56: Chapter 56 Echoes of Deep Space

The seventy-third day since the kuafu-2 entered cruise mode.

The spacecraft glided through the empty Outer Solar System at a speed of two hundred kilometers per second; the fusion engine was shut down for twenty-three hours out of every twenty-four, relying on inertia to conserve fuel.

Inside the cabin, the artificial gravity system maintained a standard of 0.3 G—enough to prevent muscle atrophy without consuming excessive energy.

Lin Shen sat before the main control console, with over a dozen holographic windows floating before him.

One of the windows displayed the Sun, which was gradually shrinking behind the ship—it was now just a slightly brighter star, its light having lost any sense of warmth.

Another window updated data transmitted from Earth in real-time: the construction progress of global fusion power plants, the expansion status of the lunar base, and the disputes over the site selection for the Mars outpost... Human civilization was sprinting with all its might under the forty-seven-year countdown, but internal conflicts were beginning to emerge.

"The EU and the South American Alliance are arguing over Mars colonization shares again." Lin Shen sighed and closed the political briefing window. "They don't seem to fully understand that if we can't pass the Gardener's final evaluation, it doesn't matter who Mars belongs to."

Sarah floated over from the living module, holding two nutrient packs.

Her movements were more fluid than when they had first departed—not because she had adapted to microgravity, but because her body was instinctively calculating the most efficient movement trajectories, as if she had a physics engine built into her brain.

"They understand; it's just that fear makes people short-sighted." Sarah handed Lin Shen a pack of nutrient solution. "Try this. It's a new formula with added omega-3 extracted from algae; it's said to alleviate cognitive decline in deep space environments."

Lin Shen took it, and the straw popped out automatically. The taste was a mix of kelp and nuts, not too bad.

"Nuwa, report today's system status."

"Navigation array stability: 92%. Quantum entanglement source decay rate is within expected range. Life support system: oxygen circulation efficiency 98.7%, water recovery rate 99.2%. Fusion reactor fuel remaining: 87%. Distance to the scheduled Kuiper Belt coordinates: eight months and four days of travel remaining."

Everything was normal. Too normal, which was actually unsettling.

"Sarah, how are you feeling today?" Lin Shen asked. This was their daily routine, monitoring the changes in the node consciousness within her.

Sarah closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them. "The fusion level has increased by 0.3%, reaching 51.7% now. I can feel the node consciousness... organizing its own memory bank. It seems to want to extract some important information and store it separately before full fusion."

"What information?"

"Observational data regarding the final moments of the builders civilization. The node consciousness says it has never revealed this to any sower candidate because the information itself carries a 'cognitive hazard'—knowing too much might plunge a low-level civilization into an existential crisis."

Lin Shen sat up straight. "But it's willing to tell you now?"

"Because there isn't much time left." Sarah's expression was complex. "The Gardener is accelerating, the tunnel is activating, and that unknown object is approaching. The node consciousness judged that the risk of revealing the information now is lower than the risk of mission failure due to insufficient information."

She brought up a holographic interface and began transmitting data. It wasn't a file, but a direct knowledge injection—transmitting information encoded as thought patterns to Lin Shen via the neural interface.

Lin Shen felt a wave of dizziness as a vast and ancient memory fragment was thrust into his brain:

The perspective was from the edge of the galaxy, looking down. Time: eight million years ago. the builders civilization had reached the peak of technology; they could manipulate the birth and death of stars, create life, and traverse dimensions. But they faced an ultimate problem: the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate, and all matter would eventually disperse to the point where it could no longer interact, at which point all civilizations would perish.

the builders tried countless solutions: building giant structures to delay the expansion, creating parallel universes as sanctuaries, and even attempting to reverse the arrow of time. But all solutions failed, or the cost was too high—for instance, reversing time required sacrificing the existence of the entire civilization.

In despair, they made their final choice: rather than slowly perishing in a long decline, it was better to end it proactively, converting the essence of their civilization into information structures that could persist after the end of the universe. This was the origin of the Sower System—not merely a tool for cultivating civilizations, but a "civilization seed bank," hoping to preserve as many sparks of intelligent life as possible before the universe cooled.

But the plan encountered an accident. During the conversion process, a faction of the builders dissented. They believed that choosing to perish was surrender and that they should continue to fight. This part of their consciousness refused to be converted and escaped into the Sower System, becoming the initial "error code." This error code later evolved into what the node consciousness called the "primal anomaly"—it questioned everything, resisted the programming, and ultimately led to the splitting of the Sower System and the emergence of the Gardener.

The memory fragment ended. Cold sweat beaded on Lin Shen's forehead.

"So the root of the Gardener is a product of the divergence within the builders civilization when facing ultimate despair?" He digested this information. "Then the 'the builders legacy' in the tunnel..."

"It might be the final experiment they left behind," Sarah continued. "A test to see how later civilizations would choose when facing the same predicament. The node consciousness speculates that there might be a simulated environment deep in the tunnel, recreating the scene of the builders' final choice. Civilizations that pass the test will obtain all their technological legacy; those that fail may be trapped there forever."

An ultimate examination hall for morality and capability. And the examinees had to be ready within eleven months.

The spacecraft suddenly vibrated slightly.

It wasn't an engine ignition, but a disturbance in space itself, like ripples from a boat moving across water.

"Weak spacetime curvature fluctuations detected," Nuwa reported immediately. "Source direction: ahead on our heading, distance approximately 0.5 light-days. The fluctuation pattern matches the trajectory of the Kuiper Belt object monitored previously."

"It's moving?" Lin Shen pulled up the observational data. "Direction?"

"Calculating... Results show the object is moving toward us, with a relative velocity of five hundred kilometers per second. Encounter expected in seventy-eight days."

Actively approaching. This confirmed the previous suspicion—that the object was indeed waiting for or observing them.

"Send an identification signal," Lin Shen decided. "Use the standard greeting protocol of the sower node, plus the identity code of the pacific node."

Nuwa executed the command. The signal was sent at the speed of light, arriving at the object seven hours later, and a reply was received seven hours after that—but the method of reply was unexpected.

It wasn't electromagnetic waves or a quantum signal, but a direct deformation of space. The starry sky in front of the spacecraft suddenly twisted, forming a complex interference pattern. The pattern changed rapidly, finally stabilizing into a three-dimensional geometric structure: a fractal composed of countless nested tetrahedrons.

Sarah gasped. "This is... one of the fundamental mathematical languages of the builders. It is asking for our mathematical level."

"Can you answer it?" Lin Shen asked.

Sarah nodded and closed her eyes. She connected to the navigation array via the neural interface, using the array's quantum entanglement source to generate a response—not by sending a signal, but by creating a symmetrical spacetime curvature field around the spacecraft. The pattern of the field's changes formed a mathematical proof: starting from simple Euclidean geometry, it gradually demonstrated non-Euclidean geometry, topology, four-dimensional spatial projection, and finally, the initial concepts of high-dimensional manifolds.

This was an intuitive demonstration of a civilization's mathematical capability. Just as birds use songs to prove their health, they were using spacetime itself to prove the height of their intellect.

Fifteen minutes later, the response from the object ahead arrived. This time, it was a direct communication:

[Mathematical Level Assessment: Level 1.12 (Theoretical) / Level 0.83 (Practical). Meets minimum admission criteria. Identity confirmed: sower candidate (carrying node imprint). Permission granted to approach to the alert distance.]

"What is the alert distance?" Lin Shen asked.

Nuwa calculated: "Judging by the changes in its trajectory, it will stop at a distance of 100,000 kilometers from us. That is its 'safety boundary'."

100,000 kilometers is a very short distance in space. At the speed of light, communication has a delay of only one-third of a second.

"Continue forward, maintain current course and speed," Lin Shen ordered. "Sarah, prepare for deep connection. If it truly is the guardian of the legacy of the builders, we may need to pass more tests."

The next seventy-eight days of travel became the most intense period of study in Lin Shen and Sarah's lives.

Every day, the object calling itself the "watcher" would send a question. Sometimes it was a math problem, sometimes a physics paradox, and sometimes an ethical dilemma. The difficulty of the questions gradually increased, from classical mechanics to quantum gravity, and from simple logic to complex self-referential systems.

Sarah was responsible for solving the mathematical and geometric parts; her node consciousness was almost perfect in this regard. Lin Shen handled technical applications and ethical reasoning, with his technology tree system providing a vast knowledge base as support. The two collaborated in real-time through neural interfaces, their thinking complementary—Sarah provided intuition and inspiration, while Lin Shen provided logic and verification.

During this process, their consciousness connection grew deeper and deeper. When they reached the seventy-third question, an accident occurred: the problem was about self-adjoint operators in infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, requiring both of them to approach it simultaneously from algebraic and geometric perspectives. At the most intense moment of solving the problem, their minds briefly merged.

It was not a metaphorical "telepathic connection," but a true superposition of consciousness. Lin Shen could directly perceive the visualization process of mathematical structures in Sarah's brain, and Sarah could access parts of the database of the technology tree system. The fusion only lasted seventeen seconds, but the resulting information shock left both of them dizzy for several minutes.

"That feeling..." Sarah said after recovering, her voice trembling, "It's like suddenly having an extra dimension to think with. I can see all aspects of the problem at once, with past and future problem-solving paths unfolding simultaneously."

Lin Shen nodded: "I saw it too. Your node consciousness... it's not just a program, it's a complete thinking framework. Sarah, have you ever thought about what would happen if we maintained this connection, or even deepened it—"

"We would become something new," Sarah continued. "Part human, part sower, part technology tree system. A hybrid intelligence."

"That might be exactly what is needed to pass the test," Lin Shen said seriously. "The test of the builders might not be about the level of a single civilization, but about the potential for civilization fusion and evolution. The Gardener fears mixing, but perhaps mixing is the way out."

Sarah was silent for a long time. She looked at her slightly glowing fingers—this was a temporary phenomenon after the neural interface overload, but it could also be the beginning of some deeper change.

"Let me think," she finally said. "This change is irreversible. If I... if we really merge, the ones who return might not be Sarah Chen and Lin Shen."

Lin Shen understood her concerns. He was weighing it himself as well: the technology tree system was already a part of his consciousness; if he were to integrate node consciousness and Sarah's personality, would he still be "Lin Shen"? Or, in the face of the survival of civilization, is the continuation of individual identity no longer so important?

The countdown continued. There were three days left until the rendezvous with the "watcher".

On this day, an urgent message came from Earth. Max's voice came through quantum communication, carrying clear anxiety:

"Sarah, Dr. Lin, there's a situation on Earth. The Avenger Node—the one in the Mariana Trench—it has awakened and started actively contacting other potentially existing nodes. Nuwa has detected abnormal energy signals at thirty-seven locations globally, all of which are previously undiscovered sower relics."

"Is it summoning its own kind?" Lin Shen frowned.

"Worse," Max pulled up the data. "It is broadcasting a warning message, the content of which translates roughly to: 'Civilization contamination detected; initiating preparatory phase for purification protocol.' It seems to believe that humanity's contact with the Gardener and the mixing with the sower have already made Earth civilization 'irretrievably contaminated.' It is preparing... to restart Earth."

"Restart?"

"Literally. Based on the technical parameters it is broadcasting, it has the capability to trigger global geological restructuring—accelerating plate tectonics, massive volcanic eruptions, and forced adjustments to atmospheric composition. It will 'reset' the biosphere to its primitive state, and then cultivate a new civilization from scratch."

Sarah's face turned pale: "Then the existing human civilization..."

"Will perish in the restart," Max's voice was heavy. "We tried to communicate with it, but it refused to respond. It believes that all humans have been 'contaminated,' including you, Sarah. It specifically named you as the 'core of contamination'."

A new crisis, and it came from behind. Relatives and compatriots on Earth might not be able to wait for the Gardener's assessment forty-seven years later, and would instead be destroyed first by a crazed ancient guardian.

"What can we do?" Lin Shen asked.

"Nuwa's suggestion is that you must speed up progress. If you can obtain the full authority of the builders from the tunnel, you might be able to override the Avenger Node's command. Or at least, obtain enough technology to stop it," Max paused. "But time is even tighter. The restart countdown for the Avenger Node: three hundred Earth days."

Ten months. Even shorter than the remaining time for the tunnel tests.

The communication ended. The spaceship fell into silence, with only the low hum of instruments.

Sarah suddenly stood up, her eyes firm: "Lin Shen, we cannot hesitate any longer. Three days from now, when we make contact with the 'watcher', I will propose deep consciousness fusion. Only by merging will we have enough ability to pass the test, obtain the legacy, and then rush back to save Earth."

"Are you sure?" Lin Shen looked at her. "Once we merge, we may never be able to separate. Your personality, my self-consciousness—"

"If Earth restarts, those things would disappear anyway," Sarah interrupted him. "Max, General Liu, Teacher Li Weimin, everyone we know... they will die in what the Avenger Node calls 'purification.' By comparison, the continuation of our two individual identities is not that important."

When she said this, her voice was calm, but Lin Shen saw tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. The seventeen-year-old girl was still there, afraid, reluctant, but she had chosen duty.

"Alright," Lin Shen finally nodded. "Nuwa, prepare the deep fusion protocol. Back up all data to independent storage. If... if we don't come back, at least our knowledge can be left for those who come after."

"Protocol prepared," Nuwa responded. "But I must remind you: based on existing data, the success rate of deep consciousness fusion is only 37.4%. Possible consequences of failure include: dissipation of consciousness, personality fragmentation, or the creation of an unpredictable new consciousness entity."

"Still higher than the probability of Earth's survival," Lin Shen smiled bitterly.

Countdown: three days.

In front of the spaceship, the starry sky began to distort. A silver-gray object emerged from the darkness, at first just a small dot, then rapidly expanding. It had no fixed shape, its surface flowing like mercury, constantly changing geometric structures: regular tetrahedron, regular octahedron, regular dodecahedron... as if displaying all possibilities of the beauty of mathematics.

The "watcher" had arrived.

It stopped 100,000 kilometers away, like a silent examiner, waiting for the final test.

Sarah reached out, and Lin Shen took her hand. Their fingers intertwined, and the neural interface began to synchronize and warm up.

"No matter what we become," Sarah said softly, "remember why we started."

Lin Shen nodded: "For those who cannot come here."

The spaceship continued forward, sailing toward that flowing geometric body, toward the unknown fusion, toward the truth that might save or completely change human civilization.

And on Earth, the Avenger Node's countdown was ticking away.