Introduction

 

I am Lilian Ye. I’m a science-fiction writer from China. My main sci-fi works include The people that rent their bodies, The interstellar code, etc. I usually combine science-fictions with feminist and philosophical thinking.

 

Heart of the Milky Way tells a story that in 2100, people have already had the technology of superluminal flight. Despite the accident some years ago, the International Aerospace Headquarters started a trip again to Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. But what the astronauts came across on the journey surprised them all. After the vital fight, the only survivor came back to earth 102 years later. She finally shared her experience, discovery and inspiration to the world...

 

This story is about a question I keep thinking of recently: In the future, the science and technology might be very developed. We can go anywhere in the universe. But is that all? Are there anything lying above all the science that shows the ultimate meaning of human beings? I hope this story will give us some inspiration.

 

Heart of the Milky Way

By Lilian Ye

 

July.29th 2202 9:35

A levitation car passed through the pouring rain like a silver bullet shot into the waterfall. Soon it stopped and fell down under a transparent porch. In the end of the porch, there was an auditorium where the lights were bright and the seats were full. The door of the levitation car slowly opened. A pair of black high-heel stepped out of the vehicle. The crowd with flash lamps rushed from the auditorium to the porch. In the cheers and applause, the lady who just got off the levitation car turned around. She narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the world which she hadn’t got used to.

 

A lightning flashed across the sky. The strong wind blew the raindrops and wet the lady’s long black hair and blue skirt. But she did not seem to care. She walked to the edge of the porch, raised her head, looked at the lightning in the sky, and gently smiled. Then she slowly walked to the platform in the center of the auditorium.

 

 

August.5th 2076 10:29

126 years ago, in 2076, there was also such a bustle here. But at that time, the architecture was not an auditorium, but the International Aerospace Headquarters.

 

At that time, a girl of six or seven years old pushed forward from the gap of the crowd. She raised her head and looked at the large holographic screen in the front of the hall with rapt attention. Her round black eyes were shining brightly.

 

On the holographic screen is the interior of a spaceship. Next to the control console, an astronaut in a dark blue spacesuit slightly adjusted the camera, and then sat down at the window of the spaceship. He looked not young, but strong and energetic. A kind smile was on his chiseled face.

 

"Hello Earth Control Center and friends on the earth. I am Alexei Andrevich Petrov, the astronaut of the spaceship named Dawn. I am now greeting you from 26000 light years away from the earth!" The astronaut waved his hands to the camera.

 

This is the first time that Dawn sent a signal back to Earth after nearly five years of superluminal flight. The control center resounded with overwhelming applause, and the girl jumped with the applause.

 

"Qin Kong, didn't you agree to wait in the lounge? Why did you come here?" A female Chinese face researcher walked through the heavy applause and came up.

 

"Mom, I want to watch here, just for a while..." Little Qin Kong begged.

 

But her mom took her hand and walked back without answering her. They walked down the corridor to the lounge on the second floor.

 

"Just wait me here." Mom said to Qin Kong and left.

 

Qin Kong walked into the lounge. There was a large transparent French window. And in front of the French window lied a broad sofa. Qin Kong climbed onto the sofa with a little anger. She turned her head and saw a boy sitting in the corner of the sofa. Qin Kong kept looking at him. He looked about 15 years old. His hair was short. His long blond eyelashes and big grey eyes looked delicate and somber. He was playing with the electronic ball in his hand attentively as if the world outside the lounge had nothing to do with him.

 

"After this call, I will continue to move forward at full speed and fly to the destination of my journey – the heart of our galaxy." On the holographic screen, astronaut Petrov continued talking.

 

Outside the big window behind him, a ring emitting golden light could be seen. A shining arc was inlaid in the center of the ring. That was the destination of his trip, and the heart of the galaxy as he said - Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

 

"As I get closer to my destination, my time will become increasingly slower. I have estimated that if everything goes well, 22 years will pass on earth when I finish collecting data and return to the earth.  At the end of the call, I want to say happy birthday to my little daughter, which is five years late. I prepared a special gift for you." Petrov said, raising his left hand. There was a shiny small object between his fingers.

 

But before the camera could track Petrov's hand, a sharp light shot into the spaceship from the window behind him. With a loud and ethereal echo, the whole holographic screen instantly turned into a pale and dazzling fireball, and then went out in silence and darkness.

 

The whole control center fell into chaos. In the lounge, the little boy next to Qin Kong slowly got up from the sofa and walked to the French windo. He stood still and stared at the dark holographic screen like a sleepwalker. The electronic ball in his hand fell on the ground and rolled to the corner of the wall.

 

 

July 16th 2100

Qin Kong suddenly opened her eyes and took a deep breath. The smell of the artificial air soon woke her up. Qin Kong turned her head and looked at the Earth time on the electric clock beside her - July 16th 2100. It had been four years and 282 days since she boarded the Dawn II. In this super long sleep, the childhood memory appeared in her dreams countless times.

 

Qin Kong untied the safety belt on her sleeping bag. She slowly sat up, stepped out of her sleeping bag, and began to adapt to standing and walking again. She went to the window of the cabin and pressed the button on the wall. The mask in front of the window turned on like the aperture of a camera. Outside the large round window was a huge circle emitting dazzling golden light. In the center of the circle was a more dazzling arc. Except this, it was unfathomable darkness.

 

Qin Kong looked out of the window thoughtfully. She knew that the spaceship she was in had reached the position where the Dawn lost contact. This also meant that she is getting closer to her destination - Sagittarius A. Qin Kong pressed the button on the wall again and turned off the mask of the window. She went towards the cabin door, and the door opened automatically.

 

The living room outside her cabin was already bustling. Several astronauts were having breakfast with lively piano music.

 

"Qin Kong, you are the last one. 43 minutes late." A middle-aged female astronaut walked towards Qin Kong. She was tall and fit. Her cold grey eyes made her voice sound even more emotionless.

 

"I'm sorry, Captain, I…" Qin Kong lowered her head and tried to think of an excuse for being late.

 

"Who played the music? Turn off the music and get start to work." The captain didn’t pay attention to Qin Kong's apology. She left an order to the other astronauts and turned to the cockpit.

 

"Come here, Kong. Have some food. Just ignore that weird Russian woman." A young male astronaut pulled Qin Kong to the table. "What you want? Here are hamburgers, noodles with chicken, and this is…" He put the lunch boxes in front of Qin Kong one by one.

 

"Thank you, Edward." Qin Kong took a lunch box. A smile appeared on her face.

 

"Let's take a photo to celebrate the first awakening in five years." Two astronauts on the other side of the table proposed.

 

"Sure!" Edward agreed and pulled Qin Kong to their side. Four people made a bunch of funny expressions.

 

As the camera shutter closed, a dazzling white light shot through the spaceship window. In an instant, the spaceship started to shake violently. Qin Kong's eyes could not see anything because of the strong light, while her ears were filled with ghostly whistling sounds, echoing constantly. She squatted down instinctively and hid under the table, but soon was dragged out by a pair of powerful hands.

 

It was the captain. While holding Qin Kong, she shouted to everyone, "Attention, everyone! Go to the cockpit and get on the buffer seat!"

 

Qin Kong held the wall with both hands and stumbled into the cockpit in the trembling spaceship. She climbed onto the buffer seat, fastened the safety belt and close the protective cover with difficulty. Qin Kong's vision gradually recovered. She looked at the window in front of the cockpit, and it was still filled with dazzling white light. She felt as if there was a huge force sucking the spaceship to somewhere. The spaceship seemed to fall into a vortex. It spun and tumbled constantly, faster and faster…

 

When Qin Kong opened her eyes again, the spaceship had restored calm. The lights on the bulkhead kept flashing.

 

The protective cover of the buffer seat had been deformed and cracked. Fortunately, the safety belt was still working and tied Qin Kong firmly in the seat. Qin Kong was upside down. Her long ponytail hung down from her head. She suddenly realized that there was gravity in this place.

 

"What on earth is this place?" Qin Kong thought with apprehension. She turned her head and looked at the window in front of the console. Outside the window, there was a turbid fog. In the heavy fog, it seemed that there were clouds floating. Through the clouds, some light beam could be vaguely seen flickering from one place to another.

 

"Is everyone okay?" The captain's voice came from the rightmost buffer seat.

 

"No. 02 Klaus Schulz is well."

 

"No. 03 Yamada Jiro is well."

 

"No. 04 Qin Kong is well."

 

Under the dim and flashing light, the astronauts on the buffer seats reported safety one by one.

 

After Qin Kong’s reply, the lights on the bulkhead went out completely. In the darkness, there was a long silence.

 

"How is No. 05? Edward Miller, please answer." The captain asked, but there was no reply.

 

A sound of metal friction came from Qin Kong's left side, followed by a dull thud of heavy objects falling to the ground.

 

"Don't worry, everyone. I'll go to check the lighting system." It was the mechanic Klaus Schulz who jumped off the buffer seat. In this spaceship, he was the most experienced astronaut besides the captain. He groped his way to the equipment cabin in the inverted dark spaceship. The cockpit was still in silence. Almost everyone's heartbeat could be heard.

 

After a few more flashing, the light in the spaceship restored. The astronauts looked at each other. Even though they had undergone countless trainings and examinations before their departure, there was still fright and worry on their faces at this moment. Soon, everyone's sight fell on the door towards the living room, where a large thick blood stain was on the ground.

 

"Edward…Maybe he didn't get on the buffer seat in time…" Klaus sobbed while walking out of the equipment cabin. The spaceship just now was like a giant shredder. All the astronauts knew what would happen if there was no protection of the buffer seats. A low sob passed through the cockpit.

 

"Get down, everyone who is not injured should continue to work now. The pressing matter of the moment is to leave here and return to our planned route." The captain jumped down from the buffer seat and slapped the seat back of Yamada Jiro and Qin Kong.

 

"But Captain, we just lost a friend…" Qin Kong untied her safety belt and stood in front of the captain. Her cheeks flushed with tears.

 

"Wipe away your tears." The captain said to Qin Kong, "Do you think you are still in the kindergarten? This is the space. There is no time for you to grieve."

 

And with that, the captain turned around, walked along the curved roof of the spaceship, and groped her way to the console. She slid the spherical knob on the console and tried to start the spaceship. The console was immediately lit up. The picture of the entire galaxy was displayed on the screen. But the red triangle marking the location of the spaceship stayed in the middle of the galaxy, flashing constantly. The captain shook her head. Then she pressed the connection button and tried to communicate with the earth. Suddenly, the console sounded a harsh alarm. The logo indicating the oxygen generation system lit up a red warning light.

 

"Klaus, go to check the oxygen generation system. Oh no, check the whole control system." The captain said calmly. Then she quickly reset the control ball and shut down the control system.

 

"Yes, Captain." Klaus turned back to the equipment cabin again.

 

The captain raised her head and looked at the window in front of the console. Some strange light seemed to be slowly approaching them through the dark clouds, just like the lightning flashing and surging through thick clouds in the night sky. The captain pursed her lips with a grim face.

 

"So… while Klaus is checking and repairing the control system, let's go out of the spaceship to see if we can find out where it is and whether it is possible to survive." The captain turned around and said to Qin Kong and Yamada Jiro.

 

"Yes, Captain." They answered.

 

The round hatch of Dawn II slowly opened. The spaceship was like a towering hourglass standing in the gray chaos. The three astronauts dressed in spacesuits stepped out of the hatch. They jumped towards the bottomless clouds. The jet engine at the bottom of their feet kept them in the air. Qin Kong looked back at her spaceship. The shape of the spaceship was twisted. And the surface of the spaceship was scorched.

 

"Yamada Jiro go to the left. Qin Kong go to the right. And I will go front and rear. If there is any discovery, we must contact each other at once. But whether there is discovery or not, we should meet here after two Earth hours." In the thick spacesuit, the captain deployed through the interconnection system.

 

"Yes, Captain." Qin Kong and Yamada Jiro answered.

 

In the gloom, the three figures glided towards their respective directions and disappeared into the unknown.

 

The mist quickly enveloped Qin Kong. She noticed lightning flickering from time to time in the distance. She moved slowly and carefully in the haze. Vaguely, Qin Kong saw a tall object hanging in the heavy fog in front of her, with no top or bottom. And the curve outline of the object was shining.

 

"What is that? My illusion? Or is it the building, aircraft or even life in this unknown place? Has it seen me?" Qin Kong kept thinking. She accelerated the jet and galloped towards the object.

 

Qin Kong slid through the dense fog. The object became brighter and clearer. She looked up. The towering object looked like two silver drops connected with each other, and stood like a huge hourglass amid the clouds... Qin Kong retreated a few meters. She couldn’t believe her own eyes - this was the Dawn. Qin Kong never thought that she would meet the lost spaceship she had witnessed in childhood again in this unknown place.

 

Qin Kong slowly approached the spaceship. It stood there quietly with the hatch was tightly closed, which looked exactly like a spaceship parked on the launch site. Only the rusty and damaged surface reminded Qin Kong that it had gone through an unusual journey.

 

"Captain, Jiro, I found..." Qin Kong pressed the connection button on her spacesuit excitedly and nervously to report her discovery.

 

But her words were interrupted by Yamada Jiro's shout, which sounded terrified and flustered, "Captain, Qin Kong, here are some… some great discovery! Er..."

 

"OK, I got it. Please sync your location now." The captain replied.

 

But there was no response any more. Instead, there was a ghostly echo, which was exactly the same as the sound they heard when the spaceship crashed. Suddenly Qin Kong had a bad feeling.

 

"Qin Kong, are you there? Yamada Jiro's location has been synchronized to you, and we will meet there." The captain's voice sound urgent.

 

Ignoring the Dawn in front of her, Qin Kong turned around and glided towards Yamada Jiro's direction in a hurry.

 

Qin Kong and the captain met in the chaos. The cloud became more and more turbid. And the lightning was increasingly bright.

 

"Captain, that is..." Qin Kong saw a vague figure on the left. The figure stood still in the center of the lightning. In front of the figure was a very strong light, which scattered a bunch of Tindal light through the clouds.

 

"I'll go there and check. Take care of yourself." The captain's voice came from Qin Kong's headset.

 

With that, the captain quickened her jet to the direction of the figure. She tried to approach the figure, but she suddenly stopped. "Jiro? Yamada Jiro?" The captain's voice was vague. Soon the familiar ethereal echo resounded in Qin Kong's ears again.

 

Qin Kong hurried towards the captain. And she saw that the figure was Yamada Jiro's spacesuit. Yamada Jiro’s name was engraved on the chest. It stood there intact. But Yamada Jiro disappeared. His last movement was to cover his hands in front of his mask. But Qin Kong and the captain would never know what he had seen or experienced.

 

Qin Kong looked in the direction Yamada Jiro was facing. It was a river composed of light. The river of light rushed forward rapidly, like a wandering ribbon floating in the darkness, like a sharp sword cutting into the chaos. The lightning in the sky flew into the river of light constantly. This river of light was like a boundary blocking clouds and lightning. The other side of the river was deep darkness that had no end.

 

"The inner event horizon..." Qin Kong heard the captain's deep voice from her headset. She stood beside Qin Kong, watching the river of light and the darkness on the other side.

 

"Captain, you mean... we are in a black hole now?" Qin Kong turned her head and looked at the captain in surprise. She could not believe that the name she had seen only in books came to reality at this moment. She did not know why the captain made such a judgment. But what she understood was that they had no hope of leaving here.

 

Suddenly, a blue and purple lightning with a dull echo crashed in front of Qin Kong. Before she could react, the captain had already pulled her to glide back rapidly.

 

"Move! It's dangerous here." Shouted the captain.

 

Qin Kong turned around. The lightning was still surging in the turbid clouds. She felt like that there was a pair of eyes looking at her in the lightning. The lightning was like a python crawling and roaring in the cloud, which would swallow her up at any time.

 

When Qin Kong and the captain got back to the Dawn II, Klaus, the mechanic was standing by the hatch, frowning at them. "Captain, the oxygen generation system is completely broken..." He said.

 

After a few seconds’ silence, the captain asked "How long will the oxygen last?"

 

"Twelve Earth hours at most." Klaus replied helplessly.

 

The captain nodded and sighed. She walked to the console and looked out of the window. In the dark smoke, there was a lightning flowing towards the spaceship, as if it was coming with them all the way. It was like a sharp claw trying to catch and tear them. In the quiet cockpit, the faint echo started reverberate again, which sounded like a devil's movement.

 

"Maybe... we have another chance." Qin Kong seemed to remember something and said softly, "I… I just…saw the Dawn…not far away from our spaceship."

 

The captain turned her head and looked at Qin Kong in astonishment. She seemed to have a lot of questions. But She swallowed them all.

 

She went to the center of the cockpit and said "Attention everyone! Put on the spacesuit, take necessary items, and move."

 

There was a slight tremor in the captain's voice. Qin Kong remembered that when they launch the spaceship five years ago, the captain also stood here to give instructions. Everyone replied loud and clear. It seemed to be like yesterday. But now only Qin Kong and Klaus could respond to her.

 

When they got out of the spaceship again, the dense clouds had been illuminated by the lightning flowing towards the spaceship. Qin Kong, Klaus and the captain walked slowly into the fog. The clouds gradually dispersed. Qin Kong looked at the lightning behind the clouds with some uneasiness. "What are you? Are you really following us?" Qin Kong asked in heart and dared not think more.

 

Suddenly, a ghostly blue and purple light beam passed through the mist and split into countless branches, which was like a spider web enveloping three astronauts. Qin Kong stopped and looked around. She saw a strong light behind her stabbing at Klaus. It was like a beast springing on its prey. In a flash, a dazzling white light rose from Klaus's spacesuit and rose into the sky. Klaus disappeared, leaving his spacesuit standing there. He was engulfed by the lightning. He didn't even have time to scream.

 

Qin Kong was stunned. She seemed to understand what Yamada Jiro had experienced by the river of light. The blue and purple snare in the sky flickered more violently with ethereal howling, which was like a monster showing off its successful predation.

 

"Get down!" Shouted the captain.

 

Qin Kong shut down her jet immediately and buried herself in the thick clouds at the bottom. Qin Kong felt like she had fallen into a pile of thick cotton. The smoke and dust around her kept circling.

 

Until the deafening sound faded away, Qin Kong and the captain slowly raised their heads and looked at each other. And next to them was Klaus’s spacesuit standing there forever. They both knew that such accident would happen here anytime and anywhere.

 

Qin Kong and the captain walked through the thick clouds and got to the Dawn. Qin Kong stretched out her right hand and pressed the identification code of the space headquarters on the recognizer beside the hatch of the Dawn. The hatch slowly opened. Qin Kong stepped into the spaceship, but was stopped by the captain. "Wait a minute..."

 

Qin Kong stopped. She thought the captain had found something. But when she looked back, she saw the captain take a deep breath with trembling as if she had plucked up great courage. Then the captain slowly released her hand. "Let's go." She whispered.

 

The captain and Qin Kong boarded the Dawn with heavy steps. The hatch closed automatically. The captain opened the inner hatch to the interior of the spaceship. The lights on the bulkhead lit up one after another. The Dawn was much smaller compared with the Dawn II. But the structure was basically the same. Qin Kong followed the captain through the corridor and into the living room. As soon as the door opened, they heard a gentle piano piece. The captain stopped. "This song is..." She whispered to herself with her eyes drooping.

 

Qin Kong continued walking forward. In the center of the living room was an oval table, on which half a bag of milk was left. Suddenly, Qin Kong felt that everything on this spaceship was so fresh. The distance of 24 years just seemed to be a moment. She slowly opened her spacesuit and reached out the table. She held the milk in her hand. Her palm could even feel the warmth of the milk.

 

"Wait! the milk is still warm! Captain, the milk is still warm! This indicates that..." Qin Kong raised her head excitedly. All at once, the captain also realized that 24 years on the earth might be only a few minutes here. She hurried through the entire living room and corridor and rushed to the cockpit.

 

"Captain, where are you going?" Qin Kong caught up with the captain and entered the cockpit.

 

The cockpit was very quiet. Almost every small noise of the instruments and equipment could be heard. A white holographic camera stood on the ground. Opposite the camera was a big seat. Qin Kong remembered that this was the last position where Alexei Andrevich Petrov, the astronaut of Dawn and her childhood idol was seen. She ran to the seat with the captain. A dark blue spacesuit hung down on the seat. The zipper and buckle were all intact. Even the seat belt was tightly fastened. Only the astronauts disappeared, just like Yamada Jiro and Klaus Schulz.

 

Qin Kong turned around and looked at the captain beside her. The captain stared at the spacesuit on the seat. She seemed to be holding the tears in her eyes. And there was huge sadness in her tears.

 

"Captain, are you all right?" Qin Kong asked.

 

"I'm fine." The captain regained her composure in a moment.

 

"Those lightning..." Qin Kong said softly.

 

"Those are not lightning." The captain interrupted Qin Kong, "If my guess is right, they are some kind of life here."

 

"What?" Qin Kong looked at the captain with a surprised and frightened face. After all, in the hundreds of years of exploration of the universe, despite countless efforts, human never discovered any extraterrestrial life.

 

The captain raised her head slowly, "When I was very young, I heard from my father that in the beginning of the 21st century, some scientists proposed that there might be a completely different form of life - plasma. They can absorb neutral argon atoms from the outside world and decompose them into electrons and ions, so that they can grow. When they grow big enough, they will split into two. That is their replication and reproduction. Under appropriate conditions, the particles in the plasma will form a double helix structure which is similar to our DNA. It can not only encode information, but also evolve continuously. A few years later, scientists found in experiments that in addition to their own reproduction and evolution, these plasmas can also transmit information to each other at a specific vibration frequency. They have all the necessary conditions for life. It's just that we don't understand them. Some people say that these lives exist above the earth's atmosphere. Others say that they are on the sun. But no one has actually seen them. But it is certain that 99% of the visible matter in the universe is plasma. That is to say, if this life form really exists in the universe, their quantity will be far greater than that of carbon based life like us. "

 

What the captain just said was overwhelming to Qin Kong. After a long silence, she finally asked, "Then why did they attack us?"

 

"It was not necessarily attacks. We don’t know their intention yet..." The captain said.  She folded the spacesuit neatly and placed it in a corner of the console. She looked at the spacesuit for a long time. Suddenly she got back and sat in the big seat. With a violent shock of the spaceship, the captain started the spaceship and began to lift off.

 

“What are you doing? Captain.” Qin Kong was surprised.

 

“I’m taking us out of here.” Answered the captain.

 

Qin Kong sat back in the buffer seat immediately. She looked at the captain. She was looking ahead firmly. For a moment, Qin Kong seemed to have an illusion that she saw Petrov on the Dawn.

 

As the spaceship was rising in the chaos, the smoke outside the window gradually dissipated and the air became brighter and brighter. The dazzling light filled the whole spaceship. The melodious and ethereal sound echoes continuously.

 

"Hide out of the light!" The captain shouted to Qin Kong.

 

Suddenly, with a violent bump, the spaceship seemed to lose its power and began to fall rapidly. The alarm of various instruments sounded in the cockpit, mixed with the whistling sound outside the spaceship. Qin Kong sat on the side of the buffer seat, gritting her teeth. She felt like the spaceship was tossed up and down for a century until the sound of the alarm subsided.  And the whole cockpit fell into dark and silent.

 

"Captain? " Qin Kong tried to call the captain. But no reply was heard.

 

"Captain? Captain?" Qin Kong was so worried and she called again and again. Her voice almost choked, but the captain never responded. Qin Kong was enveloped by an unprecedented despair. She was afraid that the captain was also engulfed by the lightning in silence, leaving her alone in this strange world where human beings never set foot.

 

Qin Kong untied her heavy safety belt, opened the protective cover, and groped her way to the captain’s seat. She saw the captain lying there safe and sound. Qin Kong shed tears inexplicably. This was her first time to look at the captain so carefully. Her blond eyelashes are long and beautiful. The wrinkles on her face showed how hard she lived and worked. Qin Kong knew that 24 years ago, after the Dawn lost contact, the International Aerospace Headquarters stopped the project of collecting black hole data. It was not until eight years ago that the captain tried her best to restart the Dawn II plan. Ever since the departure five years ago, the captain, who seemed to be always calm and cold, had taken all the pressure for the crew. She wanted to protect all people, but finally it backfires. Qin Kong seemed to never like the captain. But deep in her heart, she had already regarded her as the most trusted and reliable person.

 

"Captain, Captain, are you all right?" Qin Kong gently pushed the captain's arm.

 

The captain slowly opened her eyes, "I’m OK, I..." The captain's voice seemed to choke, and she didn't talk any more. The captain unfastened her safety belt and put her feet on the ground. As soon as she stood up, she suddenly fell heavily on the ground.

 

"Captain!" Qin Kong quickly squatted down and held the captain's arm. In the darkness, she seemed to feel something dripping from the captain’s face to the ground.

 

"I'm fine." The captain waved her hand. She stood up laboriously with one hand on the ground and the other on the console.

 

Outside the window, the clouds and mist slightly dissipated. A glimmer of light shot into the cockpit from afar. It was that river of light, flowing fast. And above the river, countless giant snakes of light kept crawling.

 

"Here we are again. You see, it's really beautiful here. But we have no chance to share it with others." The captain held the console and said emotionally.

 

"Captain, we can't go back, can we?" Qin Kong looked at the captain.

 

The captain's beautiful grey eyes darkened. She nodded. "We encountered strong electromagnetic radiation just now. The curvature engine of the spaceship was broken. There is no way to ignite it."

 

Qin Kong nodded without saying a word. She didn’t feel so scared or grief. From the first day when she became an astronaut, she was ready for the end of her life.

 

The snakes of light flickered and crawled towards the spaceship again, making louder and louder mysterious sounds.

 

"Hide!" As the captain said, she pulled Qin Kong to squat down and curled up in the shadow under the console. The lightning gradually surrounded the spaceship. The cockpit flickered with the sonorous and resounding melody. The captain and Qin Kong had nowhere to go.

 

The captain turned her head towards Qin Kong. "Do you have any regrets in this life?" She asked. Her voice was still as calm as ever.

 

Qin Kong thought for a moment, shook her head and said, "My parents both work in the International Aerospace Headquarters. When I was six years old, my parents took me to their work place one day. That day, I saw an astronaut on the holographic screen in the control center. At that time, I could not fully understand what he was saying. But I could see his perseverance and wisdom from his deep eyes. But just a few minutes later, he lost contact with the earth and disappeared in the vast universe. That day was a nightmare for the International Aerospace Headquarters. But for me, I planted a dream. I wanted to find him. I wanted to explore the infinite unknown universe like him, even though life was so impermanent. Today my life will end here, on his spaceship in the heart of the galaxy. Can I regard it as a kind of realization of my dream? Maybe the only regret is that I don’t have time to say goodbye to my parents. They might still be waiting for me to go home in ten, twenty or thirty years... "

 

The captain stretched out her hand and held Qin Kong in her arms. She gently patted her on the back. Her eyes were tearful. But she did not speak.

 

Qin Kong leaned against the captain. At this moment, she felt that the seemingly cold captain was so warm indeed. "What about you, Captain?" Qin Kong asked.

 

"Me? The same as you. My dreams and regrets all started on that day too." The captain slowly released Qin Kong. She turned her head to the other side and blinked her wet eyes. "I was at the International Aerospace Headquarters too. That astronaut on the holographic screen…is my father." She sobbed.

 

Qin Kong was shocked. She had never expected that the captain was the beautiful boy she met in the lounge. She stared at the captain. Her short blond hair, chiseled face and big steely eyes looked just the same as Alexei Andrevich Petrov. Qin Kong suddenly understood why the captain became wordless when she heard the name of the Dawn, and why she was so nervous while boarding the Dawn.

 

The captain got up from bottom of the console and walked to the corner where she placed the spacesuit of her father.

 

"I was twelve years old that year. " The captain said. "It was a beautiful afternoon in April. I still remember the warm wind of early spring blowing on my face and the little colorful flowers blooming by the road. I skipped along my way home because I had a good news to tell my father. 'Dad, Dad' I shouted excitedly. And my father, who was doing the yard work, turned around with a smile. I told my father that I was selected by the teacher to play the piano at the school concert in summer. The day of the performance was just my birthday. I was going to play his favorite song – Kalinka. My father was so happy. He told me that he would plant my favorite sunflowers tomorrow. On my performing day, the sunflowers would have pretty golden flowers. He would come to see my performance with a bunch of sunflowers. Until now I still clearly remember that afternoon, with the fragrance of soil and grass, my father and I made an appointment. I can still feel the joy and expectation. But in the morning next day, my father suddenly ran into my room and he said to me, I'm sorry, without any more words. But I suddenly understood that this day finally came. He would leave me and go to space. From the beginning of my memory, I knew that my father might go to space anytime. At first I always asked my father to make a choice between the universe and me. As I grew older, I started to keep my father by various promises. I believed that as long as his promises were not fulfilled, he would not leave. But at that moment, I knew that no matter what I did, dad would still leave. That morning I had a big quarrel with my father and ran out. 'You promised to watch my performance. You promised to grow my favorite sunflowers. You liar, you'd better never come back. ' This is the last sentence I said to my father... Then I gave up performing at the concert stubbornly and never played the piano again..."

 

The captain stroke her father's spacesuit and hugged it. Suddenly, a small particle fell from the cuff. The captain squatted down and picked it up. It was a pod sized box, delicate and shining. The captain squatted on the ground and did not stand up. She held the small box in her hand, entranced.

 

Qin Kong walked to the captain with a stoop. She saw a sunflower seed in the crystal box. The captain turned her head and smiled. "So…he forgave me, didn't he?"

 

Qin Kong nodded.

 

Qin Kong and the captain sat side by side on the ground opposite the console, leaning on each other. They looked up at the window above the console. The lightning had surrounded them, flashing more and more fiercely. The dazzling light scorched the entire cockpit. And the ethereal whistling sounded all over the air. The captain and Qin Kong did not speak again. They were waiting for Death to swallow them up.

 

"Mi…so…fa…mi…re…do…" The captain began to murmur along with the melody rippling in the air. It seemed to be the melody of Kalinka. Qin Kong listened attentively. It was a happy tune, especially when heard in such a desperate situation.

 

"Kong, is there pen and paper here?" The captain suddenly asked Qin Kong excitedly.

 

"There should be. Let me look for it." Qin Kong fumbled in the storage compartment under the console.

 

When she found the pen and paper and turned around, the captain was already in tears. She took the paper and pen, and drew a sheet music on the paper quickly.

 

"What is this?" asked Qin Kong.

 

"This is my father's cipher." The captain's voice was choking, "My father taught me to play the piano, but at first I always refused to it. Therefore, my father thought of a way. He corresponded the musical notes of different pitches and rhythms to different letters. That is to say, the musical notes can compose words and sentences. Every time I finished practicing a regular song, my father would write a letter to me in a language that only the two of us understood. Gradually I began to like playing the piano. But to tell you the truth, what I liked more was reading the secret letters from my father."

 

"Captain, you mean your father..." Qin Kong pointed at the lightning outside the window with a surprised face.

 

The captain nodded, "Maybe they are not attacking us. They are just helping us to live here. My father and our friends never disappeared, but stayed here and became them..."

 

The captain finished the last note. She handed the paper to Qin Kong and leaned against the bulkhead. Qin Kong took the paper. Under the musical notes, there was a text:

 

"My dear Daria, I didn't expect that we would have a chance to meet again. But please forgive me. I can only talk to you in such a way. Did you receive the gift I prepared for you? Unfortunately, I can't wait for it to blossom. Plant it in the yard when you go home. When it blooms, it is me who is watching you. Daria, welcome, you are in Sagittarius A right now. It is the end of the galaxy, and the start of all. Across the river of time and space is the singularity. It is the endless darkness. It is infinite time and space. It is the heart of the Milky Way. And it is the way home. Between the universe and you, I have already made a choice. That is love. Even in the depths of the universe, I will never stop loving you. "

 

The ethereal tone stopped. The cockpit became silent again as if time had frozen.

 

The captain calmed down again and turned to look at Qin Kong. "Cross that river of light. Then we can go home."

 

Qin Kong shook her head. "But it's too late to know that now. Our curvature engine can't be ignited, can it?"

 

"It can’t be ignited automatically. But we can try manual ignition," replied the captain.

 

"Manual ignition?" Qin Kong looked at the captain in surprise, "where can we get such a strong fire?"

 

The captain smiled mysteriously and pointed out the window to the lightning that surrounded the spaceship. Then she got up and walked to her spacesuit.

 

"No, Captain. It’s too risky!" Qin Kong suddenly understood the captain's plan. She ran after her. But before she could grasp her arm, the captain fell to the ground with a thud.

 

Qin Kong squatted down and tried to prop up the captain. The captain waved her hand and stood up with difficulty on her own. She wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand and continued walking towards her spacesuit with heavy steps.

 

"After I leave the spaceship, start the engine of the spaceship, and I will cope with the rest. Once the ignition is successful, fly to the river of light as fast as possible. Understand?" The captain said to Qin Kong.

 

"Don't leave me alone, Captain." Qin Kong shook her head at the captain.

 

The captain's eyes were firm. "I was exposed to strong electromagnetic radiation just now. Even if I can leave here, I cannot make it to the earth. Maybe it’s time for me to meet my father again. By the way, Qin Kong, take this home for me, OK?" The captain took out the small box containing the sunflower seeds and put it into Qin Kong's hand.

 

Qin Kong took the small box. She seemed to have no excuse to stop the captain again. The captain stepped into her spacesuit and walked slowly towards the hatch of the spaceship.

 

Qin Kong quickly returned to the console. She fixed herself in the driver's seat and pushed the joystick to the maximum. In an instant, the lightning in the sky burst out like fireworks. And the ethereal sound echoed again in the spaceship. Qin Kong knew that the captain had succeeded.

 

Qin Kong started move at full speed towards the light river of time and space. The scene in front of her became more and more blurred until all the shining lights and ethereal echoes were left behind by her. She jumped into the darkness…

 

July.29th 2202 12:01

There was a long silence in the auditorium. And then a long applause broke out. Qin Kong stood on the platform and slowly opened her eyes. She continued her speech, "When I returned to the earth, it was 102 years later and now. I never thought that I would share my story with you more than a hundred years later. I know that you must have higher technology now and can explore the wider unknown world. But I want to tell you that we have been tirelessly exploring the data and truth of the universe. Perhaps 'love' is the answer to the heart of the galaxy. Love is the immortal language of different life form. Love is the strength of sacrificing one's own life to light the hope of others. And love is the highest value of small human beings in the great universe. "

 

The dark clouds gradually dispersed, and the sun shined again. Qin Kong returned home. She opened the door and walked to the end of the courtyard where stood some sunflowers. The sunflowers were even taller than her. And the flowers in full bloom were as big as a pumpkin. Qin Kong looked up at the sunflowers. She knew that the owners of the sunflowers were watching and smiling to her from afar…