To accommodate the numerous observers from Earth, the base spun to generate artificial gravity. Outside the broad windows of the courtroom, blue Earth, bright Sun, and the silvery brilliance of the stars appeared in succession, a cosmic metaphor for the contest of values. The trial lasted a month under these shifting lights and shadows. Excerpts from the trial transcript follow.
为适应来自地面的旁听者，基地旋转产生重力，在法庭宽阔的窗外，蓝色的地球、耀眼的太阳和银河系灿烂的星海交替出现，仿佛是不同价值观的宏大展示，“青铜时化‘号案件就在这变幻的光影中开庭。法庭审理持续了一个月，以下是部分庭审记录。
The Bronze Age case was tried by a Solar System Fleet court-martial. Although Fleet International’s main facilities were located near the orbit of Mars, the asteroid belt, and the orbit of Jupiter, due to the intense interest in the case from Earth International, the trial was held at the fleet base in geosynchronous orbit.
对“青铜时代”号案件的审理由太阳系舰队的军事法庭进行，法庭位于地球同步轨道的舰队基地中。舰队国际的主体位于火星、小行星带和木星轨道上，但由于地球国际对此案极为关注，于是把法庭设在地球附近。
Neil Scott, male, 45, captain, commanding officer of Bronze Age
尼尔·斯科特，男，45岁，上校军衔，时任”青铜时代“号舰长。
JUDGE: You’ve been consistently trying to claim all responsibility. However, this is not, in fact, a wise course of action for either you or those you’re trying to protect.
法官：你一直试图独揽全部责任，这对你，甚至是你试图祖护的对象，都不利。
JUDGE: Let’s return to the events leading up to the decision to attack Quantum.
法官：我们还需要再次回到时”量子“号攻击的决策过程上来。
SCOTT: I repeat: The attack was my decision and I gave the order. I didn’t discuss it ahead of time with any other officer aboard Bronze Age.
斯科特：那我再重复一遍，攻击是由我独立决定并下令进行的，之前我没有同”青铜时代“号的任何一位军官讨论和沟通过。
SCOTT: As I’ve explained, of the one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five crew members, only fifty-nine supported an attack. The vote was not the cause or basis for my decision to attack.
斯科特：对这次的投票我已经做过说明，舰上人员总计1775名。赞同攻击的只有59人，不是攻击的原因和依据。
PROSECUTION: We have already confirmed that a vote by the full crew was taken prior to the attack.
公诉人：已经证明，攻击前有过一次全舰投票。
JUDGE: Can you produce a list of those fifty-nine names?
法官：你能给出这59人的名单吗？
JUDGE: We need you to produce the true record of the vote.
法官：我们现在需要你交出真实的投票结果记录。
JUDGE: Mr. Neil Scott, let me remind you: If you continue to obstruct this tribunal’s investigation, you will harm the innocent members of your crew. Some members did vote against the attack, but without the evidence that only you can provide, we cannot exonerate them, and must declare all officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted men and women of Bronze Age guilty as charged.
法官：尼尔·斯科特。我提醒你，如果你继续对法庭调查采取这种不合作的态度，可能会害了你的许多无辜的部下。也就是那些曾对攻击”量子“号投反对票的人。如果没有你提供的证据，我们只能依据现有罪证对“青铜时代”号所有下级军官、所有士官和士兵统一定罪量刑。
SCOTT: The vote was conducted anonymously over the ship’s internal network. You can examine the cruise and battle logs to confirm this.
斯科特：投票是无记名的，在舰内网络上进行，这些在航行和作战日志上都有记录。
SCOTT: I don’t have what you want. The result I recited is the truth.
斯斯科：我没有，现在那上面显示的结果就是真实的。
PROSECUTION: More lies. We have ample evidence that the vote was not anonymous. Moreover, the result was nothing like your description. You falsified the logs afterwards.
公诉人：你没有说实话。我们有充分证据证明，投票是记名的，更重要的是，结果与你所说的完全不同，你墓改了日志记录。
JUDGE: The presumption of innocence does not apply to crimes against humanity. This is a principle of international law established at the start of the Crisis Era. It’s intended to ensure that traitors against humankind do not escape punishment.
法官：对反人类罪不适用无罪推定原则，这一国际法准则在危机纪元就确立了，以确保人类的叛徒受到法律制裁。
SCOTT: [after a long silence] All right. I will produce the true results. You can recover the vote tally from an encrypted entry in the logs aboard Bronze Age.
斯科特：（长时间沉致）好吧，我交出真实结果，你们可以从“青铜时代”号上日志数据库中的一个加密记录中得到，那里有全部的投票记录。
SCOTT: What are you talking about? Are you a real judge? Is this a real court of law? What about the presumption of innocence?
斯科特：怎么能这么做？！我们面对的是法律吗？你是法官吗？无罪推定原则呢？
PROSECUTION: You are absolutely traitors! While the ETO from two centuries ago only betrayed the interests of humanity, today, you betray our most basic moral principles, a far worse crime.
公诉人：你们是！两个世纪前的地球三体组织背叛人类的利益，今天的你们背叛人类最基本的道德准则。
SCOTT: We’re not traitors against humanity! Where were you when we fought for Earth?
斯科特：我们不是人类的叛徒！我们为地球而战时，你们在哪儿？！
SCOTT: [silence]
斯科特：（沉默）
JUDGE: I want you to understand the consequences of fabricating evidence. At the commencement of this trial, you read a statement on behalf of all the accused expressing your remorse over the deaths of the one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven men and women aboard Quantum. It is now time to show that remorse.
法官：希望你知道伪造证据的后果。另外，在开庭时你曾代表本案所有被告发表过一份声明，对“量子”号1847名死难者和他们亲人表示忏悔，现在是你体现诚意的时候了。
SCOTT: One thousand six hundred and seventy. That’s ninety-four percent of the crew.
斯科特：1670人，占舰上总人数的94%。
JUDGE: Order! Order in the court! I must remind members of the public to maintain silence during the proceedings.
法官：请肃静！法庭秩序！我必须提醒公众在诉讼过程中保持沉默。
PROSECUTION: We will work on recovering those immediately. Can you give me an estimate of how many voted to attack Quantum?
公诉人：在此之前，你能对大体情况做一个说明吗？比如，赞成攻击“量子”号的人有多少？
PROSECUTION: Nice try. But Bronze Age was not like the newer ships at the other end of the Solar System, such as Natural Selection. Your ship’s AI systems were primitive. Without the cooperation of those under your command, you could not have carried out the attack alone.
公诉人：那我提醒你：“青铜时代”号与太阳系另一侧的“自然选择”号等新舰不同，AI智能程度较低，没有部下的配合，你不可能单独发动攻击……
SCOTT: But it wouldn’t have mattered. Even if less than fifty percent had voted yes, I would have attacked anyway. The final decision was mine.
斯科特：但即使结果不是这样，即使赞成率低于50%，我也会发起攻击。
Sebastian Schneider, male, 31, lieutenant commander, in charge of targeting systems and attack patterns aboard Bronze Age
赛巴斯蒂安·史耐德，男，31岁，少校军衔，时任“青铜时代”号武器系统目标甄别和攻击模式控制军官……。
PROSECUTION: Other than the captain, you’re the only officer with the system authorization to prevent or terminate an attack.
公诉人：你是“青铜时代”号上除舰长外唯一拥有阻止或中止攻击的系统权限的军官。
SCHNEIDER: Correct.
史耐德：是的。
JUDGE: And you didn’t.
法官：你没有这么做。
SCHNEIDER: At that moment — not the moment of the attack, but the moment when I realized that Bronze Age would never return home, when the ship would be my entire world — I changed. There was no process; I was simply transformed from head to toe. It was like the legendary mental seal.
史耐德：那一瞬间，哦，不是攻击的那一瞬间，是之前我得知“青铜时代”号再也不可能返回、飞船就是我的全部世界的那一瞬间，我就改变了。没有过程，一下子就变了，变成另外一个人，就好像——那个传说中的什么思想钢印一样。
SCHNEIDER: Of course not. I was talking metaphorically. Space itself is a kind of mental seal… In that moment, I gave up my individual self. My existence would be meaningful only if the collective survived… I can’t explain it better than that. I don’t expect you to understand, Your Honor. Even if you boarded Bronze Age and sailed twenty thousand AU from the Solar System, or even farther, you still wouldn’t understand.
史耐德：当然不可能，我只是比喻，太空本身就是一个思想钢印……总之那一瞬间我就放弃了自我，成了集体的一部分，成了集体的一个细胞、一个零件——只有集体生存下来，自己的存在才有意义……就是这样，我说不清楚，我不指望你们理解。即使您，法官先生，亲自乘上“青铜时代”号，再向太阳系外沿着我们的航线航行几万个天文单位，甚至比那更远，你也不可能理解，
SCHNEIDER: I did not.
史耐德：没有。
JUDGE: Do you really think that’s a possibility? That your ship was equipped with mental seals?
法官：你认为有可能吗？我是说舰上存在思想钢印。
JUDGE: Why?
法官：为什么？
JUDGE: What went through your mind at that time?
法官：你当时的心理状态是什么？
SCHNEIDER: Because you’d know that you could come back! Your soul would have remained on Earth. Only if the space behind the ship turned into a bottomless abyss — only if the Sun, the Earth, and everything else were swallowed by emptiness — would you have a chance of understanding the transformation that I went through.
史耐德：因为你知道你还会回来，你的灵魂一步都没离开，还在地球上——除非飞船的后面突然间一无所有。太阳地球都消失。变成一片虚空。那时你才能理解我的那种变化。
I’m from California. In 1967, under the old calendar, a high school teacher in my hometown, Ron Jones, did something interesting — please don’t interrupt me. Thank you.
我是加利福尼亚人，公元1967年，在我的家乡发生了这样一件事：一个名叫岁恩·琼斯的高中教师（哦，请不要因为暂时跑题打断我，谢谢。
That’s right. Five minutes into the all-hands meeting, the fundamental values of this totalitarian society had received the support of the vast majority of the crew. So, let me tell you, when humans are lost in space, it takes only five minutes to reach totalitarianism.
真的只有五分钟，那个全体会议只开了五分钟，这个极权社会的基本价值观就得到了“青铜时代”号上绝大多数人的认可。所以，当人类真正流落太空时，极权只需五分钟……。
In order to help his students understand Nazism and totalitarianism, he tried to create a simulation of a totalitarian society with his students. It took only five days for him to succeed and his class to become a miniature fascist state. Every student willingly gave up the self and freedom, became one with the supreme collective, and pursued the collective’s goals with religious zeal. In the end, this teaching experiment that began as a harmless game almost spun out of control. The Germans made a film based on Jones’s experiment, and Jones himself wrote a book about it: The Third Wave. When those of us aboard Bronze Age found out that we were doomed to wander space forever, we formed a totalitarian state as well. Do you know how long it took?
为了让他的学生透彻地理解什么是极权、什么是纳粹，就在班上用摸拟的方式建立了一个极权社会。只用了五天时间，琼斯就成功了。他的班级成了一个微型的纳锌德国，在那里，每个学生都自愿放弃了自我和自由。融入至高无上的集体。并对集体的目标充满宗教般的狂热。最后，这场以游戏开始的教学试验几乎失控。后来这件事被德国人拍成了电影，当事人还写过一本书，名叫《极权只需五天）。同样，“青铜时代”号在得知了自己永远流浪太空的命运后，也建立了这样一个集体极权社会，知道我们用了多长时间吗？
Five minutes.
五分钟。
JUDGE: Were there any survivors?
法官：当时里面还有活着的人吗？
ROVINSKI: All of them.
洛文斯基：全部。
JUDGE: You mean, you left the bodies in the monument?
法官：纪念碑中有遗体吗？
Boris Rovinski, male, 36, commander, executive officer of Bronze Age
鲍里斯·洛文斯基，男，36岁，中校军衔，时任“青铜时代”号副舰长……。
ROVINSKI: The individuals aboard died from the infrasonic waves generated by Quantum’s hull as it was struck by the electromagnetic pulses of the H-bomb detonation. The bodies were well preserved, showing no external signs of damage.
洛文斯基：人都死于氛弹电磁脉冲作用于舰体产生的次声波，遗体全部完好。
ROVINSKI: I… really can’t remember. It seemed a completely natural thing to do at the time. I was responsible for logistics and support aboard the ship, and I directed the storage and distribution of the bodies.
洛文斯基：这个……我真的想不起来了。当时感觉这是一件很自然的事，我负责全舰后勤配给，指挥对遗体的贮存和分配等工作。
JUDGE: All of them?
法官：全部？
ROVINSKI: None.
洛文斯基：没有。
JUDGE: Who made the decision to turn the bodies into food?
法官：是谁首先决定把遗体作为食物？
JUDGE: Can you describe the scene?
法官：遗体情况怎么样？
ROVINSKI: Yes.
洛文斯基：是的。
ROVINSKI: We refilled the food stores on Bronze Age with them.
洛文斯基：补充舰上的食品库存。
JUDGE: What did you do with the bodies?
法官：你们是怎么处理遗体的？无
JUDGE: You haven’t answered my question. I asked what you did with the bodies.
法官：你还没回答我的问题。我问你对遗体做了什么？
JUDGE: You led the first boarding party onto Quantum after the attack?
法官：是你率领首批小分队进入被攻击的“量子”号吗？
ROVINSKI: No. I doubt that the monument built by Blue Space had any bodies in it, either.
洛文斯基：没有，我怀疑太阳系另一端“蓝色空间”号建立的那座纪念碑中也没有。
ROVINSKI: We built a monument to them, like Blue Space did.
洛文斯基：像“蓝色空间”号那样，为他们建立了纪念碑。
ROVINSKI: Carol Joiner was the communications officer aboard Quantum. He was eating a part of her.
洛文斯基：卡尔·乔伊娜中尉是“量子”号上的通信军官，他吃的好像就是她的一部分。
JUDGE: How did they react?
法官：他们的反应呢？
JUDGE: Did they know what they were eating?
法官：他们知道吃的是什么吗？
ROVINSKI: I’m sure a few were uncomfortable with it. But there was no protest. Oh, I do recall eating in the officer’s mess hall once and hearing someone say, “Thank you, Carol Joiner.”
洛文斯基：我想，肯定有人有些不适应吧，但没有什么太大的反应。哦，有一次在军官餐厅用餐时，我还听旁边的一位军官说了句：谢谢，乔伊娜。
JUDGE: What did he mean?
法官：什么意思？
ROVINSKI: We were all fitted with a tracking and identification capsule about the size of a grain of rice. It was implanted under the skin of the left arm. Sometimes the cooking process didn’t remove it. I’m sure he just found it on his plate and used his communicator to read it.
洛文斯基：您知道身份标识单元吧，像一粒米那么大，植入左臂，能耐高温，偶尔烹调时没把那东西取出来，食用者在盘子里发现时可以用随身通信器什么的把上面的信息读出来。
JUDGE: Who ate this food?
法官：食用者都是哪些人？
JUDGE: How could he know that?
法官：他怎么可能知道吃的是谁呢？
ROVINSKI: Of course.
洛文斯基：当然。
ROVINSKI: Everyone. Everyone onboard Bronze Age had to eat in one of the four mess halls, and there was only one source of food.
洛文斯基：所有人，“青铜时代”号上的所有人。舰上四个餐厅里都有这种食物，肯定都吃过。
JUDGE: How were the bodies consumed?
法官：遗体是怎样食用的？
ROVINSKI: Nothing special was done. They were mixed up with the vegetables and meats in the bio-recycling system and then cooked.
洛文斯基：就是那样，大多数是同生态循环系统的蔬菜和肉类混在一起烹调。
ROVINSKI: We were constrained by other morals that you don’t understand. During the Doomsday Battle, Bronze Age had to exceed its designed acceleration parameters. The power systems were overloaded, and the life support systems lost power for almost two hours, leading to massive damage throughout. The repairs had to be conducted slowly. Meanwhile, the hibernation systems were also affected, and only about five hundred people could be accommodated. Since more than one thousand people had to eat, if we didn’t introduce additional food sources, half of the population would have starved to death.
洛文斯基：当时有另外的道德底线。“青铜时代”号在末日战役中超功率加速时，因为动力系统过载，舰上的生态循环系统断电近两个小时，系统因此造成严重损坏，恢复得很慢，冬眠系统也出现故障，只能容纳五百多人，这样还有一千多人要吃饭，当时如果没有额外的补给，会有一半人饿死。
JUDGE: Order! Order in the courtroom! Please remove those who have fainted. Mr. Rovinski, surely you must have understood that you were violating the most fundamental laws that make us human?
法官：法庭肃静！请把两位晕倒的女士送出去……你们不会不知道，这种行为已经打破了人类的道德底线。
Even without these constraints, considering the interminable voyage that lay in front of us, to abandon so much precious protein in space would have been truly unconscionable…
即使没有这种情况，考虑到未来漫长的航程，把那么多宝贵的蛋白质资源抛弃在太空中不加以利用，才是打破了道德底线……
I’m not trying to defend myself, and I’m not trying to defend anyone else on Bronze Age. Now that I’ve recovered the thinking patterns of humans anchored to the Earth, it is very difficult for me to speak these words. Very difficult.
当然，我不是在为自己辫护。也没有为“青铜时代”号上的任何人辩护，当我已经恢复到地球人的思维时，讲出这些来并不容易，请相信，并不容易。
In the end, Captain Neil Scott and six other senior officers were convicted of murder and crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. Of the remaining 1,768 members of the crew, only 138 were declared innocent. The rest received sentences ranging from twenty to three hundred years.
最后宣判结果：因犯反人类罪和谋杀罪，尼尔·斯科特舰长和其他六名高级军官被判终身监禁；其余1768人中，只有138人被宣布无罪，余下均被判刑，刑期从二十年至三百年不等。
Final statement made by Captain Neil Scott I don’t have much to say except a warning. Life reached an evolutionary milestone when it climbed onto land from the ocean, but those first fish that climbed onto land ceased to be fish.
尼尔·斯科特舰长在法庭的最后陈述：我没有太多可说的，只有一个警告：生命从海洋登上陆地是地球生物进化的一个里程碑，但那些上岸的鱼再也不是鱼了。
Similarly, when humans truly enter space and are freed from the Earth, they cease to be human. So, to all of you I say this: When you think about heading into outer space without looking back, please reconsider. The cost you must pay is far greater than you could imagine.
同样，真正进入太空的人，再也不是人了。所以，人们，当你们打算飞向外太空再也不回头时，请千万慎重，需付出的代价比你们想象的要大得多。
The Fleet International prison was located in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Thus, the prisoners had to leave Earth again. Although Bronze Age had reached geosynchronous orbit, the prisoners were doomed never to travel the last thirty thousand kilometers of their 350-billion-kilometer voyage home.
由于舰队国际的监狱位于火星和木星轨道之间荒凉的小行星带，犯人们只能再次飞离地球。“青铜时代”号返航后，他们虽来到了距地球近在咫尺的同步轨道，但三千五百亿千米中的这最后三万千米却永远走不过去了。
Everyone they encountered in the halls looked at them coldly or simply ignored them. When they saluted, they made sure their eyes did not waver, to make it clear to the prisoners that the salute was for the military police escorting them only.
舰上遇到的每一个军人都对他们投来冷漠的目光，或者干脆忽略他们的存在。这些军人在敬礼时目光特别专注，以表明这军礼是对着押解他们的宪兵军官的，与这些穿囚服的人无关。
Before departing the fleet base, former Commander Rovinski, former Lieutenant Commander Schneider, and about a dozen other officers returned under guard to Bronze Age for the last time to assist with some details of the handover of the ship to her new crew.
在离开基地前，包括原副舰长洛文斯基、原目标甄别军官史耐德等十几人在宪兵的押解下最后一次进人“青铜时代”号，同接收该舰的新部队进行一些细节方面的交接。
For more than a decade, this ship had been their entire world. They had carefully decorated the inside with holograms of grasslands, forests, and oceans; cultivated real gardens; and built fishing ponds and water fountains, turning the ship into a real home. But now, all that was gone. All traces of their existence on the ship had been wiped away. Bronze Age was once again just a cold stellar warship.
在过去的十几年中，这里曾是他们的整个世界，他们在各处精心设置了草地、森林和海岸的全息影像。还培育了真正的花草，修建了喷泉和鱼池，使这里真正成为家的样子。现在，这一切都不存在了，他们的痕迹被完全抹去，“青铜时代”号又变成了一艘冷冰冰的星际战舰。
As the prisoner transport ship accelerated, they once again drifted and fell against the portholes at the stern, like fallen leaves doomed to never reach the root of the tree. They looked outward as the blue globe that had haunted their dreams shrank and, once again, became just another star.
当押送飞船加速时，同在返航的战舰中一样，他们又都飘落在船尾的舷窗上，像一堆永远无法归根的落叶，看着无数次萦绕梦中的蓝色地球渐渐远去，再次变成一颗淡蓝色的星星。
It took only an hour to complete the session. Schneider tapped the floating control interface a few times, as though closing some windows out of habit. All of a sudden, he kicked the spherical wall of the cabin hard, and propelled himself to the other end of the chamber. Simultaneously, the walls shifted and divided the cabin into two halves. The three officers and the military policeman were trapped in one half, and Schneider was alone in the other.
需解决的问题并不太多，一个小时就完成了。这时，史耐德在半空中的操作界面上点了几下，似乎是在离开前习惯性地关闭操作窗口，然后他突然猛踹舱壁，在失重中飞到球形舱的另一端。几乎同时，球形舱分成了两个，三名军官和一名宪兵被关在其中一个舱里，史耐德独自在另一间里。
Schneider brought up a floating window. He tapped on it, his fingers a blur. It was the control interface for the communications system. Schneider brought the ship’s high-powered interstellar communications antenna online.
史耐德在面前调出一个操作界面，以令人目眩的速度点击着，那是一个通信界面，他在激活’清铜时代“号的大功率超远程星际通信系统。
A faint pop. A small hole appeared in the cabin wall, and the cabin was filled with white smoke. The barrel of the military policeman’s gun poked through the hole and aimed at Schneider.
一声闷响，舱壁被激光枪烧出一个小洞，舱内充满了白色的浓烟。宪兵从另一侧把枪管伸过来，对准史耐德。
Schneider was brought to a spherical cabin to discuss technical details of the ship’s targeting system with three officers. The three officers treated Schneider like a computer. They asked him questions in an emotionless voice and waited for his answers. There was not a hint of politeness, and not a single wasted word.
史耐德被带到一个球形舱里，向三名军官交待一些目标甄别系统的技术细节。那三名军官两男一女，那名女中尉十分美丽，但这三人面对史耐德就像面对一个电脑查询界面一样，声音冷淡地输人问题等待回答，没有一丝礼貌的表示，更没一句多余的话。
“This is your last warning. Stop what you’re doing immediately and open the door.”
“这是对你最后的警告。立即停止你正在做的事，打开门。”
“Blue Space, this is Bronze Age.” Schneider’s voice was quiet. He knew how far his message could travel had nothing to do with how loudly he spoke.
“青铜时代‘呼叫’蓝色空间‘！’青铜时代‘呼叫’蓝色空间！“史耐德的声音并不高，他知道呼叫传输的距离与他的音高无关。
Blue Space had always responded to Earth’s entreaties with more hesitation and suspicion than Bronze Age had, so they had only been decelerating slowly. Thus, by the time they received Bronze Age’s warning, they were still heading away from the Solar System.
对于地球发出的返航诱饵，“蓝色空问”号本来就比“青铜时代”号多了一些犹豫和怀疑，它只进行低功率减速，直至收到“青铜时代”号的警报时，还保持着离开太阳系的正速度。
When Earth received the intelligence report from the sophons of Trisolaris, the two civilizations had a shared enemy for the first time in history.
当地球通过三体的钾子情报得知这个消息时，两个文明第一次拥有了一个共同的敌人。
Earth and Trisolaris were comforted by the fact that Blue Space didn’t currently possess the ability to engage in dark forest deterrence against the two worlds. Even if it tried to broadcast the locations of the two solar systems to the universe at full power, it would be almost impossible for anyone to hear it. To reach Barnard’s Star, the nearest star that Blue Space could use as a superantenna to repeat Ye Wenjie’s feat, would take three hundred years. However, it hadn’t shifted its course toward Barnard’s Star. Instead, it was still heading toward NH558J2, which it wouldn’t reach for two thousand more years.
“蓝色空间”号前还不具备对两个世界进行黑暗森林硼撇能力，它既使以从大功率向宇宙发送两个恒星系的坐标标，也几乎不可能被第三方收到。要到达最近的恒星巴纳德星进行恒星级功率的宁宙广播。以“蓝色空问”号的航行能力，需要三百年时间；但目前它的航向并没有改变以指向巴纳德星。而是仍然向着之前确定的目标NH558J2星飞行。需两千多年才能到达。
A laser beam shot through Schneider’s chest. Red steam from vaporized blood erupted from the hole. Surrounded by a red fog made of his own blood, Schneider croaked out his last words: “Don’t come back. This is no longer your home!”
一束激光穿透史耐德的胸膛，血液变成红色的蒸汽喷出，被自己的血雾所笼罩的他，用尽最后的生命嘶哑地喊出一句话：“不要返航，这里不是家！”
After Schneider’s warning, Blue Space instantly shifted from decelerating to accelerating full speed ahead.
收到警报后，它立刻由减速转换为全功率加速，继续逃离太阳系。
Gravity, as the only Solar System ship capable of interstellar flight, immediately began to pursue Blue Space. Trisolaris brought up the idea of sending a speedy droplet — formally, it was called a strong-interaction space probe — to pursue and destroy Blue Space. But Earth unequivocally refused. From humanity’s perspective, Blue Space should be dealt with as a matter of internal affairs. The Doomsday Battle was humanity’s greatest wound, and after more than a decade, the pain had not lessened one whit. Permitting another droplet attack on humans was absolutely politically unacceptable. Even though the crew of Blue Space had become aliens in the minds of most people, only humanity should bring them to justice.
“万有引力”号立刻起航追击“蓝色空间”号，这是目前太阳系唯一一艘能够进行恒星际航行的飞船。在此之前，三体世界曾提议由速度更快的水滴（正式称呼是强互作用力宇宙探测器）追赶并摧毁目标，但地球世界坚决拒绝了这个提议，认为这是人类的内部事务。末日战役是人类最大的创伤，十多年来，其疼痛不但没有减轻，反而愈加剧烈。允许水滴再次攻击人类，在政治上是绝对不可接受的，尽管在大多数人的心目中，“蓝色空间”号已经是一艘异类的飞船了，但对其执法只能由人类实施。
Out of consideration for the ample time that remained before Blue Space could become a threat, Trisolaris acquiesced. However, Trisolaris emphasized that, since Gravity possessed the ability to broadcast via gravitational waves, its security was a matter of life and death for Trisolaris. Therefore, droplets would be sent as escorts, but would also ensure an overwhelming advantage against Blue Space.
也许考虑到时间充裕，三体世界没有坚持，只是强调“万有引力”号具有发射引力波的能力，必须保证它的绝对安全，水滴应与其同行，以确保对“蓝色空间”号的压倒优势。
Gravity was built about a decade after Blue Space. Other than the gravitational wave antenna, it was not significantly more advanced. Its propulsion systems, for example, were only slightly more powerful than Blue Space’s. Gravity’s confidence in the success of their hunt was due to their overwhelming advantage in fuel reserves.
“万有引力”号只比“蓝色空间”号晚建十年时间，除了引力波发射，并没有更多的先进技术。其推进能力只是略优于“蓝色空间”号，能追上后者完全凭借燃料优势。
Even so, based on the ships’ current velocities and accelerations, it would take fifty years for Gravity to catch Blue Space.
即使这样，按照目前两舰的速度和加速度，“万有引力”号追上‘。蓝色空间“号也需要五十年时间。
Thus, Gravity cruised in formation with two droplets a few thousand meters away. The contrast between the sizes of the two ship types couldn’t be greater. If one pulled back far enough to see the entirety of Gravity, the droplets would be invisible. And if one pulled close enough to a droplet to observe it, its smooth surface would clearly reflect an image of Gravity.
于是，“万有引力”号与两个水滴编队航行，它们之间的距离保持在几千米。两者大小悬殊，当看到“万有引力”号的全景时，水滴几乎不可见，但后者表面却完整而清晰地映着“万有引力”号的镜像。
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