner, he followed Da s.h.i.+'s advice and drank some more.

But he didn't feel sleepy. After his wife went to bed, he sat in front of the computer, put on his new V-suit, and logged into Three Body.

Desolate plain at dawn.

w.a.n.g stood in front of King Zhou's pyramid. The snow that had once covered it was gone, and the blocks of stone were pockmarked by erosion. The ground was now a different color. In the distance were a few ma.s.sive buildings that w.a.n.g guessed were dehydratories, but they were of a different design than the ones he had seen last time.

Everything told him that eons had pa.s.sed.

By the faint dawn light, w.a.n.g looked for the entrance. When he found it, he saw that the opening had been sealed by blocks of stone. But next to it, there was now a staircase carved into the pyramid leading all the way to the apex. He looked up and saw that the top had been flattened into a platform. The pyramid, once Egyptian in style, now resembled an Aztec one.

w.a.n.g climbed up the stairs and reached the apex. The platform looked like an ancient astronomical observatory. In one corner was a telescope several meters high, and next to it were a few smaller telescopes. In another corner were a few strange instruments that reminded him of ancient Chinese armillary spheres, models of objects in the sky.

His attention was drawn to the large copper sphere in the center of the platform. Two meters in diameter, it was set on top of a complex machine. Propelled by countless gears, the sphere slowly rotated. w.a.n.g noticed that the direction and speed of its rotation constantly s.h.i.+fted. Below the machine was a large square cavity. By the faint torchlight within, w.a.n.g saw a few slavelike figures pus.h.i.+ng a spoked, horizontal wheel, which provided the power to the machine above.

A man walked toward w.a.n.g. Like King Wen when w.a.n.g had first encountered him, the man had his back against the sliver of light on the horizon, and he appeared to w.a.n.g as a pair of bright eyes floating in the darkness. He was slender and tall, dressed in a flowing black robe, his hair carelessly knotted on top of his head with a few strands waving in the wind.

"h.e.l.lo," the man said. "I'm Mozi."23 "h.e.l.lo, I'm Hairen."

"Ah, I know you!" Mozi grew excited. "You were a follower of King Wen back in Civilization Number 137."

"I did follow him here. But I never believed his theories."

"You're right." Mozi nodded at w.a.n.g solemnly. Then he moved closer. "During the three hundred and sixty-two thousand years you've been away, civilization has been reborn four more times. These civilizations struggled to develop through the irregular alternation of Chaotic Eras and Stable Eras. The shortest-lived one got only halfway through the Stone Age, but Civilization Number 139 broke a record and developed all the way to the Steam Age."

"You're saying that people from that civilization found the laws governing the sun's motion?"

Mozi laughed and shook his head. "Not at all. They were just lucky."

"But the effort to do so has never ceased?"

"Of course not. Come, let us see the efforts of the last civilization." Mozi led w.a.n.g to a corner of the observatory platform. The ground spread out beneath them like an ancient piece of leather. Mozi aimed one of the smaller telescopes at a target on the ground and gestured for w.a.n.g to look. w.a.n.g looked through the eyepiece and saw a strange sight: a skeleton. In the dawn light it gave off a snow-white glint and appeared to be very refined.

Astonis.h.i.+ngly, the skeleton stood on its own. Its posture was graceful and elegant. One hand was held below the chin, as though stroking a long-missing beard. Its head tilted slightly up, as though questioning sky and earth.

"That's Confucius," Mozi said. "He believed that everything had to fit li, the Confucian conception of order and propriety, and nothing in the universe could be exempt from it. He created a system of rites and hoped to predict the motion of the sun with it."

"I can imagine the result."

"Right you are. He calculated how the sun would follow the rites, and predicted a five-year Stable Era. And you know what? There was indeed a Stable Era ... lasting a month."

"And then one day the sun just didn't come out?"

"No, the sun rose that day as well. It rose to the middle of the sky, and then went out."

"What? Went out?"

"Yes. It gradually dimmed, became smaller, and then went out all of a sudden. Night fell. Oh, the cold. Confucius stood there and froze into a column of ice. And there he remains."

"Was there anything remaining in the sky after the sun went out?"

"A flying star appeared in that location, like a soul left behind after the sun died."

"You're sure that the sun really disappeared suddenly, and the flying star appeared just as suddenly?"

"Yes, absolutely. You can check the historical annals. It was clearly recorded."

"Hmmm..." w.a.n.g thought hard about this information. He had already formed some vague ideas about the workings of the world of Three Body. But this bit of news from Mozi overturned all his theories. "How can it be ... sudden?" he muttered in annoyance.

"We're now in the Han Dynasty-I'm not sure if it's the Western Han or the Eastern Han."

"You've stayed alive until now?"

"I have a mission: observing the precise movements of the sun. Those shamans, metaphysicians, and Daoists are all useless. Like those proverbial bookish men who could not even tell types of grains apart, they do not labor with their hands, and know nothing practical. They have no ability to do experiments, and they're immersed in their mysticism all day long. But I'm different. I know how to make things." He pointed to the numerous instruments on the platform.

"Do you think these can lead you to your goal?" w.a.n.g nodded specifically at the giant copper sphere.

"I have theories, too, but they're not mystical. They're derived from a large number of observations. First, do you know what the universe is? It's a machine."

"That's not very insightful."

"Let me be more specific: The universe is a hollow sphere floating in the middle of a sea of fire. There are numerous tiny holes in the surface of the sphere, as well as a large one. The light from the sea of flames s.h.i.+nes through these holes. The tiny ones are stars, and the large one is the sun."

"That's a very interesting model." w.a.n.g looked at the giant copper sphere again and guessed at its purpose. "But there's a problem with your theory. When the sun rises or sets, we can see its motion against the background of fixed stars. But in your hollow sphere, all the holes remain in fixed positions relative to each other."

"Correct! That's why I've modified my model. The universal sphere is made of two spheres, one inside the other. The sky we can see is the surface of the inner sphere. The outer sphere has one large hole while the inner sphere has many small holes. The light coming through the hole in the outer sphere is reflected and scattered many times in the s.p.a.ce between the two spheres, filling it with light. Then the light comes in through the tiny holes in the inner sphere, and that's how we see the stars."

"What about the sun?"

"The sun is the result of the large hole in the outer sphere being projected onto the inner one. The projection is so bright that it penetrates the inner sphere like the sh.e.l.l of an egg, and that is how we see the sun. Around the spot of light, the scattered light rays are also very bright, and can be seen through the inner sh.e.l.l. That is why we can see a clear sky during the day."

"What is the force that propels the two spheres in their irregular motion?"

"It's the force of the sea of fire outside the two spheres."

"But the sun's brightness and size change over time. In your double-sh.e.l.l model, the sun's size and brightness ought to be fixed. Even if the brightness of the flames in the sea of fire is inconstant, the size of the hole would not be."

"Your conception of this model is too simplistic. As conditions in the sea of fire s.h.i.+ft and change, the two sh.e.l.ls will expand and shrink. This leads to changes in the size and brightness of the sun."

"What about the flying stars?"

"Flying stars? Why do you care about them? They're not important. Maybe just some random dust flying about the inside of the universal spheres."

"No, I think the flying stars are extremely important. Otherwise, how does your model explain the sudden extinguis.h.i.+ng of the sun during the time of Confucius?"

"That's a rare exception. Maybe it was because a dark spot or cloud in the sea of fire just happened to pa.s.s over the big hole in the outer sh.e.l.l."

w.a.n.g pointed to the large copper sphere. "This must be your model, then?"

"Yes. I built a machine to replicate the universe. The complex gears that move the sphere simulate the forces from the sea of fire. The laws governing such motion are based on the distribution of flames in the sea of fire and the currents within it. I deduced them from hundreds of years of observations."

"Can this sphere contract and expand?"

"Of course. Right now it's slowly contracting."

w.a.n.g used the handrail at the edge of the platform as a fixed visual reference. He found Mozi's a.s.sertion to be true.

"And there's an inner sh.e.l.l inside this sphere?"

"Of course. The inner sh.e.l.l moves within the outer sh.e.l.l through another complex set of mechanisms."

"Truly a skillfully designed machine!" w.a.n.g's praise was heartfelt. "But I don't see a large hole in the outer sh.e.l.l to cast the sun's light onto the inner sh.e.l.l."

"There is no hole. On the inner surface of the outer sh.e.l.l I have installed a source of light to simulate the hole. The light source is made of the luminescent material gathered from hundreds of thousands of fireflies. I used a cool light because the inner sh.e.l.l is made of translucent plaster, which is not a good heat conductor. This way, I can avoid the problem of too much heat acc.u.mulating inside the sphere that we would have with a regular source of light. The observer can then stay inside for a long time."

"There's a person inside the sphere?"

"Yes. A clerk stands on top of a shelf with a wheeled base that is kept at the center of the sphere. After we set up the model universe to correspond to the current state of the real universe, the motion of the model thereafter should be an accurate simulation of the future, including the motion of the sun. After the clerk records the movements of the sun, we will have a precise calendar. This is the dream of hundreds of civilizations before us.