January 14, 2126.
For Earth's civilization, this was definitely a historic moment.
On this special day, the Pan-Asian Cooperation's Space Elevator Project International Research Summit held in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city group officially came to an end in the form of a joint statement.
Under the witness of representatives of major regional alliances around the world, Li Guangya, Chairman of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, read out the guidelines for the use of the space elevator in a friendly and solemn tone and reiterated the diplomatic guidelines of peaceful coexistence of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, which won applause from the audience.
On the same day, more than a dozen engineering ships set off from the Moon Palace spaceport, carrying construction materials transported from the Mars colony, rushed to the construction site of the space station at the top of the space elevator, and began the welding of the main structure of the space station.
Legend had it that Jianmu was a bridge between heaven and earth, and it was also a divine ladder for Eastern gods such as Fuxi and the emperor to travel to and from the human world. Therefore, this space station was given a rather mythical name.
Namely, "Heavenly Court".
The day after the summit ended, in the chairman's office of the Pan-Asian Cooperation headquarters.
Looking at Academician Ge who walked into the office, Chairman Li Guangya, who was proud of his success, stopped the work in his hand, cast a spring breeze-like smile at Academician Ge who entered the door, and spoke in a gentle tone.
He spoke in a gentle tone, "What did Academician Lu say? Did he agree? "
Before Academician Ge went to Jinling, he had asked him for instructions in advance. After all, the space elevator was such a major project, especially a position of great importance like the chief designer. Only he, the chairman, had the authority to appoint him.
In fact, before Academician Ge went to Jinling, he had already signed the document appointing Lu Zhou as the chief designer of the space elevator project. As long as Lu Zhou had no problems, he could take office at any time.
Out of consideration for the interests of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, Li Guangya of course hoped that Lu Zhou could take on the entire space elevator project, rather than be a chief consultant and be outside the entire project team.
Especially after seeing the Pan-Asian Academy of Sciences Orbital Research Institute's flustered response to this super project, he was even more determined to have this idea.
Academician Ge knew very well what the chairman was thinking, but he didn't say anything.
After all, the strength of that person was obvious to everyone. He, who was at the review board at the time, also witnessed this with his own eyes. If someone else was the chief designer, he might not be convinced, but if it was that man, not only would he be convinced, but he would also be convinced.
However, the problem was that everyone thought the same way except for Lu Zhou himself …
"… He refused."
"Really?" Li Guangya didn't show much surprise on his face, but after a moment of silence, he finally sighed. "It's such a pity … If he can lead the entire project, we can at least take half of the detours."
Seeing the regretful expression on Li Guangya's face, Academician Ge spoke after hesitating for a moment.
"There's something … I don't know if I should say it."
"What is it?"
"In fact, when I visited him, he happened to be in the laboratory. According to his own introduction, he seems to be researching a technology related to hyperspace channels … If I remember correctly, it should be called the Z particle oscillation device. "
With that said, Academician Ge gestured with both hands, the shape of the strange-looking device. However, this kind of gesture clearly did not make Li Guangya understand more clearly. Instead, it made him even more confused.
"Hyperspace channel? What is that … "
"In fact, I don't know much about it, but according to his own statement, through this device, a straight channel can be opened between two points in the curved space, so as to achieve warp navigation and faster than light communication —"
Before Academician Ge finished speaking, Li Guangya put his hands on the table and stood up from the chair abruptly.
"Warp navigation?! Faster than light communication? Can this kind of thing really be done?! "
Since entering the space age, communication distance has been a major problem restricting the continued expansion of human space activities. Take the Mars colony as an example. The shortest straight-line distance between Tiangong City and Shangjing City was 55 million kilometers, and the farthest could even reach 400 million kilometers. Even if it was the shortest distance, it would take three minutes for a message to be sent from Earth to Mars.
If it happened to be in a relatively distant position, the delay time of the message would be even longer.
Although it was only a short three minutes, in this highly informative era, let alone three minutes, even one second was enough for many things to happen.
Due to communication delays and communication barriers caused by the high cost of communication, there had always been a serious separation between the society on Mars and the society on Earth. If Guanghan City and other cities in the Pan-Asian Cooperation were only geographical discrimination, then the Mars colony and the cities on Earth could be described as two different worlds —
The latter was the benchmark of a civilized society, while the former could only be regarded as an existence between civilization and barbarism. Even the poorest towns on Earth would feel more civilized than there, even if life there might be more technological.
If there was a special communication technology that could achieve information exchange beyond the speed of light, reducing the communication delay between Earth and Mars to less than one second, the significance of its significance was self-evident.
Therefore, after hearing this news, the expression on Li Guangya's face was so excited.
"I don't know if it can be achieved. Even Academician Lu himself seems to think it's worth a try …" Academician Ge sighed and continued, "In fact, compared to the ideas he is researching, what I care more about is his thoughts."
Li Guangya: "What thoughts?"
"In my conversation with him, I feel that he may be a bit stubborn."
Sitting back in the office chair, Li Guangya frowned.
"… Is it because of his life problems?"
"Sort of, but it may be mainly because of feelings." Academician Ge nodded as he looked at Li Guangya, who frowned slightly. He said with a complicated expression, "In my conversation with him, I can feel that he loves his fiancée very much … Even after 100 years, he still misses her."
Li Guangya didn't speak. He waited quietly for him to continue.
"… He also told me that he intends to build a starship that can fly out of the solar system to Tau Ceti. This was a promise he made to his fiancée a hundred years ago, and now he intends to fulfill this promise himself. I don't want to evaluate whether his ideas are realistic or not. What I want to say is that when we ask him for help, we may have ignored his feelings.
"If this knot in his heart can't be untied, he may never be able to get out of the past."
In fact, although Ge Huaizhi didn't make any comments on the surface, in his subconscious mind, he had almost tacitly agreed that he was doing a ridiculous thing.
With the current level of technology of human society, there was no basis for cross-galaxy navigation at all. Even the most advanced starship of the Pan-Asian Cooperation could only cruise to the edge of the Kuiper Belt at its farthest cruising distance.
Moreover, this was only the theoretical cruising distance. No one had really flown so far, and there was no need to fly there.
Not to mention Tau Ceti, which was ten light-years away.
Even if he did go, it would be a one-way ticket with no return.
"A hundred years …" After listening to Academician Ge's words, Li Guangya pinched his eyebrows with a headache. For a while, he didn't know how to evaluate it. "I don't quite understand this kind of feeling. After so long … She's long gone."
Although the average life expectancy had increased, few people in that era could live more than a hundred years. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if she had lived for so long, she would have become an old woman by now, right?
To be honest, what he didn't understand the most was the attitude of those "old popsicles" towards relationships between men and women.
She's just a fiancée.
Is it necessary to be so persistent?
In the 22nd century, even marriage was only a pleasure for a few people.
…
After Academician Ge left, Li Guangya was troubled.
If it was just a problem in life, he could say without exaggeration that as long as Lu Zhou mentioned it, he could find a way to help him solve it. But he really had no way to deal with this kind of emotional matter.
Li Guangya turned his gaze to Secretary Wei, who was sitting in the office. He pinched his eyebrows and asked casually.
"What do you think we should do about this?"
His office secretary spoke after thinking for a while.
"From a personal point of view, the best way to heal emotional trauma is to start a new relationship."
"New relationship?" Li Guangya's index finger tapped on the desk. He sighed and said, "In other words, we still have to find a way to find a partner for him?"
"I have to admit that this is the most efficient way."
Li Guangya never thought that one day he would actually work as a matchmaker. His eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.
But if he could add more "concerns" to Lu Zhou in this world, maybe he would give up that "unrealistic" idea.
Of course, faster than light communication was still very attractive to him, but going to Tau Ceti was still too dangerous!
The problem was …
Could ordinary women really attract his attention?
Forget about cultivating feelings, it was not easy to find a common topic.
"I admit that your proposal is indeed very attractive, but … are you sure there are women who can arouse his interest?"
A confident smile appeared on Secretary Wei's face.
"There are still such people."
"Oh?" Li Guangya raised his eyebrows with interest. "Who?"
"Do you still remember the documentary by the scholar?"
"I think any citizen of the Pan-Asian Cooperation has seen it when they were young … Of course, are you talking about the new version or the original version?"
"It's all the same, there is no difference in the plot." After a pause, Secretary Wei continued, "If I remember correctly, it was mentioned in the documentary that he had a Ukrainian student named Vera Pulyuy."
"… I seem to have some impression of her." Li Guangya touched his chin and asked, "Is there any problem with that person?"
"Out of interest in historical research, I have specially checked her information. As one of the outstanding mathematicians in the early 21st century, she has won many mathematics awards such as the Fields Prize. She is also one of Academician Lu's proudest students. And there have been rumors that the relationship between the two may be closer than recorded in historical records … "
"This is unofficial history after all." Li Guangya shrugged his shoulders. "Not to mention that this is the 22nd century, people are long gone —"
"On the contrary, because of advanced lung cancer, she received cryodormancy and went to the future to seek treatment. Even, according to unverified documents, the original intention of the Freezing Human Rights Protection Fund was partly to treat her. "
"And according to my investigation, not only has she not been released from the freeze, but she is also in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city group!"
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