The Star Knight - 2. Chapter two

The next day the sky was clear, and the desert was like a piece of undulating earth-yellow silk that stretched to the end of the sky.

“Hey!” Opal was debugging a small minecart, and he shouted at Reckett who was walking out the door: “Where to go?”

Reckett wore a set of Opal overalls. He was tall and tall. The miner’s suit showed clean ankles behind him, and his sleeves were shorter than his wrists.

“I’ll find a place to stay.” Reckett said.

Opal put down his business and came over and said: “Are you rich? What do you eat?”

Reckett: “No, think of a solution.”

Opal: “If you don’t eat, you will starve to death in the rock mountain! Don’t go!”

Reckett insisted on leaving, Opal had to take some food to pack, and packed a blanket for Reckett, followed him out, and the two left the village and walked among the rolling rocks.

Reckett glanced at E7.

Opal explained: “My mother did it during her lifetime.”

Reckett said: “Your mother made an emergency landing on this planet?”

Opal nodded, remembering what she told herself before she died-Opal, leave this planet and go to the vast universe to find the meaning of life.

But he has no money, only a ruined spacecraft left by his mother, the tools and materials for repairs. The merchants of the Opal Dynasty who came to Chiyan B11 have inquired about it. With his current ability, he can’t afford to dig a mine for a lifetime. . There may be many secrets in this man. His life-saving capsule has never been seen before. Can he take himself away?

Why did Reckett come here with his whole body wounded? Where is his rescue capsule? Countless questions filled Opal’s mind. He remembered that after Reckett’s body healed that day, the rescue capsule disappeared silently.

“Where is this place?” Reckett asked after walking for a long time.

“Crimson rock bed.” Opal said: “The mine has been dug out, and there are many caves in the mountains. How long do you plan to stay here?”

The rescue capsule is gone, and Reckett doesn’t have a spacecraft. Is it going to be like Opal’s mother, living here for a lifetime? Opal looked at Reckett, who was wearing a miner’s suit. He looked stronger than any miner, and he might be capable of many jobs.

Reckett stood on a cliff and looked down, seemingly satisfied with it.

“I had a fight with a difficult guy near the C47 Nebula.” Reckett frowned slightly in the dry sandy rock wind, motioning for Opal to follow him: “Later, I almost lost. Died in his hands. Thanks to the supernova explosion that occurred there, I escaped.”

Opal asked: “What is a supernova?”

Recht replied: “The dramatic change before the end of the star’s life, it has experienced a red giant or a white dwarf, and finally burst out, causing distortion of the surrounding space, and possibly forming a black hole.”

Opal was confused when he heard it, and asked: “Where is it?”

Reckett said: “Thirty million light-years away from B11, I made a spatial leap in time and escaped here.”

Opal asked: “Where is your ship? Is it destroyed?”

Reckett pondered for a moment, as if it were difficult to answer, and finally said: “For now, yes.”

Opal thought for a while, he put forward a bold idea, said: “Will you repair the spaceship, I have an abandoned spaceship, I think if it can be repaired…wait!”

Reckett walked in the wind and found an abandoned mine. He breathed a long breath, seeming to turn a deaf ear to Opal’s proposal. He glanced at the mine and asked, “Where do you want to go?”

Opal shrugged and said: “I didn’t think about it.”

Reckett said: “I won’t overhaul the spacecraft.”

Opal sighed.

Reckett was very satisfied with this place, and he began to clean up the mine. Opal still remembers what Reckett said before going to bed last night.

“What is a slave?” Opal suddenly asked: “You said, I am a slave, what will happen to the boss of this planet?”

Reckett explained: “In this universe, every intelligent life is equal, and they have their own inherent freedom. However, a small number of people oppress other people for their own benefit and require them to act without any principle. Serve yourself, like your job, whether you like it or not, you must do it, you can’t leave, this is a slave.”

“It violates the principles of interstellar labor law, but the slave owners of this galaxy are very smart. They didn’t use violence to imprison you, but used the isolation of trade, material conditions and the planet itself to restrict all workers.”

“The ticket is a sky-high price. You can only dig a lifetime mine for him, so you are not free.”

Opal got it.

My body is imprisoned, but my heart is free, Opal thought.

Reckett’s dark blue eyes watched him, and there was a look of prying eyes in his deep pupils.

“How can I be free?” Opal asked.

Reckett said: “Resist, take up the weapon in your hand to fight, fight, shed blood and sacrifice.”

Opal said: “I don’t know how to fight.”

Reckett said: “Then you can only be a miner for a lifetime.”

Reckett removed the metal supporting the inner mine. With great strength, he took down a lot of brackets lightly. He took it outside the mine and looked at the materials on hand, as if thinking about how to use them.

Yellow sand was rolling on the ground, and the exposed red rock bed carried a desolate atmosphere. His cloth robe was fluttering in the wind full of yellow sand. Opal said to him, “Can you help me?”

Reckett glanced at him, and Opal said, “I mean to teach me how to get out of here. I don’t have a spaceship to use, and I don’t have money.”

Reckett said casually: “When you started thinking about this problem, you were already thinking of ways to help yourself, why not keep it going?”

Opal seems to understand something.

What Reckett said had a great impact on him, as if infused a light into his chaotic consciousness, Opal vaguely felt that he would be an important person to change his life, and he could not be allowed to leave in any case.

After a long time:

“I am a star knight.” Reckett sat down on a rock and said seriously: “Now I must tell you formally that I need your help, Opal.”

Opal asked in confusion: “What is the Star Knight?”

He looked at the man in front of him, his eyebrows were thick, his skin was fair, his figure was as tall as a mountain when he was sitting, his nose was high, his lips were warm, his eyes were like stars in the sky, and he was spotlessly clean.

Reckett thought for a while and said, “Help me get out of here.”

Opal took the initiative: “I can lend you my spaceship, as long as you can drive it.”

Reckett shook his head and said, “No, I don’t need a spaceship, I just need energy, a lot of energy. Can you manage to get me a red spar? About half a million energy units.”

Opal was taken aback and said: “I can’t do it!”

Reckett said: “Then I will figure out how to do it myself, please don’t tell anyone what I am here.”

Opal said: “I will try, you only have this requirement?”

Reckett thought for a while and said, “I still need drinking water and food. In return, I am willing to teach you something.”

Opal was stunned, and asked after a moment: “Teach me what?”

Reckett said: “It depends on your qualifications. There is no way to promise now. Do you know words? I think your E7 can read information magazines. You should know words.”

Opal immediately nodded and said: “Yes, my mother taught me, I will find you a spar mine, I will work hard.”

Reckett pointed to the cave and said, “I will be here to heal during this time. You can come and find me at any time.”

Reckett stayed in the cave, and Opal went back to his hut. He put E7 on the table and thought for a long time. The bell rang, and the miners came out of the residence and followed the tunnel to work.

Opal wears a helmet and headlights illuminate the flickering underground space.

“Do you know?” Opal said to his partner Locke, “We are slaves.”

Locke absent-mindedly said: “Yes, slave of money and material.”

Opal asked: “You never thought that one day, you can leave here?”

Locke replied, “Of course, I will leave if I save enough money.”

“Money is always not enough.” Someone echoed: “It is said that the outside prices are getting more and more expensive. I don’t know who is working for, who is betraying my life, and I can’t even afford a pass after my busy schedule. What are you doing? Mining honestly.”

“Opal.” A thin, tall man came over and asked: “How much did you save?”

This man is the captain of their mining team. There are five people in the team, including Opal and Locke. The miners live and die together. Because of accidents such as mine collapses, explosions, etc., the entire team is often trapped. Inside, each team is a special small group with deeper feelings than the others.

But not long ago, two old miners were suffering from a very serious underground disease, and they could no longer participate in cave operations. They could only wait outside to pull the mine. The foreman didn’t re-form them, and called the only remaining three-person team as five people. So Opal, Locke and Oman as the captain were left in the team. The more powerful Opal is responsible for cutting the minerals, while Locke and Oman load and transport them.

Oman has a younger sister named Anya, who is responsible for making bread for many people and doing some work. Oman’s only wish is to buy a ticket to send her sister away, so that she will no longer follow them on this planet to endure hardships, after all, she is sixteen years old.

“One hundred and fifty thousand energy units.” Opal said without raising his head: “What’s wrong?”

Locke asked: “Aman, do you want to pool the money to buy a ferry ticket?”

Aman said: “I heard businessmen say that there are many places in the Chiyan galaxy where waiters are invited. They like to let people order food and serve dishes. Anya can also sing. I want her to get a pass and buy a boat. Ticket, go to Scarlet Star to find a job.”

Locke said: “The ticket is now 800,000, how many do you have?”

Opal said: “You only have two hundred thousand energy units, Oman.”

Aman nodded, and Locke said, “How are you going to return it to us?”

Aman said: “Anya said that she is also willing to stay on the Scarlet Star, provided that she can find a job, work to earn money, save money, and then trust someone to bring it to us.”

Locke whispered: “I heard that everyone who leaves B-11 must sign a contract first. They can no longer contact the people here, nor can they tell the story. Is it true?”

Aman said: “Impossible! She is my sister! Where did you hear it?”

Opal used a magnetic drilling machine to vibrate buzzingly against the mine tunnel wall, shaking down the raw ore of the rhodolite spar. Locke pushed the minecart behind to load it. Opal spent the whole day thinking about the alien visitor. , What the man said.

The magnetic drill is stuck.

“Be careful!” The foreman slapped Opal on the head and yelled roughly, “You can’t afford to sell it.”

Oman immediately fended off the foreman’s hand and said, “I will pay attention, don’t beat my team members!”

Opal looked at the foreman angrily, and Locke hurriedly apologized and motioned for Opal to move on.

Locke said as he walked, “You are still not enough.”

“Yes, not enough.” Aman said absently, “or wait a few years.”

The mine tunnel was opened, and the dirt fell from the top of his head, and Opal breathed a sigh of relief.

“The mines here are over.” Opal said: “Oman, how much do you need in total?”

“Change direction.” Locke looked down at the map.

Aman said: “We add together, if one million energy units are enough, maybe it’s enough. I’ve heard businessmen say that working on the Scarlet Planet has to pay a referral fee. If you don’t find a career agency, say Maybe it can be cheaper. Forget it, think about it in a few years.”

At noon, several miners gathered for a rest, had lunch, and exchanged each other’s work progress. Someone dug a corpse from the depths of a new mine tunnel. It was a worker who died in the collapse of the mine a long time ago.

The planet was about to be hollowed out, and they had to explore along the previously dangerous areas.

Opal has been thinking about the 500,000 energy units needed by Rekert. Five hundred thousand. One kilogram of high-quality rhodolite is a ten-point energy unit. Rekert needs 50 tons of energy after purification of ore. .

Where do you want to inject so much energy? He has a load?

Before the sun goes down, Opal drags a small cart of mine out of the tunnel, which contains the mine he left behind. The B11 star is not strictly managed. After all, there are mines and they can’t be hidden. They will eventually need to be used for supplies. , The overweight ore can’t be taken away. In such a barren planet, apart from the ore, it is ore, and even the metal can’t be extracted. Can it be used as a spacecraft to escape?

Opal beat and beat, he came back very early today, the sky was clear and there was no sign of sandstorm. He took this cart of mine and left the miner’s village to the abandoned mine in the crimson rock bed.

“Reckett.” Opal shouted.

Reckett came out of the cave and Opal handed him a bottle of water and a piece of black bread.

Reckett said, “Is there a way?”

Opal said: “I only have this spar on hand, but how do I turn it into energy?”

Reckett said: “I teach you, follow me.”

There was a strange thing in the cave. It was only less than half a meter high, like a stove, with exposed wires thrown on the ground, exposing the core.

Opal said: “I have seen this.”

He had indeed seen this thing in the spaceship left by his mother, but he didn’t know its purpose.

Reckett said: “This is called an atomic furnace. It can dissolve ore and transform it into universal energy.”

“What is this again?” Opal looked at a slap-sized round box curiously, and Reckett immediately said, “Don’t touch it indiscriminately.”

The sixteen wires on the atomic furnace are directly connected to the round box.

“This is called the Heart of the Universe.” Reckett said, “I will slowly explain its function to you in the future.”

“I’ll help you.” Opal stepped forward and joined Reckett to pour the spar in. Reckett activated a button, the spar rolled, crushed, and the slag sank to the bottom, and the high-purity spar was aggregated into a small piece. Energy crystallization.

The red light on the crystal flashed and was completely evacuated, and a faint light appeared on the edge of the round box.

“Three percent.” Reckett said, “The road ahead is still very long.”

Opal said: “This is all my property.”

Reckett stared at him and did not speak. Opal was not distressed because his ore was decomposed in this way. On the contrary, it was a sense of accomplishment to help him, as if it was his goal-sure to be achieved and be Quantified goals.

“How much does it need to be?” Opal asked.

Reckett said: “About seventy percent.”

Opal said: “Then what will happen?”

Reckett said: “This is a part of my spacecraft, which is equivalent to an energy pool. When its energy storage reaches 70%, it will automatically convert mass to energy and repair the damaged parts. I can leave here. NS.”

Opal surprised: “Do you still have a spaceship? Where is it?”

Reckett said: “When there is enough energy, I will let you watch it.”

Opal did not doubt his words and nodded.

“What is mass-energy conversion?” Opal asked.

The two were sitting in front of the cave, sharing the opal dinner, and Reckett absently broke the bread and said:

“The mutual transformation of mass and energy is derived from a constant axiom in ancient physics. Just like when you burn wood, you can emit light and heat, and continue to radiate to the surrounding area. Mass is consumed and becomes disordered heat. The same , Pure energy can be transformed into matter as long as certain conditions are met. 300,000-point energy units, enough to be converted into the damaged parts of the spacecraft-the outer shell, inner core and other places. The 200,000-point energy units make it Able to continue sailing.”

Opal nodded and said, “You know so much.”

Reckett looked at Opal and said, “This is the preliminary knowledge of Interstellar Union School. After you leave here, you can find a place to go to school. There is compulsory education in the whole universe.”

Opal said: “Will Interstellar Union School let me in?”

Reckett said, “I think so.”

Opal sighed, barely ate half full, and lay on the bare rock bed, looking at the stars above his head.

The night sky was full of stars, and the two lay side by side. Opal remembered what Reckett said yesterday and asked: “You said you are a star knight, what is that?”

Reckett gazed at the stars in the sky and murmured: “I don’t know what a star knight is, and I’m also very confused.”

Opal: “?”

“You said these stars.” Opal has too many questions. In the past many years, he has never had a person who can ask and answer. At this moment, it is like a child with a teacher finally. He curiously asked: “Duhe Are we exactly the same here?”

“No.” Reckett laughed and said, “Of course it’s different. You will never find two identical gravels in the desert, and you will never find two identical stars in the universe.”

Opal asked: “What are they like?”

“Blue, golden, orange.” Reckett said: “luminous, non-luminous, some planets burn themselves, we call them stars…”

Opal said: “I know this. Non-luminous ones are called planets. Not all planets have life.”

Reckett slowly nodded, and Opal smiled and said, “My mother taught me.”

Reckett praised: “You know a lot, and there are many places in the universe where there are hidden stars with very high density. They are called black holes. You can’t see them, you can only feel the gravitational force generated by them. There is also a kind of matter called Dark energy, it can’t even be made into matter, it’s just a projection of massive objects in the higher-dimensional universe in our four-dimensional space. The place where dark energy gathers is empty. There is nothing there, but the space will be projected in this way. Under the effect, it bends, which creates gravitational force.”

Opal did not understand at all: “What? What is that?”

Reckett did not explain further. He changed the subject and said, “The most shining star on your left hand side is VCU07, the main star of the Chiyan Galaxy.”

Opal nodded in confusion, Reckett got up and went into the cave, took out a transparent crystal plate, pressed a button, and made a beep, and a line of small characters appeared on the edge of the crystal plate: X337, Y160, Z19 γ-B11. There is a long series of numbers behind.

Opal took the board, and Reckett said: “The number in the front represents the position of the planet in the universe, γB-11 is its name, and the number in the back is the current point in time.”

“In interstellar navigation, each planet is located through three-dimensional space, plus a time coordinate. So this is a self-positioning starry sky chart, try to put it in front of your eyes.”

Opal raised the crystal plate, the blue lines criss-crossed, dividing the starry sky into many small areas, and the stars visible to the naked eye suddenly turned into a star map. Each star is marked with a name.

“I’ve been to many places.” Reckett said: “I even went in some stars. Some planets are full of plants, some are always shrouded in lightning and thunder, some are always raining, and some are always raining. Covered with water, like a drop of water in space.”

Opal was fascinated by his ears, and Reckett said again: “Like the stars around the Sirius double star, there are six planets suitable for survival. The creatures on them are strangely shaped and all are wild civilizations. They are 8,000 lights away from here. year.”

Opal said: “What do you mean by light years?”

Reckett said: “It is a unit of length, and you still have no way to understand it.”

Opal heard it with gusto, and said: “Let’s talk about something else.”

Reckett said: “The Milky Way is two million light-years away. On one of its spiral arms, there is a Perseus galaxy. The civilization there is highly developed. The planets surrounding this star system form a republic, which is regulated by the Parliament.”

Opal heard a lot of unfamiliar words, but did not ask questions one by one, but blindly remembered, Reckett said: “The residents of the Republic only need to do a small amount of work to support themselves. Their social welfare is very good, and they are rich in materials. If you live there, you can drink fresh milk from the original grass cow every day, and the development of technology does not even require you to do it. As long as you say a word, or connect to a brain wave capture device, there will be robots to solve it for you. Thing.”

Opal said: “Then what do they do?”

Reckert replied: “Entertainment, immerse yourself in art and philosophy, and find the ultimate state of the development of intelligent biological civilization.”

Opal said: “I don’t understand. Do they have money without doing anything? What if someone gets sick?”

Reckert said: “People who are sick are taken care of by robots. Those who are willing to work can accumulate wealth by working. Those who do not want to work can enjoy government benefits as long as they complete a small amount of labor quota. Perfect legal constraints Everyone, such as the interstellar human rights charter-this law must be obeyed by the empire and the Republic.”

“It respects the right of every intelligent life to exist. As long as it is within the territory of the Republic, it should not be oppressed, at least on the surface, officials claim to be so.”

Opal said: “Is B-11 also in the Republic? Why don’t we have such a good treatment?”

Reckett did not answer, and Opal asked, “Is it because I was too far away and no one found the reason?”

Recht replied: “Yes.”

“If they knew.” Opal frowned.

Reckett replied: “Then bet on luck. Maybe you can buy the court with money, or it may not have any effect, or maybe-all the miners on this planet have been killed.”

Opal remained silent for a long time, and neither of them spoke.

Opal asked again: “What else? Tell me more.”

Reckett said: “In another direction of the universe, 35 million light-years away from the Milky Way, there is a Leo galaxy. It is composed of three galaxies. One of them is called M66. A developed civilization, which is led by a centralized authority, commanding nearly 300 billion stars, is called an empire. They believe that there is a single god in the universe and pray for his guidance.”

“They have a long life, and they also pursue art and religious philosophy. Interstellar bards and singers only chant for the gods. The emperor of the Golden Lion Republic holds a celebration every five years and invites performers from many small countries to come on stage.”

Reckett said: “This emperor was assassinated seventy years ago. Some dark forces are involved. Some people believe that this is a conspiracy to provoke instability.”

Opal could hear the gods. Recht said: “In addition to empires and republics, there are many small nations scattered among the galaxies, forming their own civilized systems and social rules. For example, the God of War galaxy famous for its mercenaries… …It’s too late. I’ll give you this star map. You can check it out when you go back.”

Opal said: “This is a very important thing for you, right.”

Reckett said: “You are welcome, you saved my life and need to give you far more. I am not a person who likes to verbally thank you. Take it away and don’t let other people see it.”

Opal said: “No, no, I didn’t save you for your reward.”

Reckett was silent, and he stared at Opal for a long time, as if looking at another person through him.

Opal smiled and said: “You…”

Reckett waved his hand and said, “Go back and rest.”

Opal said: “I will come tomorrow, I will find a way to bring you more ore.”

Rick’s characteristic head said: “The premise is to protect yourself.”

Opal took the board, walked backwards, and said, “Thank you, you told me a lot.”