III
“Young people, have you got it？4.6 billion years ago, we, inhabitants of the Noke Star, launched a small planet for verification of the biological evolution process. After a long journey in the universe, the small planet finally finds its position in the solar system. And this small planet is the Earth！Since the small planet is used for an experiment, it has to be noted that the biological evolution process has already been designed even when the Earth was still on the Noke Star. I am Dr. Ker, Field Director of this experiment. I’ve been working here over the past 4.6 billion years and have observed in person how you human beings evolved all the way from trilobites.”
Dr. Ker goes on talking as he points to the sky, “Look, our Noke Star is located at the head end of the galaxy. We have the most advanced civilization. To a certain extent, Noke Star is the mother of the Earth！” The doctor seems to become emotional when he gets here, “I have been away from my home at Noke Star for 4.6 billion years, not counting the travel time. This feeling is similar to what you human beings could feel if you were living all alone in a small cottage house located deep in the remote mountains during the endless winter nights, and all you had to do was killing the time while realizing that the candle of your life was being burnt away bit by bit.”
Hearing his comments, Chu Tian-xiong ventures to ask, “Dear Sir, why don’t you go back to your Noke Star then？” The old man answers, “That is exactly why I am inviting you to come here.”
The old man makes a gesture with his hand, and then the human development history is projected on the circular stereoscopic screens in front of them. From Aristotle to Freud, from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, from the scuffles with bronze weapons to the firing with bronze canons, all those vivid scenes educate, enlighten and delight Chu Tian-xiong and Zhao Yu.
Next is the outbreak of the nuclear and chemistry wars, which leave the earth seriously damaged; and then the worsening of greenhouse effect leads to the melting of glaciers all over the earth till all the lands are engulfed by water again. This marks the end of experiment.
There’s only blankness left on the screen.
“The latter part is not true！ I don’t believe this is the future for mankind！” Chu Tian-xiong speaks to Zhao Yu, but he actually gets the message across to Dr. Ker.
The doctor laughs and answers, “This is what has been designed by us Nokers, and it is irrevocable. However, what has surprised our experiment designers is that you human beings have grown in intelligence far beyond our designed capacity, which forces us to terminate the experiment.”
“What if you don’t stop the experiment？”
“Then we are going to let the human beings on the earth to start nuclear wars—you’ll have to start the wars even if you don’t want to, and that is the opinion of some of our scientists on Noke Star. But more scientists believe that human beings are rather mature and you may run well in the autonomous mode.”
“I suppose you are one of those who stand for termination of the experiment？”
“Yes, I am standing for its immediate termination. On the one hand, there’s no necessity to proceed with the experiment; on the other hand, there’s one personal reason. I miss my family at Noke Star very much.”
“Is there anything I can do for you？”
“At first we wished to wait until a living human sample of the earth is mature; however, after the experiment was stopped, everyone got tired of the idleness. So we decided to leave before the sample is mature enough. Now let me formally inform you—Mr. Chu, we’ve decided to take your wife away with us as a sample of human beings on the earth. Let my fellows at our hometown have a chance to look at the successful product of experiments！”
Zhao Yu throws herself into Chu Tian-xiong’s arms at once as if she got an electric shock, meanwhile Chu Tian-xiong yells out like an angry lion, “No！ Never！”
Dr. Ker shows an awkward look, “If you are so firmly opposing this request, I’ll have to give the order to resume the experiments. That is to say, you would let all human beings suffer the deadly loss from nuclear wars rather than sacrifice Ms. Zhao？”
Chu Tian-xiong and Zhao Yu are trying all they can do to catch his words for an explicit interpretation, with their eyes wide open and filled with fear.
IV
This is the last night. The flying disk is scheduled to leave at dawn.
Zhao Yu keeps her eyes on Chu Tian-xiong all the time with tears. Chu Tian-xiong makes every possible attempt to comfort her while suppressing his own sorrow and sadness. He says in a trembling voice, “We mustn’t spoil our time like this, especially the last moment...and now, aren’t we still being together？”
“I wish the time could be frozen...”
As if he had not heard anything, Chu Tian-xiong puts out his hand and combs her hair on the temples. Then he says, “Do you still remember the small river in front of our house？ The willows by the riverside should have turned green now. Every spring we used to take a walk and had chats under those willows. We’d stay there till the chilly mist arises from the middle of the river and damp our clothes. Think of those times, what beautiful moments！”
Then they both recall the days and nights when they were working on establishing the astronomic and meteorological observatory at the Song Liao Plain.
That was the time when they first fell in love with each other.
At that time, Chu Tian-xiong got up very early in the mornings. He then went out to get water from the river in the songs of the larks, after which he would wake up Zhao Yu. When Zhao Yu finished freshening herself up, she might receive a big pleasant surprise, for Tian-xiong had again prepared her a wonderful breakfast of different flavors.