Chapter 13 11

I woke up when the shuttle boat landed.Hyperion, I thought, still separating my thoughts from the lingering dreams. The young lieutenant bade us good-bye, and went out first as soon as the hatch opened and the cool, thin air replaced the stuffy heat of the pressurized cabin.I followed Hunter out, past a standard jetty, through the parapet, and onto the blacktop. It's evening, and I don't know what time it is in local time, or whether the light-dark boundary on this planet has just passed or not at this point, but it feels and smells like it's late.It was raining lightly, with the salty taste of sea water and the fragrance of wet plants in the rain.Field lights were on in the far periphery, and several tall towers were lit, casting light curtains into the low clouds.Half a dozen young men in Marine Corps field uniform were rapidly unloading the ship, and I saw the young lieutenant talking hurriedly with an officer thirty yards to my right.This small space port looks like it came out of a history textbook. It was a colonial port in the early days of the Sanctuary.The original bomb crater and landing field stretched for more than a mile to the black hills rising to the north. Flyover bridges and towers equipped with signals were responsible for guiding the dozen or so military liaison ships and small aircraft around us. It is a standard military building, equipped with layers of antennas, ultraviolet protection force fields, and some floaters and aircraft.

I followed Hunter's gaze and noticed a floater coming towards us.The blue and gold spherical logo of Balian on the side is clearly visible in the flickering lights: the rain hits these moving forward bubbles, and is blown into a strong water curtain by the fan, and the floater stops When we got down, a transparent acrylic dome opened and closed, and a person came out and hurried across the asphalt towards us. He held out his hand to Hunter, Mr Hunter?I'm Theo.lian. Hunter shook hands with him and nodded to me.Nice to meet you, Governor.This is Joseph.Silveron. Lian En and I shook hands, and under contact, a familiar feeling suddenly struck.I thought of Theo.Lynn, thinking back to the young man's days as vice-consul; also thinking of the brief meeting a week ago, when he had greeted the pilgrims before they set off up the river on the floating yacht Benares.He looked much older now than he did six days ago, but the unruly lock of hair on his forehead was still the same, as were his antique glasses and his hasty but firm handshake. .

I'm glad you can come here, Governor Lane said to Hunter: I have several things that I need to contact the president. That's why we're here, Hunter said.He squinted his eyes to see the rain, we had about an hour, was anything dry? The governor showed a very young smile.It's like a madhouse here, even at five twenty in the morning, the consulate is under siege, but I know a place.He gestured towards the floating machine. After we lifted off, I noticed that there were two Marine Corps floaters following us, but I still didn't expect the governor of a territorial planet to drive his vehicle himself, and there was no bodyguard.Then I remembered what the Consul had told the other pilgrims about Theo.Lian talked about the young man's efficiency and self-effacing attitude, knowing that this kind of low-key behavior was the style of the young diplomat.

After we took off from the spaceport, the sun also rose, and the sun was shining brightly.The lower clouds were lit with pale greens, purples, and browns by the light bouncing up from the hills below, which snaked northward.The blue sky below the clouds to the east was the same breathless green and azure I remembered from my dreams.Hyperion, I thought, feeling a strong rush of tension and excitement in my throat. I leaned my head against the rain-soaked canopy and realized that part of the fear of heights and confusion I was feeling at this moment came from a weakened connection to the datasphere.The connection has not been interrupted. Currently, it mainly relies on microwave and FTL communication channels, but it has never felt so weak. If the data circle has always been the ocean in which I swim, then I really feel like I am in shallow water now.Perhaps it is more appropriate to use the puddle left after the tide ebbs.And after we got out of the confines of the spaceport and the microwaves there, the water got even shallower.I forced myself to focus on what Hunter and Governor Lane were discussing.

You can see the huts and sheds, Liam said as he tilted the fuselage a little so we could see the hills and valleys between the spaceport and the outskirts of the capital. It’s too polite to say that it’s huts and sheds. In the hills and deep valleys, there are plastic fiberboards, broken canvas, cardboard boxes, and broken foam latex. The scenic seven or eight mile road in the spaceport is now only the land that has been cleared for firewood and lumber for building huts, the prairie that has been trampled into mud, and seven or eight hundred thousand refugees lying in sight. Every little piece of flat ground.Smoke from thousands of breakfast fires drifting up to the clouds, and I could see movement everywhere, children running around barefoot, women fetching water from what must have been a very polluted stream, men Squatting in the open space, waiting in line to go to the makeshift toilet.I noticed that there were tall barbed wire fences and ultraviolet-rayed fences standing on both sides of the road. Every half mile, you could see military posts.On the highway and on the low-level flight path, there is a long line of camouflaged ground machines and floating skimmers of the Overlord Army going back and forth in both directions.

Most of the refugees were natives, Governor Lane said, though there were also thousands of landowners from the southern cities and plastic fiber farms of Aquila. Did they come here because they thought the Ousters would invade?Hunter asked. Theo.Lian glanced at Graystone's assistant.At first, he was panicked when he heard that Shizuka was opened. He said: Everyone believed that the Jing Demon God would come to kill them. Isn't it?I asked. The young man turned around in his seat and looked at me. The 3rd Army Corps of the Self-Defense Forces had driven north seven months ago, and he said: It didn’t come back.

You said that they were trying to hide from the Thorn Demon God at first, and Hunter said: Why did other people come too? They're waiting to evacuate, Liam said: Everyone knows what the Ousters and the Tyrant forces did to Brescia.If this happened to Hyperion, they didn't want to be here. You know that the Balian believes that evacuation is definitely the last resort, right?Hunter said. Yes, but we didn't announce it to the refugees.There have been several terrible riots now.The temple of the Thorn Demon God was destroyed by the mob siege, and someone used plasma batteries stolen from the mines in the mainland of the bear.There have been several attacks on consulates and spaceports in the past week, as well as food riots in Jacktown.

Hunter nodded and looked at the city that was gradually approaching.The buildings there are low, rarely more than five stories high, and the white and azure walls glisten in the slanting morning sun.Over Hunter's shoulder I saw the low mountains carved with the grim face of Sad King Billy, and down the valley the Hooli River meandered through the middle of the old town, then straightened and flowed northwest to the unseen bridle The mountains, and then meander to the Weirwood Marshes in the south, where I know the river will widen and flow down to the delta of the Horsehair Coast.After passing the sad refugee ghettos, the city seemed uncrowded and peaceful.But just as we started descending towards the river, I saw military vehicles, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and armed jeeps parked at intersections and parks, camouflage shields activated on purpose to make the machinery appear more Menacing, and then I saw refugees in the city: rough tents in the squares and alleys, thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks, like so many dirty laundry in dull colors waiting to be collected .

The population of Keats City two years ago was 200,000. Governor Lane said: Now, including the towns composed of small houses, it has nearly 3.5 million people. I thought there were less than five million people on the planet, Hunt said, including Aboriginal people. That's right, Liam said: Now you see why it all fell apart.The other two big cities, Port Romance and Andymion, are home to most of the other refugees. The plastic fiber farms on Aquila Continent have all been emptied, and are re-occupied by jungles and flame forests. There is no production in the agricultural belt on Oshima Island, or even if it is still producing, it is impossible to transport grain to the market for sale, because the private transportation network has been completely cut off.

Hunter watched the river come closer.What measures does the government take in response? Theo.Lian En smiled slightly, what do you mean I am doing?Well, this crisis has been going on for almost three years now.The first step was to dissolve the Autonomous Council and officially classify Hyperion as the territory of the Overlord Alliance.Nationalized the remaining transport companies and available routes as soon as I had executive power. Now only the military uses floaters here and disbanded the Self Defense Forces. Disbanded?Hunter said: I think you'd want to use them. Governor Lane shook his head.He lightly but confidently touched the full control button, and the floater circled and landed towards the center of Keats City.They were worse than useless, he said: they were dangerous.When the Third Battle Corps went north and disappeared, I didn't think it was a pity.As soon as the Union Army and Marines arrived, I disarmed the remaining Self-Defense Forces.They are basically the source of most robberies.We can have breakfast here and talk.

The floater flew low over the river, made a final turn, and landed softly in the courtyard of an old stone and wood house with imaginative windows: Cicero's shop.Lian En has not yet entered.Before Hunter introduced this place, I had already recognized this place from the experience of the pilgrimage group. The old house in the center of Jack Town, which combines restaurants, pubs and hotels, has four nine-storey buildings. There are balconies, columns, And the blackened weir-wood walkway bordered on one side the sluggish Huli River, and on the other the narrow lanes and alleys of Jack's town.Cicero's shop was older than Billy's face carved in stone, and its dark boxes and deep cellars were the consul's real home in exile. Stan.Ruwiski greeted us at the courtyard gate.Tall, with a face that had grown darker and more cracked with age like the stone walls of his shop, Ruewitzky was, like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Cicero's shop. damn it!The giant yelled, patting the viceroy and dictator who turned his back on the world on the shoulder so hard that Theo staggered.You get up early, huh?Bringing your friends over for breakfast?Welcome to Cicero's store!Stan.Ruwiski's giant ghost palm wrapped Hunter's hand, and then wrapped my hand. Under the warm welcome, I checked my fingers and joints for injuries.Or is it too late in Wanxing.com's time?He exclaimed: Maybe you want a drink or dinner! inside.Hunter squinted at the tavern owner, how do you know we are from Wanxing.com? Ruewitzki laughed so loudly that the weathercock on the roof turned.ha!Is it hard to infer?You came here with Theo when the sun was just rising Did you think Theo would send anyone here?And you are wearing woolen clothes, we don't have sheep here, I know that you are neither from Bajun nor from the plastic fiber farm!According to this inference, you are sent to the spaceship by Ten Thousand Stars Network, and then take the barge to eat delicious food.Hey, do you want to have breakfast now, or do you want to drink a lot? Theo.Lian sighed and gave us a quiet corner, Stan.I'll have bacon and eggs, and salted herring.What do you two want? Just coffee, Hunter said. Me too, I said.We followed the boss through corridors, up a short flight of stairs, down a cast-iron ramp, and through several corridors.The place was lower and darker, smokier, and more inviting than I remembered in my dreams.A few regulars looked up as we passed, but the place wasn't as lively as I remembered it to be.Apparently Lian had sent troops to drive out the last of the self-defense savages who occupied the place.We passed a tall, narrow window, and I glanced at a Union Army armored vehicle parked in the alley, confirming my hypothesis that there were indeed troops stationed here and there, apparently armed. This way please, Ruewitzki said, waving us into a small balcony overhanging the Huli River, from which we could see the gabled roofs and stone towers of Jacktown.Tommy will have your breakfast and coffee in two minutes.For a giant, he disappeared really fast. Hunter glanced at his comm recorder, we've got about forty-five minutes before we get back on the barge, let's start talking. Lian En nodded, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes.I found that he hadn't slept all night, maybe he hadn't closed his eyes for several nights.Okay, he said and put his glasses back on.What does President Graystone want to know? Hunter paused temporarily, waiting for a short man with white skin and yellow eyes to bring coffee in a deep and thick mug, and then put a plate of food that Lian ordered in front of him.Mr. Zai would like to know what is the order of your event processing.Hunter said: She also needs to know if you can hold out here if the fighting continues. Lian En ate something before answering. He took a big sip of coffee, and then fixed his eyes on Hunter.You can tell from the taste that this is real coffee, which is much better than most of the coffee grown by Wanxing.The first question is the last one.Lian En said: How long do you mean the continuation? several weeks. A few weeks, probably.In a few months, it will be impossible.The governor tried salted herring.You know the state of our economy.If it weren't for the supplies sent by the Bajun, we would probably have food riots every day instead of just once a week.There is no output under blockade.Half of the refugees wanted to find the priests of the Thorn Demon Temple and kill them, and the other half wanted to convert before the Thorn Demon God found them. Have you found those priests?Hunter asked. No.We believe they all escaped when the temple was blown up, but the relevant units could not find their whereabouts.Rumor has it that they headed north to Time Keep, the stone castle on top of the steep hill where Time Tomb is. I know that's not the case.At least, I know that during the period of time when the pilgrimage group stayed in the castle, they didn't see any priests from the Temple of Thorns, but there were traces of massacres there. As for our priorities, Theo.Lian En said: The first is to evacuate, the second is to eliminate the threat of the Ouster, and the third is to calm the fear of the Jing Demon God. inside.Hunter sat back on the shiny wood, the heat rising from the heavy mug in his hand.Evacuation is impossible at this time Why?Liam took the question like a whiplash. Graystone currently has no political power to convince the Senate and the All Things Council Network that Wanxing Network can accept 5 million refugees Nonsense, the governor said: In the first year that Maui︱Covenant Star became a territory, tourists flooded in with more than twice the number of residents there, and thus destroyed the unique ecology of the planet.Put us in Armagast or some desolate world until the scare of war passes. Hunter shook his head.His hound-hound eyes looked sadder than usual.This is not just a question of logic, nor is it a question of politics, but Jing Demon God, Lian En said, he cut a piece of bacon, the real reason was Jing Demon God. Yes, and there was also the fear that the Ousters would infiltrate the Ten Thousand Stars Network. The governor laughed.Was it because you were afraid that if you set up a portal here and let us withdraw, a large group of three-meter-tall Ousters would come here and sneak in without anyone noticing? Hunter took a sip of his coffee.No, he said: but that was indeed an opportunity for invasion.Each portal is an opening to the Ten Thousand Stars Network.Advisory boards have warned of such things. Well, said the younger man with the food in his mouth.Then use spaceships to evacuate us.Wasn't that why the task force was sent in the first place? That's the superficial reason, Hunter said: Our real purpose now is to defeat the Ousters, and then completely bring Hyperion into the Ten Thousand Stars Network. What about the threat of Jing Demon God? will be eliminated.Hunter said.He paused, waiting for a small group of men and women to pass by the balcony. I glanced up, started to bring my attention back to the table, then turned my head away abruptly.The group had disappeared from view in the hallway.That was not Miriot just now.Argentez?I interrupted Governor Lane's words. What?Oh, Dr. Argentez.Yes, do you recognize him, Mr. Silveren? inside.Hunter glared at me, but I ignored it.Yes.I said to Lian, although I haven't really met Arendez.What was he doing in Hyperion? His group came here six months ago, local time, to carry out a plan proposed by the Imperial University in Free State to conduct further research on Tokizuka. But Tokizuka is no longer allowed to study or visit.I said. Yes, but their instruments we allow data to be transmitted once a week through the consulate's FTL transmitter have shown a change in the anti-entropic force field near the time mound.Imperial University knew that Shizuka was opening, and if that kind of change really represented this matter, they sent top researchers in Wanxing.com to study this matter. But you didn't approve of them, did you?I said. Theo.Lian En smiled coldly, President Graystone did not approve them, and the blockade was directly ordered by Tian Lunwu.If it were up to me, I would veto the pilgrim's itinerary and let the working group in Argentez take priority.He turned back to talk to Hunter. I take my leave first.I said and slipped out of the box. I found Arendez and his team members, three women and four men, two balconies away. From their clothes and appearance, it could be seen that they came from different worlds in Wanxing.com.They ate their breakfast with their heads down, looking at their scientific communicators, arguing in jargon so abstruse that a Talmud scholar would be envious. Dr. Argentez?I said. What's up?He looked up, he was twenty years older than I remembered, already sixty-two or three years old, but his astonishingly handsome profile was still the same as before, with the same bronze skin, firm chin, Xin Curly black hair with just a few streaks of gray at the temples, and piercing hazel eyes.I can understand why a young schoolgirl would fall in love with him so quickly. My name is Joseph.Silveron.I said: You don't know me, but I know a friend of yours, Rachel.Wen Chaobo. Arendez stood up immediately, after apologizing to the others, grabbed my elbow and walked away until we found an empty box in a small room with a round window looking out on the red roof .He let go of his hand and carefully looked at me and my Wanxingwang clothes.He turned my wrist over, trying to find the blue marks that Posen's life-prolonging treatments were bound to leave behind.You're too young, he said: unless you know Rachel as a child. Actually, I know her father well.I said. Dr. Arendez exhaled and nodded, of course.He said: Where is Saul now?I have been trying to trace him through the consulate for months, and the Hebron authorities only say that he has moved away.He looked at me again, do you know about Rachel's illness? know, i said.Merlin's disease regressed her age, and her memory faded as the days and hours passed.Milio.Arendrez was also once part of these memories.I know you visited her on Barnard's Star fifteen years ago, standard time. Arendez frowned, that was a mistake, he said: I thought I could talk to Saul and Shari.He shook his head when I saw her.Who are you?Do you know where Saul and Rachel are now?There are only three days until her birthday. I nodded.Her first and last birthday.I looked around, except for the slight laughter from the lower floor, the corridor was empty and silent.I was sent here by the president's office to find the truth.I said: The news I got is Saul.Wen Chaobo and his daughter went to Shizhong. Arendez looked as if I had punched me in the temple.it's here?In Hyperion?He looked out at the roof for a while, I should have imagined that although Saul has refused to come back here, but after Shari died, he looked at me, do you have any contact with him?Are they okay? I shook my head.There is currently no radio or datasphere to communicate with them.I said: I know their Zhao is still safe, the question is, what do you know?What does your group know?The information of what happened at the time of the tomb may have a very important impact on their survival. Milio.Arendez combed his hair with his hands.If only they would let us go there!That damn stupid bureaucratic short-sightedness you say you're someone from Greystone's office, can you explain to them why it's important for us to be there? I'm just a messenger, and I said: But tell me why it's so important, and I'll find a way to get the news to someone. Arendez's hands were raised in mid-air, like invisible cups.His nervousness and anger were palpable.For three years, materials have been continuously transmitted to the consulate, and their precious FTL transmitters are only allowed to be used once a week.The data show that the anti-entropic force field in and around the Time Tomb, the Time Tide, is slowly but relentlessly fading and decomposing.The effect is weird, illogical, but stable.Our group was ordered here shortly after the disintegration began.We arrived about six months ago and saw the data showing that the chronograph was opening into the present dimension but four days after we arrived here, the instruments stopped sending data and all instruments stopped.We begged that bastard Liam to let us go out there and recalibrate the instruments and install new sensors, if not for us to investigate ourselves. It turned out to be nothing.Not allowed to go, not allowed to contact the university even because things will be much easier after the Tyrant's spaceship arrives.We tried to go up the river by ourselves without waiting for permission, but some of Liam's Marine dorks stopped us at the Carla Locks and sent me back handcuffed, and I was in jail for four weeks.Now we can walk around Keats City, but if we leave the city again, we will be locked up indefinitely.Arendez leaned forward.can you help I don't know, I said: I hope to save Wen Chaobo and his daughter, maybe you can bring the team members to the scene for the best.Do you know when those time tombs turn on? The chronophysicist made an angry gesture.Just as long as we have new material!He sighed.No, I don't know.It may well have been turned on, or it may still be six months away. Your so-called opening, I said: does not mean the actual opening? of course not.The Time Tombs were open when they were discovered and surveyed four centuries before standard time.What I mean by opening up is lifting the veil of time that has partially covered it, and bringing the entire complex structure into a level that is in sync with the local tide. What do you mean by local? Of course it means in this universe. And are you sure Tokizuka is going backwards in time from our future?I asked. Rewind in time, yes, said Arendez: as to whether or not from our future, we cannot say.We're not even sure what the so-called future will actually be defined in time or in substance.That could be a series of sine wave possibilities or huge dependent causal series, or even But no matter what it is, I said: Where did Shizuka and Jing Demon God come from? Tokizuka was sure.The physicist said: I don't know anything about Jing Demon God.My personal thought is that it is a myth, born of our various religions' craving for superstition as a fundamental drive. Even after what happened to Rachel, I said: You still don't believe in the Thorn Demon God? Milio.Arendez glared at me.Rachel contracted Merlin's Disease.It was an anti-entropic aging disease, not bitten by a mysterious monster. There is nothing mysterious about the bite of time.I said that I was also surprised that I had such a self-righteous philosophical thought.The question is, will the Thorn Demon God, or whatever power is taking hold of the time tombs, return Rachel to the local time tide? Arendez nodded, and turned his gaze to the roofs outside.The sun hid in the clouds, the morning light dimmed, the color of the red tiles faded, and the rain began to fall again. And the question is, I surprised myself and said: Do you still love her now? The physicist turned his head slowly and glared at me angrily.I feel that the counterattack is likely to be a physical rise, peak, and decline.He reached into his coat pocket and took out a snapshot of a beautiful gray-haired woman with two teenage children.My wife and children, Milio.Arendez said: They are waiting for me at Renaissance Star.He pointed at me with a thick finger. If Rachel can recover today, when she grows up to the age when we first met, I will be eighty-two years old in standard time.He put his hand down and put the photo back in his pocket.Yes, he said: I still love her now. Ready to go?The voice broke the silence, and I looked up to see Hunter and Theo.Liam stood by the door.The shuttle boat will leave in ten minutes.Hunter said. I stood up, and Milio.Arendez shook hands.I will try my best.I said. Governor Lane sent us back to the spaceport in one of his escort floaters while he returned to the consulate.The military floater was no more comfortable than the Governor's plane, but it was much faster.When we were seated on the shuttle, Hunter said: What did you talk to that physicist about? Just re-establishing an old relationship with a stranger.I said. Hunter frowned.What did you promise him to try his best to do? I felt the feeder vibrate, jerk, and leap as the launcher shot us into the sky.I told him I would try to get him in to visit a friend who was sick.I said. Hunter kept frowning, but I took out my sketchbook and sketched various scenes in Cicero's shop until, fifteen minutes later, we landed on the space jump ship. It is quite shocking to go directly back to the high-level office of the government building through the portal, and take another step to the lobby of the Senate, Mena.Graystone was still addressing a packed audience, video and PA systems beaming her speech to Everything.com and hundreds of millions of waiting citizens. I checked my timer, it was ten thirty-eight and we'd only been gone for ninety minutes.