Annihilation of the solar system

On the bench in the departure hall of Brussels International Airport, Wei Xu held his boarding pass and patted it gently in his hand. His eyes looked around at the exotic scenery everywhere around him, which made him enjoy it. Xia Lan stared at

She had a laptop on her lap, and her hands were typing on the keyboard from time to time. She was so involved that the hair behind her ears had fallen down to her cheeks, and she didn't care.

"Wei Xu, I have an idea." Xia Lan whispered.

At this moment, Wei Xu's eyes were wandering among the non-stop flow of people in the terminal, or to be precise, those tall European women.

"Wei Xu!" Xia Lan raised her voice and stared at him.

"Oh...Senior sister, you said, just now...I didn't pay attention just now." Wei Xu quickly withdrew his gaze and explained in a panic.

Xia Lan's eyes returned to the computer screen. She pointed with her fingers as white as onions to the two planets displayed on the screen - the silver disk-like Europa and the agate-like Titan.

.

"It is now almost certain that there are large organisms on Europa and Titan."

"That's right! Even a harsh surface environment like Venus can evolve such magical creatures in the upper atmosphere. Not to mention icy water balls like Europa and satellites like Titan with atmospheres and rocky surfaces."

While Xu was answering Xia Lan's question, his peripheral vision was still wandering among the flowing crowd.

"I'm wondering whether Oumuamua and the civilization behind it are doing something hidden on these planets that already have the foundation of life?" Xia Lan frowned slightly, but her eyes still did not leave the two volumes on the screen.

A satellite beyond the moon.

"Well... it's possible! But, what are they hiding there for?" Wei Xu's answer was a little absent-minded. Xia Lan didn't pay much attention to it, after all, her idea was still a baseless guess.

Suddenly, a tall and beautiful figure appeared in Wei Xu's peripheral vision.

"Senior sister, look! That woman, we met that day in the restaurant of the International Astronomical Union. She seemed to have been watching us that day."

Xia Lan looked in the direction of Wei Xu's gaze, and saw a tall Caucasian woman with blond hair and blue eyes wearing high heels and a suit and skirt walking towards them.

"It seems so." Xia Lan said, looking at the woman who stood out among the crowd.

Accompanied by the sound of "thump! thump! thump!" the high heels collided with the ground. The woman walked up to Xia Lan and Wei Xu. A strong smell of tulip perfume spread in the surrounding space. It seemed that she

Just came for them.

Xia Lan closed the computer, put it on the empty seat next to her and stood up. The woman was taller than her, even a little taller than Wei Xu next to her.

"Xia Lan and Dr. Wei Xu, hello!" the woman said in English with a North American accent.

"Hello, what's the matter with you?" Xia Lan asked, while Wei Xu, who was beside him, carefully looked at the woman in front of him.

"Call me Veronica, from NASA. We met yesterday at IAU, do you remember?"

It seems that Wei Xu remembered correctly. She was indeed the mysterious woman who watched them in the IAU cafeteria yesterday. Veronica looked Wei Xu up and down and chuckled:

"Young man, you are lucky."

Then he looked at Xia Lan beside him. Wei Xu obviously didn't understand what Veronica meant.

"The stubborn old guys yesterday made you feel very depressed, right?" Veronica looked at Xia Lan and said, with a charming and charming smile on her face. Even Xia Lan couldn't help but take a second look.

"I respect the decision of the International Astronomical Union, and we do need more convincing evidence to launch the Global Eye project." Xia Lan's answer was cautious and polite.

The smile on Veronica's face became even warmer:

"Forget it, even if you provide evidence, those Europeans will still be able to find many reasons for you to evade it. What's more..."

When she said this, Veronica's speaking speed slowed down, and the smile on her face became restrained and mysterious.

"What's more, the evidence you need to find is not easy to obtain. Am I right?"

Veronica directly stated their biggest dilemma now, while Xia Lan still maintained a polite and humble smile on her face.

"We will find a way." When she said this, Xia Lan felt that she lacked confidence because she really didn't have any good ideas now.

"Maybe, we can help. I mean NASA." Veronica's face became charming and enchanting again.

Xia Lan's eyes lit up and she quickly asked:

"Are you saying that North America and NASA can help me complete the 'Eye of the Earth' observation plan?"

Veronica shook her head:

"No, dear. We can't do that on our own. But there are other ways we can help you."

"What can I do?" Xia Lan seemed to have found a glimmer of light in the darkness.

Veronica did not answer her question, but gently raised the handle. Xia Lan looked in that direction and saw a man standing at the door of the rest room with a NASA brooch on his suit.

"If you are interested, we can go over there and talk in detail." Veronica said.

In the rest room, the man who was standing at the door just now took out a briefcase, took out a stack of enlarged photos and laid them out on the large table.

Xia Lan recognized the content of those photos at a glance. They were the major planets in the solar system, including Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and even their satellites and some asteroids.

Taking a closer look, Xia Lan was surprised. The shooting positions and angles of those photos showed that they were taken very close to these distant planets. A closer look at the timestamps on the corners of the photos showed that the farthest time was

The one taken last month was taken last month. The one closest in time was taken just yesterday.

"You...are you using detectors to observe them?" Xia Lan's voice was full of surprise.

Veronica nodded, lit a cigarette and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the flights taking off and landing, with a charming smile unique to North American women on her face:

"These are optical photos returned by the Huygens probe in Jupiter's orbit and the Cassini probe in Saturn's orbit. What do you think, do you see the problem?"

Xia Lan and Wei Xu carefully screened those high-definition photos. Especially Europa and Titan, which were the most suspected, they carefully distinguished them almost at the pixel level, but found nothing abnormal.

After a while, Xia Lan and Wei Xu both raised their heads. They looked at each other with doubts on their faces. Is there something wrong with their assumptions?

"Let's take a look at this!" Following Veronica's words, the man took out a few more photos from the briefcase.

There are only four photos taken out this time. They are infrared imaging photos and spectral analysis photos of Europa and Titan.

If these computer-rendered images look like watercolor paint trays, they would be incomprehensible to ordinary people.

But Xia Lan and Wei Xu quickly discovered the problem in those photos. The inconspicuous purple-red halos in the infrared photos of Europa and the thin gossamer mottled spots in the photos of Titan struck them.

It looks so extraordinary in his eyes.

"There is an unknown heat source under the ice cap of Europa!" Xia Lan said in surprise.

"There are also unknown molecules in Titan's atmosphere!" Wei Xu added.

After saying that, Xia Lan suddenly raised her head and looked at Veronica, who had an indifferent expression.

Veronica looked away from the window:

"After receiving the top-secret documents about 'Oumuamua from your country, we adjusted the orbits of all the detectors in the orbit of the planet and conducted observations of the planet itself and their satellites. The results of 'Cassini' and '

The Huygens found something wrong, but we are not sure because they are too far away from us."

Xia Lan looked at the photos on the table and couldn't help but admire the blonde woman in front of her.

"But at yesterday's IAU meeting, you did not announce these observations."

The smile returned to Veronica's face, but there was a bit of disdain behind the smile:

"You also saw the results of yesterday's meeting. Those stubborn European nobles on the IAU, besides caring about their bloodline and dignity, what else do they care about? What's more, these information that may cause changes in the world structure, if some of them are

Politicians taking advantage of it, that's not what we want to see."

Xia Lan didn't quite understand the meaning of Veronica's words. She was just an astronomer who focused on the galaxy. What's more, because of her father Xia Jigang, she had a natural resistance to politics.

"Then what are your next plans?" Wei Xu asked.

Veronica put out the unburned cigarette in her hand and sat at the table:

"After yesterday's International Astronomical Union, I had a video conference with colleagues in North America. Judging from the current situation, if you want to make further discoveries, only your plan to use radio astronomical telescopes for full-spectrum radio wave analysis is

feasible."

"Then you mean, you are willing to help us?" Xia Lan's eyes were full of surprise.

A look of disappointment flashed across Veronica's face:

"We can't help you."

"Why?"

"Because this plan requires the cooperation of large-scale radio silence."

Veronica suddenly smiled bitterly:

"In our federal country where the Statue of Liberty stands, let alone a nationwide silent experiment, even a state can trigger large-scale demonstrations and unrest. They are not marching because they have missed listening to the radio for a day.

After watching TV for a day less, I feel that my freedom has been violated. Whoever dares to make such a decision will become a devil who tramples on freedom, and the opposition will not hesitate to side with them for votes at that time."

Xia Lan and Wei Xu both fell silent. It was difficult for them to understand what kind of magic could make votes and survival appear in the same vocabulary box.

Veronica winked at the man next to her. The man was stunned for a moment. After confirming Veronica's intention again, he put all the photos back into the black suitcase. Then he pushed the box to Xia Lan and Wei Xu.

in front of you.

"What are you?" Xia Lan and Wei Xu were stunned when they looked at the unmarked black suitcase in front of them.

"Here are all our observation data of 'Oumuamua and the planet observation data of the detector. The photos are rendered, and the data on the hard disk are the original without any modification or rendering. I hope that these things can be implemented for you.

That massive program helped."

Xia Lan and Wei Xu both looked at Veronica in surprise.

Veronica stood up and walked to the French window again.

"Although you are not old, you should know. In the 1950s, in order to defend the newly established country, you could challenge the most powerful force in the world without supplies. In the 1960s and 1970s, in order to deal with the invasion of the north,

Threat, you can move 1/4 of the population and industry from the northeast to the southwest. You can use the water from the south to irrigate the land in the north, and you can achieve rapid economic and technological development without any external plunder.

Your civilization is fundamentally different from ours.

Under the current circumstances, only your country has the ability to organize such a large-scale silent experimental observation. If Oumuamua and the civilization behind it are really hostile to us, on our planet, your

The state will be the only hope at this time of being able to confirm this result."

Veronica's words made both Xia Lan and Wei Xu feel an unprecedented sense of pride. Wei Xu took the box off the table and held it in his hand. He knew that the things in the box,

Many of them are still confidential documents belonging to NASA.

"What about you, Veronica? What will you do?" Wei Xu asked with concern. He was referring to what would happen if NASA or the North American government discovered that she had given confidential information to a completely different ideological camp.

Sample.

Veronica's North American woman's iconic charm and charming smile returned to her face. She lit another cigarette.

"I am an astronomer, and I swore an oath to the Constitution to protect and contribute to my people. What I am doing now does not violate my oath, nor does it violate my conscience. Grab your things and leave

Well, before I change my mind."

She smoked a cigarette with a relaxed expression, but she could not hide the complex expression in her eyes, which included expectation, loneliness and even fear.