Cheng Xin and AA carried the first batch of artifacts to the surface. Other than a dozen or so frameless paintings, they also carried two bronze ritual vessels from the Western Zhou Period and some ancient books. Under standard 1G gravity, they would not have been able to move all these, but with Pluto’s weak gravity, it didn’t require too much effort. Going through the air lock, they were careful to close the inner door first before opening the outer door, lest they and the artifacts be blown into the open by escaping air. As soon as they opened the outer door, the small amount of air inside the air lock turned into a flurry of ice crystals. Initially, they thought the ice crystals were illuminated by the searchlight on Halo, but after the flurry subsided, they realized that Halo’s searchlight had already shut off. Some source of light in space illuminated Pluto’s surface, and Halo and the black monolith cast long shadows on the white ground. They looked up, and backed up two steps with shock.
程心和AA把第一批文物向地面运送，除了拆去画框的十多幅油画，还有两尊西周时期的青铜鼎和一批古籍，如果在1G的正常重力下，她们是肯定搬不动这些东西的，但在冥王星的弱重力一下，搬运起来并不费劲。在通过过渡段时，她们按罗辑的叮嘱，先关上里面的门，再打开通向外界的门，否则她们会同文物一起被涌出的空气吹到半空中。在打开外侧门时，过渡段中的一点空气立刻在冥王星的严寒中被冻成一片飞舞闪亮的冰晶。她们开始以为照亮冰晶的是“星环”号上的探照灯，但当冰晶飞散后，她们发现远处“星环”号上的探照灯已经关闭了，来自太空的光芒照耀着冥王星的大地。使“星环”号和黑色方碑在白色的地面上投下长长的影子。她们抬头仰望，立刻在惊骇中后退了两步。
A pair of giant eyes stared down at them from space.
太空中有一双大眼睛在盯着她们。
Two glowing ovals hung in space, looking exactly like eyes. The “whites” were white or light yellow, and the “irises” were dark.
那是两个发光的椭圆形，其结构像极了眼睛，都有白色或淡黄色的眼白和深色的眼球。
Both gas giants had been two-dimensionalized. Uranus’s orbit was outside Saturn’s, but since Uranus was currently on the other side of the Sun, Saturn had fallen into the two-dimensional plane first. The giant planets ought to look like circles after collapsing, but due to the angle of view from Pluto, they appeared as ovals. The two-dimensional planets showed up as clear, concentric rings. Neptune consisted mainly of three rings: the outermost was blue, bright and vivid, like lashes and eye shadow — that was the atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. The middle ring was white — that was the twenty-thousand-kilometer mantle, which astronomers thought of as a water-ammonia ocean. The dark center was the core, formed of rocks and ice, with a mass equal to the entire Earth. Saturn’s structure was similar, except it didn’t have the outer blue ring.
两颗类木巨行星已经被二维化。天王星的轨道在土星之外，但由于前者目前正处于太阳的另一侧，首先跌落到二维的是土星。二维化后的巨行星应该是圆形，只是从冥王星上看，视线与二维空间平面有一个角度，于是它们在视野中变成了椭圆。两颗二维行星呈现出清晰的环层结构。二维海王星主要有三个环区，最外层是蓝色的环，看上去十分艳丽，像这只眼睛的睫毛和眼影，那是由氢气和氦气构成的大气层；中部是白色环，这是海王星厚达两万千米的地慢，曾被行星天文学家称为水—氨大洋；中心的深色区是行星核，由岩石和冰组成，质量相当于一个地球。二维土星的结构类似，只是外侧没有蓝色环。
“That’s Neptune, and the other one is Ura — oh, no, that’s Saturn!” AA said.
“那个是海王星，那个是天……哦不，是土星！”AA指着天空说。
Both planets had no thickness anymore.
但两颗二维行星没有体积，它们厚度为零。
Each large ring was composed of many smaller rings, full of detailed structures. As they examined the planets further, the two giant eyes now more resembled the rings of a newly felled tree. Around each two-dimensional planet were a dozen or so small circles — moons that had also been flattened. Around Saturn was another faint large circle — its rings. They could still find the Sun in the sky, a small disk emitting faint yellow light. Since the two planets were still on the other side of the sun, their area after collapsing into two dimensions was breathtaking.
每个大环区中还有无数更细小的环区，构成精细的结构。细看时，这两只巨眼变得像两个年轮，刚刚锯断的大树露出的那种崭新的年轮。每颗二维行星的附近都有十几个小圆形，那是它们被二维化的卫星。土星外侧还有淡淡的一个大圆，是二维化的土星环。太空中仍能够找到太阳，仍然是一个刚能看出形状的小圆盘，发出无力的黄光；而两颗行星远在太阳的另一侧，可见它们二维化后面积的巨大。
In the light emitted by these two-dimensional planets, Cheng Xin and AA carried the artifacts across the white landing field toward Halo. The ship’s smooth, streamlined body was like a funhouse mirror, and the reflections of the two-dimensional planets were stretched into long, flowing shapes. The yacht’s profile naturally made people think of droplets, and evinced a comforting strength and lightness. On the way to Pluto, AA had told Cheng Xin that she thought Halo’s hull was probably made up in large part of strong-interaction materials.
在两颗二维行星发出的光芒中，程心和AA搬着文物穿过白色的降落场，走向“星环”号。飞船流线型的光洁机体像一面大哈哈镜，把二维行星的映像拉成流畅的长条，这个外形本身不由得让人联想到水滴，呈现出一种令人宽慰的坚固和轻捷感。在来冥王星的航程中，AA就曾对程心说过，她猜测“星环”号的船体中可能有一定比例的强互作用力材料。
Cheng Xin asked the ship’s AI whether it had received any transmissions from Neptune and Saturn. As soon as she made the request, information windows flooded forth like a colorful avalanche that threatened to bury them. The scene reminded them of the first false alarm of 118 years ago. Back then, most of the information had come from media reports, but now, the news media seemed to have disappeared. Most of the information windows contained no discernible images at all — some were blurred, others shook, and most showed meaningless close-ups. But a few of the windows were filled with patches of gorgeous color which, as they flowed and shifted, revealed complex, detailed structures. They probably showed the two-dimensional universe.
程心问飞船AI，是否能收到海王星和土星方面的信息。她的话音刚落，信息窗口就铺天盖地涌出来，像一场要把她们埋葬的彩色雪崩。这情景让她们想起了一百一十八年前的第一次误报警，不过那一次涌现的信息画面大部分是媒体有组织的报道，而现在，新闻媒体似乎完全消失了，大部分画面没有具体内容，有的一片模糊，有的剧烈晃动，更多的是各种毫无意义的近景；但也有一部分画面被斑斓的色彩所充满，那些色彩都在变幻流动中，呈现出精细复杂的结构，有可能拍摄的是二维平面。
As they approached, the door on the bottom of the ship slid open noiselessly. They carried the artifacts up the airstair and into the cabin, took off their helmets, and took a deep breath in their cozy little world. Relief filled their hearts — without consciously being aware of it, they already thought of the yacht as home.
当她们走近时，飞船底部的舱门无声地滑开，她们沿着舷梯把文物搬进舱里，然后摘下头盔，在这温馨的小天地中长出了一口气，感到一阵归来的慰藉，不知不觉中，她们已经把这里当成家了。
The image was stable, and the field of view wide. The camera was probably at one end of the city, and almost the entire city could be seen.
这个画面很稳定，视野也很广阔，拍摄的位置可能是在太空城的一个极点附近，展现的几乎是城市的全景。
AA asked the AI to filter the images. The AI asked them what kind of information they wanted. Cheng Xin asked for information about the space cities. The flood of windows cleared and was replaced by about a dozen others arranged in order. One of the windows enlarged and moved before the others. The AI explained that this had been taken twelve hours ago at Europe VI in the Neptune cluster. The city had once been part of a combined city that had separated after the strike alert.
AA请求AI筛选出一些有内容的画面，AI问她们想要哪方面的信息，程心说要太空城方面的。泛滥的窗口被瞬间清空，很快出现了有序排列的十几个窗口，其中的一个窗口放大到最前方，AI介绍说这是十二小时前海王星群落中欧洲六号太空城的画面，该太空城原属于一个城市组合体，打击警报公布后组合体解体。
Electricity had gone out in Europe VI, and only a few searchlight beams projected unsteady circles of light onto the city’s far side. The three artificial fusion suns along the city’s axis had all turned into silvery moons, giving out only illumination, but no heat. This was a standard football-shaped city, but the buildings inside the city were very different from what Cheng Xin had seen half a century ago. The Bunker World had prospered, and the buildings inside the city were no longer monotonous and uniform. They were much taller, and each had a unique design. The tips of some of the skyscrapers almost touched the axis of the city. Buildings in the shapes of trees reappeared as well, and they looked about as large as the ones that had been built on Earth, though the leaves hung more densely. It was possible to imagine the city’s beauty and magnificence when lit up at night. But now, only cold moonlight illuminated it, and the tree-buildings cast wide shadows so that the rest of the city appeared as ruins nestled in the shade of a giant forest.
欧洲六号太空城已经停电，只有几束探照灯把晃动的光圈投射到对面的城区，悬浮在城市中轴线上的三个核聚变太阳都变成了月亮，发出银色的冷光，显然只是为了照明而不再发出热量了。这是一个标准的椭球构型的大型太空城，城市中的建筑已与程心在半个世纪前看到的有了很大变化。掩体世界显然处于繁荣时代中，城市建筑不再整齐划一，而是形态各异，高度也增加了许多，有很多建筑的顶端已经接近城市的中轴线。树形建筑也出现了，看上去规模与地球上的差不多，只是挂在树上的建筑叶子更为密集。可以想象城市灯海亮起时的壮丽与辉煌，但现在，照耀这一切的只有冰冷的月光，在这种月光中，树形建筑更像巨树了，投下大片的阴影，城市的其余部分则像是巨树森林中华丽的废墟。
The city had stopped spinning and everything was weightless. Countless objects floated through the air — vehicles, miscellaneous goods, and even entire buildings.
太空城已经停止自转，一切都处于失重状态，城市的空间中飘浮着无数没有固定的物体，除了大量的杂物和车辆外，还有整幢的建筑。
A black belt of clouds appeared along the city’s axis, connecting the two poles. The ship’s AI outlined a rectangular region in the image and zoomed in, creating a new information window. Cheng Xin and AA were shocked to see that the black cloud was formed from people drifting in the middle of the city! Some of the weightless individuals had pulled together into a cluster; some had linked hands and formed a line; but most floated alone. Everyone wore helmets and clothes that covered all parts of their body — most likely space suits. Even during Cheng Xin’s last time out of hibernation, it was hard to tell everyday clothes apart from space suits. Everyone seemed to have a pack for life-support systems — some wore it on their back, while others held it in their hands. But most people had their visors open, and it was possible to see a light breeze blowing through the city, indicating that the city still retained a breathable atmosphere. Many had congregated around the suns, perhaps hoping for more light as well as a bit of warmth, but the light emitted by the fusion suns was cold light. The silvery light shone through cracks in the people-cloud and turned into dappled shadows in the surrounding city.
城市的中轴线上有一条黑色的云带，连绵在整条中轴线上，连接着两极。飞船AI在画面上划出一个小方框进行局部放大，生成了一个新的窗口画面，程心和AA震惊地发现，那黑色的云带竟是悬浮在中轴线上的人海！失重中的人们有的联结成一团，有的手拉手连成一列长队，更多的人则单独浮在空中。人们都戴着头盔，身上的衣服也都很密实，应该是太空服——在程心上次苏醒的时代，轻便宇宙服从外观上就已经很难同普通服装区分开了。每个人都有一个好像是生命维持系统的小背包，或背在背上或提在手中。不过，大部分人的头盔面罩是打开的，也能看出空中有微风吹过，说明城市中仍保留着正常的大气。聚变太阳此时发出的确实是冷光，因为在太阳周围聚集了更多的人，也许是为了得到光明和一丝温暖。已变成月光的银色阳光从密集人海的缝隙中透出，在周围的城市中洒下斑驳的光影。
The transmission wasn’t muted, but Cheng Xin couldn’t hear anything. The people-cloud and the city were both eerily quiet. Everyone looked in one direction. That part of the city looked no different from any other, filled with crisscrossing streets and row upon row of buildings. Everyone waited. In the watery, cold moonlight, people’s faces appeared as white as ghosts. The sight reminded Cheng Xin of the bloody dawn in Australia 126 years ago. Like then, Cheng Xin felt as though she were looking down upon an ant colony, and the black people-cloud looked just like a drifting swarm of ants.
画面的声音播放开着，却没有听到什么声音，人海和城市都处于寂静中。所有人的目光都盯着城市的一个方向，那一带现在仍同城市的其他区域一样，布满鳞次栉比的建筑和纵横交错的街道，没有什么特别的东西，人们都在等待着。在太阳或月亮如水的冷光中，人们的脸色都如鬼魅般苍白，这使得程心想起一百二十六年前在澳大利亚大陆上的那个血色黎明。像那时一样，程心又出现了居高临下看蚁穴的感觉，那黑压压的人海像极了飘浮的蚁群。
According to the ship’s AI, of the six million inhabitants of Europe VI, half had already left the city on space vehicles. Of the remaining three million, some had no way to get off the city, but most understood that any attempt at escape was hopeless. Even if some ships miraculously managed to escape the collapsing zone and reached outer space, most ships had no ecological cycling system to maintain life for long. Access to stellar ships that could survive indefinitely in outer space was still a privilege of the very few. These people chose to wait for the end in a place they were familiar with.
据飞船AI介绍，欧洲六号中的六百多万人口已经有一半乘飞船或太空艇撤离城市，剩下的三百万人中，一部分是因为没有条件撤离，而大多数人是因为明白任何形式的逃离都没有成功的希望。退一万步说，即使真的成功脱离二维跌落区逃到外太空，以现有的大多数飞船上的生态条件而言，生存也维持不了多久，能够在外太空长期生存的恒星际飞船仍然是极少数人的专利。人们选择在自己熟悉的地方等待最后的时刻。
Someone in the people-cloud screamed. A glowing dot appeared at a spot on the city’s equator, the same spot where everyone had been gazing. It was like a small opening in the roof of a dark house letting in the sunlight.
人海中突然响起一阵惊叫，在太空城赤道上的一点，就是人们目光聚焦的那个地方，突然出现了一个亮点，像是黑屋屋顶出现一个小破口透进阳光一样。
That was where Europe VI first came into contact with two-dimensional space.
那是欧洲六号最先与二维空间平面接触的位置。
The light grew rapidly and turned into a glowing oval. The light it emitted was sliced into many shafts by the tall buildings all around, and illuminated the people-cloud on the city’s axis. The space city now resembled a giant ship whose bottom had been breached, sinking in a flat sea. The plane of the two-dimensional space rose like water, and everything that came into contact with the surface instantaneously turned into two dimensions. Clusters of buildings were cut, and their two-dimensional images spread out on the plane. Since the city’s cross section was but a small portion of the entire flattened city, most of the two-dimensionalized buildings had expanded beyond the oval marked by the city’s hull. On the rising, expanding plane, gorgeous colors and complicated structures flashed by and zoomed away in every direction, as though the plane was a lens through which one could see colorful beasts running. Because the city still possessed air, they could hear the sound of the three-dimensional world falling into two dimensions: a crisp, piercing series of crunches, as though the buildings and the city itself were made of exquisitely carved glass and a giant roller was crushing everything.
亮点迅速扩大，成为一个椭圆形的发光平面，这就是二维空间平面。它发出的光芒被周围高大的建筑群切割成许多条光柱，也照亮了中轴线上的人海。这时，太空城像一艘底部破口的巨轮，在二维平面海洋上沉下去。二维平面像船内的水面，迅速上升，与平面接触的一切都在瞬间二维化。建筑群被上升的二维平面齐齐切割，它们的二维形体在平面上扩展开来，由于城内的平面只是二维化后的太空城很小的一部分，二维化的建筑大部分都扩展到太空城的范围之外。在升起和扩大中的二维平面上，斑斓的色彩和复杂的结构闪电般地向各个方向奔流飞散，仿佛二维平面是一个透镜，正管窥着从下面飞奔而过的色彩斑斓的巨兽。由于太空城中仍有空气，这时可以听到三维世界跌人二维时的声音——一种清脆尖锐的碎裂声，仿佛建筑群和太空城本体都是玲珑剔透的玻璃制品，一个巨型碾滚正在轧过这个玻璃城。
Soon, the plane had swallowed one-third of the city, and it continued to flicker frantically as it rose irresistibly toward the axis. Some people had begun to fall into the plane by now. They either fell behind due to malfunctions in their space suit thrusters or they had given up on running. Like drops of colorful ink, they spread open on the plane in an instant, and each appeared as a unique figure in two dimensions. On one of the zoomed-in images shown by the AI, they saw a pair of lovers leaping into the plane while in an embrace. Even after the two had been flattened, it was possible to see the figures in an embrace lying side by side — their postures appeared odd, as though drawn by a clumsy child who did not understand the principles of perspective. Nearby there was a mother who lifted her baby overhead as she fell into the plane, all so that the baby would survive for an extra tenth of a second. The mother and child were also vividly portrayed in this giant painting. As the plane kept on rising, the rain of people falling on it became denser. Two-dimensional human figures flooded forth on the plane, most moving outside the boundary of the space city.
很快，太空城的三分之一被二维平而吞没，平面疯狂地闪耀着，不可阻挡地上升，逼近中轴线。这时已经开始有人跌入平面，他们或者是因为宇宙服上推进器的故障落在后面，或者放弃了逃跑。他们就像落在水上的一滴滴彩色墨水，瞬间在平面扩展开来，展现出形态各异的二维人体。在飞船AI拉出的一个放大画面上，可以看到一对情侣拥抱着跌入平面，二维化后的两个人体在平面上并行排列，仍能看出拥抱的样子，但姿态很奇怪，像一个不懂透视原理的孩童笨拙地画出来的。还有一位母亲，高举着自己还是婴儿的孩子跌入平面，那孩子也只比她在三维世界多活了0.1秒，他们的形体也生动地印在这幅巨画上。随着平面的上升，落在上面的“人雨”渐渐密集起来，被定格的二维人体成群地涌现在平面上，随后大部分移出了太空城的边界。
As the plane continued to rise, the people-cloud began to spread out in the opposite direction, like a curtain being lifted by an invisible hand. The scene reminded Cheng Xin of a massive flock of millions of birds that she had seen once. The flock had seemed like a unified organism changing shape in the dusk sky.
随着二维平面的上升，中轴线上的人海开始向与平面相反的方向扩散，就像一道被无形的手缓缓提起的帷慢。这情景让程心想到她曾见过的由几百万只鸟组成的鸟群的图像，那巨大的鸟群像一个完整的生命体。在黄昏的天空中变换着形状。
The two-dimensional space passed through the axis and swallowed up the three suns, but the light emitted by the two-dimensionalizing process made the world even brighter.
二维平面通过了中轴线，吞没了空中的三个聚变太阳，但在二维化过程发出的光芒中，剩下的世界变得更亮了。
A low whistling sound began: The city was losing its air to space. The three emergency exits along the equator were wide open, each as large as a football field; outside them was the still-three-dimensional space.
一阵低沉的呼啸声响起，这是太空城中的空气泄入太空时发出的声音，这时，赤道上的三个紧急出口已全部敞开，每个出口都有一个足球场大小，直接通向仍然是三维的太空。
By the time the two-dimensional space approached the axis, most of the surviving population had landed against the city’s far side. Half of the city was now gone, and as people looked “up” they could no longer see the familiar city on the other side, but only a chaotic, two-dimensional sky pressing down on the parts of Europe VI that remained in three dimensions. It was now no longer possible to escape from the main gateway at the north pole, so people congregated around the equator, where there were three emergency exits. The weightless crowd piled into mountains around the exits.
当二维平面接近中轴线时，人海已经大部分降落到对面的城市中。此时，太空城的一半已经消失在二维空间中，二维平面的可见面积达到最大，人们抬头已经看不到昔日对面的城市，只见到一片迷乱的二维天空，向着欧洲六号仍处在三维世界的部分压下来。现在，从北极的主要出口逃离已经不可能，人群聚集在赤道附近，这里有三个紧急出口，失重中的人群在出口附近拥挤成高高的人山。
The ship’s AI pushed another information window to the front. This was a feed from space looking down at Europe VI. The two-dimensionalized portion of the space city spread across the invisible plane, making the rapidly sinking, still-three-dimensional portion look minuscule by comparison, like the back of a whale peering out of the vast ocean. Three clumps of black smoke rose out of the city and dissipated in space; the “smoke” was formed from the people blown out by the fierce winds of the decompressing space city. The lonely, three-dimensional island continued to sink and melt into the two-dimensional sea. In less than ten minutes, all of Europe VI had turned into a painting.
飞船AI把另一个窗口推到最前面，这是从外部太空中拍摄的欧洲六号的画面。已经二维化的太空城沿着一个无形的平面广阔地铺展开来，太空城仍处于三维的部分在中央显得很小，且正在迅速向平面沉下去，像一头巨鲸的脊背。在三维部分的太空城上，有三团黑烟一样的东西在扩散，那是被泄漏的空气形成的狂风吹出来的人群。二维海洋中的这座三维孤岛不断地下沉和消融，在不到十分钟的时间里，欧洲六号太空城被完全二维化。
The painting of Europe VI was so vast that it was hard to estimate its exact area. It was a dead city, but perhaps it was more accurate to call it a 1:1 drawing of the city. The drawing reflected every detail of the city, down to every screw, every fiber, every mite, and even every bacterium. The precision of the drawing was at the level of the individual atom. Every atom in the original three-dimensional space was projected onto its corresponding place in two-dimensional space according to ironclad laws. The basic principles governing this drawing were that there could be no overlap and no hidden parts, and every single detail had to be laid out on the plane. Here, complexity was a substitute for grandeur. The drawing wasn’t easy to interpret — it was possible to see the overall plan of the city and recognize some big structures, such as the giant trees, which still looked like trees even in two dimensions. But buildings looked very different after being flattened: it was almost impossible to deduce the original three-dimensional structure from the two-dimensional drawing by imagination alone. However, it was certain that image-processing software equipped with the right mathematical model would be able to.
画面上显示了二维太空城的全景，难以估计它的面积，肯定十分广阔。但这已经是一座死城，甚至可以说是城市的一张1：1的图纸。在这张超级图纸上反映了城市的所有细节，小到每一颗螺丝钉，每一根纤维，每一只蜻虫，甚至每一个细菌，都被精确地画下来，这张图纸的精确度是原子级别的，原三维世界中的每一个原子，都以铁的规则投射到二维空间平面上相应的位置。绘制这张图纸的一个基本原则是没有重叠，没有任何被遮挡的部分，所有细节都在平面上排列出来，显露无遗。在这里，复杂代替了宏伟。读懂这张图纸并不容易，能够看出城市的总体布局，也能够认出一些宏观结构，比如二维的树形建筑仍呈现出树形结构。不过二维化后的建筑结构变形很大，仅凭想象力从其二维图形推测出原来的三维形状几乎不可能，但毫无疑问，以正确的数学模型为基础的图像处理软件应该能够做到。
In the information window, it was also possible to see two other flattened space cities in the distance. The cities appeared as perfectly flat continents drifting in dark space, gazing at each other across the plane. But the camera — perhaps located on a drone — was also falling toward the plane, and soon the two-dimensional Europe VI filled the screen.
在画面上，还可以看到远处另外两座被二维化的太空城。它们已经不再发光，这些二维城市像飘浮在漆黑太空中的没有厚度的大陆，在无形的二维平面上遥遥相望。但摄像机（可能是在一艘无人太空艇上）也在向二维平面跌落，很快，二维的欧洲六号占据了整个画面。
Close to a million people had escaped Europe VI via the emergency exits; now, caught by the three-dimensional space around them collapsing into two dimensions, they fell toward the plane like a swarm of ants caught in a waterfall. A majestic rain of people fell onto the plane, and the two-dimensional human figures in the city multiplied. Flattened persons took up a lot of area — though still minuscule compared to the vast two-dimensional buildings — and resembled tiny, barely man-shaped marks in the immense picture.
那些从紧急出口逃离了欧洲六号的上百万人，此时也随着向二维跌落的三维太空坠向平面，就像在无形瀑布中的蚁群一样。磅礴的“人雨，’撒落在平面上，使二维城市中的人形迅速密集起来。二维化的人体有很大的面积，但与广阔的二维建筑相比则十分微小，像这张巨画中无数刚能看出人形的小符号。
More objects appeared in three-dimensional space in the information window: the skiffs and dinghies that had left Europe VI earlier. Their fusion reactors were operating at maximum capacity, but they still fell inexorably toward the plane. For a moment, Cheng Xin thought the blue flame of the fusion drives penetrated that depthless plane, but the plasma had simply been two-dimensionalized. In those areas, the two-dimensional buildings were distorted and twisted by the two-dimensional flames. Next, the skiffs and dinghies became part of the giant drawing. Obeying the no-overlapping principle, the two-dimensionalized city expanded to give these new objects space, and the whole image resembled spreading ripples on the surface of a pond.
画面中的三维太空里出现了许多更大的物体，那是更早的时候飞离欧洲六号的小型飞船和太空艇，它们的聚变发动机都开到最大功率，但仍在跌向二维的三维空间中向着平面无助地坠落。有一瞬间，程心感觉飞船和太空艇喷出的长长的蓝色烈焰能够烧穿那没有厚度的平面，但等离子体射流只是首先被二维化了。在那些区域，二维建筑物被二维火焰烧得变形扭曲，紧接着，飞船和太空艇纷纷成为巨图的一部分，按照不重叠的规则，二维城市整体扩大为它们让开位置，看上去像是在平面上激起的水波扩散开来。
The camera continued to fall toward the plane. Cheng Xin stared at the approaching two-dimensional city, hoping to find signs of movement in the city. But no, other than the distortion caused by the plasma flames earlier, everything in the flat city was still. Similarly, the two-dimensional bodies did not move at all, and gave no signs of being alive.
摄像机继续向平面坠落，程心紧盯着越来越近的二维城市，想在城中找出活动的迹象，但是没有，除了刚才在火焰中的变形外，二维城市中的一切都处于静止状态，那些二维人体同样一动不动，没有任何生命的迹象。
Cheng Xin and AA began their second trip to retrieve more artifacts. They both felt the mission was likely to be meaningless. After observing the two-dimensionalized cities, they understood that the process preserved most of the information from the three-dimensional world. Any information loss would be at the atomic level. Due to the nonoverlapping principle used in projection, the flattened Pluto’s crust wouldn’t be commingled with the artifacts in the museum, and so the information in the artifacts should be preserved. But since they had accepted this mission, they would finish it. Like Cao Bin said, doing something was better than doing nothing.
程心和AA开始第二趟文物的搬运。她们现在都感觉这么做可能意义不大，因为看到二维城市后她们知道，二维化的过程能够保留三维世界的大部分信息，即使有信息丢失也是在原子级别上的。由于不重叠的映射规则，二维化后冥王星的地层不会与博物馆中的文物混杂在一起，文物的信息应该能够保留。但既然承担了这个最后的使命，她们也只能做下去，正如曹彬所说，现在有事情做比单纯等待要好些。
This was a dead world. A dead picture.
这是一个死的世界，一张死的画。
The camera moved still closer to the plane, falling toward a two-dimensional body. The body’s limbs soon filled the whole image, and then came the complicated patterns of muscle fibers and blood vessels. Perhaps it was just an illusion, but Cheng Xin seemed to see red, two-dimensional blood flowing through two-dimensional blood vessels. In a flash, the picture was gone.
镜头继续向平面接近，坠向一个二维人体。那个四肢张开的人体很快充满了画面，紧接着闪现出复杂的血管经络和肌肉纤维，也许是幻觉，程心似乎看到那二维化的血管中还有红色的二维血液在流动，但仅仅一瞬间，图像消失了。
“Is that the asteroid belt?” Cheng Xin asked.
“那是小行星带吧？”程心问。
“Mars is on this side of the Sun right now.”
“火星现在在太阳的这一侧呢。”
They exited Halo and saw the two flattened planets still suspended overhead, but now they were much dimmer. This made the new long, glowing belt that appeared below the planets even more noticeable. The light belt went from one end of the sky to the other, like a necklace formed from numerous individual glowing spots.
走出飞船，她们发现两颗二维巨行星仍悬在太空中，但变暗了许多，这使得它们下方新出现的一长条光带显得十分醒目。那条光带是由无数单独的小光斑连成的，连绵着横贯整个天空，像太阳系的一条新项链。
“Yes. Mars will be next,” said AA.
“应该是，下面该轮到火星了吧。”AA说。
The two fell silent. Without looking at the flattened asteroid belt, they walked toward the black monolith.
程心最后这句话让两人沉默下来，她们不再看二维化的小行星链，默默地向黑色方碑走去。
In the great hall of the museum, they saw that Luo Ji had already prepped a bunch of additional artifacts for them. Many of them were Chinese-brush-painting scrolls. AA unrolled one of them: Along the River During the Qingming Festival.
再次进入博物馆大厅时，她们看到罗辑已经整理好了一批要搬运的文物，其中有许多中国画卷轴。AA展开了其中的一幅，《清明上河图》。她淡淡地说。
The Earth was next.
下面该轮到地球了。
Cheng Xin and AA no longer had the initial awe and delight of seeing such precious works of art — compared to the grandeur of the destruction in process outside, this was nothing more than an old painting. When future explorers arrived at the great painting that was the flattened Solar System, they would have trouble imagining that this twenty-four-centimeter-by-five-meter rectangle was once very special.
程心和AA已经没有了当初看到绝世珍品时的敬畏和惊喜，在外面那宏大的毁灭面前，这也就是一幅普通的古画而已。当遥远未来的观察者到来时，在二维太阳系这幅巨画中，很难想象这幅二十四厘米宽、五米长的画真的有什么特别的价值。
The Earth was the first solid planet to collapse into two dimensions. Compared to Neptune and Saturn, the “tree rings” in the two-dimensionalized Earth were even more replete with fine details — the yellow mantle gradually shifted over to the deep red nickel-iron core — but the overall area was much smaller than the gas giants.
这是第一个跌入二维的固态行星，与海王星和土星相比，二维地球的“年轮”更加清晰精致，从黄色的地慢渐渐过渡到深红色的铁镍地核，但其面积远小于前两者。
As the three of them carried the artifacts out of the monolith, the sight of a flattening Earth greeted them.
三人搬着文物走出方碑的大门，立刻看到了正在二维化的地球。
Cheng Xin and AA asked Luo Ji to come onto Halo. Luo Ji said he would like to see it, and went to look for a space suit.
程心和AA请罗辑到“星环”号上去，罗辑说他正想出去：就去找了一件太空服。
Unlike in their imagination, they couldn’t see any hint of blue.
与想象中的不同，他们没有看到蓝色。
“What happened to our oceans?” Luo Ji asked.
“我们的海洋呢？”罗辑问。
The three carried the artifacts to Halo in silence. They couldn’t feel the grief yet, like one didn’t immediately feel the pain of a fresh wound cut by a sharp knife.
三人搬着文物箱，沉默地走向“星环”号。悲伤还没有袭来，就像被利刃划开的伤口，一时还感觉不到痛。
“They should be near the outside… But two-dimensionalized water is transparent, so we can’t see it,” AA said.
“应该在最外一圈呢，二维的水可能是全透明的，看不到。”AA说。
But the flattened Earth did show her own wonders. At her outermost rim, a white ring gradually appeared. At first it was barely visible, but soon it stood out sharply against the black backdrop of space. The white ring was pure, flawless, but seemed uneven in its makeup, like it was formed from countless small white grains.
但二维地球还是显示出了她的奇观，在她的最外缘渐渐出现了一圈白色的环，最初只是隐约可见，但很快变得清晰醒目了。那道环洁白无瑕，但质地并不是均匀的，好像由无数细小的白色颗粒构成。
“The water froze in two-dimensional space,” said AA. “It’s cold there.”
“是的，海水在二维空间结冰了，那里也很冷呢。”AA说。
“That’s our ocean!” Cheng Xin said.
“看，那就是我们的海！”程心指着空中的二维地球说。
“Oh –” Luo Ji wanted to stroke his beard, but the visor got in the way of his hand.
“哦——”罗辑想抚胡须，但面罩挡住了他的手。
The three carried the boxes of artifacts onto Halo. Luo Ji seemed familiar with the ship’s layout, heading for the ship’s hold without instruction from Cheng Xin or AA. The ship’s AI also recognized him, and accepted his orders. After they secured the artifacts, the three returned to the yacht’s living quarters. Luo Ji asked the AI for a cup of hot tea, and soon, a little robot that Cheng Xin and AA had never seen before brought it to him. Clearly, Luo Ji had some history with this ship that the two women did not know about. They were curious about the story, though more urgent matters had to be taken care of first.
三人搬着文物进人“星环”号，程心和AA发现，罗辑似乎对飞船很熟悉，他空手走在前面，不用指引就走到了飞船的货运舱。飞船AI也认识他，并且接受他发出的指令。把文物安置好后，三人回到了生活区，罗辑向AI要一杯热茶，很快就有一个程心和AA从来没见过的小机器人给他送来了。很明显，逻辑和这艘船有一些历史，这两个女人不知道。他们对这个故事很好奇，尽管更紧急的事情必须先处理。
Cheng Xin asked the AI to play some news from the Earth, but the AI said that it had received only a few transmissions from the planet, and the visual and audio content was essentially impossible to make sense of. They looked at the few open information windows and saw only blurred images taken by unmanned cameras. The AI added that it could provide the video taken by the spacecraft monitoring system near the Earth. A new, large window popped up and the flatted Earth filled the screen.
程心让AI播放来自地球的信息，AI回答说，只收到了很少量的地球方面的视频和音频信息，其中没有可识别的内容。从打开的几个窗口中看确实如此，都是失去控制的拍摄设备摄下的模糊图像。AI补充说，它能提供飞船监测系统拍摄的地球图像，同时打开了一个大窗口，二维化的地球一下子充满了画面。
They looked more closely at the holographic video taken by the telescopic lens. The body of the flattened Earth appeared very clearly, and the “tree rings” were even denser than when observed with the naked eye. The collapse had probably already been completed, and the two-dimensional Earth was dimming. But what really shocked them was the frozen two-dimensional ocean — the white ring around the rim of the Earth. They could clearly make out the grains forming the ring: snowflakes! These were unimaginably large snowflakes, hexagonal in plan, but each with unique crystal branches — exquisite, lovely beyond words. To see snowflakes from fifty AU away was already extremely surreal, and these immense snowflakes were arranged side by side on the plane with no overlap, which further enhanced the feeling of unreality. They seemed to be purely artistic portrayals of snowflakes, powerfully decorative, turning the frozen two-dimensional sea into a piece of stage art.
他们再次细看这幅望远镜头拍摄的全息图像，二维地球的主体拍得很清晰，上面的“年轮”比肉眼看时更加细密，可能跌落已经完成，二维地球正在暗下来。令他们震惊的是冰冻的二维海洋——在最外侧环绕二维地球的白色冰环，他们可以清晰地分辨出组成冰环的颗粒，那竟是——雪花！大得难以想象的雪花，不会是别的东西，它们都呈规则的六边形，但晶枝的形状各异，晶莹剔透，精美绝伦。在五十个天文单位远处看到雪花本来就有一种强烈的不真实感，而这些超巨型的雪花还在平面上平行排列，绝无重叠，更加剧了这种不真实，这似乎是一种对雪花完全图案化的艺术表现，具有强烈的装饰效果，使得冰冻的二维海洋看上去像一件舞台艺术品。
The three immediately thought the image looked unreal, even suspecting that the AI had synthesized the image to fool them.
看到这个画面时，三个人的第一反应就是不真实，甚至感觉这图像是AI自己随意合成出来哄骗他们的。
“What in the world is this?” AA cried out.
“天啊，你放的这是什么？”AA惊叫道。
“It’s the Earth about seven hours ago. The camera is fifty astronomical units away, and angular magnification is four hundred and fifty times.”
“这是现在拍摄的地球图像，距离五十个天文单位，角放大率四百五十倍，是七个小时前的地球影像。”
“How big are the snowflakes?” AA asked.
“那些雪花有多大？”AA问。
“Most have diameters between four thousand and five thousand kilometers.” The ship’s AI, incapable of wonder, continued to speak in a serene tone.
“它们的直径大多在四千千米至五千千米之间。”飞船AI仍然用平淡刻板的声音回答，它没有惊奇的功能。
The AI opened a few other windows, and each showed a zoomed-in snowflake. In these images, the sense of scale was lost, and they seemed to be tiny spirits under a magnifying lens, each snowflake ready to turn into a tiny droplet as soon as it touched down on a palm.
AI另开了几个显示窗口，每个窗口中分别显示出单个的不同雪花的图像。在这些画面中，它们的大小失去了真实感，仿佛都是放大镜下的小精灵，在雪天飘落到手掌上后马上就会化成一小滴水。
“Oh –” Luo Ji stroked his beard again, and this time, succeeded.
“唔——”罗辑又摸胡子，这次摸到了。
“How are they formed?” AA asked.
“它是怎么形成的？”AA大声问。
“Bigger than the moon!” Cheng Xin said.
“比月球还大！”程心惊叹道。
“I don’t know,” the AI said. “I can’t find any information about the crystallization of water at astronomical scales.”
“不知道，检索不到有关天文尺度的冰晶聚合体知识。”AI回答。
In three-dimensional space, snowflakes formed in accordance with the laws of ice-crystal growth. Theoretically, these laws did not restrict the size of snowflakes. The largest snowflake previously on record was thirty-eight centimeters in diameter.
在三维世界中，雪花是按照冰的结晶规律生长的，从理论上说，三维世界的结晶规律并没有限制雪花的大小，曾经有直径达三十八厘米的雪花的记录。
No one knew the laws of ice crystal growth in two-dimensional space. Whatever they were, they permitted ice crystals in two dimensions to grow to five thousand kilometers.
没有人知道二维世界中冰的结晶规律是什么，这种规律竟允许直径五千千米的二维冰晶聚合体出现。
“There’s water on Neptune and Saturn, and ammonia can also form crystals. Why didn’t we see large snowflakes there?” Cheng Xin asked.
“海王星和土星上都有水，氨也能结晶，为什么没有看到大雪花？”程心问道。
The AI said it didn’t know.
AI再次回答，不知道。
“I really want to know what the forests look like, what the grasslands look like, what the ancient cities look like,” Cheng Xin said slowly.
“我真想知道，那里的森林变成什么样了，草原变成什么样了，还有刀那些旧城市，都变成什么样了？”程心缓缓地说。
Luo Ji squinted his eyes and enjoyed the two-dimensional version of the Earth. “The ocean looks rather nice this way, don’t you think? Only the Earth is worthy of such a lovely wreath.”
罗辑眯起双眼，欣赏着二维地球的画面说：“海变成这个样子也不错嘛，只有地球才配得上这样的花环。”
The three decided to begin their third cargo trip. They exited Halo, gazed up at the sky, and saw the three two-dimensional planets. Neptune, Saturn, and the Earth had grown even larger, and the asteroid belt was wider. This was no hallucination. They asked the AI about it.
三个人决定开始第三趟搬运。他们走出“星环”号，仰望天空，发现了三颗二维行星，海王星、土星和地球，都变大了许多，二维的小行星带也变粗了，这很明显，不是幻觉。他们向AI提问，得到了这样的回答：
Grief finally struck them, and AA began to sob. Cheng Xin turned her eyes away from the snowflake ocean and made no sound as her eyes filled with tears. Luo Ji shook his head, sighed, and continued to sip his tea. Their grief was moderated to some extent by the thought that the two-dimensional space would also be their home in the end.
悲伤终于降临，AA嘤嘤地哭了起来，程心把目光从二维地球的雪花海洋上移开，眼含热泪沉默着。罗辑摇头长叹一声，继续喝茶。悲伤是有节制的，毕竟，那个减少了一个维度的世界也是他们最后的归宿。
They would attain their eternal rest alongside Mother Earth on that plane.
在那里，他们将永远与母亲星球同在一个平面上。
In the sky in the other direction, many moving points of light appeared before the stars — the fleet of ships seeking to escape the Solar System. Some of the glowing blue lights dragged long tails behind them. Some of the ships swept by the three of them, fairly close. The bright lights of their engines operating at maximum capacity cast moving shadows of the three observers on the ground. None of the ships tried to land on Pluto.
在另一个方向的天空中，群星的背景前出现了大批移动的星星，这些星星大多发出蓝光，有些还拖着尾迹，它们是向太阳系外逃亡的飞船。有些飞船从很近的太空中掠过，全功率开动的推进器发出的光芒能在地面上照出移动的人影，只是没有一艘飞船在冥王星星上降落。
“The navigation system has detected a split in the Solar System’s navigational frame of reference. Frame of reference one continues as before. The navigational markers within this system — the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Pluto, and some asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects — still satisfy the recognition criteria. Frame of reference two, however, has transformed dramatically. Neptune, Saturn, the Earth, and some asteroids have lost their characteristics as navigational markers. Frame of reference one is moving toward frame of reference two, which leads to the phenomenon you’ve observed.”
“导航系统已经检测到太阳系的导航参照系发生分裂。其中参照系一维持原形态，该参照系中的导航标志物：太阳、水星、火星、木星、天王星和冥王星以及部分小行星带和柯伊伯带符合识别标准；参照系二发生大幅度变异，海王星、土星、地球和部分小行星带已经失去导航标志物特征。参照系一正在向参照系二运动，这导致你们所观察到的现象。”
“Go ahead by yourselves,” Luo Ji said. “Just take a few more objects. I want to wait here. I don’t want to miss it.” Cheng Xin and AA understood what he meant by “it,” but they had no desire to witness the scene.
“你们去吧，再拿一点就行了。我在这里等着，我可不想错过那个。”罗辑说，程心和从都明白他说的“那个”是什么，她们都怕看到那一幕。
After returning to the underground hall, Cheng Xin and AA, not in the mood to pick and choose, randomly gathered a collection of artifacts. Cheng Xin wanted to take along a Neanderthal skull, but AA tossed it aside.
回到地下大厅后，程心和AA草草收集了一批文物，并没有挑选。程心想拿上尼安德特人的头骨，但AA把它扔到一边。
But it was impossible to escape from the collapsing zone. Halo’s AI was trying to say this: The three-dimensional space of the Solar System was like a large carpet that was being pulled by invisible hands into a two-dimensional abyss. These ships were nothing more than worms on the carpet inching along — they couldn’t extend their already limited allotment of time by much.
但从跌落区逃脱是不可能的，刚才“星环”号AI的话实际是描述了这样一个景象：太阳系的三维空间像一张大地毯，正在被无形的手拖向二维深渊，而这些逃亡的飞船只是地毯上缓缓爬行的小虫子，甚至连有限的生存时间都延长不了多少。
“You’ll have plenty of skulls on this picture,” AA said.
“以后，在这幅大画上二维头骨多的是。”AA说。
Cheng Xin acknowledged that she was right. The earliest Neanderthals had lived no more than a few hundred thousand years ago. Optimistically, the flattened Solar System would not have visitors until a few hundred thousand years from now. In their eyes, Neanderthals and modern humans would appear to be the same species. Cheng Xin looked around at the other artifacts, and none excited her. For themselves in the present, and for those unimaginable observers in the far future, nothing here mattered as much as the world that was dying outside.
程心觉得她说的有道理，最早的尼安德特人距今不过十几万年，按乐观的预测，二维的太阳系在几百万年后有第一批观察者，在“他们”眼中，尼安德特人与现代人已经是同一时代的物种了。再看看别的文物，程心也感觉心灰意冷，无论是对现在的自己还是对遥远未来的’他们“，这些东西还不如正在毁灭的现实世界有意义。
On the surface, they saw that yet another two-dimensional planet had appeared in the sky: Mercury (Venus was on the other side of the Sun at this moment). It looked smaller than the two-dimensional Earth, but the light generated by its recent collapse into two dimensions made it very bright.
一到地面，她们就看到太空中又多了一颗二维行星，它是水星（金星也在太阳的另一侧），看上去比二维地球更小，但由于二维化时发出的光芒显得很醒目。
After they packed the artifacts in the hold, Cheng Xin and AA came out of Halo. Luo Ji, who was waiting outside, leaning on his cane, said, “All right. I think that’s enough. It’s meaningless to carry more, anyway.”
把文物送卜飞船后，程心和AA走出”星环“号，一直拄着拐杖等在外面的罗辑说：‘好了，就这些吧，不要再搬了，再多也没什么意思。”
They took a last look at the dim hall and left with the artifacts. Mona Lisa watched them leave, smiling sinisterly and eerily.
她们最后看了一眼昏暗的大厅，抬着文物离开了。画中的蒙娜丽莎看着她们的背影，邪恶而诡异地微笑着。
The women agreed. They stood together with Luo Ji on the Plutonian ground and waited for the most magnificent scene of the play: the flattening of the Sun.
她们也觉得没什么意思，就同罗辑一起站在冥王星的大地上，等待着最壮丽的一幕：太阳的二维化。
At this moment, Pluto was forty-five AU from the Sun. Earlier, since both Pluto and the Sun were in the same region of three-dimensional space, the distance between them hadn’t changed. But when the Sun came into contact with the plane, it ceased to move, while Pluto continued to fall toward it, along with the space around it, causing the distance between them to shrink rapidly.
现在，冥王星与太阳相距遥远的四十五个天文单位。在之前太阳系二维化的过程中，由于两者同处于一个向二维跌落的三维空间体中，它们的间距一直没有变化；但当太阳接触二维平面时，它便停止了运动，而冥王星仍随着周围的三维空间向二维平面跌落，使得它与太阳间的距离急剧缩短。
When the Sun began to two-dimensionalize, the naked eye could only see that its brightness and size appeared to increase suddenly. The latter was due to the rapid expansion of the flattened portion of the Sun on the plane, but from a distance it appeared as though the Sun itself was growing. Halo’s AI projected a large information window outside the ship to show a holographic feed from a telescopic lens, but as Pluto pulled closer to the Sun, even the naked eye could see the grand spectacle of a star collapsing into two dimensions.
太阳二维化开始时，肉眼看不清细节，只见到遥远的太阳突然亮度增加，体积也在增加，后者是由于太阳跌人二维的部分在平面上扩展所致，从远距离看去像是恒星本身在膨胀。这时，“星环”号上的AI把一个宽大的信息窗口投射到飞船外面，其中显示着用望远镜头拍摄的太阳清晰的全息图像。但随着冥王星与太阳距离的迅速接近，用肉眼也能看清恒星二维化的壮丽景象了。
As soon as the Sun began to two-dimensionalize, a circle expanded on the plane. Soon, the planar Sun’s diameter exceeded the diameter of the remaining part of the Sun. This process took only thirty seconds. Based on the mean solar radius of seven hundred thousand kilometers, the rim of the two-dimensional Sun grew at the rate of twenty thousand kilometers per second. The planar Sun continued to grow, forming a sea of fire on the plane, and the three-dimensional Sun sank slowly into this blood-red sea of fire.
太阳接触二维平面的一刹那，跌入二维的部分就在平面上呈圆形迅速扩展开来，很快，平面上二维太阳的直径就超过了三维太阳，这一过程只用了三十秒左右，以太阳半径七十万千米计算，二维太阳边缘的扩展速度竟达到每秒两万多千米。二维太阳继续扩大，很快在平面上形成了一片广阔的火海，三维太阳就在这血色火海的中央缓缓沉下去。
And now, the Sun really was melting, its blood seeping into the deadly plane. This was the last sunset.
现在，太阳真的在融化，把它的血铺展在二维平面中，这是最后一次日落。
In the distance, white fog rose from the ground outside the landing field. Pluto’s solid nitrogen and ammonia sublimated, and the fresh, thin atmosphere began to scatter the sunlight. The sky no longer appeared pure black, but showed hints of purple.
远处，降落场外的大地上有大片白色蒸汽出现，冥王星上的固态氮和氨开始蒸发，新出现的稀薄的大气层对光有了散射，天空的背景不再漆黑一片，而是现出淡淡的紫色。
Four centuries ago, Ye Wenjie had stood on the peak of Red Coast Base and watched such a sunset during the last moments of her life. Her heart had struggled to beat like a zither string about to break, and a black fog had begun to cloud her eyes. On the western horizon, the Sun that was falling into the sea of clouds seemed to melt, and the Sun’s blood seeped into the clouds and the sky, creating a large crimson swath. She had called it humanity’s sunset.
四个世纪前，在红岸基地的峰顶，叶文洁在她生命的最后时刻曾看到过这样的日落。那时，她的心脏艰难地跳动着，像一根即将断裂的琴弦。黑雾开始在她的眼前出现，西方的天际，正在云海中下沉的夕阳仿佛融化着，太阳的血在云海和太空中弥漫开来，映现出一大片壮丽的血红。她说这是人类的落日。
While the three-dimensional Sun was setting, the two-dimensional Sun was rising. A flat star could still radiate its light inside the plane, so the two-dimensional Solar System received its first sunlight. The sides of the four two-dimensional planets facing the sun — Neptune, Saturn, the Earth, and Mercury — all took on a golden glow, though the light only fell along a one-dimensional curved edge. The giant snowflakes that surrounded the Earth melted and turned into white vapor, which was blown by two-dimensional solar wind into two-dimensional space. Some of the vapor soaked up the golden sunlight and appeared as if the Earth had hair that drifted with the wind.
在三维世界的太阳落下去的同时，二维平面中的太阳却在升起。二维恒星把它的光能在二维平面内辐射，二维太阳系中第一次出现了阳光。四颗二维行星：海王星、土星、地球和水星，而向太阳的一侧都被照成金色的弧边，但它们能够受到光照的部分只是一维的边缘。围绕地球的巨型雪花在阳光中融化了，变成白色的水汽，被二维太阳风吹向二维的太空，一部分浸透了金色的阳光，像二维地球飘逸的长发。
From Pluto, the Sun appeared as a giant oval. The two-dimensional planets were tiny fragments compared to it. Unlike the planets, the Sun did not display clear “tree rings” but was separated into three concentric sections around a core. The center was very bright, and no details could be seen — probably corresponding to the core of the original Sun. The wide ring outside the core probably corresponded to the original radiation zone — a boiling, two-dimensional, bright red ocean where countless cell-like structures rapidly formed, split, combined, and disappeared in a manner that seemed chaotic and agitated when viewed locally, but followed grand patterns and order when viewed as a whole. Outside that was the original Sun’s convection zone. Like in the original Sun, currents of solar material transferred heat into space. But unlike the chaotic radiation zone, the new convection zone revealed clear structure, as many ring-shaped convection loops, similar in shape and size, arranged themselves side by side in neat order. The outermost layer was the solar atmosphere. Golden currents leapt away from the circular rim and formed a large number of two-dimensional prominences, resembling graceful dancers cavorting wantonly around the Sun. Some of the “dancers” even escaped the Sun and drifted far into the two-dimensional universe.
从冥王星上看去，二维太阳是一个巨大的椭圆，与它相比，二维行星只是几块小小的碎片不同。于后者不同，二维太阳没有清晰的“年轮”，它只是大致分为三个环层。部分发出明亮的光芒，看不清细节，这部分可能对应着三维太阳的核心聚变区；从核心向外的一个广阔的环区可能对应着三维太阳的辐射区，这是一片沸腾的二维海洋，在炽热的红光中，无数细胞状的细小结构飞快地生成、消失、分裂和组合，从局部看混乱且躁动不安。但整体上却形成某种宏伟的秩序和模式；再向外是三维太阳的对流区，像三维太阳一样，这个区域通过恒星物质的对流与二维太空进行着热量传递，与里侧辐射区的混沌不同，对流区呈现着一个十分有序的结构，可以看到许多整齐排列的环状对流回路在运行，大小和形状都十分相似；最外面是太阳的大气，金色的气流越出了太阳的圆周边缘，形成了大量的二维日饵，像围绕着二维太阳的一圈曼妙舞者，在二维太空中变幻着千万种汪洋悠意的舞姿，有些“舞者”脱离了太阳，在二维太空中远远飘去。
An hour later, the Sun had completely collapsed into two dimensions.
一个小时后，太阳完全坠人二维平面。
But her hope was soon dashed.
但这只是希冀而已。
“Is the Sun still alive in two dimensions?” asked AA. She spoke for the hope of all three. They all wished for the Sun to continue to give light and heat to the planar Solar System, even if there was no more life in it.
“太阳在那里还活着？”AA问道，她说出了三个人共同的希冀，他们都希望太阳能够继续照耀着二维太阳系，尽管那里已经没有生命。
The flattened Sun began to dim. The light from the core diminished rapidly and soon it was possible to see fine annular structures within. The radiation zone was also quieting, and the boiling calmed down, turning into a viscous peristalsis. The loops in the convection zone distorted, broke apart, and soon disappeared. The golden dancers around the rim of the Sun wilted like dried leaves and lost their vivaciousness. Now it was possible to tell that at least gravity continued to function in the two-dimensional universe. The dancing solar prominences lost the support of solar radiation and began to be dragged back to the edge of the Sun by its gravity. Finally, the dancers yielded to gravity and fell lethargically, until the Sun’s atmosphere was no more than a thin, smooth ring wrapped around the Sun. As the Sun went out, the golden arcs at the edges of the planets also dimmed, and the Earth’s two-dimensional hair, formed from the sublimated ocean, lost its golden glow.
二维太阳在暗下去。核心区的光度在急剧降低，很快暗到可以看出其中更多的环层结构；辐射区也在变暗，沸腾平息下来，变成黏滞的蠕动；对流区的对流环都在变形崩溃，很快就完全消失；二维太阳外围那一圈金色的气体舞者则像枯萎的叶子般黯淡下来，失去了活力。这时可以看出，在二维世界至少万有引力还存在，那些在太空中飞扬的日饵失去了辐射的支撑，被二维太阳的引力慢慢拉回去，“舞者”们屈服于重力，一个个无力地倒下，太阳大气最后变成了最外侧平平的一个环圈。随着太阳的熄灭，二维行星被照亮的弧边也暗下来了，二维地球由蒸发的海洋形成的长发也失去了光辉。
While the three were focused on the flattening Sun, Venus and Mars collapsed into the plane as well. Compared to the Sun, however, the two-dimensionalization of these two terrestrial planets was rather unremarkable. The flattened Mars and Venus were very similar to the Earth in terms of their “tree ring” structure. There were many hollow areas near the rim of Mars, places in the Martian crust that contained water, suggesting that Mars had possessed far more water than people thought. After a while, the water also turned an opaque white, but no giant snowflakes appeared. There were giant snowflakes around the flattened Venus, but they weren’t anywhere as numerous as the ones near the Earth, and the Venusian snowflakes were yellow in hue, indicating that they were not water crystals. A while later, the asteroids on that side of the Sun were also flattened, completing the other half of the Solar System necklace.
就在三人专注于太阳二维化时，金星和火星也坠人二维平面，但与太阳相比，两颗类地行星二维化的过程显得有些平淡了。二维的火星和金星在“年轮”结构上与地球十分相似。在二维火星靠近边缘处有许多镂空区，那是原火星地层中含水的部分，说明火星地层中的水远比人们预想的多。这些水稍后也冻结成不透明的白色，但没有出现巨型雪花。巨型雪花在二维金星的外围出现了，不过数量远比二维地球的少，且都呈黄色，应该不是水的结晶。稍后，太阳这一侧的小行星带也被二维化，补齐了太阳系项链的另一半。
Perhaps a two-dimensional universe could possess its own sun, planets, and life, but they would have to be created and operate under completely different principles.
也许二维宇宙有自己的太阳、行星和生命，但肯定是以一种完全不同的机制所构造和运行的。
Everything in the three-dimensional world died after collapsing into two dimensions. Nothing survived in a painting with no thickness.
三维世界的一切跌人二维后都将死去，没有什么能够活在厚度为零的画中。
Tiny snowflakes — three-dimensional ones — now fell from the light purple Plutonian sky. These were the nitrogen and ammonia that had sublimated in the burst of energy during the Sun’s flattening, and which were now freezing into snow as the temperature plummeted following the Sun’s extinguishment. The snow fell more heavily, and soon accumulated a thick layer over the monolith and Halo. Although there were no clouds, the heavy snow blurred Pluto’s sky, and the two-dimensional Sun and the planets turned hazy behind a curtain of snow. The world looked smaller.
这时，冥王星上也出现了雪花，是小雪花，从淡紫色的天空中飘落。这是太阳二维化时被蒸发的氮和氨，随着二维太阳的熄灭，温度急剧降低，短命的氮氨大气被冻结成雪花。雪越下越大，很快在方碑和“星环”号的顶部积起了厚厚的一层。虽然没有云，但密密的飞雪使冥王星的天空变得模糊了，二维太阳和行星在雪幕之后变得朦朦胧胧，雪使世界暂时变得窄小。
“Don’t you feel at home?” AA lifted both hands and spun in the snow.
“你们有没有回家的感觉？”AA在雪中举起双手转着圈说。
Luo Ji watched as AA and Cheng Xin tried to catch the snow. “Hey, you two! Don’t even think about taking off your gloves!”
罗辑看到了她们伸手抚摸飞雪的动作，有些担心地说：“我说你们两个，不会把手套摘下来吧？”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Cheng Xin said, and nodded. She had also thought of snow as something unique to the Earth, and the giant snowflakes around the flattened Earth had confirmed this feeling. The snow falling on this cold, dark world on the edge of the Solar System surprisingly provided her a trace of the warmth of home.
“嗯，我正想这么说呢。”程心深有同感地点点头。和AA一样，在她的印象中，雪似乎只是地球上才有的东西，刚才在二维地球周围看到的大雪花更加深了她的这个印象。这场在太阳系边缘的冷暗世界中的雪，使她感到了一丝母星的温暖。
Cheng Xin did feel an impulse to take off her gloves and catch the snow with her bare hands. She wanted to feel the slight chill, and watch the crystalline snowflakes melt with her own body heat… but of course she had enough presence of mind to not indulge the impulse. The nitrogen-ammonia snowflakes were at a temperature of minus-210-degrees Celsius. If she really took off her gloves, her hand would turn as fragile and hard as glass and the feeling of being on Earth would disappear instantaneously.
程心确实有用不戴手套的手接雪花的冲动，她想感受那丝丝的清凉，看着晶莹的雪花在自己的体温中融化……但理智当然制止她这样做，如果她真的摘下手套，地球的感觉将在瞬间消失，同时失去的还有她的那只手。那些氮氨雪花的温度是摄氏零下二百一十度，这是氮冻结的温度，在这样的酷寒中，她那只纤手很快会被冻得像玻璃一样脆。
When the snow stopped, a bright glowing light appeared near the horizon. The intensity of the light grew rapidly, and soon overwhelmed the fading two-dimensional Sun. Although they couldn’t see the details, they knew that it was Jupiter, the Solar System’s largest planet, falling into the plane. Pluto spun slowly, and part of the flattened Solar System had fallen below the horizon, so they thought they wouldn’t get to witness Jupiter’s collapse, but it appeared that the rate of fall into two dimensions was accelerating.
在雪完全停下来后，靠近地平线的空中出现了一个光团，其光度迅速增加，很快超过了正在熄灭中的二维太阳。肉眼看不清细节，但他们都知道那是木星所在的位置，这颗太阳系最大的行星已经坠落到二维平面上了。冥王星有着周期为六个地球日的缓慢自转，二维太阳系的一部分已经沉入地平线之下，他们本以为看不到木星的毁灭了，现在看来，太阳系空间向二维跌落的速度在加快。
“There’s no more home,” Luo Ji said, shaking his head and leaning against his cane. “Home is now just a picture.”
“孩子们，没有家了，家已经变成一幅画了。”罗辑拄着拐杖摇摇头说。
The nitrogen-ammonia snow didn’t last long. The snowflakes thinned out and the purple haze from the nitrogen-ammonia atmosphere faded. The sky was once again perfectly transparent and dark. They saw that the Sun and the planets had grown even bigger, indicating that Pluto had moved even closer to that two-dimensional abyss.
这场氮氮大雪持续的时间不长，空中飘落的雪花渐渐稀硫，氮氮大气带束的紫色己经消失，天空重新变得黑暗清澈。可以看到，与下雪前相比，二维太阳和行星都变大了一些，这不是它们在继续膨胀。它们的二维化已经完成。面积已经恒定，这只是表明冥王星向着二维平面又靠近了一些。
Ships trying to escape continued to stream by the vicinity of Pluto.
在冥王星附近的太空中，逃亡飞船仍在源源不断地飞过。
They asked Halo’s AI to look for transmissions from Jupiter. Very few images and videos were being transmitted now, and most were indecipherable. Almost all of the messages they got were audio only. Every communication channel was filled with noise, mostly human voices, as though all the remaining space in the Solar System had been filled with a frenzied sea of people. The voices cried, screamed, sobbed, laughed hysterically… and some even sang. The chaotic background noise made it impossible to tell what they were singing, only that it was many voices singing in harmony. The music was solemn, slow, like a hymn. Cheng Xin asked the AI whether it was possible to receive any official broadcasts from the Federation Government. The AI said that all official communications from the government had terminated when the Earth was flattened. The Federation Government couldn’t fulfill the promise to carry out its duties until the end of the Solar System after all.
他们让飞船AI接收来自木星的信息。现在。能收到的图像信息已经很少，其中几乎没有可以识别的内容，大部分的信息都是音频。在每一个通信和广播预道上，都是一片声音的海洋，大部分是人声，仿佛太阳系空间已被躁动的人海填满。这声音中有呐喊、惊叫、哭泣、狂笑……甚至还有人在唱歌，从嘈杂的声浪中听不清任何内容，唯一能分辨出来的是许多人在合唱。他们唱着一首庄严舒缓的歌，像是圣歌。程心问AI，是否能够收到联邦政府官方的信息广播，AI说。政府的官方信息在地球二维化时就中断了，再也没有恢复过。太阳系联邦政府没有实现行使职责到最后一刻的诺言。
“Let’s go together,” said Cheng Xin.
“我们一起走吧！”程心说。
“Children, it’s time to go,” said Luo Ji.
“孩子们，该走了。”罗辑说。
“What’s the point?” Luo Ji shook his head and smiled. He pointed at the monolith with his cane. “I’m more comfortable over there.”
“有必要吗？’罗辑笑着摇摇头，用拐杖指指方碑的方向。“我还是在那里舒服一些。”
“All right. We’ll wait until Uranus is flattened so that we get to spend more time with you,” AA said. There really didn’t seem to be any point in insisting. Even if Luo Ji got on Halo, it would only delay the inevitable by another hour. He didn’t need that bit of time. Indeed, if Cheng Xin and AA didn’t have a mission to carry out, they wouldn’t care for that bit of time either.
“好巴，老人家，那我们等天王星二维化时再走，这样可以多陪您一会儿。”AA说，事到如今，真的也没必要再劝他了。即使上了“星环”号，最多能把结局推迟一个小时，他显然不在乎这点时间；如果不是使命在身，她们也不在乎了。
“No. You must go now!” Luo Ji said. He struck the ground with his cane forcefully, which made him float up under the low gravity. “No one knows how much faster the collapse is happening now. Carry out your mission! We can stay in contact, and that’s no different from being together.”
“不，现在就走！”罗辑坚决地说，用拐杖使劲蹾地，这使得他在低重力下浮起来，“谁也不知道以后跌落的速度有多快，别耽误了你们的正事。我们可以保持联系嘛，这和在一起是一样的。”
“Of course.” Luo Ji lifted his cane in farewell and turned to walk toward the monolith. With the light gravity, he almost floated over the snow on the ground and had to use the cane to slow himself. Cheng Xin and AA watched until the aged figure of this Wallfacer, Swordholder, and humanity’s final grave keeper disappeared behind the door of the monolith.
“当然，保持联系。”罗辑对她们举起拐杖以示告别，然后转身向方碑走去。低重力之下，他像是在雪地上飘行，不时用拐杖点地以减慢速度。程心和AA目送着他，直到这位面壁者、执剑人和人类最后的守墓人老迈的身影消失在方碑的大门中。
Cheng Xin hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “All right. We’ll leave. Stay in contact!”
程心犹豫了一下，点了点头，“那好吧，我们走了，一定要保持联系啊！”
Cheng Xin and AA went back inside Halo. The yacht took off right away, its thrusters tossing up snow everywhere. Soon, the ship achieved Pluto’s escape velocity — just a hair above one kilometer per second — and reached orbit. From the porthole and the monitor they could see that swaths of white now joined the blue and black patches of the Plutonian surface. The giant words “Earth Civilization,” written in multiple scripts and languages, had been covered by the snow and were almost illegible. Halo passed through the gap between Pluto and Charon as though flying through a canyon, the two celestial bodies were so close.
程心和AA返回“星环”号，飞船立刻起飞，推进器激起漫天的雪雾，很快达到了冥王星仅每秒一千米多的逃逸速度，进入太空轨道。从舷窗和监视画面中她们看到，冥王星原来蓝黑相间的表面现在又多了大片的雪白，用各种语言刻在大地上的“地球文明”的巨字被雪覆盖，几乎认不出来了。“星环”号从冥王星和它的卫星卡戎之间穿过，这两个天体相距如此之近，有穿过峡谷的感觉。
In this “canyon” there were now many other moving stars — the escaping spaceships. They all moved far faster than Halo. One ship swept past Halo at a distance of no more than a hundred kilometers, and the glow from its nozzles lit up Charon’s smooth surface. They could clearly see its triangular hull and the nearly ten-kilometer-long blue flame shooting out of its nozzles.
就在这道“峡谷”中，有许多逃亡飞船形成的移动的星星，它们的速度都比“星环”号要快许多。有一艘飞船从近处飞速超过“星环”号，距离不超过一百千米，推进器的光芒照亮了卡戎平滑的表面，可以清晰地看到它那三角形的船体，以及推进器喷出的近十千米长的蓝色火焰。
The AI explained, “That’s Mycenae, a midsized planetary ship without an ecological cycling system. After leaving the Solar System, a passenger would not last five years, even if all the ship’s supplies were used to sustain only them.”
AI介绍说：“那是‘迈锡尼’号，一艘中型行星际飞船，没有配备循环生态系统，飞出太阳系后，即使船上载满给养并且只有一个乘员，生存时间也不超过五年。”
Cheng Xin knew that she was referring to Van Gogh’s painting. True, the universe really did look like the painting. The painting in her memory was almost a perfect copy of the two-dimensional Solar System before her eyes. Giant planets filled space, the areas of the planets seeming to exceed even the gaps between them. But the immensity of the planets did not give them any sense of substantiality. Rather, they looked like whirlpools in space-time. In the universe, every part of space flowed, churned, trembled between madness and horror like fiery flames that emitted only frost. The Sun and the planets and all substance and existence seemed to be only hallucinations produced by the turbulence of space-time.
程心知道她说的是凡·高的《星空》，像啊，太像了。她脑海中那幅画的记忆，与眼前的二维太阳系儿乎完美地重叠在一起。太空中充满了巨大的星体，这星体所占的面积甚至大于它们之间空间的面积，但星体的巨大并没有给它们带来实在感，它们像是时空的旋涡。宇宙中，空间的每一处微小的部分都在惊惧和疯狂中流动着、翻滚着、颤抖着，像燃烧的火焰。却只散发出酷寒。太阳和行星，所有的实体和存在，只是这时空乱流产生的幻象。
The AI didn’t know that Mycenae would not be able to leave the Solar System. Like all the other escaping ships, it would continue to exist for no more than three hours in three-dimensional space.
AI不知道，“迈锡尼”，号不可能飞出太阳系，与其他的逃亡飞船一样，它在三维世界的生存时间不会超过三个小时了。
Halo flew out of the Pluto-Charon canyon and left the two dark worlds for open space. They saw the entirety of the two-dimensionalized Sun and Jupiter, whose flattening process was almost over. Now, except for Uranus, the vast majority of the Solar System had fallen into the plane.
“星环”号飞出冥王星和卡戎构成的峡谷，把两个暗冷的世界甩在后面，飞进浩渺的太空。这时，她们看到了二维太阳的全貌，木星的二维化已经基本完成，现在，除了天王星，太阳系的绝大部分都已经二维化。
“Oh, heavens! Starry sky!” AA cried out.
“大啊，星空！”AA失声喊道。
Cheng Xin now recalled the strange feeling she had experienced each time she had looked at Van Gogh’s painting. Everything else in the painting — the trees that seemed to be on fire, and the village and mountains at night — showed perspective and depth, but the starry sky above had no three-dimensionality at all, like a painting hanging in space.
程心现在回想起两次看到《星空》时奇怪的感觉：画面中星空之外的部分，那火焰般的树，暗夜中的村庄和山脉，都呈现出明显的透视和纵深；但上方的星空却丝毫没有立体感，像挂在夜空中的一幅巨画。
Because the starry night was two-dimensional.
因为星空是二维的。
How could Van Gogh have painted such a thing in 1889? Did he, having suffered a second breakdown, truly leap across five centuries and see the sight before them using only his spirit and delirious consciousness? Or, maybe it was the opposite: He had seen the future, and the sight of this Last Judgment had caused his breakdown and eventual suicide.
他是怎么画出来的？1889年的凡·高，精神第二次崩溃的凡·高，难道真的用分裂和谵妄的意识，跨越五个多世纪的时空，看到了现在？！或者反过来，他早就看到了未来，这最后审判日的景象才是他精神崩溃和自杀的真正原因？！
“Children, is everything all right? What are you going to do next?” Luo Ji appeared in a pop-up window. He had taken off his space suit, and his white hair and beard floated in the low gravity like in water. Behind him was the tunnel that had been intended to last a hundred million years.
“孩子们，你们还好吗？准备做什么？”罗辑在一个刚弹出的信息窗口中出现了。他已经脱去了太空服，白发和白须在低重力中飘浮起来，像在水中一般。他的身后，是那条准备保存一亿年的隧道。
“I think you should hold on to them all. Don’t toss any. Take them and leave.”
“都留下吧，不要扔了，带上它们，走吧。”
“Hello! We’re going to toss the artifacts into space,” AA said. “But we want to keep Starry Night.”
“您好！我们准备把那些文物扔到太空中去，但我们想留下《星空》。”AA说。
“Go where?” AA asked.
AA问道：“走？去哪儿？”
“Anywhere you like. You can go to any place in the Milky Way. In your lifetimes, you could probably get to the Andromeda Galaxy. Halo is capable of lightspeed flight. It is equipped with the world’s only curvature propulsion drive.”
“去哪儿都行，你们可以去银河系的任何地方，甚至可以在有生之年飞到仙女座星云去。‘星环’号能够以光速航行，它安装了世界上唯一一套空间曲率驱动引擎。”
Utter shock. AA and Cheng Xin couldn’t speak.
震惊令程心和AA说不出话来。
Cheng Xin and AA looked at each other.
这话令程心和AA很惊奇，她们对视了一眼。
“I was a part of the group of scientists who worked on curvature propulsion in secret,” said Luo Ji. “After Wade died, those who had worked at Halo City didn’t give up. After those who had been imprisoned were released, they built another secret research base, and your Halo Group was revived and developed enough to keep it going. Do you know where the base was? Mercury, another place in the Solar System where few set foot. Four centuries ago, another Wallfacer, Manuel Rey Diaz, used giant hydrogen bombs to blast a crater there. The base was built in that crater, and its construction took over thirty years. The whole base was covered with a dome. They claimed that it was a research institute to study solar activity.”
“维德死后，星环城的残余力量没有放弃努力，后来，又不断有人从监狱里释放出来，他们开始建设另一个秘密研究基地，知道在哪里吗？水星。那里也是太阳系人迹罕至的地方。四个世纪前，那个面壁者，那个叫雷迪亚兹的，用巨型氢弹在水星上炸了一个大坑。基地就建在那个坑里，建设过程用了三十多年，最后坑用一个大弯顶盖上了，对外宣称是一个研究太阳活动的机构。你们的星环集团后来也恢复运作，有了些发展，可以把基地维持下去。”
“Thirty-five years after Wade’s death, the research into curvature propulsion picked up at the Mercury base. They continued from the point where they were able to move a two-millimeter segment of your hair two centimeters. The research continued for half a century — though they were interrupted a few times for various reasons — and they gradually moved from theoretical research to technological development. During the last stages of the development process, they had to perform experiments on large-scale curvature propulsion. This was a problem for the Mercury base because the base’s resources were limited, and an experiment would produce massive trails, which would expose the Mercury base’s true goals. In reality, based on the comings and goings at the base for more than fifty years, it was inconceivable that the Federation Government had no clue what the Mercury base was really up to, but due to the small scale of the experiments and the fact that all the research was done under cover of other projects, the government had tolerated the base’s activities. Large-scale experiments, however, required the government’s cooperation. We sought it out, and the collaboration went very well.”
“维德死后第三十五年，空间曲率驱动的研究在水星基地恢复了，就从把你那截三毫米的头发驱动两厘米的阶段开始。研究持续了半个世纪，其间因各种原因有过几次中断，渐渐由理论研究过渡到技术开发。这期间的艰难和曲折我就不说了。在技术开发的最后阶段，需要进行大规模的曲率驱动实验。对于水星基地来说，这是一大障碍，一是因为基地的力量有限，难以进行这样的实验；二是一旦进行实验，必然产生大规模的航迹，这就使水星基地的真实目的暴露了。其实，这五十多年来，基地的人员流动很大，联邦政府不可能对水星基地的内幕没有察觉，只是由于研究和实验的规模都很小，且研究都冠以别的名目，他们对此一直容忍了。但要进行大规模实验，必须有政府的合作。我们去找了联邦政府，后来双方合作得很好。”
A bright shaft of light pierced the porthole. AA and Cheng Xin ignored it, but the ship’s AI explained that Uranus had also undergone “state change,” meaning that it had also collapsed into two dimensions. By now, nothing stood between them and Pluto.
一道亮光射进舷窗，程心和AA并没有去看外面发生了什么。飞船AI提示，天王星发生‘形态变化“，这意味着天王星也开始向二维跌落。在太阳另一侧的海王星早已二维化，这时，冥王星与二维平面之间已经没有任何天体了。
“No, not at all. The government collaborated with us because…” Luo Ji tapped his cane against the ground and hesitated. “Let’s not get into that for now. A few years ago, we completed three curvature engines and conducted three unmanned tests. Engine Number One entered lightspeed about one hundred and fifty astronomical units from the Sun, and returned here after flying at lightspeed for a while. For the engine itself, the experiment lasted only ten minutes or so, but for us, it was three years before the engine returned. The second test involved Engines Number Two and Number Three simultaneously. Right now, both of them are outside the Oort Cloud, and should return to the Solar System in six years.”
“没有，政府与我们合作是因为……”罗辑用拐杖敲击着地面，发出均匀的嗒嗒声——他在犹豫，“这个，暂时还是不说吧。一年前，三套曲率引擎制造完成，共进行了三次无人光速试航，第一次是一号引擎。它在距太阳一百五十天文单位的太空进入光速，以光速航行一段后返回，对于引擎本身来说，试航时问只有十分钟左右，但对我们来说，它们在三年后才返回。第二次试航是二号和三号引擎同时进行，现在，那两套引擎已经在奥尔特星云之外，预计返回太阳系要在六年后了。”
“Engine Number One, which has already been tested, is installed in Halo.”
“安装在‘星环’号上的是经过第一次试航的一号引擎。”
“But how could they have sent Cheng Xin and I alone?” AA shouted. “There should at least be two men with us.”
“可是’星环‘号上怎么只有我们两个人，至少应该再带两个男人啊？！”AA对罗辑喊道。
“Did they repeal the laws proscribing lightspeed ships?” Cheng Xin asked.
“禁止光速飞船研究的法律废除了吗？”程心问。
Luo Ji shook his head. “There was no time. The collaboration between the Halo Group and the Federation Government occurred in secret. Very few people knew of the existence of the curvature engines, and even fewer knew where the only engine left in the Solar System was installed. And it was too dangerous. Who knows what people are capable of when the end is nigh? Everyone would fight over Halo, and maybe nothing would be left afterward. And so we had to get Halo away from the Bunker World before releasing news of the dark forest strike to the public. There really wasn’t any time left. Cao Bin sent Halo to Pluto because he wanted you to take me with you. He should have just had Halo enter lightspeed at Jupiter.”
罗辑摇摇头说：“来不及了，孩子。联邦政府与星环集团的合作项目是秘密进行的，知道存在曲率引擎的人不多，知道太阳系仅存的那一套安装在什么地方的人更少，但还是很危险，末日到了，人心难测啊。‘星环’号将成为全世界争夺的对象，人们将为它自相残杀，最后可能什么都不会剩下。所以，在打击警报发布前，必须让‘星环’号尽快离开掩体世界，当时真的没时间了。曹彬让‘星环’号到冥王星来，是想让你们接我上飞船，其实他应该让‘星环’号从木星直接加速到光速。”
“I’ve lived long enough. Even if I get onto the ship, I won’t live much longer. I’d rather stay here as a grave keeper.”
“我活得够长了，就是上了飞船，也再活不了多久，在这里做一个守墓人很合适。”
“Why didn’t you come with us?” AA shouted.
“是啊，您为什么不跟我们一起走呢？”AA大声问。
“We can come back for you!” Cheng Xin said.
‘我们去接您！“程心说。
“Don’t you dare! There’s no time!”
“不要胡来，时间不多了。”
On Halo itself, the space-time distortion produced by the accelerated fall had started to become apparent as space was stretched in the direction of the fall. Cheng Xin noticed that the circular portholes now appeared as ovals, and the slender AA now looked short and squat. But Cheng Xin and AA felt no discomfort, and the ship’s systems were operating normally.
在“星环”号上，已经明显地感觉到加速坠落产生的空间畸变。程心看到，圆形的舷窗变成了椭圆，本来很苗条的AA变得有些矮胖，空间在坠落的方向上拉伸，但程心和AA并没有感到任何不适，飞船各系统的运行也正常。
The three-dimensional space they were in accelerated toward the two-dimensional plane. The two-dimensional Sun, which had now completely extinguished and appeared as a vast, dark red, dead sea, took up most of the view from Halo. Cheng Xin and AA noticed that the plane was not completely flat, but undulating! A long wave slowly rolled across the plane. It was a similar wave in three-dimensional space that had allowed Blue Space and Gravity to find warp points to enter four-dimensional space. Even in places where there were no two-dimensional objects in the plane, the rippling wave was apparent. The waves were a visualization of two-dimensional space in three dimensions that occurred only when the two-dimensional space was large enough.
三维空间正在加速向二维平面坠落，在飞船的视野中，二维太阳已经占据了一半的太空，它现在已经完全熄灭，是一片浩渺的暗红色死海。这时，程心和AA发现，二维平面并不是绝对平整的，它在波动！有一道道两端都望不到尽头的长波滚过二维平面，正是三维空间中类似的波动和翘曲，使“蓝色空间”号和“万有引力”号拥有进入四维空间的通道。即使在没有二维物质的地方，二维平面的波动也能看得出来——这是二维空间在三维中的一种自显形，只有在平面足够大的情况下才能产生。
Luo Ji’s last words were directed at the ship’s AI.
罗辑的最后一句话是对飞船AI说的。
The AI replied stiffly, “Among all authorized users in communication range, Luo Ji has the highest authorization level. Only he can order Halo to return to Pluto.”
“目前可通信的指令者中，罗辑拥有最高指令权限，只有他才能指令’星环‘号返回冥王星。”飞船AI刻板地回答。
“Return to Pluto!” Cheng Xin ordered the AI. Then she turned to Luo Ji’s window. “We’re going to come back. There’s time — Uranus is still being flattened.”
“请返回冥王星！”程心对AI说，然后她转向窗口中的罗辑，“我们一定要回去，时间还是有的，天王星还在二维化！”
“Continue along the current heading. I don’t know where you want to go, and I don’t think you know, either. If you do think of a destination, just point it out on the star map. The ship is capable of automatic navigation to most stars within fifty thousand light-years.”
“目前航线的延长线吧，我也不知道你们要去哪儿，我想现在你们自己也不知道，要是想起了目的地，在星图上指出来就行了，半径五万光年内的大部分恒星，飞船都可以自动导航到达。”
Luo Ji smiled before the tunnel. “If I wanted to go, I would have gotten on the ship with you earlier. I’m too old for voyages far from home. Do not worry about me, children. Like I said, I don’t think I’ve missed anything. Prepare for curvature propulsion!”
隧洞前的罗辑笑了笑，“我要是想走，刚才就跟你们走了，我这样岁数的人，不适合远航了。孩子们，不要为我操心了，我说过的，我什么都没有失去。准备启动空间曲率驱动。”
“Course parameters?” asked the AI.
“航线参数？”AI问。
“Affirmative,” said the AI. “Initiating curvature propulsion in thirty seconds.”
“指令执行中，空间曲率驱动引擎三十秒后启动。”AI说。
“You don’t need any kind of preparation. This propulsion method relies on manipulating space, so there’s no hypergravity. Curvature propulsion drive online. System is operating within normal parameters. Local space curvature: twenty-three point eight. Forward curvature ratio: three point forty-one to one. Halo will enter lightspeed in sixty-four minutes, eighteen seconds.”
“不需要任何准备，这是空间驱动，没有过载。曲率驱动引擎启动，系统运行正常。空间扭矩：23.8。推进曲率比：3.41：1；‘星环’号将在六十四分十八秒后进入光速。”
“Do we need to be immersed in deep-sea fluid?” AA asked — though rationally, she knew that under conventional propulsion, such acceleration would compress her into a pancake no matter what kind of fluid she was immersed in.
“我们要进入深海液吗？”AA问，但她心里清楚，如果是常规推进，这样级别的加速度，进入什么液都要被压成薄饼的。
But signs of curvature propulsion did appear. The distortion in space gradually disappeared: The portholes returned to being circles, and AA looked slender again. Looking through the portholes, they could still see other escaping ships passing by Halo, but they now passed far more slowly.
不过，曲率驱动的迹象还是出现了。空间畸变渐渐消失，舷窗重新变圆，AA也恢复了苗条。透过舷窗看外面，附近的逃亡飞船仍在超越’星环“号，但超越的速度明显变慢了。
For Cheng Xin and AA, the AI’s announcement was like a Full Stop order, because everything suddenly quieted down. They understood that the silence was due to the nuclear fusion engine being shut off, but the humming produced by the fusion reactor and the thrusters disappeared without being replaced by any other noise. It was hard to believe that some other engine had been started.
在程心和AA的感觉中，AI宣布的启动更像是停机，因为周围突然安静下来，而且这安静一直持续下去。她们知道，安静是由于聚变发动机停机所至，聚变堆和推进器产生的嗡嗡声消失了，但再也没有其他的声音来填补，真的很难相信有什么东西启动了。
“Curvature propulsion? A lightspeed ship? That’s a lightspeed ship!”
“曲率引擎？！光速飞船？！光速飞船！”
“The rumors were true, then. They were building secret lightspeed ships so that they could escape…”
“看来传闻是真的了，他们自己在秘密建造光速飞船，自己逃跑……”
“They can reach escape velocity! They can run away and live! Ahhhh! I want the lightspeed ship! Stop them; stop them and kill everyone inside!”
“啊！他们能达到逃逸速度，他们能逃掉！他们能活！！啊啊啊！！我要光速飞船！拦住它呀！杀死里面的所有人！”
“Look at that ship! How is it able to accelerate so fast?” a woman screamed.
“快看，那艘船怎么加速那么快？”一个女人尖叫道。
“Hey, any ships ahead? Stop that ship! Crash into it. No one should live if we all have to die!”
这是第一个女人的声音。“嘿，前面有船吗？拦截它！撞死它！如果我们都要死的话，没人能活着！””
Cheng Xin turned to the information window AA was looking at. The window showed a view of Pluto taken by the ship’s monitoring system. Although Pluto was some distance away, it was clear that both Pluto and Charon had been duplicated, and the twins were lined up side by side. Cheng Xin noticed that some of the flattened objects in the two-dimensional space had also been duplicated. The effect was like selecting a portion of a picture using image-processing software, cloning it, and then moving the clone a bit to the side.
程心转向那个信息窗口，里面显示着飞船监视系统拍摄的冥王星的画面，这时冥王星已经远去，但还能够清晰地看到，正如AA所说，冥王星与它的卫星卡戎都变成了两个，相距不远地并列着。程心还发现，被复制的不仅仅是冥王星，二维平面背景上的景观也有部分重现，就像在图像处理软件中框选并复制了一个区域后稍稍移开一样。
“Aaahhhhh…”
“啊呀呀呀呀！啊！！啊！！！”
Another man spoke up. “You idiots. The ship itself would be crushed under that kind of acceleration. But look at it: It’s perfectly fine. That’s not a fusion drive, but something entirely different.”
然后出现了另一个男人的声音：“你们这些白痴，那样的加速飞船也会被压扁！可它没有，那不是聚变发动机，那是空间曲率驱动！”
Another scream — this one from AA inside the ship. “How can there be two Plutos?”
这时又出现一声尖叫，来自飞船内部，是AA发出的：“天啊！冥王星怎么变成两个了？”
The ship’s AI began to play some of the messages passing between the escaping ships — perhaps because the messages concerned Halo.
这时，飞船AI播出了一段正在进行的逃亡飞船间的音频通信，可能是它感觉通信的内容与”星环“号有关才播出的。
“Oh! The people inside must have been crushed into meat pies,” a man said.
“哦，天啊，里面的人会被压成肉膜的。”一个男人说。
“That’s due to the fact that light slows down inside the trail left by Halo,” Luo Ji said. His image was growing distorted, but his voice still came through clearly. “Pluto is still moving. One of the Plutos you are seeing is the result of slow light. Once Pluto has moved outside of Halo’s trail, light traveling at standard speed provides you with a second image. That’s why you’re seeing double.”
“那是因为在’星环‘号的航迹中，光速变慢了。”罗辑解释说，他的图像已经开始扭曲，但声音仍很清晰，“你们看到的其中一个冥王星，是慢光速传过来的图像。在这个过程中，冥王星还在运行中，它移出了航迹的范围，又通过正常光速传来一个图像，你们就看到两个了。”
Luo Ji continued, “I understand that you figured out curvature propulsion from a small boat propelled by soap. Let me ask you: After the ship reached the other side of the bathtub, did you pull it back and try again?”
罗辑继续说：“听说你们是从肥皂小船悟出曲率驱动的，那我现在问一句：小船在浴盆中航行到达对岸后，你们有没有把它拿回来，放到浴盆里再试一次？”
“The light slows down?” Cheng Xin sensed a great secret was being revealed.
光速变慢？“程心敏感地觉察到了一个巨大的秘密。
They hadn’t. Due to the fear of sophons, Cheng Xin had tossed the paper boat aside. But it was easy to figure out what would have happened.
当时没有，由于担心智子，程心把小船扔到一边去了，但很容易想出结果。
“The ship would not move, or at least it would only move slowly,” Cheng Xin said. “After the first trip, the surface tension of the water in the tub had already been reduced.”
“外船不会再动了，或者至少只能缓慢移动。因为第一次航行后，水的张力已经被减小了。”程心说。
“That’s right. It’s the same principle with lightspeed ships. The very structure of space itself is changed by the trail of a curvature-propelled ship. If a second curvature-propelled ship were placed inside the trail of the first, it would hardly move. Within the trails of lightspeed ships, one must use a more powerful curvature propulsion drive. It would still be possible to use curvature propulsion to achieve the highest speed possible within such a space, but the maximum velocity is much lower than the maximum velocity of the first ship. In other words, the speed of light through vacuum is lowered within the trail of lightspeed ships.”
“很对，光速飞船也一样。在曲率驱动的航迹上，空间的结构也被改变了，如果把同样的第二艘曲率驱动飞船放在第一艘飞船的航迹范围里，它将寸步难行。在航迹空间中，必须使用功率更大的曲率引擎，这时，空间曲率驱动仍能够使飞船达到航迹空间的最高速度，但这个速度比第一次航行时达到的最高速度要低得多。换句话说，在航迹空间里，真空光速降低了。”
The black domain, Cheng Xin thought.
这就是黑域了，程心这样想，但没有说出来。
“Theoretically, it could be reduced to zero, but that’s not achievable in reality. But if you adjust the curvature ratio of Halo’s engine to the maximum, you can lower the speed of light in its trail down to exactly what we’ve been looking for: sixteen point seven kilometers per second.”
“从理论上说能降到零，但在实际中几乎不可能做到。不过，把‘星环’号的曲率引擎的空间扭矩调到足够大，可以使航迹空间的光速降到人们梦寐以求的每秒16.7千米。”
“How much lower?”
“能降低到多少？”
“Then you’d have…” AA said, staring at Luo Ji.
“这就是……”AA盯着罗辑的影像说。
“The black domain,” Luo Ji said. “Of course, a single ship is insufficient to produce a black domain containing an entire star and its planetary system. We calculated that it would take more than a thousand curvature propulsion ships to accomplish such a thing. If all these ships started near the Sun and spread out in every direction at lightspeed, the trails they produced would expand and connect to each other, forming a sphere that contained the entire Solar System. The speed of light within this sphere would be sixteen point seven kilometers per second — a reduced-lightspeed black hole, or a black domain.”
“这就是黑域。”罗辑说，“当然，要产生容纳一个恒星系的黑域，一艘飞船是远远不够的。据计算，生成容纳太阳系的黑域需要一千多艘曲率驱动飞船，这些飞船以太阳为中心，放射状地朝各个不同的方向加速到光速，它们产生的航迹在扩散中连成一体，形成一个笼罩整个太阳系的球体，这个球体中的光速为每秒16.7千米，这就是低光速黑洞，就是黑域。”
“So the black domain can be a product of lightspeed ships…”
“黑域是光速飞船产生的！”AA说。
In the cosmos, the trail of a curvature propulsion drive could be a sign of danger, as well as a safety announcement. A trail far away from a world was the former; a trail that shrouded a world the latter. It was like a noose, indicating danger and aggression when held in the hand, but safety when wrapped around the holder’s own neck.
在宇宙中，曲率驱动航迹既可以成为危险标志，也能成为安全声明。如果航迹在一个世界旁边，是前者；如果把这个世界包裹在其中，则是后者。就像一个手拿绞索的人，他是危险的；但如果他把绞索套到自己的脖子上，他就变成安全的了。
“Correct, but we found out about it too late. While studying curvature propulsion, the experimenters plowed ahead of the theoreticians. You should know that was Wade’s style. Many experimental discoveries could not be explained by theory, but without a theoretical framework, some phenomena were simply ignored. During the earliest years of research — when their biggest achievement was moving your hair — the trails produced by curvature propulsion were thin and small, and hardly anyone paid any attention, even though there were plenty of signs of something strange going on: For instance, after the trail expanded, the low speed of light caused quantum integrated circuits in nearby computers to malfunction, but no one sought to investigate. Later, after the experiments grew in scale, people finally discovered the secret of lightspeed trails. It was because of this discovery that the Federation Government agreed to collaborate with us. They did, in fact, pour all the resources they could command into the development of lightspeed spaceships, but there just wasn’t enough time.” Luo Ji shook his head and sighed.
“是的，但这点知道得很晚。在曲率驱动的研究中，实验是领先于理论的，你知道，这也是维德的风格。很多实验中的发现在理沦上无法解释，没有理论指导，也就很难有意识地去注意一些现象。在研究初期，就是驱动你头发的那个阶段，曲率驱动产生的尾迹很少很淡薄，没有被注意到。其实当时有很多迹象，比如那些尾迹扩散后，低光速曾使附近一些计算机的量子集成电路出现故障，但还是没人往这方面想。后来随着实验规模增大，人们才发现了曲率驱动尾迹的秘密。也正是因为这个原因，联邦政府才同意与我们合作。这时，可以说他们对这个事业是倾尽全力的，政府投入了巨大的力量研制光速飞船，但时间已经来不及了……”罗辑摇头叹息一声，没有再说下去。
Cheng Xin now understood that of the three paths of survival presented to humanity — the Bunker Project, the Black Domain Plan, and lightspeed ships — only lightspeed ships were the right choice.
现在程心知道，地球文明的三条生存之路：掩体、黑域和光速飞船，其中只有光速飞船是真正的活路。
Cheng Xin said what he couldn’t bring himself to say. “There were thirty-five years between the Halo City Incident and the completion of the Mercury base. Thirty-five precious years were lost.”
“从星环城事件到水星基地建立完成，这中间有三十五年，宝贵的三十五年耽误了。”程心替他把话说了出来。
Luo Ji nodded. Cheng Xin thought the way he looked at her was no longer kind, but rather resembled the fires of the Last Judgment. His gaze seemed to say, Child, look at what you’ve done.
罗辑默默地点点头，他看程心的目光已经没有了慈爱，像最后审判日的火炬，至少在她看来是这样，那目光分明在说：孩子，看看你干了什么？
Yun Tianming had pointed this out, but she had blocked it.
云天明指出了这条活路，但她把这条路堵死了。
Humanity could have divided into two parts: those who wanted to fly to the stars, and those who wanted to stay within the black domain and live in tranquility. Each would have gotten what they wanted.
人类会分成两部分，想飞向星空的和想在黑域中过安乐生活的，前者乘光速飞船离去，为后者留下黑域，各得其所。
If she hadn’t stopped Wade, Halo City might have achieved independence. Even if the independence was short-lived, they could have discovered the effects of lightspeed trails and changed the government’s attitude toward lightspeed ships. Humanity might have had time to construct a thousand lightspeed ships and build the black domain, to avoid this dimensional strike.
如果她没有制止维德，星环城有可能获得独立，即使是暂时的、有限的独立，也有可能促使他们发现曲率驱动的尾迹效应，这将使联邦政府改变对光速飞船的态度，进而使人类有足够的时间建造那一千多艘光速飞船，进而有可能建造黑域，避免这次维度打击。
She began to hate someone: Wade. She hated that he had kept his promise. Why? Out of his masculine pride, or for her? Cheng Xin understood that Wade did not know the effects of curvature propulsion trails. His goal in researching lightspeed ships was stated eloquently by that anonymous Halo City soldier: a fight for freedom, for a chance to live as free men in the cosmos, for the billions and billions of new worlds out there. She believed that if he had known that lightspeed spaceflight was the only path to life for humanity, he would not have kept his promise.
她开始恨一个人，这人就是维德，她恨他竟然遵守了诺言。为什么遵守？男人的尊严，还是为了她？当然，程心也明白，维德当时并不知道曲率驱动的尾迹效应，他研制光速飞船的目的，就像那个不知名的星环城战士所说，是在为自由而战，为成为字宙中的自由人而战，为了太阳系外那千万个美妙的世界而战。如果他知道光速飞船是人类唯一活路的话，她相信他是不会受到诺言限制的。
In the end, she had committed another grave error.
她终于还是犯了第二次错误。
Twice, she had been placed in a position of authority second only to God, and both times she had pushed the world into the abyss in the name of love. This time, no one could fix her mistake for her.
她两次处于仅次于上帝的位置上，却两次以爱的名义把世界推向深渊，而这一次已没人能为她挽回。
Not long ago on Pluto, Cheng Xin had experienced one of the most relaxed moments of her life. Indeed, it was easy to face the end of the world: All responsibilities were gone, as were all worries and anxieties. Life was as simple and pure as the moment when one first emerged from the mother’s womb. Cheng Xin just had to wait in peace for her poetic, artistic end, for her moment to join the giant painting of the Solar System.
不久前在冥王星上时，程心刚刚经历了一生中最轻松的时刻。其实面对世界末日的人是最轻松的，所有的责任和负担都已卸下，所有的担忧和焦虑都已消散，人生回到了从母腹出生时最单纯的状态。程心那时只需平静地等待，等待着在这如诗如画的毁灭中，成为太阳系巨画的一部分。
She could not shirk her responsibility. It didn’t matter whether she really was second only to God — if she was in that position, she had to carry out her duty.
但是不要推卸责任，不管她是不是真的仅次于上帝，只要在那个位置上，就不可能推卸责任。
Cheng Xin saw AA’s eyes, and understood the words in her gaze: You’ve finally experienced something worse than death.
程心看到了AA的眼睛，读出了她目光中的话：你终于还是遇到了比死更可怕的事。
But now, everything had been turned upside down. Early cosmology had presented a paradox: If the universe was infinite, then every spot in the universe would feel the cumulative effects of the infinite gravity exerted by an infinity of celestial bodies. Cheng Xin really did feel an infinite gravity now. The power came from every corner of the universe, ruthlessly tearing at her soul. The horror of her last moments as the Swordholder 127 years ago resurfaced as four billion years of history pressed down on her and suffocated her. The sky was full of eyes staring at her: the eyes of dinosaurs, trilobites, ants, birds, butterflies, bacteria… just the number of men and women who had lived on the Earth possessed a hundred billion pairs of eyes.
但现在，一切都反过来了。早期宇宙学曾有过一个悖论，认为如果宇宙无限，具有无限数量的天体的引力相叠加，将使宇宙中的每一点都受到无穷大的引力。程心这时感觉自己真的受到了无穷大的引力，这引力来自宇宙的各个方向，无情地撕扯着她的灵魂。一百二十七年前，她作为执剑人的最后时刻那可怕的幻觉又出现了，四十亿年的时光沉积在她上方，让她窒息。太空中充满了眼睛，都在盯着她，恐龙的眼睛，三叶虫和蚂蚁的眼睛，鸟和蝴蝶的眼睛，细菌的眼睛……仅地球上生活过的人类的眼睛就有一千亿双。
Cheng Xin knew that she had no choice but to live on. She and AA were the last two survivors of human civilization. Her death would mean the death of half of all that was left of humanity. Living on was the appropriate punishment for her mistake.
程心知道自己必须活下去，她和AA将是地球文明仅存的两个人，如果她去死，就等于杀了地球人类的一半，她只能活下去，这真是与她的失误极其相称的惩罚。
But the course ahead was a blank. In her heart, space was no longer black, but colorless. What was the point of going anywhere?
可是，前方的航程一片空白，她心中的太空不再是黑色的，而是变成了虚无的颜色。去哪里还有什么意义？
Luo Ji continued, “They’re still alive. The Bunker World received a gravitational wave transmission from them five years ago. It was a short message, and didn’t explain where they were. Halo will periodically hail them with gravitational waves. Maybe you’ll find them; maybe they’ll find you.”
罗辑接着说：“他们还在，五年前掩体世界收到了他们发出的引力波信息，很简短的信息，不知道他们在哪儿。‘星环’号在航行时会定期发出呼他们的引力波信号，也许你们能找到他们，或者他们找到你们。”
“Go find them,” Luo Ji said. His image was even more blurred and now only black and white.
“去找他们。”罗辑说，这时他的图像更加模糊，而且变成了黑白的。
“Where should we go?” Cheng Xin muttered.
“我们去哪儿？”程心喃喃地问道。
His words illuminated Cheng Xin’s dark thoughts like lightning. She and AA looked at each other and immediately understood who “them” meant.
这话像闪电般照亮了程心黑色的思绪，她和AA对视了一眼，她们当然明白“他们”的含意。
Luo Ji’s black-and-white image disappeared as well, but they could still hear his voice. He said one last thing, “Ah, it’s time for me to go into the picture. Safe travels, children.”
这时，罗辑的黑白影像也消失了，但仍能听到他的声音，他说了最一句话：“哦，要进画里了，孩子们，走好。”
The transmission from Pluto was cut off.
来自冥工星的信号彻底中断了。
On the monitor, they could see Pluto light up and expand in two dimensions. The part of Pluto containing the museum was the first to touch the plane.
从监视系统的画面上看到，冥王星亮起来了，并开始在二维中扩散，显然博物馆所在的区域是最先接触二维平面的。
Very few transmissions could now be received from the direction of the Solar System. Due to the Doppler effect, the brief bursts of voices sounded strange, like singing:
来自太阳系的音频信号已经很稀疏了，都是很短促的话音，由于多普勒效应导致的信号频率变化，声音听起来有些怪异，像是吟唱一般：
Outside, no other fleeing spaceships could be seen; Halo had passed them all. All the fleeing spaceships were now falling onto the two-dimensional space like drops of rain against glass.
外面已经看不到逃亡飞船了，“星环”号全部超过了它们。现在，所有的逃亡飞船正雨点般地跌落到二维平面上。
“We’re very close! Are you behind us?”
“我们已经很近了！你们在我们后面吗……”
The Doppler effect of Halo’s speed was now visible. The light from the stars ahead shifted to bluish, while the light from the stars behind shifted to reddish. The color shift was apparent in the two-dimensional Solar System.
“星环”号的速度所产生的多普勒效应已经能够观察到，从单个的星星看不出什么，但总体来看，前方的星光微微偏蓝，后方则偏红，这种色彩的变化在后面的二维太阳系中也能看出来。
“Don’t do this! No!”
“不要这样！不要这样……”
“There’s no pain. I’m telling you, it’ll be over in a flash.”
“没有痛苦，我告诉你们，就一瞬间的事……”
“You still don’t believe me, after all this? Fine, don’t believe me.”
“到了现在你还不相信我，那好，不要相信好了……”
“Come here! We should be together.”
“到这边来！我们要在一起……”
Cheng Xin and AA listened. The voices became fewer and fewer, and separated by longer gaps. After thirty minutes, they heard the last voice coming out of the Solar System: “Ahhhhhhhhh –“
程心和AA静静地听着，信号越来越稀疏，声音出现的间隔越来越长，又过了三十分钟，她们终于听到了太阳系传出的最后一个人声：“啊——”
“Yes, sweetie, we’ll become very thin.”
“是的，宝贝，会变得很薄……”
Halo continued to fall toward the plane. The speed it had already achieved was slowing down its fall, but the ship still hadn’t achieved escape velocity. By now, Halo was the only man-made three-dimensional object in the Solar System, and Cheng Xin and AA were the only people not in the painting. Halo was very close to the plane, and from this angle, looking at the two-dimensional Sun was like looking at the sea from shore: the dim, dark red surface stretched into the distance without bounds. The freshly flattened Pluto was now very large, and still expanded at a rate that was visible to the naked eye. Cheng Xin examined the exquisite “tree rings” of Pluto and tried to find traces of the museum, but she couldn’t see anything — it was too small. The giant waterfall that was three-dimensional space tumbling into the flat plane seemed inexorable. Cheng Xin began to doubt whether the curvature propulsion engine really was capable of propelling the ship to lightspeed. She hoped for everything to be over.
“星环”号仍在向二维平面跌落，它已经达到的高速度只是减缓了跌落的进程，飞船仍未达到二维跌落区的逃逸速度。这时，“星环”号是太阳系唯一还处于二维空间之外的人造物体，程心和AA是仅有的画外人。“星环”号距二维平面已经很近了，从这个角度看去，二维太阳已经变得很扁平，像从海岸看大海一样，它那不再发光的暗红色平面无边无际。刚刚二维化的冥王星这时变得很大，且以肉眼能够觉察的速度继续变大。程心看着二维冥王星那精致的“年轮”，想从中找出博物馆的痕迹，但没找到，它毕竟太小了。三维空间向二维跌落的洪流似乎不可拒，程心这时有些怀疑，曲率引擎是否真的能使飞船进人光速，她真的希望一切就此终结。
The voice was cut off. The giant painting called the Solar System was complete.
这声呼喊戛然而止，在以后的时间里，万籁俱寂。这幅名为太阳系的二维巨画完成了。
AA clutched Cheng Xin’s hands. “Have you forgotten? Other than them, he also exists in the universe.”
AA突然抓住程心的手说：“你忘记了，宇宙中除了他们，还有他！”
“We don’t know where to go,” said AA.
“我们不知道去哪儿呀……”，AA茫然地说。
But then, the ship’s AI spoke. “Halo will enter lightspeed in one hundred and eighty seconds. Please select a destination.”
但这时，飞船AI说话了：“‘星环’号将在180秒后进人光速，请指定航线。”
“You can select a destination after we’ve entered lightspeed. However, you won’t subjectively be spending much time in lightspeed, and it’s easy to overshoot your destination. It’s best if you select it now.”
“你们可以在进人光速后指定航线，但在飞船参照系中，光速航行的时间很短，可能越过目的地，所以最好现在就指定。”
“We don’t know where to find them,” Cheng Xin said. Their existence gave the future some light, but she still felt lost.
“我们不知道去哪里找他们。”程心说，“他们”的存在使未来有了些亮色，但仍是一片茫然。
Yes, he still exists. Cheng Xin was overwhelmed by heartache. She had never yearned to see anyone as much as him.
是的，还有他。程心瞬间被强烈的思念淹没了，她从来没有像这样渴望见到一个人。
“You have a date,” AA said.
“你们有个约会！”AA说。
“Yes, we have a date,” Cheng Xin repeated mechanically. The torrents of emotion left her numb.
“是的，我们有个约会。”程心机械地回答，感情的激荡使她处于呆滞状态。
“Yes, let’s go to our star!” Cheng Xin turned to the ship’s AI. “Can you find DX3906? That was the assigned number back at the beginning of the Crisis Era.”
“好的，去我们的星星。”程心激动地对AA说。“然后她问飞船AI能够定位DX3906恒星吗？这是危机纪元初的编号？”
“Then let’s go to your star.”
“那就去你们的星星！”
The holographic star map disappeared. In fact, the ship’s entire hull disappeared, and Cheng Xin and AA seemed to be floating in space itself. The AI had never employed this display mode before. In front of them was the starry sea that was the Milky Way, which was now pure blue, reminding them of the real sea. Behind them was the two-dimensional Solar System, suffused with a bloody red.
星图消失，切换成外部全景显示模式，飞船环境全部隐去，程心和AA如同悬浮在太空中一样，AI以前从未使川过这种显示模式。航向的前方是银河系的星海，这时已经变成了纯蓝色。真的让人想起了海洋；后方，是二维太阳系，二维太阳和行星都笼罩在如血的红色中。
“Yes. The star is now numbered S74390E2. Please confirm.”
“可以，这颗恒星现在的编号是S74390E2，请确认。”
A large holographic star map appeared before them. It showed everything within five hundred light-years of the Solar System. One of the stars glowed bright red, and a white arrow pointed at it. Cheng Xin was very familiar with it.
她们面前显示出大幅的全息星图，范围是太阳系周围半径五百光年，一颗恒星闪耀着醒目的红光，被一个白色的箭头所标识；程心太熟悉那颗星了。
“Course set and confirmed. Halo will enter lightspeed in fifty seconds.”
“航线初始化完毕，’星环‘号在五十秒后进入光速。”
The universe shuddered and transformed. All the stars in front of them shot straight ahead, as though that half of the universe had transformed into a black bowl and all the stars were falling into the bottom. They clustered ahead of the ship and fused into a single glow, like a giant sapphire in which it was not possible to distinguish individual stars. From time to time, individual stars shot out of the sapphire and swept past the pure black space to fall behind the ship, changing color the whole way: from blue to green, then yellow, and turning red once they were behind the ship. Looking back from the ship, the two-dimensional Solar System and the stars fused into a red ball like a campfire at the end of the universe.
突然，宇宙发生了剧变，前方的所有星星都朝航向所指的方向聚集，仿佛这一半宇宙变成了一个黑色的大碗，群星都在向碗底滑落，很快在正前方聚成密密的一团，已经分辨不出单个的星星，它们凝成一个光团，像一块巨大的蓝宝石发出璀璨的蓝光。不时有零星的星星从光团中飞出，划过漆黑的空间快速向后飞去，它们的色彩不断变化，从蓝变成绿，再变成黄色，当它越过飞船后，则变成了红色。在飞船的后方，二维太阳系和群星一起凝聚成红色的一团，像在宇宙尽头熊熊燃烧的簧火。
Halo flew at the speed of light toward the star that Yun Tianming had given Cheng Xin.
“星环”号以光速向云天明送给程心的星星飞去。
“That’s the one. Let’s go there.”
“是的，就是它，我们去那里吧。”程心点点头说。
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