Cheng Xin mourned Vadimov, who had cared for her like a big brother and helped her adjust to life in a foreign country. She missed his generosity most of all. Though Cheng Xin had attracted notice with her intelligence and seemed to shine brighter than Vadimov — despite the fact that she was supposed to be his aide — he had never shown any jealousy. He had always encouraged her to display her brilliance on bigger and bigger stages.
程心悲痛万分，瓦季姆像一位兄长那样关心她，帮她适应了异国的工作和生活，特别令程心感动的是他那宽广的胸怀。程心在工作_上很主动，她的聪慧很引人注目，虽是出于责任心，但必然处处抢瓦季姆的风头，可他表现得很大度，总是鼓励程心在越来越大的舞台上展现自己的才华。
Within the PIA, there were two types of reaction to Vadimov’s death. Most of the technical staff, like Cheng Xin, grieved for their boss. The intelligence specialists, on the other hand, appeared more displeased by the fact that Vadimov’s body had not been retrieved in time, rendering his brain unusable.
对于瓦季姆的死，部门内的人们有两种完全不同的反应：专业人员大都像程心一样为他们的领导悲伤；而那些冷酷的间谍特务，则都在窃窃私语着他们的遗憾：瓦季姆在水里浸了太长时间，大脑不能用了。
Mikhail Vadimov died. While crossing the Harlem River on I-95, his car slammed through the guardrails on the Alexander Hamilton Bridge and plunged into the water below. It took more than a day before the car could be retrieved. An autopsy revealed that Vadimov had been suffering from leukemia; the accident was the result of retinal hemorrhages.
瓦季姆死了，他的车冲出汉密尔顿大桥的桥栏，扎进了哈雷姆河。车用了一天时间才打捞上来。解剖遗体后发现，瓦季姆身患白血病，车失控是由于白血病产生的眼底出血导致的突然失明造成的。
She consulted medical specialists and learned that it was possible to intentionally induce leukemia. All you had to do was to place the victim in an environment with sufficient radiation. But getting the timing and dosage right was no trivial matter. Too little would not induce the illness in time, but too much would kill the victim with radiation sickness, possibly damaging the brain. Timing-wise, based on the advanced state of Vadimov’s illness, the scheme against him would have to have begun right around the time the PDC started to promote euthanasia laws around the world. If there was a killer, he was extremely skilled.
她请教过技术规划中心的医学专家，得知人为导致白血病是可能的使受害者置于放射环境中就有可能致病，但放射计量和时间都很难掌握，低了不足以在短时内内致病，高了又会使受害者得迅速死亡的放射病而不是白血病。从时间上看，如果瓦季姆在PDC开始推动安乐死法的时侯被人下黑手，现在的病况与时间是吻合的。如果真有凶手，那一定极其专业。
Gradually, a suspicion grew in Cheng Xin’s mind. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. She shuddered the first time the idea surfaced in her mind — it was too frightening, too despicable to be endured.
程心的悲痛渐渐被一个疑惑所占据：怎么这么巧？这想法初次出现时令她打了个寒战，如果这背后真有阴谋，那它的阴暗和恐怖是她无法承受的。
Secretly, Cheng Xin swept Vadimov’s office and apartment with a Geiger counter, but discovered nothing unusual. She saw the picture of Vadimov’s family he kept under his pillow: His wife was a ballerina eleven years younger than him, and their little daughter… Cheng Xin wiped her eyes.
程心曾经拿着高精度盖革计数仪检查过瓦季姆的办公桌和公寓，没发现什么异常，少量的放射性残留都能得到正常的解释。但她看到了瓦季姆压在枕头下的妻儿的照片，漂亮妻子是比他小十一岁的芭蕾舞演员，小女儿更是可爱得让人心碎。
Vadimov had once told Cheng Xin that, superstitiously, he never left family photos on desks or nightstands. Doing so seemed to him to expose them to danger. He kept the pictures hidden and only took them out when he wanted to look at them.
瓦季姆曾对程心说过，也许是出于职业上的神经质，他从来不把她们的照片放到桌面或床头柜上，下意识地认为样会使她们暴露在某种危险面前，他只是想看时才拿出来看……想到这里，程心的心一阵绞痛。
Since meeting Tianming back in China, Cheng Xin’s heart had grown heavier over time, until she sank into a depression. She recalled the first time they met. It was just after the start of their first semester in college, and all the aerospace engineering students took turns introducing themselves. She saw Tianming sitting by himself in a corner. From the moment she saw him, she understood his vulnerability and loneliness. She had met other boys who were isolated and forlorn, but she had never felt like this: as though she had stolen into his heart and could see his secrets.
自从在国内与云天明见了一次面后，程心的心头总是被阴云笼罩，那阴云开始时只是若隐若现的一缕，后来渐渐浓重，使她的心海难见天日。程心回忆起第一次见到云天明时的情景。那是大一刚人学时，本专业的同学轮流作自我介绍，她看到云天明静静地待在一个角落里，看到他的第一眼，她就立刻真切地感觉到了他的孤独和脆弱。以前她也见过同样孤僻的男孩，但从没有过这种感觉，好像潜人到他的心里偷看一样。
Every time Cheng Xin thought of Vadimov, she also thought of Yun Tianming. Tianming and six other candidates had been moved to a secret base near PIA Headquarters to undergo a final series of tests, after which one of them would be picked.
每当想到瓦季姆，程心的思绪总会不由自主地转到云天明身上。现在，他已同另外七位候选人一起，在特别护理下集中到距PIA总部不远的一处秘密基地，接受各种测试，以便从他们中间产生最终的人选。
One night, Cheng Xin had another nightmare. She was again at her star, but the red sea algae had turned black. Then the star collapsed into a black hole, a lightless absence in the universe. Around the black hole, a tiny, glowing object moved. Trapped by the gravity of the black hole, the object would never be able to escape: It was a frozen brain.
那天夜里程心做了二个噩梦，又梦到了她的星星，但上面海洋中玫瑰色的藻群渐渐变成黑色，后来整个恒星坍缩成一个黑洞，一个完全不发光的黑洞，像太空被挖去一块。黑洞的周围，有一个发出荧光的小小的物体在运行，那个东西被黑色的引力禁锢着，永远无法逃脱——那是一个冰冻的大脑。
Cheng Xin woke up and looked at the glow of New York’s lights against her curtain. She understood what she had done.
程心醒来，着着纽约的灯火在窗帘上投下的光晕，突然明白自己做了什么。
Cheng Xin liked confident, optimistic boys, boys who were like sunlight, warming themselves as well as the girls with them. Tianming was the very opposite of her type. But she always had a desire to take care of him. In their interactions she was careful, fearful of hurting him, even if unintentionally. She had never been so protective of other boys.
程心喜欢的男性是那种阳光型的，自己阳光，也把阳光沐浴到女孩的心里，云天明正是这种男人的反面。但程心总是有一种关心他的愿望，她与他交流时总是小心翼，生怕不慎伤害了他、以前对任何一个男孩她都没有这样小心翼翼过。
When her friend had come to New York and Tianming’s name came up, Cheng Xin discovered that although she had tucked him away in a distant corner of her memory, his image was surprisingly clear when she recalled him.
那次同学来纽约，谈起云夭明，程心发现，他虽已被自己遗忘到记忆里一个遥远的角落，若不是别人提起可能再也想不起来，但一旦想起，那个角落中的他竟十分清晰。
She had done nothing that she ought to be ashamed of, nothing that should trouble her conscience.
真的没什么，她真的没做什么会让良心不安的事。
The next day, Cheng Xin went to see Wade.
第二天一上班，程心就去见维德。
From one perspective, she had simply passed along the PIA’s request; he could have said no. She had recommended him because she was trying to protect the Earth and its civilization, and his life had almost reached its end — had she not arrived in time, he would be dead. In a way, she had saved him!
其实，她不过是向云大明转达PIA的请求，而他完全可以拒绝。她是为了保卫地球文明的崇高目的而推荐守也的，他的生命已走到尽头，如果她再晚到一会儿，他已经不在人世了，她甚至是救了他！
But she also understood that this was how someone could sell their mother to a whorehouse.
但同对她也第一次知道，那些人就是念叨着这样的话把妈卖给妓院的。
As usual, Wade stared at his lit cigar in his office. She rarely saw him perform the tasks that she associated with conventional administration: making phone calls, reading documents, attending meetings, and so forth. She didn’t know when, if ever, Wade did these things. All she could see was him sitting, deep in thought, always deep in thought.
同每次到维德的办公室一样，程心还是看到他在盯着百己手上燃烧的雪茄。她很少看到他做通常意义上的领导工作，如打电话、看文件、谈话和开会等。她不知道维德什么时候去做这些事，能看到他在做的只是沉思、沉思，无休无止的寂寥的沉思。
Cheng Xin thought about hibernation. The technology was mature enough that some people — mostly terminally ill patients seeking a cure in the future — had already entered the long sleep. Tianming had a chance. Given his social status, it would be hard for him to afford hibernation, but she could help him. It was a possibility, an opportunity that she had taken from him.
程心接着又想到了冬眠技术，现在已经有了第一批真正的冬眠人，大部分是到未来寻找救治机会的绝症病人。云天明还是有机会生存下去的，虽然以他的社会地位，要进人冬眠可能很困难，但在她的帮助下应该有可能实现，他的这个机会其实是被她剥夺了。
Wade’s comment stunned Cheng Xin and chilled her heart. One of the first tests they conducted was to put each candidate under a special form of general anesthesia that caused the person to lose feeling in all parts of the body and sensory organs but remain conscious. The experience was intended to simulate the conditions of a brain existing independent of the body. Then the examiners assessed the candidate’s psychological ability to adapt to alien conditions. Of course, since the test designers knew nothing about conditions within the Trisolaran Fleet, they had to fill out their simulation with guesses. Overall, the test was quite harsh.
维德的话让程心大感意外，同时心也冷了下来。在对候选人的测试中，首先使用一种特殊的全身麻醉，使被测试者的身体各部位和大部分感官失去知觉，但意识保持清，以模拟大脑脱离身体独立存在的状态。测试的内容主要是心理方面的，考察被测试者对异类环境的适应能力，但测。试的设月者并不知道三体舰队的内部环境，只能凭猜测进行模拟。总的来说，这些试十分严酷。
“Why? He has scored the best in our tests.”
“为什么？他的测试成绩名列前茅。”
Cheng Xin explained that she thought Candidate #5 was unsuitable. She wanted to withdraw her recommendation and ask that the man be removed from consideration.
程心对维德说，自己认为五号候选人不合格，收回自己的推荐，同时请求把五号从候选人中除名。
“But he has only an undergraduate degree,” Cheng Xin said.
“他的学历太低。”程心说。
“You certainly have more degrees,” said Wade. “But if we used your brain for this mission, it would, without a doubt, be one of the worst brains we could have chosen.”
“你的学历倒是很高，但要让你的大脑去完成这个使命，肯定是最蹩脚的一个。”
“That is precisely Candidate #5’s best quality! You’re talking about human society. Someone who feels comfortable with this environment has also learned to rely on it. Once one is cut off from the rest of humanity and finds oneself in a strange environment, one is very likely to suffer a fatal breakdown. You’re a perfect example of what I’m talking about.”
“这正是五号的最大优势！你说的环境是人类的环境，很好地与这种环境融为一体的人，同时也对它产生了依赖感，一旦切断他与人类环境的联系，并将其置于一个完全异类的环境中，可能产生致命的精神崩溃。称正好就是这方面的例子。”
“He’s a loner! I’ve never seen anyone so withdrawn. He doesn’t have any ability to adjust and adapt to the conditions around him.”
“他的性格孤僻，说真的我没见过这样孤僻的人，根本没有能力融入周围的社会环境。”
Cheng Xin had to admit that Wade’s logic was sound. She probably would suffer a breakdown from the simulation alone.
程心不得不承认维德说有道理，别说置身异类环境，就是那个测试本身都可能让她崩溃。
She certainly knew that she had no clout to get the top administrator of the PIA to give up on a candidate for the Staircase Program. But she didn’t want to give up. She steeled herself. She would say whatever was necessary to save Tianming.
其实她心里清楚，以自己的级别，让PIA的最高领导放弃一个阶梯计划的候选人是一件不可能成功的事，但她不想轻易放弃，她想孤注一掷，不惜低毁她想帮助的人。
“He’s made no meaningful attachments in life. He has no sense of responsibility to humanity, or love.” After saying this, Cheng Xin wondered if there was some truth to it.
“最重要的是：他长期隔绝于人群之外，对人类没有责任心，更谈不上爱心！”说完这话，程心自己也怀疑这是不是真的。
Cheng Xin had indeed seen this in Tianming’s background file — so she did know someone really rich, after all. But she didn’t believe for a minute that Hu Wen was the one who had given her the star. The very idea was ridiculous. If he liked her, he would buy her a fancy car or a diamond necklace, not a star.
程心刚从候选人资料上看到过这事，知道她的同学中还有拥有九位数资产的富豪，但她不相信胡文是送星星的人，半点都不相信。他不是那样的人，如果真想向她示爱，他会送一辆名车或一串钻石项链什么的，但不会是星星。
“Oh, there is definitely something on Earth he’s attached to.” Wade’s gaze remained on the cigar, but Cheng Xin could feel his attention being deflected from the cigar’s lit tip onto her, carrying with it some of the flame’s heat. To her relief, Wade abruptly changed the subject.
“地球上有他留恋的东西。”维德说这话时仍盯着雪茄，但程心感觉他的目光从雪茄头上反射到她身上，并带上了那一小团暗火的热量。好在维德并没有在这个话题上继续深人。
“I had thought none of the candidates were anywhere near being suitable, and I was running out of ideas. But you’ve reaffirmed my faith in #5. Thank you.”
“其实按照应有的标准，所有的候选人都差得远，但没办法。你让我更坚定了对五号的信心，谢谢。”
“Another excellent quality of Candidate #5 is his creativity. This makes up for his lack of technical knowledge. Did you know that an idea of his made one of your classmates into a billionaire?”
“五号的另外一个优点是他很有创造力，这多少弥补了专业背景的不足。知道吗？他的一个简单的创意就让你的另一个同学成了亿万富翁。”
Wade finally lifted his eyes to look at Cheng Xin with his cold, predatory smile. As before, he seemed to take pleasure in her despair and pain.
维德终于从雪茄上抬起头，在微微冷笑中看着程心，像以前一样，他又在欣赏她的绝望和痛苦。
The ceremony took place in the UN General Assembly Hall. Unlike the session announcing the Wallfacer Project a few months ago, this ceremony was closed to the public. Besides the seven Staircase Program candidates, the only attendees were Secretary General Say, the PDC rotating chair, and a few observers — including Cheng Xin and other members of the PIA working on the Staircase Program — who filled the first two rows of seats.
宣誓在联合国大会堂举行，与几个月前宣布面壁计划不同，这个仪式不对外公开，参加的人也很少，除了七名阶梯计划候选人外，还有主持仪式的联合国秘书长和PDC`轮值主席；在听众席的前排只坐着两排人，主要是包括程心在内的PIA参与阶梯计划的人。
But Cheng Xin didn’t lose all hope. She was attending the Oath of Allegiance Ceremony for Staircase Program candidates. According to the Space Convention, as amended post-Crisis, any person using resources of the Earth to leave the Solar System for economic development, emigration, scientific research, or other purposes must first take an oath pledging loyalty to humanity. Everyone had thought this provision would not be invoked until far in the future.
但程心并没有完全绝望，她参加了为阶梯计划候选人举行的一个宣誓仪式。按照危机后修订的《太空公约》，任何借助地球资源飞出太阳系之外进行经挤开发、移民、科学研究和其他活动的人类，都必需宣誓忠于人类社会。这本来被认为是一条为未来制订的条款。
The ceremony didn’t take long. In turn, each candidate put his or her hand on the UN flag held up by Secretary General Say and recited the required oath to be “loyal to the human race for all time, and to never perform any act that harms humanity’s well-being.”
宣誓的过程很简短，宣誓者把手放在联合国秘书长手中的联合国旗上，说出规定的誓词，大意是保证自已永远忠于人类社会，在宇宙中不做任任损害人类利益的事。
Four candidates were lined up before Yun Tianming — two Americans, a Russian, and a British man — and two more stood behind him: another American, and another Chinese. All the candidates looked sickly, and two had to use wheelchairs. But all looked to be in good spirits — not unlike oil lamps giving off a final burst of light before burning out.
宣誓按候选入的序号进行，云天明前而有四个人，他们中有两个来自美国，一个是俄罗斯人，另一个是英国人，排在云天明后面的有一个美国女性，还有一个他的中国同。所有的候选人都露出明显的病容，其中两位还坐在轮椅上。但他们的精神都很好，他们的生命如一盏油已几乎耗尽的灯，在最后的时刻被拨亮了灯芯的火焰。
Cheng Xin looked at Tianming. Since the last time she had seen him, he looked thinner and more pallid, but appeared very calm. He didn’t look back in her direction.
程心看到了云天明，他比她上次见到时更憔悴了，但显得很平静，他没有朝程心这里看。
It was Tianming’s turn. Though Cheng Xin was an atheist, at that moment she wished she could grab the Bible from that man and pray to it: Tianming, please take the oath, please! I know you’re a responsible man. You’ll be faithful to the human race. Like Wade said, there are things here that you cannot bear to part with…
尽管程心是无神论者，但她此时一真希望抱住刚才英国人按着的那本《圣经》，对它祈祷：天明啊，说出你的誓言吧，宣誓忠午人类，你会的，你是个有责任心有爱的男人，正如维德所说，这里有你留恋的东西……
The first four candidates’ oaths went off without a hitch. One of the Americans, a physicist in his fifties with pancreatic cancer, struggled up from his wheelchair and climbed onto the rostrum by himself. The candidates’ voices echoed in the empty hall, frail but full of dedication. The only interruption in the routine was the British man asking whether he would be allowed to take his oath on a Bible. His request was granted.
云天明前面四人的宣誓都进行的很顺利，其中那位轮椅上美国人，已年过五十身患胰腺癌的物理学家，坚持从轮椅上站起来，自已走上主席台完成了宣誓。他们那羸弱但执着的声音在空荡的会堂中发出隐隐的回响。这中间唯一的小插曲就是那个英国人向自己能不能对《圣经》宣誓，得到的回答是可以，于是他把手按在《圣经》上说完了誓词。然后轮到云天明了。
Tianming picked up the blue UN flag from Say and lightly draped it on the lectern next to him.
云天明从萨伊手中拿过那面蓝色的旗帜，把它轻轻放到旁边的讲台上。
She didn’t hear him repeat the oath.
程心没有听到云天明的誓言。
She watched as Tianming mounted the dais, watched as he walked in front of Secretary General Say, and then squeezed her eyes shut.
她目送云天明走上主席台。看他走到了手捧联合国旗的萨伊面前，然后她紧张地闭上了眼镜。
“I want to see another world. As for whether I’ll be faithful to humanity, it will depend on what kind of civilization I see among the Trisolarans.”
“我想看看另一个世界。至子是否对人类忠诚，要取决于我看到的三体文明是什么样子。”
“I will not take the oath. In this world, I feel like a stranger. I’ve never experienced much joy or happiness, and didn’t receive much love. Of course, these can all be attributed to my faults –“
“我不宣誓，在这个世界里我感到自己是个外人，没得到过多少快乐和幸福，也没得到过多少爱，当然这都是我的错……”
“– but I will not take this oath. I do not affirm any responsibility to the human race.”
“但我不宣誓，我不认可自己对人类的责任。”云天明镇定地说。
His tone was placid, as though he was reviewing his own life. Cheng Xin, sitting below the dais, began to tremble as though waiting for an apocalyptic judgment.
他在说这番话时，双眼微闭，语气舒缓，仿佛在浏览自己凄凉的一生，而下面的程心，则像听末日审判般微微颤抖起来。
Say nodded. “Your oath is entirely voluntary. You may go. Next candidate, please.”
萨伊点点头，淡淡地说：“没有人强迫你宣誓，你可以下去了。下一位，请。”
“Then why have you agreed to be in the Staircase Program?” asked Say. Her voice was gentle, as were her eyes on Tianming.
“那你为什么答应承担阶梯计划的使命呢？”萨伊问，她的声音很柔和，看着云天明的目光也很平静。。
Tianming had passed the final test.
云天明通过了最后的测试。
This is a fun game, isn’t it?
这游戏真有趣，是吧？
Cheng Xin shook as though she had fallen into an ice cellar. She bit her bottom lip and forced herself not to cry.
程心像跌进了冰窖般浑身抖动了一下，她紧咬下唇，极力不使自己的眼泪流出来。
Wade, who was sitting in the front row, turned around to look at Cheng Xin. He took delight in even more despair and pain. His eyes seemed to speak to Cheng Xin. Now you see what he’s made of. But… what if he’s telling the truth? If even we believe him, the enemy will believe him, too.
维德从前排座位回过头来看着程心，这次他能欣赏到更纯粹的绝望和痛苦了。他用目光说：看到他的素质了吧？可……如果他说的是真心话呢？她回问。如果我们这样相信，敌人也会相信。
Wade turned back to the rostrum, then seemed to remember something vital, and glanced back at Cheng Xin again.
维德转过身去，像想起什么似的又回头瞥了程心一眼。
Tianming’s unexpected refusal seemed to change the atmosphere in the hall. The last candidate, a forty-three-year-old HIV-positive American NASA engineer named Joyner, also refused to take the oath. She explained that she had not wanted to be here, but she had felt compelled to come because she believed that if she refused, her friends and family would despise her and leave her to die alone. No one knew if she was telling the truth or if Tianming had inspired her.
接下来的事情有了些转机，候选人序号的最后一位，四十三岁的美国女性乔依娜，一名身患艾滋病的NASA太空工程师，也拒绝宣誓，说她到这里来几乎是被迫的，如果不来，将受到周围人的鄙视’她的亲人将离她而去，把她扔在医院中等死。谁也不知道乔依娜说的是不是真话，更不知道她是不是受了云天明的启发。
The moment had arrived. Cheng Xin was informed that Tianming’s condition had suddenly deteriorated. They needed to remove his brain right away. The procedure would be conducted at Westchester Medical Center.
最后的时刻终寸二来临，程心得到通知，云天明的病情急剧恶化，要做脑切除手术了。手术在韦斯切特医疗中心的脑外科进行。
The next night, Joyner’s condition suddenly deteriorated. An infection that turned into pneumonia caused her to stop breathing, and she died before dawn. The medical staff did not have enough time to remove her brain for flash freezing, and it was unusable.
但在第二天深夜，乔依娜的病情突然恶化，廖染导致的肺炎使她呼吸衰竭，凌晨就去世了。由于是因病去世，她的大脑没有按照正常的程序从活体取出急速冷冻，已经因缺氧而死亡，不能使用了。
Cheng Xin stood frozen. Everything seemed to transform around her. What she had seen before were mere shadows; only now did life’s true colors reveal themselves. The tidal wave of emotion made her stumble, as if the ground had disappeared.
程心愕然僵硬在那里，周围的一切在她的眼中飞快变化，仿佛之前看到的只是生活的投影，某种真实的色彩此时才显现出来，情感的激浪一时间让她找不到大地的存在。
Cheng Xin hesitated outside the hospital. She didn’t dare enter, but she couldn’t bear to leave. All she could do was to suffer. Wade, who had come with her, walked ahead toward the hospital entrance alone. He stopped, turned around, and admired her pain. Then, satisfied, he delivered the final blow. “Oh, I have another surprise for you: He gave you the star.”
程心站在医院外面，她不敢进去，但又不忍心离开，只能站在那里咀嚼自己的痛苦。同来的维德径自向前走去，走了几步停卞来，转身欣赏了几秒钟程心的痛苦，然后满意地把最致命的一击抛给她：“哦。还有一个惊喜：你的那颗星星是他送的。”
Tianming was chosen to carry out the mission of the Staircase Program.
云天明当选为阶梯计划的使命执行人。
A group of men and women in white coats turned around. The body had already been removed from the room. In the middle was a workbench, on top of which sat a cylindrical stainless steel insulating container, about a meter tall. It had just been sealed, and the white fog produced by the liquid helium still hadn’t completely dissipated. Slowly, the white fog rolled down the surface of the container, flowed across the workbench, cascaded over the edge like a miniature waterfall, and pooled on the floor, where it finally broke apart. In the fog, the container appeared otherworldly.
一群白衣人同时转过头来、遗体已经从另一个门推走、在他们正中有一个工作台，上面放着个一米左石高的不锈钢圆柱形绝热容器，刚刚密封，从容器中涌出的超低温液氦产生的白雾还没有消散，由于低温，那些雾紧贴着容器的外壁缓缓流下，流过工作台的表面，像微型瀑布般淌下，在地板上方消失了。白雾中的容器看上去似乎不像是尘世中的东西。
She rushed into the hospital and dashed through the long, winding hallways until two guards outside the neurosurgery area stopped her. She struggled against them, but they held fast. She fumbled for her ID, waved it at them, and then continued her mad run toward the operating room. The crowd outside, surprised, parted for her. She slammed through the doors with glowing red lights over them.
程心转身向医院飞跑，跑进大门，飞奔过长长的走廊。在脑科区外面她被两个警卫拦住了，她不顾一切地挣扎，却被死死抓住。她掏出证件塞给对去方，继续冲向脑外利手术室。手术外站着很多人，看到狂奔而来的她惊愕地闪开一条路，程心猛地撞开手术室亮着红灯的门。
Cheng Xin threw herself at the workbench. Her motion broke up the white fog, and she felt herself enveloped in a pocket of cold air that dissipated in a moment. It was as if she had briefly touched what she was seeking before losing it to another time, another place, forever.
程心扑到工作台前，她带来的气流冲散了低温白雾，她感到被一阵寒气拥抱，但寒气立刻消失了，她仿佛是同自乙追赶的东两短暂地接触了一下，那东西随即离开她，飘向另一个维度的时空，她永远失去了它。
She was too late.
一切都已结束。
She didn’t know how much time passed before she felt the hand placed against her shoulders. Maybe the hand had been there for a long time, and maybe the owner of the hand had been speaking for a long time, as well.
不知过了多长时间，程心感到有手放在自己肩上，这手可能早就放上去了，只是她才感觉到。有一个声音在对她说话，也可能已经说了很长时间，她刚听到。
Still wracked by sobs, Cheng Xin could not catch her breath, but what the voice said next got her attention.
程心仍在几乎窒息的抽泣中，但这个声音渐渐引起了她的注意，因为这并不是想象中空铜的安慰，话的内容很具体。
“There is hope.” It was the voice of an old man, gentle and slow. “There is hope.”
“孩子，有一个希望。”这苍老而徐缓的声音说，然后又重复一偏，“有一个希望。”
“Think! If they can revive that brain, what would be the ideal container for it?”
“你想想，如果大脑被复活，装载它的最理想的容器是什么？”
Prostrate in front of the container of liquid helium, Cheng Xin sobbed. Her sorrow filled the operating room, overflowed the hospital building, flooded New York City. Above her, the sorrow became a lake, then an ocean. At its bottom, she felt close to drowning.
程心伏在液氦容器前痛哭起来，悲伤的洪流淹没了手术室，淹没了整幢大褛，淹没了纽约，在她方成了湖成了海，她在悲伤之海的海底几乎窒息。
The voice did not offer empty platitudes, but a concrete idea.
这个声音不是空洞的陈词滥调，而是一个具体的想法。
She lifted her head, and through tear-blurred eyes, she recognized the white-haired old man: the world’s foremost brain surgeon, affiliated with Harvard Medical School. He had been the lead surgeon during the operation.
程心抬起泪眼，透过朦胧的泪花她认出了说话的人，这位一头白发老者是哈佛医学院的脑外科权威，他是这个脑切除手术的主刀。
Cheng Xin stared at the stainless steel container. Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t care. Then she recovered and stunned everyone: “What is he going to eat?”
程心呆呆地看着眼前的超低温容器，泪水横流，突然她像是想起了什么，说出了一句让在场所有人吃惊的话：“那，他吃才十么？”
“It would be the body that had carried this brain in the first place. Every cell in the brain contains all the genetic information necessary to reconstruct his body. They could clone him and implant the brain, and in this way, he would be whole again.”
“当然是这个大脑原来所属的身体，而大脑的每一个细胞都带有这个身体的全部基因信息，他们完全有可能把身体克隆出来。再把大脑移植过去，这样。他又是一个完整的他了。”
She sprinted out of the room, in as much of a rush as when she had barged in.
然后，程心转身跑出去，同来时一样急切。
“I request that these seeds be included in the Staircase capsule.”
“我请求在飞行器的太空舱中带上这些种子。”
Wade opened the envelope and emptied its contents onto the desk: more than a dozen small packets. He ticked through them with interest: “Wheat, corn, potatoes, and these are… some vegetables, right? Hmmm, is this chili pepper?”
维德把信封中的东西倒出来，那是十几个小塑料袋，他很有兴趣地挨个看着，“小麦，玉米，马铃薯，这是……几样蔬菜吧，这个，辣椒吗？”
The next day, Cheng Xin returned to Wade’s office and deposited an envelope on his desk. She looked as pale as some terminally ill patients.
第二天，程心来到维德的办公室。她看上去像那些绝症中的候选人一样憔悴，把一个信封放到维德面前。
Wade put all the packets back into the envelope and pushed it across the desk. “No.”
维德把所有小袋一起装回信封，推给她，“不行。”
Cheng Xin nodded. “One of his favorites.”
程心点点头，“我记得他喜欢吃。”
“But it’s not, is it? Adding this weight would lead to a slower final cruising speed for the spacecraft, and delay the encounter with the Trisolaran Fleet by many years.” That cold smirk again appeared on Wade’s face. “Besides, he’s just a brain now — no mouth, no stomach. What would be the point? Don’t believe that fairy tale about cloning. They’ll just put the brain in a nice incubator and keep it alive.”
“问题是他没重那18克；加人这份质量，意味着最终速度的降低，与敌舰队的交会可能会晚许多年。再说，”维德开始露出他的冰冷微笑，“那就是个大脑，没有嘴更没有胃，要这些有什么用？别信那个克隆的神话，他们会在合适的培养箱里养活大脑的。”
Cheng Xin wanted to rip the cigar out of Wade’s hand and put it out against his face. But she controlled herself. “I will bypass you and make the request to those with more authority.”
程心真想把维德手中的雪茄抢过来摔到他脸上，但她克制住了自已，默默地把信封拿回来，“我会越过你向上级请求的。”
“Just pretend his brain is eighteen grams heavier!”
“就当他的大脑童了18克！”
“Why? These weigh only eighteen grams in total.”
“为什么？这质量仅仅18克！”
“I won’t allow it. You’re still useful to the PIA.”
“行。对于PIA，你还有用。”
Cheng Xin turned around and started to walk away.
程心转身离走。
“We must make every effort to remove even point one eight grams of excess mass.”
“我们要为减轻0.18克的质量而努力。”
“It won’t work. Then?”
“可能没用。然后呢？”
“Then I’ll resign.”
“然后我辞职。”
Cheng Xin laughed bitterly. “You can’t stop me. You’ve never been my real boss.”
程心也冷笑了。“你阴业不了我，你从来就不是我真正的上级。”
“You will not do anything I don’t allow.”
“我清楚这一点，但我不允许的事你就做不了，”
“The Staircase Program needs to send someone who knows Yun Tianming to the future.”
“阶梯训划需要有台个熟悉云天明的人去未来：程心站住了。”
“However, that person must be a member of the PIA and under my command. Are you interested? Or do you want to hand in your resignation now?”
“但必须是PIA的人，你愿意去吗？好了，你现在可以递交辞星了。”
“I agree to go to the future,” Cheng Xin said. She leaned against the doorframe for support. She didn’t turn around.
“我同意去未来。”程心扶着门虚弱地说，没有回头。
Cheng Xin stopped.
无
The only time Cheng Xin got to see the Staircase spacecraft was when its radiation sail unfolded in orbit. The giant sail, twenty-five square kilometers in area, briefly reflected sunlight onto the Earth. Cheng Xin was already in Shanghai, and she saw an orange-red glowing spot appear in the pitch-black sky, gradually fading. Five minutes later, it was gone, like an eye that materialized out of nowhere to look at the Earth and then slowly shut its eyelid. The craft’s journey as it accelerated out of the Solar System was not visible to the naked eye.
程心唯一一次见到阶梯飞行器是当它的辐射帆在地球同步轨道上展开时，二十五平方千米的巨帆曾短暂地把阳光反射到北半球，那时程心已经回到上海，深夜她看到漆黑的大幕上出现一个橘红色的光团，五分钟后就渐渐变暗消失了，像一只在太空中看了一眼地球后慢慢闭上的眼睛。以后的加速过程肉眼是看不到的。
Cheng Xin continued walking, but her stride slowed down. Finally, she stopped a second time. Wade’s voice came again. “You’d better be sure about your choice this time.”
程心继续向门口走，但脚步慢多了，最后终子站住，维德的声音又在后面响起：“你必须明确自己的选择。”
Cheng Xin was comforted by the fact that the seeds did accompany Tianming — not her seeds, exactly, but seeds that had been carefully selected by the space agricultural department.
唯让程心感到安慰的是，种子带上了，但不是她拿的那些，而是经过航天育种部门精心挑选的。
The giant sail’s mass was 9.3 kilograms. Four five-hundred-kilometer cables connected it to the space capsule, whose diameter was only forty-five centimeters. A layer of ablative material covered the capsule, making its launch mass 850 grams. After the acceleration leg, the capsule mass would be reduced to 510 grams.
那面九点三公斤重的巨帆，用四根五百千米长的蛛丝拖曳着那个直径仅四十五厘米的球形舱，舱的表面覆盖着蒸发散热层，起航时的质量为八百五十克，加速段结束时减为五百一十克。
The acceleration leg stretched from the Earth to the orbit of Jupiter. A total of 1,004 nuclear bombs were distributed along the route, two-thirds of which were fission bombs, the rest fusion. They were like a row of mines that the Staircase craft triggered as it passed by. Numerous probes were also distributed along the route to monitor the craft’s heading and speed and coordinate minute adjustments to the positions of the remaining bombs. Like the pulses of a heart, successive nuclear detonations lit up the space behind the sail with blinding glows, and a storm of radiation propelled this feather forward. By the time the spacecraft approached Jupiter’s orbit and the 997th nuclear bomb exploded, monitoring probes showed that it had achieved 1 percent of lightspeed.
加速航段从地球延伸至木星轨道，在这段航程上已经预先布设了一干零四枚各种当量的核弹，有三分之二是裂变核弹，其余是氢弹。它们就像是一串太空地雷，阶梯飞行器的加速过程就是依次触发这些核地雷的过程。除此之外，还有数量众多的探测器巡行在加速航段上，以监测阶梯飞行器的航向和速度，及时调整下一枚核弹的位置。核爆炸的闪光以一定的间隔不断地在巨帆后面亮起，像搏动的心脏，辐射的飓风强劲地推动着这片轻盈的羽毛。当接近木星轨道的第九百九十七枚核弹爆炸时监测表明飞行器已经达到了预定光速的百分之一。
As time passed, the spacecraft’s trajectory would deviate farther and farther from the projection. Hopes that it would intercept the Trisolaran Fleet diminished. Based on its approximate final heading, it should pass by another star in six thousand years and depart the Milky Way in five million years.
失之毫厘，谬以千里。随着岁月的流逝，飞行器距预定的航线将越来越远，与三体舰队交会并被截获的希望也越来越小。按照它最后的大致方向，它将在六千多年后掠过第一颗恒星，五百万年后飞出银河系。
There was no real reason to send Cheng Xin to the future anymore, but the PIA still asked her to enter suspended animation. Her mission now was to act as a liaison to the Staircase Program in the future. If this pioneering effort was to be helpful to humanity’s spaceflight efforts in two centuries, someone who understood it deeply had to be there to explain the dead data and interpret the mute documents. Of course, perhaps the real reason for sending her was only one of vanity, a wish that the Staircase Program would not be forgotten by the future. Other large contemporary engineering projects had made similar efforts to send liaisons to the future for similar reasons.
程心本来已经没有理由去未来了，她似乎要继续被阶梯计划完全改变了的人生，但PIA仍然让她冬眠。她的使命变成了阶梯计划的未来联络员；设想这项计划如果能对两个世纪后的人类宇航有帮助，就需要一个全面了解它的人，而不仅仅是死的资料。其实，派她去的真正目的，可能只是希望阶梯计创不被末来所遗忘或误解。这一时期，还有一些其他的大型工程项目向未来派去联络员，目的也一样。
That was when the accident occurred. Analysis of the frequency spectrum of the light reflected from the radiation sail showed that the sail had begun to curl, possibly because one of the towing cables had broken. However, the 998th nuclear bomb detonated before adjustments could be made, and the craft deviated from the projected course. As the sail continued to curl, its radar profile rapidly shrank, and it disappeared from the monitoring system. Without precise parameters for its trajectory, it would never be found again.
但故障就在这时出现了。监测系统通过巨帆反射光的频谱分析发现，帆开始卷曲，据推测最大的可能是一根帆索断了。但第九百九十八枚核弹仍被引爆，只剩下三根帆索的帆此时得到了一个错误的速度分量，偏离了预定航线。帆继续卷曲，雷达反射面急剧缩小，监测系统丢失了它，也丢失了它的轨道参数，人类不可能再找到它了。
At least the Staircase Program was a half success. For the first time, a man-made object had been accelerated to quasi-relativistic speeds.
但阶梯计划至少成功了一半，人类成功地把一架飞行器——尽管轻得像羽毛一一推进到准相对论速度。
If the future wished to pass judgment on our struggles, then at least it was now possible to send someone to the future to explain the misunderstandings brought about by the passage of time.
如果千秋功罪真有人评说，现在己经可以派一个人去解释岁月造成的误会。
As Cheng Xin’s consciousness faded in the cold, she held on to a ray of comfort: Like Tianming, she would drift through an endless abyss for centuries.
当程心的意识在寒冷中模糊时，她感到一丝安慰：和云天明一样，她也要在无边的黑暗中漂流了。
0 条评论