Cat and Rose - Cat & Rose - Chapter 46 - Cycle and Begin Again (8)

Chapter 46 – Cycle and Begin Again (8)

Ling Yi woke early today, washed up, grabbed a tube of nutrient fluid to suck on and said he was leaving to find Tang Ning and Vivian. Lin Si looked like he wanted to say something to him, but he only smiled helplessly and let him go.

Tang Ning was helping little Vivian install an emotion module. As the simulated emotions required a shocking amount of computation, he only imported some positive emotions for now. Under the effects of those emotions, Vivian expressed great affection for Ling Yi, and they made a promise that he would come play with her every morning.

A new day began where seldom anything was different from the previous. The Skeleton debugging was wrapping up its final stages, and they were already approved to be employed officially. The last batch of cryogenic freezing technology was moved to the ground base, and so the modifications for the Expeditioner were all complete. It was now an independent spaceship that could voyage to the faraway stars.

The passengers of the Expeditioner were around four hundred people in total, with two hundred having undergone the “limitless”genetic modification programme. For maximised resource conservation, the Expeditioner adopted a similar freezing method as the Voyager, where in the early period only one-hundred people would be active on the ship, while the rest would be defrosted according to necessity.

Reportedly, the entire military of Area 3 practically fought for the remaining two hundred seats on the ship until their heads bled.24 After rounds of selection, the ones chosen were the topmost elites.

The Colonel was anticipating take-off very much. After Area 2 had checked and approved the resource inventory, his entire being was infected by the atmosphere of pre-expedition, and was on the verge of yelling at the window: “The stars! My destination!”

This action that would evoke countless sidelong glances from people was not carried out in the end, because when the poor Colonel had just finished brewing his emotions, someone patted on his shoulder.

The Colonel’s body stiffened, at the same time, his sharp sense of smell allowed him to recognise a slight costus root scent. This type of perfume was very special and distinctive, only used by Lin Si on some occasions.

Immediately, the Colonel expressed an unusual obedience that did not match his burly figure, and like a fat cat held by its scruff, he followed Lin Si into the office.

“Doctor, what’s the matter?” the Colonel closed the door, asking in a flattering tone.

Lin Si sat back at his desk, examining the Colonel from top to bottom.

Even though the Colonel’s brazenness and toughness were the traits he was most proud of, when facing Lin Si, he appeared very obedient.

The stainless white dress shirt buttoned to the top, the cold gaze, the fingers that operated various precision instruments—often made him feel as if Lin Si was someone from an entirely different world than himself.

“You’re excited?” Lin Si asked flatly after he completed his inspection.

“Of course,” replied the Colonel.

A hovering screen opened in front of Lin Si; it was the celestial atlas for the voyage.

After the Expeditioner set off, it was to navigate through the subspace near the small planet ER-1836, losing communication with the base. There would be three stops in the middle, five extractions, as well as several dozens of exploration missions of mineral stars. Then finally, they would arrive at the target planet to proceed with detailed exploration.

According to the early observations and analysis, the elemental composition of this planet was highly complex, and it would potentially have highly varied terrains and climates. This meant that the exploration work would be more difficult, but it would also mean it was highly probable that it would be a suitable planet for living.

The entire voyage was expected to last at minimum for six to ten years, and at most, indefinitely.

“According to calculations, without considering the environmental factors of the target planet, your survival rate is around sixty-percent,” said Lin Si. “We don’t have enough voyage experience, so our model’s result will be somewhat inaccurate. I applied to Area 1 for five-hundred host computers to build a mini universe simulator, and along with Lucia’s support, we can likely raise the probability by another ten percent.”

Naturally, the Colonel would do his best regardless, but he truly did not mind when it came to these probabilities, “As long as you’re here…”

“This is what I wanted to speak to you about,” Lin Si said flatly. “The situation is very complicated right now. I spoke with both Madam Chen and Marshal. I’m afraid I cannot go on the voyage with you all.”

The Colonel was stunned for a moment. “Then…”

After a long time, the continuation arrived. “Then what about us?”

Although the Colonel always acted somewhat timid when facing Lin Si, in reality, he did not hate him, and even trusted Lin Si very much. It was the same with the people from “limitless”; they had many interactions with Lin Si, and thus were knowledgeable about his work style and behaviour. During voyage, many accidents and problems would occur, so at this time, Lin Si’s unique, swift, machine-like precision and judgement would act as the best calming medication.

“You’ll take Lucia’s core hardware with you, and you’ll also be equipped with scientific researchers from various fields,” said Lin Si. “Lucia’s management ability surpasses any living person. There’s no need to worry.”

The Colonel frowned. Evidently, he was unable to fully trust a machine intelligence like Lucia. One could imagine that in the future, he would have to experience a painful period of harmonisation with her.

However, Lin Si did not worry about the same problem. He had already known of Lucia’s abilities ever since the time he escaped from the black hole. If the Colonel spent some time with her, he would definitely come to realise it too.

“If there’s an emergency, will Lucia be able to make the best judgement? She hasn’t gone through this kind of test.”

“A person’s thinking comes from neurons in their brain, while Lucia’s thinking comes from her arithmetic unit. Our neurons have limits, but she doesn’t.” Lin Si crossed his arms as he spoke steadily. “There’s a common saying in the science world—’quantitative change leads to qualitative change’. In some sense, her judgement is more trustworthy than mine, especially after the recent enhancements where her autonomy has increased.”

The Colonel was still unable to accept it. “We still hope for you to be able to set sail with us.”

“Last night, we discovered an issue in the basement storage room. The Berlin virus was just a step away from leaking out,” Lin Si suddenly said.

The Colonel’s eyes widened.

“Madam Chen hopes I can stay in a good research environment, the Marshal thinks I’m dangerous, so they both don’t want me to go with the Expeditioner,” said Lin Si flatly. “This is not a complicated issue, but I will have to make some choices.”

The Colonel pondered for a moment, then said, “So what you mean is that the Voyagers are facing an intrigue?”

“You can put it that way. But for now we have zero leads. We can only try to prevent it. For example, the fact that I’m staying can counter some potential biohazard risks.”

“I understand now.” The Colonel’s expression became grave. Then he asked, “What about Ling Yi then?”

***

There were currently four people in Tang Ning’s workshop.

Vivian was currently installing an emotion module; her full-body hologram leaned on Ling Yi’s body quietly, her eyes shut, the long golden eyelashes hanging low.

Tang Ning was looking at the hovering screen.

Lucia’s full-body hologram—the golden-haired female knight in white armour stood there quietly, her azure blue eyes wide open, like the still, waveless surface of the water.

Even though she was just a projected image, her appearance and posture elicited an ice-cold aura of holiness to surge from her figure.

Ling Yi looked at her. Lucia returned his gaze.

The two exchanged stares, both completely unmoving. There was a sense of uncanniness to it.

On the screen, translucent codes surged through like waves. When the progress bar at the bottom reached the end, Lucia’s hologram disappeared into thin air like the ripples that disappeared on the water’s surface.

At the same time, Ling Yi raised his head to look at the ceiling, as if he could see information flow swiftly running all over the spaceship in an instant.

“Hello,” a dignified masculine voice rang out. “This is the navigation system ‘Voyager’. Please input your command.”

Tang Ning was about the key in the command, but then turned to the doorway with Ling Yi at the same time.

The sound of a cup shattering could be heard from Zheng Shu’s room next door. Tang Ning got up and walked over—he had always paid close attention to Zheng Shu.

Ling Yi also followed. Zheng Shu’s room door was unlocked, Tang Ning knocked once, then pushed the door open adensend went in.

Zheng Shu sat with his back facing the entrance. As expected, he had broken a glass, but he did not tidy it up, and instead simply stared at the computer screen in front of him.

Tang Ning walked over. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Zheng Shu’s face looked pale. “The computer suddenly black-screened while I was writing the key code, so I lost control.”

“My bad.” Tang Ning picked up the glass shards on the floor, gathered them and threw them away. “Just now I withdrew Lucia, then activated ‘Voyager’, so there might’ve been some fluctuation.”

“It’s alright.” Zheng Shu restarted his computer. “It wasn’t too difficult to write.”

“Sorry.” Tang Ning observed Zheng Shu, likely to confirm he had not been cut by the glass shards, then turned to leave the room. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Thanks,” said Zheng Shu.

Ling Yi felt that there was something wrong with Zheng Shu’s expression, so he turned to glance at him before he left—Zheng Shu happened to be looking at him as well.

That gaze held many mixed emotions Ling Yi did not know how to describe.

After returning to the workshop, Tang Ning opened up the metal wall, and from within countless complex mechanical components, took out a flat, black box of decent volume that looked very heavy.

“I will install this on the Expeditioner,” said Tang Ning. “This is Lucia’s core hardware. You must protect it well during your voyage.”

Ling Yi nodded.

He remembered Tang Ning had said before that Lucia’s powerful management ability could not leave this core hardware created by the last batch of scientists. She could not be copied, and could only exist on one spaceship, unable to service both the Voyager and the Expeditioner.

He did not know when, but Vivian had woken up, and was eyeing the black box where Lucia was stored, her voice chirpy, “Can I take over the spaceship now?”

“No,” Tang Ning said flatly. “The ship will be controlled by the initial system ‘Voyager’.”

Voyager—this was the system equipped at the very beginning, with the same name as the ship. When Lucia appeared, it was gradually replaced, but Area 3, which was affiliated with the military, had always used it, as the system had a distinctive military style—cold and hard, strict and impenetrable. Lucia’s navigation and analysis ability was absolutely faultless, while its security and safety measures were extremely outstanding.

At present, Lucia was installed on the Expeditioner ship, so the initial system “Voyager” had reinstated its management.

Vivian made a “hmph” sound, evidently unwilling to give up.

Tang Ning, who was typically taciturn, made a rare explanation. “It’s the Marshal’s order.”

Vivian ignored him. “I’m angry!”

Ling Yi glanced at her, surprised, then said to Tang Ning, “Did you install negative emotions in her program?”

“No.” Tang Ning looked at Vivian. “Maybe she went through some inverse operation…a machine’s intelligence always works in unbelievable ways.”

A person’s everything, from their emotions, thinking, to even their humanity could be accomplished by machines through mathematical operation. The only difference was that the human’s mathematical unit was limited, but a machine’s was infinite. As to whether quantitative change would lead to qualitative change, there was no solid answer to this question. The spaceship’s leadership board had always monitored these types of cutting edge programmes; the moment it touched the borders of ethicality, it would be halted—for instance, with Lin Si’s “limitless”.

However, the researcher would not consider these problems to begin with, they would only feel astonished and excited by their accomplishments. At this moment, Tang Ning was expressing this evident delight, entrusting Ling Yi to deliver the black box to the Expeditioner while he began to investigate the new codes produced by Vivian’s emotional operation.

Ling Yi hugged the black box tight, walking through several areas, then entered the innermost regions of the Expeditioner. When he reached the outside of the master control room and was about to open the door, he heard muffled voices from within. It was the Colonel and Svena who were speaking. The soundproofing of the door was very good, even Ling Yi, with his hearing, could not hear the voices clearly.

But in the next instant, Svena raised her voice.

“What are you saying?” she asked the Colonel. “Lin Si isn’t coming with us?”

Ling Yi froze.

*

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