I don't know weeks

Wednesday, August 2072, 7

Shen Xuan

For the summer social practice of the 2071-2072 school year, their class will go to Edward Space Station.

That's not quite accurate either.It should be to go to the virtual Edward space station.The space station is jointly funded by various countries for research and development, construction, launch, maintenance and operation, and it nominally belongs to the United Nations. It affects and even determines the stability and security of a society that accommodates more than 40 billion people on the earth, and supports almost all work on the earth. Normal operation - such an important existence, except for extremely rare cases, people other than the internal staff are not allowed to enter.It is also for this reason that the hosts of the online world are placed in a space outside the earth and isolated from the dangerous ground.

The programmers of the Ministry of Education/Education/Ministry of Education really spent a lot of effort to come up with such a space station practical teaching system.All the simulations are detailed. They carried their schoolbags and followed the teacher out of the school gate, and took a bus to the launch center on the edge of the city. On the way, the sunlight followed them outside the shade of the trees, projecting on the transparent window glass again and again.The iridescent light spots trembled slightly with the car body.After arriving at the space station, they sat on the spacecraft and watched in amazement that the world in the porthole sank to their feet, and the color of the sky faded to reveal the bright galaxy on the background of the universe.While enjoying the scenery, Shen Xuan poked his head to look at Han Zixi who was sitting in the front row from time to time—according to her, she hadn't been dizzy much recently; but Shen Xuan had to observe it for himself before making a conclusion.Her rigorous observation experiment has been going on for more than a month.

"This is the most perfect procedure I've ever seen, and the vertigo is exactly as described in the book!" she said.The intention was to speak to Han Zixi, but Gao Yang, who was sitting beside him, picked up the conversation.

"Of course," he said with a smile, "after all, it is a practical activity, and programmers must be closer to reality."

Gao Yang is a boy with thick eyebrows who smiles all day long. The father of both of them is a colleague of the online government.

"Anyway, I will never be a programmer in the future. It has been so hard since the last century." Shen Xuan muttered.

"Don't you want to experience the feeling of creating a world?..."

"..."

Shen Xuan suddenly stopped talking.If she had been a rabbit, both ears would have been pricked up: the target in the front row was frowning again!

"Han Zixi? You're thinking about something alone again." She reached out and tapped the back of Han Zixi's chair.

Shen Xuan immediately greeted her with reproachful eyes, but unexpectedly her thin and pale lips tightened and she actually smiled.

"what's wrong?"

"your hair."

She hurriedly tucked back the hair that was floating in mid-air to the back of her head. "Don't try to change the subject, answer me quickly."

"..." Han Zixi was momentarily at a loss for words, "I just don't understand why we can't really practice it."

"Of course it's not necessary!" Gao Yang happily answered her question at the side, "We risked accidents to go to the space station, and the space station also had to risk accidents." The risk of accepting us — in the end everything we get VR gives us as it is.”

Shen Xuan pursed his lips, very dissatisfied that this thick-browed boy named Gao Yang was stealing her talk, but he continued with his words very disappointingly: "Besides, the real practice will consume too many resources. Launching a large civilian spacecraft That's enough energy to run the space station for two days... you know."

Her voice gradually lowered due to hesitation, because she understood the meaning in Han Zixi's eyes.She was saying to her, what you and I said, I know as well as you, but I'm just thinking wildly, and you don't need to persuade me anyway, I won't change it.

"Han Zixi, do you know, you seem to be an elder around the 20s, but you just can't trust the Internet... Actually, there's no harm in it, the Internet at that time was the embryonic form of the online world,—I'll go."

Gao Yang smiled blindly at the side, and clicked and clicked the buckle of the seat belt, but then he rolled forward and hovered upside down near the ground.The spacecraft just shook.Han Zixi quickly turned his head to hide his smile, Shen Xuan watched Gao Yang with a smile on the back of the chair in front of him, and bounced back in embarrassment.

"Haha, how about it, is this feeling really real?"

Gao Yang snorted through his nose.At this time, the icy female voice of the spacecraft AI resounded throughout the cabin: "Docking is about to begin, please fasten your seat belts and sit firmly."

The spacecraft is docking with the space station.After the vibration of the body stopped, the opening of the hatch brought a fresh and cool breeze.For some reason, the breeze reminded her of the smell of a brand new book just opened.As the air pressure of the two different spaces compromised, the breeze gradually died down.The students followed the class teacher and filed across the docking port, and entered the topmost floor of the Edward space station, which is the first floor, which is thickened like the Brahma Tower.The first floor is the transition cabin, the walls are all soft pure white, in the center of this pure white space is suspended a scale holographic projection model of the space station, which can even be partially enlarged by touching; the second floor is the main control room, It is the center of the coordinated operation of the entire space station; the third floor is the staff cabin, because most of the work of the space station is done by AI, so the space on this floor is not too large, and the cabins are arranged in a circle next to the inner wall of the cylinder. There is a circular passage in the middle that continues to deepen; the fourth floor is the operation cabin, which stores and operates the largest and most complex computer mainframe ever created by humans on the earth; the last floor is the power cabin, powered by nuclear fusion. The steering and displacement of the entire space station.Even in a virtual situation, they are not allowed to enter the last two floors.

It is not difficult to find that the tone of the space station is white.Everyone drifted in the endless white with the class teacher, while listening to him passionately introduce the origin of the name of the space station - "To commemorate Edward Link who designed the pilot simulator in 1929, he was the first person who proposed the idea of ​​virtual reality", Looking up, down, left, and right.The walls of the space station are quite magical. Although they are spotless, they can only reflect vague rainbow-colored figures. They feel warm and soft to the touch, like fine rubber or jade soaked in hot springs.

"This may be the most exquisite space station in existence." Han Zixi said softly to Shen Xuan.

"If the real space station can be as clean as this one, that would be amazing." Shen Xuan shook his head in admiration.

They walked straight in from the transition cabin, and after entering a circular hatch was the main control room.The bulkhead of the main control room of the largest space station built by human beings is transparent and surrounded by the sea of ​​stars. There is no lighting in the room, but the special material of the floor emits a faint light. The transparent bulkhead shows a panorama of the Earth-Moon system and a smaller three-dimensional projection of the space station. , the countless button handles underneath are calmly flashing under the starlight.The head teacher encouraged the text: "In Edward Space Station, you will find that unmanned has become the norm. The space station is controlled by AI all the year round, but when you pull down the manual valve, you can manually control it. Prepared by the warriors of the space station!"

They floated across the staff cabin, through what looked like a three- or four-story connecting shaft, until they were blocked by a large white hatch.The cabin door was not decorated with patterns, and there was no obvious logo, only the gap between the perimeter and the wall outlined its circular outline—and it was at the height of their line of sight, which was the center of the circular cabin door. There is a small square depression.

"Look, this is the entrance to the operation layer of the space station! If you are a staff member authorized to enter, just put your ID chip in that scanning port..." the head teacher rolled up his sleeves and put his left arm in the square depression with great interest , "...you can enter the heart of the online world."

Shen Xuan looked at the closed hatch, imagining the largest mainframe in the information age of mankind operating behind it.It turned out that the beautiful world she loved was stored in this place, an icy cube of silicon and rare metals—it was incredible to think about it.

After the head teacher announced the free tour, Shen Xuan approached the hatch of the operation floor.Han Zixi also stepped forward and gently touched the round hatch in front of him with his fingertips: it was soft and white, and looked harmless to humans and animals.

"There must be other security measures?" She didn't know who to ask.

The light converged towards her fingertips like a stream of water under the ice, and her pressing triggered the space station's AI system.

"Student Han," the AI ​​female voice called her, "this space station has the most stringent security system, please forgive me for not being able to introduce you one by one. If you want to learn more, you are welcome to join the online world host management center... "

...Online World Hosting Management Center, a global organization with branches in various countries, each branch is divided into management department, technology department, development department and other departments.Shen Xuan stood by, vaguely recalling the knowledge in the textbook.She raised her eyes to glance at Han Zixi... Despite the dim light from the bulkhead, her face was quite gloomy and frightening.She too was frightened.

"This AI is so indifferent, let's go to the staff cabin and take a look. Let's go!" She grabbed Han Zixi's arm and forced her away from the door, her heart beating uneasily.

Only the light on the hatch was left, flickering calmly and suspiciously.

One week after the summer practice, it will be Han Zixi's birthday.To Shen Xuan's surprise, Father Han gave his daughter a Portable Personal Space (PPS for short).

Here's the thing.After breakfast, Shen Xuan arrived at the library with a pack of books and her dear gift. "Where are you? I'm at the door of the library." She sent a message to Han Zixi.

Han Zixi replied in seconds, "Just logged in, wait a minute."

A second later, Shen Xuan, who was standing at the entrance of the library with his schoolbag on his back, saw Han Zixi who suddenly appeared at the turning point of the bustling scene.Han Zixi walked towards her quickly, with shoulder-length short hair fluttering briskly, and pink cheeks.

Shen Xuan's heart trembled, and the aftertaste of her heartstrings made her smile slightly.It's been a long time since I've seen her so happy, she thought.

"Calm down, don't forget you're an adult today..." she said.

"Is there any?..." Han Zixi touched his face, as if trying to press back the corners of his lips that could not be restrained, "Shen Xuan, my father gave me a PPS."

PPS? PPS? ?Which... what... ah.

Even if the Edward space station is spinning around the earth and dancing tango at the same time, Shen Xuan will not be more surprised.Portable personal space!

The so-called portable private space looks like a USB flash drive in the early days of the information age.After inserting the PPS into the VR device, the owner of the space can enter an independent space completely isolated from the online world.On the Edward space station, such an independent space is specially run on an independent processor, so one can imagine how precious it is.The owner of the space can use the built-in system of PPS to decorate and arrange the space as he wants, and the archive function is also very powerful.You can cry and laugh here, or you can spend a long afternoon without being disturbed; through security checks such as secret keys, authorized others can also enter this space as visitors.God, she passed by the PPS store countless times in the electronic mall, and was shocked by its appalling price every time.

Her carefully prepared postcards of confidently invincible scenes (each postcard is a scene that can be experienced in person, including but not limited to a beach in midsummer, a voyage to the Milky Way, and a tea party under the moon) pale in comparison.Portable personal space!

Shen Xuan stared at Han Zixi with eyes that were about to burst into tears.

"Brother Han, Gou Fugui, don't forget each other, if you still have me in your heart..."

Han Zixi grabbed the back of Shen Xuan's neck and dragged her to the library.Shen Xuan, who strictly abides by public order, immediately shut up when he saw this, and took the opportunity to hug Han Zixi's arm and shake it silently from side to side.

"Do you still remember what you taught me just now?" Han Zixi said through his teeth, "—Calm down. I came here just to tell you the secret key. Do you want to go and have a look together this afternoon?"

"Han Zixi, look, this really looks like the universe before the big bang." Shen Xuan said softly.

They stand in the endless void, unable to see the entity that carries them, nor the boundaries of space.The private space that had just been unsealed was dark and empty, and the space itself seemed to be glowing faintly.The twilight was just enough to illuminate their each other's faces.

"The analogy is inappropriate," Han Zixi said. "The universe before the big bang didn't even have space."

She snorted unconvinced.

The system was triggered by their voices.The twilight that diffused in the space gradually gathered, unfolding into a silver-white plane in front of their eyes.Handwriting appeared on the plane, and it melted and disappeared shortly after touching their eyes:

"Hello, I am Komori, the AI ​​administrator of private space No. 16032. If you have any requirements or questions in the process of creating your own world, please come to me. I will solve it for you."

Then the silver-white plane disintegrated like ice floes in warm water, still emitting a shimmer of light filling the space.Shen Xuan looked around suspiciously, and asked in a low voice, "Is this the end? Is there no novice guide?"

"Student Shen, our company's PPS system adheres to the principle of minimalism and has no redundant accessories. It is recommended that users explore the rules and skills of using this product with my cooperation." AI Komori's voice sounded around them, gentle and flat There are seven points of patience, two points of toughness, and one point of resignation in the voice line.

Shocked by fright, Shen Xuan crossed his waist angrily.She thought of the indifferent AI in the space station, and sure enough, there was no one easy to deal with.

Han Zixi almost laughed out loud, but his words were still serious and well-spoken: "Then, I want to enter an empty room first."

The change happened in an instant, and they were in a small room with white walls and no windows.Han Zixi walked over and touched the wall, Shen Xuan immediately followed.Cool and smooth to the touch, with a bit of silty roughness.Unmistakable perfection and authenticity.

"Do you remember the online scene transition? Compared with the speed of this system, it was played at a slow speed." Shen Xuan's eyes lit up.

"Thank you, thank you. This system is still being upgraded." Komori replied happily.

"...didn't talk to you!"

With the help of this talkative AI, they began to make a large-scale renovation of this room.Shen Xuan added large floor-to-ceiling windows, star hanging lamps, a table of snacks, and two huge beanbag sofas to the room; Han Zixi set the scene outside the window to the bright Milky Way seen during the last summer practice.

"Since we are in space, let's lower the temperature. Not too cold, just 2 to 3 degrees." Shen Xuan ordered; she was lying on the sofa like an almond wrapped in milk chocolate.Sure enough, the temperature dropped immediately.

"Shen Xuan, did you forget that we are still wearing short sleeves??" Han Zixi said as white mist came out like a steam train.No, it's so funny, I really want to laugh.

"Don't worry," she tilted her head on the sofa cushion, and smiled at Han Zixi, "Since the master has spoken, let's add a fireplace on the wall opposite the sofa, the kind that burns."

Immediately the fireplace appeared, and the dimly lit room was filled with joyful and flickering firelight.The flame in the fireplace was burning brightly, making a soft whirring sound like the flapping of a bird's wings, and occasionally sparks would crackle and splash on the thick carpet in front of the hearth.The cold was driven away by the heat wave of the fire, and Shen Xuan let out a long sigh, spreading his hands and feet on the sofa a little more, feeling as if he was about to melt; Han Zixi in her eyes stood where he was, but the haze left by the practical teaching on his face finally disappeared. .

"All the Nordic people I know say that staying next to the fireplace in winter is the happiest thing in the world." She squinted her eyes in satisfaction.

...have to be with you.She thought so while watching Han Zixi lay down on another sofa.But did not say it.