Cixin Liu - The Three-Body Problem

When the lab director saw Wang, he hurried over and began to report a series of malfunctions with the main reaction chamber—a recent ritual whenever Wang arrived at work. By now the main reaction chamber had been in continuous operation for more than a year, and many sensors had lost sensitivity, resulting in measurement errors that required shutting down the apparatus for maintenance. But as the lead scientist on the project, Wang insisted that the machine would not be shut down until the third set of molecular combinations was finished. The technicians had no choice but to jury-rig more and more kludges onto the main reaction chamber to compensate. And now those kludges required their own kludges, a state of affairs that exhausted the project staff.

But the lab director carefully avoided the topic of shutting down the machine and temporarily halting the experiment, as he knew that such discussions tended to enrage Wang Miao. He just laid out the difficulties before Wang, though his unspoken desire was clear.

Engineers rushed around the main reaction chamber like doctors around a critical patient, trying to keep it going for a little longer. In front of the whole scene, the countdown appeared.

1174:21:11, 1174:21:10, 1174:21:09, 1174:21:08 …

Just stop. Try it. Shen’s words came to Wang.

“How long would it take to completely overhaul the sensors?” Wang asked.

“Four or five days.” Now that the lab director saw a ray of hope, he quickly added, “If we work fast, it will take only three days. I guarantee it, Chief Wang!”

I’m not giving in, Wang thought. The equipment really needs maintenance, so the experiment must be temporarily stopped. This has nothing to do with anything else. He turned to the lab director and focused on him through the hovering countdown. “Shut down the experiment and perform the maintenance. Follow the schedule you gave me.”

“Absolutely, Chief Wang. I’ll give you an updated schedule right away. We can stop the reaction this afternoon!”

“You can stop it right now.”

The lab director stared at him in disbelief, but soon he was excited again, as if afraid to lose this opportunity. He picked up the phone and issued the order to stop the reaction. All the exhausted researchers and technicians grew excited, too. They immediately began the procedures to shut down the main reaction chamber, flipping a hundred complex switches. The various control screens became dark one after another, until finally, the main screen reflected the main reaction chamber’s halted status.

Almost simultaneously, the countdown before Wang’s eyes also stopped. The final number was 1174:10:07 . A few seconds later, the numbers flickered and disappeared.

As the world reemerged, free of the ghostly numbers, Wang let out a long breath, as though he had just struggled up from underwater. He sat down, drained, and realized that others were still watching him.

He turned to the lab director. “System maintenance is the responsibility of the Equipment Division. Why don’t all of you in the research group take a break for a few days? I know everyone’s been working hard.”

“Chief Wang, you’re tired, too. Chief Engineer Zhang can take care of things here. Why don’t you go home and rest as well?”

“Yes, I am tired,” Wang said.

After the lab director left, he picked up the phone and dialed Shen Yufei’s number. She picked up after one ring.

“Who or what is behind this?” Wang asked. He tried to make his voice calm, but failed.

Silence.

“What will happen at the end of the countdown?”

More silence.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“Why nanomaterials? This is not a particle accelerator. It’s just applied research. Is it worth your attention?”

“Whether something is worth the attention is not for us to decide.”

“That’s enough!” Wang shouted into the phone. The terror and desperation of the last few days suddenly turned into uncontrollable rage. “Do you think these cheap tricks can fool me? Can stop technological progress? I admit that I can’t, for now, explain how you’re doing it. But that’s only because I haven’t been able to peek behind the curtain of your shameful illusionist.”

“You’re saying you want to see the countdown on an even greater scale?”

Shen’s question stunned Wang for a moment. He forced himself to be calm so he wouldn’t fall into a trap. “Put away your set of tricks. So what if you show it at a bigger scale? It’s still only an illusion. You can project a hologram into the sky, like what NATO did during the last war. With a powerful enough laser you can project an image onto the surface of the moon! The shooter and the farmer should be able to manipulate matters at a scale that humans cannot. For example, can you make the countdown appear on the surface of the sun?” Wang’s mouth hung open. He had shocked himself with his own words. Unconsciously, he had named the two hypotheses that he ought to have avoided. He felt on the verge of falling into the same mental trap that had claimed the other victims.

Trying to seize the initiative, he continued, “I can’t anticipate all your tricks, but even with the sun, perhaps your despicable illusionist can still somehow make the deception seem real. To give a demonstration that will really be convincing, you have to display it at an even larger scale.”

“The question is whether you can take it,” Shen said. “We’re friends. I want to help you avoid Yang Dong’s fate.”

The mention of Yang’s name made Wang shudder. But another surge of anger made him reckless. “Will you take up my challenge?”

“Of course.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Do you have a computer connected to the Internet? Okay, enter the following Web address: http://www.qsl.net/bg3tt/zl/mesdm.htm. You got it open? Now, print it out and keep it with you.”

Wang saw that the page was nothing more than a Morse code chart.

“I don’t understand. This—”

“During the next two days, please find a place where you can observe the cosmic microwave background. For specifics, please check the e-mail I’ll send you.”

“What… are you going to do?”

“I know that your nanomaterial project has been stopped. Do you plan on restarting it?”

“Of course. Three days from now.”

“Then the countdown will continue.”

“At what scale will I see it?”

A long silence followed. This woman, who was acting as the spokesperson for some force beyond human understanding, blocked every exit Wang had.

“Three days from now—that’s the fourteenth—between one and five in the morning, the entire universe will flicker for you.”

Wang dialed Ding Yi’s number. Only when Ding picked up did he realize that it was already one in the morning.

“This is Wang Miao. I’m sorry to be calling so late.”

“No problem. I can’t sleep anyway.”

“I have… seen something, and I’d like your help. Do you know if there are any facilities in China that are observing the cosmic microwave background?” Wang had the urge to talk to someone about what was going on, but he thought it best to not let too many people know about the countdown that only he could see.

“The cosmic microwave background? What made you interested in that? I guess you really have run into some problems…. Have you been to see Yang Dong’s mother yet?”

“Ah—I’m sorry. I forgot.”

“No worries. Right now, many scientists have… seen something, like you. Everyone’s distracted. But I think it’s still best if you go visit her. She’s getting on in years, and she won’t hire a caretaker. If there’s some task around the home that she needs help with, please help her…. Oh, right, the cosmic microwave background. You can ask Yang’s mother. Before she retired, she was an astrophysicist. She’s very familiar with such facilities in China.”