The Three-Body Problem Read online

  At the moment, the lab was attempting to develop a catalytic reaction as a substitute for molecular construction so that large numbers of molecules would stack themselves into the right arrangement. The main reaction chamber could rapidly run through a large number of reactions using different molecular combinations. There were so many combinations that normal manual testing methods would have taken more than a hundred years. In addition, the apparatus augmented actual reactions with mathematical simulations. When the reaction reached a certain stage, the computer would build a mathematical model of it based on intermediate products and finish the remainder of the reaction via simulation. This greatly boosted the experimental efficiency.

  When the lab director saw Wang, he hurried over and began to report a series of malfunctions with the main reaction chamber—a recent ritual whenever Wang arrived at work. By now the main reaction chamber had been in continuous operation for more than a year, and many sensors had lost sensitivity, resulting in measurement errors that required shutting down the apparatus for maintenance. But as the lead scientist on the project, Wang insisted that the machine would not be shut down until the third set of molecular combinations was finished. The technicians had no choice but to jury-rig more and more kludges onto the main reaction chamber to compensate. And now those kludges required their own kludges, a state of affairs that exhausted the project staff.

  But the lab director carefully avoided the topic of shutting down the machine and temporarily halting the experiment, as he knew that such discussions tended to enrage Wang Miao. He just laid out the difficulties before Wang, though his unspoken desire was clear.

  Engineers rushed around the main reaction chamber like doctors around a critical patient, trying to keep it going for a little longer. In front of the whole scene, the countdown appeared.

  1174:21:11, 1174:21:10, 1174:21:09, 1174:21:08 …

  Just stop. Try it. Shen’s words came to Wang.

  “How long would it take to completely overhaul the sensors?” Wang asked.

  “Four or five days.” Now that the lab director saw a ray of hope, he quickly added, “If we work fast, it will take only three days. I guarantee it, Chief Wang!”

  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.

  “Three days from now—that’s the fourteenth—between one and five in the morning, the entire universe will flicker for you.”

  7

  Three Body: King Wen of Zhou and the Long Night

  Wang dialed Ding Yi’s number. Only when Ding picked up did he realize that it was already one in the morning.

  “This is Wang Miao. I’m sorry to be calling so late.”

  “No problem. I can’t sleep anyway.”

  “I have … seen something, and I’d like your help. Do you know if there are any facilities in China that are observing the cosmic microwave background?” Wang had the urge to talk to someone about what was going on, but he thought it best to not let too many people know about the countdown that only he could see.

  “The cosmi
c microwave background? What made you interested in that? I guess you really have run into some problems.… Have you been to see Yang Dong’s mother yet?”

  “Ah—I’m sorry. I forgot.”

  “No worries. Right now, many scientists have … seen something, like you. Everyone’s distracted. But I think it’s still best if you go visit her. She’s getting on in years, and she won’t hire a caretaker. If there’s some task around the home that she needs help with, please help her.… Oh, right, the cosmic microwave background. You can ask Yang’s mother. Before she retired, she was an astrophysicist. She’s very familiar with such facilities in China.”

  “Good! I’ll go after work today.”

  “Then I’ll thank you in advance. I really can’t face anything that reminds me of Yang Dong again.”

  * * *

  After hanging up, Wang sat in front of his computer and printed out the simple Morse code chart. By now he was calm enough to turn his thoughts away from the countdown. He pondered the Frontiers of Science, Shen Yufei, and the computer game she had been playing. The only thing he knew for certain about Shen was that she wasn’t the type to enjoy computer games. She spoke like a telegraph and gave him the impression that she was always extremely cold. It wasn’t the kind of coldness that some people put on like a mask—hers suffused her all the way through.

  Wang subconsciously thought of her as the long-obsolete DOS operating system: a blank, black screen, a bare “C:>” prompt, a blinking cursor. Whatever you entered, it echoed back. Not one extra letter and not a single change. But now he knew that behind the “C:>” was a bottomless abyss.

  She’s actually interested in a game? A game that requires a V-suit? She has no kids, which means she bought the V-suit for herself. The very idea is preposterous.

  Wang entered the address for the game into the browser. It had been easy to memorize: www.3body.net. The site indicated that the game only supported access via V-suit. Wang remembered that the employee lounge at the Nanotechnology Research Center had a V-suit. He left the now-empty main lab and went to the security office to get the key. In the lounge, he passed the pool tables and the exercise machines and found the V-suit next to a computer. He struggled into the haptic feedback suit, put on the panoramic viewing helmet, and turned on the computer.

  After entering the game, Wang found himself in the middle of a desolate plain at dawn. The plain was dun-colored, blurry, its details hard to make out. In the distance, there was a sliver of white light on the horizon. Twinkling stars covered the rest of the sky.

  There was a loud explosion, and two red-glowing mountains crashed against the earth in the distance. The whole plain was bathed in red light. When the dust finally cleared from the sky, Wang saw two giant words erected between the sky and the earth: THREE BODY.

  Next came a registration screen. Wang created the ID “Hairen,” and logged in.15

  * * *

  The plain remained desolate, but now the compressors in the V-suit whirred to life, and Wang could feel gusts of cold air against his body. Before him appeared two walking figures, forming dark silhouettes against the dawn light. Wang ran after them.

  He saw that both figures were male. They were dressed in long robes full of holes, covered by dirty animal hides. Each carried a short, wide bronze sword. One of them carried a narrow wooden trunk that was as long as half his height. He turned around to look at Wang. The man’s face was as dirty and wrinkled as the hide he wore, but his eyes were sharp and lively, the pupils glinting in the early-morning glow.

  “It’s cold,” he said.

  “Yes, very cold.”

  “This is the Warring States Period,” the man with the trunk on his back said. “I am King Wen of Zhou.”

  “I don’t think King Wen belongs to the Warring States Period,” Wang said.16

  “He’s survived until now,” the other man said. “King Zhou of Shang is alive, too. I am a follower of King Wen. Indeed, that’s my log-in ID: ‘Follower of King Wen of Zhou.’ He’s a genius, you know?”17

  “My log-in ID is ‘Hairen.’ What are you carrying on your back?”

  King Wen put down the rectangular trunk and stood it up vertically. He opened one of the sides like a door and revealed five compartments within. By the faint light, Wang could see that every layer held a small mound of sand. Every compartment seemed to have sand falling into it from the compartment above, through a small hole.

  “A type of sandglass. Every eight hours all the sand flows to the bottom. Flip it three times and you can measure a day. But often I forget to flip it, and I need Follower here to remind me.”

  “You seem to be on a very long journey. Is it necessary to carry such a bulky clock?”

  “How else would we measure time?”

  “A portable sundial would be much more convenient. Or else you could just look at the sun and know the approximate time.”

  King Wen and Follower stared at each other, and then turned as one to gaze at Wang, as though he was an idiot. “The sun? How can the sun tell us the time? We’re in the midst of a Chaotic Era.”

  Wang was about to ask for the meaning of the strange term when Follower cried out piteously, “It’s so cold! I’m going to die of the cold!”

  Wang felt very cold as well. But in most games, taking off his V-suit would immediately cause his ID to be deleted by the system. He couldn’t do that. He said, “When the sun comes out it will be warmer.”

  “Are you pretending to be some kind of oracle? Even King Wen cannot predict the future.” Follower shook his head contemptuously.

  “What does what I said have to do with predicting the future? Everyone can see that the sun will rise in about another hour or two.” Wang pointed to the sliver of light above the horizon.

  “This is a Chaotic Era!”

  “What is a Chaotic Era?”

  “Other than Stable Eras, all times are Chaotic Eras.” King Wen answered the way he would have spoken to an ignorant child.

  Indeed, the light over the horizon dimmed and soon disappeared. Night covered everything. The stars overhead shone even more brightly.

  “So that was dusk instead of dawn?” Wang asked.

  “It is morning. But the sun doesn’t always rise in the morning. That’s what a Chaotic Era is like.”

  Wang found the cold hard to take. “It looks like the sun won’t rise for a long time.” He shivered and pointed to the blurry horizon.

  “What makes you think that? There’s no way to be certain. I told you, this is a Chaotic Era.” Follower turned to King Wen. “May I have some dried fish?”

  “Absolutely not.” King Wen’s tone brooked no disagreement. “I barely have enough for myself. We must guarantee that I make it to Zhao Ge, not you.”18

  As they spoke, Wang noticed the sky brightening over another part of the horizon. He couldn’t be sure of the compass directions, but he was sure the direction this time was different from last time. The sky grew brighter, and soon, the sun of this world rose. It was small and bluish in color, like a very bright moon. Wang still felt a bit of warmth, and could now see the landscape around him more clearly. But the day didn’t last long. The sun traversed a shallow arc over the horizon and soon set. Night and the bone-chilling cold once more settled over everything.

  The three travelers stopped in front of a dead tree. King Wen and Follower took out their bronze swords to chop the tree into firewood, and Wang gathered the firewood into a pile. Follower took out a piece of flint and struck it against a blade until the sparks caught. The fire soon warmed the front of Wang’s V-suit, but his back remained cold.

  “We should burn some of the dehydrated bodies,” Follower said. “Then we’ll have a roaring fire!”

  “Put that thought out of your mind. Only the tyrant King Zhou would engage in that kind of behavior.”

  “We’ve seen so many dehydrated bodies scattered along the road here. They’ve been torn, and won’t be revivable even when rehydrated. If your theory really works, what does it
matter if we burn a few of them? We can even eat some. How can a few lives compare to the importance of your theory?”

  “Stop with that nonsense! We’re scholars!”

  After the fire burnt out, the three continued their journey. Since they were not speaking to each other much, the system sped up the passage of in-game time. King Wen flipped the sandglass on his back six times rapidly, indicating the lapse of two days. The sun never rose once, not even a hint of dawn over the horizon.

  “It seems that the sun will never rise again,” Wang said. He brought up the game menu to take a look at his health bar. Due to the extreme cold, it was steadily decreasing.

  “Again, you’re pretending you’re some kind of oracle,” Follower said. But this time he and Wang finished the thought together. “This is a Chaotic Era!”

  Soon after this, however, dawn did appear over the horizon. The sky brightened rapidly, and the sun rose. Wang noticed that this time, the sun was gigantic. After just half of it rose, it took up at least one-fifth of the visible horizon. Waves of heat bathed them, and Wang felt refreshed. But when he glanced over at King Wen and Follower, he saw that both had terror on their faces as though they had seen a demon.

  “Quick! Find shade!” Follower shouted. Wang ran after them. They ducked behind a large rock. The shadow cast by the rock gradually grew shorter and shorter. The earth around them glowed as though on fire. The permafrost beneath them soon melted, the steel-like hard surface turning into a sea of mud, roiled by waves of heat. Wang sweated profusely.

  When the sun was directly overhead, the three covered their heads with the animal hides, but the bright light still shot through the holes and gaps like arrows. The three shifted around the rock until they were able to hide inside the new shadow that had just appeared on the other side.

  After the sun set, the air remained hot and damp. The three sweat-drenched travelers sat on the rock. Follower spoke with dismay. “Traveling during a Chaotic Era is like walking through hell. I can’t stand it anymore. Also, I haven’t had anything to eat because you won’t give me any dried fish and you won’t let me eat the dehydrated bodies. What—”