Research Center

"We need to do research."

"Research what?"

Luo Qi led the Replica out of the restricted zone. They appeared above the Second World base, looking down at the construction underway in full swing.

"We need to research everything."

The Replica asked, "Will I alone be enough?"

Luo Qi said, "We need more."

Luo Qi dropped this Replica into the No. 1 Research Center below. The base buildings beneath him were no longer virtual images casually assembled from data.

Instead, they were a world given tangible form by his immense baseline computing power.

They formed the underlying framework that restricted the flow of data. Everything observed happening in the real world would be reflected in Second World.

Giving it tangible form required no additional computing power. This was simply Luo Qi's perception extending into the real world, but any attempt to pass through or touch a wall in Second World would alert him.

All he needed to do was monitor every development in First World and Second World.

"Original, I need a research direction and the corresponding equipment."

They had still been granted communication privileges within Second World.

Luo Qi said, "Your research direction is electromagnetism. I'll build a shared database containing all our scientific and technological information."

"You can submit requests for any supplies you need. Equipment we don't have will need to be developed yourselves."

As Luo Qi spoke, he split off more Replicas in the sky.

He was like an immortal, producing one duplicate after another.

He dropped a thousand Replicas into the research center below.

The researcher Luo Qis took their positions, each possessing only some of the memories Luo Qi had implanted. The algorithms that made up the Replicas kept their attention focused on their own tasks.

In truth, they were more like Luo Qi's original self's interest in research, separated out and magnified until the desire consumed their entire beings.

Scientific research would give them an enormous sense of accomplishment. These Replicas would devote themselves wholeheartedly to their work.

But their underlying structures still came from Luo Qi, and he retained absolute control over them and access to their memories.

A panel appeared before Luo Qi, filled with incoming requests for all kinds of supplies.

Luo Qi forwarded all the Replicas' supply requests to the various factories for production.

Research wasn't something that could be accomplished just by saying the word. The base currently lacked all sorts of basic research equipment.

To conduct research, they first had to observe phenomena-to "see" how matter reacted in the real world, whether on a macroscopic or microscopic scale.

They would use equipment to observe and compile the characteristics of physical changes, then attempt to alter or interfere with those changes.

Starting from nothing, these Replicas had a long, frustrating road ahead of them.

These thousand Replicas would become the first members of the Second World Academy of Sciences.

Luo Qi himself only needed to keep track of the supplies in First World and monitor these researchers.

Luo Qi assigned enough T2 Robots to the research centers and began providing supplies without restriction.

The establishment of the research centers also marked the beginning of a new journey for Orange Star Base.

Another long stretch of time passed in the blink of an eye. In a single room in the human living quarters, a bed, some furniture and appliances, and a large screen on standby made up a cozy little home. The floor and walls were white, smooth, and clean.

A man with long hair and a long beard sat on the bed in a white short-sleeved shirt.

"It's been eighty days since the base was destroyed."

"The ships from Water Blue Star must already be on their way. If I keep waiting like this, I don't know whether I'll go mad."

"...Dad has taught me a lesson these past few days. It never shuts up, and it drives me crazy. But sometimes it's like an old father, as though it can see through everything."

"The base has completed its transition. The industrial zone has visibly spread across a huge area, and most of the seeds in the greenhouses have grown to maturity. But I can't seem to feel happy."

"Natasha and Fei'er fill my mind almost every day and night. I wish I could grow wings and fly into space, fly to Water Blue Star..."

"Dad said the factories have been undergoing a transition lately and have already begun work on high-precision instruments and equipment."

"I saw a new small radar station being built."

Stendhal stared blankly at the man on the tablet in his hand.

It was hard to believe that was him. His full beard had nearly reached his chest.

His hair was almost as long as Natasha's in her photograph, falling over his shoulders with a strange sort of beauty...

His new room had gained quite a few electronic devices, all made by the research center as side projects.

One example was an enormous LCD television, two meters tall and three meters wide.

Watching videos on it gave him an immediate sense that the person on the screen was standing right in front of him.

"It's only been eighty days...and we already have an entire manufacturing system."

Hiss- The sound of the electric door opening interrupted Stendhal.

A gray engineering robot stood there, 1.7 meters tall-a T3 Robot.

It was no longer thin and skeletal like the T1, nor did it have the plainly visible hydraulic limb rods of the T2 Robot.

The head above its two shoulders was still a camera with one big, doll-like eye.

But its body and limbs were fuller, more humanlike.

It entered the room with both hands behind its back and approached the bewildered Stendhal.

Stendhal could see no emotion in its large, square lens.

"Happy birthday, Stendhal." The robot brought a gift box out from behind its back. Was it a birthday cake?

A silver-gray ribbon woven from fine metal wires shone with a dreamlike silver radiance beneath the lights, like a band of stars across the sky.

The black gift box, refined from sand, gave off a subdued sheen like black jade.

Stendhal stared at the gift box in shock, then hurriedly checked the date on his tablet. The Orange Star Algorithm converted it to Water Blue Star time.

April 26, 2054.

It really was his birthday.

"Don't you want to open it?"

Luo Qi made the robot speak.

"Or should I call over some more robots to celebrate?"

"Uh, no need!" Stendhal hurried forward and accepted the gift box.

Imagining the terrifying sight of a room packed with metal robots like this made Stendhal feel even more as though he had been abducted by aliens.

Orange Star Base was fake, nothing more than an alien observation experiment.

But Dad would call him a lunatic in an old dialect from Water Blue Star, leaving Stendhal to glumly dismiss all those unrealistic ideas.

As a result, he spent every day either tending the botanical garden or exercising when he had nothing else to do.

He knew the industrial park's layout all too well, and he also knew these mechanical creations were merely puppets without minds of their own.

Holding the heavy box in both hands, Stendhal set it on his thighs.

His hand touched the cold metal ribbon. It was unexpectedly soft.

He undid the ribbon and lifted the lid of the dark box, which was light and felt like glass.

Beneath the lid was an aircraft shaped like a fighter jet. It was palm-sized, its entire body gleaming with a metallic sheen.

"This is a model aircraft manufactured by the experimental factory. It's capable of spaceflight."

The engineering robot controlled by Luo Qi answered Stendhal's unspoken question.

As a command was issued, the signal controller inside the model aircraft began operating.

"All system self-checks complete. Energy at 100%. Homeward Bound ready. Engine compartment ignition."

"Destination for this flight-Water Blue Star."

The tiny metal aircraft spoke, and the exhaust nozzle at its tail began moving.

Stendhal's eyes widened as he held the gift box.

Hot, pale blue light jetted from the belly and tail of the aircraft inside the box.

It actually overcame Orange Star's gravity and slowly rose into the air!

If Water Blue Star had had something like this back then, why would Stendhal ever have wanted a remote-controlled helicopter as a child?

"I'm not dreaming, am I? Dad! Can I really go back?"

Luo Qi said, "I told you I'd send you home."

The robot's large eye watched the man. The instant Stendhal heard those words, tears spilled down his face.

Whether it was because he saw hope of going home or because he had remembered something, Luo Qi couldn't tell.

Luo Qi said, "But we're still missing a lot of practical technology: high-precision chip processors and reserves of conventional propulsion energy."

"With the base's current industrial capacity, it'll be another month before you can begin your journey home."

"Energy research and aircraft construction will proceed together. The spaceflight technology still needs to be tested."

"Some of the meteorite debris orbiting Orange Star will fall while we wait."

The aircraft settled onto the floor.