Chapter 16 14

did you take a napLi.Hunter asked me. asleep. Hope you are having some sweet dreams.Hunt said there was no attempt to hide his sarcasm, or his comments on people who sleep in when all parts of government are busy. Not necessarily.I said, glancing around as we ascended the wide staircase to the dining room. On Wanxing.com, every town in every province in every country on every continent boasts a four-star restaurant.But for the few real gourmets among the tens of millions of people, and the gourmands who have enjoyed exotic restaurants in two hundred worlds, no matter how famous the restaurant is on Wanxing.com, the best one is the Tree Top Restaurant.

In a world of tall trees, the tree-top restaurant sits atop one of the dozen or so tallest trees, occupying the tops of many acres, at least half a mile above the ground.The staircase that Hunter and I climbed was about four meters wide, hidden by dense branches as thick as a boulevard, surrounded by leaves as big as sails, and a main trunk illuminated by a spotlight, vaguely in the gaps between the leaf clusters It can be seen that it is steeper and larger than most mountains.The treetop restaurant has a dozen or so dining platforms, which are set in the shade of the trees on the upper level, and the positions are differentiated by class, privilege, wealth, and power.Especially important is power.In a society where multi-millionaires abound, even if a lunch at the treetop restaurant costs a thousand yuan, there are millions of people who can afford it. Therefore, the final decision on status and privilege is power, which is forever. Unfading popular currency.

Tonight's feast is on the highest level, a wide and curved weir wood platform (because the cedar can't be stepped on), you can see the lemon yellow sky, the endless treetops extending to the distant sky, and the tree house of the templar and the soft orange light of the chapel, through the distant hedge of swaying foliage in green, ochre, and amber.There were about sixty people at the dinner; I recognized Senator Korchev, his white hair glistening in the light of Japanese lanterns, and Counselor Elpidus, General Mopurgo, Admiral Singh, Temporary Chairman Danger︱Hite︱Amin, Speaker of the Council of All Things Ji Peng.There are also a dozen or so stars such as Draco 7, Tianjin III, Nordholm, Fuji, Little Renaissance and Renaissance, Middle Texas, Maui︱Covenant, Hebron, New Earth , and Eccleon and other powerful senators in the world of Wanxing.com, as well as a group of smaller politicians.Action artist Shi Bensai.Reynolds was there too, in a dazzling maroon velvet gown, but I saw no other artists.Instead, I saw Terina P. on the other side of the crowded platform.Wingely︱Fife, the former publisher-turned-philanthropist, still stands out in an evening gown made of thousands of petals of leather as thin as silk, her blue-black hair wavy Standing tall in the air, but the evening dress was designed by Tadi Kai, the make-up was dramatic but not out of place, and her appearance was low-key enough even fifty or sixty years ago.I made my way to her through the crowd, all the guests jostling on the second-to-last platform, picking up drinks at the numerous bars, waiting for the party to begin.

Joseph, dear, Wingely︱Fife watched me walk the last few yards, how did you get invited to such a dreadful gathering? I smiled and offered her a glass of champagne.This noble queen of literature and fashion recognized me only because she spent a week at Hope Star Art Exhibition last year, and also because of me and Sha Meng.Brevi III, Milin.Di.Havel, and Redmith.Celebrities such as Colbeier and Wanxing.com are friends.Telina was a dinosaur that wouldn't go extinct. If it weren't for the makeup, her wrists, palms, and neck would be blue from repeated Posen life-extending treatments, and she spent decades participating in short jumps The interstellar roaming style, or go to those beauty bathhouses that are so secret that they don’t even have a name to do the frighteningly expensive vitality treatment, the result is Terina.Wingely︱Fife has occupied the social stage for more than three centuries, and he has no intention of letting go.Every twenty years of beauty sleep, her wealth increases and her legend grows longer.

Do you still live on that horrible little planet I visited last year?she asked. hope star.I said.Knowing that she knew exactly where every important artist in that unimportant world lived.No, I seem to be moving to Tianlun Five now. Wingely︱Ms. Fife grimaced.I vaguely noticed eight or ten lingering people watching intently, wondering who that impertinent young man had managed to infiltrate her inner circle.It's too scary for you, Terina said, to live in a world full of businessmen and government bureaucrats.I hope they let you escape soon! I raised my glass to toast her, I want to ask you, I said: You used to be Martin.Cylenos editor, huh?

The queen put down her wine glass and gave me a cold look. For a moment, I imagined Mena.A battle of wills scene between Graystone and this woman: I shuddered and waited for her answer, dear boy, and she said: That's ancient history.Why do you bother your beautiful young head with such trivial matters of prehistoric times? I am very interested in Cylenos, I said: I am interested in his poems, I am just curious to know if you still have contact with him. Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, Wingely︱Ms. Fife reproachfully: Poor Martin has not been heard from for decades. Well, the poor fellow is ancient!

I didn't point out to Terina that when she was editor of Thelenus, the poet was much younger than she was. It's odd that you mention him.She continued: My former company, Internet Publishing, has recently been considering publishing some of Martin's work.I don't know if they contacted his residence. His Dying Earth?As I said that, I thought of the nostalgia for Yuan Earth that sold so well back then. Oddly enough it wasn't this one.I believe they wanted to publish his Psalms.Terina said.She laughed and produced a joint from a long ebony holder, and one of her attendants hurried to light it for her.It was a strange choice, she said: think of poor Martin's Psalms, which were never read when he was alive.Alas, there is nothing more useful to an artist than a little death and disappearance, as I always say.She laughed again, squealing like metal on stone, and the half-dozen people in her little circle laughed with her.

You better make sure Cylenus is dead, I say: The Psalms would be much better if they were all done. Terina.Wingely︱Fife looked at me very strangely, the bell to start the dinner came from among the trembling leaves.Spencer.Reynolds asked the noble lady to take his hand, and everyone walked up the last staircase leading to the stars.I finished my glass, left the empty glass on the rail, and went upstairs to join the others. After we were all seated, the president and her entourage also arrived.Graystone gave a short speech, which was probably her twentieth time this day, not counting the speech to the Senate and Wanxing.com in the morning.Tonight's banquet was originally held to thank the Yamagasta Relief Fund for its successful fundraising, but Graystone's speech soon turned to war, emphasizing the need to go all out, the need for a quick victory, and All leaders everywhere in Tenstar Network are to unite.

As she spoke, I looked over the railing.The lemon-yellow sky has turned into a dark crocus color, and then quickly faded into a tropical night, so thick that it seems that a thick blue curtain covers the sky. There are six small moons in the Valley of the Gods, Five could be seen at this latitude, and four moons were crossing the sky just as I watched the stars appear.The air here is almost intoxicatingly oxygenated and vegetal, reminding me of a morning trip to Hyperion.But in the valley of the gods there are no electromagnetic vehicles or floaters, or such aircraft. Petrochemical emissions or fusion tracks have never polluted the skies here and there are no cities, roads, or electric lights. , and make the stars appear bright enough to rival the Japanese lanterns and balls of light hanging from the branches and pillars.

After sunset the breeze picked up again, and now the whole tree swayed slightly, the great platform swayed like a ship on a sea with only waves, and the pillars and railings of cedar and weir logs made soft noises.I see the lights in the treetops in the distance and know many of them are from the rooms a few of the thousands rented by templars whoever can afford this luxury with a million down payment Add this to his dwellings on worlds connected by portals. Templars do not personally handle the day-to-day work related to treetop restaurants or rental brokers, but set strict and inviolable ecological regulations and conditions for all this, but they receive hundreds of millions of dollars from these enterprises. Benefit.I thought of their Star Cruises World Tree, a kilometer-long tree from the holiest forest on the planet, fitted with Hawking space-jump thrusters, and powered by the most complex shields and ears it could carry. Gree field to protect.For some unknown reason, the Templars had agreed to send the World Tree to participate in an evacuation mission that was only used as a smoke screen for the Tyrant Task Force.

And just like the situation that might happen if the body of a thousand gold stands in a dangerous hall, the World Tree was destroyed on the way around Hyperion. Whether it was the attack of the Ousters or other reasons, it is still unclear. Inconclusive.Did the Templar react?For what purpose did they risk it in one of the four treeships?Why their tree boat captain Heite.Mastine would have been chosen as one of the seven pilgrims of the Thorn God, and then disappeared before the sailboat reached the Horseshoe Mountains on the Grass Coast? There are so many problems, and the war has only been going on for a few days. Mena.Greystone has finished his speech and invites us all to a feast.I clapped my hands politely and summoned a waiter to refill my glass.The first course was a classic salad from the Empire period, which I devoured eagerly.Only then did I realize I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.I cut open a sprig of cress and thought of Theo.While Magister Lane ate meat and eggs and herring, the rain fell softly from the blue sky of Hyperion.Is that a dream? What do you think of this battle, Mr. Silveren?asked Reynolds, the action artist, sitting a few seats across the wide table from me, but his voice was crystal clear.I see Terina, sitting three seats to my right, raise an eyebrow at me. What can one think of war?I said and took another sip of wine.The wine is good, but there is nothing on Wanxing.com that compares to the French wines I remember.War needs no judgment, I say: just survive. On the contrary, Reynolds said: like so many things that humans have redefined after the Sanctuary, war has become an art form. an art form.A woman with short chestnut hair sighed.I know from the data circle that she is Suditi.Ms. Zill, aka Gabrielo.Bless Dole.The wife of Senator Korchev, she is also very powerful in the political arena.Lady Zill was dressed in a blue and gold brocade gown, with a fascinated expression on her face.War is an art form, Mr. Reynolds!What a wonderful concept! Spencer.Reynolds was a little shorter than the average height of Starnet, but he was very handsome. His clothes and creature creations are very expensive and dazzling, but not weird, and his demeanor is the relaxed and confident attitude that all men dream of, but few people achieve. His wit is obvious, and his focus on others is very sincere. And a sense of humor is well known. I found myself hating the son of a bitch on the spot. All is an art form, Ms Zill, Mr Silveren.Reynolds smiled: Or it will definitely become an art form.We have moved beyond the stage where war is seen only as a crude means of presenting policy in other ways. diplomatic.Said General Mopurgo, who was sitting to the left of Reynolds. Excuse me, what did you say, General? Diplomacy, he said: and it was a continuation, not a presentation. Shi Bensai bowed slightly, and turned his hands in a small circle.Sutiti.Zill and Terina laughed lightly.The image of Counselor Elpidus leaning forward from my left and saying: I believe that's what Clausewitz said. 11 Clausewitz (Karl von Clausewitz, 1780︱1831): German military theorist and military historian, author of "On War", advocating that war is the continuation of politics, and put forward the concept of total war. I looked at the consultant, a projector no bigger than the shiny spider silk floating among the branches and leaves was two meters behind him, the projected image was not as perfect as in the government building, but it was better than what I saw Much better than any personal projection device I've ever had. General Mopurgo nodded to the intelligence core representative. Never mind, Zier said: The point is that the idea of ​​war as art is fantastic. I finished the salad, and a human waiter took the bowl away and replaced it with a dark gray soup that I couldn't identify. The soup was smoky, slightly scented with cinnamon and the sea, and very tasty. War is the perfect medium for an artist.said Reynolds, holding the salad fork in the air like a baton.And not only this, but also the craftsmen who have studied the so-called war science.He smiled at General Mopurgo and the other Overlord officer to the general's right, then dismissed them both.Only those who are willing to see beyond the bureaucratic constraints of strategy and tactics and an outdated will to win can truly use an artistically difficult medium like war in modern times. Outdated will to win?Said the overlord officer.The data circle gently told me that he was William.Argenta.Lieutenant Colonel Lee, a naval hero in the Maui|Covenant conflict.He looks very young, about fifty-four or five years old. From his military rank, it can be seen that his youth is due to the relationship between the stars for many years, not the use of Posen's life-prolonging treatment. Of course it's dated, and Reynolds laughed: Do you think a statue would try to beat clay?Does the painter attack the canvas?Or would an eagle or a toms hawk swoop into the sky? The eagles were extinct, Mopurgo muttered: Maybe they should have attacked the sky long ago, and the sky betrayed them. Reynolds turned back to face me.The waiter took away the salad he didn't eat and replaced it with the soup I was almost finishing.You are an artist or at least a painter, Mr. Sivellen, said: Help me explain to these people what I mean. I don't know what you mean.While I waited for the next course, I tapped my finger on the wine glass, which was filled in no time.I could hear Graystone, Hunt, and the presidents of the Relief Fund talking and laughing from across the dining table thirty feet away. Spencer.Reynolds didn't seem surprised by my ignorance.In order for our species to be truly enlightened, for us to progress to the next level of consciousness and evolution proclaimed by our various philosophies, all aspects of human behavior must become artistic pursuits. General Mopurgo took a long sip of his wine and grunted: I think it also includes physiological functions like eating, procreation, and excretion. Especially these functions!cried Reynolds.He opened his hands and gestured towards the long table and the delicacies on it.What you are seeing now is a bestial need to convert dead organic components into energy, the basic act of devouring other life, but the treetop restaurant has turned this into an art!Civilized humans long ago replaced the brutal animal courtship with dance.Excretion must also become pure poetry! I'll definitely keep that in mind next time I poop in the toilet.Mopurgo said. Terina.Wingely︱Fife laughed, turned to a man in red and black on her right and said: Your Excellency, you are Catholic, early Christianity, aren't you?Don't you have some brilliant old dogmas about the attainment of higher levels of evolution for humans? We all turned to look at the very quiet little man in the black robe and the strange little hat.Mgr. Edvard is a representative of the early Christianity that has been almost forgotten only on Ping An and a few colonial planets. The reason why he is on the guest list is because he and Yama Gast Rescue Project, and so far, he has been quietly drinking soup.He looked up, showing a slightly surprised expression on his face that had been weathered and worried for decades.Alas, yes, he said: The teachings of St. Teresa's 12 discuss evolution towards the ultimate point 13. 12. St. Teilhard de Chardin (St. Teilhard de Chardin, 1881︱1955): French paleontologist, philosopher, Jesuit priest, who advocates the theory of evolution, and believes that human beings evolve mentally and socially towards the ultimate spiritual integration.Advocates the mutual reconciliation of science and religion. The original text of 13 is Omega Point, and Ω is the twenty-fourth letter of Greek, that is, the last letter, so it has the meaning of ultimate. Is this ultimate point similar to the enlightenment of our Gnostic Zen?Sutiti.Zill asked. Monsignor Edouard looked longingly at his soup, as if that bowl of soup was more important than the conversation going on.Not necessarily very similar.He said: St. Teilhard believed that all life, every level of organic consciousness, is part of an evolution already destined for eventual merging with the divine.He frowned slightly. Over the past eight centuries, Teilhard's statement has been changed a lot, but the general truth is that we think that Jesus Christ is the best example of the ultimate idea in human beings. what it should look like. I cleared my throat, Jesuit Paul.Didn't Duhet write an article on the Teilhard Hypothesis? Monsignor Edvard leaned forward, looked over Terina and looked straight at me, with some surprise mixed on his interested face, hey, that's right, he said: But I didn't expect you to be so kind to Du Hei The priest's article is so familiar. I looked back at this man, he was always Paul.A friend of Douhet, even though Douhet was exiled to Hyperion for his apostasy, he did not change.I thought of another refugee from the New Vatican, the young Rainer.Hoyt, now lay dying in a time tomb, while two parasitic crucifixes carrying Doohey's and his own DNA did the horrific work of bringing him back to life.And why does the abominable cruciform fit Teilhard's and Douhet's theory of an inevitable and salutary evolution toward divinity? Spencer.Reynolds apparently felt that the conversation had gone too far off his stage, the point being, he said, his deep voice drowned out half a table of conversations, and war, like religion or anything like that that heavily organizes and uses human energies, Like human behavior, we must abandon the early concept of ding an sich (thing-in-itself) realism, which is usually expressed in the blind pursuit of purpose and presented in all its artistic aspects.Speaking of which, my latest project What are your religious goals, Mgr Edvard?Terina.Wingley|Fife asked, and without raising her voice or looking away from the priest, she took the subject of the conversation away from Reynolds. Help humans know and serve God, he said, finishing the soup with a loud noise.The very old-fashioned little priest turned his head to look at the image of the Elpidus advisor under the table.Mr. Advisor, I have heard rumors that the Intellectual Core hopes to achieve the same goal. You want to build your own gods. Is this true? Elpidus's smile was perfectly calculated, friendly and without condescension.For hundreds of years, it is no secret that the Intellectual Core has created a theoretical model of so-called artificial intelligence that far surpasses our own poor intelligence.He waved his hand, but that wasn't really a fetish, sir, but rather a research project on the possibilities that you Teilhard and Father Douhet created. But you believe it is possible to evolve yourselves to a higher consciousness?Lieutenant Colonel Lee, the naval hero, asked, listening intently.Design a supreme intelligence like we used to design your humble ancestors out of silicon and integrated circuits? Elpidus laughed.I'm afraid it's not so simple or so exaggerated, and when you are talking about you, Lieutenant Colonel, please remember that I am just a member of a great intelligence, just like this planet is actually anyone in the entire Ten Thousand Stars Network.Intellectual core is not an individual.There are as many philosophies, beliefs, hypotheses, and even religions as there are any collectives.He clasped his hands, as if thinking of some joke, though I'd rather consider the pursuit of supreme wisdom a hobby than a religion.It's like building a ship in a bottle, Lieutenant Colonel, or debating how many angels can stand on a needle, Monsignor. Everyone laughed politely, only Reynolds frowned involuntarily, no doubt thinking about how to regain the dominance of the conversation. What about the rumor that the intelligence core completely copied a meta-earth in order to have supreme wisdom?I asked, a question that surprised even myself. Elpidus's smile didn't change at all, and his friendly eyes didn't waver at all, but for a moment, something flashed in the projection, what was it?Shock?anger?Interesting?I have absolutely no idea.In that second, he can communicate with me privately, through my own connection with the intelligence core, or along the secrets we keep for ourselves in the data circle that humans think is designed to be very simple, but in fact it is like a maze channel, and send a large amount of information to me; otherwise he can kill me, as long as he gives an order to a certain god in the intelligence core who controls the environment where a person like me is, it is like the leader of the laboratory ordering the technician to eliminate A nasty lab rat. All conversation around the dinner table stopped.Even Mena.Graystone and her small group of particularly important guests also looked in our direction. Advisor Elpidus smiled even more happily.What a ridiculous rumor!Tell me, Mr. Silveren, how is it possible that anyone, especially an organism like the Intellectus, your own critics call a bunch of disembodied minds, some out-of-control programs, escaped their wiring, most of the time How can someone who can extract the thread of wisdom from their non-existent navel can completely replicate the meta-earth? I looked at the projection, saw through the image, and realized that Elpidus' plate and dinner were also projections, and that he had been eating as we spoke. Also, he continued, apparently thinking it was very amusing, did the people spreading the rumors ever think that the so-called complete copy of the Meta-Earth is actually the same as the Meta-Earth?What good is this effort doing to explore the possibilities of augmented artificial intelligence? Since I had no answer, there was silence in the middle of the table. Monsignor Edvard coughed lightly, and it seems that he said: You, er, a society that can completely reproduce any world, especially a world that has been destroyed for four hundred years, does not need to look for God at all; it is God itself. Not bad at all!Elpidus laughed and said: This is a crazy rumor, but it is very interesting and very interesting! Relieved laughter filled the hollows of silence.Spencer.Reynolds began to talk about his next project plan to let all the people who are about to commit suicide jump off the bridge of each world at the same time, and it will be broadcast live by the Everything Council Network and Terina.Wingely︱Fife put his arms around Monsignor Edvard and invited him to her floating mansion on the Boundless Ocean Star to attend the nude swimming party after the dinner, attracting everyone's attention again. I saw Counselor Elpidus staring at me, and when I turned around I saw Ri.Hunter and the president cast questioning eyes, then turned to watch the waiter bring the main course on a silver plate. This dinner was absolutely fantastic.