Sneakily, the eerily blue sun climbed down the dark ragged mountains; its ominous radiance covered the entire dull red sky, the constellation, and also the truth.
Ravel and John were in the same room they were in when they first arrived. There were no bodyguards to limit them anymore, yet they chose to stay in it.
John said hopelessly: “What can we do?”
“Leave, leave all this chaos behind, go home!” Ravel responded determinedly.
The doorbell rang.
John cried: “My galaxy! Bodyguards again? ”
John opened the door reluctantly. The man who stood at the door was Wang.
“Wang?” John and Ravel exclaimed in utmost surprise
“Yes, I’m Wang. If you allow me, I’d like to explain many things to you .”
“That’s fine, please come in.”
Wang sat on a chair and said: “I know you’re upset to learn that I’m a member of Roboti who tricked you to Mars. However, that’s not my true intention.” He coughed, gave a glance at Ravel and John, and went on: “I’m a diplomatic official in the government of Mars, but I decided to overthrow this government.”
“I once received a task from the government to send two blackhole bombs to the Icarusian government, which they secretly ordered from Mars. And they’ll pay Mars two star zones of territory as a return. I was suspicious about Icarus paying such a high price in exchange for two bombs. Therefore, I investigated the reason for that, and it turned out to be an event that happened 2 years ago, in which Daedalus seized an invaluable mineral planet that you saw on our way here. But this wasn’t the main reason, most importantly, Daedalus killed hundreds of Icarusian soldiers, it was a huge humiliation to Icarus. So it wants to use black hole bombs to punish Daedalus. But it’s an understatement to say that it will be a severe punishment. With a scale of light years, the explosion of a black hole bomb would be the largest explosion ever happened in the universe. The amount of dead would be hundreds of billions if the bomb is aimed at the capital planetary zone. I tried to explain these to my superiors, but they ignored me: the return for that was too tempting to them. Hence I created an elaborate plan with a few of my trusted friends who also work for the government and hold the same opinion as me. Then, I sent a sham to the Icarisian government. I thought their level of technology could not recognize the difference. When we trespassed on their territory. They found out I was on the ship. Therefore, they questioned me about the bomb to my surprise, and I used a lot of confusing mathematical formulas to baffle them and they released me, they also informed me that they’ll launch one of the bombs as an experiment in a few years. They know the power of that bomb, one is enough. They ordered two because they wanted to do an experiment first. After a few years, if you’re able to come back to Kepler, you’ll see the news, their government will find out it’s a sham. Anyway, for Icarus a sham is better than nothing, the bomb they developed on their own even cannot be transferred through hyperspace, which means that they cannot attack Daedalus, whereas their sham can, but that makes little difference.”
Ravel interposed: “ All these seem to have no connection with the reason why you killed Thinker.”
“Oh that. Didn’t you hear what he said in his speech?”
“I’m a little bit confused by the fact that they sold the blackhole bomb to Icarus before Thinker’s speech. He announced the blackhole bomb like it was a newly developed technology.”
“The development of the black hole bomb was concealed from the masses, only the government, a small group of engineers, and scientists knew that. The blackhole bomb was already created in the outer-solar zone secretly, and two of them were sold to Icarus. The one made from Earth was just a show for Mars citizens, although it was just presented at that scientific conference as if it was new.”
Eagerly, John enquired: “Could you explain to us why you killed Thinker?”
“He was no longer the Thinker in the book, part of his algorithm that is stored in his database was altered by some high-ranking government officials and scientists in order to take control of him, Yamashita was one of them. He was obsessed with those dangerous weapons. Therefore, he secretly changed Thinker’s algorithm to make him support the development of those weapons. He also played a key role in the development of the black hole bomb. So I have to kill him and Thinker to end the development of the weapon once and for all.”
“Won’t they arrest you and execute you and your friends?”
“The person who killed them was me, and no other person than me was in the car I drove to the conference. My friends will soon eliminate all the data in Thinker’s database. I’ll confess that I was the murderer publically tomorrow.”
“But they’ll kill you!” Cried Ravel.
“They can’t. I mean they can kill me physically, but they can’t kill me mentally. I have a database myself, where all my memories and thoughts were stored in it.”
“Are you a robot?”
“Of course not. You also can have a database to store your mind. It’s a new technology.” Wang smiled. “It’s too late, I have to download my mind.” He looked at the time on his phone.
Ravel remembered his initial goal: “Just one more thing, Wang. Why did Thinker choose Earth to make the bomb?”
“Earth was actually a ruined planet. It had no atmosphere and the soils there were toxic. So it’s eco-friendly to use waste, isn’t it?”
“But the book you gave says…”
“Earth was once a prosperous planet. Later it began the process of self-destruction, where inhabitants in different regions of Earth began to throw hydrogen bombs, an ancient mass-destruction weapon, at each other. You’ve already seen the currently oldest planet inhabited by humans, so you have accomplished your goal in some sense. Without Thinker the whole planet would soon run into stagnation. The brain of Thinker supported the whole planet’s regulatory and political system. Also, my group of friends would soon discard the black hole bombs out of the galaxy. The crisis would soon come to an end. Unfortunately, Mars would become deserted again. But all these are trivial compared to the future of humanity.” His eyes were filled with hope and determination.
“Another question about Earth. When we arrived in the solar zone, our spaceship detected the Earth. You know that the Earth is a black hole bomb. Why did you claim that it’s really massive?”
“Did you forget my task assigned by the Mars government? I have to bring you here, in order to get myself here too. If you have known those secrets, you probably wouldn’t come to Mars.”
Wang glanced at his phone and said: “Excuse me, it’s too late, and I have to go. Farewell Professors.” He waved to Ravel and John.
Ravel and John gazed at Wang’s leaving figure. Tomorrow, he would lose this body and become mentally immortal.
“I hope he’ll be fine in his new world,” commented John with a little sadness.
Ravel stood up: “Let’s go, let’s get out of this place!”
Together, Ravel and John stepped out of the door.
