46: Chapter 46 Keys and Echoes

Chapter 166: Keys and Echoes

Imperial Alliance, "ares-7" launch site technical control center.

There were nineteen hours left until launch, but all the electronic display screens suddenly began to flicker.

It wasn't the static of a malfunction, but clear, rhythmic mathematical symbols—∑, ∫, ∇, ∂—identical to the symbols in the "Mathematical DNA" sent by the lunar ruins.

"The system has been hacked!" the security chief rushed into the main control room, his face pale, "The firewalls have all failed, and all networked devices are displaying these... these gibberish symbols!"

Technical Director Catherine Weiss stood before the large screen, strangely calm. She watched those symbols pulsing with a certain rhythm, as if breathing, or perhaps transmitting information.

"Not a hack," she said, "it's resonance."

"What?"

Catherine pointed to a line of small text in the corner of the screen, a remnant fragment of the system log recording the precise time the anomaly began: "Look here: the time point when all devices started displaying the anomaly is perfectly consistent with the gravitational wave pulse peak recorded by the lunar south pole monitoring station. This is not a cyberattack; it's some kind of... field effect. The ruins' gravitational wave signals have resonated with our electronic equipment."

A young engineer asked, trembling: "How is this possible? Gravitational waves and electronic equipment—"

"If the gravitational waves were modulated," Catherine interrupted him, "if they carried information, and their frequency happened to resonate with the harmonic frequency of the silicon-based chips' crystal oscillators... then theoretically, one could 'print' images directly into the circuits."

Her words plunged the entire control room into dead silence. What did this mean? It meant that the entity on the moon was not only capable of emitting gravitational waves but also of precisely modulating them, allowing them to "manifest" on specific electronic devices on Earth after crossing 380,000 kilometers.

This was a communication technology beyond the scope of human understanding.

"Director," Max's voice came through the communicator; he was still in the crew preparation room, "my personal terminal here... is also displaying those symbols. And..." He paused, his voice filled with suppressed shock, "the badge my father left behind, it's heating up."

Catherine looked up sharply: "Heating up? Describe it specifically!"

"The metal badge, the temperature is about forty degrees now, and... it's vibrating, a very slight vibration, with a constant frequency." Max's voice dropped even lower, "What's even stranger is that when I bring the badge close to the screen displaying the symbols, the arrangement of the symbols changes. It's like... it's responding."

Catherine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The Daedalus Project, the badge, the lunar ruins, and now this interaction across space—all these fragments pieced together pointed to a conclusion she did not want to face but had to.

"Max," she said into the communicator, "send me images of the badge, from every angle. Also, describe every detail of the badge, including every word your father said about it."

After hanging up, Catherine turned to the technical team: "Try to interact with these symbols. Click on them with the touchscreens, input responses via keyboard, any method will do. We need to confirm... whether this is a one-way broadcast or a two-way channel."

"But the safety protocols—"

"The current situation has already exceeded all safety protocols." Catherine's voice was resolute, "Execute the order."

---

Dragon Kingdom, "Deep Space Technology" assembly plant's final integration test area.

The "kuafu-2" probe had already completed docking with the "vermilion bird-2" rocket and was standing in the vertical assembly building, waiting for the launch window eight hours away. But Lin Shen was not focused on the rocket at this moment; he was focused on a transparent isolation box on the workbench in front of him.

Inside the box, three sealed glass tubes were suspended. Inside the tubes was a dark blue gel-like substance, occasionally flickering with faint fluorescence—those were the original strain samples of the "pandora" virus, urgently transferred from the Dragon Kingdom's highest security level biological laboratory.

"Dr. Lin, are you sure you want to do this?" the biosafety expert stood three meters away, wearing a full protective suit, "Although the strain has been inactivated, its genetic coding structure still possesses... a certain activity. We don't fully understand what this activity is yet."

Lin Shen was not wearing a protective suit, only ordinary gloves. Through the operation ports of the isolation box, he took out one glass tube and placed it into the analyzer beside him.

"Nuwa, start the first round of decoding. Use the virus strain's genetic sequence as the key to attempt to unlock the encrypted passages in the ruins' 'Mathematical DNA'."

The analyzer started, and lasers scanned the glass tube, reading the three-dimensional structural data of the virus genes. Meanwhile, the full sequence of the ruins' "Mathematical DNA" transmitted from Xichang unfolded on the holographic screen, and a red-marked encrypted area within it began to flicker.

"Key matching in progress..." Nuwa's voice was calm, "Non-standard cryptographic structure detected. The base pair arrangement of the viral gene follows four-dimensional hypercube mapping rules and possesses topological isomorphism with the Mathematical DNA's symbol system."

On the screen, the A, T, C, and G bases of the genetic sequence began to transform; they were no longer biological symbols but were converted into mathematical symbols: A → ∑, T → ∫, C → ∇, G → ∂. The converted sequence was compared with the encrypted passage, and the degree of overlap rose rapidly.

70%... 85%... 93%...

"Matching complete," Nuwa said, "Decrypting..."

The encrypted passage unfolded, converting into readable information:

[Trigger Condition 1: Seeded civilization masters basic spacetime mathematics]

[Trigger Condition 2: Seeded civilization achieves interplanetary survival]

[Trigger Condition 3: Seeded civilization detects 'Reapers' level threat]

[After all conditions are met, the Evolution Acceleration Protocol will automatically activate]

[Protocol Content: Civilization technology level forcibly upgraded to level 1.5]

[Warning: There is a 47.3% probability of civilization collapse during the upgrade process]

[Countdown: From the time conditions are met, 0.3 standard galactic years (approximately 109.5 Earth days)]

The text disappeared, replaced by a three-dimensional dynamic model: in the Solar System, five anchor points lit up simultaneously, energy flowed through the network, and finally converged on Earth. Complex light patterns emerged on the Earth's surface, and then... the model interrupted here.

"Is the subsequent data corrupted?" Chen Xuan's voice came from the communicator.

"No, it's decrypted in stages." Lin Shen stared at the model, "We need more keys—possibly corresponding to other virus strains, or other 'keys'."

He looked at the two remaining glass tubes in the isolation box. But just then, the analyzer suddenly sounded an alarm.

"Quantum entanglement state of the viral gene detected and activated." Nuwa's speaking speed increased, "Some base pairs in the inactivated strain are forming entanglement with... with a signal source deep in the Mariana Trench."

The holographic screen switched, displaying real-time monitoring data of the Mariana Trench. That sleeping fifth anchor point was now emitting weak but stable energy pulses. The frequency of the pulses was perfectly consistent with the quantum resonance frequency of the "pandora" virus gene.

"It has woken up," Lin Shen said in a low voice, "or... started to wake up."

---

At the same time, deep in the Pacific Ocean, in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, the "Challenger Deep".

The Dragon Kingdom's 10,000-meter-class unmanned submersible "Jiaolong-3" was executing a secret exploration mission. Its robotic arm gently touched the seabed, collecting rock debris samples. But on the footage transmitted back by the underwater camera, apart from darkness and the occasional deep-sea creature swimming by, there seemed to be nothing.

However, the instrument data told a different story.

"The seabed vibration frequency has changed." The scientist on the control ship stared at the screen, "It has switched from the natural crustal movement frequency to... rhythmic pulses. Once every twenty-three seconds, the same as the response time of the lunar ruins."

Even more uncanny was the sonar image. 1.2 kilometers below the submersible, a regular geometric structure gradually appeared—not a natural shape of rock, but a perfect icosahedron, identical to the model sent by the lunar ruins, only scaled up.

"Energy readings detected on the structure's surface." The acoustic engineer reported, "Very weak, but steadily rising. And... it is 'scanning' us."

"Scanning?"

"It's emitting directional acoustic pulses, covering the entire hull of 'Jiaolong-3', as if it's performing three-dimensional modeling. The modulation method of the pulses has the same mathematical characteristics as the gravitational wave signals from the lunar ruins."

On the control ship, everyone looked at each other. The ruins on the seabed were speaking in the same "language" as the ruins on the moon. And they were both observing humanity.

"Commander," the submersible operator's voice was tense, "'Jiaolong-3's' robotic arm... is moving autonomously. I didn't input any commands, but it is adjusting its angle by itself, pointing toward the center point of the seabed structure."

"Cut power to the robotic arm!"

"Already tried, it's ineffective. The control system has been... overridden."

On the screen, the robotic arm slowly extended, and its fingertips touched the seabed. The moment it made contact, all the submersible's lights went out simultaneously and then turned back on, but the color changed from incandescent light to an eerie blue.

The eerie blue light illuminated the surrounding seawater and also lit up a corner of the seabed structure. There, a line of symbols appeared: ∑ ∫ ∇ ∂, exactly the same as those that appeared on the screens in the Imperial control center.

Then, a voice came through the submersible's communication channel. It wasn't an electronically synthesized voice, but a mixture of some kind of... deep-sea creature's low hum and electronic noise, but after being demodulated by a specific algorithm, it formed clear language: "-- Key carrier detected -- Civilization evaluation in progress --"

The voice cut off. "Jiaolong-3" lost all signal.

---

Dragon Kingdom Aerospace Command Center.

The "kuafu-2" launch entered the final six-hour countdown. But the technical team encountered two tricky problems.

"The Hall thruster's magnetic field stabilizer has a 0.3% deviation," the propulsion systems engineer reported, "In a deep space environment, this deviation could accumulate, causing 'kuafu-2' to fail to precisely enter the lunar polar orbit."

"There is a micro-leak in the cold atom clock's vacuum chamber," another team reported, "Although the leak rate is extremely low, it will affect the time measurement accuracy. And spacetime curvature monitoring requires clock stability on the order of 10^-18."

Lin Shen stood before the main control console, looking at these two reports. Under normal circumstances, either problem would require at least 48 hours to troubleshoot and repair. But they didn't have 48 hours, only 6 hours.

"Nuwa, simulate solutions."

"Calculating..." A few seconds later, "Regarding the thruster problem: suggest starting the backup ion thruster at the third hour after launch for fine-tuning compensation. Success rate 92%. Regarding the atomic clock problem: suggest enabling redundant clock groups in orbit, compensating for the single clock's error via quantum entanglement synchronization technology. Success rate 89%."

"Combined success rate?"

"81.9%."

An eighty percent chance. This was already considered high-risk in space missions. But Lin Shen did not hesitate.

"Execute these two plans. Also, load 'Emergency Protocol 3': if 'kuafu-2' detects anomalous space distortion before reaching lunar orbit, allow it to autonomously adjust its orbit to avoid the distorted area."

"Understood." Nuwa began uploading the new flight program to "kuafu-2".

Just then, urgent news came from Xichang: "Dr. Lin, the signal pattern of the lunar ruins has suddenly changed! It is no longer sending mathematics or images, but has started... broadcasting Earth's television signals!"

"What?"

The screen switched, showing a chaotic fragment of images: 1950s Dragon Kingdom black-and-white newsreels, 1970s federal advertisements, 1990s Imperial movie clips, global internet videos from the early 21st century... all content was cut, collaged, and played at varying speeds, forming a surreal montage.

But among these chaotic images, one scene appeared repeatedly: the 1972 footage of the Apollo 17 lunar module leaving the moon. Each time it appeared, the screen would pause and zoom in on a specific frame—that was the reflection in the astronaut's helmet visor; in the reflection, there was a blurry geometric shadow that did not belong to any lunar landing equipment.

"It is tracing back our history," Chen Xuan analyzed, "and it is looking for a specific moment. Apollo 17... that was humanity's last crewed moon landing."

Lin Shen suddenly thought of something: "Nuwa, retrieve the public data of all Apollo program missions, especially the astronauts' personal records. Focus on looking for... whether anyone reported anomalous phenomena, or if anyone left behind strange last words."

"Searching..." Nuwa's voice paused for a moment, "Found one relevant record: Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan's private diary, entry from December 19, 1972, declassified in 2015. The original text is as follows: 'In lunar orbit, I saw something that shouldn't exist. It looked at me, and I saw eternity. Command told me to forget, and I pretended to forget. But I will never forget that shadow.'"

The diary included a hand-drawn sketch: a rough icosahedron floating above the lunar south pole.

"So fifty years ago, they already knew," Academician Li Weimin's voice came through the communicator, filled with exhaustion, "The Apollo program was terminated early, not because of budget, but because... they saw things they shouldn't have."

On the holographic sand table, the lunar point among the five anchor points suddenly increased in brightness. At the same time, the other four points—Mars, Venus, Europa, Mariana—also began to strengthen synchronously.

"Energy network activation level: 7% and rising," Nuwa reported, "At the current rate, it is expected to reach the critical threshold of 15% in forty-eight hours. After reaching 15%, the system may enter an irreversible startup phase."

Forty-eight hours. Exactly the time when "Zeus Station" arrives at the moon and begins exploration.

This is no coincidence.

"It is waiting for them," Lin Shen said, "waiting for the Imperial Alliance's lander to arrive. That might be... the final piece of the puzzle for the trigger conditions."

Launch countdown: 05:22:17.

"kuafu-2" must arrive ahead of time.

We must establish a connection, understand the rules, and find a way to stop or control this process before then.

Otherwise, human civilization will passively accept an "evolution acceleration" in forty-eight hours—and that process has nearly a fifty percent probability of causing civilization collapse.

Lin Shen looked at the two remaining "pandora" virus strain samples in the isolation box. The decryption was only partially completed; more keys were needed.

But the keys might not be limited to these viruses.

He thought of that badge in the hands of the Imperial Max, the badge from the "Daedalus Project".

That might be another key.