Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

Isaac wakes up and looks out the rear window of the moving car at the cloud bobbing up and down with the car over the pass.Those clouds were full of bright particles, just as they were on August 34th.Suddenly, a suffocating pain overwhelmed it all. To be precise, it was not pain, but a sharp feeling very similar to pain, and suddenly the sound and light became unbearable, as if the world had become a knife inserted into his skull. Isaac knew he was special.He knew he had been created to communicate with hypothetical intelligent beings, and he knew he had failed the adults around him.He also knows something else.He knew that the universe was not empty, but filled with ghostly particles.These particles are fleeting, too late to interact with real objects, but hypothetical intelligent creatures can manipulate these particles to send and receive information.Isaac's built-in Martian technology allowed his nervous system to pick up these signals, but they never translated into the comfortable linear expression of words.Most of the time, there is just a vague and indescribable sense of urgency.Sometimes, like now, it's more like pain.And the pain had something to do with the looming dust cloud: the unseen world rose and fell with an invisible tumult, and Isaac's mind and body vibrated with it.

He felt himself being picked up, placed in the back seat of the car, and someone fastened his seat belt.To feel the voices and concerns of his friends old and new.They feared for him and feared for themselves.He also felt Dr. Duvaly ordering everyone to get in the car, the door slamming shut, the engine revving.He was glad that it was not Dr. Duvaly but Mrs. Rebuka who held his head and comforted him.He already disliked Dr. Duval, almost hated him, though he didn't understand why. ☆ Mrs. Rebuka is not a doctor, but she has learned some basic medicine, like other fourth-years.Lise watched as she stabbed the boy in the arm with an old-fashioned syringe, sedating him.Isaac's breathing became deeper, and the screaming finally stopped, replaced by hissing breathing.

The car continued to drive forward, and the headlights cut two beams of light in the falling dust.The fourth-year man switched hands to Turk, trying to get out of the hilly area before the road became impassable.Liz asked if they should take Isaac to the hospital, but Mrs. Rebuka shook her head: There was nothing we could do for him, and neither could the hospital. Diane.Dupre looked at the boy with worry in those large eyes.Su Lian.Moai also looked at him, but his expression was rather unfathomable. In Lisi's view, it was both forbearance and panic. All the way it was Mrs. Rebuka who put Isaac's head on her shoulder; who said a word or two or patted Isaac when the jolting of the car disturbed him.She smoothed his hair and rubbed his forehead with a damp cloth.Before long, the sedative put him to sleep.

Ever since they arrived in the fourth-year paddock, Liz had wanted to ask a question.With no one to talk to, and with the sound of the wipers scraping dust across the windshield driving her crazy, she took a breath and asked: Is Isaac's mother still alive? Yes.said Mrs. Rebuka. Lise turned to face her.Are you his mother? Yes.said Mrs. Rebuka. ☆ What do you see, Isaac? Much later, when Isaac awoke from his sedated sleep, the question was on his mind. It was Mrs. Rebuka who spoke.He wanted to come up with an answer before the next pain that left him speechless.But that question was hard to answer because he had a hard time seeing anything clearly.He could feel the car, the people in it, and the dust falling outside the window, but all these seemed vague and unreal.Is it daylight now?At this point the car stopped, and before he could answer Mrs. Rebuka's question, he asked a question of his own: Where are we?

The one in front is called Turk.Finlay's man says: A small town called Bastey.We might stay here for a while. Some small buildings can be seen through the dust and fog outside the car, which is fairly clear.But that was not Mrs. Rebuka's question. Isaac, can you go? Yes, for now.The sedative was wearing off, and the knife of the world was about to bleed his head again.He got out of the car with one hand on Mrs. Rebuka's arm.Dust fell before his eyes, and it smelled like something burning.Mrs. Rebuka helped him to the nearest cottage, a wing of a motel.Isaac heard Turk say he had paid more than usual for the last available room.He also said that a lot of people were going to live in Bastee tonight.

Then he went into the house, got into bed and lay on his back.There is less dust in the room, but there is still that smell.Mrs. Rebuka took a clean cloth and wiped the dirt off his face.Isaac, she asked softly again, what are you looking at?what do you see Because he kept turning his head in one direction (West, of course), staring intently. what did he see One light. in this room? no.a place far away.The horizon has yet to pass. But you can see it here?Can you see through the wall? He nodded. what does that look like? Isaac's mind was packed with words, many answers: distant fires, explosions, sunrises, sunsets, places where stars fell and burned in a desperate will to live.Something deep in the earth that knows the stars and welcomes them.

He just said honestly: I don't know. ☆ Only Turk has ever been to Bastee.He said the place name comes from the Hindi word for slum.But this is not a slum, but an oil-stained road town on the edge of Rub Al Khali, supplying the needs of vehicles and personnel to and from the oil fields and the northernmost road.The town has cinder-brick buildings and a few wooden houses; a store that sells tire pressure gauges, maps, compasses, sun visors, cheap novels and throwaway phones; three gas stations and four restaurants. Liz looked out of the hotel room window and could see nothing.The dust fell like a gray curtain, emitting a foul smell.The falling dust might have broken a power line, she thought, or the transformer had shorted out, and maybe it wouldn't be fixed so quickly, especially in this small, remote place.Although their cars are suitable for all kinds of terrain and all kinds of climates, it is already a miracle to be able to drive here.Someone from the hotel office knocked on the door, handed them flashlights, and warned them not to light candles or anything with a flame.The fourth-years all had their own flashlights, but there wasn't much to see anyway, just the dim walls and mosaic wallpaper.Liz kept a flashlight with her in case she needed to get to the bathroom.

The boy Isaac is asleep.The sedative might have helped a little, but it must be because she was too tired, Liz thought.Others gathered to chat.Dr. Duvali said in a tone of convincing: This may be a cyclical event, and the evidence can be seen in the geological record.The geological record is one of your father's achievements, Miss Adams.But we never knew how to explain this phenomenon.A thin layer of dust debris develops in the rock about every 10,000 years. What does it mean?Turk asked, does this happen every ten thousand years?Everything buried in falling dust? Not everything, not every place.This sign appears mainly in the Far West.

Doesn't it have to have a fairly thick layer of falling dust to leave such traces? Either it's thick, or it lasts a long time. These buildings were not built to bear anything other than their own weight. Roofs collapsed and survivors were buried alive in ash.A cold Pompeii.Liz shuddered at the thought of this.But she had another idea.She said: Is Isaac's falling dust related to what happened to Isaac? Su Lian.Moai gave her a sad look.certainly.she says. ☆ Isaac understands this best in dreams, where words are not needed for interpretation, knowledge is gained by shape, color, and texture.

In dreams, planets and species spring up like erratic thoughts, put aside or remember, and their evolution evolves like thoughts.His dormant mind works like the universe works, how could it not be like this? Dimly heard words poured into his floating consciousness.a thousand years.This dust has fallen down before, ten thousand years ago, ten thousand years ago ten thousand years ago.The gigantic structures seeded space with their remnants, supplying the cyclical process of turning and turning like diamond facets.The dust will fall on the west, because the west is calling it, and it is calling Isaac.This planet is not Earth, it is older than Earth and exists in an older universe with ancient things living inside it.These things have no will, no mind, but can hear and talk, and throb with slow and long-lasting rhythms.

He can hear their voices.Some are very close, closer than ever. ☆ From dusk to night, the hotel beams and timbers groaned under the weight.The hotel sent someone to shovel things off the roof.However, the falling dust gradually decreased, and in the early morning, the air was much clearer, translucent like frost.Liz fell asleep despite trying to stay awake.She curled up on the foam mattress, the dust in her nostrils stinks, and sweat stains her face. She was the last to get up.She opened her eyes and saw that the fourth-years were all up and crowded in front of the two windows.The light coming in was dimmer than a rainy autumn day, but brighter than she had dared to ask for while the dust was still falling. She sat up, wearing yesterday's clothes, and her skin was covered with yesterday's mud.Her throat is very uncomfortable.Turk noticed and poured her a bottle of water, which she gulped down gratefully.what time is it now? About eight o'clock.The hours in Equatorial Islands are relatively long, and it is now eight o'clock in Equatorial Islands.The sun has been out for a while.The falling dust stopped, but it was still slowly settling, and there were still many fine powders in the air. How is Isaac? Anyway, it's not calling anymore.We're okay but you might want to look outside. Mrs. Rebuka stepped back to attend to Isaac, leaving the window to Liz.Liz wasn't very interested, but she took a look anyway. There seemed to be nothing surprising outside the window.There is only one dusty road, which is the road they drove the car to the limit yesterday.The car stopped in place, but the sand had piled up into dunes on the windward side.Its radiant steel tires were still bulging, as big as the tires of the heavy industrial trucks parked behind it for shade.The sky was dark and dusty, but she could see at a glance that the road to the gas station a few hundred meters to the south was empty, and a few faces were also looking out from the outside windows.Nothing happened. No This is not quite true. Dust is moving. Beyond the courtyard, on the gray and empty road, she saw what looked like a whirlpool begin to take shape.A piece of dust about the size of a dining table began to swirl in a clockwise direction. what is that? Dr. Duvali, who was standing next to Turk, said: Just watch. Turk put his hand on her left shoulder, and she reached out her right hand to hold his hand.The dust turned faster and faster, the center of the vortex sank, and then gradually slowed down.Lise didn't like what she saw.It's unnatural, dangerous, or maybe it's just something she picks up from other people: They know what's going to happen, they've seen it before.whatever it is. Then the dust exploded like a geyser, shooting a column of dust about three meters high into the air.She gasped and backed away unconsciously. The dust that spewed out feathered in the wind and finally merged into the thick clouds in the air, but when it gradually dispersed, it was obvious that the geyser had left something, something shiny. It looks like a flower.A ruby ​​tweed!Lise was amazed.The stalks were smooth and had a texture that reminded her of the skin of a newborn baby.The stalks and flowers are an equally hypnotic crimson. Turk said: This is the latest one. The flower began to bend and writhe, turning its convex head toward some melodic and inaudible tune.Lise's flustered thoughts automatically jumped out of the word flower, because it really looks like a flower, with a huge stem and a corolla made of petals.She knew she was thinking of the sunflowers in her mother's garden in California, which were about this height when they were about to set. She said: Are there many such things? Yes. Where?What happened to them? Just wait and see.Turk said. The flower turned its head towards the hotel.Lise stopped gasping, and she saw what looked like an eye in the center of the flower.It was round and gleaming with watery light, and inside it was what seemed to be a pupil, black as obsidian.For a terrifying moment, he seemed to be looking straight at her. Is it like this on Mars?Dr. Duvali asked Su Lian.Moai. Mars is countless light-years away.Where we are now, hypothetical intelligent beings have been around for much longer.What grows on Mars is less active and looks different.But if you ask me if this is a similar phenomenon, then the answer is: yes, probably. The sunflower with eyes suddenly stopped moving.Basti Town, covered by falling dust, was silent, as if holding its breath. Then, to Lise's great horror, there was more movement in the dust, flying curls and puffs of falling dust all concentrated on the flowers.Something and a few things were rushing at the stems with frightening speed.They're constantly moving, she can only vaguely say they're crab-like, lake-green, have lots of feet, and what they're doing to the flower is eat it. Gnaw at its stalk until the writhing thing collapses, then surges up like a piranha on a carcass.After a crazy meal, there is nothing left.No clues were left. That's why we don't want to leave this room.Dr. Duvali said.