A handful of soil
The diary entry ended abruptly with just this one line, and the handwriting was extremely disorganized.
It can be seen that Xu Lan must have felt very conflicted and tormented when he wrote this line.
When they turned to the next page, they realized what the quarrel was about.
Generally speaking, researchers at the research center are divided into two views. One group is conservative. They believe that since an alien planet could send a handful of soil in such a short time, it proves that the scientific research capabilities of that planet have long exceeded their imagination. For the safety of all mankind, they have the responsibility to stop this unsafe research in time.
The other group believes that as researchers, they should put the spirit of scientific research at the forefront of everything. Now that they have a wonderful opportunity to explore a more advanced civilization and even understand the truth of this vast universe, shouldn’t they strive towards the highest ideal of scientific researchers?
Regarding the outcome of the quarrel, Xu Lan wrote in her diary:
"In the past, we arrogantly thought that even if the aliens had a higher level of intelligence and scientific research than us, it was only a tiny bit. But from this day on, we suddenly realized that as early as when we both sat on the two ends of the scale, the scale was undoubtedly tilted towards them."
"Finally, the research center couldn't make up its mind, so it consulted its superiors. The superiors adopted the views of both sides and ordered us to suspend contact with the alien planets and no longer reveal any information about the Earth and other planets to them. But at the same time, the work of the Aksai Extraterrestrial Civilization Research Center will not end. We need to continue researching the existing materials, especially the soil from the alien planet."
“This is a collision between morality and scientific spirit. No one can judge the right and wrong of the two sides, nor do we know where the choices we make today will lead humanity in the future. I just hope that the result will not be too bad.”
Date: May 28, 2086
Unfortunately, everything we did was too late.
God still didn't favor us.
Yesterday, the first patient appeared in the research center. He is a new doctoral student who joined the group this year. He is usually devoted to scientific research and doesn't like to talk, but he is calm and steady in his work and has high academic achievements.
When he was discovered, he bit all the mice in the laboratory to death.
We were really scared when we saw his mouth full of blood.
We thought that this tense and anxious environment had driven him crazy, but soon there was a second case, a third case...
Soon, the number of crazy people reached twenty and was still increasing.
They were isolated, but more and more people outside showed similar symptoms.
The symptoms of their madness are different, but the only thing they have in common is——
They were all people who came into contact with the soil directly or indirectly during their research.
Date: June 1, 2086
Oh, they admitted it.
They admit it without even having to be asked repeatedly.
Is this the arrogance that comes from being a superior race?
No need to even hide it!
I know what I'm saying is unclear, but I'm really emotional and I just can't calm down.
Of course, in order for this diary to be understandable to future generations, I will try to write it as clearly as possible.
Do you remember that I said that the alien race has been undergoing dramatic evolution, so that it has split into hundreds of tribes, and even reproductive isolation has occurred among them?
They predicted in some way (they originally used the word "prediction", but I guess it was calculated by big data model): in a few hundred years, their population will be completely extinct because they cannot reproduce.
So when they discovered that we were sending signals into the universe, they came up with a way to keep their species going.
They want to occupy the human body and then use human reproduction to continue their population!
So they brought this handful of soil.
That is not the soil at all, it is the medium that enables them to descend!
This is why so many researchers have mental problems. Hahahahahahaha, when someone else's mind is forced into your body, how can there not be confusion? It's a blessing in disguise to be able to take back control of your body occasionally!
The aliens said that this was because the human body was too low-level, and their spirits directly intruding would make the body uncomfortable, which was why so many obvious strange symptoms appeared.
They are sad that if the human body had evolved, incompatibilities would not be so easily detected.
Although, even if they were discovered, it wouldn't be a big loss for them...
But, what are we?
Are they the bodies of these superior races?
Where are our souls, our thoughts, and our minds placed? !
Hahahaha.
I really want to laugh.
The universe has a hierarchy, just like satellites orbiting planets, and planets orbiting stars. It's like they can easily play with our planet from above.
But, should we be played like ants?
Even at any cost.
any price.
We also find ways to resist.
Date: June 18, 2086
The madness has spread from within the research center to the outside.
From doctors to police, everyone is busy.
But fortunately, we seem to have come up with a solution that is not a solution.
Since mud is the medium for aliens to arrive, what if we seal it?
Although we can't send the soil to light years away, and it may not be useful if we just scatter it in the universe closer to us, we can seal the mines they have painstakingly sent to us!
Have all the research on microbial-grade isolation materials been in vain?
Just do it!
We need to use the most sophisticated insulating materials to seal the soil, and in order to avoid any gaps or cracks, a spherical shape is the best choice.
In order to give the earth a symbol of eternity, we decided to make the sphere look like a globe.
Date: August 1, 2086
They found out.
They figured out what we were going to do.
They are very angry.
But this just proves that we are heading in the right direction.
The "Globe" is about to complete its final storage. When all the dust settles, they will be driven back to their planets!
Date: August 7, 2086
The aliens sent us a message saying they were going to punish us.
We don't care about punishment.
Our individual and even collective life and death are insignificant compared to the freedom of all mankind.
The alien sent a message:
"Forgotten, but what?"
But what about forgetting?
Forgot?
Will all of humanity forget we exist?
Date: August 9, 2086
I can already feel the death knell beckoning me.
As the first and possibly the last group of people in the world to know the truth, we finally did two things.
First, we deposited the sealed globe in the Imperial Palace Archives, which was the safest storage option we could imagine.
Second, if we are destined to be forgotten, then the next person who walks into Aksai is likely to be an enemy rather than a friend, so we try to place a physical device in every room of the research center that induces sleepy behavior in people.
Hopefully, even after hundreds of years, the evidence of humanity’s past battles against powerful interstellar civilizations will still be intact and preserved as much as possible.
Date: August 10, 2086
Today my son pestered me to tell him a story, so I simplified the story of the alien planet and told it to him.
I replaced "for reproduction" with "their planet will be destroyed". After all, who can talk about reproduction to such a young child?
But to my surprise, he asked me how to deal with them. Before I could think, I blurted out: "If it were me, I would probably write a diary."
It was not until this moment that I realized that the original intention of writing this diary was to achieve this purpose.
Date: August 16, 2086
Tomorrow is Xiaocheng’s birthday.
I have fulfilled my most important responsibility as a scientific researcher.
Now, I also need to fulfill my responsibilities as a mother.
I want to spend a happy birthday with him.
It seems like I haven’t seen my son for many days. I miss him so much.
Anyway, I'll see him tomorrow.
If anyone sees this, please tolerate a mother's longing for her son.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t tolerate it.
Because - I will record every detail of my son's birthday in a journal tomorrow.
So even if readers don’t want to tolerate it, they are forced to tolerate it, hahaha!
You'll be able to see him tomorrow.
Really looking forward to it.
…
Xu Cheng turned to the next page of the diary, but saw only a complete blank.
The diary has ended.
No ledger, no record of life, nothing.
Because, on the day he happily went to the research center to celebrate his birthday, his mother and all the other scientific researchers were killed.
Even my memory of her faded over the years, and I only recovered a small part of it today.