One Thousand Six Hundred and Ninety-Three Temporarily Put Aside

Mid-December 2036, the moon.

It was another early morning, and the sharp alarm woke up Qian Hao from his deep sleep. He yawned, rubbed his face vigorously to drive away the sleepiness, and quickly got out of bed to clean up.

Ten minutes later, Qian Hao arrived at the No. 1 Express Elevator on time. After saying hello to his colleagues who worked together, they all walked into the elevator together.

There are no floors in the elevator, only two buttons for up and down.

A companion pressed down and the elevator started slowly. Qian Hao felt a slight weightlessness.

The speed of the elevator is getting faster and faster, but the inside of the elevator is very stable. Everyone is chatting with each other as usual.

Half an hour later, the elevator door opened, and everyone walked out of the elevator and entered the artificially modified natural cave.

This is the deepest part of the Beiyuezhou base, several kilometers deeper than the Beiyuezhou command center.

The empty cave was illuminated by lights like daylight. Looking up, there were several huge metal spheres fixed on steel frames under the high dome. Each metal sphere was filled with heavy water, weighing at least more than a thousand tons. The surface of the metal ball is filled with densely packed photomultipliers, which looks particularly sci-fi.

There are many measurement and control equipment placed in the corner of the cave, where Qian Hao and his companions work.

Everyone went to their respective positions and handed over their duties one to one.

At this moment, the indicator light on the console suddenly lit up. Everyone was stunned at the same time, no longer caring about handover, everyone rushed to the console, a large amount of data slid across the screen like water, everyone's All eyes are focused on the data on the screen.

"Calculate the angle!"

"Calculate the intensity!"

"Calculate the bearing..."

A few minutes later, Beiyuezhou Command Center.

The combat staff officer suddenly jumped as high as two people and landed neatly in front of Wu Han: "Chief, the Neutrino Detection Center reported that an unknown source of neutrinos was detected. It has been determined that these neutrinos came from the natural decay of transuranic elements. "Preliminary estimates indicate that the radioactive source is located deep in the Andes Mountains, between 7,000 and 8,000 meters underground."

After the combat staff officer finished speaking, he handed the chart he just received to Wu Han with both hands.

Wu Han waved his hand: "No need.

I can’t understand it even if you give it to me. "

"Yes!" The combat staff officer quickly took back the chart.

Wu Han touched his chin and thought deeply for a moment: "So, the Americans' plan was successful?"

"Probably." The combat staff nodded.

Wu Han's expression was very playful: "Americans are very lucky."

Only the top leaders of various countries know that this is not the first time that humans have searched for alien strongholds. Ever since aliens landed on the earth, countries have not stopped searching for aliens.

However, none of the previous plans were successful, and this time the plan came up with a sudden inspiration - the Americans heard that Beiyuezhou was researching neutrino communication technology, and built the largest one in human history underneath the base. Neutrino detector, so I don’t know which American had an idea and came up with such a roundabout way.

Regardless of how the process went, it was all done by the Americans. Wu Han sighed softly: "Pick me up to the international base. I want to talk to Franklin directly!"

"yes!"

The combat staff officer agreed and immediately forwarded the order to the communications department.

Soon after, the communication was connected, and a particularly energetic old white man appeared on the screen.

The two exchanged a few formal polite words, and then Wu Han got straight to the point: "General Franklin, we have found neutrinos from the decay of transuranic elements. The radioactive source is located in the Andes Mountains, more than 7,000 meters underground... Congratulations."

"God bless!" Franklin's tone was like the most experienced magician. "I haven't heard such good news in months... Only one radioactive source?"

"This is the only one found so far." Wu Han said.

Franklin pursed his lips: "I believe there are more than one alien stronghold. General Wu, what do you think?"

Wu Han nodded: "We think so too. Discovering this radioactive source is only the first step. I believe we will discover more radioactive sources in the future."

Franklin said: "Can I understand that your country hopes not to touch this alien stronghold for the time being?"

Wu Han said: "After so many years of alien landing, there must be more than one stronghold. Taking action now is to scare the enemy away. Our suggestion is to record the coordinates first and wait until the time is right before taking action."

Franklin smiled happily: "We have reached an agreement, general!"

Wu Han also smiled: "Okay, I'll report the situation right away."

"One more question!" Franklin put away his smile, "General Wu, have you ever thought about whether it will arouse the suspicion of aliens if you are unable to build nuclear weapons?"

Wu Han raised his lips slightly: "That's a nuclear weapon, how can it be so easy?"

Days later, deep in the Andes.

"How can it be that easy?" The insect man waved his arms and used body language to increase his persuasiveness. "Nuclear physics is the most profound subject of mankind. Do you know how long it took mankind to develop nuclear weapons?"

"How long?" an alien asked cooperatively.

"The principle of nuclear weapons has been discovered long ago, but it took the United States six years, the United Kingdom seven years, France three years, the former Soviet Union four years, and Beijing five years to develop nuclear weapons!" The insect man said, "Even humans It has taken so long. Your biotechnology and human science and technology are in two completely different directions. From the time we got the nuclear materials to now, it has been less than a month. How could we create atoms in such a short time? .bomb?"

"What does year mean?" the alien asked.

"It's the time it takes for the Earth... the blue planet to orbit a star."

"Okay, I'm too impatient." The alien said, "If the laws of stars are so easy to master, can they still be called laws of stars?"

From the information we know now, humans only know the basics of the laws of stars, but even if it's just the basics, it's not as simple as imagined.

The insect man breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I must remind you again that mastering the atomic bomb is only the first step towards the laws of stars. From the atomic bomb to the hydrogen bomb, the Americans took more than seven years, the British took four and a half years, the former Soviet Union took four years, the French took eight and a half years, and the North took two years and eight months!"

The alien was slightly angry: "What do you want to say?"

The insect man said, "I want to remind you that the atomic bomb is not equal to the laws of stars. It is just a stepping stone to the laws of stars, so you must be patient."

"My patience is very limited." The alien said, "Since you are an expert, there must be a way, right?"

"Yes!" The insect man nodded without hesitation, "But I need experts in physics, mathematics, materials science, and other fields, and I also need various experimental equipment. I can't do it alone!"