Chapter 515: Change — Evolution Is the Only Way Out! Variable!
Just as the two were speaking, the incandescent lights around them suddenly turned into a blinding red, the flashing warning lights glaring like omens of the world's end.
This was the highest alert of the experimental base.
Almost instantly, a holographic screen popped up in front of Luo Ji, and a line of large white characters appeared: [Latest position of the droplets locked. Total number: nine. They have split into three formations, passed Pluto's orbit, and are now heading toward Earth!]
All of this intelligence came from the Snowfield Project's early warning system, which, by detonating star-level hydrogen bombs to create an oily membrane substance, was able to detect the traces left by the droplets as they flew past.
For humanity, this was the most reliable reconnaissance method available.
As for Universal Megacorp, they had no need for such crude and outdated techniques. With their AI drone technology, they could easily lock onto the droplets' position. But Paul had no intention of helping these humans locate the droplets.
After all, if Universal Megacorp did everything, the humans here would just keep infighting and stirring up trouble from behind. He wasn't going to let them sit idle.
Luo Ji furrowed his brows. He knew the droplets would come, but he hadn't expected them to arrive so soon.
Almost the moment he finished reading the warning bulletin, the Snowfield Project's system sent another urgent message:
[Detected flight trajectories of the Trisolaran fleet: a total of 607. They have entered the Solar System and are approaching Earth.]
Contrary to earlier predictions, the droplets and the Trisolaran fleet had not joined forces to invade the Solar System together. Instead, they had split up to launch a pincer attack.
The nine droplets were entering from the opposite direction of the Trisolaran fleet. This arrangement was meant to force humanity into a choice: which enemy to confront first.
Given humanity's current spacefaring military strength, whichever front they prioritized, they would inevitably leave the other exposed—leading, ultimately, to Earth's fall.
But if they tried to divide their forces temporarily, neither side would have any real chance of victory. It seemed the best course was to let the Asian Fleet remain to defend Earth.
Yet that brought a new problem.
On their path, the droplets would inevitably pass by Jupiter's orbital base. That installation, built up over two centuries by the International Fleet, was bristling with defenses and stocked with vast reserves of resources.
Those assets were far too valuable to abandon, meaning the Asian Fleet would have to be stationed there instead.
In short, whichever path they chose, sacrifice was inevitable—either Earth, or the Jupiter base.
Just as Luo Ji hesitated, unable to decide, Paul decisively issued his order:
"Immediately notify the Asian Fleet—deploy at once to intercept the droplets!"
The droplets were the Trisolarans' true elite force. The fleet behind them was nothing but a decoy, its role merely to cover the droplets' entry into Earth.
With both droplets and the Trisolaran fleet descending simultaneously, Earth's society reached an unprecedented pitch of tension.
After more than two hundred years of struggle against the Trisolarans, they could never see the sophons hidden in the microcosm. Even the droplets were so minuscule that only the Snowfield Project could render them visible.
Only when the Trisolaran fleet truly appeared in outer space—visible to the naked eye overhead—could people feel that dread buried deep within their hearts.
News of the Asian Fleet's mobilization spread quickly. Such a massive military deployment could never be hidden from the public.
But this time, their attitude was nothing like when the United Fleet had first set sail. Now, the vast majority believed the mission was certain death.
Against nine droplets, those seven hundred star-level warships were no more than a mantis raising its arms to stop a chariot—eggs striking stone.
Of course, among the populace, not all had lost faith. Many still believed in Paul. After all, he had destroyed one droplet before. If droplets were not invincible, then humanity still held a sliver of hope.
Countless people, filled with anxiety and doubt, watched as the Asian Fleet set sail. This battle, near Jupiter's orbit, would be humanity's decisive confrontation with the Trisolarans!
...
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the droplets' approach, the Trisolaran fleet advanced toward Earth, its formation neat and solemn like an array of stars, exuding the bearing of an iron army.
This fleet actually numbered more than twelve hundred ships, but because the formation was spread so wide, the Snowfield Project had only detected one-third of them.
That error was quickly corrected, however, as the antimatter engines of the fleet flared in space, each one forming a small sun, trailing long streaks of light at near-light speed.
There was no need for the Snowfield Project's oily membranes—just by the blazing trails behind them, one could clearly see the fleet's full scale.
The Trisolaran warships' design retained its hallmark style: clean, simple, and efficient. Their surfaces gleamed silver-white, as though cast entirely from liquid mercury.
But unlike the droplets, their hulls were not forged from strong interaction materials.
Though smooth in appearance, they lacked the elegance of the droplets—more like oversized versions at best.
Megacorp's probes had long since confirmed their true combat capabilities. Few even carried proper warship cannons. Their interiors were devoted almost entirely to transporting Trisolarans.
By rights, these vessels could not even be called warships. They were, in essence, transport ships.
Within them, the Trisolaran colonists—bearers of their civilization's hope—were finally waking from their long dehydrated slumber.
In their dehydrated state, they resembled shriveled human skins. But unlike human skin, these were pure silver, resembling sheets of tin foil, layered together like a block of cold metal.
Through slow rehydration, they gradually recovered from their desiccated state.
Once rehydrated, their shriveled limbs became strong and firm. Their featureless faces, smooth and rounded, shone like convex mirrors.
For Trisolarans, communication required no speech or listening. A single look was enough. By seeing one another's reflections in their mirror-like faces, their overlapping gazes completed perfect communication.
For them, "thinking" and "speaking" were one and the same. The moment an idea arose in the mind, everyone present could see it.
This was the Trisolaran's transparent thought. In face-to-face exchanges, every act of communication was absolutely genuine—deception was impossible.
Lying could never exist.
And not just in close contact—Trisolarans could communicate from great distances as well, through a shared brainwave transmission network that resembled collective consciousness.
Commanding over a thousand ships, for them, was nothing more than "a single thought."
"Through so many disasters and ordeals, we have finally reached the long-awaited new home. Our civilization has hope again."
On the polished mirror-like face of the Trisolaran fleet commander, the Solar System's planets were reflected. Among them, the most vivid—the vibrant blue planet teeming with life—was the paradise that carried their dream of rebirth.
For this, the Trisolaran fleet had endured a voyage of more than two centuries. Had they not undergone a technological explosion, it might have taken another two hundred years to reach this place.
In the first two centuries of the voyage, nearly everyone aboard the warships spent their time in dehydrated hibernation.
Only a handful of monitors and commanders remained awake, responsible for overseeing ship operations and awakening others in case of emergency.
So far, several monitors had already spent long and lonely lives aboard the vessels. Once they lost the ability to work, they were forcibly dehydrated.
Their dried fiber husks were immediately thrown into the fuel bay and burned; this fleet, bearing the burden of reviving Trisolaran civilization, would never waste resources on the idle.
But by now, changes had begun to appear within the Trisolaran fleet: more and more Trisolarans were starting to value independent thought, and their collective consciousness was gradually fracturing.
This was the influence of the human Renaissance.
Rigid group thought had long shackled and coerced every individual to sacrifice for the collective, suppressing the development of individuality.
This was also why Trisolaran technological progress had been so slow.
But once some of those restraints were lifted, a number of gradually enlightened Trisolarans drove their civilization into a period of explosive growth in technology. They came to be known as "Newton," "Da Vinci," and "Galileo."
To highlight their individuality, Trisolarans—who had never needed names, only numerical codes—began imitating humans by giving themselves names.
Yet at this stage, the fleet was still in the early phase of this intellectual awakening, and the vast majority continued their old habits of thought.
At this moment, the Trisolaran on monitoring duty sent a report through brainwaves: "The human fleet has departed in full to intercept the droplets. Earth is undefended."
The fleet commander did not immediately order the advance, but instead asked: "According to the last information transmitted by the sophons, there still exists a celestial body in the Solar System known as the Moon of War, correct?"
"Yes. It was precisely because we were caught off guard that the sophons fell into the electromagnetic trap set by humans, and we've received no information since."
The monitor replied.
"This may not be a bad thing. Humans cannot destroy the sophons." The fleet commander was thoughtful.
"I do not understand what you mean, Commander."
"Humans are a species of extremely chaotic thought and unstable emotions. Their behavior can easily spiral out of control under various influences."
"Deception is their only advantage. Even the information returned by the sophons can, to some extent, interfere with our decision-making."
Within the Trisolaran fleet, the word 'deception' was considered an exalted term. Even the intelligent fleet commander had needed considerable time to reluctantly grasp its meaning.
Time and again, Trisolaran civilization had fallen prey to human trickery, unable to discern their true intentions.
Thus, whether it was droplets or sophons, both had blundered into human traps through deception, leading to their ruin.
It was precisely because of this that Trisolarans feared the ETO. They could never tell whether it was truly a group of loyal human lackeys—or just another ruse.
Humans' chaotic, unpredictable thoughts and emotions could at any time drive them to act against their own intentions, something Trisolarans could never preempt.
For Trisolaran civilization, transparent thought granted them a highly stable social structure, with resources maximized to their fullest use.
But the cost was just as obvious.
Transparent thought meant there was no such thing as privacy. Individuality was not respected in Trisolaran society, and everyone's thinking converged into uniformity.
Technological knowledge relied only on accumulation across generations. Without new variables, Trisolarans could scarcely ever experience the kind of technological explosion humanity achieved.
"However, we are not without gains. Though we are constantly deceived by humans, we are learning their systems and coming to understand varied forms of information."
"We simply lack certain specific organs, preventing us from truly understanding what deception is. But bridging this gap will not be too difficult."
The fleet commander was no stubborn fossil, but one willing to embrace progress and change. Without the recent technological explosion, it would have taken them at least another two centuries to reach the Solar System.
Change and evolution were the only way forward for Trisolaran civilization.
If the Trisolarans could acquire a human brain, study it, and then modify themselves accordingly, perhaps they could begin to think like humans and develop abstract thought—something nonexistent among their kind.
Variables.
Trisolaran thought lacked variables. Humanity's flashes of inspiration were something the Trisolarans could never comprehend or achieve.
If Trisolaran civilization could maintain its stable social structure while gaining humanity's unique cognitive abilities, their technological growth would surely far surpass the present—
Perhaps even reaching a pace of exponential leaps!
"The sophons' purpose is not merely to block humanity's technological progress, but more importantly, to exploit the information gap and continually widen the development gulf between our civilizations."
The fleet commander spoke calmly.
War did not only bring destruction. It also, to a certain degree, accelerated the exchange of information between civilizations and spurred technological advancement.
Two millennia ago, the Greco-Persian Wars opened channels of communication between European and Asian civilizations, perfecting hoplite equipment, phalanx tactics, naval technology, and port development to unprecedented heights.
These changes were, in essence, effects brought about by information exchange.
But with sophons, the Trisolarans could secure absolute advantage in this exchange of information during the coming conflict.
Were it not for the ETO, humanity would never have learned what Trisolaran society was like, nor how their technology had developed.
"Our only mistake was permitting the establishment of the ETO. They delivered our information to humanity. From the start, we should have remained silent, and crushed humans like insects."
The fleet commander stood motionless, gazing at the Earth drawing ever closer.
"Perhaps you are right, Commander," the monitor responded humbly. It cared little for these changes, performing its duties with numb detachment.
The disappearance of the sophons left the fleet commander somewhat pensive. Without those eyes, they could no longer gauge the situation within humanity.
The Trisolaran fleet and droplets were formidable, but who could know what hidden trump cards humanity's Universal Megacorp still kept in reserve?
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