Although she was an aerospace engineer from the Common Era, Cheng Xin had never been in space until this day, three centuries later. It no longer required special training to ride any space vehicles, but in consideration for her lack of experience, the technical support staff suggested that she ascend in the space elevator. Since the entirety of the ride was conducted at the same speed, there would be no hypergravity. And the gravity inside the elevator car now wasn’t noticeably lower — gravity would diminish gradually, until she achieved complete weightlessness at the terminal station in geosynchronous orbit. At this altitude, one would experience weightlessness only when orbiting the Earth, not when going up in a space elevator. Occasionally, Cheng Xin saw tiny dots sweep past in the distance — probably from satellites coasting at first cosmic velocity.
作为一名公元世纪的航天工程师，程心在近三个世纪后的今天才第一次进人太空。现在乘坐任何航天飞行器都不再需要适应性训练，但考虑到她可能的不适，技术支持小组还是让她搭乘太空电梯。运载舱几乎全程都是匀速直线运行，没有超重，舱中的重力也没有明显的落差。重力是逐渐减小的，直到同步轨道的终端站才会出现完全的失重。有时看到一个小点从远处飞速掠过。那可能是以第一宇宙速度运行的卫星，在这个高度。只有以它们那样的速度沿轨进方向运行才能产生失重。
Viewed through the portholes in the elevator, Cheng Xin’s entire world consisted of an eighty-centimeter-thick guide rail. The guide rail extended endlessly both above and below her, shrinking into invisibility in each direction. She had been riding for an hour already and was more than a thousand kilometers above sea level, outside the atmosphere. The Earth below her was in the shadow of night, and the continents were mere hazy outlines with no substance. The space above her was inky blackness, and the terminal station, thirty thousand kilometers away, was invisible. One felt as though the guide rail pointed to a road from which there was no return.
透过运载舱的舷窗行出去，程心眼中的世界就是一根宽八十厘米的导轨，这根导轨向上方和下方无限延仲，直到细得看不见。巳经起程一个小时，现在距海平面已有一千多千米。早已越过大气层进人太空。下面的地球正处于黑夜的一面。大陆的轮廓朦朦胧胧，没有实感。上方的太空漆黑一片，远在三万多千米高处的终端站根本看不到，让人感觉导轨指向的是一条不归路。
The guide rail’s surface was very smooth, and it was almost impossible to see motion. The elevator car seemed to be sitting still on the rail. In reality, her velocity was fifteen hundred kilometers per hour, equivalent to a supersonic jet. Reaching geosynchronous orbit would take about twenty hours, which made this a very slow journey in the context of space. Cheng Xin recalled a conversation during college where Tianming had pointed out that in principle, it was perfectly possible to achieve spaceflight at low speeds. As long as one maintained an ever-upward speed, one could go into space going as slow as a car or even walking. One could even walk up to the orbit of the moon in this manner, though it would be impossible to step onto the moon — by then, the relative velocity of the moon with respect to the climber would be more than three thousand kilometers per hour, and if one were to attempt to remain at rest with respect to the moon, the result would once again be high-speed astronautics. Cheng Xin clearly recalled that he had said at the end that it would be an amazing sight to be in the vicinity of the moon’s orbit and watch the gigantic satellite sweep overhead. She was now experiencing the low-speed spaceflight he had imagined.
导轨表面很光滑。几乎看不出运动。运载舱仿佛静止地悬在导轨上。其实这时运载舱的运行速度是每小时一千五百千米左右。相当于一架超音速飞机，到达同步轨道需要大约二十个小时，这在太空中确实是一个很低的速度。程心想起在大学时的一次什么讨论中，云天明曾说。从原理上讲低速航天是完全可能的，只要能维持恒定上升的动力，以汽车的速度，甚至以步行的速度也可以走到太空，甚至可以走到月球执道，但不可能登上月球，因为那时月球与走过去的人有着每小时三十多千米的相对速度，如果试图消除这种速度与月球保持静止，那就又成高速航天了。程心还清楚地记得他最后说：在月球轨道附近，看着庞大的月亮从头顶飞速凉过，肯定很震撼。现在她就是在他说过的低速航天中。
The elevator car was shaped like a capsule, but divided into four decks. She was in the top deck, and those who accompanied her were in the lower three decks. No one came up to bother her. She was in the luxurious business-class cabin, like a room in a five-star hotel. There was a comfortable bed and a shower, but the suite was small, about the size of a college dorm room.
运载舱呈胶囊形，一共有四层，程心在从最上一层，陪同她的人都在下面三层，没人来打扰她。她所在的是豪华商务舱，像五星酒店的房问，有很舒服的床，有沐浴间，但窄小许多，大小相当于大宿舍吧。
She was always thinking about her time in college these days, thinking about Tianming.
她最近总是想起大学时代，想起云天明。
At this altitude, the Earth’s umbral cone was narrower, and the Sun thus became visible. Everything outside was submerged in the powerful, bright light, and the portholes automatically adjusted to decrease their transparency. Cheng Xin lay on the sofa and watched the guide rail above her through the porthole overhead. The endless straight line seemed to descend directly from the Milky Way. She wanted to see signs of motion against the guide rail, or at least to imagine it. The sight was hypnotic, and eventually she fell asleep.
在这个高度，地球的阴影去很小，太阳出现了，外面的一切都淹没在强光重，周围的舷窗自动调低了透明度。程心仰躺在沙发上，透过上方的舷窗继续看着导轨，那根漫无尽头的长线仿佛是从银河系垂下来的，她极力想从轨道上看出运动，想象出运动来，这种凝视具有催眠作用，她渐渐睡着了。
She heard someone call her name softly, a man’s voice. She saw that she was in a college dorm sleeping in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. But the room was otherwise empty. A streak of light moved across the wall, like streetlights inside a moving car. She looked outside the window and saw that, behind the familiar Chinese parasol tree, the Sun swept across the sky rapidly, rising and setting every few seconds. Even when the Sun was up, however, the sky behind it remained inky black, and the stars shone along with the Sun. The voice continued to call her name. She wanted to get up to look around, but found her body floating up from the bed. Books, cups, her notebook computer, and other objects floated around her…
朦胧中，程心听到有人在轻唤她的名字。是一个男声，她发现自己置身于大学宿舍中，躺在下铺，但房间里空无一人。她看到墙上有光影移动，就像路灯照进行驶的车内，看看窗外，发现在那颗熟悉的梧桐树后，太阳飞快地划过天空，几秒钟就升降一次，即使太阳升起时，它背后的天空也是漆黑的，星星和太阳一起出现。那声音仍在呼唤她的名字，她想起身看看，却发现自己的身体从床面上漂浮起来，书本、水杯和笔记本电脑等也漂浮在周围……
Cheng Xin woke up with a start, and found herself truly floating in air, hovering a small distance above the sofa. She reached out to pull herself back onto the sofa, but inadvertently pushed herself away. She rose until she was next to the porthole in the ceiling, where she turned around weightlessly and pushed against the glass, successfully sending herself back to the sofa. Everything looked the same in the cabin, except that the weightlessness released some of the settled dust motes, and they sparkled in the sunlight.
程心从梦中惊醒，发现自己真的在飘浮，已经离开沙发一小段距离。她伸手想抓住沙发把自己拉回去，却无意中把身体推开，一直升到顶部的舷窗下。她在失重中转身轻推窗面，成功地使自己落回到沙发上。舱内一切依旧，只是失重使一些原来已经落下的尘埃飞到空中，在阳光下闪闪发亮。
“Dr. Cheng, I understand this is the first time you’ve been in space?” he asked.
“程博士，你说你是第一次进人太空”
She saw that an official from the PDC had come up from the cabin below. It was probably he who had been calling her name earlier. He stared at her, astonished.
这时她才发现陪同的一名PDC官员已经从下层上来了，刚才也许就是他在叫自己，但现在他只是惊奇地看着眼前的一幕。
After Cheng Xin nodded, he smiled and shook his head. “But you look like an old spacer.”
官员问，得到程心肯定的回答后他笑着摇摇头，“不像，真的不像。”
Cheng Xin herself felt surprised as well. This first experience of weightlessness did not cause her discomfort or anxiety. She felt relaxed, and there was no dizziness or nausea. It was as if she naturally belonged here, belonged to space.
连程心自己都感觉不像。第一次经历失重并没有让她感到慌乱和不适，能够从容应对，也没有恶心和眩晕的感觉，仿佛她自然而然地就属于这里，属于太空。
Cheng Xin looked up. She saw the guide rail again, but now she could tell they were moving by its surface — a sign that they were slowing down. At the end of the rail, the geosynchronous terminal station was coming into view. It was formed of multiple concentric rings connected together by five radial spokes. The original terminal station was just a small part in the center. The concentric rings were later additions, with the outer rings being newer. The entire structure slowly rotated in place.
程心抬头看去，首先看到的仍是太空电梯的导轨，但这时已经能够从它的表面看出运动，说明运载舱减速了。在导轨的尽头，同步轨道终端站已经能看出形状，它由多个同心圆构成，由五根辐条连为一体。最初的终端站只有中心一小部分，那些圆环是不同时代扩建的，越靠外的环越新终端站整体在缓缓地旋转。
“We’re almost there,” the official said, pointing up.
“我们快到了。”官员指指顶窗说。
Cheng Xin also saw other space buildings appear around her. The dense cluster of buildings in this region was the result of engineers taking advantage of proximity to the space elevator terminal station for transportation of construction materials. The buildings were of different shapes and appeared from the distance as a bunch of intricate toys — only when one swept past at close range could their immensity be felt. Cheng Xin knew that one of these housed the headquarters of the Halo Group, her space construction company. AA was working in it right now, but she couldn’t tell which building it was.
程心也看到，周围出现的太空建筑渐渐多了起来，它们都是依托电梯终端站的便利建设起来的，形状各异，远远看去像一件件精致的玩具，只有突然从近处掠过的那些建筑，观者才能感受到其庞大。程心知道，这其中就有她的太空建筑公司——星环集团的总部，AA现在就在里面工作，但她认不出是哪个。
The elevator car passed through a massive frame. The dense struts in the frame made the sunlight flicker. By the time the car emerged from the other end of the frame, the terminal station took up most of the view, and the Milky Way twinkled only from the space between the concentric rings. The immense structure pressed down, and as the car entered the station, everything dimmed as though the car was entering a tunnel. A few minutes later, bright lights illuminated the outside: The car was in the terminal hall. The hall spun around the car, and for the first time Cheng Xin felt dizzy. But as the car detached from the guide rail, it was clamped by the platform. After a slight jolt, the car began to spin along with the station, and everything around her seemed to be still again.
运载舱从一个巨大的框架结构中穿过，阳光被密集的框架切碎，从另一端升出时，终端站已经占据了上方的大部分太空，银河只是透过圆环间的缝隙闪烁。这巨大的结构从上方扑天盖地压下，运载舱进入终端站时四周暗了下来，如同火车进人隧洞。几分钟后，外面出现明亮的灯光，运载舱进入终端大厅停住了。周围的大厅在旋转，程心第一次感到有些头晕，但运载舱与导轨脱离后，被一个夹具在中部固定，一阵轻微的震动后。它也随终端站整体一起旋转，周围的一切静止了。
Cheng Xin, accompanied by four others, emerged into the circular hall from the car. As their car was the only one at the platform, the hall seemed very empty. Cheng Xin felt a sense of familiarity right away: Although information windows floated everywhere, the main structure of the hall was built from metallic materials that were rare in this age, mainly stainless steel and lead alloys. She could see the marks left by the passage of years everywhere, and she felt herself situated in an old train station instead of in space. The elevator she had ridden was the first space elevator ever built, and this terminal station, completed in Year 15 of the Crisis Era, had been in continuous operation for more than two centuries, even through the Great Ravine. Cheng Xin noticed the guardrails crisscrossing the hall, installed to help people move around in weightlessness. The guardrails were mainly made of stainless steel, though some were made from copper. Observing their surfaces, bearing the marks of countless hands through more than two centuries of service, Cheng Xin was reminded of the deep ruts left in front of ancient city doors.
程心与四名陪同人员一起走出运载舱，进人圆形的终端大厅。由于他们是这一时段到来的唯一一架运载舱，大厅里显得很空旷。程心对这里的第一印象就是熟悉，虽然这里也到处飘浮着信息窗口，但大厅的主体是用现在早已不再使用的金属材料建造的，主要是不锈钢和铅合金，到处都可以看到岁月的痕迹，她仿佛不是置身于太空，而是在一个旧火车站的候车大厅里。他们乘坐的是人类建成的第一部太空电梯，这个终端站建于危机纪元15年，已经连续使用了两个多世纪，即使在大低谷时期也没有关闭过。程心注意到大厅中纵横交错的栏杆，那是为人员在失重环境中移动设置的。这显然是早期的设施，因为现在都使用个人失重推进器，它体积很小，使用时固定在腰带或肩上，可以在失重中对人产生推力，由一个手持控制器控制移动方向。那些栏杆大部分是不锈钢制造，甚至还有一部分是铜制的，看着它们经过两个多世纪中无数只手磨损的表面，程心竟想到了古老城门前深深的车辙印。
The rails were leftovers from an earlier age, since everyone now relied on individual tiny thrusters which could be worn on the belt or over the shoulders. They generated enough thrust to propel people around in weightlessness, controlled by a handheld remote. Cheng Xin’s companions tried to give her a first lesson in space — how to use the weightless thrusters. But Cheng Xin preferred to navigate around by grabbing on to the guardrails. As they arrived at the exit to the main hall, Cheng Xin paused to admire a few propaganda posters on the wall. These were ancient, and most of them dealt with the construction of the Solar System defense system. In one of the posters, a soldier’s figure filled most of the image. He was dressed in a uniform unfamiliar to Cheng Xin, and his fiery eyes stared at the viewer. Below him was a line of large text: The Earth needs you! Next to it was an even larger poster in which people of all races and nationalities stood, arms linked, to form a dense wall. Behind them, the blue flag of the UN took up most of the picture. The text on the poster read: Let us build a new Great Wall for the Solar System with our flesh! Although Cheng Xin was interested in the posters, they didn’t feel familiar. They seemed to harken back to an older style, reminding people of an age before she had even been born.
陪同人员给程心1上进人太空后的第一课——教她使用失重推进器，但程心更习惯于抓着栏杆飘行。当他们行至大厅出口时，程心被墙上的几幅召贴画吸引了，都是些很旧的画，主题大部分是太阳系防御系统的建设。其中一幅画被一名军人的形象占满，他穿着程心很陌生的军装，用如炬的目光盯着画外，下而有一行醒目的大字：地球需要你！旁边一幅更大的画上，一大群不同肤色的人手挽手组成一道致密的人墙，背景是占据大部分画面的联合国的蓝色旗，下面也有一行字：用我们的血肉筑起太阳系的长城！对这些画程心却没有熟悉的感觉，因为它们的风格更旧了，让人想起她出生之前的那个时代。
That had been a brief, despotic age, when the whole world had been militarized before everything, from faith to life, collapsed… But why had these posters been kept until now? To remember, or to forget?
那是一个短暂的专制时代，全世界都处于军事状态，然后是崩溃，从信仰到生活，一切都崩溃了……可为什么把这些画保留到现在，为了记忆还是忘却？
“These were from the beginning of the Great Ravine,” one of the PDC officials traveling with her said.
“这些是大低谷初期的作品。”一位陪同的PDC官员说。
Cheng Xin and the others exited the main hall into a long corridor, whose cross section was also circular. The corridor extended ahead of her for some distance, and she couldn’t see to the end. She knew that this was one of the five radial spokes of the station. At first, they moved in total weightlessness, but soon, “gravity” appeared, in the form of centrifugal force. At first, the force was very weak, but it was enough to induce a sense of up and down: the corridor suddenly turned into a deep well, and instead of floating, they were falling. Cheng Xin felt dizzy, but many guardrails protruded from the wall of the “well.” If she felt she was falling too fast, she could decelerate by grabbing on to one of the rails.
程心一行从大厅出口进入一条长长的走廊，走廊的断面是圆形的，笔直地向前延伸，长得看不到尽头，程心知道这就是圆环形终端站的五根辐条之一。开始他们仍然飘行在失重中，但很快重力（离心力）出现了，最初尽管很微弱，却一下子有了上下的方向感。原来的走廊突然变成了不见底的深井，飘行变成了坠落，让程心头晕目眩，但“井”壁上出现了许多导引栏杆，在自由下落中如果速度太快，可以抓住栏杆减速。
They passed the intersection between the spoke and the first ring. Cheng Xin looked to the right and left, and saw that the ground rose up on both sides, as though she were at the bottom of a valley. Over the entrances to the ring on both sides were red-glowing signs: First Ring, Gravity 0.15G. The wall of the curved corridor of the ring was punctuated by multiple doors, which opened and closed from time to time. Cheng Xin saw many pedestrians. They stood on the floor of the ring due to the microgravity, but they still moved by leaping ahead with the aid of the weightless thrusters.
他们很快经过了第一个十字路口，程心向垂直交叉的另一条走廊看去，发现在两个方向上地面都向上升起，像一座小山谷一样，显然这是终端站的第一个圆环。程心看到走廊的两个人口都有一个发红光的标志，上面写着：终端一环，重力0.15G。向上弯曲的走廊两侧都有一排整齐的密封门，不时开启关闭。有很多行人，他们虽然在微重力下可以直立着地，但显然还得借助失重推进器进行跳跃行进。
After passing through the first ring, the weight increased further, and free-falling was no longer safe. Escalators appeared on the wall of the “well,” one going up and one going down. Cheng Xin observed the passengers riding up and saw that they were dressed casually, indistinguishable from Earth dwellers. The wall of the well had many information windows of different sizes, and more than a few of them were broadcasting the image of Cheng Xin stepping onto the space elevator more than twenty hours ago. But at the moment, Cheng Xin’s four escorts surrounded her, and she was also wearing her wide-framed sunglasses. No one recognized her.
通过一环后，重力继续增加，自由下落已经不安全，“井”壁上出现了自动扶梯，上行和下行各有两道。程心不时和旁边上行扶梯上的人交错而过，发现他们装束随意，与地面城市中的居民没什么两样。“井”壁上有许多大大小小的信息窗口，有一部分正在播放的新闻中就出现了程心二十多个小时前登上太空电梯的画面，此时程心因为被四名护送者围在正中，加上她截着宽墨镜，没有被人认出来。
As they descended, they passed through seven more concentric rings. As the diameter of each successive ring grew, the curvature of the corridors to the sides became less noticeable. Cheng Xin felt as though she was passing through strata of history. Each ring used different construction material from the rings before it, and looked newer. Each ring’s method of construction and decorative style formed a time capsule of an age: the repressive militaristic uniformity of the Great Ravine; the optimism and romanticism of the latter half of the Crisis Era; the hedonistic freedom and indolence of the Deterrence Era. Before the fourth ring, the cabins in the rings were integrated into the structure of the rings, but starting with the fifth ring, the rings only provided construction spaces, and the buildings in the rings were planned and constructed later as additional fixtures, showing a rich variety of styles. As Cheng Xin descended through the rings, signs of this being a space station gradually faded, and the environment resembled daily life on the surface more. By the time they reached the eighth ring, the outermost ring of the station, the construction style and scenery were indistinguishable from a small city on the surface. The corridor looked like a bustling pedestrian promenade. Add to that the standard gravity of 1G, and Cheng Xin could almost forget that she was in space, thirty-four thousand kilometers above the Earth.
在随后的下降中，他们又先后通过了七个环，由于环的直径依次增长。两侧地面上翘的坡度也逐渐变缓。在这个过程中，程心感觉自已是在“井”中穿过时代的地层。在两个多世纪中，终端站是由内向外一环一环扩建的，所以越深处地层越新。每一环的建造材料都与上一环不同，看上去也都比上一环新许多。其建造和装饰风格彰显出一个时代的断面。从大低谷压抑冷漠整齐划一的军事色彩，到危机纪元后半叶的乐观和浪漫。再到威慑纪元弥漫着自由和懒散的享乐主义。在四环之前，环内的舱室都是与环一起整体建造的，但从五环开始，环本身只提供了一个建设空间，环内的建筑设施都是后来规划建设的。显示出丰富的多样性。由上至下经过每一环。太空站的特点渐渐消失，尘世的色彩越来越浓郁。当到达第八环、也就是终端站的最外一环时，环内的建筑风格和环境与地面的小城市已经没有什么区别，像一条繁华的步行街，加上已经增长到1G的标准重力，程心几乎忘记了这里是距地面三万四千千米的太空。
They passed by the rows of spacecraft until they arrived at a small open space at the end of the port. There, a small spaceship — a dinghy, really — sat by itself. Next to it stood a group of people who had apparently been waiting for her. The Milky Way slowly swept by the open side of the port, and its light cast long shadows from the dinghy and those standing next to it, turning the open space into a giant clock, over which the roving shadows acted as hands.
他们穿过一排排的飞行器，来到港口尽头一个空旷的小广场。广场正中孤零零地停放着一艘太空艇，艇旁还有一小群人，显然正等待着程心的到达。这时，在港口向太空敞开的一侧，银河系正缓缓过，它的光芒给太空艇和人投下长长的影子，使得小广场像一个大钟面，那些影子就是移动的时针。
But the city scene soon disappeared, as a small motor vehicle brought them to a place where they could see space again. The entrance to the flat hall was marked with “Port A225,” and a few dozen small spacecraft of various designs parked on the smooth, plazalike floor. One side of the hall was completely open to space and the stars spinning around the station. Not too far away from them, a bright light started to glow, illuminating the whole port. Gradually, the light turned from orange to pure blue, and the spaceship that had turned on its engines lifted off the floor, accelerated, and shot into space from the open side of the port. Cheng Xin was witnessing a technological miracle that had become commonplace for others, but she couldn’t figure out how it was possible to maintain atmosphere and pressure in space without the area being completely enclosed.
尘世都市的景象很快消失了，一辆小机动车把他们送到一处能直接看到太空的地方。这是人口处标有“A225港”的一个扁平大厅。像广场一般宽阔的平面上停放着几十艘形状各异的小型太空飞行器，大厅的一侧则完全向太空敞开，可以看到随着终端站的旋转而移动的群星。不远处一团强光亮起。照亮了整个港口，那个光团由橘黄色渐渐变成纯蓝，那艘刚启动发动机的太空艇缓缓移出，很快加速，直接从港口的敞开处冲进太空，程心看到了一个人们巳经习以为常的技术奇迹，她一直不明白如何在不完全封闭的大空建筑中保持空气和气压。
The group next to the dinghy consisted of the special team convened by the PDC and the fleet for this encounter. Cheng Xin knew most of the members — they had attended the Swordholder handover ceremony seven years ago. The two team heads were the rotating chair of the PDC and the chief of staff for the fleet. The rotating chair was new, but the fleet chief was the same person as before. These seven years, the longest in the history of the human race had left indelible marks on their faces. No one said anything as they silently shook hands and silently remembered.
那群人就是为这次会面成立的PDC和舰队联合小组他们中的大部分程心都认识，都在七年前参与过执剑人的交接工作。领导人仍是PDC轮值主席和舰队总参谋长，主席已经换人，但参谋长还是七年前的那一位，这人类历史上最长的七年在他们的脸上都留下了沧桑。见面后大家都没有说话，只是默默地握手，默默地感慨。
Cheng Xin examined the dinghy before her. Short-range spacecraft now came in a variety of shapes, but the streamlined profile popular in the imagination of past generations was absent. This dinghy had the most common shape: a sphere. It was so regular that Cheng Xin couldn’t even tell where the thruster was. The dinghy was about the size of an old medium-sized bus. It had only a serial number and no name. This common vehicle was going to carry her to the meeting with Yun Tianming.
程心打量着眼前的太空艇，太空短程飞行器形状各异，唯独没有过去人们想象中的流线型。这一艘是最普通的形状，球形，很规则，程心甚至看不出推进器在哪一侧。这艘太空艇的体积大约相当于过去的一辆中巴车。没有名称，外面只印有一行编号，很普通的一个东西，程心就要乘坐它去与云天明会面。
That much Cheng Xin already knew, but now she was told something much more important.
以上是程心已经知道的，接下来，她又被告之了一件更重要的事。
Why conduct the meeting in space? In an age where neutrino communication was possible, being in space wasn’t much more isolated than being on the surface of the Earth. Sophon had explained the request as symbolic: The meeting should occur in an isolated environment to show that it was independent of both worlds. The Lagrangian point was chosen to allow Cheng Xin’s position to be relatively stable. Also, it was the long-held custom among Trisolarans to conduct meetings at points of balance between celestial bodies.
为什么要在百万千米之外的太空中进行会面通信？在中微子通信时代，这个距离的太空隔绝性与在地面上没有太大区别。按智子的解释，这只是一种象征，让会面在孤立的环境中进行，以表示其与两个世界无关。之所以选择拉格朗日点，只是为了保持会面时位置的稳定，同时，按三体世界在太空中的惯例，天体间的引力平衡点就是约会的地方。
The meeting was to take place at the point where the Earth’s and the Sun’s gravities balanced each other: a Lagrangian point about 1.5 million kilometers away. The sophons would facilitate the meeting with their real-time link with the First Trisolaran Fleet. There would be both voice and video.
会面地点在地球与太阳之间拉格朗日点的太空中，距地球一百五十万千米，通过由智子建立起的与三体第一舰队的实时通信进行，可以进行实时谈话和图像传送。
The fleet chief brought Cheng Xin into the dinghy. There wasn’t much room inside, just enough for four people. As soon as the two of them sat down, half of the spherical hull — the part facing them — became transparent, so that they seemed to be sitting inside the helmet of a gigantic space suit. This type of dinghy was chosen in part for its open field of view.
总参谋长带着程心进人太空艇，里面空间不大，只能坐四个人。他们刚坐下，前面的球形舱壁就变成透明的，成了半球形的舷窗，像一个放大了的太空服的面罩。之所以选择这种型号的太空艇，可能主要是考虑到它的视野广阔。
The fleet chief paused, and only after a long while, as though he had to prepare himself, did he explain the red light. “If they think you’re being given information you may not receive, the red light will be lit.”
总参谋长说到这里突然沉默了，过了好一段时间，似乎下定了决心他才向程心解释红灯的作用：“如果他们认为你已经知道了不该知道的信息。红灯亮。”
“These three lights are controlled by Sophon. Your meeting will be monitored throughout by the Trisolarans. As long as they believe the contents of your conversation are acceptable, the green light will stay on. If they wish to warn you about topics verging on the unacceptable, the yellow light will be lit.”
“这是三盏灯。由智子控制。会面通信过程自始至终都被监听和监视如果他们认为谈话内容正常，绿灯亮；如果想对不适宜的内容发出警告，黄灯亮。”
Modern spacecraft no longer had physical controls — the controls were holographic projections — thus, the interior of the hull was completely empty. If a Common Era person came here for the first time, he or she would think this was an empty shell with nothing inside. But Cheng Xin immediately noticed three unusual objects, clearly new additions. These were three circles attached to the hull above the transparent part, colored green, yellow, and red, reminding her of traffic lights from the past. The fleet chief explained:
现代的太空飞行器内部已经没有直接手动的操纵物，操纵显示屏是在空中投影，所以舱内空荡荡的。如果一个公元人第一次进人这里，可能会以为这是一个没有任何设备的空壳。但程心立刻看到了三个不寻常的东西。显然是后来装上的。那是三个圆片，贴在前面半球形的舷窗上方分别是绿、黄、红三种颜色，让人想起过去的交通信号。参谋长向程释它们的用途：
“Just our side of the meeting. You don’t need to worry about Tianming’s safety. Sophon has made it clear that even if the red light is lit, only this dinghy will explode; Tianming will not be harmed in any way.
“只是地球这一方。不用为云天明的安全担心，智子已经明确告诉地球方面，即使红灯亮起，被毁灭的只是太空艇，云天明不会受到任何伤害。
“The red light may be lit during your conversation. However, even if the meeting completes successfully, the Trisolarans may decide, upon review of the conversation record, to turn on the red light. I’m going to tell you the most important part now –” The fleet chief paused again.
“红灯可能在谈话过程中亮起。如果整个会面过程正常完成，但他们在重新审查所监听的谈话内容时发现有不适宜内容，那时红灯也可能亮。下面，我要告诉你最重要的一点……”参谋长又沉默了。
He turned around and pointed to the nontransparent part of the hull. Cheng Xin saw a small metallic attachment resembling a weight used on an ancient balance.
他转过身，指了指他们背后不透明的那部分舱壁，程心看到那里贴着一个不引人注意的小金属体，像是一个古代天平用的硅码。
“What will be destroyed?” Cheng Xin asked. She wasn’t thinking of herself.
“哪一方的一切？”程心问。她首先想到的不是自己。
“You must remember that the lights will not be used as a traffic light. They may not warn you before deciding that you’ve stepped over the line. The green light may change to a red light immediately, without going through the yellow light.”
“千万注意，绿、黄、红三灯不是顺序亮起，红灯亮之前不一定有警告，可能由绿灯直接跳到红灯。”
“This bomb is controlled by Sophon. It will detonate three seconds after the red light turns on.”
“这是一个爆炸物，也由智子控制，红灯亮后三秒钟引爆，摧毁一切。”
Cheng Xin’s gaze remained placid. She nodded at him, encouraging him to continue.
程心的目光平静如水，对他微微点头，鼓励他继续。
“All right. I understand.” Cheng Xin’s voice was soft, like a passing breeze.
“好的，我知道了。”程心说，她的声音很轻，如一阵微风吹过。
“If I don’t return, then you get nothing.”
“如果我回不来，你们就什么也得不到了。”
“Other than the contents of the conversation, Sophon may also light the red light if she discovers recording equipment on the dinghy or some means of transmitting your conversation outside the dinghy. You may rest easy on this point. We’ve examined this dinghy repeatedly for recording devices, and we’ve eliminated all communications equipment. The navigation system isn’t even capable of keeping a log. Your entire journey will be directed by the shipboard AI system, which will not communicate with the outside world prior to your return. Dr. Cheng, please think through what I’ve said to be sure you understand the implications.”
“除了谈话内容。还有一种因素可能亮红灯：智子发现太空艇中有记记录设备，或者有信息转发设备。但这个请你放心，绝对不会发生，太空艇是反复检查过的，没有旧可记录设备，通信设备也全部拆除，连航行的日志功能都消除了，全部航行都是有艇内的A.I。自主进行，再返回前不会与外界进行任何形式的通信。程博士，你明白这意味着什么吗？”
“I’m glad you see. This is what we want to emphasize. Do as they say, and only talk about private matters between the two of you. Do not mention other topics, not even through hints or metaphors. At all times, remember that if you don’t return, Earth gets absolutely nothing.”
“你能明白这点我很高兴，这正是我们要向你强调的。照他们说的去做。只谈你们之间的事，不要涉及其他，连隐喻和暗示都不要。时刻牢记一点：如果你回不来，地球什么都得不到。”
Cheng Xin smiled at the fleet chief. “Thank you. I understand.”
程心又对参谋长恬淡地微笑了一下，“谢谢，我知道了。”
“But if I do as you say and return, Earth will still get nothing. That is not what I want.”
“哪样的话，如果我回来了，地球还是什么也得不到。将军，我不想让这事发生。”
Five hours later, the dinghy began its journey. The hypergravity of 3G pressed Cheng Xin against the seat — this was the limit on the acceleration an individual without special training could bear. In a window that showed what was behind her, she saw the immense hull of the terminal station reflecting the fire from her dinghy’s drive. The tiny dinghy appeared as a spark flying out of a furnace, but the terminal station rapidly shrank, and soon turned into a tiny dot. Only the Earth itself, still imposing, took up half the sky.
五个小时后，程心乘坐的太空艇从港口起航了，3G的过载把程心紧紧压在椅背上，这是普通人能够舒适承受的超重的上限。从一个后视窗口中，她看到终端站巨大的外壳上反射着太空艇发动机的光亮，小艇像是从一只巨炉中飘出的一颗小火星。不过终端站本身也在迅速缩小，这个刚才程心还置身其中的巨大构造很快也变成一粒小点，但地球仍宏大地占据着半个太空。
The fleet chief looked at Cheng Xin, but not directly, only at her reflection on the transparent hull. Her image was superimposed against the universe, and her lovely eyes serenely reflected the stars. He seemed to see her as the center of the universe, the stars revolving around her. Once again, he forced himself to not dissuade her from taking a risk. Instead, he pointed behind him. “This is a miniature hydrogen bomb. Under the old measurement system you’re familiar with, its yield is about five kilotons. If… it really has to happen, everything will end in a flash. You will not feel it.”
总参谋长想看看程心，但没有直视她，只看着她在前面透明罩上的投影。她的影像叠印在星海上，那双美丽的双眸平静地映着星光，他突然感觉群星都在围着她旋转，她成了宇宙的中心。他再次强迫自己，没有进一步劝她不要冒险，而是说出了下面的话：“这个，”参谋长指指后面，“是一枚微型氢弹，按你们那时的TNT当量计算，五千吨级，可以炸毁一座小城市。如果真发生了，一切都在一瞬间，没有任何痛苦。”
Ten minutes later, Cheng Xin got to see a sunrise in space. The Sun slowly rose over the curved edge of the Earth. From such distance, the waves over the Pacific were invisible, and the ocean was like a mirror reflecting sunlight. The clouds appeared as soapy foam over the mirror. From this vantage point, the Sun appeared much smaller than the Earth, like a shining golden egg being birthed by this dark blue world. By the time the Sun had completely emerged from the curved horizon, the side of the Earth facing the Sun turned into a giant crescent. The crescent was so bright that the rest of the Earth merged into dark shadow, and the Sun and the crescent seemed to form a giant symbol hovering in space. Cheng Xin thought of the mark as symbolizing rebirth.
十多分钟后，程心目睹了一次太空中的日出。太阳从地球的弧形万缘上缓缓开起。太平洋的波涛己被距离抹去，像镜面一般光洁地反射着阳光，大片的云层像贴在镜面上的雪白肥皂沫。从这个位置上看。太阳比地球小许多，像是这个暗蓝色的世界孕育出的一枚光芒四射的金蛋。当太阳完全升出弧形地平线时，地球向阳的一侧被照亮成一个巨大的下弦月形状。这个大月牙是如此明亮，以至于地球的其余部分都隐没于阴影中，太阳与下面的弯月似乎构成了一个宇宙中的巨型符号。程心觉得它象征粉新生。
The special team had told Cheng Xin again and again that the flight itself would be routine, no more special than the airplane rides she used to take. The distance between the terminal station and the Lagrangian point was about 1.5 million kilometers, or one hundredth of an astronomical unit. This was considered an extremely short spaceflight, and the craft she rode in was well suited for such brief trips. Cheng Xin recalled that three centuries ago, one of the things that had lured her into aerospace engineering was a great accomplishment by humankind during the twentieth century: fifteen men had managed to step onto the moon. Their voyage had only been a fifth as long as the journey she was about to undertake.
特别小组的人反复向程心强调，这次飞行本身而言是再普通不过了，不会比她以前乘坐一次民航飞机更特别。从终端站前往地日间的拉格朗日点将飞行约一百五十万千米，也就是百分之一个天文单位，是一次短程太空飞行。她乘坐的这艘球形艇也是一架短程太空飞行器。但程心记得，三个世纪前使她选择航天专业的一个重要诱因，是公元世纪中叶的一项伟大壮举，在那项壮举中，先后有十五个男人登上了月球，但他们的航程只是这段距离的五分之一。
As the dinghy progressed, the lit portion of the Earth expanded. Cheng Xin saw the outlines of the continents, and easily picked out Australia. It resembled a dry leaf floating in the Pacific. The continent was emerging from the shadow, and the terminator was right in the middle of the continent. It was morning in Warburton, and she thought of the desert sunrise seen by Fraisse from the edge of the wood.
随着太空艇的行进，地球被照亮的一面在视野中渐渐扩大。程心看着大陆的轮肺，很轻易地认出了澳大利亚，它像漂在太平洋中部的一大片枯叶。那块大陆正在从阴形中移出，明暗交界线位于大陆中部，表明沃伯顿刚好是早展，她想象着弗雷斯在树林边看到的沙漠日出的景象。
She knew that this could very well be her last sunrise. In the upcoming meeting, even if she and Tianming faithfully followed the rules around their conversation, there was a possibility that the distant Trisolarans would not permit her to live, and she wasn’t interested in following the rules at all. But she thought everything was perfect; she had no regrets.
程心知道，这很可能是她见到的最后一次日出了。在即将到来的会面中。即使双方都忠实地遵守谈话的规则，那个遥远的世界可能也不会让她活着返回，而她不打算遵守规则。但她感觉一切都很完美，没有什么遗憾了。
Her dinghy swept over the Earth. By the time the curved horizon had finally disappeared over the edge of the viewport, acceleration stopped. As the hypergravity disappeared, Cheng Xin felt as though a pair of arms hugging her tightly had relaxed. The dinghy coasted toward the Sun, and the light from the Sun overwhelmed all the stars. The transparent hull adjusted and dimmed until the Sun was a disc whose brightness was no longer blinding. Cheng Xin reached out to adjust it even more, until the Sun resembled the full moon. She still had six more hours to travel. She drifted in weightlessness, drifted in the moonlight-like sun.
太空艇越过地球，当弧形的地平线最后移出舷窗的视野时，加速停止了。随着过救的消失，程心感觉像拥抱着自己的一双手臂突然松开了一样。太空艇朝着太阳方向无动力滑行，恒星的光芒淹没了一切星星。透明罩调暗了，太阳成为一只不刺眼的圆盘，程心手动再调暗些，是太阳变得像一轮满月。还有六个小时的旅程，程心漂浮在失重中，漂浮在月光般的阳光里。
With the engine turned on, gravity returned to embrace Cheng Xin. The deceleration lasted about half an hour before the drive started to pulse for precision position maneuvers. Finally, gravity disappeared again, and everything became quiet.
发动机启动后，程心又被重力拥抱起来。减速持续了约半个小时，然后发动机断续运行，进行最后的姿态调整。最后，重力再次消失，一切都寂朴下来。
Cheng Xin glanced at her watch. The voyage had been planned very well. She still had ten minutes before the meeting. The space around her was empty, and she struggled to empty her mind as well. She was preparing herself for the task of memorization: The only thing that could retain anything from the meeting was her brain. She had to turn herself into an emotionless audio and video recorder so that during the next two hours she could remember as much as possible of what she saw and heard.
程心看了一下表，航行时间卡得很准，现在离会面还有十分钟。周围的太空仍一片空旷，她努力使自己的意识也空旷起来。她要为大最的记忆做准备，能够记录会面信息的只有她的大脑，她要使自己变成一架没有感情的录音机和摄像机，在以后的两个小时中尽可能多地记下听到和看到的一切。
Five hours later, the dinghy turned 180 degrees and the engine came to life for deceleration. As the dinghy turned, Cheng Xin saw the Sun gradually move away, and then the stars and the Milky Way swept past her vision like a long scroll. By the time the dinghy stopped, the Earth was once again at the center of her view. It now looked about as big as the moon from the surface of the Earth, and the immensity it had displayed a few hours ago was gone. Now it looked fragile, like a fetus floating in blue amniotic fluid about to emerge from the warm womb and be exposed to the frigidity and darkness of space.
五个小时后。太空艇旋转一百八十度，发动机对准前进方向开始减速，太空艇转向时，程心看到太阳缓缓移走，然后，群星和银河像一轴展开的长卷般从视野中流过。最后当太空艇再次稳定下来时，地球又出现在视野正中，这是它看上去只有地面上看到的月球大小。几个小时前它在程心眼前展示的宏大已经小时的无影无踪，只剩下脆弱，像一个充满蔚蓝色羊水的胚胎，被从温暖的母腹中拿出，暴露在太空中和黑暗中。
This was the Lagrangian point. Here, the dinghy was a satellite of the Sun, orbiting in synch with the Earth.
这里就是地日间的拉格朗日点，这时。太空艇已成为一颗太阳的卫星，与地球同步运行。
She imagined the corner of space she happened to be in. Here, the Sun’s gravity overcame the Earth’s, reaching balance, so this place held an extra measure of emptiness compared to other spots in space. She was in this emptiness of zero, a lonely, independent presence that had no connections to any other part of the cosmos… In this way, she managed to drive her complicated emotions out of her consciousness, until she achieved the blank, transcendent state she wanted.
做到这点不容易，程心想象着她身处的这片空间，这里太阳和地球的引力相互抵消为零，这里比别处的太空又多了一分空旷。她置身于这片零的空旷中，是一个孤立的存在，与宇宙的任何部位都没有关系……她用这种想象一点一点地把纷繁的感情赶出意识，渐渐达到了她想要的空白的超然状态。
Not too far ahead of the dinghy, a sophon began to unfold into lower-dimensional space. Cheng Xin saw a sphere about three or four meters in diameter appear a few meters in front of the dinghy. The sphere blocked the Earth and took up most of her view. The surface of the sphere was perfectly reflective, and Cheng Xin could clearly see the reflection of her dinghy and herself. She wasn’t sure if the sophon had been lurking inside the dinghy or if it had just arrived.
在不远处的太空中，一个智子低维展开，程心看到前方突然出现了一个球体，直径有三四米，距太空艇只有几米远，挡住了地球，占据了大部分视野。球体的表面是全反射镜面，程心清晰地看到太空艇和艇中的自己在球面上的映像。她不知道这个智子是一直潜伏在太空艇中，还是独自来到这里。
The reflection on the surface of the sphere disappeared as the sphere turned translucent, like a ball of ice. At times, Cheng Xin thought it resembled a hole dug in space. Next, countless snowflake-like bright spots floated up from deep within the sphere, forming a flickering pattern on the surface. Cheng Xin recognized that this was just white noise, like the random snow seen on a television screen when there was no reception.
球面上的映像很快消失了，球体渐渐变成半透明状，像一个大冰球般深不可侧。有一刻，程心感觉它像是太空中挖出的一个洞。接着，有无数雪花状的亮点从球体内部浮上来，在球面上形成一片闪动的光斑。程心看出这是白噪声图像，就像收不到信号的电视屏幕上的一片雪花。
Cheng Xin had entertained countless guesses as to what she would see. Maybe she would only have voice and text; maybe she would see a brain floating in nutrient fluid; maybe she would see Yun Tianming whole. Though she believed that this last possibility was practically impossible, she tried to imagine the environment Tianming would be living in. She thought of innumerable scenarios, but none was like what she actually saw.
程心曾无数次猜测自己将看到什么，也许只有声音或文字，也许会看到一个培养液中的大脑。也许会看到云天明完整的本人……虽然她认为最后的那个可能性很小，但还是设想了那种情况下云天明可能身处的环境。也想出了无数种，然而，现在见到的绝对超出了她的想象。
The white noise lasted about three minutes, and then a scene from several light-years away took its place. It was crystal clear, with no signs of distortion or interference.
白噪声持续了三分钟左右，几光年外传来的图像在球体中出现了，很清晰，没有丝毫干扰和变形。
A golden field of wheat bathed in sunlight.
一片阳光下的金色麦山。
The field was about a tenth of an acre. The crop looked to be doing well, and it was time for the harvest. The soil appeared a bit eerie: pure black, and the particles sparkled in the sunlight like innumerable stars. A common shovel was stuck into the black soil next to the field of wheat. It looked perfectly ordinary, and even the handle appeared to be made of wood. A straw hat woven from wheat stalks hung from the top of the shovel — it looked old and well used, and loose stalks stuck out of the worn rim. Behind the wheat field was another field planted with something green, probably vegetables. A breeze passed through, and the wheat rippled.
麦田大约有半亩的样子，长势很好，该收割了。田地的土坡有些诡异，是纯黑色的，颗粒的晶面反射着阳光，在土地上形成无数闪烁的星星。在麦田旁的黑土中，插普一把铁锹，式样很普通，甚至它的锹把看上去都像是木头的。铁锹上挂着一顶草帽，显然是用麦桔秆编成的，有些旧了。磨破的边缘上枯秆都伸了出来。在麦田的后面还有一片地，种着绿色的作物，好像是蔬菜。一阵微风吹过，麦田里泛起道道麦浪。
Above this dark-soiled scene was an alien sky — a dome, to be exact, formed of a knotty mess of intertwined pipes, some thick, some thin, all of which were leaden gray in color. Among the thousands of pipes, two or three glowed red. The light from them was very bright, making them appear as incandescent filaments. The exposed portions of these pipes illuminated the fields and apparently provided the source of energy for the crops. Each illuminated pipe only shone briefly before dimming, to be replaced by another pipe that lit up elsewhere. At each moment, two or three pipes were on. The shifting lights caused the shadows in the field to shift constantly as well, as though the sun were weaving in and out of clouds.
在这黑土田园之上，程心看到了一个异世界的天空。或者穹顶。那是由一大团纷乱的管道构成的，管道有粗有细，都呈暗灰色，像一团乱麻般缠绕纠结。在这缠盘成一堆的上千根管道中，有两三根在发光，光度很强，像几根蜿挺曲折的灯丝。发光的管道露在外面的部分把光芒洒向麦田。成为供作物生长的阳光，同时也用光亮标示出它在那团管道乱麻中的走向，每根发光的管道只亮很短的时间就暗下去了，同时另一根管道又亮起来，每时每刻都保持有两至三根管道发光，这种转换使得麦山上的光形也在不断变幻中。像是太阳在云层中出没一样。
Cheng Xin was taken aback by the chaotic arrangement of the pipes. It wasn’t the result of carelessness; on the contrary, to create this kind of utter chaos required great effort and design. The arrangement seemed to find even the hint of a pattern to be taboo. This suggested an aesthetic utterly at odds with human values: Patterns were ugly, but the lack of order was beautiful. Those glowing pipes gave the entire knotty mess a kind of liveliness, like sunlight glanced through clouds. Cheng Xin even wondered whether the arrangement was meant to be an artistic representation of the sun and clouds. But the next moment, she felt the arrangement evoking a giant model of the human brain, and the flickering, glowing pipes represented the formation of each neural feedback loop…
令程心感到震撼的是这团管道的混乱程度。这绝不是疏于整理造成的，相反。，形成这种混乱是要费很大力气的，这是一种达到极致的混乱，好像其中出现任何一点点的秩序都是丑的。那些发光的管道使这团乱麻有了奇特的生气，有种阳光透过云层的感觉，程心一时不禁想到，这是不是对云和太阳的一种极度变形的艺术表现，旋即，她又感觉整团管道乱麻像一个巨大的大脑模型，那交替亮起的管子想着这一条条神经回路的建立……
A man walked toward her from deep within the wheat field. Tianming.
有一个人从麦田深处走来，程心远远就认出了他是云天明。
Rationally, she had to reject these fantasies. A far more likely explanation was that the entire system was nothing more than a heat dissipation device, and the farm fields below only took advantage of the lights as a side effect. Going by appearance alone, and without understanding its operation, Cheng Xin intuited that the system showed a kind of engineering ideal that could not be understood by humanity. She felt mystified, but also mesmerized.
但理智使他否定了这些奇想，比较合理的推测：这可能是一个散热系统或类似的装置，并非为下面的农田而建，后者只是利用它发出的光照而已。仅从外形上看，这个系统所表现出来的工程理念是人类完全无法理解的，程心既感到疑惑，又被它迷住了。
He wore a silver jacket, made out of some kind of reflective film. It looked as old as his straw hat, but was otherwise unremarkable. Cheng Xin couldn’t see his pants due to all the wheat, but they were likely made of the same material. As he came closer, Cheng Xin got a better look at his face. He looked young, about the same age as when they had parted three centuries ago. But his physique looked more fit, and his face was tanned. He wasn’t gazing in Cheng Xin’s direction; instead, he pulled off an ear of wheat, rubbed it in his fingers, blew away the husk, and then tossed the grains into his mouth. He emerged from the field still chewing. Just when Cheng Xin wondered whether Tianming knew she was there, he looked up, smiled, and waved at her.
云天明穿着一身银色的夹克，是用一种类似于反射膜的布料做成的，像那顶草帽一样旧，看上去很普通。他的裤子在麦丛中看不到，可能也是同样的面料做成的。他在麦田中慢慢走近，程心看清了他的脸，他看上去很年轻，就是三个世纪前与她分别时的岁数，但比那时健康许多，脸晒得有些黑。他没有向程心这边看，而是拔下一穗麦子，在手里搓了儿下，然后吹去麦壳，边走边把麦粒扔到嘴里吃，就这样走出了麦田。当程心感到云天明可能不知道自己的存在时，他却抬起头来，微笑着冲程心挥挥手。
“Hello!” Cheng Xin said. A wave of emotion that had traversed three centuries surged deep within her consciousness, like a volcano preparing to erupt. But she decisively blocked off all emotional outlets, and silently repeated to herself: Memorize, just memorize, memorize everything. “Can you see me?”
“你好！”程心说，跨越三个世纪的情感在她的意识深处涌动，像郁积的火山。但她果断地封死了情感的一切出口，只是对自己默念：记，只是记，记住一切。“你能看到我吗？”
“Hello, Cheng Xin!” he said. In his eyes was pure joy, a very natural kind of joy, like a farm boy working in the fields greeting a girl from the same village who had come back from the city. The three centuries that had passed did not seem to matter, and neither did the several light-years separating them. They had always been together. Cheng Xin had never imagined this. Tianming’s gaze caressed her like a gentle pair of hands, and her high-strung nerves relaxed slightly.
“程心，你好！”云天明说。他看她的目光中充满喜悦，但那是一种很自然的喜悦，就像田间干活的小伙子看到同村的姑娘从城里回来时一样，仿佛三个世纪的岁月不存在，几光年的距离也不存在，他们一直在一起。这是程心完全没有想到的，云天明的目光像一双宽厚的手抚摸着她，让她极度紧张的精神放松了一些。
The green light above the viewport came on.
这时，贴在舷窗上的三盏灯中的绿灯亮了。
“Yes.” Tianming smiled and nodded, and tossed another grain of wheat into his mouth.
“能看到。”云天明微笑着点点头，又向嘴里扔了一粒麦子。
Tianming seemed taken aback by the question. He waved at the field. “Farming.”
对这个问题，云天明似乎感到有些不可思议，他向麦田挥挥手，“种地呀！”
“What are you doing?”
“你在做什么？”
“For yourself?”
“是在为自已种吗？”
Tianming was a victor in life.
云天明是生活的胜利者。
“Thank you for the seeds you sent,” Tianming said. His tone was sincere. “I planted them all. Generation after generation, they’ve done well. I couldn’t get the cucumbers to grow though — they’re tough.”
“谢谢你送的种子。”云天明说，语气很真诚，“我把它们都种上了，一代又一代，都长得很好，只有黄瓜没种成，黄瓜不好种。”
The Tianming in Cheng Xin’s memory looked different. During the Staircase Project, he was a haggard, weak, terminal patient; before then, he was a solitary, alienated college student. But though the Tianming of the past had sealed his heart to the outside world, he had also exposed his state in life — it was possible to tell, at a glance, what his basic story was. The Tianming of the present revealed only maturity. One couldn’t read his story at all, though he certainly had stories, stories that probably offered more twists, strange events, and spectacular sights than ten Odysseys. Three centuries of drifting alone in the depths of space, an unimaginable life among aliens, the countless tribulations and trials endured in body and spirit — none of these had left any mark on his body. All that was left was maturity, a sunlit maturity, like the swaying stalks of golden wheat behind him.
云天明在程心的记忆中是另一个样子。在阶梯计划的那段时间，一个憔悴虚弱的绝症病人；再早些时候，一个孤僻离群的大学生。那时的云天明虽然对世界封闭着自己的内心，却反而把自己的人生状态露在外面，一看就能大概知道他的故事。但现在的云天明，所显露出来的只有成熟，从他身上看不到故事，虽然故事肯定存在，而且一定比十部奥德赛史诗更曲折、诡异和壮丽，但看不到。三个世纪在太空深处孤独的漂流，在异界那难以想象的人生旅程，身体和灵魂注定要经历的无数磨难和考验，在他的身上都没有丝毫痕迹，只留下成熟，充满阳光的成熟，像他身后金黄的麦子。
“Of course. How else would I get to eat?”
“当然，要不我吃什么？”
Cheng Xin chewed over Tianming’s words. How does he know that I sent him the seeds? Did they tell him? Or…
程心暗暗咀嚼着这话的含义：他怎么知道种子是我送的（尽管最后换上了更优良的）？是他们告诉他的，还是……
“I thought you would have to grow them using aeroculture and aquaculture. I never thought there would be soil on a spaceship.”
程心说：“我以为这里只能无土栽培的，没想到飞船上还有土地。”
The green light went off and the yellow light went on.
绿灯熄灭，黄灯亮起。
Tianming bent down and picked up a handful of black soil, letting the particles seep out from between his fingers. The soil sparkled as it fell. “This is made from meteoroids. Soil like this –“
云天明弯腰抓起一把黑土，让土从指缝慢慢流出，下落的黑土闪动着点点晶光，“这是陨石做成的，这样的土……”
Apparently, Tianming could see the warning as well. He stopped, smiled, and raised a hand. The expression and gesture were clearly intended for those listening in. The yellow light went off and the green light went on again.
云天明显然也能看到警告。他打住话头，举起一只手笑了笑。这动作和表情显然是做给监听者的。黄灯熄灭，绿灯再次亮起。
“How long has it been?” Cheng Xin asked. She deliberately asked an ambiguous question that could be interpreted many ways: how long he’d been planting; or how long his brain had been implanted in a cloned body; or how long ago the Staircase probe had been captured; or something else. She wanted to leave him plenty of room to pass on information.
“多长时间了？”程心问。她故意问出这样一个含糊的问题，有许可能的解读。可以指他种了多长时间的地，或他的大脑被移植到克隆的体中有多长时间，或阶梯飞行器被截获有多长时间，或任何别的含义，想留给他足够的空间传递信息。
Tianming’s answer was even more ambiguous. He looked as calm as before, but the yellow light must have terrified him. He didn’t want Cheng Xin to be hurt.
云天明给出了一个更含糊的回答。他看上去平静依旧，但刚才的黄灯肯定使他害怕，他怕程心受到伤害。云天明接着说：
“A long time.”
“很长时间了。”
“At first I knew nothing about farming,” said Tianming. “I wanted to learn by watching others. But, as you know, there are no real farmers anymore, so I had to figure it out myself. I learned slowly, so it’s a good thing that I don’t eat much.”
“开始我不会种地，想看看别人怎么种，但你知道，己经没有真正的农民了，我只能自己学着种。慢馒学会了，好在我需要的也不多。”
“The wheat looks really good. Is it time for the harvest?”
“麦子长得真好，该收割了吧？”
Cheng Xin’s earlier guess had been confirmed. What Tianming was really saying was very clear: If the Earth still had real farmers, he would have been able to observe them. In other words, he could see the information gathered by the sophons on Earth! This at least showed that Tianming had a close relationship with Trisolaran society.
程心刚才的猜测被正实了，云天明话中的含义很明确：如果地球上有真正的农民，他就能看到他们种地，就是说，他能看到智子从地球传回的信息！这至少说明，云天明与三体世界的关系已经相当密切了。
“Yes. This has been a good year.”
“是，今年年景好。”
“A good year?”
“年景？”
The yellow light came on.
黄灯亮。
Another guess had been confirmed. The mess of pipes in the ceiling really was some kind of cooling system for the engines. Their light came from the antimatter propulsion system on the ship.
又一个猜测被证实了：空中那一团乱麻的管道确实是一种类似于散热系统的东西，它们发光的能量来自飞船的反物质发动机。
“Oh, if the engines are operating at high power, then I have a good year, otherwise –“
“哦，发动机运行功率高，年景就好，否则……”
“I know everything. I’ve always been with you.”
“我都知道，我一直和你在一起。”
Yes, he had always been with her, observing her life through the sophons. He must have seen how she had become the Swordholder, how she had thrown away that red switch in the last moments of the Deterrence Era, how she had endured in Australia, how she had lost her sight from extreme pain, until, finally, how she had picked up that tiny capsule… He had gone through all these trials with her. It was easy to imagine that when he had seen her struggle through her hell from several light-years away, he must have suffered even more pain. If she had known earlier that this man who loved her had crossed the light-years to keep watch over her, she would have been comforted. But Cheng Xin had thought Tianming lost forever in the vastness of space, and most of the time, she had never believed that he still existed.
是的，他一直和她在一起，通过智子实时地看着她的生活，他一定看到了她是怎样成为执剑人，看到她在威慑纪元的最后时刻扔掉了那个红色开关，看着她在澳大利亚经历的苦难，看着她在极度的痛苦中失明，再到后来，还看着她把那粒胶囊拿在手中……他与她一起经历了所有的苦难，可以想象，当他看着几光年远方的她在炼狱中挣扎时，一定比她还痛苦。如果她能早些知道，这个深爱她的男人一直跨越光年的距离守候在自己的（病）身边，那该是怎样的安慰。但那时对于程心而言，云天明已经迷失在广漠的太空深处，在大部分时间中，她以为他早就不存在了。
Tianming’s tone was steady and calm, but Cheng Xin’s heart quaked.
云天明说出这句话时仍那么平静和沉稳，却使程心的心震颤了一下。
“All right, let’s talk about something else.” Cheng Xin smiled. “You want to know what I’ve been up to? After you left –“
“好了，我们不谈这个。”程心微笑着说，“想知道我的事吗？你走以后白的……”
“We can’t talk like this,” said Tianming, and sighed. Then, with his eyes, he said more: for your sake.
“我们不能这样说话了。”云天明轻轻叹息着，并用眼睛说出了后面的话：为了你。
“If I had known…” Cheng Xin muttered, as if to herself.
“我那时要知道有多好……”程心喃喃地说，像是自语。
“You couldn’t have.” Tianming shook his head.
“怎么可能……”云天明轻轻摇摇头。
Yes, it was too dangerous. The yellow light had gone on three times already.
是的，太危险了，黄灯已经亮起三次。
The yellow light came up. Tianming hadn’t even said anything. This was a serious warning.
黄灯亮，这次是在云天明还没有说出任何实质内容前就亮起，是严重的警告。
“Hmmm, let me think…” Tianming pondered.
“嗯……我想想……”云天明沉吟着。
“Then… what about your experience? Can you tell me anything?” Cheng Xin asked. This was a naked attempt at gathering intelligence. But she had to take a step.
“那，你的经历呢？有什么能告诉我的吗？”程心问，这是赤裸裸的冒险，但她必须跨出这一步。
Tianming shook his head resolutely. “I can’t tell you anything. Absolutely nothing.”
云天明果断地摇摇头，“没有，没有能告诉你的，真的没有。”
Cheng Xin said nothing. She knew that as far as her mission was concerned, she had done all she could. All she could do now was to wait and see what Tianming wanted to do.
程心没有再说话，她知道。对于这次使命。自己能做的已经做完了，至于云天明要做什么，她只有等待。
The emotions Cheng Xin had pushed deep down surged again. She forced herself to not cry.
被压抑在深处的情感再次涌动起来，程心极力克制着自己，不让眼泪流出。
Cheng Xin sighed in her heart. Tianming had given up. Her mission would be unfulfilled. But there was no other choice. She understood.
程心也在心里叹息了一声。云天明放弃了，她的使命无法完成，但也只能这样，她理解他。
Cheng Xin shook her head. The question was unexpected and incomprehensible. When we were little? But she successfully hid her surprise.
程心轻轻摇头，这个问题猝不及防。也不可理解，小时候？！“但她成功地掩盖了自己的惊奇。
“So many nights, we’d call each other and chat before going to bed. We made up stories and told them to each other. You always made up better stories. How many stories did we tell each other? At least a hundred?”
“那无数个晚上，我们常常在睡前打电话聊天。我们编故事，讲故事，你总是编的比我好。我们变了多少故事，有上百个了吧？”
Once they had set aside the mission, this space that contained them, a few light-years across, became their secret world. Indeed, between the two of them, they needed no language; their eyes were able to say everything they needed. Now that she was no longer so focused on the mission, Cheng Xin could feel even more meaning in Tianming’s gaze. She was brought back to her college days, when Tianming had looked at her often in this way. He had been discreet, but her girlish instincts had felt him. Now, his gaze was infused with his maturity, and the sunlight crossed light-years to submerge her in warmth and happiness.
一旦放弃了使命，这片容纳他们的几光年直径的太空就成了他们的私密世界。其实，如果仅限于她和他之间，根本不需要语言，他们用目光就能倾诉一切。现在，当注意力从使命稍稍移开。程心从云天明的目光中感受到了更多的东西，一下把她带回到大学时代。那时云天明就常常向她投来这样的目光，他做得很隐蔽，但女孩子的直觉能感受到。现在，这目光与他的成熟合在一起，像穿过光年距离的阳光，让她沉浸在温暖的幸福中。
Cheng Xin wanted this silence to last forever, but Tianming spoke again. “Cheng Xin, do you remember how we used to spend our time when we were little?”
但这种程心愿意永远持续下去的沉默井没有持续多久，云天话了。“程心，你还记得咱们俩小时候是怎么在一起消磨时光的吗？”
Based on the still very limited knowledge humans had of the Trisolarans, sex among them involved the two partners melding their bodies into one. Thereafter, the combined body would split into three to five new lives. These were their descendants, and the “children” referred to by Tianming. But these individuals inherited part of their parents’ memories, and were relatively mature at birth, which differentiated them from human children. Trisolarans really didn’t have childhood. Both Trisolaran and human scholars believed that this biological difference was one of the root causes of the great differences between their cultures and societies.
以迄今为止人类对三体种族极其有限的了解，三体人两性结合的方式是双方的身体融为一体。之后这个触合的躯体将发生分裂。裂解为三至五个新的幼小生命，这就是他们的后代，也是云天明所说的孩子。但这些个体继承父母的部分记忆，出生后思想上已经有一定程度的成熟，所以并不是人类愈义上的真正的孩子，三体世界真的没有童年。三体人和人类学者都认为，这是造成两个世界社会文化巨大差异的根源之一。
“Do you remember any of those stories?”
“你还记得那些故事吗？
“Not many. I’ve moved far away from childhood.”
大部分忘了，童年离我很远了。”
“No, not to myself. I came here, and I felt the need to give this world something. But what? After much thinking, I decided that I could bring childhood to this world, and so I told them our stories. The children here love them. I even put out a collection, Fairy Tales from Earth, which was very popular. This book belongs to both of us — I didn’t plagiarize you; all the stories you told me still have your name in the byline. So you’re a famous author here.”
“不，不是给自己讲。我来到这里。总得给这个世界带来些什么……我有什么能给他们的呢？想来想去，我能给这个世界带来童年，所以我就讲我们编的那些故事，孩子们都很喜欢。我甚至还出过一本选集，叫《地球的童话》，很受欢迎。这是我们俩的书。我没有剽窃你的作品，你编的故事署有你的名，所以，你在这里是着名的文学家。”
“Yes, I think so. A lot.” Cheng Xin used to be unable to lie, but she was surprised to find herself performing well.
“应该有吧，很多的。”程心以前是一个不会撒谎的人，她很惊奇自己现在竟能如此不动声色。
“But it’s not so far away from me. During these years, I’ve told those stories — yours and mine — again and again.”
“但离我并不远，这些年，我把那些故事，我编的和你编的，重新讲了一遍又一遍。”
“To yourself?”
“给自己讲吗？”
“The stories I made up or the ones you made up?”
“讲我编的还是你编的？”
Cheng Xin became anxious again. She knew now that Tianming had not given up, and the key moment was here. She had to do something, but she had to be very, very careful. Smiling, she said, “Although we can’t talk about anything else, surely we can talk about those stories. Those belong only to us.”
程心紧张起来，她现在知道云天明并没有放弃。关健时刻到来了。她必须做些什么。但要万分谨慎！她徽笑着说：“既然咱们不能说别的，那些故事总能讲把？那真的只和我们有关……
“Tell the ones I made up. Bring me back to my childhood.” Cheng Xin did not hesitate at all. Even she was surprised at how quickly she had caught on to Tianming’s plan.
“讲我编的吧，把我的竟年带回来。”程心的回答几乎没有迟疑。连她都惊异自己思维的速度，仅一瞬间，她明白了云天明的用意。
And so, Tianming began to tell the story. His voice was deep and soothing, as though he was chanting an ancient song. Cheng Xin tried hard to memorize, but she was gradually absorbed by the story. Much time passed as Tianming spun his fairy tale. He told three stories, all connected to each other: “The New Royal Painter,” “The Glutton’s Sea,” and “Prince Deep Water.” After he finished the last story, the sophon put up a countdown, indicating that they had only one minute left.
于是，云天明开始讲那个叫《国王的新画师》的童话故事。他的声音低沉舒缓，像在吟诵一首长长的古老歌遥。程心开始是在努力记忆，但渐渐就沉浸在了故事中。时间就在云天明的童话中流逝。他先后讲了内容连续的三个故事：《国王的新画师》、《婆餐海》和《深水王子》。当第三个故事结束时，在智子的显示画面上出现了一个倒计时，显示会面的时间只剩一分钟了。
“All right. Then let’s not talk about anything else. Just the stories. Your stories.” Tianming spread his hands and looked up, clearly addressing those monitoring the conversation. His meaning was clear: You shouldn’t object to this, right? Everything is safe. Then he turned to Cheng Xin. “We have about an hour. Which story? Hmmm… how about ‘The New Royal Painter’?”
“这很好，那我们下面不再说别的了，就讲故事，讲你编的那些故事。”云天明说这话时摊开两手看着上方，显然是说给监听者听的，意思很明白：这样行了吧。肯定部是安全的内容。然后他转向程心，“我们还有一个多小时的时间，讲哪个呢？那我就讲。嗯《……国王的新画师吧。”
“Then let’s pick a spot to meet, somewhere other than the Earth, somewhere in the Milky Way.”
“那我们约定一个相会的地点吧，除了地球，再约另一个地方，银河系中的一个地方。”
The moment of parting was at hand.
分别的时刻即将来临。
Cheng Xin awakened from the dream of the fairy tales. Something struck her heart hard, and it was almost unbearable. She said, “The universe is grand, but life is grander. We’re certain to meet again.” Only when she was done did she realize she had almost repeated Sophon’s farewell.
程心从童话的梦中突然惊醒，什么东西猛烈地撞击着她的心扉，让她难以承受。她说：“宇宙很大，生活更大，我们一定还能相见的。”这话脱口而出，说完她才意识到自己重复了智子的话。
“How about at the star you gave me? Our star.” Cheng Xin didn’t even need to think.
“那就在你送给我的那颗星吧，那是我们的星星。”程心不假思索地说。
“All right. At our star!”
“好，在我们的星星！”
The green light went off. Now none of the lights were on. Cheng Xin understood that she was now on the precipice of death. On a ship in the First Trisolaran Fleet several light-years away, the conversation between her and Tianming was being replayed and examined. The red light of death could go on at any moment, and there would be no warning yellow light.
舱内的绿灯灭了，此时三盏灯都没有亮。程心知道，自己正处在最后的生死线上。在几光年外三体第一舰队的某艘战舰上，她和云天明谈话的内容正被重放接受审核，死亡的红灯随时会亮起，之前不会再有黄灯警告。
As they gazed at each other across the light-years, the countdown reached zero, and the image disappeared, returning to the snow of white noise. Then the unfolded sophon turned purely reflective again.
在他们跨越光年的深情注视中，倒计时归零，画面消失，又变成一片白噪声雪花，然后变回到最初的全反射镜面。
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the sophon disappeared. The red light did not come on. The space outside looked the same as before: The blue Earth appeared again in the distance, and behind it the Sun. They were witness to all.
经过了一段程心很难判断长短的时间，智子消失了，红灯没有亮。外面太空依旧，蓝色的地球在远方重新出现，身后是太阳。它们见证了一切。
Against the unfolded spherical surface of the sophon, Cheng Xin saw the reflection of her own dinghy and herself. The half of her dinghy facing the sophon was completely transparent, like an intricate locket dangling from a necklace, and she herself was a picture placed in the locket. She was dressed in a snow-white lightweight space suit, and she appeared pure, youthful, beautiful. She was surprised by her own eyes: clear, placid, showing nothing of the surging waves inside her. She felt comforted as she imagined this lovely locket hanging on Tianming’s heart.
在智子球体的表面，程心又看到了太空艇的映像，看到了艇中的自己。球形的太空艇对着智子的这一半是全透明的，看上去像一个精致的圆形项链挂件，自己就是绘在这个小圆盘上的肖像。她身着雪自的超轻太空服，看上去纯净、年轻、美丽。最让她惊奇的是自己的目光，清澈宁静，完全没有透出内心的波澜。想到这个美丽的挂钟将挂在云天明的心上，她感到一丝安慰。
She felt hypergravity again. The dinghy’s thruster was accelerating, and she was going home.
超重出现。太空艇的发动机起程加速，返程开始了。
During the few hours of the return voyage, Cheng Xin adjusted the dinghy’s hull so that it was completely solid. She sealed herself in and turned herself into a memorization machine. Again and again, she repeated Tianming’s words and his stories. The acceleration stopped; the dinghy coasted; the thruster turned around; the dinghy decelerated — she didn’t notice any of it. Finally, after a series of tremors, the door opened, and the terminal station port’s light spilled in.
在返航的几个小时，程心把太空艇全部调成不透明，把自己完全封闭起来，重新变成了一部记忆机器，在心里一遍又一遍地复述着云天明说过的话和讲过的故事。加速停止，失重滑行，发动机掉转方向，减速，这些她都没察觉。直到一阵震动后，舱门打开，终端站港口的灯光透了进来。
Two of the officials who had accompanied her to the station met her. Their faces were impassive. After a simple greeting, they brought Cheng Xin across the port to a sealed door.
迎接她的是陪同她前来的四名官员中的两位，他们表情冷漠，只是简单地打了招呼，就带着程心穿过港口，来到一道密封门前。
The room was filled with people: All the members of the special team were here. As soon as the two officials who had received her entered, their expressions changed. They now looked as anxious and concerned as the rest.
房间里挤满了人，特别小组的成员全在这里。那两位迎接的官员一进房间，脸上冷漠的表情立刻消失了，目光变得与其他人一样凝重和关切。
“Dr. Cheng, you need to rest. Don’t dwell on the past. We never held much hope that you’d get anything of use,” the PDC official said. And then he gestured for Cheng Xin to enter the sealed door that had just opened.
“程心博士，你需要休息，不要再多想过去的事了，我们本来也没抱多大希望能得到什么。”那位PDC官员说，然后请程心通过刚打开的密封门。
Cheng Xin had thought this was the exit to the port, but she found herself in an extremely small room. All the walls were made of some dark metal. After the door closed behind her, she couldn’t even see the seams. This was not a place of rest. It was simply furnished, with a small desk and a chair. On top of the desk was a microphone. Microphones were rarely seen in this age, and only used for high-fidelity recording. The air in the room had an acrid smell, almost sulfuric, and her skin felt itchy — the air was clearly heavy with static electricity.
程心原以为这是港口的出口，却发现自己进入了一个狭窄的房间，四壁都是某种晦暗的金属，极为密封，门在她身后关上后看不出一点儿痕迹。这里绝不是休息的地方，陈设相当简单，只有一张小桌子和一把椅子，桌子上放着一个话筒；这个时代话筒基本绝迹，只有进行高保真录音时才使用。房间的空气中有一种刺鼻的味道，像硫磺味，皮肤也感到微微的瘙痒，空气中显然充满静电。
“This is a blind zone for the sophons,” someone said to Cheng Xin. Only then did she realize that humans had finally achieved the technology to shield themselves from the ever-present listeners, though it was only possible within extremely confined spaces like this one.
“这里是智子盲区。”有人对程心说。她这才知道人类已经能够屏蔽智子了，尽管只能在这样窄小的封闭空间中做到。
Then the members of the special team left the room one by one. The last to depart was an engineer who explained to Cheng Xin that the walls of the sophon-free room were all electrified, and she should be careful to not touch them.
然后，特别小组的所有人都悄然退出，最后离开的是一位工程师，她告诫程心屏蔽室的四壁都是带电的，千万不能触碰。
Only Cheng Xin was left. She sat down at the desk and began to record everything she could remember. An hour and ten minutes later, she was done. She drank a bit of water and milk, took a brief break, and began to record a second time, then a third. When she was ready to record for the fourth time, she was asked to recount the events backwards, with the latest events first. The fifth recording was done under the guidance of a team of psychologists. They used some drug to keep her in a semi-hypnotized state, and she didn’t even know what she said. Before she knew it, more than six hours had passed.
房间里只剩下程心一人，她在小桌前坐下来，开始复述她记住的一切。一个小时十分钟后，她完成了。她喝了一点水和牛奶，稍稍休息了一会儿，就开始第二遍复述，然后是第三遍。在第四遍复述时，她被要求从后向前回忆。第五遍是在一个心理学家小组陪同下进行的，他们用某种药物使她处于半催眠状态，她都不知道自己说了些什么。不知不觉间，六个多小时过去了。
The fleet chief said, “Please recite the entirety of your conversation. Don’t omit any details that you can recall. Every word may be important.”
总参谋长说：“现在请复述你们谈话的全部内容，不要漏掉任何能想起来的细节，每个字都很重要。”
After she had finished the last recounting, the special team filled the room again. They embraced Cheng Xin and shook her hand. Hot tears flowed, and they told her she had accomplished a heroic deed. But Cheng Xin remained numb, like a memorization machine.
复述最后完成时，特别小组的人又拥进屏蔽室。这时他们才同程心握手拥抱，在激动中热泪盈眶，说她卓越地完成了一项伟打的工程，但程心仍处于记忆机器的麻木状态中。
Only when she had returned to the comfortable cabin in the space elevator did the memorization machine in her brain shut off. She became a person again. Extreme exhaustion and waves of emotion overwhelmed her, and as she faced the approaching blue sphere of the Earth, she began to cry. Only one voice echoed in her mind: Our star. Our star…
直到程心身处太空电梯舒适的返回舱中，大脑里的记忆机器才关上，她变回到了一个女人。极度的疲惫和情感的浪潮同时淹没了她，面对着下方越来越近的蓝色地球，她哭了起来。这时，她的脑海中只剩下一个声音反复回荡：我们的星星，我们的星星……
People only half-believed Sophon. It was likely that only the robot was gone, but a few sophons remained on the Earth and in the Solar System. But it was also possible that she was telling the truth. Sophons were precious resources. What remained of Trisolaran civilization was in a fleet of spaceships, and they wouldn’t be able to construct any new sophons for a long, long time. Besides, keeping watch over the Solar System and the Earth no longer had much meaning. If the fleet entered a blind region for the sophons, they might lose the sophons in the Solar System forever.
人们对智子的话将信将疑。有可能离开的只是这个机器人而已，还有少量的智子长期驻留在太阳系和地球上。但也可能她说的是实情，智子是宝贵的资源，残存的三体文明处于星舰状态，在相当长的时间内无法制造新的智子，而监视太阳系和地球已没有太大的意义。如果舰队进人智子盲区，就可能丢失处于太阳系中的智子。
At that moment, on the surface more than thirty thousand kilometers below, Sophon’s house went up in flames. The robot that had been Sophon’s avatar was burnt up as well. Before this, she had proclaimed to the world that all the sophons in the Solar System would be withdrawn.
与此同时，在下方三万多千米的地面，智子的别墅在一团火焰中化为灰烬，同时烧毁的还有那个作为智子化身的机器人。在此之前，她向世界宣布，太阳系中的智子将全部撤离。
If the last situation occurred, then the Trisolarans and humanity would lose all contact, and once again become cosmic strangers. A three-century-long history of warfare and resentment would turn into so much ephemera in the universe. Even if they were to meet again because of fate — as Sophon had predicted — it would be in the distant future. But neither world knew if they had a future.
如果是后一种情况，则意味着三体和地球两个世界彻底断绝了联系，再次成为宇宙中的陌路人。长达三个世纪的战争和恩怨都已成为宇宙间的过眼烟云，他们即使真如智子所说的有缘再相遇，也是遥远未来的事了，但两个世界都不知道自己还有没有未来。
0 条评论