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墨書 Inktalez
The launch time for the Cosmic Airship has been confirmed. In three days, we will take off and officially head to Cosmic Space to uncover all the mysteries. During our waiting days, the Cannon Barrel extending from the direction of Neptune has already penetrated Uranus and Saturn. Initially, we optimistically thought that Saturn, being the second-largest planet in the solar system, could withstand it for a while. However, Saturn's magnetic field had no effect on the Cannon Barrel, and its ring system did not provide any significant protection. Its rocky shell was pierced, and now, through telescopes, Saturn appears as a dispersed grayish-brown star cluster, completely enveloped in irregularly shaped brownish-yellow smoke. A Cannon Barrel has penetrated its planetary core, with countless rocks, ice chunks, and metallic hydrogen floating around Saturn, drifting along with the Cannon Barrel in Cosmic Space.
We can see a massive inverted conical cloud of dust; this is the material ejected after Saturn's core was penetrated by the Cannon Barrel. The center of this cone is Saturn's planetary core. The Cannon Barrel continues to extend, moving much faster than the one coming from the direction of the Sun, and it seems its goal is to connect all planets—no celestial body can stop it.
Three days quickly passed. On that day, the factory housing the Beijing T-1 level Fusion-Powered Armed Airship opened its entire roof. A massive circular platform lifted the Armed Airship gradually into the air. Its enormous hatch opened, and a steady stream of Cosmic Aerospace Fighters slowly entered its belly. After several years of work, this colossal machine finally revealed itself under the sunlight, with its huge oval hull positioned on the launch pad. The only protruding features were two super fusion engines, which were adjusted by all staff to direct their nozzles toward the ground—I realized that this factory was indeed the launch point for the Armed Airship.
"Put it on," my father said after receiving approval to see me before my ascent. He tied a safety charm around my wrist and placed a hand on my shoulder. I could tell he wanted to say something, but at that moment, neither of us could find words.
Zhu Lin stood behind my father. As I released my father to board the ship, Zhu Lin stepped forward and grabbed my hand, her voice tinged with tears: "Be safe; we will always wait for you to come back."
"Don't worry."
"Fengqi, you're the last one."
Mentor Lian Hongbo and Han Li had already boarded the ladder. After hearing General Long's call, they turned back to look at me. Under everyone's gaze, I embraced Zhu Lin voluntarily; for a moment, I was lost in her fragrance and reluctant to leave. But duty urged me back to Mentor Lian Hongbo's side. Half an hour later, as the fusion engines started up, we received precise navigation instructions from the ground team. Everyone immersed in Jelly Liquid felt the true sensation of acceleration as the Cosmic Airship took off—launching began; timing commenced. We would reach three-quarters of the distance to the spatial tear coordinates designated by the ground team at twice the speed of Chang'e 5 during its lunar landing mission—an estimated time of eight hours.
We would wait for them at the entrance of Cosmic String Life to clarify everything with them. If possible, as General Long said, "We humans hope to resolve conflicts peacefully and urge them to cease all destruction of the solar system."
Before we finished accelerating, everyone lay in their respective pods. Once we could move around inside the ship, it would mean we had entered Cosmic Space. I felt an immense thrust enveloped by Jelly Liquid; the entire Life Pod vibrated as it accelerated. A message appeared in my holographic glasses: "Friends, we've been flying in space for half an hour!"
This was our crew's communication group provided by the airship's network service. Upon entering Life Pod after boarding, it felt extremely desolate and oppressive because no one could speak face-to-face in such a confined space while being pressed by Jelly Liquid. Suddenly seeing a human language in this sky far from civilization brought me inexplicable comfort and excitement.
I wasn't alone in feeling this way; soon enough, group chat lit up with greetings from other crew members coming through my holographic glasses. In this real-name group chat, I saw Mentor Lian Hongbo send: "I have a concern now; if we can't negotiate and have to fight instead, will we become eternal sinners?"
"How could that be?"
"Lian, you must believe we can do it."
"If we have to fight, then we'll fight hard!" A message in Russian was translated into Chinese by my eyes as I replied in the group.
"Brothers, good news—we've left the ozone layer," Han Li sent out. "Bad news—those eyes have appeared again!"
"Just in time; in a few hours we'll go greet them!" came another message from that Russian.
Each Life Pod has windows that allow us to observe Cosmic Space outside. Hearing Han Li's words prompted me to open my Life Pod's window and look outside: The sky had vanished; in black space, the Moon appeared larger than ever before against a backdrop of countless twinkling stars—and those eyes! They were positioned on either side of the Moon; this time I saw clearly—the pale phoenix-tail eyes looked like they could swallow our proud vessel whole with just one glance. I felt it observing those two Cannon Barrels; however, at that moment when I trembled and closed the window, I realized it wasn't looking at its own creations.
It was watching us—this ship that was smaller than one eye—almost as if it were waiting for us.
"Lian Dao," I asked in our communication group chat, "I remember you said it's about our size?"
After sending this message, silence fell over the group as if everyone awaited an answer.
Five minutes later, Mentor Lian Hongbo broke through our created stillness and instantly tensed everyone's hearts when he wrote: "With eyes that big... how terrifying is this Cosmic String Life..."
Thus everyone fell silent again as we lay in our Life Pods waiting for artificial intelligence to awaken us. I suddenly grew fond of this feeling of lying wrapped in cotton because once awakened, what awaited us was unclear; we were like ants yearning for survival while foolishly hoping to negotiate with their natural enemies preparing to destroy their nest.
This is simply impossible. My mother has proven that almost impossible means impossible; believing won't change the outcome, and I can't salvage anything.
"Impossible." I closed my eyes, like a condemned prisoner waiting for execution, anticipating the voice of the artificial intelligence.
Somehow, I had another dream, and once again, it was about my mother. It was a scene I had never experienced as a child; she handed me a transparent glass bottle, and I felt my younger self sobbing at that moment. My mother stroked my head and said something I couldn't quite remember, but one sentence stayed with me as I returned to reality: "If you want butterflies, you must take care of them properly and not harm them, okay?"
When I was awakened by the artificial intelligence, that sentence echoed in my mind. The hatch of the Life Pod opened, and like a ghost, I stood up from the Jelly Liquid immersion. Still lost in thought, I reminisced—what did I want in the dream? Was it that Yellow Butterfly? Why had I dreamt of my mother and the Yellow Butterfly twice in a row? What was it trying to hint at?
My gaze was dazed and unfocused; I could barely see the people ahead of me. It wasn't until we arrived at the bridge that I noticed everyone looking up at the holographic screen. I hurried forward; Mentor Lian Hongbo's voice echoed among the crowd: "The Cosmic String Dimension is a dimension independent of us. Whether they can use electromagnetic waves is still a mystery. In my theory, they communicate using dark energy. However, I believe we should keep electromagnetic communication open; perhaps they will use it."
Then Mentor Lian Hongbo stepped out from the crowd. When I asked him what was happening, he pointed to the holographic screen above. As I looked closely, I was instantly startled—this eye had never been so clear! I could even see the patterns on its eyelids; its pupils were glowing white light, but it was definitely not a white light visible on Earth. This kind of luster seemed comparable only to the pale liquid exuded by bones in lime walls. The outline of the eye was drawn in light red, as if sealed with wax from a ring. Upon closer inspection, I realized its overall shape resembled an elegant oval; it looked like a piece of art, making it hard to associate with an evil entity attempting to connect all the planets in the solar system.
"We have encountered him," Lian Hongbo said. "All our calculations and the work of ground personnel have been accurate; we are essentially blocking him at his doorstep now. Our airship is parked right in front of the space tear; this eye is watching us as we watch it. Let's see how we communicate with him."
"Hopefully just talking," I said to the military personnel nearby who were adjusting the fire control system.
At that moment, the crowd stirred; Han Li shouted at me and Mentor Lian Hongbo: "We've received a signal! It's electromagnetic waves!"
"Great!" Mentor Lian Hongbo immediately stepped forward—I felt this wasn't good news.
Although it appeared to be just a panel, the holographic screen on the bridge was the most complete and intelligent device on the entire ship. Its external signal line could receive any signal within one light-year with almost no distortion.
"We have received a communication signal from an unknown source belonging to a stranger; please provide next stage orders," came a voice from the screen.
Everyone looked at Han Li; sure enough, Han Li's status among people was second only to General Long's. "Expand the signal; if possible, translate it into known human signal bands," Han Li ordered.
However, once the signal was expanded, this information required no translation at all. Everyone froze in shock upon seeing the text appear because it was something nobody had anticipated—so simple it was almost unacceptable—just three words and an exclamation mark: "Hello there!"
"He can speak Chinese?!" I exclaimed first.
"Not exactly," replied the AI on screen. "In my text library, each character corresponds not only to other languages but also has corresponding frequency characteristics. The signal sent by the other party matched these three characters' frequency characteristics in my library, which is why I forwarded it."
"So he understands our technology," Han Li pondered before ordering again towards the screen: "Forward our electromagnetic wave frequency message: Hello, we would like to talk to you."
The message was quickly transmitted to Cosmic Space. We looked at that pair of eyes in the holographic screen; they remained still, staring at us. However, as a young person, I could sense a mischievousness and vitality within their gaze.
This time we waited for a long time; everyone appeared like wine glasses placed on a platform in my eyes—their heads swaying slightly with each gentle movement of the Cosmic Airship like fruit wine being poured. No one wanted to speak or move; everyone who boarded had only one wish: to hear back from Cosmic String Life again.
However, fate played tricks on us; my feet began to ache painfully. Mentor Lian Hongbo was the first to look down at his mechanical watch—half an hour had passed without any response beyond that "hello."
"Damn it! What does this mean?!" Han Li shouted angrily, slamming his fist on the control panel. The loud noise startled everyone waiting there back to attention; instantly people began chattering away.
"Why not just blow him up? Why all this fuss?" shouted a European below; his call received support from others as voices rose louder and louder. Seeing things get out of control, I quickly grabbed Mentor Lian Hongbo's sleeve of his astronaut suit. He understood—now we needed both of us to provide reasons for everyone to remain patient based on our expertise; however, being young meant my voice held far less weight than Mentor Lian Hongbo's.
"Everyone calm down!" Mentor Lian Hongbo shouted as silence fell over them again. He continued: "Do not always try to guess their thoughts using human reasoning! If we resort to military force now, please think carefully about possible consequences! Whether they are hostile or friendly will only be revealed once they respond. If they mean well and we strike first, then our chance for peaceful resolution will be completely lost!"
"I agree with Academician Lian Hongbo's words," Han Li said. "We shouldn't use our human inertia to speculate about the other side. Patience and so on, we..."
"What patience? Do we have to wait until the Cannon Barrel penetrates the Earth to determine its intentions?!" shouted a crew member. "Do we have a lot of time left? Just half a month, fifteen days, and Venus will be pierced through! All the planets will be strung together. Are you going to wait until then, Mr. Han?"
The argument shifted everyone's attention to Han Li and the others, and emotions ran high. A divide in thought had emerged among the crew, with two opposing factions becoming increasingly apparent. Even Mentor Lian Hongbo was drawn into it. I stepped back in fear, and at that moment, I looked up to see the holographic screen displaying the universe, where the distance between those eyes suddenly closed significantly, almost touching.
No.
I widened my eyes in an instant and began to discern carefully—this wasn't a pair of eyes; these were two eyes! One was larger and deeper, floating behind what originally appeared to be a single eye!
"Oh no..."
I gasped because this completely shattered my fantasy of the other side—there were two Cosmic String Lives!
"Look at the screen! The screen!" I pushed through the crowd of people shoving each other. "Look at the screen, stop arguing!"
Soon, silence fell instantly as everyone returned to their previous state of shock. The small eye that had been there was slowly turning towards the larger eye, locking gazes. Then our Cosmic Airship's receiver captured a segment of electromagnetic interference. After a brief matching analysis by the artificial intelligence, a long message appeared on the big screen:
"I am very sorry, beings. I, Naga, extend my sincerest apologies for how my child has turned your galaxy into this state. It is my failure in teaching; I repeatedly warned him not to play with such dangerous toys in living galaxies. This mischievous child insisted on finding a living planet behind my back. I am truly sorry; I have only just found my child in a world outside our dimension, and I will take him away."
A child? A toy?
Everyone exchanged glances: our survival as humans was merely a source of amusement for a child's toy.
The smaller pair of eyes disappeared, leaving only the larger eye staring at us. To this day, we cannot imagine what kind of life form they appeared as. Mentor Lian Hongbo quickly pulled me over to Han Li's side and replied to Cosmic String Life Naga:
"Are we just toys for your amusement? We are desperately trying to survive, waiting for an answer like this?"
This time, we quickly received her translated message: "You are not toys; I respect any civilization in the universe. It is my mistake in educating my offspring; I apologize. By the way, I am using what you call dark energy to generate electromagnetic waves for communication, so there will be delays in replies. Please be patient; thank you."
So dark energy can generate perceivable energy on a fundamental level; this realization struck me because I had encountered similar issues while participating in research on String Theory. We—including Mentor Lian Hongbo—had never considered possibilities from this angle.
After reading Naga's reply, our goodwill towards them increased qualitatively; a peaceful resolution seemed within reach. Soon we sent another message: "Then can you help us stop those two Cannon Barrels trying to penetrate our galaxy?"
"We actually... are just animals for them to slaughter for fun in their offspring's eyes," Han Li lamented with his hands on his hips.
All of us stood silently behind him. In an instant, I suddenly remembered my mother from my dreams, tears welling up in my eyes. It turned out I had once been that mischievous child—the Yellow Butterfly whose wings I was about to tear off—becoming who I am now while our fate rested entirely on her respect for life.
The third message appeared, and I leaned forward to read:
"I'm sorry; I can't do it."
"Can't do it?!" Han Li exclaimed angrily. "If you can't do it, we'll still die!"
Then translated text appeared on the big screen: "This is an associated pull-tube firework system. The firework tube originating from your star is decisive; once the pull exceeds 70% and absorbs enough energy, it will automatically extend to its endpoint without control and will periodically launch fireworks. The extended firework tube launched from the edge of your galaxy belongs to it; once it stops extending, it will also stop. However, although it's just fireworks for us, its power is enough to destroy any planet in your universe. My offspring intends for these two firework tubes to extend towards your planet and simultaneously detonate the energy within the Cannon Barrel to shatter your planet. Therefore, I deeply apologize for your planet's irreversible fate."
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