The Wandering Earth: Classic Science Fiction Collection by Liu Cixin
Page 49
“The drag of the atmosphere has somewhat slowed us, but we are still traveling at escape velocity,” she said. “We are now leaving Earth. Have a look over there.”
Huabei followed her pointing finger to the Antarctic Peninsula unimaginably far below. Just then he saw a flash from where he guessed the Antarctic Terminal had to be. Following it, he could see a shooting star rise from the peninsula, trailing fire. As it left the atmosphere, its flame also disappeared.
“That was a spaceship launched by the Earth Cannon. It will take us back,” his guide explained. “At any given time there are five or six 'shells' in the barrel of the Earth cannon. Like that, it can shoot a ship into space every eight to ten minutes. For us, taking a spaceship has become no more of an inconvenience than taking the subway.
“The great migration of industry began twenty years ago and during the most active period of launches, the Earth Cannon often accelerated twenty or more shells at once, firing one ship every two or three seconds,” she told him. “Back then, the spaceships shot into the sky like a never-ending shower of meteors. Humanity met the call of its destiny; it was truly magnificent!”
At that moment, Huabei spotted many fast moving stars, standing out in the brilliant, motionless star field surrounding them. It was immediately apparent that these moving stars were orbiting the Earth. On closer inspection, he was able to make out some of their shapes; some were round, others cylindrical, but the shapes of the vast majority of these objects were complex and irregular. In the pitch black of space, they looked like brilliant ornaments.
“That is Baosteel,” his guide said, pointing at a luminous ring. She continued pointing toward various other bright dots. “Those are Sinopec, although they of course no longer deal with oil. Those cylinders are the European Metallurgy Association. These over there are power stations that gather solar energy and supply the Earth with electricity via microwaves. The glowing part is only their control center; we can't see their solar panels or the transmission array from here...”
Huabei was intoxicated by the sights. Looking at the azure Earth below, tears began to well up in his eyes. Then and there he fervently wished upon all the stars, still and moving, that every single person who had ever worked the Antarctic Doorstep, living and dead, could all see this. He especially thought of one person, a girl eternally young in his mind's eye.
“Did they find my granddaughter?” he asked.
“No, we lack the technology to probe the depths of the Earth's core. It is a vast region and we have no way of knowing where the iron-nickel flow has carried her,” his guide answered solemnly.
“Can we use neutrinos to send images of what we are seeing to the Earth's core?” Huabei asked.
“We already are,” his guide replied. “I believe that she can see it all.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Liu Cixin, born in June 1963, is a representative of the new generation of Chinese science fiction authors and recognized as a leading voice in Chinese science fiction. His works have received wide acclaim on account of their powerful atmosphere and brilliant imagination. Liu Cixin's stories successfully combine the exceedingly ephemeral with hard reality, all the while focussing on revealing the essence and aesthetics of science. He has endeavoured to create a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction. Liu Cixin is a member of the China Science Writers' Association and the Shanxi Writers' Association. He was awarded the China Galaxy Science Fiction Award for eight consecutive years, from 1999 to 2006 and again in 2010. He received the Nebula (Xingyun) Award in both 2010 and 2011.