After the infected Lieutenant General Christie and the dozens of crew members were properly treated and resettled, the Orwell, which completed the three-day modification and repair, once again resumed its role within the territory of the Planetary Alliance.
and the daily work of patrolling around the border.
Then, during what was supposed to be a relaxing and comfortable daily patrol voyage, the Orville unexpectedly discovered narrow-band radio waves, coherent pulses and background-free signals on a deserted planet named 'Nalan 1'.
noise?
You know, although the planet 'Nalan No. 1' has a breathable atmosphere for some reasons, it is too barren and has a very weak ecology. In addition, there are no valuable minerals, so there has been no human beings.
Are you willing to colonize that kind of place, but the Orville has detected a large amount of electromagnetic radiation and other anomalies there, as if it were caused by the gathering of thousands of lives?
That situation is indeed incredible, because Ed is very sure that there is no development plan for that planet and the last time it passed by was a few months ago, it is absolutely impossible to have such a situation in just a few months.
Exaggerated changes are the way to go.
And when he thought that the distance was only a dozen light-years away, which was an hour's journey from the Orville, Captain Ed didn't even think about it. In line with the principle of fulfilling his duties, he directly ordered to move towards that planet, wanting to go there.
Take a closer look to see what's going on.
result……
After scanning, the Orville unexpectedly discovered that the new ball, which was originally very barren and without a single life a few months ago, now has a level and scale similar to that of the Earth in the 25th century, and it actually has...
A population of more than eight billion?
Seeing that outrageous situation, the dozens of officers on the bridge of the Orville, including Captain Ed, all of course exclaimed in disbelief that it was impossible.
then!
I feel that such an outrageous situation is impossible to happen, and every record of the Planetary Alliance, including the Orville itself, shows that the planet was still a barren world until a few months ago, and even the atmospheric environment was artificially modified.
Under the circumstances, Captain Ed, who couldn't figure out the key, gritted his teeth and took the first mate Kelly, the second mate Betus, the helmsman Gordon and the safety officer Tara to board the advanced new generation shuttle boat.
I landed on that planet and planned to see what it was like up close.
result……
Not surprisingly, the five of them did not learn their lesson, and even the exploration and landing missions were carried out personally, and they also directly involved the five senior officers of the Orville. They soon encountered some kind of accident and led to a complete conflict with the Orville.
Contact was lost with the Vail.
After receiving the report from the bridge, Captain John, the former navigator and now the chief officer of the Orville's engineering department, had to come to the bridge and start presiding over the work.
After learning the specific circumstances of the disappearance of the captain and other five people, he didn't have time to think about it, so he immediately dispatched a search and rescue team consisting of four people, including chief medical officer Claire and the robot Isaac.
The group landed on the planet.
But who would have thought that apart from the discovery of the shuttle boat that Captain Ed and the five men were on, they didn't find anything more on that desolate planet?
The Orville even scanned the planet several times, but still found nothing. Even all the abnormal radio waves and billions of life signals discovered before had disappeared without a trace.
Already?
Feeling that that kind of weird thing was very strange and far beyond his ability, so John didn't think much about it and hurriedly called someone with whom he had never had a good relationship, but it wasn't too bad at least.
Bad, sad little girl.
After all, the captain, first mate, second mate, and security officer with authority equivalent to the captain are all missing on the Orville. The remaining ones are the ones who are best at giving orders, have rich command experience, and have the ability to make emergency decisions and resolve crises.
All that's left is that terrible little girl Annie.
John knew that he was right to let Anne take charge of the overall situation at this time. She also won the trust and support of most people on the Orville. Even if something went wrong, the Planetary Alliance Command would not be able to blame him.
He doesn't need to shoulder that heavy responsibility.
soon!
A man wearing a playful and beautiful Taoist robe appeared on the large porthole of the Orville's bridge. There was a big yin-yang fish printed on the clothes in front of him, and he was holding a wooden sword in his hand. I don't know if he was playing a Taoist ghost-catching game or something.
The figure of the troubled little girl in the fairy fighting game.
"Hi!"
Seeing the surprised and dissatisfied expression on the other person's side, John didn't dare to neglect, and quickly put on a smile and waved hello.
"Annie?"
"Are you free right now?"
Anyway, John had no other better choice. Apart from bracing himself and planning to invite the other party to the bridge, he really couldn't think of any other better way.
"??"
(???.???)????
"No time!"
(;｀O′)o
Having said that, Anne had no intention of pausing the simulation, but stepped forward and waved the wooden sword fiercely.
Then John saw it: in that simulation game, a zombie that was so ferocious that even an adult like him felt a little frightened when he saw it, was cut in half by her sword?
The simulated game environment seems to be an environment in a dark, quiet and scary ancient ruined temple and house. In addition to a large number of coffins, there are also those on the ground who don’t know what they are used for, but looking at them always makes me feel horrified.
small yellow square note?
"Don't you see they are busy!"
(｀^′)o═一
After eliminating the zombies, and before the new BOSS appeared, Annie took the time to speak coldly to John again angrily, and was about to close the video communication that affected her gaming experience.
"etc!"
"Is such that!"
"I have something very important. Captain Ed and the others are missing. Can you come to the bridge?"
"please!"
Seeing that the other party couldn't say a few words and impatiently wanted to close the communication, John became anxious and hurriedly stood up from the captain's position and explained immediately.
"??"
(﹁“﹁)
"ha!"
￢o(￣▽￣?)
As she spoke, Annie, who was in the environment simulation game in the video, suddenly turned around, and then used a move of turning around and stabbing, instantly piercing the throat of a zombie who suddenly opened the coffin board and planned to attack her, and then bullied him.
He kicked it back again and covered the coffin board again. Then he sat on it and pressed it down before continuing strangely:
"really weird!"
(??ˇεˇ??)
"They are gone. What are you doing here? It's not like they lost them."
(???.???)????
That’s right!
Now Anne only knows that the person was not lost by her, the Head of State Anne. Whoever loses the person will find it. She has been playing in her entertainment simulation room No. 1 for half the day, no matter what happens outside, she will
She doesn't have any connections!
Furthermore, she is really busy right now. The Zombie King is going to appear later, and she really doesn't have time to help find anyone now.
(…)
(●￣?￣●)
"!
"
"this……"
"me……."
After hearing Anne's words, John was so choked that he didn't know what to say, so he could only stand stupidly in front of the captain's position, unable to say a word for a long time.
"Annie."
"This is the situation."
"We previously detected anomalies on the planet Nalan No. 1, and then Captain Ed and the other five went to check what was going on. However, they lost contact with the Orville as soon as they arrived on the ground."
"Then Claire and I went to support."
"But we found that it was just an ordinary deserted planet. Apart from the captain and his shuttle boat, we have not discovered anything more so far."
"After we came back, we found that all the abnormalities on the planet had disappeared. Therefore, Acting Captain John and we both need your technical support and guidance."
Seeing John's performance and Anne's real intention to turn off the communication, the robot Isaac quickly stood up and explained the difficult situation they were currently encountering in as concise words as possible.
"We want you to take charge of the bridge."
"Retrieve Captain Ed and the others as soon as possible, otherwise, we will not be sure whether their lives will be in danger."
Then, after seeing a little hesitation on Anne's face, Isaac continued to add some of John's plans.
"right!"
"That's what I meant!"
"That's right!"
Seeing Isaac say what he wanted to say, John hurriedly echoed loudly, saying that was what he wanted and was prepared to do.
"..."
(???)
"You idiots, the lesson you learned last time was not enough. Why do you always like to send out the entire ship's top management on every expedition?"
(??へ??╬)
Hearing this, it was rare for Annie to pause the game the moment a certain Zombie King BOSS in the simulation game jumped out to attack her, and then angrily moved towards John, Isaac and others in the bridge.
She yelled and scolded her.
"..."
John suddenly stopped talking and shrank his head angrily, because he also found that what Anne said seemed to make sense?
"really."
"Your suggestion is right."
"But what we need to do now is to get the captain back as soon as possible."
But Isaac didn't care so much. While accepting it humbly, he also pointed out the key points of the current problem that the Orville urgently needs to solve.
"..."
(′～`●)
After hearing this, Anne finally stopped blaming the two of them.
She also seemed to know that taking all the senior officials directly to set off must be a good thing done by that idiot Uncle Ed, and it shouldn't have much to do with the two people in front of her?
Therefore, she began to turn her head slightly to look in the direction of the Nalan No. 1 planet, pursed her lips and thought, not knowing what she was thinking.
"Do not worry!"
(?~?)
"They're fine, just keep waiting."
(′ε｀)
Then, after a moment of silence, Anne suddenly said this to the slightly surprised John and the equally confused robot Isaac without any basis or logic.
"Continue to wait?"
"Captain, are they okay?"
"you sure?"
"How did you know?"
John and Isaac looked at each other, and then, John asked three questions in succession, eager to know the reason why Anne was so sure.
"If you don't believe me, throw me down!"
(???3?)
"I'm warning you, don't disturb others playing games again!"
(????)つ
After speaking and solemnly warning John and the robot Isaac, Annie waved her hand to resume the simulation. Then, while flying towards the zombie king and swinging her sword, she rudely closed the communication and set up a certain
A silent state that denies communication.
"this……"
"I do not understand!"
"In her heart, is playing games more important than finding Captain Ed and the others?"
"It's so unreasonable!"
John, who wanted to continue asking but found that the communication was automatically rejected by the system, lost his temper.
He didn't understand that the captain and the others had been missing for two or three hours. He had no choice but to ask that little guy for help because he was worried about the lives of the five people. But in the end, her attitude was indeed like that, and
You actually refused their reasonable request just to play games?
"In fact."
"That's true."
In response to John's angry rhetorical question, the robot Isaac was holding his knife solemnly at the side, saying that according to the results of its logical operation, Anne would indeed behave that way, and it was completely reasonable.
"Captain!"
"Annie is just a little girl, looking for someone..."
"There shouldn't be anything she can do, right?"
At this time, the young and beautiful female communications and navigator Lieutenant couldn't help it anymore, and suddenly turned around and asked the acting captain John.
"You're new here."
"You do not understand!"
John waved his hands in annoyance. He was in a bad mood and didn't want to explain too much to the new female officer who was transferred to the Orville to fill the vacancy after the Earth Defense War.
"All right!"
"Since Anne is so sure and wants us to wait, then let's just wait and see!"
"Order!"
"The entire Orville is on standby and pay close attention to the situation on that planet!"
After a pause, he thought about it, and realizing that there was nothing he could do anyway, John gave the order in frustration, and then simply sat down in the captain's seat and remained silent.
…
A few hours later.
Facts have proved that Anne's handling opinions are indeed extremely correct.
Because the missing captain Ed and his five men reappeared on the deserted planet Nalan No. 1, and they were right next to their shuttle boat that had not been moved.
However, at this time, the Orville was not able to detect the presence of the five people immediately, because next to them stood a strange man who was emitting light and had many mysterious and strange energy circuits on his body. He had originally returned to Orville on vacation.
Tara, the Vail's security officer, turned out to be the one impersonated by that weirdo?
There is no doubt that the 'disappearance' of Ed and others as well as the various 'abnormalities' detected by the Orville are definitely related to the other party!
"Who are you?"
"besides!"
"How's Tara?"
"Everything we just experienced was simulated by you?"
"What on earth do you want to do?!"
After going through several life and death experiences, being tricked again and again, and then finding out that he had returned to Nalan No. 1, Ed didn't know what was going on?
So, without thinking, he straightened his face and shouted angrily at the other party.
"don’t worry."
"Captain Ed, I mean no harm."
"The thing is like this..."
Seeing the four people glaring at her, the strange woman first smiled and then slowly started to explain.
It turns out that her name is Dinel, and she is actually a person from the planet in a polyphase orbit that the Orville encountered before, that is, a person from the planet that lasts seven hundred years, which is equivalent to eleven days in this universe!
However, unlike the Orville, where only a few months had passed, according to her, they and their planet had passed and evolved for a ridiculous 50,000 years, and the planet had already gotten rid of the polyphase.
Orbital has now become an eternal civilization that is as immortal as a god, and has been quietly paying attention to the dynamics of the Orville?
Before, the illusions Ed and others experienced were not the environmental simulations they thought they were, but the miniature universes or small worlds she had truly customized for them, and their civilization had already mastered it at this time.
The technology of creating a small world at will, transcending the level of gods in mythology, can fly alone, travel across the universe and break the limitations of time and space, becoming the kind of existence that Ed and others can't understand no matter what?
And now, the reason why she lured Ed and others down to Nalan Planet 1 was just to play a small game with them to experience death and transcend themselves?
Although that kind of thing seemed to Ed, Gordon and others to be a bad prank, to Dinelle, it was really nothing more than a small game.
As for why she chose the Orville, she must have her own reasons and reasons, and she didn't say much more.
"etc!"
"You said your world has evolved for 50,000 years"
"Are you sure it's fifty thousand years?"
"But!"
"I just did the math. The eleven days here are as long as the seven hundred days on your side. But from the first time we met your ancestors to now, our world seems not to have passed more than seven hundred days.
ah……"
While he was confused, admired and envied the other party's ability to live forever, Gordon suddenly discovered a paradox, and then hurriedly expressed his doubts.
"I just said it."
"We already exist beyond time and space."
"For us, the passage of time has become meaningless."
That Dinelle answered Gordon's doubts with a smile.
They also explained in detail that a full 50,000 years had indeed passed in their world, and that the multi-phase orbit had also been closed by them. It has become impossible for people in this universe to go to their world, at least for the current situation.
It's like that for the four of us.
"I have a question too!"
Seeing that Gordon's answer was clarified, Ed suddenly asked another question that he also vaguely felt was wrong:
"I just noticed..."
"When you call Anne, you still use the honorific, that is, 'supreme existence'?"
"I don't understand this. You already claim to be gods. You can freely travel through time and space, and you can create that kind of real world at will. Why do you still regard Anne as a god?"
"Annie is just a naughty little girl, right?"
"Although she is indeed very talented in some aspects and has superb technology. She can open space doors and release gundams and so on."
"But no matter what, you won't continue to be respected by beings like you, right?"
"If we go by what you just said, wouldn't she be a god above gods?"
"That's impossible, right?"
After exchanging glances with Gordon, Bertus and Kelly, Ed asked half-jokingly.
"It's really impossible."
"Although we can be called gods by you, and even transcend the existence of 'gods' in the ordinary sense, she is indeed not a god above gods."
That Dinelle slowly put away her smile and nodded solemnly, confirming Ed's statement.
"but!"
"She is still the supreme being, we have no doubt about it!"
"Even though I have now reached the point where I can easily change your world and universe, we still don't have the courage to face her."
“The pilgrimage is not over yet!”
Then, before Ed and Gordon were ready to say anything, she suddenly changed the subject and said this in an extremely serious and excited tone.
"actually."
"This time, I also had the idea of ​​​​going on a pilgrimage and comparing things, although I came secretly."
"but……"
"In the end, I have to admit that even if she is so powerful that she can create a new world at will, surpasses most gods in mythology, can fly across the universe alone, and break the limitations of time and space, the gap between us and her is still there. It’s elusive and out of reach.”
"Perhaps this is the reason why the elders of my clan have always dared to pay close attention to you but did not dare to interfere too much?"
For the first time, the woman Dinelle, who had always maintained a superior and even aloof expression when facing Ed and others, showed a trace of bitterness and humanity.
"Just her?"
"No way?"
"impossible!"
"In our opinion, Annie is just an ordinary little girl!"
"that is!"
"At most, it's like Jingle Cat. It can take out a lot of weird things from its pockets?"
"You are also very strong?"
"Especially naughty?"
"Also, she is still the head of state?"
"It's not like gods like you anyway!"
Hearing what Dinelle said, Ed, Kelly, Gordon, and Bertus were surprised and a little unconvinced, and then they all refuted loudly.
"..."
Unfortunately, after hearing what several people said, that Dinaire just shook his head, with the look of admiration and yearning still on his face, and had no intention of explaining or refuting.
"correct!"
"I almost forgot to ask!"
"It's still the same old question. Last time, I mean the question we asked when we said goodbye to your ancestors last time."
"Annie..."
"What on earth did she give you?"
After everyone talked for a while, Ed suddenly remembered another thing and asked curiously.
"..."
"Didn't I say that?"
"That's an interesting glass ball."
"At the same time, it is also a bright light, which is the key to our clan's evolution to this point."
"but……"
"Fifty thousand years later, although our clan has roughly controlled and understood that kind of thing, and created the universe as easily as the blink of an eye, we still have to admit that her status in our clan has never been shaken."
"We have even begun to suspect that our existence itself, this world, and our world are just the product of her thoughts?"
"Ah!"
"Sometimes ignorance can really be a blessing."
"because……"
"Once you know more, the gap between what you can see and what you discover will become wider, and the truth will become more and more terrifying!"
Just like last time, Dinair actually imitated their ancestors tens of thousands of years ago, saying the kind of words that made Ed and others unable to understand.
"alright!"
"It's time for you to go back. I'm sorry to bother you for so long."
"If there is a chance, we will meet again."
At this point, after having explained what should be said and what should not be said, and seeing that Ed and others had no problems except for doubts about a certain little girl, Dinale smiled and said,
Then slowly disappeared.
'Hello?'
'This is the Orville!'
'Very good!'
'Captain, I finally found you!'
'Are you all okay?'
And at the moment when Dinelle disappeared, John's exclamation, rejoicing and urgent inquiry sounded from the communicator on Ed's body.
"..."
"We're fine!"
"Don't worry, we'll go back soon!"
Looking at his similarly puzzled companion next to him, Ed thought for a while. Unable to figure it out, he finally had to pick up the communicator and reply.
———————
Chapter completed!