After listening to Arel's description, Bai Yi was puzzled by the order to transfer him.
Since we are short of manpower right now, why should we pull ourselves back to do a seemingly insignificant test?
"It is imperative to keep the will of those guarding the border intact."
Arel's explanation of this was just a scripted one.
"The Solar System Defense Force must ensure that all border guards are under the supervision of the Galactic Alliance to avoid any errors caused by procedural errors."
Although Arel was just reciting the manual, Bai Yi was still a little nervous, especially when he heard the last sentence about avoiding errors caused by programming errors. He even began to suspect that the other party had already known his identity and had taken him back to control him.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea because he had previously asked several other border guards and also found out from his own database that every border guard would be monitored regularly.
Some are remote, while others need to be done locally. This is mainly determined by the circumstances, and there is no particularly strict definition of the interval.
The shuttle exited the warp and they had arrived at the site of the former Leontopodium stargate.
The engineering troops belonging to the Second Fleet have arrived at the scene. They have built a long temporary acceleration track not far from the old site of the New Gate, which points directly to the star gate on the other side of the Leo Head constellation.
Although it cannot completely replace the star gate, it can greatly shorten the spacecraft's flight time.
During the time when the shuttle was approaching the acceleration track, Bai Yi had been observing the outside environment through the cabin window.
This was the first time he had returned here since the Battle of Leontopodium.
It must be said that the building materials of the Star Gate are quite durable. After experiencing the zero-point explosion and the space-induced collapse, it was not annihilated, but simply broke into several pieces.
Engineering ships are working around the broken wreckage, trying to salvage some valuable parts from the wreckage and use tractor beams to move the remaining debris away to make room for the subsequent reconstruction of the stargate.
The acceleration track was activated, jumping lightning swayed desperately outside the window, and the huge energy pushed the shuttle to accelerate.
As the shuttle's speed increased, the stars outside the window gradually changed from dots to a line. Then, the secondary jump engine fully started, and the shuttle entered the subspace again.
With the help of the acceleration track, this round of jump will take much longer, but the distance traveled will be longer.
Even so, reaching the other side of the door still required 12 more jumps. When the jump reached the sixth time, Arel took out a medicine bottle from his pocket, poured out two blue and white capsules from it, stuffed them into his mouth, and swallowed them with water.
"What is that?"
Bai Yi asked curiously.
"A kind of warp protection drug. It seems to be able to regenerate cell telomeres or something... We flesh humans are not as good as you. Continuous warp travel will take a toll on our bodies."
"Then why not change it."
Bai Yi pointed at himself.
"Isn't your prosthetic technology very advanced?"
Arel raised his right hand and tapped his head with his index finger.
"You can change your body, but you can't change this place. What do you think is the essence of consciousness?"
"Um... a pattern of brain wave activity?"
"That's basically correct, and it's the foundation of modern brain science."
Arel agreed.
"But there's a problem. We already understand what causes brain waves, and current technology can replicate the exact same wave patterns. But we can't transfer a person's consciousness into another body."
"It means you can only copy it."
Bai Yi summarized it concisely and clearly.
"That's right."
Arel showed a helpless expression.
"Although human brain cells constantly die and regenerate over centuries, and each of us is a Ship of Theseus, to me, this conscious individual, I am still myself. This is perhaps the narrowness of intelligent life."
"I understand."
Bai Yi nodded. He himself had traveled through time. If someone told him now that the Bai Yi in Border Guard was just a replica, and that his original self was still living a 996 schedule, getting up early and going home late, and spending the weekend in the hospital with IV drips, he wouldn't be able to accept it.
Arel was quite surprised by Bai Yi's words.
"You know what? I think you're very different from the other border guards."
"How do you say that?"
"You're the only one willing to talk to me about these vague philosophical things. Others are more concerned about the current situation of the galaxy or their own future plans."
"Perhaps."
Bai Yi took over the conversation with a guilty conscience.
"After all, the physiques of border guards and other border defenders cannot be generalized."
Arel laughed twice when he heard this.
"You are indeed an interesting person."
While chatting and laughing, the shuttle finally completed its last jump, and the two arrived at the other side of the Leontopodium star gate.
However, what appeared before Bai Yi was not the magnificent star gate as he had imagined, but a long string of spaceships.
"This is the closest transportation hub to the border."
Arel pointed at the spaceships outside the window and said.
"Due to the spread of war, residents of nearby planets are evacuating through this stargate, so there might be some congestion."
It's the interstellar age and there are still traffic jams.
Bai Yi complained bitterly in his heart.
He looked at the fist-sized star gate in the distance, thinking that the traffic jam was already nearly a thousand kilometers long, and he didn't know when it would be his turn.
And while he was waiting, new spaceships continued to join the traffic jam. They lined up behind the shuttle that Bai Yi was riding, keeping to the closest safe distance.
Just as the team was slowly moving, someone suddenly started advertising on the local public channel.
"Still suffering from traffic jams? Still worried about wasting time? Take a look at the newly launched Stargate Link service. It offers priority access to private stargates, and direct access to major galaxies for as little as 800 quantum coins!"
Bai Yi was attracted by the advertisement, but someone immediately followed the advertisement and started cursing.
"Bullshit! Don't believe this company! It's a scam. My wife and I went on a road trip to Lalgong last time. We agreed on 1,500 quantum yuan and even signed the contract."
"When we arrived, they said my wife was overweight and would have to pay an extra 500 yuan to get through. This is pure price gouging!"
"That's right."
Someone immediately agreed.
"I was also badly tricked by them last time. When I got there, they told me that the star gate was under maintenance and asked me to stay in a nearby hotel for one night. I could leave early tomorrow morning."
"Brother up there, is the hotel rotten and rundown?"
"Not really. The hotel itself is quite nice, but the price is... 200 quantum yuan a night."
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