112·? ? ? :Swimming
After a moment of silence, Tim Drake heard an anthropomorphic sigh from the main brain.
"That's a good thing." The main brain slowed down its flashing frequency, not feeling threatened at all. "Good cooperation is based on sufficient information exchange."
"——Only if you respect our rules. Participants in the 'Pioneering' project should not be aware of the plan's contents."
Even though no other living creatures now exist in the world, the Elder Brain still knows that it should not let the wildebeest crossing the river see too much of the dangers below - this will cause their progress to stagnate, putting them in even greater danger.
"Since you've mentioned the timeline, you're certainly aware of the impact a small change will have on the subsequent events..."
"In every timeline, AAA21504202 doesn't know her future. Are you sure you want to create a new timeline with unpredictable consequences right here and now?"
“…”
Aria, who was hiding behind Drake, finally tugged at his hand. The force wasn't strong, but it was enough to remind him of his presence.
"It's okay!" She raised her head and tried to comfort Red Robin: "I was just a little worried that you were scared so I secretly came over to take a look, but you are very brave! You behaved very well!"
"If you were in a training camp, you would definitely be the first one to graduate."
"So..." She showed a smile that was completely inconsistent with her age: "I will retreat first... You can talk to the system slowly..."
Derek grabbed her hand.
What the mastermind said made sense, but Drake would not allow objective barriers to appear between the two of them and become an obstacle to building trust.
In this unknown and unfamiliar environment, if one had to choose someone who could be trusted, Red Robin had already chosen one from the very beginning.
"Xiao A," he repeated the story, confirming once again, "I won't hurt you."
"...But for our own good, could you please close your eyes and cover your ears for a moment while I talk to it?"
"No need to go to such lengths." The main brain finally revealed the second half of the information: "Every member of the pioneering project has an implanted chip. If you want to block your hearing and vision, you only need to gently stimulate the corresponding brain area."
It was said lightly, but the hand holding Aria silently tightened its grip.
"I think we should provide some room for interpretation," it said sympathetically. "After all, communication can solve most problems—if they haven't been solved, then the communication must be inadequate."
What if he didn't say it? Drake swallowed his unfinished words.
——As the main brain flickered several times, Aria tightened her grip on his hand.
Then, as if the universe had exploded again, a flood of information was siphoned away by Tim Drake.
...Perhaps being mediocre at first could avoid such brutal indoctrination, Tim Drake thought before being overwhelmed by the flow of information.
…
"Perhaps the exploration was a mistake from the start. We've tried everything: Kryptonian civilization, Martian ruins. We've searched everywhere we could, and brought back everything we could gather. But is Kryptonian technology behind ours? Are the Azyr people inferior to us? But they all died out! Everything turned to dust and ruins. Teacher, when a civilization is doomed to destruction, no amount of struggle is worth it."
Tim Drake could tell from a sigh that this came from an elderly woman, very old, so old that every breath she took caused her lungs to vibrate in panic. But after a long silence in response to the young man's questioning, she persisted, "Perhaps we're just looking in the wrong direction."
This is no longer home, the universe will collapse within a calculable period of existence, water is highly toxic, inhaled gases will damage the lungs, and all extraterrestrial exploration has ended in silence.
...If Tim Drake were to sum it up, he would say this is the end of a civilization.
But this group of people obviously did not want to wait for dusk to fall, so they started a desperate struggle based on the existing technology.
This was the beginning of the pioneering project.
The old life quickly fell from the tree, ending its life, but the young people picked up her path. After several generations of succession, the pioneering plan expanded in all directions like mycelium, and only a single branch survived through rounds of practice and elimination.
Tim Drake knew that there were countless parallel worlds in the universe and had dealt with the crises brought about by the interaction of multiple universes, but when he saw this bold and even arrogant plan, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
By integrating the remaining technologies from various alien ruins, they want to establish a stable connection with parallel time and space.
Spider silk may break because it cannot bear such a heavy weight, but a spider web that spans the abyss can support this precarious universe.
"This is the most crucial part of the mid-term plan." The Mastermind's voice echoed in his ears, like a ghost unwilling to leave. "So, visitor, you should understand how important AAA21504202 and others like her are to us."
Not everyone has an isotope in a parallel world. Among the countless paths branched out by choices, there is always an existence at the end of the branch - other isotopes either died in accidents, or the random events that led to their birth did not happen in this universe. Under all the accidents and randomness, Aria became a souvenir unique to this universe.
"Like 'The Instant Universe'?"
Because of the ultimate failure, countless possibilities can be derived, becoming the origin of the universe's travel. Similarly, because all possibilities are lost, Aria's travel will not cause turbulence in time and space, becoming the key to the safe implementation of the initial stage of the plan.
The main brain let out an anthropomorphic laugh, which made Drake even more certain that this was the future of human civilization. "What a glorious old time..." it sighed, "Back then, we always thought that humans could take everything for granted..."
"Actually, I'm talking to all the previous pioneer program leaders right now, right?"
Then the friendly voice gradually twisted, like a tightened rope loosening, the voices of women and men, old and young, intertwined, one after another.
"A very clever visitor." The main brain flashed blue light, looking very satisfied. "Then our future cooperation will be much easier."
"We already know your intentions, but correcting the impact brought about by Lei Xiaogu may require some preparation."
It was unknown what the mastermind communicated to her, but AAA21504202, who was excluded from this conversation, puffed out her chest.
"In order to help you adapt as quickly as possible, I will send this year's best trainee executive to assist you."
…
"This is the remote sensing device, this is the control panel, and this is the data page. Okay, now you know how to fly an aircraft, come and try it."
Tim Drake: "..."
Well, now he knew where Aria's erratic nature came from.
Fortunately, the operation was not complicated. After the initial exploration, Red Robin was able to use his previous driving experience to drive the small aircraft out of the suspension cabin and park it in the target circle.
He had more or less figured out the structure of the base - it was a ring-shaped structure built on a dying Earth. Small shuttles would depart from a certain hatch and reach their destination after a series of jumps across several stars.
According to the main brain, they are now going to the planet where the complete computing system is located to correct the error.
…
"But that place, or rather, most places, are actually not suitable for us to survive. So that's the Mastermind's 'home,' not ours." Aria skillfully stuffed a pile of energy bars into the shuttle's storage room. Noticing Drake's gaze outside the cabin, she picked up one and tossed it to him: "Want to try it? This is my favorite flavor."
"I thought you would be more frugal with your resources." People in harsh environments usually don't pay too much attention to the taste of their food. The fact that she can pick and choose means that her life is not too bad so far.
This realization made Tim Drake more or less relaxed. After all, judging from the description of the main brain, Aria's living environment was not optimistic.
In the early days of the coal mining industry, canaries were often placed in glass boxes by coal miners and brought into mines as carbon monoxide detection tools because they were more sensitive to toxic gases.
The glass box also contains an oxygen tank, which means the canary can be reused repeatedly. It also means that the yellow-feathered bird will faint and wake up several times in this box until it completes its mission.
With the Mastermind's hint, it was hard not to suspect that Aria was one of the "canaries" of the pioneering plan... No, perhaps the farmer never thought of hiding it, but most of the time her extraordinary endurance and energy made many people ignore this.
Including him.
…
Tim Drake stopped thinking in time because Aria, with messy hair, ran towards him and squatted beside him like a mushroom.
"We are already on the road. Will you feel bored? I have collected a lot of things that can help me kill time..." Mushroom chattered incessantly. Every mission made her particularly excited. After all, this was a rare opportunity to leave the base and go to a wider world - even if the outside world was dangerous.
"Do you like looking at the stars? I've set the top cabin to transparent mode. This way, when we fly through the asteroid belt, we might see migrating Tiyangkai whales. They look a bit like the AR75, but they're much larger."
Little A gestured, trying to make Drake understand the relationship between the Tiyangkai whale and the ship, but he did not answer.
After a pause, she heard him murmur, "...I think they look a bit like jellyfish."
Outside the top cabin was the silent and dark space. At such an empty and boring moment, the Tiyangkai giant whale came into everyone's sight.
The luminescent surface gave the slowly drifting tentacles a dreamlike quality, their movements through the universe like living creatures wandering the ocean that nurtured them. At the forefront were the pups of the tribe, and at the rear was the tribe's mother—or perhaps it should be called the tribe's mother. As she passed the shuttle, her tentacle brushed against the upper deck in a warning. After confirming that the metallic monster held no ill will toward the tribe, the seemingly violent tentacle wriggled away.
Aria was very sad: "You are lying, I just celebrated the Moonlight Jellyfish Festival in Stardew Valley, and jellyfish don't look like this."
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