Who still falls in love in the interstellar era?

Chapter 196 Virtual and Real

The maid robot showed Frank's familiar smile: "I am your maid Nina. Is there anything I can't do well?"

Frank did not put down the gun. He ordered with a stern face: "Reproduce the look on your face when I asked, 'Why didn't you pick up the bullet casing?'"

The maid immediately changed her expression, this time to one familiar to Frank.

Frank checked his memory suspiciously, and found that in the onboard computer storage, Nina also showed the same expression, and did not have the 'suspicious' expression that aroused his alertness.

Frank slowly put down the gun and touched his head: "What's going on?"

----

Nimiao: "I really only need to change this record?"

Helena: "Okay."

The maid's expression at first was indeed the "suspiciousness" newly installed in her head, so there was no problem with the mayor's vigilance.

However, Nimiao tampered with the records in other people's computers and changed the maid's expression into one familiar to the mayor.

Nimiao: "Is this method really effective?"

"Just wait and see. At first he will wonder if he is wrong. As time goes by, his pressure will increase and he will gradually enter a crazy state." Helena said confidently.

----

Frank touched his head and began to wonder if he had seen it wrong. The moment this thought occurred, Nina's expression in his physical memory became blurry.

To be on the safe side, he ordered: "Execute the anti-virus program and carefully check whether there are any traces of hacker intrusion."

After a brief pause, he gave the same command to his manned computer.

The manned computer anti-virus will cause Frank to temporarily lose control of part of the prosthetic body. In order to prevent accidents, he sat directly on the ground with his back against the tree trunk. This way, no matter what happened to his body, he would not be injured if he fell to the ground. .

The maid also temporarily stopped all movements, but the robot did not sit down. After all, the machine can temporarily lock all joints to maintain stability.

Ten seconds later, the test was completed. While the manned computer displayed the test report on Frank's right field of vision, the maid also reported: "There is no virus infection or trace of intrusion. Everything is normal."

Frank was speechless and muttered: "There should be no hackers on this planet who can get past the offensive defense wall, at least not yet."

He was so excited that he immediately sent a computer to contact the space agency.

The director of the space agency personally answered his call: "Hello, Mr. Mayor, you are calling me right now. Did something go wrong during the weekend fishing activity?"

The director of the space agency and the mayor have a good personal relationship, and they go fishing together on weekends from time to time.

Frank: "Has any spacecraft arrived on our planet recently?"

If no one locally can crack the offensive defense wall, but the offensive defense wall is cracked by someone, then it is probably someone from outside.

Many locals have forgotten that there is a huge interstellar society outside, and some even think that the space agency and customs are just tea drinking establishments, but Frank himself has never forgotten that there is a huge interstellar society outside.

From time to time, he would send spaceships outside, nominally to purchase goods, but actually to collect intelligence to see if other colonists and space mining companies were eyeing the galaxy they occupied.

After so many years, no one outside has noticed this galaxy that has been explored for many years, but that does not mean that no one will keep an eye on it in the future.

To prepare for this possibility, Frank made various preparations.

For example, he has been building a planetary defense system to prepare to resist "invasion" from the universe. In addition, he is also working hard to explore asteroids in this galaxy and is committed to finding asteroids containing helium-3. These helium-3 can be used as bargaining chips in the future - together with the planetary defense system.

However, helium resources are not easy to find in the universe, and there are tens of thousands of asteroids in this galaxy waiting to be surveyed, so the search for helium-3 has not yet achieved practical results.

But after all, I’m still looking.

Currently, a spacecraft and five crew members are detecting asteroids one by one in the asteroid belt of this galaxy. It is expected that it will take another twenty years to detect all the asteroids in the galaxy.

Precisely because he has always been concerned about the universe, Frank can now think so quickly that outsiders may be causing trouble.

The space director was silent for a second - probably checking the report - and then replied: "No spacecraft from outer space has been found. There are reports of seeing flashes in some places, which is suspected to be the luminous phenomenon of spacecraft leaving hyperspace. , but the survey telescope did not detect the spacecraft."

Goosebumps appeared on Frank's back: "Lighting phenomenon?"

----

Helena complained to Nimiao: "Why didn't you correct the observed light emission phenomenon?"

Nimiao: "I can only change the records on the machine, but I cannot change the memory of the human brain. If you modify the records on the other party's machine casually, it will be easily discovered by human operators. Then the secret will be more serious."

Wang Chao intervened: "Actually, we can explain this flash. It is said that the ancient civilization that woke up underground tried to communicate with its other colonies, so it sent out hyperspace ripples."

Helena: "What the hell are hyperspace ripples?"

Nia: "... Do you want to set this new race to be able to communicate at super-light speed very conveniently?"

Wang Chao: "No, I just added a setting to wipe our ass with the flash when we leave hyperspace."

Nia: "But... this may increase the authenticity of the alien race we want to create. But for now, let's fool the mayor first."

Helena: "Look at it."

----

Frank repeated again: "Lighting phenomenon? So aliens really landed on our planet?"

"No, as I just said, we have not found any alien spacecraft entering this system. In addition, one of our armed satellites lost contact. Maybe the nuclear torpedo on the armed satellite exploded.

"We have tested before that if an armed satellite explodes, it can indeed illuminate half of the earth."

Facing his old friend's "right argument", Frank was noncommittal.

He once again looked at the maid robot and his loyal hound.

He muttered: "If they are outsiders, what do they want from me? There is nothing on our planet that outsiders would covet?"

Indeed, there is not even helium-3 on this planet. Bandits from the universe don't even bother to visit here.

Even if they really come to visit, they must first blow up all the air defense facilities on the ground. It is unreasonable to secretly land and then invade the machine maid.

The space director on the other end of the communication asked: "Do you need me to launch a spacecraft to strengthen the high-orbit alert?"

Frank: "Send one. Anyway, these spaceships usually require man-hours to maintain, so this is the time to let them play their role."

"Understood. Is there anything else?"

"No more... Oh, by the way, the weekend fishing is as usual."

"Great! Then I'll hang up."

Frank nodded—even though the astronaut administrator couldn't see it.

After cutting off the communication, Frank looked up at Nina, whom he had carried with him for many years, and began to wonder about the intentions of the aliens who only invaded Nina.

After thinking for a long time, he couldn't think of a reason, so he could only think that he had made a mistake. He stood up and said to his pet dog: "Let's go home."

Pet dog: "Okay, sir."

Frank looked at the dog sharply, only to find that the dog was sticking out its tongue and wagging its tail. After meeting his eyes, it barked - that was probably a dog's bark.

He checked the records on the manned computer again and found only images of his dog barking in response to him.

Frank stared at the dog for two seconds, then silently answered the phone of the only psychologist on the planet: "Dr. Douglas, I need psychological consultation."

"Three hundred Berkeley dollars an hour, or equivalent physical currency." The doctor replied.

Frank: "Come on, doctor, you don't want to leave our colony, why don't you just use the local lira?"

The local lira is a general equivalent issued for the convenience of residents' transactions.

The value of equivalent goods is determined through the supply and marketing cooperative in the colony - the price of a commodity in the supply and marketing cooperative is generally the price when the residents trade by themselves.

Dr. Douglas: "If someone comes to me, then I will definitely use the local lira. After all, the local residents have no other currency. But you are different. You are the mayor. You must have money from other galaxies. After all, you still have money from other galaxies." There is quantum entanglement communication with the outside world, right?"

"That's a rumour. I don't have a communication device."

Frank did not intend to dwell on this old rumor and changed the topic: "I had a hallucination today. First, I saw my maid robot showing a smile that I had not installed for her, and then my dog ​​spoke human language. .”

Dr. Douglas listened quietly and waited until Frank finished speaking for a second before speaking: "How has your sleep been recently?"

"Very good, no symptoms of insomnia at all."

"Have you installed a new prosthetic body?"

"No, in fact, where do the new prosthetics come from in our colony? Aren't they all old models produced by Jackson?"

This colony does not have high-level printing capabilities, so it cannot produce more advanced prostheses. The local factories produce the same sturdy and durable prostheses that are used in harsh environments. It operates smoothly without maintenance for years.

It is similar to the automatic rifle AK from the pre-aerospace era.

Dr. Douglas pondered for a moment and then asked: "Then have you developed new relationships with other townspeople? Or have you encountered any setbacks in life?"

"Can I still encounter setbacks in life?" Frank asked.

"No, Frank, the frustration here is a broad sense of frustration. For example, you want to shoot a bird but miss five shots, or an old dog that has been with you for many years suddenly dies of illness, and so on."

Frank recalled: "No."

----

Helena suddenly smiled and directed a large number of robots in the manor to build a small grave under a crabapple tree in the corner of the manor.

Nimiao, who witnessed her doing the whole thing, asked in confusion: "Why did you build this tomb? Could it be..."

"No, this is just a casual move."

"...Does that require me to fake the memory of his life with dogs?"

"No, not at all. Didn't you see that my name is not written on my tombstone?"

On the tombstone where Helena let the robot rush to work, there is only one epitaph: The sky I look up to with you is the scenery that I can't find anywhere.

Wang Chao, who was far away on the spaceship, commented: "This epitaph is quite artistic."

"At times like this, you should be more artistic."

"But the mayor is not a literary person."

"It does not matter."

----

Frank had no idea what Helena had arranged for him. After carefully recalling it, he firmly answered again: "No."

"This is very strange. You shouldn't encounter psychological problems. In fact, the probability of psychological problems among the residents of this colony is much lower than that of the core planet where I worked before.

"This should be because the locals live an idyllic life and there is basically no pressure to survive. If you ask me, our place is like a utopia."

Frank: "Utopia...but all utopian-themed works are dystopian."

"No, there are also non-reverse ones. For example, there is one called "PHS Travels in the Future", which is a very pure utopian travelogue."

Frank: "Oh, I've read that book. It's as beautiful as a fairy tale."

"That book is indeed for young readers. In short, I will prescribe you some antidepressant medicine first, just in case. I will send it to you by drone later."

"Then how can I give you the electronic money?"

Dr. Douglas smiled: "It's just this level of 'consultation', there is no need to charge. Look at the time, it hasn't even been five minutes. I asked the drone to deliver the medicine to the maid in your apartment. "

----

Helena: "Mothership! Synthesize some hallucinogen and send it to me immediately."

Wang Chao: "You want to switch his medicine?"

"Yeah, it will work faster."

Wang Chao: "Is this really a tactic thought up by a person with super powers? Did you agree to use super powers to brainwash the opponent? You are Yuri on our spaceship!"

Helena: "What am I? Isn't Yuri a Russian name? I don't have Russian ancestry?"

"He's talking about old game jokes again." Nimiao explained angrily.

Helena: "Oh, it's an old game from the late 20th and early 21st century, right? I told you earlier, you are delusional..."

"It's a disease and it needs to be cured. I know, I know." Wang Chao said perfunctorily.

Helena: "It's good that you know. Don't just pay attention to me. Hurry up and dig for the relics of ancient civilization."

"It's done. Lily has just designed the ancient mining machine and is now printing the first mining machine."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you over there."

----

After ending the call with Dr. Douglas, Frank took out a piece of meat and fed it to his pet dog.

Seeing that someone of the same kind was being commended, the few dogs that had not picked up prey could not sit still and became restless. They looked eagerly at the shotgun in Frank's hand, hoping that he would shoot another duck or bird or something.

But Frank made up his mind: "No fight, Nina, let's go home."

(End of this chapter)