“Do you really hope we’ll catch up to it?” the pilot asked.
“你真的希望我们跟上它？”驾驶员问。
“Why not? We’re making history!”
“为什么不呢？我们在创造历史！”
“Won’t the thing attack us? We’re not soldiers. This really ought to be done by the fleet.”
“那东西不会攻击我们吗，你我都不是军人，这事本来应该由舰队来干！”
Then their spacecraft received a message from the Ringier-Fitzroy Station reporting that the Trisolaran probe had entered the dust cloud and left a wake, and that precise parameters had been calculated for its trajectory. Blue Shadow was ordered to move immediately to rendezvous with and closely track the target. The station was more than one hundred AU away from Blue Shadow, meaning the message was delayed more than ten hours in transit, but the key had made an impression in the mold. Orbital calculations had even taken into account the effect of the thin dust cloud, so a rendezvous was just a matter of time.
正在这时，飞船收到了来自林格————斐兹罗监测站的信息，报告三体探测器已经进入尘埃云并留下了尾迹，它的精确轨道参数已经测定出来，命令“蓝影”号立刻起航与目标会合。进行近距离跟踪。虽然监测站距“蓝影”号有一百多个天文单位之遥，信息传到这里有十多个小时的时滞，但现在就像钥匙已经在印泥上按了模，轨道的计算连稀薄尘埃云的影响都考虑进去了，会合只是时间问题。
“I see it! I see it!” the pilot shouted.
“看到它了！我看到它了！”驾驶员大喊起来。
Blue Shadow set a course in accordance with the probe’s path and once again entered the invisible dust cloud, this time heading in the direction of the Trisolaran probe. It was a long flight this time, and over the course of more than ten hours, both pilot and commander grew sleepy. But the continuously shrinking distance between them and the probe kept them on edge.
“蓝影”号按照探测器的轨道参数设定航向，再次进入看不见的尘埃云，向三体探测器飞去。这次飞行的时间显得很长，十多个小时过去了，指令长和驾驶员都很困倦，但与目标不断缩小的距离还是夸他们紧张起来。
“What are you talking about? There’s still over fourteen thousand kilometers to go!” rebuked the commander. The naked eye could not possibly see a truck at a distance of fourteen thousand kilometers, even given the transparency of space. But soon he saw it for himself: On the trajectory described by the parameters, against the silent backdrop of space, a point of light was in motion.
“你胡说什么？还有一万四千多公里呢！”指令长训斥道，即使在全透明的太空中，肉眼也不可能看到一万四千公里外的一辆卡车。但很快，他自己也看到了，在轨道参数所指示的方向，在静止的星空背景上，有一个亮点在移动。
After a moment’s thought, the commander understood: The cloud of dust larger than the sun had been unnecessary, since the Trisolaran probe had restarted its engines and was continuing to decelerate. It did not intend to skip through the Solar System. It would remain here.
经过短暂的思考，指令长明白了：这团比太阳还大的尘埃云是白造了，三体探测器又启动了它的发动机，继续减速，它不打算掠过太阳系，它将留在这里。
Once the General Staff team had finished resetting the pupil and fingerprint data that identified the captain in the system, Dongfang Yanxu surrendered her pass phrase to Zhang Beihai: “Men always remember love because of romance only.”
总参特别小组完成了系统中舰长权限识别的瞳孔和指纹数据的重新设定，然后东方延绪向章北海交出了她的口令：“男人总是只因为浪漫而记得爱情。①”东方延绪说出口令后，用挑战的目光看着章北海。【注：①传说中万宝路的英文含义。】
Despite this era’s technological development, they had still not managed to overcome the stagnation of fundamental theory, so Natural Selection’s permissions transfer was done via means Zhang Beihai was familiar with: three-factor retina, fingerprint, and passphrase authentication.
在这个时代，技术的极致发展并未能掩盖基础理论的停滞。“自然选择”号对权限的识别仍然采用章北海在过去的时代就熟悉的瞳孔、指纹和口令的三位一体，太空战舰的人工智能仍然无法识别出一个人的面容。
Because it was only a temporary measure in the fleets, the ceremony for handing over captain’s permissions on Natural Selection was a simple and low-key affair attended only by Captain Dongfang Yanxu, Acting Captain Zhang Beihai, First Vice-Captain Levine, and Second Vice-Captain Akira Inoue, as well as a special team from the General Staff Department.
由于只是临时措施，与亚洲舰队的其他战舰一样，“自然选择”号的舰长权限交接仪式是简短和低调的，在场的只有舰长东方延绪、执行舰长章北海、第一副舰长列文和第二副舰长井上明，还有来自总参谋部的一个特别小组。
“You don’t smoke,” he replied calmly.
“你好像不抽烟。”章北海从容应对。
“And the brand was lost during the Great Ravine,” she said with a trace of disappointment, and lowered her eyes.
“而且这个牌子已经在大低谷时消失了。”东方延绪带着一丝失望垂下眼睛说。
The captain and vice-captains exited, leaving Zhang Beihai alone to update the password and obtain complete control over Natural Selection.
舰长和副舰长都离开了，章北海将独自修改舰长的口令，最后取得对“白然选择”号的舰长控制权。
“He’s clever,” Akira Inoue said when the door to the spherical cabin vanished.
“他真的很聪明。”当球形舱的门消失后，井上明说。
“But the password’s a good one. Not many people knew it back then either.”
“不过这个口令真的很好，在那时也没有多少人知道。”章北海说。
“Ancient wisdom,” Dongfang Yanxu said, watching the spot where the door had disappeared, as if trying to see through it. “We’ll never be able to learn the stuff he brought from two centuries ago, but he can learn what we know.”
“古代的智慧。”东方延绪说，她盯着舱门消失的地方，像要把那里看透似的，“他从两个世纪前带来的东西，我们永远学不会，可他却能学会我们的。”
Then the three of them remained silent and waited. Five minutes passed, clearly too long for changing a password, especially since Captain-in-waiting Zhang Beihai had come through training as the most skilled command system operator out of all the members of his Special Contingent. Five more minutes passed. The two vice-captains began swimming impatiently in the corridor, but Dongfang Yanxu remained silent and motionless.
然后三人沉默了，静静地等待着。五分钟过去了，对于重置口令的操作，这时间显然太长了，而即将成为舰长的章北海，是培训后的特遣队成员中对战舰指挥系统操作最熟练的人。又过了五分钟，两名副舰长不耐烦地在廊道里浮游起来，只有东方延绪仍静静地站立不动。
At last the door reappeared. To their surprise, the spherical cabin had turned black. Zhang Beihai had a holographic star map pulled up on which the labels had been blocked, leaving only the twinkling stars. From the doorway, he seemed to be suspended outside the spaceship, with his interface floating alongside him.
终于，门又在舱壁上出现了。三人惊奇地发现，球形舱里变黑了，章北海调出了星图的全息显示，并屏蔽了图上所有的标度线，只留下闪亮的星星，以至从门这边看去，他仿佛悬浮于飞船外的太空中，与他一起悬浮着的还有一块亮着的操作界面。
“Were you relishing the thrill of gaining Natural Selection?” Akira Inoue asked.
“你是在享受得到‘自然选择’号的快感吗？”井上明问。
“Why did it take so long?” Levin grumbled.
“怎么用了这么长时间？”列文不满地问。
“I’m done,” he said.
“我做完了。”章北海说。
He was about to go on, but was stopped by a low gasp of surprise from the captain. “Oh, god!” she said, and the two vice-captains, following her eyes, noticed Natural Selection’s current status on Zhang Beihai’s interface.
井上明还想说什么，但被舰长的一声低低的惊呼打断了，“哦，天啊。”东方延绪说，两位副舰长顺着她的目光看去，看到了章北海面前的操作界面，因而也看到了“自然选择”号太空战舰目前所处的状态。
Akira Inoue said, “And this state won’t last for very long. The investigation of the fleet is nearing an end, and it’s basically been proven that the Imprinted don’t exist.”
井上明接着说：“而且这种状态不会持续太长的，对舰队的调查已经接近尾声，基本证明了钢印族并不存在。”
Zhang Beihai said nothing. He didn’t look at the interface, but gazed off instead at a star in a distant part of the map. Dongfang Yanxu noticed that a green light was flashing in the direction he was looking.
章北海没有说话，他的眼睛也没看操作界面，而是遥望着星图上远方的星辰，东方延绪注意到，在他注视的方向，有一个绿色光点在闪动。
“That would be ridiculous,” Levin said, picking up from Akira Inoue. “May I remind you that the captainship still belongs to Colonel Dongfang? The acting captain is just a firewall. I’m sorry to be rude about it, but that’s pretty much the truth.”
“要是那样就太可笑了。”列文接过井上明的话说，“我需要提醒你，舰长仍足东方大校，执行舰长不过是一道防火墙而已，这样说不好听，但最接近实情。”
The warship had been set into remote control mode, thereby bypassing the check for deep-sea state prior to Ahead Four. Outside communication had been severed. And, finally, most of the captain’s settings for putting the ship into maximum propulsion were in place. With the push of just one more button, Natural Selection would head off at maximum speed to the target selected on the map.
战舰已被设定为无人遥控状态，因而绕过了四级加速前对乘员深海状态的检测，战舰与外界的通讯也被完全切断，最后，战舰完成了进入最高推进功率的绝大部分舰长设定，只需再按动一个按钮，“自然选择”号将以最大的加速度驶向星图上已经设定的目标。
“Why are you doing this?”
“为什么这样做？”
“ETO?”
“ETO？”
“This is impossible!” Akira Inoue said.
“这不可能！”井上明说。
“No.”
“也不是。”
“A soldier carrying out his duty to fight for humanity’s survival.”
“一个尽责任的军人，为人类的生存而战。”
“Are you Imprinted?” Dongfang Yanxu asked, quickly calming herself.
“你是钢印族吗？”东方延绪问，她飞快地使自己冷静下来。
“Then who are you?”
“那你是谁？”
“I’ll explain after acceleration is complete. I repeat: All crew must enter deep-sea state immediately.”
“加速完成后再解释，再说一遍：全舰人员进入深海状态。”
“Natural Selection is about to proceed to Ahead Four. All crew must enter deep-sea state immediately,” Zhang Beihai said, every word in his solemn, calm voice lingering in the air like an ancient anchor standing in the chill wind.
“‘自然选择’号将进入‘前进四’，全舰人员立刻进入深海状态。”章北海说，他的声音冷峻而沉稳，每一个字都长久地浮在空气中，像立在寒风中的古老铁锚。
“No, this can’t be happening,” Dongfang Yanxu said, her voice so low only she could hear it. It was for her own ears, in response to her earlier “god” exclamation. She had never believed in the existence of God, but now her prayers were real.
“不，别这样。”东方延绪说，声音低得只有自己能听到，这话是说给她前面呼唤过的那个“天”听的，以前，她自己并不相信它的存在。而现在，她的祈祷是真诚的。
“You know that’s not possible.”
“你知道我不可能是。”
“Are you insane?” Levin shouted. He and Akira Inoue rushed toward the cabin, only to crash into the bulkhead. There was no door, just an oval-shaped section of wall that had turned transparent.
“你疯了？”列文喊道，与井上明一起向舱内冲去，但立刻撞在舱壁上，门并没有出现，只是那一个椭圆形区域的舱壁变得透明了。
“Dongfang, I said that I would be sorry if I had to kill you. There’s not much time.”
“东方，我说过，如果不得不杀了你，我很抱歉。时间不多了。”他说。
“Do as he says. The whole ship will enter deep-sea state,” the captain said.
“照他说的做，全舰进入深海状态。”舰长轻声说。
Zhang Beihai turned around and, without so much as looking at the two vice-captains, stared straight at Dongfang Yanxu. His eyes instantly reminded her of the emblem of the Chinese Space Force, bearing swords and stars alike.
章北海转过头来，他没有看两位副舰长，目光直视东方延绪，这目光立刻使东方想起了太空军的军徽，星星和剑在其中都有。
Then the deep-sea acceleration fluid appeared within Zhang Beihai’s spherical compartment, forming into balls in the weightless environment. Each liquid globe, containing his distorted reflection along with the interface and the star map, began to combine into larger ones. The two vice-captains looked at Dongfang Yanxu.
这时，在章北海所在的球形舱内，深海加速液开始出现，它们在失重中形成一个个球体，每个球体上，都有章北海的操作界面和星图的变形映像。液球飘浮着，开始相互组合成更大的球。两位副舰长都看着东方延绪。
The two vice-captains stared at her. They knew what the consequences were for proceeding to Ahead Four outside of the deep-sea protective state: The body would be plastered to the bulkhead by a force 120 times that of Earth gravity. First blood would burst out under the immense weight, spreading into a thin layer of impossibly huge, radially patterned blood stains, and then the organs would be squeezed out, forming another thin layer that would be pressed together with the body into an ugly Dali painting…
两位副舰长凝视着她，他们都知道“前进四”时未处于深海保护状态下的人是什么下场：身体被超过自身重量一百二十倍的过载紧贴在舱壁上，先迸射出的是血液，超重下摊成极薄的一层，血渍的面积大得不可想象并呈放射状；然后挤出的是内脏，也很快被压成薄薄的一层，与被压成一片的身体一起，构成一幅丑陋的达利风格的画……
“This is impossible!” Akira Inoue repeated.
“这不可能！”井上明重复道。
“Where are we going?”
“我们要去哪里？”东方延绪问。
“Wherever we’re going, it’s a more responsible choice than staying here.”
“不管去哪里，都是一个比留在这里更负责任的选择。”
Floating in the translucent liquid, Zhang Beihai recalled his diving experience in the navy two centuries before. He had never imagined that the ocean would be so dark a few dozen meters down, but that undersea world gave him the same feeling he later found in space. The ocean was space in miniature on Earth. He tried breathing, but his reflexes made him violently cough up liquid and residual gas, and his body shifted with the recoil. Still, there wasn’t the suffocation that he had anticipated, and as cool liquid filled his lungs, the oxygen it contained was supplied to his blood. He could breathe freely, like a fish.
章北海悬浮在半透明的液体中，想起了他两个世纪前在海军服役时深度潜水的经历。当时他没有想到海洋中的几十米深处已经是那么黑，悬浮在那个世界中，很有后来身处太空的感觉，海洋是太空在地球上的缩影。他试着在液体中呼吸了一下，神经反射使他剧烈地咳嗽起来，咳出的液体和残留气体产生的反冲力使他的身体倾斜了，但想象中的窒息并没有出现。清凉的液体充满了肺部，其中富含的氧继续融进他的血液，他能够像鱼一样自由呼吸了。
And then he was submerged in the deep-sea acceleration fluid, and Dongfang Yanxu could only make out a murky body through the liquid now filling the spherical compartment.
章北海说完，就被深海加速液完全淹没了，东方延绪只能透过已充满球形舱的液体看到他模糊的身影。
“You’re a well-qualified captain.” Zhang Beihai nodded at Dongfang Yanxu. “This shows maturity.”
“你是一个合格的舰长。”章北海对着东方延绪点点头，“这就是成熟。”
As they left for their cabins, they issued orders to the entire ship to enter a deep-sea state.
他们同时转身离去，向全舰发布进入深海状态的命令。
Zhang Beihai felt his father’s spirit alight on the spaceship from the beyond, becoming one with it. He pressed the button on the interface, issuing in his mind the command that he had been working toward his entire life:
章北海感到父亲的灵魂从冥冥中降落到飞船上，与他融为一体，他按动了操作界面上那个最后的按钮，心中默念出那个他用尽一生的努力所追求的指令：
A small sun appeared in Jovian orbit, its bright light washing out the phosphorescence of the planet’s atmosphere. Dragging the sun behind it, the stellar-class warship Natural Selection eased out of the Asian Fleet base and accelerated rapidly, casting shadows of the other warships — each dark spot big enough to contain the Earth — onto the Jovian surface. Ten minutes later, a larger shadow was flung onto Jupiter like a curtain drawn across the giant planet. Natural Selection was passing Io.
木星轨道上突然出现了一颗小太阳，它强烈的光芒使得行星上大气层中的磷光黯然失色。拖着这颗小太阳的“自然选择”号恒星级战舰缓缓驶出亚洲舰队的军港，然后急剧加速，把舰队中其他战舰的影子投到木星表面，每个影子的大小都可能容下一个地球。十分钟后，一个更大的影子投向木星，仿佛给这颗巨行星的表面拉上一块幕布，这是“自然选择”号在掠过木卫一。
“Natural Selection, Ahead Four!”
“‘自然选择’，前进四！”
On the interface suspended in the liquid, he saw that the deep-sea acceleration fluid was filling each occupied compartment in the spaceship in turn. The process continued for more than ten minutes. His consciousness began to blur as the breathing liquid was injected with a hypnotic component that put everyone aboard ship into a state of sleep so as to avoid damage to the brain from the high pressure and relative hypoxia generated by acceleration at Ahead Four.
章北海看着悬浮在液体中的显示界面，看到深海加速液依次充满飞船上各个有人的舱室，这个过程持续了十多分钟。渐渐地，他的意识开始模糊，呼吸液中开始注入催眠成分，以使飞船上的所有人进入睡眠状态，避免四级加速时的高压和相对缺氧对大脑的损害。
The European and North American Fleets issued protests and warnings to the Asian Fleet under the initial impression that it was an unauthorized move to intercept the Trisolaran probe, but they soon realized from Natural Selection’s heading that this was not the case. It was headed in the opposite direction from the Trisolaran invasion.
欧洲和北美舰队向亚洲舰队提出抗议和警告，它们最初认为这可能是亚洲舰队擅自拦截三体探测器的行动。但很快从“自然选择”的航向上发现不是这么回事，它的航向与三体入侵的方向相反。
It was at this point that the Asian Fleet High Command confirmed the incredible fact that Natural Selection had defected.
直到这时，亚洲舰队统帅部才确认了这个令人难以置信的事实：“自然选择”号叛逃了！
The various systems hailing Natural Selection gradually let up after receiving no response. The high commands began to deploy pursuit and intercept ships, although they soon realized that little could be done about the defector warship. Bases on four of Jupiter’s moons possessed sufficient firepower to destroy Natural Selection, but they would not take that path, because it was quite likely that only a small minority of those on board, or even a single individual, had actually defected, and the two thousand-odd soldiers in deep-sea state were merely hostages. Commanders at the gamma-ray laser base on Europa could only watch as the small sun flew across the sky and into outer space, sprinkling Europa’s vast ice sheets with light like burning phosphorus.
各个系统向“自然选择”号的呼叫因得不到回答而渐渐平息下来，追击和拦截行动开始部署。但统帅部很快发现，目前对叛舰几乎无事可做。在木星的众多卫星上，有四颗卫星的火力可以摧毁“自然选择”号，但这是一个不可能采取的行动，实施叛逃行动的应该只是舰上的极少数甚至一个人，两千多名在深海状态中的官兵都是人质。所以，在木卫二上伽马射线激光武器的基站中，指挥官们只能看着那颗小太阳掠过天空飞向外太空，在它的光芒下，木卫二的广阔冰原上像是撒满了燃烧的白磷。
Since the pursuing force had to enter deep-sea state, it took forty-five minutes after Natural Selection left for those ships to launch, lighting up Jupiter with another six suns.
由于需要进入深海状态，追击舰队在“自然选择”号离去后四十五分钟才起航，木星系统再一次被六个太阳照耀。
At Asian Fleet Command, which had stopped rotating, the commander silently faced the giant dark side of Jupiter as lightning flashed in the atmosphere ten thousand kilometers below him. Powerful radiation from the fusion engines of Natural Selection and the pursuing force had caused atmospheric ionization and lightning. The fleeting lightning strikes illuminated the surrounding atmosphere, visible at this distance as halos in constantly changing locations, turning the surface of Jupiter into a pond spattered with fluorescent rain.
在已经停止旋转的亚洲舰队司令部里，舰队司令默默地面对着处于黑夜一面的巨大的木星，在他下方一万公里的大气层中，有一片闪电出现，刚刚离去的“自然选择”号和追击舰队的聚变发动机向木星发出了强大的辐射，使大气电离引发了闪电。这个距离上只能看到被每一次闪电所照亮的周围大气的光晕，不同位置的光晕转瓣即逝，使得木星的这一片区域像滴落着荧光雨点的池塘。
Natural Selection crossed the orbits of sixteen Jovian moons, and achieved escape velocity by the time it reached Callisto. Seen from the Asian Fleet base, the small sun gradually shrank, turning into a bright star that remained faintly visible for a week, as a reminder from the stars of the lasting pain of the Asian Fleet.
“自然选择”号依次穿过木星的十六颗大卫星的轨道，在穿越木卫四轨道时已经达到了木星的逃逸速度。从亚洲舰队基地看去，那颗小太阳渐渐缩小，变成一颗明亮的星星，但在以后长达一个星期的时间里，这颗星星仍依稀可见，在群星中隐现着亚洲舰队无尽的伤痛。
The commander of the Asian Fleet gazed at the stars trying unsuccessfully to find one in particular, for all there was in that direction was the faint light of the pursuers’ fusion engines. A report soon came in: Natural Selection had stopped accelerating. A while later, Natural Selection restored communication with the fleet. Then the following communication took place, with delays of more than ten seconds between transmissions due to the fact that the ship was now over five million kilometers away:
亚洲舰队司令遥望星空，试图看到那颗星星，但没有找到，那个方向上，只有追击舰队的聚变发动机发出的六点暗弱的星光。他很快得到报告，“自然选择”号已经停止加速。稍后，“自然选择”号与舰队的通讯恢复了。以下是通话记录，由于飞船的位置已在五百万公里之外，对话有十多秒钟的时滞。
NATURAL SELECTION: Natural Selection calling Asian Fleet! Natural Selection calling Asian Fleet!
“自然选择”号：“‘自然选择’呼叫亚洲舰队！‘自然选择’呼叫亚洲舰队……”
Natural Selection accelerated in silence to one-hundredth the speed of light, the point of no return for its fusion fuel consumption. Now unable to return to the Solar System under its own power, it had become a lonely boat bound to forever wander in outer space.
“自然选择”号在沉默中持续加速到光速的百分之一后，它的聚变燃料的消耗已经越过折返点，凭自己的动力已经不可能返回太阳系，它成为了一艘永远在外太空流浪的孤舟。
ASIAN FLEET: Natural Selection, Asian Fleet reads you. Report your status.
亚洲舰队：“‘自然选择’号，亚洲舰队已收到你的呼叫，请报告舰上情况。”
NATURAL SELECTION: This is acting captain Zhang Beihai. I’ll speak directly to the fleet commander.
“自然选择”号：“我是执行舰长章北海，要直接同舰队司令官对话。”
FLEET COMMANDER: I want to talk to Captain Dongfang Yanxu.
舰队司令：“我要与她通话。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: No. Responsibility is mine alone. The situation has nothing at all to do with anyone else aboard Natural Selection.
章北海：“没有，只有我一人，这次事件与‘自然选择’号上的其他成员没有任何关系，东方延绪舰长在关键时刻做出了正确的决定。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: All is good. Every crew member is still in deep-sea state, apart from me. Power systems and life support are operating normally.
章北海：“一切良好，除我之外的所有舰上人员仍在深海状态中，动力系统和生态系统运转正常。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Is anyone else responsible?
舰队司令：“还有别人需要负责吗？”
FLEET COMMANDER: What is the ship’s current status?
舰队司令：“目前舰上情况如何？”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Not now.
章北海：“现在不行。”
FLEET COMMANDER: That makes you an Escapist.
舰队司令：“这么说，你是逃亡主义者。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Humanity is certain to lose on the battlefield. I only want to save one of Earth’s stellar-class spaceships to preserve a seed of human civilization in the universe, a scrap of hope.
章北海：“在这场战争中，人类必败。我只是想为地球保存一艘恒星际飞船，为人类文明在宇宙中保留一粒种子、一个希望。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Your reasons?
舰队司令：“原因？”
FLEET COMMANDER: And your reasons for this treason?
舰队司令：“你叛逃的原因？”
FLEET COMMANDER: I’m listening.
舰队司令：“我在听着。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I take full responsibility for Natural Selection’s breakaway voyage.
章北海：“我对‘自然选择’号的脱离航行负完全责任。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I may have deserted, but I am no traitor.
章北海：“逃离是事实，但我没有背叛。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Have you received the mental seal?
舰队司令：“你接受过思想钢印吗？”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I’m just a soldier fulfilling his duty.
章北海：“我只是一名尽自己责任的军人。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Was it a secret organization?
舰队司令：“这是一个秘密组织吗？”
ZHANG BEIHAI: You know that’s not possible. That technology wasn’t around when I went into hibernation.
章北海：“您知道这不可能，我冬眠时这种技术还没有出现。”
FLEET COMMANDER: But the theories of Future History have since been proven incorrect.
舰队司令：“可是现在，未来史学派的理论已被证明是错误的。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: No. They studied very basic questions, and their discussions were always conducted in the open. The government and military even came forward and held several academic conferences on Future History. And it was from their research that I arrived at the mind-set that humanity is doomed.
章北海：“不是，他们研究的问题很基础，讨论从来都是公开进行的，甚至还由军方和政府出面，召开了几次未来史学派的学术研讨会。正是从他们的研究中，我确立了人类必败的思想。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I don’t need the mental seal. I am the master of my beliefs. My faith is resolute because it doesn’t come from my own intelligence. At the beginning of the Trisolar Crisis, my father and I began to seriously consider the most basic questions about this war. Gradually, a group of deep-thinking scholars, including scientists, politicians, and military strategists, gathered around him. They called themselves the Future Historians.
章北海：“我不需要思想钢印，我是自己信念的主人。这种信念之所以坚定，是因为它不是来自我一个人的智慧。早在三体危机出现之初，父亲和我就开始认真思考这场战争最基本的问题。渐渐地，父亲身边聚集了一批有着深刻思想的学者，他们包括科学家、政治家和军事战略家，他们称自己为未来史学派。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Then your unusually resolute defeatist beliefs are baffling.
舰队司令：“那你的这种异常坚定的失败主义信念让人不可理解。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Have you forgotten that you’re on a spaceship capable of traveling at fifteen percent of the speed of light?
舰队司令：“可是，你现在身处的飞船，能够以光速的百分之十五航行。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Genghis Khan’s cavalry attacked with the speed of twentieth-century armored units. The mounted crossbow of the Song Dynasty had a range of up to fifteen hundred meters, comparable to twentieth-century assault rifles. But it’s impossible for ancient cavalry and crossbows to compete with modern forces. Fundamental theory determines everything. The Future Historians clearly saw this point. You, on the other hand, have been blinded by the dying radiance of low-level technology and are luxuriating in the nursery of modern civilization, without any mental preparation whatsoever for the coming ultimate battle that will determine the fate of humanity.
章北海：“成吉思汗的骑兵，攻击速度与二十世纪的装甲部队相当；北宋的床弩，射程达一千五百米，与二十世纪的狙击步枪差不多；但这些仍不过是古代的骑兵与弓弩而已，不可能与现代力量抗衡。基础理论决定一切，未来史学派清楚地看到了这一点。而你们，却被回光返照的低级技术蒙住了眼睛。你们躺在现代文明的温床中安于享乐，对即将到来的决定人类命运的终极决战完全没有精神上的准备。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Sir, you underestimate them. They not only predicted the Great Ravine but the Second Enlightenment and Second Renaissance as well. What they predicted for today’s era of prosperity is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. And, finally, they predicted that humanity would be totally defeated, wiped out in the Doomsday Battle.
章北海：“首长，您低估了他们。他们不但预言了大低谷，也预言了第二次启蒙运动和第二次文艺复兴，他们所预言的今天的强盛时代，几乎与现实别无二致，最后，他们也预言了末日之战中人类的彻底失败和灭绝。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: My dear commander, I’m more qualified than you to speak of that army. Three generations of my family served in it. During the Korean War, my grandfather attacked a Pershing tank armed with a grenade. The grenade hit the tank and slid off before exploding. The target was barely scratched, but my grandfather was hit by machine-gun fire from the tank, had both legs broken under its treads, and spent the rest of his life an invalid. But compared to two of his comrades, who were crushed to a pulp, he was lucky… It’s that army’s history that so clearly taught us the significance of a technological gap during wartime. The glory you know is what you’ve read in the history books, but our trauma was cemented by the blood of our fathers and grandfathers. We know more than you do what war means.
章北海：“尊敬的司令官，我比您更有资格谈论那支军队，因为我家祖孙三代都在其中服役。我的爷爷曾在朝鲜战场用手榴弹攻击美军的‘潘兴’坦克，手榴弹砸到坦克上滑下来爆炸，目标毫发未损，爷爷在被坦克上的机枪击中后，又被履带轧断双腿，在病榻上度过了后半生，但比起同时被轧成肉酱的两名战友来，他还算幸运……正是这支军队的历程，使我们对战争中与敌人的技术差距刻骨铭心。你们所知道的荣耀是从历史记载中看到的，我们的创伤是父辈和祖辈的鲜血凝成的，比起你们，我们更知道战争是怎么回事。”
FLEET COMMANDER: You come from a great army, one that was victorious over an enemy with far more advanced equipment. It won victory in one of the largest land wars in the world, relying solely on seized weapons. Your behavior is a disgrace to that army.
舰队司令：“你来自一支伟大的军队，他们曾战胜了装备远比自己先进的敌人，甚至仅凭缴获的武器就打胜了一场世界罕见的大规模陆战。你的行为，辱没了这支军队的荣耀。”
FLEET COMMANDER: When did you conceive of your treasonous plan?
舰队司令：“叛逃计划是什么时候产生的？”
FLEET COMMANDER: And to do this you disguised yourself as a triumphalist. A very successful disguise.
舰队司令：“为此你把自己伪装成一个坚定的胜利主义者，你的伪装很成功。”
FLEET COMMANDER: We did not know that. Maybe no one did. But one thing is certain: The research direction chosen at that time was crucial for the subsequent development of spaceflight technology.
舰队司令：“这我们不知道，可能谁也不知道，但有一点应该肯定：那时所确定的研究方向对后来的宇航技术发展是至关重要的。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I repeat: I may have deserted, but I am not a traitor. I conceived of the plan the last time I saw my father. I saw in his eyes what I needed to do, and it took me two centuries to realize my plan.
章北海：“我重申：自己没有背叛，但逃亡是事实。这个计划从见父亲最后一面时就产生了，他用最后的耳光告诉了我该怎样做，我用了两个世纪来实施这个计划。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: General Chang Weisi almost saw through me.
章北海：“但常伟思将军几乎识破了我。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: In order to obtain a spacecraft capable of fleeing into space, I killed three people.
章北海：“为了得到能够进行星际逃亡的飞船，我杀了三个人。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Yes. He was keenly aware that he had never worked out the foundation of your triumphalist faith, and his suspicions were only aggravated by your unusual enthusiasm for radiation propulsion systems capable of interstellar travel. He had always been opposed to you joining the Special Contingent of Future Reinforcements, but he couldn’t breach his superiors’ orders. He warned us in the letter he sent, but did so in your era’s subtle way, and we overlooked it.
舰队司令：“是的，他敏锐地意识到自己从未看清你的胜利主义信念的基础，你后来对能够进行恒星际航行的辐射推进型飞船的不正常的热衷。更加剧了他的怀疑。他一直反对你进入增援未来特遣队，但无法违背上级的指示。在给我们的信中，他提出了警告，但却是以那个时代所特有的含蓄方式提出的，结果被我们忽略了。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Thank you for saying so.
章北海：“谢谢你告诉我这个。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: But I had to act immediately. There would be no other opportunity.
章北海：“但我只能立刻行动，以后就没有机会了。”
FLEET COMMANDER: I will also say that your plan will fail.
舰队司令：“我还要告诉你，你的计划失败了。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: Perhaps. But it hasn’t yet.
章北海：“也许会，但现在还没有。”
FLEET COMMANDER: What it means is that you’re only able to accelerate to one percent of light speed now. You can’t consume excess fuel, because the spaceship’s life-support systems still need power to maintain operations for a timespan that could be as short as a few decades or as long as a few centuries. But at that speed, the pursuing force will catch up to you quite soon.
舰队司令：“这样，你只能加速到光速的百分之一，你不敢过多消耗燃料，因为飞船的生态循环系统需要能量来维持运转，这段时间少则几十年，多则几个世纪。而以这样的速度航行，追击舰队能够很快追上你们。”
FLEET COMMANDER: Natural Selection’s fusion fuel is only at one-fifth capacity.
舰队司令：“‘自然选择’号在起航时只加注了五分之一的聚变燃料。”
ZHANG BEIHAI: I still control Natural Selection.
章北海：“我仍控制着‘自然选择’号。”
FLEET COMMANDER: True. And of course you know our concern: that pursuit will drive you to continue accelerating, expending fuel until life support fails and Natural Selection becomes a dead ship at near-absolute zero. That’s why the pursuit force won’t draw near Natural Selection for the time being. We have confidence that the commander and soldiers aboard will solve their own warship’s problems.
舰队司令：“不错，你当然知道我们的担心：追击会使你继续加速，耗尽燃料，没有能量的生态系统将停止转动，‘自然选择’号将变成一艘接近绝对零度的死船。所以追击舰队暂时不会与‘自然选择’号近距离接触，我们很有信心地认为，‘自然选择’号上的指挥官和士兵会解决自己战舰的问题。”
Luo Ji watched television only rarely. Since arriving in New Life Village #5, he had returned to a life in the past. After the post-awakening impact of the new era, this was a precious feeling for him, and, for the time being, he didn’t want to be disturbed by information about the present day. He spent most of his time immersed in memories of Zhuang Yan and Xia Xia. All of the paperwork had been filed for their reawakening, but government controls on hibernators meant that it would not happen for two months.
罗辑最近很少看电视，进入新生活五村后，他真的回到了过去的生活中，在经历过刚苏醒时新时代的冲击后，他很珍惜这种感觉，暂时不希望被现代的信息所干扰。更多的时候，他是沉浸在对庄颜和孩子的思念中，她们苏醒的手续已经办好，但由于政府控制冬眠苏醒人口的流量，所以她们的苏醒被排到两个月以后了。
ZHANG BEIHAI: I’m also convinced that all problems will be resolved. I will shoulder my responsibility, but I still firmly believe that Natural Selection is headed in the right direction.
章北海：“我也相信一切问题都会解决的，我将负自己应该负的责任，但目前我仍坚信，‘自然选择’号处在正确的航向上。”
When Luo Ji jerked awake, he recognized something else that had endured from the past: firecrackers. It was dawn, and through the window the desert glowed white in the early light, illuminated by bursts of firecrackers and fireworks. Then came an urgent knock at the door. Without waiting for it to be answered, Shi Xiaoming opened it up and charged in, his face red with excitement as he urged Luo Ji to watch the news.
当罗辑从睡梦中惊醒时，他知道还有一样东西从过去流传到了现在，那就是鞭炮。从窗中望出去，看到天刚蒙蒙亮，沙漠在初露的天光中泛出一片白色，爆竹和烟花的闪光不时映照其上。这时有急促的敲门声，史晓明不等主人开门就闯了进来，脸上发着兴奋的红光，让罗辑快看新闻。
The television news broadcast the following: Five hours ago, the Ringier-Fitzroy Telescope observed the Trisolaran Fleet cross yet again into an interstellar dust cloud. This was the seventh time since its launch two centuries ago that the fleet had revealed itself by passing through a dust cloud. The fleet had lost its rigorous formation, so that the brush shape it had formed on passing through the first cloud was now altered beyond all recognition. But just as in its second crossing, a bristle was observed extending out in front. What was different this time, however, was that the shape of the track indicated that the bristle was not a probe, but a warship of the fleet. Having completed the acceleration and cruising legs of their journey to the Solar System, some of the ships in the Trisolaran Fleet had been observed decelerating as early as fifteen years ago. Ten years ago, the majority of them had begun to slow down. It was clear now that this particular ship had never reduced speed. In fact, judging from its path through the dust cloud, it was still accelerating. At its current rate of acceleration, it would arrive in the Solar System half a century before the rest of the fleet.
电视新闻的内容是这样的：五个小时前，林格一斐兹罗望远镜观察到三体舰队再次穿过一片星际尘埃云，这是它们在起航后的两个世纪中第七次因穿越尘埃云而现形，舰队已失去了严整的队形，“刷子”的形状与第一次穿越尘埃云时相比早已面目全非。不过这次与第二次穿越时相似，首先观察到的是一根前出的“刷毛”，但与那次不同的是，从轨迹形态判断，这根刷毛不是探测器，而是舰队中的一艘战舰。在向太阳系的航程中，三体舰队已经完成了加速和巡航期。早在十五年前，已经观测到三体战舰陆续开始减速，十年前，绝大部分战舰都进入减速状态。不过现在知道，这艘战舰一直没有减速，从它在尘埃云中的轨迹看，还处于加速状态，按目前的加速率，它将比舰队提前一个半世纪到达太阳系。
“But if they desired to negotiate, wouldn’t they notify humanity by sophon?” Luo Ji asked.
“可他们如果有谈判的愿望，为什么不通过智子通知人类呢？”罗辑问道。
A lone ship charging into Solar System territory and in range of Earth’s powerful fleet would be suicide, if it was an invasion. This left just one possible conclusion: It was coming to negotiate. Observations of the Trisolaran Fleet over the course of two centuries had determined the maximum acceleration of every ship, and projections indicated that this advance ship would be unable to decelerate sufficiently, so it would pass right through the Solar System in 150 years. That meant just two possibilities. The first was that the Trisolarans wanted Earth to assist in deceleration. More likely was that, before the ship passed out of the Solar System, it would drop a smaller craft that could decelerate more easily, a ship that would be carrying the Trisolaran negotiation delegation.
这样一艘孤单的飞船，独自闯人拥有强大舰队的太阳系疆域，如果是入侵则无异于送死，所以只能得出一个结论：它是来谈判的。通过对三体舰队长达两个世纪的观察，已经确定了每艘飞船的最大加速能力，照此推算，这艘前出的飞船缺少足够的减速能力，一百五十年后必然会掠过太阳系，那么就存在两种可能：其一是三体人希望地球世界协助减速，其二飞船在掠过太阳系前放下一个容易减速的小艇，上面运载着三体世界的谈判代表团。后一种可能性要大得多。
“That’s easy to explain!” Shi Xiaoming said excitedly. “It’s a different way of thinking. The Trisolarans have totally transparent minds, so they imagine that we already know what they’re thinking!”
“很好解释！”史晓明兴奋地说，“这是因为思维方式的不同，三体人是全透明思维，他们以为自己想的东西我们已经知道了！”
Even though the explanation was unconvincing, Luo Ji shared Shi Xiaoming’s feeling, like the sun outside was rising early.
尽管这个解释不是那么有说服力，罗辑还是有了同史晓明一样的感觉，感到外面的太阳提前升起来了。
When the sun rose for real, the revelry reached a climax. This was just a small corner of the world, and the center of the activity was in the underground cities, where people left their trees and crowded into the streets and plazas, their clothing turned up to maximum brightness to form a glowing sea of light. Virtual fireworks blossomed in the vaults overhead, and at times a colorful burst covered the entire sky, its brilliant light a match for the sun.
当太阳真正升起时，狂欢达到了高潮。这里只是世界的一个小角落，狂欢的中心是在那些地下大城市中，在那里，人们都走出巨树，街道和广场上人山人海，每个人的衣服都调到了最大亮度，构成一片闪耀的光海；天穹上绽放着虚拟的焰火，有时一朵焰火能覆盖整个天空，即使与太阳为伴，仍然明亮绚丽。
News continued to arrive. The government was cautious at first, and its spokespersons stated repeatedly that there was no conclusive evidence to demonstrate that Trisolaris had the intent to negotiate. But, at the same time, the UN and the SFJC convened an emergency summit to formulate strategies for negotiation procedures and terms…
新的消息不断传来。政府开始时很谨慎，发言人反复声明还没有确切证据最后表明三体世界有谈判意向；但与此同时，联合国和舰队联席会议都召开紧急峰会，开始拟定谈判程序和条款……
In New Life Village #5, a short interlude paused the revelry: A city legislator came to make a speech. He was a fanatical supporter of what was called Project Sunshine and was taking this opportunity to win the support of the hibernator community.
在新生活五村，狂欢中出现了一个小小的插曲：一名城市议员来此发表演讲，他是一名阳光计划的狂热支持者，想趁此机会使自己得到冬眠者社区的支持。
Project Sunshine was a UN proposal whose main thrust was that, in the event of a human victory in the Doomsday Battle, defeated Trisolarans ought to be provided with space in the Solar System. There were various versions of the project. The Weak Survival Plan set up Pluto, Charon, and the moons of Neptune as Trisolaran reservations that would grant admission only to those aboard the defeated Trisolaris ships. The living conditions on these reservations would be very poor, and they would rely on fusion energy and the support of human society to sustain themselves. The Strong Survival Plan would use Mars for the Trisolaran sojourn and would eventually admit all Trisolaran immigrants, in addition to members of the fleet. This plan would provide Trisolaran civilization with the Solar System’s best living conditions apart from Earth. The other versions were more or less situated between these two, but there were also a few more extreme ideas, such as accepting Trisolarans into Earth society. Project Sunshine had won broad support from Earth International and Fleet International, and preliminary studies and planning had already begun, with many nongovernmental forces in both Internationals pushing for it. Yet it had encountered fierce resistance from the community of hibernators, who had even coined a name for supporters of the project: “Dongguo,” after the soft-hearted scholar in the fable who saved a wolf’s life.21
阳光计划来自一个联合国提案，其主旨是：人类一旦取得末日之战的胜利，就应该在太阳系为战败的三体文明提供生存空间。计划有多种版本，主要有：弱生存方案，把冥王星、祝戎星和海王星的卫星作为三体文明保留地，只接纳战败的三体舰队成员。这个方案中保留地的生存条件很差，只能依靠核聚变的能源，在人类社会的支持下才能维持下去；强生存方案，把火星作为三体文明的寄居星球，除舰队成员外，还接纳所有三体世界的后续移民。这个方案可为三体文明提供太阳系中除地球之外最好的生存条件。其余的众多方案大都居于这两者之间，但也有一些很极端的想法，比如接纳三体文明进入地球社会等。阳光计划获得地球国际和舰队国际的广泛支持，并且已经展开大量的前期研究和规划，在两个国际中都出现了众多的推进该计划的民间力量。但同时，阳光计划也遭到了冬眠者社会的强烈反对，冬眠者甚至给计划的支持者们起了一个外号，叫“东郭族”。
As soon as the legislator’s speech began, he was met with strong pushback from the audience, which tossed tomatoes at him. Ducking, he said, “I’d like to remind you that we’re in a humanitarian age following the Second Renaissance. The life and civilization of every race are accorded the greatest respect. You are bathed in the light of this age, are you not? Hibernators in modern society enjoy citizenship in complete equality and suffer no discrimination. This principle is recognized in the constitution and in the law, but more importantly, it exists in everyone’s heart. I trust you can appreciate this. Trisolaris, too, is a great civilization. Human society must acknowledge its right to exist. Project Sunshine is not a charity. It is an acknowledgement and an expression of humanity’s own value! If we… Hey, jerks. Focus on your work!”
议员的演讲刚一开始，立刻遇到了听众强烈的反弹，人们纷纷向他们抛掷西红柿。议员躲避着说：“我请大家注意，这是第二次文艺复兴后的人文主义的时代，这个时代对各个种族的生命和文明给予最大的尊重，你们就沐浴在这个时代的阳光中！不是吗？冬眠者在现代社会享有完全平等的公民地位，没有受到任何歧视，这个原则不仅在宪法和法律上得到确认，更重要的是得到了所有人发自内心的一致认同，这些我想你们都能感受到。三体世界也是一个伟大的文明，他们的生存权应该得到人类社会的承认，阳光计划不是慈善事业，是文明人类对自身价值的一次确认和体现！如果我们……我说你们这些混蛋，把注意力集中到工作上来！”
The legislator’s final line was addressed to his team, who were busily gathering up the tomatoes that had fallen to the ground — they were quite expensive underground, after all. When the hibernators saw this, they began tossing cucumbers and potatoes onto the stage as well, and thus the minor confrontation was resolved in mutual merriment.
议员的最后一句话是对他的随行团队说的，他们正忙收集散落在地上的西红柿，这在地下城毕竟是很贵的东西。看到这个，冬眠者们又接着向讲坛上扔黄瓜土豆什么的，使得这一次小小的冲突最终在双方共同的欢乐中结束。
At noon, every household feasted. On the grass, a sumptuous meal of unadulterated agricultural products was laid out for the city folk who had come to join in the fun, including Mr. Dongguo the legislator and his entourage. The festivities continued tipsily through the afternoon and until sunset, which was exceptionally beautiful that evening. The sandy plains outside the neighborhood looked creamily soft and delicate under the red-orange sun, and the rolling dunes looked like the bodies of sleeping women…
中午，家家摆宴庆贺，还在小区的草坪上为趁兴而来的城里人——包括东郭族议员和他的团队——摆上了丰盛的纯农产品大餐。下午，狂欢在一片醉意中继续，直到夕阳西下。今天的黄昏格外美丽，小区外的沙原在橙红的夕阳下显得如奶油般柔软细腻，连绵的沙丘像睡卧的女性胴体……
“Mobilizing two thousand warships for a tiny probe?”
“就为一个小小的探测器出动两千多艘战舰？”
By nighttime, one news item pushed their flagging spirits to new heights of excitement: the Fleet International had made the decision to combine the stellar-class warships of the Asian Fleet, the European Fleet, and the North American Fleet into a single fleet of 2,015 ships to sally forth in unison and intercept the Trisolaran probe as it crossed the orbit of Neptune!
入夜，一个新闻把人们已经有些疲惫的神经再次刺激到极度兴奋的状态：舰队国际已经做出决议，亚洲舰队、欧洲舰队和北美舰队的所有恒星级战舰，共二千零一十五艘，将组成联合舰队，统一出击，拦截已经越过海王星轨道的三体探测器！
The news propelled the revelry to a renewed climax, and fireworks filled the night sky. But it also elicited some disdain and mockery.
这个消息把狂热推向新的高潮，焰火再次布满了夜空，但也引起了一片不屑和嘲笑。
“That’s right! Two thousand cannons to hit a mosquito! It’s not that tough!”
“就是，两千门大炮打一只蚊子！这算什么嘛！”
“It’s like using two thousand butcher knives to kill a chicken!”
“这是用两千把宰牛刀杀一只鸡！”
Laughter.
“哈哈哈哈……”
“Hey, everyone, we should be more understanding of the Fleet International. You know, it might be the only chance they’ll get to fight Trisolaris.”
“各位各位，应该理解舰队国际，要知道，这可能是他们与三体世界唯一的一次作战机会了。”
Close to midnight, more news came: The combined fleet had set off from Jupiter base! Viewers were informed that in the southern sky, the fleet could be seen with the naked eye. At this, the revelers quieted down for the first time and searched the sky for Jupiter. It wasn’t easy, but under the guidance of the expert on the television, they soon located the planet in the southwest. At this point, the light of the combined fleet was moving in Earth’s direction from a distance of five AU.
时近午夜，新的消息传来：联合舰队已经从木星基地起航！人们被告知：在南半球用肉眼就可以看到舰队。狂欢的人群第一次安静下来，所有人都在夜空中搜寻着木星，这并不容易，但在电视中专家的指点下，人们很快在西南天空中找到了那颗星星。这时，联合舰队的光芒正在穿越五个天文单位的距离飞向地球。
“It’s okay. Just think of it as a military parade for humanity. Let’s see what this superfleet’s got. It’ll scare the Trisolarans to death! They’ll be so frightened they won’t be able to pee. If they even have pee.”
“也好，就当做人类文明的一次示威阅兵吧，这样一支超级舰队是什么劲头，吓不死它们！把它们的尿都吓出来，如果它们有尿的话。”
“Right. If this can be called fighting.”
“是啊，要是这也算作战的话。”
At practically the same time, live images of Jupiter base reached Earth. On the television, people saw the sudden appearance of two thousand suns in the blackness of space. Standing out awesomely in the eternal night of space, their clean rectangular formation put one thought in everyone’s mind: God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Under the light of those two thousand suns, Jupiter and its moons seemed to have caught fire. The planet’s atmosphere, ionized by the radiation, produced lightning that filled the entire fleet-facing hemisphere and covered it in a giant blanket of electric light. The fleet accelerated with no disruption to its formation, its huge wall blocking out the sun, and then made a stately advance into space with the force of a thundercloud, declaring to the universe the dignity and invincibility of the human race. The human spirit that had been repressed since the first appearance of the Trisolaran Fleet two centuries ago had finally found total liberation. At this moment, all the stars in the galaxy silently held back their light, and Human and God stepped out proudly into the universe as one.
几乎与此同时，发自木星基地的实况网像也到达了地球，人们在电视中看到，漆黑的太空中，突然出现了两千个太阳！它们排成一个长方形的严整阵列，赫然出现在永恒的宇宙之夜中，让人们不约而同地想起了一句话：上帝说要有光，于是有了光。在两千个太阳的照耀下，木星和它的卫星都像在燃烧，木星大气层被辐射电离，引发的闪电布满了行星面向舰队的半个表面，构成了一张电光闪烁的巨毯。舰队体开始加速，但阵列丝毫不乱，这堵太阳的巨墙以雷霆万钧的气势向太空深处庄严推进，向整个宇宙昭示着人类的尊严和不可战胜的力量。两个世纪前被芎唪舰队出发的影像所压抑的人类精神，终于得到了彻底的解放。这一时刻，银河系的星海默默地收敛了自己的光芒，大写的“人”与上帝合为一体，傲然独步于宇宙间。
Forty-five minutes later, the brightness of Jupiter suddenly increased, soon surpassing Sirius to become the brightest object in the night sky. Then a brilliant shining star separated from Jupiter, like a soul leaving a body. The planet returned to its original brightness as the star moved slowly away from it. That was the launch of the combined fleet.
四十五分钟后，夜空中木星的亮度骤然增加，很快超过天狼星而成为夜空中最亮的星体。接着，一颗灿烂的亮星从木星分离出来，仿佛是它的灵魂脱离了躯体，木星又恢复到本来的亮度，而那颗亮星则缓缓移动，渐渐拉大与木星的距离，那就是起航的联合舰队。
But there were some who kept their heads. Luo Ji was one of them. Surveying the crowd, he noticed that someone else was calm: Shi Qiang was off by himself, leaning against one side of the giant holographic television, smoking a cigarette and watching the revelers indifferently.
但冷静的人还是有的，罗辑就是一个，他的目光越过狂热的人群，发现了另一个更冷静的人：史强独自靠在大屏幕全息电视的一侧，抽着烟，无动于衷地看着狂欢的人群。
Luo Ji went over and asked, “What are you…”
罗辑走过去问：“你怎么……”
“Ah, hello my boy. I’ve got a duty to fulfill.” He indicated the ebullient crowd. “Extreme joy easily turns to grief, and now’s the best time for something to happen. Like when Mr. Dongguo lectured this morning. If I hadn’t come up with the tomatoes and such in a timely fashion, they would have used stones.”
“啊，老弟你好，我有责要负。”大史指指沸腾的人群说，“乐极容易生悲，这会儿最容易弄出事儿来，就说上午东郭族演讲的时候，要不是我叫人及时调来西红柿什么的，他们就用石头干上了。”
The people wept and cheered, and many of them were moved to loud wails. Never before in history had there been such a moment, in which every single person felt fortunate and proud to be a member of the human race.
所有的人都在欢呼中热泪盈眶，许多人因激动而嚎啕大哭，在历史上从来没有这样一个时刻，每个人都为自己是人类的一员而感到如此幸运和自豪。
Shi Qiang had recently been appointed chief of police for New Life Village #5. To the hibernators, the fact that someone belonging to the Asian Fleet, someone who no longer was a Chinese citizen, had been given an official post in the national government was a little strange. However, his work had been universally acclaimed among the villagers.
史强最近被任命为新生活五村的警务长官，这在冬眠者看来多少有些奇怪：因为大史属于亚洲舰队，按照国籍他已经不是中国人了，却成为国家政府的正式官员。不过对他的工作能力居民们都有口皆碑。
“Besides, I’m not the type to get carried away,” he continued, clapping Luo Ji across the shoulders. “Neither are you, my boy.”
“再说我这个人，从不会得意忘形，”大史接着说，同时拍拍罗辑的肩膀，“老弟你也是。”
“Go and see your colleague. He just arrived. Humanity’s victory might not be a good thing for him.”
“见见你的这位同事，他刚来，人类的胜利对于他也不见得是件好事。”
“I came looking for you,” he said to Luo Ji. “Only the two of us, history’s rubbish, understand each other. But now, I’m afraid even you don’t understand me.”
“我是来找你的，只有我们这两个历史的垃圾能互相理解，不过现在，恐怕你也不理解我了。”希恩斯对罗辑说。
“No, I’m not.” Luo Ji nodded. “I was always out for instant gratification. The future had nothing to do with me, even though for a while there I was forced to become a messiah. Maybe my present state is a sort of compensation for the harm from that. I’m going to bed. Believe it or not, Da Shi, I’ll actually be able to get to sleep tonight.”
“我是，”罗辑点点头，“我本来就是一个只看重现世及时行乐的人，未来与我无关。可二百年前，他们突然逼我当救世主，我现在这样，也算是对这种伤害的一种补偿。我去睡觉了，大史，不管你信不信，今夜我真能睡得着。”
Luo Ji was slightly taken aback by this remark. Looking at the man Shi Qiang pointed to, he realized with surprise that it was the old Wallfacer Bill Hines. His face was ashen and he seemed to be in a trance. He had been standing not far off from Shi Qiang and had only just now noticed Luo Ji. When they hugged each other in greeting, Luo Ji felt that Hines’s body seemed to tremble with weakness.
罗辑听到这话愣了一下，再看大史所指的人，吃惊地发现他竟是昔日的面壁者比尔·希恩斯！他的脸色苍白，神思有些恍惚，他一直在离大史的不远处站着，发现罗辑后，他们拥抱着互相问候，罗辑感觉希恩斯的身体一直在虚弱地发颤。
“Remember the Meditation Room in the UN Assembly Building?” Hines said. “It was always deserted. Tourists only visited occasionally… Do you remember the chunk of iron ore? She committed seppuku on top of it.”
“你还记得联合国会议厅里的那个叫静思室的地方吗？”希恩斯答非所问地说，“那地方后来荒废了，只有游客偶尔去……还记得里边那块铁矿石吗？她就在那上面剖腹自杀了。”
“Oh…”
“哦……”
“What about Keiko Yamasuki?”
“山杉惠子呢？”罗辑问。
“Before she died, she cursed me, saying that my life would be worse than death, since I’m marked with the mental seal of defeatism even as humanity is victorious. She was right. I’m in real pain right now. Of course I’m happy for the victory, but it’s impossible for me to believe any of it. It’s like there are two gladiators fighting in my mind. You know, it’s far harder than trying to believe that water is drinkable.”
“她死前诅咒我，说我这辈子也会生不如死，因为我打上了失败主义的思想钢印，而人类胜利了。她说得对，我现在真的很痛苦，我当然为胜利而高兴，却又不可能相信这一切，意识中像有两个角斗士在厮杀，你知道，这比相信水能喝难多了。”
After he and Shi Qiang had gotten Hines set up with a room, Luo Ji returned to his own room and soon fell asleep. Once again he dreamed of Zhuang Yan and the child. When he woke, the sun was shining through the window and the revelries were still going on outside.
同史强一起安置好希恩斯后，罗辑回到自己房间里很快睡着了，他又梦见了庄颜和孩子。醒来时，阳光已经照进窗来，外面的狂欢仍在继续。
Natural Selection flew at 1 percent of the speed of light on a course between Jupiter and the orbit of Saturn. Behind it, the sun was now small, although it was still the brightest of the stars, while up ahead, the Milky Way shone with an even greater brilliance. The ship’s heading was more or less in the direction of Cygnus, but in the expanse of outer space, its speed was imperceptible. To a nearby observer, Natural Selection would have seemed suspended in deep space. From its own vantage point, in fact, all movement throughout the universe had been erased, leaving the ship seemingly in a static state, with the Milky Way ahead and the sun behind. Time seemed to have stopped.
“自然选择”号以百分之一的光速航行在木星与土星轨道之间，从这里看去，后面的太阳已经变得很小，但仍是最亮的一颗星星，前方的银河则发出更加灿烂的光芒。飞船的航向大约指向天鹅座方向，在这无垠的外太空，它的速度丝毫显现不出来，如果附近有一个观察者，就会看到“自然选择”号仿佛静止地悬浮于深邃的空间中。其实，从这个位置上看，整个宇宙中的运动都被距离抹去了，远去的太阳和飞船前方的银河系星海也处于永恒的静止中，时间似乎停止了流动。
“The pursuing force is only 1.2 million kilometers away from Natural Selection,” she said.
“追击舰队距‘自然选择’号只有一百二十万公里了。”东方延绪接着说。
“You have failed,” Dongfang Yanxu said to Zhang Beihai. All personnel aboard the ship but the two of them were still in deep-sea sleep state. Zhang Beihai remained shut inside the spherical compartment, and Dongfang Yanxu, unable to enter, had to talk with him through the communication system. Through the section of bulkhead that was still transparent, she could see the man who had hijacked humanity’s most powerful warship floating quietly in the center of the compartment, head bent, intent on writing in a notebook. In front of him floated an interface that showed the ship on standby for Ahead Four, ready to go at the press of a button. Around him floated several globs of liquid deep-sea acceleration fluid that hadn’t yet been evacuated. His uniform had dried, but its wrinkles made him look much older.
“你失败了。”东方延绪对章北海说，除他们两人之外，飞船上的其他成员都处于深梅状态的睡眠中。章北海仍把自己关在那问球形舱中，东方延绪无法进入，只能通过内部通话系统与他对话。透过舱壁那片仍处于透明状态的区域，她能看到这个劫持了人类最强大战舰的人静静地悬浮在球形舱正中，低头聚精会神地在笔记本上写着什么，他的面前，仍悬浮着那个操作界面，从界面上看出，飞船处于四级加速前的待命状态，只需按动一个按钮即可进入“前进四”。他的周围，仍然有几个液球在飘浮，那是没有排尽的深海加速液，但他的军装已经干了，皱巴巴的，使他看上去苍老了许多。
He ignored her and continued to write, head bent.
章北海没有理会东方延绪，仍低头在本子上写着。
“I know,” he said without looking up. “You were wise to keep the entire ship in deep-sea state.”
“我知道。”章北海说，没有抬头，“你让全舰保持深海状态是很明智的。”
“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” she asked softly.
“休不会这么做，是吗？”东方延绪轻声问。
“I’ve seen the news that came in…”
“我看过传来的新闻了……”
“You never imagined I’d do what I’m doing now.” He paused a few seconds, then added, “The people of my time have our own ways of thinking.”
“你当初也不可能想到我会做现在的事。”章北海停了几秒钟，补充说，“我们时代的人有我们的思维方式。”
“Then your pessimism about the war is totally unfounded. Trisolaris has just shown signs of wanting talks, and the combined Solar Fleet has set off to intercept the Trisolaran probe. The war will end with a victory for humanity.”
“那你对战争的悲观完全没有道理，现在，三体世界已经表露了谈判的迹象，太阳系联合舰队已经起航，拦截三体探测器，战争就要以人类的胜利结束了。”
“It had to be this way. Otherwise, agitated officers and soldiers would have attacked this cabin. And if you took Natural Selection to Ahead Four at will, you would have killed them all. That’s also the reason why the pursuers haven’t closed in.”
“只能这样，否则情绪激动的士兵和军官会攻击这个舱，而你随时可能使‘自然选择’号进入‘前进四’，杀死所有的人。追击舰队没有靠近，也是这个原因。”
She shook her head in frustration. “Your way of thinking really is different from ours. For instance, you knew from the start that your plan would be unsuccessful, because Natural Selection has only a fifth of its fuel and is certain to be caught.”
东方延绪无奈地摇摇头，“你们的思维方式真的与我们不同，比如：你在开始时就知道自己的计划不可能成功，‘自然选择’号只加装了五分之一的燃料，肯定会被追上。”
He said nothing. Flipping a page in the notebook, he continued writing.
章北海没有说话。把笔记本翻过一页，继续写着。
“I do.”
“是的。”
“But we’re not enemies.”
“可我们不是敌人。”
“And you still persist in your defeatism and Escapism?”
“你仍坚持自己的失败主义和逃亡主义？”
“There are no permanent enemies or comrades, only permanent duty.”
“没有永恒的敌人或同志，只有永恒的责任。”
He smiled at her, then looked back at his writing. “It’s not time yet. I need to write down all that I’ve experienced. Everything across two centuries needs to be written down, so that it might be of assistance to a few sober-minded people in the next two centuries.”
章北海对东方延绪笑笑，低头继续写，“还不到时候，我要把自己所经历的这一切写下来，相隔两个世纪的这一切，都写下来，在以后的两个世纪中，这也许对一些头脑清醒的人会有帮助的。”
He set down his pencil and looked out of the cabin at her. His eyes were calm as water. “We’re all soldiers, but do you know what the biggest difference between soldiers from my time and soldiers now is? You determine your actions according to possible outcomes. But for us, we must carry out our duty regardless of the outcome. This was my only chance, so I took it.”
章北海停下手中的笔，抬头看着舱外的东方延绪，他的目光平静如水，“同为军人，知道我们之间最大的区别在哪里吗，你们按照可能的结果来决定自己的行动；而我们，不管结果如何，必须尽责任，这是唯一的机会，所以我就做了。”
“No. It’s my nature. I don’t expect you to understand, Dongfang. We’re separated by two centuries, after all.”
“不，本性而已，东方，我不指望体能理解，毕竟我们相隔两个世纪了。”
“You’re saying that to comfort yourself.”
“是为了给自己一个安慰吗？”
“So you’ve carried out your duty, but there’s no hope for your Escapist endeavor. Surrender.”
“那现在你已经尽到你所说的责任了，你的逃亡事业已经没有任何希望，投降吧。”
“No, I’m used to writing by hand. Paper lasts longer than a computer. Don’t worry. I’ll bear full responsibility.”
“不，我习惯用笔写，纸会比电脑保存得更久。你放心，我会承担一切责任的。”
“You can dictate to the computer.”
“你可以口述，电脑会记下来。”
The combined fleet was in a dense formation, one that had only ever been used in fleet review. In a normal cruising formation, the ships ought to have been spaced at roughly three hundred to five hundred kilometers, so a twenty-kilometer spacing was basically like sailing hull-to-hull through the ocean. Many of the generals in the three fleets disagreed with this dense formation, but conventional formations presented a number of thorny problems. First of all, there was the principle of fairness in battle opportunity. If the probe were approached in a standard formation, then the ships at the edge would still be tens of thousands of kilometers away from the target when the formation reached minimum distance. If combat broke out during the capture, a fair number of the ships could not have been considered to have taken part, leaving them nothing in the history books but eternal regret. But the three fleets couldn’t break off into their own subformations, because it was impossible to coordinate which of them would occupy the most advantageous position in the overall formation. So the formation had to be made as dense as possible, a review formation that placed all ships within combat distance of the probe. A second reason for selecting this formation was that the Fleet International and the United Nations both desired stunning visuals, not so much to show off for Trisolaris as to give the masses something to look at. The visual impact held enormous political significance for both groups. With the main enemy force still two light-years away, the dense formation was certainly not in danger.
联合舰队的编队十分密集，这种队形密度只有进行检阅时才采用过。按照正常的巡航编队，战舰之间的问距应该在三三百到五百公里，二十公里的舰距，几乎相当于海洋中的贴舷航行。三大舰队中都有很多将领对这种超密集的队形提出异议，但采用常规队形却遇到棘手的问题。首先就是参战机会的公平性原则，如果以常规队形接近探测器，即使逼近到最小的距离，编队边缘的战舰距目标仍有几万公里之遥，如果在对探测器的捕获行动中有战斗发生，那么相当多的战舰就不能算做是参战舰了，这将在历史上留下永远的遗憾。而三大舰队都不能拆散自己的编队，那么哪个舰队位于总编队中最有利的位置就无法协调，只能把编队压缩到超密集的检阅队形，使所有战舰都处于作战距离之内。采用检阅队形的另一个原因是：舰队国际和联合国都希望编队能够产生强烈的视觉震撼，这与其说是对三体世界的力量显示，不如说是做给人类公众看的，这种前所未有的视觉冲击，对两个国际都具有重大的政治意义。目前，敌人主力仍在遥远的两光年之外，舰队的密集编队当然不会有什么危险。
Ding Yi looked out through Quantum’s broad porthole. Even though the holographic display in the spherical cabin provided a better view, he still liked seeing things with his own eyes. What he saw was that he was situated on a large plane consisting of two thousand small, dazzling suns whose light seemed to set his gray hair aflame. The sight had grown familiar to him in the days since the launch of the combined fleet, but its grandeur still shook him each time he looked. The fleet was not just in this configuration as a show of force or majesty. In a traditional naval configuration of staggered columns, the radiation produced by the engine of every warship would have an effect on the ships to the rear. In this rectangular formation, the ships were separated by about twenty kilometers. Even though each of them was an average of three to four times the size of a naval aircraft carrier, from that distance they were practically dots, with only the glow of the fusion engines to prove their existence in space.
丁仪透过“量子”号的宽大舷窗向外望去，尽管球形舱内的全息影像可以提供更好的视野，他还是喜欢像这样用自己的眼睛直接看。他看到，自己所在的位置处于一个由两千颗耀眼的小太阳构成的大平面上，它们的光芒使他的满头白发像燃烧起来似的。联合舰队起航后几天来。对这景象他已经很熟悉，但每次还是被其壮丽所震慑。其实，舰队采用这种矩形平推的编队队形，并非只是为了展示威严和气势，如果采用海军舰队传统的纵队，即使是交错纵队，每艘战舰发动机产生的强辐射都会对后方的舰只产生影响。在这样的矩形编队中，战舰之间的间隔约为二十公里，虽然每艘战舰的平均体积为海军航空母舰的三到四倍，但在这个距离上看也几乎只是一个点，所以战舰在太空中能显示自己存在的就是聚变发动机发出的光芒。
He had been reawakened seven years earlier and had been teaching in the Peking University physics department since then. Last year he had put in a request to the fleet asking to be one of the people who would examine the Trisolaran probe up close when it was intercepted. Although Ding Yi was held in high regard, his request had been refused until he declared that he would kill himself in front of the three fleet commanders if they did not comply. Then they said they would think about it. In fact, selection of the first person to contact the probe was a knotty problem, because first contact with the probe meant first contact with Trisolaris. According to the fairness principle to be observed during interception, none of the three fleets could be permitted to enjoy this honor alone, but sending someone from each of them presented operational problems and could complicate matters. So the mission had to be undertaken by someone outside Fleet International. Ding Yi was naturally the most suitable candidate, although another unstated reason lay at the core of his request’s ultimate approval: Neither the Fleet International nor the Earth International had much confidence in obtaining the probe, because it was practically certain to self-destruct during or after intercept. Before it did so, close-range observation and contact were imperative if they wanted to obtain as much data as possible. As the discoverer of the macroatom and the inventor of controlled fusion, the veteran physicist was completely qualified in this area. At any rate, Ding Yi’s life was his own, and at eighty-three, his unparalleled qualifications naturally gave the old man the power to do anything he wanted.
丁仪是七年前苏醒的，一直在北京大学物理系任教。他去年向舰队提出要求，要在三体探测器被拦截后成为第一个零距离考察它的人。丁仪虽然德高望重，但他的请求一直被拒绝，直到他声称要死在三大舰队司令面前，舰队方面才答应考虑这事。其实，第一个接触探测器的人选一直是个难题，首次接触探测器就等于首次接触三体世界，按照拦截行动中的公平原则，三大舰队中任何一方都不可能被允许单独享有这个荣誉，而如果让三方派出的人员同时接触，在操作上也有难度，容易横生枝节，所以只有让一个舰队国际之外的人承担这个使命，丁仪当然是最合适的人选。而丁仪的请求最后被批准，还有一个不能明说的原因。其实，对于最后能否得到探测器，无论是舰队还是地球国际都没有信心，它在被拦截中或拦截后几乎肯定要自毁，而在它自毁前如何从中得到尽可能多的信息，零距离观察和接触是不可替代的手段，丁仪作为发现宏原子和发明可控核聚变途径的资深物理学家，是最具备这方面素质的人。反正生命是他自己的，以他八十三的岁数和无人能比的资历，自然有权利拿这条老命干他想干的事。
Quantum was located in a corner of the formation, giving Ding Yi a view of the majority of the fleet. When they crossed the orbit of Saturn, all the fusion engines turned toward the forward direction and the fleet began to decelerate. Now, as the fleet closed in on the Trisolaran probe, its velocity was negative — it was traveling back toward the sun as it closed the distance separating it from its target.
“量子”号位于矩形编队的一角，所以丁仪从这里可以看到舰队的大部分。在越过土星轨道后，舰队开始减速，所有的聚变发动机都朝向前进方向。现在，舰队已经接近三体探测器，而速度已经减到负值，向太阳方向返回，正在把与目标之间的相对速度调整为零，以便实施拦截。
Ding Yi put a pipe to his lips. With no loose tobacco in this age, it was an empty pipe that dangled there, the lingering flavor of two-century-old tobacco faint and indistinct, like a memory of the past.
丁仪把烟斗放到嘴里，在这个时代他找不到烟丝，只能叼着空烟斗。两个世纪后的烟斗居然还残留着烟味，只是很淡，隐隐约约，像过去的记忆。
At the final meeting of Quantum command before the intercept began, Ding Yi saw an image of the Trisolaran probe. Three tracking craft had been dispatched by the three fleets to replace Earth International’s Blue Shadow. They had captured an image at a distance of five hundred kilometers from the target, the closest that any human spacecraft had come to the probe.
在拦截开始前“量子”号指挥系统的最后一次会议上，丁仪见到了三体探测器的影像，三大舰队派出的三艘跟踪飞船已经代替了来自地球国际的“蓝影”号飞船，影像是由舰队跟踪飞船在距目标五百米处拍摄的，这是迄今为止人类飞船与探测器最近的距离。
The probe was about as large as expected, 3.5 meters long, and when Ding Yi saw it, he had the same impression as everyone else: a droplet of mercury. The probe was a perfect teardrop shape, round at the head and pointy at the tail, with a surface so smooth it was a total reflector. The Milky Way was reflected on its surface as a smooth pattern of light that gave the mercury droplet a pure beauty. Its droplet shape was so natural that observers imagined it in a liquid state, one for which an internal structure was impossible.
探测器的大小与预想的差不多，长三点五米，丁仪看到它时，产生了与其他人一样的印象：一滴水银。探测器呈完美的水滴形状，头部浑圆，尾部很尖，表面是极其光滑的全反射镜面，银河系在它的表面映成一片流畅的光纹，使得这滴水银看上去纯洁而唯美。它的液滴外形是那么栩栩如生，以至于观察者有时真以为它就是液态的，根本不可能有内部机械结构。
Ding Yi remained silent after he saw the image of the probe. He did not speak at the meeting, and his expression was downcast.
看过探测器的影像后，丁仪便沉默了，在会上一直没有说话，脸色有些阴沉。
“And that’s why I don’t feel so good,” Ding Yi said, shaking his gray head. “It looks like a work of art rather than an interstellar probe. It’s not a good sign when something’s so far removed from our own mental concept.”
“所以我感觉不好。”丁仪摇摇花白的头说，“它不像星际探测器，却像艺术品。一样东西，要是离我们心中的概念差得太远，可不是好兆头。”
“Why? It looks like a harmless work of art,” an officer said.
“为什么？它看起来像个无害的艺术品。”一名军官说。
“I don’t feel good,” he said softly, and pointed at the holographic probe with his pipe.
“我感觉不好。”丁仪低声说，用手中的烟斗指指探测器的全息影像。
“It is peculiar. Its surface is entirely sealed. Where’s the engine nozzle?”
“这东西确实有些奇怪，它的表面是全封闭的，发动机的喷口呢？”
“Then at least it’s not made of matter from a neutron star.”
“那它至少不是用中子星物质制造的了。”
“Master Ding, you seem to have something on your mind,” the captain said.
“丁老，您好像有什么心事，”舰长问。
“Yet its engine lights up. We’ve observed that. When it went out for a second time, Blue Shadow wasn’t close enough to capture an image in time, so we don’t know where the light came from.”
“可它的发动机确实能发光，这都是曾经观测到的，只是当时‘蓝影’号在它再次熄火前没来得及拍下近距离的影像，不知道那光是从哪里发出来的。”
“What is its mass?” Ding Yi asked.
“它的质量是多少？”丁仪问。
The captain put an end to the officers’ discussion and continued with the meeting. He said to Ding Yi, “Master Ding, this is how the fleet has planned out your visit: After the unmanned craft completes its capture of the target and carries out an observation period, if nothing unusual is found, you will enter the capture craft on a shuttle and conduct a close-up observation of the target. You may not stay longer than fifteen minutes. This is Major Xizi. She will represent the Asian Fleet and accompany you as you carry out your examination.”
舰长制止了军官们的讨论，继续会议的进程，他对丁仪说：“丁老，对您的考察，舰队是这样安排的：当无人飞船完成对目标的捕获后，对其进行一段时间的观察，如果没有发现异常，您将乘穿梭艇进入捕获飞船，对目标进行零距离考察，您在那里停留的时间不能超过十五分钟。这位是西子少校，她将代表亚洲舰队全程陪同您完成考察。”
“We don’t have an exact value right now. A rough value, obtained through high-precision gravitational instruments, is less than ten tons.”
“目前还没有精确值，只有通过高精度引力仪取得的一个粗值，大约在十吨以下吧。”
A young officer saluted Ding Yi. Like the other women in the fleet, she was tall and slender, the very epitome of New Space Humanity.
一名年轻的女军官向丁仪敬礼，同舰队中的其他女性一样，她身材颀长苗条，是典型的太空新人类。
“Of course not, sir. You’re unfamiliar with the space environment, and you need assistance throughout the entire process.”
“这当然不行，丁老，您对太空环境不熟悉，整个过程是需要人辅助的。”
“In that case, I’d better not go. Does someone really need to follow me…” He broke off without uttering “to death.”
“要这样，我还是不去的好，难道还要别人跟着我……”丁仪没有说出“送死”两个字。
The captain said, “Master Ding, this trip is dangerous, to be sure, but not completely so. If the probe self-destructs, then it will most likely occur during the intercept. The likelihood of it self-destructing two hours after the intercept is very low, so long as the examination process does not use destructive instruments.”
舰长说：“丁老，此行肯定有危险，但也并不是绝对的。如果探测器要自毁，那多半是在捕获过程中发生，在捕获完成两小时后，如果考察过程中不使用破坏性的仪器设备，它自毁的可能性应该是很小了。”
With only a glance at the major, Ding Yi turned to the captain. “Why does there have to be someone else? Can’t I go alone?”
丁仪只瞥了少校一眼，就转向舰长：“怎么还有别人？我一个人去不就行了？”
In point of fact, the primary reason the Earth and Fleet Internationals decided to send a human to the probe was not for an inspection. When the world saw the probe for the first time, everyone was captivated by its magnificent exterior. The mercury droplet was just so beautiful, so simple in shape yet masterfully styled, with each point on its surface in exactly the right place. It was imbued with a graceful dynamism, as if at every moment it was dripping endlessly in the cosmic night. It inspired the feeling that even if human artists tried out every possible smooth closed shape, they wouldn’t come up with this one. It transcended every possibility. Not even in Plato’s Republic was there such a perfect shape: straighter than the straightest line, more circular than a perfect circle, a mirrored dolphin leaping out of the sea of dreams, a crystallization of all the love in the universe… Beauty is always paired with good, so if there really existed a demarcation between good and evil in the universe, this object would fall on the good side.
事实上，地球和舰队两个国际决定尽快派人与探测器直接接触，主要目的不是为了考察。当全世界第一次看到探测器的影像时，所有人都陶醉于它那绝美的外形。这东西真的是太美了，它的形状虽然简洁，但造型精妙绝伦，曲面上的每一个点都恰到好处，使这滴水银充满着飘逸的动感，仿佛每时每刻都在宇宙之夜中没有尽头地滴落着。它给人一种感觉：即使人类艺术家把一个封闭曲面的所有可能形态平滑地全部试完，也找不出这样一个造型。它在所有的可能之外，即使柏拉图的理想国中也没有这样完美的形状，它是比直线更直的线，是比正圆更圆的圆，是梦之海中跃出的一只镜面海豚，是宇宙间所有爱的结晶……美总是和善联在一起的，所以，如果宇宙中真有一条善恶分界线的话，它一定在善这一面。
So a hypothesis was quickly worked out: The object might not even be a probe. Further observation confirmed this hypothesis, to an extent. People first noticed its exterior, the highly smooth finish that made it a total reflector. The fleet conducted an experiment on the probe using a large quantity of monitoring equipment: Its entire surface was irradiated with different wavelengths of high-frequency electromagnetic waves, and the reflectance was measured. To their shock, they discovered that at every frequency, including visible light, the reflection was practically 100 percent. No absorption was detected. This meant that the probe could not detect any high-frequency waves — or, in layman’s terms, it was blind. There must be a particular significance to a blind design. The most reasonable guess was that it was a token of goodwill from Trisolaris to humanity, expressed through its nonfunctional design and beautiful form. A sincere desire for peace.
于是很快出现了一个猜测：这东西可能根本就不是探测器。进一步的观察在某种程度上证实了这种猜测。人们首先注意到它的表面，有着极高的光洁度，是一种全反射镜面。舰队曾经动用大量的监测设备做过一次实验，用不同波长的高频电磁波照射它的所有表面，同时测量电磁波的反射率。结果震惊地发现：它的表面对于包括可见光在内的高频电磁波，几乎能够百分之百地反射，观察不到任何吸收。这就意味着它无法在高频波段进行任何探测，通俗地说它是个瞎子。这种自盲的设计肯定有重要的含义，最合理的推测是：它是三体世界发往人类世界的一个信物，用其去功能化的设计和唯美的形态来表达一种善意，一种真诚的和平愿望。
So the probe was given a new name inspired by its shape: “the droplet.” On both Earth and Trisolaris, water was the source of life and a symbol of peace.
于是，人们给探测器换了个称呼，形象地叫它“水滴”。在两个世界中，水都是生命之源，象征着和平。
Public opinion maintained that a formal delegation ought to be sent to make contact with the droplet, rather than an expedition team made up of a physicist and three ordinary officers. But after careful consideration, Fleet International decided to keep its original plan unchanged.
舆论认为应该派出人类社会的正式代表团与水滴接触，而不是由一名物理学家和三名普通军官组成的考察队，但出于谨慎的考虑，舰队国际决定维持原计划不变。
Xizi smiled at him and said, “Master Ding, I am Quantum’s science officer. I’m in charge of off-ship scientific expeditions during our voyages. This is my duty.”
西子对丁仪微笑着说：“丁老，我是‘量子’号上的科学军官，负责航行中的出舰科学考察，这是我的职责。”
“Pointless.” Ding Yi shook his head again. “Humanity hasn’t changed at all. So eager to chase after vanity…
“无聊。”丁仪又摇摇头，“人类在这方面一点儿没变，热衷于追逐虚荣……
“And women make up half the fleet,” the captain said. “Three people will accompany you. The other two are science officers sent by the European and North American Fleets. They’ll be reporting shortly. Master Ding, let me reiterate one point: According to the decision of the SFJC, you must be the first to make direct contact with the target. Only then are they permitted to make contact.”
“而且，舰队中有一半是女孩子。”舰长说，“陪同您的共有三个人，另外两名是欧洲和北美舰队派出的科学军官，他们很快就要到本舰报到了。丁老，这里要重申一点：按照舰队联席会议的决议，第一个直接接触目标的一定是您，然后才能允许他们接触。”
“Can’t you at least swap in someone else? Letting this young lady…” Ding Yi said, gesturing at Xizi.
“那就不能换个人去吗？让这么个女孩子……”丁仪指着西子说。
Ding Yi looked up at the captain. For a moment he didn’t realize that the meeting was going to continue after he left. Then he looked back at the image of the droplet, noticing now how its round head reflected a regular row of lights that gradually deformed toward the rear, merging into the reflected pattern of the Milky Way. That was the fleet. He looked again at Quantum’s commanders floating before him, all of them so very young. Just children. They looked so noble and perfect, from the captain to the lieutenants, and their eyes shone with a godlike wisdom. The light of the fleet streaming in through the portholes was tinted like a golden sunset by the auto-darkening glass, enveloping them all in gold. Behind them floated the image of the droplet like a supernatural silver symbol, making the place otherworldly and transcendent, and turning them into a host of gods atop Mount Olympus… Something stirred deep within him, and he grew excited.
丁仪抬头看着舰长，好半天才悟出来他走后会议还要继续进行。他转头再次细看水滴的影像，这才发现它浑圆的头部映着一片排列整齐的光点，这些光点往后面才渐渐变形，与银河系映出的光纹汇合在一起，那是舰队的映像。他再看看悬浮在自己面前的“量子”号的指挥官们，他们都很年轻，在丁仪眼中这些人还都是孩子。他们看上去都是那么高贵和完美，从舰长到上尉，眼中都透出神灵般睿智的目光。舰队的光芒从舷窗射入，透过自动变暗的玻璃后，变成晚霞般的金色，他们就笼罩在这片金辉中，身后悬浮着水滴的影像，像一个超自然的银色符号，使这里显得空灵而超脱，他们看上去，像一群奥林匹斯山上的神祗……丁仪内心深处的什么东西被触动了，他变得激动起来。
But, rest assured, I’ll do as you wish. I just want to have a look, is all. What I’m really interested in is the theory behind this super-technology. But I’m afraid that this life is… ah.”
不过你们放心，我会照办的。其实我只是想看看而巳，我真正感兴趣的是这些超技术后面的超理论，不过此生怕是……唉。”
The captain floated over to him and said with concern, “Master Ding, you can go rest now. The intercept will be starting soon, and you need to preserve your energy before setting off on your expedition.”
舰长飘浮到丁仪面前，关切地对他说：“丁老，您现在可以去休息了，捕获行动很快就要开始，在出发考察前，您一定要保持足够的精力。”
“Master Ding, do you have something else to add?” the captain asked.
“丁老，您还有什么要说的吗？”舰长问。
“Er, I’d like to say…” His hands moved aimlessly, and he let his pipe float in the air. “I’d like to say that you kids have been great to me over the past few days…”
“哦，我想说……”丁仪的两手不知所措地乱舞着，任烟斗飘在空中，“我想说，孩子们啊。这些天来，你们对我都很好……”
“You’re the man we admire the most of all,” a vice-captain said.
“您是我们最尊敬的人。”一位副舰长说。
“Oh… so there are a few things I’d really like to say. Just… the nonsense of an old fool. You don’t have to take it seriously. Still, children, as someone who’s crossed two centuries, I’ve been through a bit more than you… Of course, like I said, don’t take it seriously…”
“哦……所以，我真的有些话想说，只是……一个老东西的胡言乱语，你们也可以不把它当真。不过，孩子们，我毕竟是跨过两个世纪的人了，经历的事儿也多一些……当然，我说过，也不必太当真……”
“That’s right. Deep-sea state.”
“是的，深海状态。”
Ding Yi slowly nodded. Then he pointed upward. “If this spaceship has to go to maximum acceleration, everyone here will need to… be immersed in a liquid.”
丁仪缓缓地点点头，向上指指：“这艘飞船，要达到最高的加速度，这里面的人好像都得……都得浸在一种液体里。”
“Master Ding, if you’ve got something to say, then just say it. You really have our highest respect.”
“丁老，有什么话您就直说吧，您真的是我们最尊敬的人。”
“Yes, right. The deep-sea state.” Ding Yi hesitated again, and ruminated for a moment before resolving to go on. “When we go out for our examination, could this ship, ah, Quantum, be put into a deep-sea state?”
“对对，深海状态。”丁仪又犹豫起来，沉吟了一会儿才下决心说下去，“在我们出发去考察后，这艘飞船，哦，‘量子’号，能不能进入深海状态？”
After saying this, he remained silent, his eyes locked onto the infinite distance. At last he reached out, plucked the pipe out of the air, and put it into his pocket. Without saying good-bye, he awkwardly worked his superconductor belt to float toward the door as the officers watched him.
丁仪说完这话就沉默了，两眼茫然地看着无限远方，最后伸手把飘浮的烟斗抓过来装到衣袋中，也不道别，笨拙地操纵着超导腰带向舱门飘去。军官们一直目送着他，当他的半个身体已经出门时，又慢慢地转过身来：
Ding Yi’s hands began fluttering again. His hair glowed white under the fleet’s light. Like someone had noticed when he first came aboard, he looked quite a bit like Einstein. “Um… well, at any rate there’s no harm in doing it, right? You know, I don’t have a good feeling.”
丁仪的两手又乱舞起来，头发在舰队的光芒中发出白光，正像一上舰时就有人发现的那样，他真的很像爱因斯坦。“嗯……反正这样做也没什么大的损失，对吧……你们知道，我感觉不好。”
The officers looked at each other in surprise, and the captain said, “Why?”
军官惊奇地互相对视着，舰长问：“为什么？”
When he was halfway out, he slowly turned back around. “Children, do you know what I’ve been doing all these years? Teaching physics at a university and advising doctoral students.” As he looked out at the galaxy, an inscrutable smile played on his face — tinted with, the officers noticed, a hint of sadness. “Children, a man from two centuries ago is still able to teach university physics today.” With that, he turned and left.
“孩子们，你们知道我这些年都在于什么吗？在大学里教物理，还带博士生。”他遥望着外面的星河，脸上露出莫测的笑容，军官们发现，那笑容竟有些凄惨，“孩子们啊，我这两个世纪前的人了，现在居然还能在大学里教物理。”他说完，转身离去。
Some of the officers looked at the droplet, but more of them turned their attention to the captain.
军官们中有人看着水滴的影像。更多的人把目光集中在舰长身上。
The captain wanted to say something to him, but now that he was gone, the words didn’t come out. He remained deep in thought.
舰长想对丁仪说什么，但见到他已经离去就没有说出来，神色严峻地思索着。
“Captain, you’re not going to take him seriously, are you?” one lieutenant asked.
“舰长，你不会章他的话当真吧？”一名上校问。
“But in his field, humanity hasn’t made any progress. It’s still stuck at his era’s level.”
“可是在他的领域里，人类一直没有进步，还停留在他的时代。”
“He’s a wise scientist, but he’s still an ancient man. Their thoughts about modern things are always…” someone else added.
“他是个睿智的科学家，但毕竟是个古人，思考现代的事儿，总是……”有人附和道。
“Also…” Xizi blurted out. But looking at the surrounding officers who outranked her, she swallowed the rest of her words.
“而且……”西子脱口而出，但看看周围军衔比她高的一群人，把话又咽了回去。
“He spoke of intuition. I think his intuition may have discovered something,” an officer said, in a voice full of awe.
“他提到直觉，想想他的直觉都发现过些什么吧。”说话的军官语气里充满着敬畏。
“Major, please continue,” the captain said.
“少校，说吧。”舰长说。
“Think about it this way,” a vice-captain said. “According to present battle plans, if the capture fails and the droplet unexpectedly escapes, then the fleet can only deploy fighters as a tracking force. But long-range tracking needs to be stellar-class, so the fleet ought to have warships prepared. This is an oversight in the plan.”
“可以从其他方面想想……一位副舰长说，”按目前的作战计划，如果捕获失败，水滴意外逃脱，舰队部署的追踪力量只有歼击机，但如果长途追踪就必须依靠恒星级战舰，舰队中应该有舰只做好这方面的准备，这应该看做计划的一个疏漏。“
“Also, like he said, there’s no harm in doing it,” she said.
“而且像他说的，也没什么损失。”西子说。
“Make a report to the fleet,” the captain said.
“向舰队打一个报告吧。”舰长说。
To capture the droplet, the fleet’s formation maintained a distance of one thousand kilometers from the target, a figure decided after careful calculation. There were various hypotheses about the manner in which the droplet might self-destruct, but the maximum release of energy would come from self-destruction by antimatter annihilation. Since the droplet had a mass of less than ten tons, the largest energy burst that needed to be considered was that produced by the annihilation of five tons each of matter and antimatter. That annihilation, if it occurred on Earth, would be enough to destroy all life on the planet surface, but in space, the energy would be released entirely in the form of light radiation. For stellar-class warships, with their super anti-radiation capacity, one thousand kilometers was far enough to allow for a sufficient margin of safety.
在对水滴进行捕获时，联合舰队的编队与目标的距离保持在一千公里，这是经过审慎计算后确定的。对于水滴可能的自毁方式有着多种猜测，所能设想的产生最大能量的自毁就是正反物质湮灭，水滴的质量小于十吨，那么在留有充分冗余量的情况下，所需考虑的最大的能量爆发就是由质量各为五吨的正反物质湮灭产生的。如果这样的湮灭发生在地球上，足以毁灭这颗行星表面的所有生命，但在太空中发生，其能量全部以光辐射的形式出现，对于拥有超强防辐射能力的恒星级战舰来说，一千公里的距离是足够安全的。
The fleet’s approval was swift: When the examination team had set off, Quantum and the neighboring stellar-class warship Bronze Age would enter a deep-sea state.
舰队很快批复：在考察队出发后，“量子”号和在编队中与其相邻的“青铜时代”号两艘恒星级战舰进入深海状态。
The capture would be accomplished by Mantis, a small unmanned craft that had previously been used for collecting mineral specimens in the asteroid belt. Its key feature was an extra-long robotic arm.
捕获行动是由一艘叫“螳螂”号的小型无人飞船完成的，“螳螂”号以前主要用于在小行星带采集矿物标本，它的最大特点就是有一支超长机械臂。
At the start of the operation, Mantis crossed the five-hundred-kilometer line held by the previous monitoring craft and carefully approached the target, flying slowly and pausing for several minutes every fifty kilometers so that the dense omnidirectional surveillance system behind it could perform a complete scan of the target. Only after confirming that there were no abnormalities did it proceed.
行动开始后，“螳螂”号越过了之前为监视飞船设定的五百公里距离线，小心翼翼地向目标靠近。它飞行的速度很慢，且每前进五十公里就悬停几分钟，南密布在后方的监视系统对目标进行全方位扫描，确定没有异常后再继续靠近。
At one thousand kilometers from the target, the combined fleet had matched speed with the droplet, and most of the warships had turned off their fusion engines to drift silently in the abyss of space, their giant metal hulls reflecting the weak sunlight. They were like abandoned space cities, the whole fleet array a silent, prehistoric Stonehenge. The 1.2 million people in the fleet held their breath as they watched Mantis on its brief voyage.
在距目标一千公里处，联合舰队已与水滴在速度上同步。大部分战舰都关闭了聚变发动机，静静地飘浮在太空深渊之上，巨大的金属舰体反射着微弱的阳光，像一座座被遗弃的太空城，整个舰队的阵列像是一片沉默的远古巨石阵。舰队中的一百二十万人屏住呼吸，注视着“螳螂”号这段短短的航程。
The images seen by the fleet traveled at the speed of light for three hours before reaching Earth, where they were transmitted to the eyes of three billion people similarly holding their breath. All activity in the human world had stopped. The flying cars had disappeared from among the giant trees, and a stillness had fallen over the underground metropolises. Even the global information network, busy since its birth three centuries before, emptied out. The majority of data transmissions were images from twenty AU away.
舰队看到的图像，要经过三个小时才能以光速传回地球，传到同样屏息注视的三十亿人眼中。这时的人类世界几乎停止了一切活动，巨树间的飞车流消失了，地下大都市都笼罩在一片寂静之中，甚至连诞生后繁忙了三个世纪的全球互联网也变得空旷起来，所传输的数据大部分是来自二十个天文单位外的影像。
Mantis’s stop-and-go advance took half an hour to cover a distance that was hardly even a step through space. Finally, it hung in place fifty meters from the target. Now the Mantis’s distorted reflection could be clearly seen in the droplet’s mercury surface. The ship’s many instruments began a close-range scan of the target, first confirming prior observations: The droplet’s surface temperature was even lower than the surrounding space, close to absolute zero. Scientists had thought that there might be powerful cooling equipment inside the droplet, but Mantis’s instruments were still unable to detect anything about the target’s internal structure.
“螳螂”号走走停停，用了一个半小时才飞完了这段在太空中连一步之遥都不到的路程，最后悬停在距目标五十米的距离上，这时，从水滴的水银表面上可以清晰地看到“螳螂”号变形的映像。飞船所携带的大量仪器开始对目标进行近距离扫描，首先证实了之前的一个观测结果：水滴的表面温度甚至比周围太空的温度还低，接近绝对零度。科学家们曾认为水滴内有强力的制冷设备，但同以前一样，“螳螂”号上的仪器也无法探知目标的任何内部结构。
Holding the droplet, the mechanical arm waited motionless. When the target still showed no response or abnormality after ten minutes, it began to pull it back.
机械臂夹着水滴静静地等待了十分钟，目标仍然没有任何反应和异常，于是机械臂开始拉着它回收。
Mantis extended its extra-long robot arm toward the target, starting and stopping over the fifty-meter distance. But the dense monitoring system did not pick up anything abnormal. The grueling process lasted half an hour before the tip of the arm finally reached the target’s position and touched it, an object that had come from four light-years away on a nearly two-century-long trek through space. When the robot arm’s six digits grasped hold of the droplet at last, a million hearts in the fleet beat as one, echoed three hours later by three billion hearts on Earth.
“螳螂”号向目标伸出了它的超长机械臂，在五十米的距离上也是伸伸停停，但密集的监视系统没有发现目标的任何异常。这个同样折磨人的过程持续了半个小时，机械臂的前端终于到达了目标所在的位置，并接触到了这个来自四光年外，在太空中跋涉了近两个世纪的物体。当机械臂的六指夹具最后夹紧了水滴时，舰队百万人的心脏同时悸动了一下，三小时后这同样的悸动将在地球上的三十亿颗心脏上发生。
It was at this point that people noticed a strange contrast: The mechanical arm was obviously designed purely as a functional object, with a rugged steel frame and exposed hydraulics that felt complicatedly technological and crudely industrial. But the droplet was perfect in shape, a smoothly gleaming, solid drop of liquid whose exquisite beauty erased all functional and technical meaning and expressed the lightness and detachment of philosophy and art. The steel claw of the robot arm clutched the droplet like the hairy hand of Australopithecus clutching a pearl. The droplet looked so fragile, like a glass thermos liner in space, that everyone was afraid it would shatter in the claw. But that did not occur, and the robot arm began to retract.
这时，人们发现了一个奇异的对比：机械臂显然是一个在设计上只重功能的东西，钢骨嶙峋，加上那些外露的液压设备，充满了繁杂的技术秉性和粗陋的工业感：而水滴则外形完美，这颗晶莹流畅的固态液滴，用精致的唯美消弭了一切功能和技术的内涵，表现出哲学和艺术的轻逸和超脱。机械臂的钢爪抓着水滴，如同一只古猿的毛手抓着一颗珍珠。水滴看上去是那么脆弱，像一只太空中的暖瓶胆。所有人都担心它会在钢爪中破碎。但这事终于没有发生，机械臂开始回缩了。
The fact that the droplet had not self-destructed was final proof of what people had guessed: If it was a military probe, it surely would have self-destructed after falling into enemy hands. It was now certain that this was a gift from Trisolaris to humanity, a sign of peace sent in that civilization’s baffling mode of expression.
水滴没有自毁这一事实，最后证实了人们的猜测：如果它真是一个军事探测器的话，在落入敌手后肯定要自毁的，现在可以确定它是三体世界发给人类的一件礼物，以这个文明很难令人类理解的表达方式发出的一个和平信号。
Two hours later, nothing had happened.
两个小时过去了，什么都没有发生。
It took another half hour for the arm to retract and pull the droplet into Mantis’s main cabin, after which the two bulkheads gradually came together. If the target were to self-destruct, this would be the most likely time. The fleet and Earth behind it waited quietly, as if through the silence they could hear the sound of time flowing through space.
机械臂的回收又用了半个小时，水滴被缓缓地拉人“螳螂”号的主舱，然后，两片张开的舱壁缓缓合上。如果目标要自毁，这是可能性最大的时刻。舰队和后面的地球世界静静地等待着，寂静中仿佛能听到时间流过太空的声音。
Once again the world erupted with joy. This time the revelry wasn’t as wild and abandoned as the last, because humanity’s victory and the end of the war were no longer anything unanticipated. Taking a thousand steps back, even if the coming negotiations broke down and the war continued, humanity would still ultimately be the victors, because the presence in space of the combined fleet had given the masses a visual impression of human power. Earth now had the calm confidence to face any sort of enemy.
世界再次欢腾起来，但这一次的欢庆不像上次那么狂热和忘情，因为战争的结束和人类的胜利已经不再是一件让人感到意外的事。退一万步说，即使即将到来的谈判破裂，战争继续下去，人类仍将是最后的胜利者，联合舰队在太空中的出现，使公众对人类的力量有了一个形象的认识。现在，地球文明已经拥有了坦然面对各种敌人的自信。
With the arrival of the droplet, people’s feelings toward Trisolaris slowly began to change. They increasingly began to recognize that the race marching toward the Solar System was a great civilization, one that had experienced two-hundred-odd cyclic catastrophes and had endured with unbelievable tenacity. Their arduous journey of four light-years across the vastness of space was all for the sake of finding a stable star, a home in which to live out their lives… The public’s feelings toward Trisolaris began to change from enmity and hatred to sympathy, compassion, and even admiration. People also realized another fact: Trisolaris had sent out the ten droplets two centuries ago, but humanity had only just realized their true significance. This was no doubt because the behavior of Trisolaris was overly subtle, as well as a reflection of the fact that humanity’s state of mind had been distorted by its own bloody history. In a global online referendum, citizen support for Project Sunshine rose rapidly, increasingly inclined toward the Strong Survival Plan that offered Mars as a Trisolaran reservation.
而水滴的到来，使人们对三体世界的感情开始发生微妙的变化，越来越多的人开始意识到：那个正在向太阳系跋涉的种族是一个伟大的文明，他们经历了二百多次灾难的轮回，以令人类难以置信的顽强生存下来。他们历尽艰辛跨越四光年的漫漫太空，只是为了寻找一个稳定的太阳，一处生息延续的家园……公众对三体世界的感情，开始由敌视和仇恨转向同情、怜悯甚至敬佩。人们同时也意识到这样一个事实：三体世界的十个水滴在两个世纪前就发出了，而人类直到现在才真正理解了它们的含义，这固然因为三体文明的行为过分含蓄，也从另一个方面反映了人类被自己的血腥历史所扭曲的心态。在全球网上的公民投票中，阳光计划的支持率急剧上升，且有越来越多的人倾向于把火星作为三体居留地的强生存方案。
All of this took place in the day after the droplet was captured.
这一切，都是在水滴被捕获后的一天内发生的。
The UN and the fleets accelerated their preparations for negotiations, and the two internationals began organizing delegations.
联合国和舰队加快了和平谈判的准备工作，两个国际开始联合组建人类代表团。
“Message just received: The droplet didn’t self-destruct upon capture,” Dongfang Yanxu said to Zhang Beihai.
“刚收到的消息：水滴在被捕获后没有自毁。”东方延绪对章北海说。
But what excited people most of all was not the facts before their eyes, but the rudimentary outline of a bright future: What sort of fantastic paradise would the Solar System become after the union of Trisolaran technology and human power?
而最令人们激动的还不是眼前的事实，而是已经现出雏形的光明未来：三体文明的技术与人类的力量相结合，将使太阳系变成怎样一个梦幻天堂？
At about the same distance on the other side of the sun, Natural Selection coasted silently at 1 percent the speed of light.
在太阳另一恻几乎同样距离的太空中，“自然选择”号静静地以光速的百分之一滑行着。
“The Trisolaran probe. Now we have confirmation that it’s a gift to the human race, an expression of the Trisolaran wish for peace.”
“就是三体探测器，现在已经证明，它是一件送给人类的礼物，是三体世界祈求和平的表示。”
“What’s a droplet?” he asked. They faced each other through the transparent bulkhead. His face was haggard.
“什么是水滴？”章北海问，他和东方延绪隔着透明的舱壁对视着，他的脸色有些憔悴，但身上的军装很整齐。
“Is that so? That’s very good.”
“是吗？那真的很好。”
He didn’t reply. Instead he lifted the notebook up in front of him with both hands. “I’ve finished.” Then he put it into a close-fitting pocket.
章北海没有回答东方的话，双手把那个笔记本拿到面前：“我写完了。”说完，他把笔记本放到贴身的衣袋中。
“You don’t seem to care very much.”
“你好像并不是太在意这个。”
“I can, but first I’d like to know what you plan on doing once you’ve gained control.”
“可以，但我首先需要知道，你在得到控制权之后打算干什么。”
“So can you hand over control of Natural Selection now?”
“那么，你可以交出‘自然选择’号的控制权了？”
“Yes. Natural Selection’s fuel store is below return capacity, so it needs to refuel before being able to return to the Solar System. But the pursuing force doesn’t have enough fuel for us. Those six ships are only half the tonnage of Natural Selection, and in their pursuit they’ve accelerated to five percent of light speed and decelerated a similar amount. They’ve got enough fuel for a return. So Natural Selection’s personnel will have to return aboard the pursuing force. Later, a ship carrying enough fuel will be sent after Natural Selection to take it back to the Solar System, but that will require time. We need to decelerate as much as possible before leaving to minimize that time.”
“是的。‘自然选择’号的聚变燃料已经在折返容量以下，必须补充燃料后才能返回太阳系，而追击舰队也没有足够的燃料给我们补充。那六艘战舰的吨位都只有‘自然选择’号的一半，追击中曾加速到百分之五光速，然后又经历了同样强度的减速，燃料都刚够自己折返。所以‘自然选择’号上的人员只能搭乘追击舰队返回，以后会有飞船携带足够的燃料追上‘自然选择’号，使其返回太阳系，但这需要很长时间，我们在离开前尽可能减速，就能缩短这段时间。”
“Decelerating.”
“减速。”
“To rendezvous with the pursuing force?”
“与追击舰队会合吗？”
“Don’t decelerate, Dongfang.”
“东方，不要减速。”
“Deceleration will consume all of Natural Selection’s remaining fuel. We can’t become a powerless ship. No one knows what will happen. As captain, you ought to keep that in mind.”
“减速将耗尽‘自然选择’号的剩余燃料，我们不能成为一艘没有能量的飞船，谁也不知道将会发生什么，作为舰长体应该想到这点。”
“Why?”
“为什么？”
He smiled at her excitement, as if trying to quell it. As he looked at her, there was a softness in his eyes that had never been there before. It rocked her emotions. She found his defeatism unbelievable, and suspected him of having other motivations for defecting. She had even wondered about his sanity. But for some reason she felt a certain attachment to him. She had left her father when she was very young, certainly not anything unusual for a child of that era. Fatherly love was something ancient. But in this ancient soldier from the twenty-first century, she had come to understand it.
章北海对激动的东方笑了笑，似乎是想平息她的情绪，这时，他看她的眼光变得从未有过的柔和，这使得东方的心绪一阵波动。尽管她一直认为章北海的失败主义思想不可思议，一直怀疑他的叛进有别的目的，甚至怀疑他精神有问题，但不知为何，仍对他生出一种依恋感。她在很小的时候就离开了父亲——当然对这个时代的孩子来说这是正常的事，父爱已经是一种很古老的东西了，现在她在这位来自二十一世纪的古代军人身上体会到了这种东西。
“What can happen? The future is clear: The war will end and humanity will win, and you’ll be proven totally wrong!”
“能发生什么？未来已经很清晰了，战争将结束，人类将胜利，而你被证明完全错了！”
He said, “Dongfang, I come from troubled times. I’m a realist. All I know is that the enemy is still there and it’s still approaching the Solar System. As a soldier knowing this, I can’t be happy until everyone is at peace… Don’t decelerate. This is the condition under which I’ll relinquish control. Of course, the only guarantee I have is your character.”
章北海说：“东方，我来自一个坎坷的时代，是个现实的人，我只知道敌人还存在着，还在向太阳系逼近，作为军人，知道这一点，就只能后天下之乐而乐了……不要减速，这是我交出控制权的条件，当然，我也只能得到你人格上的保证了。”
“Natural Selection’s captain’s privileges have been transferred to you. The password is still Marlboro,” he said, without looking back at her.
“‘自然选择’号的舰长权限已经转移到你，口令还是那个‘万宝路’。”章北海头也不回地说。
Zhang Beihai turned and floated to the interface panel, where he called up the permissions-transfer interface and entered his password. After a series of taps, he turned it off.
章北海转身飘到悬浮的操作界面前，调出了权限转移界面，并输人自己的口令，经过一连串的点击后，他关闭了界面。
“Will they make me walk the plank?” At her mystified expression, he laughed. “It’s a form of the death penalty on ancient ships. If it had really carried on through to today, you would have to shove a criminal like me right out into space… Okay. I’d quite like to be alone.”
“让我走跳板吗？”看着东方迷惑的样子，章北海又笑了笑，“哦，这是古代海船上执行死刑的一种方法，如果真流传到现在，应该是让我这样的罪犯直接走到太空中去吧……好的，我真的也想独自待着。”
“I promise that Natural Selection will not decelerate.”
“我答应，‘自然选择’号不会减速。”
Dongfang Yanxu called up an interface in the air and quickly confirmed this. “Thank you. But I ask you not to come out of that cabin for the time being, or open the door. The ship’s personnel are awakening from deep-sea state and I’m afraid they might act aggressively toward you.”
东方在空中调出界面，很快证实了这一点。“谢谢，但请你暂时不要走出这个舱，也不要开门，舰上人员正在从深海状态中苏醒，我怕他们会对你有过激行为。”
The shuttle that sailed out of Quantum seemed as small as a car leaving a city compared to its mother ship. The light of its engine illuminated only a small part of the ship’s hull, like a candle beneath a cliff. It eased out of Quantum’s shadow into the sunlight, its engine nozzle glowing like a firefly as it flew toward the droplet a thousand kilometers away.
穿梭艇驶出了“量子”号，与母舰相比，它显得很小，如同一辆从城市中开出的汽车，它的发动机的光芒只照亮了母舰巨大舰体的一小部分，像一支悬崖下的蜡烛。它缓缓地从“量子”号的阴影里进入阳光中，发动机喷口像萤火虫般闪亮着，向一千公里外的水滴飞去。
The expedition team consisted of four people: a major and a lieutenant colonel from the European and North American Fleets, Ding Yi, and Xizi.
考察队由四人组成，除丁仪和西子外，还有两名来自欧洲舰队和北美舰队的军官，分别是一名少校和一名中校。
Through the porthole, Ding Yi looked back at the receding fleet formation. Quantum, situated in a corner, still appeared large, but its nearest neighbor, the warship Cloud, was so small that its shape could only barely be made out. Farther away, the ranks of warships were just rows of points across his field of view. Ding Yi knew that the rectangular array was a hundred ships in length by twenty in width, with an additional fifteen ships maneuvering outside of the formation. But when he counted along the length, by the time he reached thirty he couldn’t see clearly, and that was just six hundred kilometers away. It was the same looking up, where the short side extended vertically. The warships that could be made out in the far distance were just fuzzy points of light under the weak sunlight, nearly indistinguishable from the starry background. Only when their engines started up would the fleet array be totally visible to the naked eye. The combined fleet was a one-hundred-by-twenty matrix in space. He imagined another matrix being multiplied with it, the horizontal elements from one multiplied in turn with vertical elements from the other to form an even larger matrix, although in reality the only important constant for the matrix was one tiny point: the droplet. He didn’t like extreme asymmetry in mathematics, so this attempt to calm himself through mental gymnastics failed.
透过舷窗，丁仪回望着渐渐远去的舰队阵列。位于阵列一角的“量子”号这时看起来仍很庞大，但与它相邻的下一艘战舰“云”号，小得刚能看出形状，再往远处，行列中的战舰只是视野中的一排点了。丁仪知道。矩形阵列的长边和宽边分别由一百艘和二十艘战舰排成，还有十余艘战舰处于阵列外的机动状态。但他沿长边数下去，只散到三十艘就看不清了，那已经是六百公里远处。再仰头看与之垂直的矩形短边也是一样，能看清的最远处的战舰只是微弱阳光中的一个模糊的光点，很难从群星的背景中把它们分辨出来，只有当所有战舰的发动机启动时，舰队阵列的整体才能被肉眼看到。丁仪感到，联合舰队就是太空中的一个100X20的矩阵，他想象着有另一个矩阵与它进行乘法运算，一个的横行元素与另一个的竖行元素依次相乘生成一个更大的矩阵，但在现实中，与这个庞大矩阵相对的只有一个微小的点：水滴。丁仪不喜欢这种数学上的极端不对称，他这个用于镇静自己的思维体操失败了。
“It was a nice place back in our day. But West Lake has now turned into Crescent Lake, and it’s in a desert… Still, even though the desert’s everywhere, today’s world still reminds me of the south, and the age in which the women were as graceful as the water.” As he said this, he looked at Xizi, whose enchanting silhouette was set off by the soft light of the distant sun that streamed in through the porthole. “Child, looking at you, I’m reminded of someone I once loved. Like you, she was a major, and although she wasn’t as tall as you, she was just as beautiful…”
“我们那时才是好地方，现在，西湖都变成沙漠中的月牙泉了……不过话说回来，虽然到处是沙漠，现在这个世界还足让我想起了江南，这个时代，美女如水啊。”丁仪说着，看看西子，遥远的太阳的柔光从舷窗透人，勾勒出她迷人的侧影，“孩子，看到你，我想起一个曾经爱过的人，她也是一名少校军官，个子不如你高，但和你一样漂亮……”
Xizi was staring straight ahead, as if trying to locate Mantis, which was still hundreds of kilometers away. Then she recovered and shook her head. “No, Master Ding. I was born in the Asian Fleet. I don’t know whether my name has anything to do with Hangzhou.22 I’ve been there, though. It’s a nice place.”
西子正在凝视着前方，好像在努力寻找仍在几百公里远处的“螳螂”号，她回过神来后摇摇头，“不，丁老，我是在亚洲舰队出生的，名字与杭州有没有关系我也不知道，不过我去过那儿，真是个好地方。”
When the force of acceleration subsided, he struck up a conversation with Xizi, who was sitting next to him. “Child, are you from Hangzhou?”
当加速的过载消失后，他转头与坐在旁边的西子搭讪。“孩子，你是杭州人吗？”他问。
“In the old days, lots of girls must have been in love with you,” Xizi said to Ding Yi, turning back to him.
西子回头对丁仪说：“以前肯定有很多女孩子爱上你了。
“Well, in ancient times, you must have been loved by many girls.” Xizi takes back her eyes and looks at Ding Yi. She says that she feels that she really needs to shift.
“那，在古代，您一定被许多女孩子爱上过。”西子收回目光看着丁仪说，一直处于高度紧张的她感到自己也确实需要转移一下了。
“That’s good, Dr. Ding.” The commander of the North American fleet in the front row turned and said with a smile.
“丁博士，这很好。”坐在前排的北美舰队的中校转过头来笑着说。
“I wouldn’t usually bother the girls I liked. I believed in what Goethe said: ‘If I love you, what business is it of yours?'”
“我通常不会打扰我喜欢的女孩。我相信歌德说的话：“如果我爱你，那又关你什么事？”
“Master Ding, the external communication channel is still on.” Xizi reminds absently, eyes still stare at the space ahead.
“丁老，外部通讯频道还开着呢。”西子心不在焉地提醒道，双眼仍盯着前方的太空。
“I don’t know. I’m not interested in the girls who love me. I’m interested in the ones I love.”
“这我不知道，对爱我的女孩子我不感兴趣，感兴趣的是我爱上的那些。”
“It’s OK. The nerves of the fleet and the earth are tense enough. We can let them move and relax.” Ding Yi pointed back.
“没什么，舰队和地球的神经已经够紧张了，我们可以让他们转移和放松一下。”丁仪向后指指说。
“Oh… No, no, I don’t usually bother the girls I love. I believe in Goethe’s saying: I love you. What does it have to do with you?”
“哦……不不，我一般不会去打扰我爱的那些女孩子，我信奉哥德的说法：我爱你，与你有何相干？”
“In this era, there are not many people like you who can take care of everything and do so well.”
“这个时代，像您这样什么都能顾得上又都做得那么出色的人真是不多了。”
He went on, “Oh, if only I had the same attitude toward physics! My life’s biggest regret is that we’ve been blinded by the sophons. But here’s a more positive way of thinking about it: If we’re exploring laws, what business is that of the laws? One day, perhaps, humanity — or maybe someone else — will explore the laws so thoroughly that they’ll be able to alter not only their own reality, but perhaps the entire universe. They’ll be able to turn every star system into whatever shape they require, like kneading a ball of dough. But so what? The laws still won’t have changed. Yes, she’ll still be there, the one unchanging presence, forever young, like how we remember a lover…” As he spoke, he pointed out the porthole at the brilliant Milky Way. “And when I think about that, my worries go away.”
丁仪接着说：“唉，我要是对物理学也持这种态度就好了。一直觉得，此生最大的遗憾就是被智子蒙住了眼腈，其实，豁达些想想：我们探索规律，与规律有何相干？也许有一天，人类或其他什么东西把规律探知到这种程度，不但能够用来改变他们自己的现实，甚至能够改变整个宇宙，能够把所有的星系像面团一样捏成他们需要的形状，但那又怎么样？规律仍然没变，是的，她就在那里，是唯一不可能被改变的存在，永远年轻，就像我们记忆中的爱人……”丁仪说着，指指舷窗外灿烂的银河，“想到这一点，我就看开了。”
Xizi laughed.
西子看着丁仪笑而不语。
The Colonel shook his head disappointedly at the change of the topic. “Master Ding, let’s go back to the beautiful women like water.”
中校对话题的转移失望地摇摇头，“丁老，还是回到美女如水上来吧。”
Xizi said nothing, and they fell into a heavy silence. Mantis soon came into view, albeit as a point of light two hundred kilometers away. The shuttle rotated 180 degrees, and the engine nozzle, now pointing ahead of them, began their deceleration.
丁仪再没有兴趣，西子也不再说话，他们都陷入沉默中。很快，“螳螂”号可以看到了，虽然它还只是二百多公里外的一个亮点。穿梭机旋转了一百八十度，发动机喷口对着前进方向开始减速。
The fleet was now directly ahead of the shuttle, around eight hundred kilometers away, a trivial distance in space, but one that turned the massive warships into barely visible points. The fleet itself was distinguishable from the starry background only by its neatly arranged ranks. The entire rectangular array seemed like a grid covering the Milky Way, its regularity standing in stark contrast to the chaos of the starfield. With its great size made tiny by the distance, the power of the formation was made apparent. Many people in the fleet and the distant Earth behind it who were watching this image sensed that it was a visual display of what Ding Yi had just been talking about.
这时，舰队处在穿棱机正前方，距此已有约八百公里，这是太空中一段微不足道的距离，却把一艘艘巨大的战舰变成了刚刚能看出形状的小点，只有通过其整齐的排列，才能把舰队阵列从繁星的背景上识别出来。整个矩形阵列仿佛是罩在银河系前的一张网格。星海的混沌与阵列的规则形成鲜明对比——当距离把巨大变成微小，排列的规律就显示出其力量。在舰队和其后方遥远的地球世界，看着这幅影像的很多人都感觉到，这正是对丁仪刚才那段话的形象展示。
The shuttle reached Mantis and the force of deceleration cut off. To the shuttle’s passengers, the speed of the process made it feel as if Mantis had suddenly popped up in space.
当减速的过载消失后，穿梭机已经靠上了“螳螂”号的船体，这过程是那么快捷，在穿梭机乘员们的感觉中，“螳螂”号仿佛是突然从太空中冒出来一样。
Docking was completed quickly. Since Mantis was unmanned, there was no air in the cabin, so the four members of the expedition team put on light space suits. Upon receiving final instructions from the fleet, they filed weightlessly through the docking hatch and into Mantis.
对接很快完成，由于“螳螂”号是无人飞船，舱内没有空气，考察队四人都穿上了轻便航天服。在得到舰队的最后指示后，他们在失重中鱼贯穿过对接舱门，进入了“螳螂”号。
The droplet floated dead center in Mantis’s one spherical main cabin. Its colors were entirely different from the image seen aboard Quantum, paler and softer, evidently due to differences in the scene reflected on its surface — the droplet’s total reflectance meant that it had no color of its own. Arranged in the main cabin of Mantis was the folded robotic arm, an assortment of equipment, and several piles of asteroid rock samples. Floating in a mechanical and stony environment, the droplet once again presented a contrast between exquisiteness and crudeness, aesthetics and technology.
“螳螂”号只有一个球形主舱，水滴就悬浮在舱的正中，与在“量子”号上看到的影像相比，它的色彩完全改变了，变得黯淡柔和了许多。这显然是由于外界的景物在其表面的映像不同所致，水滴的全反射表面本身是没有任何色彩的。“螳螂”号的主舱中堆放着包括已经折叠的机械臂在内的各种设备，还有几堆小行星岩石样品，水滴悬浮于这个机械与岩石构成的环境中，再一次形成了精致与粗陋、唯美与技术的对比。
“It’s the tear of the blessed mother,” Xizi said.
“像一滴圣母的眼泪。”西子说。
Her words were transmitted from Mantis at the speed of light, first to the fleet and then resonating three hours later throughout the entire human world. Xizi, the lieutenant colonel, and the major from the European Fleet — ordinary people on the expedition team placed, by unexpected circumstance, in a central position at the pinnacle moment in the history of civilization — shared a common feeling now that they were so close to the droplet: All sense of the distant world’s unfamiliarity vanished, replaced by an intense desire for recognition. Yes, in the cold expanse of the universe, all carbon-based life shared a common destiny, one that might take billions of years to cultivate, but a destiny that cultivated feelings of love that transcended time and space. And now, they sensed that love in the droplet, a love that could bridge the chasm of any enmity. Xizi’s eyes were wet, and three hours later, the eyes of billions of people like her would fill with tears.
她的话以光速从“螳螂”号传出去，先是在舰队，三小时后在整个人类世界引起了共鸣。在考察队中，中校和西子，还有来自欧洲舰队的少校，都是普通人，因意外的机遇在这文明史上的巅峰时刻处于最中心的位置。在这样近的距离上面对水滴，他们都有一个共同的感觉：对那个遥远世界的陌生感消失了，代之以强烈的认同愿望。是的，在这寒冷广漠的宇宙中，同为碳基生命本身就是一种缘分，一种可能要几十亿年才能修得的缘分，这个缘分让人们感受到一种跨越时空的爱。现在，水滴使他们感受到了这种爱，任何敌意的鸿沟都是可以在这种爱中消弭的。西子的眼腈湿润了，三小时后将有几十亿人与她一样热泪盈眶。
“Dr. Ding, we don’t have much time.” The lieutenant colonel motioned for Ding Yi to come forward to be the first to touch the droplet.
“丁博士，我们时间不多的。”中校示意丁仪走上前来，因为第一个接触水滴的必须是他。
But Ding Yi watched all of this dispassionately from the rear. “I see something else,” he said. “Something far more sublime. A realm where both self and other are forgotten, an effort to encompass everything by shutting out everything.”
但丁仪落在后面，冷眼旁观着这一切，“我看到了另外一些东西，”他说，“一种更大气的东西，忘我又忘他的境界，通过自身的全封闭来包容一切的努力。”
“That’s too much philosophy for me to understand,” Xizi laughed through her tears.
“您太哲学了，我听不太懂。”西子带泪笑笑说。
“How smooth is it?” Ding Yi asked.
“能光滑到什么程度呢？”丁仪问。
Ding Yi floated slowly toward the droplet and placed a hand on its surface. To avoid frostbite from the cold mirror surface, he had to touch it with a gloved hand. Then the three officers touched it, too.
丁仪慢慢飘浮到水滴前，把一只手放到它的表面上。他只能戴着手套触摸它，以防被绝对零度的镜面冻伤。接着，三位军官也都开始触摸水滴了。
“I can’t feel any friction at all,” the lieutenant colonel marveled. “It’s so smooth.”
“感觉不到一点儿磨擦力，”中校惊奇地说，“这表面太光滑了。”
“It looks so fragile. I’m afraid of breaking it,” Xizi said softly.
“看上去太脆弱了，真怕把它碰坏了。”西子小声说。
To answer that question, Xizi took out a cylindrical instrument, a microscope, from a pocket in her space suit. She touched the lens to the droplet, and they could see a magnified image of the surface on the instrument’s small display. Displayed on the screen was a smooth mirror.
为了解答这个问题，西子从航天服的口袋中拿出了一个圆筒状的仪器，那是一架显微镜。她用镜头接触水漓的表面，从仪器所带的一个小显示屏上。可以看到放大后的表面图像。屏幕上所显示的，仍然是光滑的镜面。
“What’s the magnification?” Ding Yi asked.
“放大倍数是多少？”丁仪问。
The enlarged surface remained a smooth mirror.
放大后的表面还是光滑的镜面。
“Your device is broken,” the lieutenant colonel said.
“你这东西坏了吧？”中校说。
“A hundred times.” Xizi pointed to a number in the corner of the screen, then adjusted the magnification to one thousand.
“一百倍。”西子指指显微镜显示屏一角的一个数字，同时把放大倍数调到一千倍。
“Increase it by another factor of ten,” Ding Yi said.
“把倍数再调大十倍。”丁仪说。
Xizi removed the microscope from the droplet and placed it against her space suit visor. The other three drew closer to look at the screen, where the visor — a surface which, to the naked eye, looked as smooth as the droplet — was a rough and rocky beach on the screen under one-thousand-times magnification. Xizi returned the microscope to the surface of the droplet, and the screen once again displayed a smooth mirror, no different from the surrounding, unmagnified surface.
西子把显微镜从水滴上拿起来，放到自己航天服的面罩上，其他三人凑过来看显示屏，看到了被放大一千倍的面罩表面，那肉服看上去与水滴一样光洁的面，在屏幕上变得像乱石滩一样粗糙。西子又把显微镜重新安放在水滴表面，显示屏上再次出现了光滑的镜面，与周围没有放大的表面无异。
This was beyond the capabilities of optical magnification, so Xizi carried out a series of operations to switch the microscope from optical to electron tunneling mode. Now the magnification power stood at ten thousand.
这超出了光学放大的能力，西子进行了一连串的操作，把显微镜由光学模式切换到电子隧道显微模式，现在放大倍数是一万倍。
The magnified surface remained a smooth mirror. The smoothest surface that human technology could produce revealed itself as rough at just one thousand times magnification, like Gulliver’s impression of the face of the beautiful giantess.
放大后的表面仍是光滑镜面。而人类技术所能加工的最光滑的表面，只放大上千倍后其粗糙就暴露无遗，正像格利弗眼中的巨人美女的脸。
“Adjust to a hundred thousand times,” the lieutenant colonel said.
“调到十万倍。”中校说。
A smooth mirror.
光滑镜面。
Still they saw a smooth mirror.
他们看到的仍是光滑镜面。
“A million times.”
“一百万倍。”
“Ten million times.”
“一千万倍！”
Macromolecules would be visible at this magnification, but what they saw on the screen remained a smooth mirror without the slightest sign of roughness, no difference in smoothness from the surrounding unmagnified surface.
在这个放大倍数下，已经可以看到大分子了，但屏幕上显示的仍是光滑镜面，看不到一点儿粗糙的迹象，其光洁度与周围没有被放大的表面没什么区别。
More than two centuries before, in his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke had described a black monolith left on the moon by an advanced alien civilization. Surveyors had measured its dimensions with ordinary rulers and had found a ratio of one to four to nine. When these were rechecked using the most high-precision measurement technology on Earth, the ratio remained an exact one to four to nine, with no error at all.
两个多世纪前，阿瑟，克拉克在他的科幻小说《2001：太空奥德赛》中描述了一个外星超级文明留在月球上的黑色方碑，考察者用普通尺子量方碑的三道边，其长度比例是1：3：9，以后，不管用什么更精确的方式测量，穷尽了地球上测量技术的最高精度，方碑三边的比例仍是精确的1：3：9，没有任何误差。
Xizi shook her head. This was the electron microscope’s highest level of magnification.
西子摇摇头，这已经是电子显微镜所能达到的极值了。
“Push it up again!”
“再把倍数调大些！”
“But this has a normal mass!”
“但这东西的质量是正常的。②”【注：②中子星物质的比重相当于水的10的14次方倍。】
Clarke described it as a “passive yet almost arrogant display of geometrical perfection.” Now, humanity was facing a far more arrogant display of power.
克拉克写道：那个文明以这种方式，狂妄地显示了自己的力量，现在，人类正面对着一种更狂妄的力量显示。
“Can an absolutely smooth surface really exist?” Xizi gasped.
“真有绝对光滑的表面？”西子惊叹道。
“Yes,” Ding Yi said. “The surface of a neutron star is nearly absolutely smooth.”
“有，”丁仪说，“中子星的表面就几乎绝对光滑①”【注：①中子星的原子都被压在一起，排列很整齐。】
“How high was the pressure at the point of contact?” the lieutenant colonel asked, and soon received a reply from the fleet: approximately two hundred kilograms per square centimeter.
“接触面的压强有多大？”中校问，很快得到了舰队的回答：约每平方厘米二百公斤。
Ding Yi considered this, then looked about him. “Hook up to the spaceship computer and find the spot that the robot arm gripped during capture.”
丁仪想了一会儿，向周围看看说：“联系一下飞船的电脑吧，确定一下捕获时机械手的夹具夹在什么位置。”
This was accomplished remotely by a fleet surveillance officer. The Mantis computer projected thin red laser beams to mark the position on the droplet surface that had been gripped by the steel claw. Xizi examined one of the spots with the microscope, and at a magnification of ten million times, she still saw a smooth, flawless mirror.
这事情由舰队的监控人员做了，“螳螂”号的电脑发出了几束极细的红色激光束，在水滴的表面标示出钢爪夹具的接触位置。西子用显微镜观察其中一处的表面，在一千万倍的放大倍率下，看到的仍是光洁无瑕的镜面。
Smooth surfaces are easily scratched, but the strong metal clamp did not leave any scratches on the droplet’s surface.
光清的表面最易被划伤，而水滴被金属夹具强力接触的表面没有留下任何划痕。
Ding Yi floated away in search of something within the cabin. He returned with a rock pick, perhaps dropped in the cabin by someone during collection of rock samples. Before anyone could stop him, he slammed it forcefully into the mirror surface. There was a clang, crisp and melodious, like the pick had smashed into jade-paved ground. The sound traveled through his body, but the other three didn’t hear it because of the vacuum. With the handle of the pick, he pointed out the spot he had struck, and Xizi examined it with the microscope.
丁仪飘离开去，到舱内寻找着什么，回来时手里拿着一把地质锤，可能是有人在舱内检测岩石样品时丢下的，其他人来不及制止，他就用力把地质锤砸到镜面上，他只听到叮的一声，清脆而悠扬，像砸在玉石构成的大地上，这声音是通过他的身体传来的，由于是真空环境，其他三人听不到。丁仪接着用锤柄的一端指示出被砸的位置，西子立刻用显微镜观察那一点。
Ding Yi tossed the pick aside dejectedly and looked away from the droplet, deep in thought. The eyes of the three officers, and the eyes of the million people in the fleet, were all focused on him.
丁仪颓然地把地质锤扔掉，不再看水滴，低头深思着，三名军官的目光，还有舰队百万人的目光，都集中到他身上。
“All we can do is guess,” he said, looking up. “The molecules in this thing are neatly arranged, like an honor guard, and they’re mutually solidifying. Do you know how solid it is? It’s as if the molecules are nailed into place. Even their own vibrations are gone.”
“只能猜了。”丁仪抬头说，“这东西的分子，像仪仗队那样整齐地排列着，同时相互固结，知道这种同结有多牢固吗？分子像被钉子钉死一般，自身振动都消失了。”
At ten million times magnification, it was still a smooth mirror.
一千万的放大倍数下，仍是绝对光滑的镜面。
“What force would allow that?”
“什么力才能做到这一点，”
“That’s why it’s at absolute zero!” Xizi said. She and the other two officers understood what Ding Yi was getting at: At normal densities of matter, the separation between atomic nuclei is quite large. It would be no easier to fix them all in place than it would be to join the sun to the eight planets with rods to form a stationary truss.
“这就是它处于绝对零度的原因①！”西子说，她和另外两名军官都明白丁仪的话意味着什么：在普通密度的物质中，原子核的间距是很大的，把它们相互固定死，不比用一套莲杆把太阳和八大行星固定成一套静止的桁架容易多少。【注：①物体的温度是分子振动引起的。】
“There’s only one option: strong interaction.”23 Through his visor, it was obvious that Ding Yi’s forehead was covered in sweat.
“只有一种：强互作用力。”透过面罩可以看到，丁仪的额头上已满是冷汗。
“But… that’s like shooting the moon with a bow and arrow!”
“这……不是等于把弓箭射上月球吗②？！”【注：②强相互作用力是自然界所有力中最强的一种，强度是电磁力的一百倍，但只能在原子核内部的极度短距离上起作用，原子核的尺度与原子相差很大，如果原子是一个剧场大小，原子核只有核桃大，所以，原子的尺度远超过强相互作用力的范围，在原子间和分子间起作的主要是电磁力。】
“Indeed, they’ve shot the moon with a bow and arrow… The tear of the blessed mother?” He gave a chilly laugh, a mournful sound that made them shiver, and the three officers knew what it meant: The droplet wasn’t fragile like a tear. Entirely the opposite: Its strength was a hundred times greater than the sturdiest material in the Solar System. All known substances were as fragile as paper by comparison. It could pass through the Earth like a bullet through cheese, without even the slightest harm to its surface.
“他们确实把弓箭射上月球了……圣母的眼泪？嘿嘿……”丁仪发出一阵冷笑，听起来有种令人寒颤的凄厉，三名军官也同样知道这冷笑的含义：水滴不像眼泪那样脆弱，相反，它的强度比太阳系中最坚固的物质还要高百倍，这个世界中的所有物质在它面前都像纸片般脆弱，它可以像子弹穿透奶酪那样穿过地球，表面不受丝毫损伤。
“Who knows? Maybe it really is just a messenger. But it’s here to give humanity a different message,” Ding Yi said, turning his gaze away from the droplet.
“谁知道？也许它真是一个使者，但带给人类的是另外一个信息……”丁仪说，同时把目光从水滴上移开。
Just seconds after Ding Yi, the lieutenant colonel realized the truth. Like Ding Yi, he shouted desperately: “The fleet! Evacuate the fleet!”
只比丁仪晚了几秒钟。中校也悟出了真相，他像丁仪一样绝望地大喊：“舰队！舰队疏散！”
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