The Three-Body Problem

I’m not giving in, Wang thought. The equipment really needs maintenance, so the experiment must be temporarily stopped. This has nothing to do with anything else. He turned to the lab director and focused on him through the hovering countdown. “Shut down the experiment and perform the maintenance. Follow the schedule you gave me.”

“Absolutely, Chief Wang. I’ll give you an updated schedule right away. We can stop the reaction this afternoon!”

“You can stop it right now.”

The lab director stared at him in disbelief, but soon he was excited again, as if afraid to lose this opportunity. He picked up the phone and issued the order to stop the reaction. All the exhausted researchers and technicians grew excited, too. They immediately began the procedures to shut down the main reaction chamber, flipping a hundred complex switches. The various control screens became dark one after another, until finally, the main screen reflected the main reaction chamber’s halted status.

Almost simultaneously, the countdown before Wang’s eyes also stopped. The final number was 1174:10:07. A few seconds later, the numbers flickered and disappeared.

As the world reemerged, free of the ghostly numbers, Wang let out a long breath, as though he had just struggled up from underwater. He sat down, drained, and realized that others were still watching him.

He turned to the lab director. “System maintenance is the responsibility of the Equipment Division. Why don’t all of you in the research group take a break for a few days? I know everyone’s been working hard.”

“Chief Wang, you’re tired, too. Chief Engineer Zhang can take care of things here. Why don’t you go home and rest as well?”

“Yes, I am tired,” Wang said.

After the lab director left, he picked up the phone and dialed Shen Yufei’s number. She picked up after one ring.

“Who or what is behind this?” Wang asked. He tried to make his voice calm, but failed.

Silence.

“What will happen at the end of the countdown?”

More silence.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“Why nanomaterials? This is not a particle accelerator. It’s just applied research. Is it worth your attention?”

“Whether something is worth the attention is not for us to decide.”

“That’s enough!” Wang shouted into the phone. The terror and desperation of the last few days suddenly turned into uncontrollable rage. “Do you think these cheap tricks can fool me? Can stop technological progress? I admit that I can’t, for now, explain how you’re doing it. But that’s only because I haven’t been able to peek behind the curtain of your shameful illusionist.”

“You’re saying you want to see the countdown on an even greater scale?”

Shen’s question stunned Wang for a moment. He forced himself to be calm so he wouldn’t fall into a trap. “Put away your set of tricks. So what if you show it at a bigger scale? It’s still only an illusion. You can project a hologram into the sky, like what NATO did during the last war. With a powerful enough laser you can project an image onto the surface of the moon! The shooter and the farmer should be able to manipulate matters at a scale that humans cannot. For example, can you make the countdown appear on the surface of the sun?” Wang’s mouth hung open. He had shocked himself with his own words. Unconsciously, he had named the two hypotheses that he ought to have avoided. He felt on the verge of falling into the same mental trap that had claimed the other victims.

Trying to seize the initiative, he continued, “I can’t anticipate all your tricks, but even with the sun, perhaps your despicable illusionist can still somehow make the deception seem real. To give a demonstration that will really be convincing, you have to display it at an even larger scale.”

“The question is whether you can take it,” Shen said. “We’re friends. I want to help you avoid Yang Dong’s fate.”

The mention of Yang’s name made Wang shudder. But another surge of anger made him reckless. “Will you take up my challenge?”

“Of course.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Do you have a computer connected to the Internet? Okay, enter the following Web address: http://www.qsl.net/bg3tt/zl/mesdm.htm. You got it open? Now, print it out and keep it with you.”

Wang saw that the page was nothing more than a Morse code chart.

“I don’t understand. This—”

“During the next two days, please find a place where you can observe the cosmic microwave background. For specifics, please check the e-mail I’ll send you.”

“What … are you going to do?”

“I know that your nanomaterial project has been stopped. Do you plan on restarting it?”

“Of course. Three days from now.”

“Then the countdown will continue.”

“At what scale will I see it?”

A long silence followed. This woman, who was acting as the spokesperson for some force beyond human understanding, blocked every exit Wang had.