And the result:? The President of the PDC and the representatives of all the permanent members of the PDC looked at him and smiled at the face of the wall; a large crowd in the square gathered around him, and in their eyes the children showed fantasy, the middle-aged people reverence, and the old people care.
But his plan is anti-human. Don't believe it's his real plan? Why? Because he's the recently departed US Secretary of Defense? And what does Manuel Radiaz, a fellow face of the wall, face after he admits his true plan?
All but the title are excerpts from Cixin Liu's Three Bodies novel.
The 'Daredevil' section is particularly good.
Dark Forest excerpt: Daring Spirit
When the blindfold was removed from Tyler's eyes, he didn't squint because he wasn't accustomed to the light; it was dark; in fact, even with very bright lights, it was still dark because the light was absorbed by the rock walls; it was a cave.
Taylor smelled medicine and saw that the cave was set up like a field hospital, with many open aluminum boxes neatly filled with medicines; there were also oxygen tanks, a small ultraviolet sterilizer and a portable shadowless lamp, as well as several medical instruments that looked like portable X-ray machines and pacemakers. All of them looked like they had just been unpacked and were ready to be boxed up and taken away. Taylor also saw two automatic rifles hanging on the rock wall, but they were similar in color to the rocks behind them and not easily visible. Two people, a man and a woman, walked past him expressionlessly; they weren't wearing white coats, but they were definitely doctors and nurses.
The bed was at the end of the cave, and there it was all white: the drapery behind it, the sheet covering the old man in the bed,
the old man's long beard, the scarf on his head, and even his face, all white, where the light, like a candle, hid part of the white and gilded the other part with a weak golden glow, and actually made the scene look like a classical painting depicting a saint.
Tyler spat darkly, damn damn, how could you think that!
He made his way to the sickbay, trying to overcome the pain in his hipbones and inner thighs to keep his stride dignified and steady. He stood still in front of the hospital bed, standing in a bit of disbelief at the reality of the man he and his government had been dying to find all these years. He looked at the pale face of the old man, which was indeed, as the media had said, the kindest face in the world.
People are a strange thing.
"It is an honor to meet you." Taylor said with a slight bow.
"I am honored as well." The old man said politely, not moving, his voice thin as silk, but as pliable as spider silk, hard to pull apart. The old man gestured to the edge of the bed at his feet and Tyler carefully sat down there, he wondered if it was a sign of closeness as there really was no chair beside the bed either, the old man said, "Tired from the road, first time riding a mule, huh?"
"Oh no, rode one once before when I visited the Grand Canyon of Colorado." Tyler said, but his legs didn't wear out so much that time, "Are you well?"
The old man shook his head slowly, "As you can no doubt tell, I won't live much longer." His deep eyes suddenly let out a hint of mischief, "I know you are one of the last people in the world to want to see me die of illness, I'm really sorry."
The sarcasm in the latter statement stung Taylor, but what was said was indeed true. Taylor's greatest fear used to be that this man would die of illness or old age. The Secretary of Defense had prayed more than once for a U.S. cruise missile or a Special Forces bullet to land on the man's head before he died of natural causes, even if it was just a minute early! Natural death would be this old man's ultimate triumph and tragic defeat in the war on terror, and now the man is approaching that splendor. In fact, there was a time when a Predator drone captured his image in a remote mosque compound in the mountains of northern Afghanistan, and he could have made history by maneuvering the plane straight into it, not to mention that the drone was carrying a Hellfire missile. "But the young officer on duty, after identifying the target, didn't dare take the decision, so he asked for permission to go in, and when he looked back, the target had disappeared. At that time was called up from the bed Tyler anger, growling the family's precious Chinese porcelain fell to pieces ......
Tyler wanted to divert this embarrassing topic, the suitcase with him to the edge of the bed: "I brought you a small gift. "He opened the suitcase and pulled out a set of hardcover books, "This is the latest Arabic edition."
The old man pulled out the bottom one with a thin, dry hand with great effort: "Oh, I've only read the first trilogy, and the later ones were bought by someone at the time, but I didn't have time to read them, and then I lost them ...... really well, oh, thank you, I like them very much. "
"There is such a legend that you are said to have named your organization after this set of novels?"
The old man put the book down gently and smiled slightly, "Legends let them remain legends forever, you have wealth and technology, we only have legends."
Taylor picked up the book that the old man had just put down, and turned to him like a priest with a Bible, "I came here this time to make you Shelton (the protagonist of American science fiction writer District Sack Asimov's masterpiece, The Base .) ."
That mischievous teasing gleam reappeared in the old man's eyes, "Oh? What should I do?"
"Keep your organization preserved."
"Preserved until when?"
"Preserved for four centuries, preserved until the Battle of Armageddon."
"Do you think that is possible?"
"It is possible if it keeps developing itself, allowing its spirit and soul to infiltrate the Space Force, and your organization will end up being part of the TAF."
"What makes you think so highly of it?" The sarcasm in the old man's words grew heavier.
"Because it is one of the few human armed forces that can use life as a weapon against its enemies. As you know, the basic science of mankind has been locked up by Homo sapiens, and accordingly, the advancement of computers and artificial intelligence is limited; in the Battle of Armageddon, the space fighters still have to be maneuvered by people, and the ball lightning weapons need to be attacked in close proximity, and this is something only armies with that kind of courageous and death-defying spirit can do!"
"So what did you bring us this time, besides these books?"
Taylor excitedly stood up from the bed, "That depends on what you need, I can provide everything you need as long as it keeps your organization in existence."
The old man waved his hand for Tyler to sit down again, "I pity you, after all these years you don't even know what we really need."
"You can tell."
"What's that?"
Taylor was silent.
"On the one hand, our hatred of the West has subsided due to having the **** same enemy; on the other hand, the whole of humanity that the Tritons are trying to wipe out includes the West that we once hated, and for us, it is a pleasure to die with them, so we don't hate the Tritons either." The old man spread his hands, "You see, hatred, a treasure more valuable than gold or diamonds, the sharpest weapon in the world, is gone now, and you can't give it to us, so the Organization won't live much longer, as will I."
Taylor remained speechless.
"As for Shelton, his plan shouldn't work either."
Tyler let out a long sigh and sat back on the edge of the bed, "So you read the back part?"
The old man raised an eyebrow in surprise, "No, I really haven't read it, I just thought so. What, did the Shelton plan fail in the book too? If that's the case, the author is a marvelous man, I had thought he would write a happy ending, may Allah bless him."
"Asimov has been dead for years."
"May he go to heaven, either one of them ...... Alas, wise men die young."
Dark Forest Excerpt: the Wall Breakers of Frederick Taylor
Taylor had been in a state of agitation lately, often descending into underground repositories up to two hundred meters deep to watch the macro-atomic nuclei that had been collected dance for eternity amidst the forbidding magnetic fields. The dance of these linear objects had an intensely hypnotic effect, and he often stared at them for hours, only then feeling peace of mind.
Electromagnetic launch rails in space were also being built, and they were progressing quickly, but Taylor was not paying much attention to them because large-scale experiments with ball lightning and macro-atomic fusion could only be conducted in space, and the only way into space now was still conventional launch. The space elevator is still in the technology research phase, the international cooperation needed for the huge investment is going hard, and the conventional launch capability needed to build it is not available right now.
So in the meantime, mankind will have to continue to improve the stone axes and clubs of the Space Stone Age: chemically propelled rockets.
All Tyler could do was wait, and so he returned home to live a normal life for the first time in the five years he had been a Facer.
*****
On this day, Tyler has a visitor.
.....
The humble wretch uttered his first words in a winsome voice, and Tyler, as if struck by a bolt of lightning, almost fell to the ground from vertigo, for whom every word of the sentence thundered. "Frederick Taylor the Facebreaker, I am your wallbreaker."
.....
"I begin with a brief description of the strategy you have shown to the outside world: to build a space force independent of Earth's main fleet. Use ball lightning and macro-atomic fusion as your primary weaponry."
.....
"The first thing I noticed is that you have spent a lot of energy and time touring the world, looking at armies and other armed forces of various countries, trying to find the spirit of self-sacrifice that remains in human societies, and to form a space force with that spirit. This preoccupation with the spirit of sacrifice seems a bit excessive and unusual. Of course, you have your own explanation: ball lightning and macro-atomic weapons require close proximity to the target, have a higher casualty rate relative to other space weapons, and thus require a spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of the participants."
"What's wrong with that?" Taylor asked, raising her head from the couch.
"There is nothing wrong with it, it makes sense, but that reasonableness is only for the strategy you show to the outside world."
Wallbreaker bent down, brought his mouth close to Taylor's ear, and continued in a lower voice, "But in your real strategy, the situation changes slightly: if this space kamikaze or space base organization is actually established, then they will not be deployed into your ball lightning fleet, but will be part of Earth's main fleet, which, of course, you would prefer to be wish to be all of it."
Tyler's last hope was dashed, he already knew what was going to happen behind him. And chose to remain silent; there was really no need for him to say anything else after that.
But the Wallbreaker kept talking, and the wind from his mouth blowing into the base of Taylor's ear had not a trace of heat to it, as if it were blowing from a ghost, and smelled of the grave: "Your Ball Lightning fleet doesn't need fighters like that, because it isn't even the Triumvirate fleet that this fleet is ultimately going to be attacking. It is attacking the main Earth fleet."
Tyler continued to be silent, his face as hard as stone as he waited for the executioner's butcher knife.
"At some point close to the Battle of Armageddon, when the Earth fleet is standing by, ready to strike, there will be a super-space Pearl Harbor, a devastating attack that will come from a direction they never dreamed of, from someone they never dreamed of. The light of macro-atomic fusion will be lit up in the spaceport with such high fusion energy that it will look like countless suns, and in the midst of these blue suns, the Earth's main fleet will go up in smoke and disappear into space as countless quantum phantoms. At that point, you get what you want: an Earth fleet in a macroscopic quantum state. To put it in more understandable terms for the general public: you want to wipe out the Earth's Space Force, leaving their quantum phantoms to fight off the Triumvirate fleet. You consider them invincible, because a fleet that has been destroyed cannot be destroyed again, and people who have died cannot die again."
The butcher's knife fell, and Taylor remained silent, but he was mentally disemboweled.
"So the spirit of self-sacrifice that you sought to promote was not in the war against the Lord, but to ensure that the quantum ghosts of those space soldiers, after they had been killed by their own fellow human beings, would still endure the humiliation and still take it upon themselves to save Earth's civilization and continue on with those missions that should have been accomplished by the ones who were alive. You did not initially plan a final surprise attack on the main fleet; you wanted the space fighters to voluntarily resort to macro-atoms and dissolve into the quantum state along with their warships. However, after traveling around the world, you were thoroughly disappointed with the dedication of modern humans and came up with this extreme strategic plan. It is envisioned that after the attack, as long as a portion of the quantum fleet is able to fight and the rest of the fleet does not turn against humanity, there is hope for victory . However, I believe that there is little hope and that you are taking a big risk. But, according to the principles of the Facade Program, risking is the safest thing to do in this war."
The wallbreaker straightened up and moved away from Taylor, pacing to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looking out at the gardens. The hellish wind he had blown into the base of Taylor's ear was gone, but the chill had penetrated Taylor's entire body.
"Frankly, Mr. Taylor, you're not up to snuff as a Facer. In the realm of strategic deception, the Normandy landings were your last glory, and afterward, the might of the United States deprived its leaders of many things, including the subtlety and duplicity required for war tactics, because you no longer needed them. Nor could this ability be restored when faced with an enemy whose power was greater than yours, and your strategy lacked the twists and misdirection and the traps of deception, and was overly blunt, so that you became the first face of the wall to be broken."
Tyler wanted to say something, but the knot in his throat moved and no words came out.
"But, Mr. Taylor, you are not useless, and you have surprised me in one way: by resolutely abandoning the moral bedrock of modern society, and by remaining steadfast throughout your actions. It is not easy, and I express my admiration, but at the same time I must warn you: you are committing murder."
.....
As the wallbreaker pulls the door open, Taylor asks again, in a stiff voice: "If what you say is true, so what?"
Wallbreaker turned back to the door, once again displaying that executioner's gentle thoughtfulness, "Nothing will happen, Mr. Taylor, the Lord doesn't care whether the Earth fleet is in a collapsed state or a quantum state, or whether the human space fighters are living or quantum ghosts."
Dark Forest Excerpt: Strange Circle Getting Away
Lo said, "In the early days of Ball Lightning research, there were people who turned into the Quantum State, could you manage to get in touch with them?" He thought to himself, "Say it even if it doesn't make sense, just think of it as verbal gymnastics.
"Of course I tried, without success, and those people haven't been heard from in years. There are many legends about them, of course, but every one of them was eventually proven untrue, and they seem to have disappeared forever, which may have something to do with what physicists call probability cloud divergence."
"What's that?"
"The probability cloud of macroscopic quantum states spreads out in space over time, becoming thinner and thinner, making the quantum probability of any point in reality smaller and smaller, and eventually the probability cloud disperses evenly throughout the entire universe, so that the probability of a quantum state person appearing at any point in real space is almost zero... ...There are, of course, many other theoretical and technical problems, all of which I expect to be gradually solved during these four centuries, but now, judging from the attitude of the enemy toward the project, it may all be meaningless, and to ignore it would be the greatest of contempts. But that is not the greatest blow to me."
"What is that?" Law felt like a pointless conversation machine.
"The day after the wallbreakers appeared, a full analysis of my strategy appeared online, millions of words of information, a good portion of which came from Tomoko's monitoring information, and it caused a big stir. The day before yesterday, the PDC held a hearing for this purpose, and the resolution made at the meeting was this: the Facade Program must not have any content that harms human life, and if this program of mine really exists, then the executors of the program have committed a crime against humanity, and they must be stopped, and the corresponding Facers will be sanctioned by the law as well. Listen to this, they used the word anti-human, a word that has been used more and more over the years. The resolution concludes by saying that, in accordance with the basic principles of the Facer program, the evidence that has emerged from the outside world so far may be part of the Facer's strategic deception, and does not prove that the Facer actually developed and is executing such a program, so I am not subject to the charges."
"That's what I thought." Law said.
"But I declare in conference that the analysis of the wallbreaker was accurate, that quantizing the Earth fleet was indeed my strategy, and I ask to be tried in accordance with international law and the laws of my country."
"I can imagine their reaction."
"The PDC Chairman-in-Office and the representatives of all the permanent members looked at me with the same smile that they give to the Facers, and the Chairman declared the meeting closed. The bastards!"
"I know the feeling."
"I was completely devastated and stormed out of the meeting, rushed outside into the square and screamed, I am Frederick Taylor, the Facebreaker! My wallbreaker had successfully debunked my strategy! He was right! I'm going to wipe out the Earth fleet with ball lightning! I'm going to turn them into Quantum Ghosts to fight! I will kill! I'm anti-human! I'm evil! You punish me. Kill me!"
"Mr. Taylor, it makes no sense to do that."
"A large crowd in the square gathered around me to look at me, and in their eyes, the children showed fantasy, the middle-aged showed reverence, and the elderly showed care, and their eyes all said: look, he's the Facer, he's working, and he's the only one in the world who knows what he's doing, and look how well he's doing it, and how much he pretends, and how the enemy can possibly probe his How can the enemy detect his true strategy? And how great is that strategy which only he knows and which will save the world ...... Ah shucks! These idiots!"
Law finally decided to remain silent, and he smiled wordlessly at Tyler.
Tyler stared at Law, a hint of a smile rippling across his pale face, finally developing into a hysterical maniacal laugh, "Hahahahahaha, you laughed, at the facehugger, one facehugger laughing at another facehugger! You too think I'm working, you too think how much I'm pretending, that I'm continuing to save the world! Hahahahaha, how did we get put in such a comical position?"
"Mr. Taylor, it's a loop we can never get out of." Law sighed softly.
Tyler suddenly stopped laughing, "Never get out of it? No, Dr. Law, there is a way out of this, there really is, and I'm here to tell you about it."
"You need to rest, rest here for a few days." Luo said.
Tyler nodded slowly, "Yes, I need to rest, Doctor, only we can understand each other's pain, that's why I came to you." He looked up, the sun had gone down for a while, Eden was blurring in the twilight, "This is heaven, may I walk to the lake alone?"
"You can do whatever you want here, just relax and I'll call you for dinner later."
After Taylor walked off towards the lake, Law sat down and fell into heavy thoughts.
These five years, he was immersed in a sea of happiness, especially the birth of his child, which made him forget everything in the external world, and the love for his lover and his child melted together, making his soul y intoxicated. In this isolated and tender land, he fell deeper and deeper into the illusion that the external world might really be something like a quantum state that did not exist unless he observed it.
But now the abomination of the external world appeared openly in his Garden of Eden, terrifying and disorienting him, and unable to think any further in that regard, he turned his thoughts to Taylor. Taylor's last few words echoed in his ears, is it really possible for a facehugger to get out of a strange circle, and how to break the iron chains of logic ......
Lo suddenly jerked awake and looked up, the twilight around the lake, and Taylor was nowhere to be seen.
Lo jumped up and ran towards the lake, he wanted to shout, but he was afraid of disturbing Zhuang Yan and the child, he could only run as fast as he could, in the quiet twilight, he could only hear the sound of his footsteps on the lawn of the plopping sound, but in the rhythm, suddenly inserted into the soft "ta" sound.
It was a gunshot from the lake.