God’s Code

I asked urgently. Liang Yingwu shook his head: “If you’ve never seen a bird before, and one day you suddenly see one fly by, would you know what it wants to do?” A person who has never seen a bird would only be surprised at what it is and why it can fly. To understand what the bird wants to do, one would need to reach the level of an ornithologist. Liang Yingwu meant that even the most outstanding scientists of today would only be astonished when faced with that beam of high-energy particles. I knew very little about high-energy particles, couldn’t distinguish them from radio waves, so I said, “Could the unnatural arrangement of these high-energy particles be some form of communication?” Before I finished, I saw Liang Yingwu laugh. It seemed I, an outsider, had made a laughable mistake again. Unexpectedly, Liang Yingwu said, “Although no one can make an accurate judgment, researchers have made various bold speculations, and the idea of communication has been brought up.” “Then what are you laughing at?” I asked, somewhat annoyed. “Because your speculation is exactly the same as mine.” “Ah-ha.” I couldn’t help but show a hint of smugness; Liang Yingwu’s knowledge was something I couldn’t compare with. “However, there are significant flaws in assuming it’s a communication method. Although high-energy particles carry a lot of energy, their speed still can’t exceed the speed of light, and compared to regular radio waves, their weaknesses are obvious. If we ignore their harm to the human body and use high-energy particle beams for communication, with the amount of information carried by global radio communications every second, even if we exhausted all the energy on Earth, it would be hard to sustain it for even a second. Of course, we don’t have that technology.” “But maybe using high-energy particles for communication has functions that radio waves can’t replace, and with technological progress, the energy needed to produce high-energy particles will surely decrease.” Based on bold speculation, I thought the difficulties Liang Yingwu mentioned weren’t a big problem. Liang Yingwu nodded: “What you say is certainly possible, but speculation is still just speculation. Even if we consider it as a means of communication, without further data, we could never decipher the messages within.” Suddenly, an idea struck me, and I asked, “The area where the high-energy particle beam appeared must have been investigated, right? Any results?” “Investigated? Humanity’s reach isn’t that long; the ocean itself holds many unsolved mysteries. After the major earthquake, the seabed in that area where the beam was generated was already turned upside down. Sending a few submarines to check around wouldn’t yield much trace. In the end, there was no answer, and the institutions that detected the beam tacitly chose not to inform the public.” Needless to say, institution X was one of the few that received the signal; perhaps some major countries had similar institutions that received it. What was hidden behind this tsunami? I had thought the prophecy of Mahabalipuram was just a coincidence, but now, like Liang Yingwu a moment ago, I was full of doubts. “Where is this beam of high-energy particles directed?” I remembered this important detail. Liang Yingwu slowly sipped his coffee, looked at me, and raised a finger. I followed his finger, looking up through the low ceiling of the café; that direction was… “The mysterious visitor (3)” “Outer space?” “Yes.” Liang Yingwu gave me a definitive answer. On December 26, 2004, in the depths of the Indian Ocean, on the eve of a major earthquake, a beam of high-energy particles was directed towards somewhere in the depths of the cosmos. Along that trajectory, there are no planets observed by humans. There are two possibilities: the first is that it leads to a planet, a dark planet in the distant sky that is hard to chart; the second is that the endpoint of that high-energy particle beam is in the depths of the cosmos beyond human sight. That night, after chatting with Liang Yingwu, I spent a lot of time studying the chart hanging in my study. Of course, it was a waste of time; in my opinion, those carvings from over two thousand years ago were nothing but gibberish. Just as I was about to become indifferent to the chart in my study, a call from a stranger reminded me of my experience in Mahabalipuram. By then, it was late March, and Indonesia, already prone to disasters, had just suffered an 8.5 magnitude earthquake. Even Shanghai felt the tremors. I’m usually a late sleeper and slow to react, so slight tremors wouldn’t prevent me from sleeping until 10:30 AM. After ordering takeout at the newspaper office, I routinely started browsing news on major websites, looking for something to write about. Not every attempt was fruitful. After confirming there was no Shanghai news worth following up on, I fetched the hotline logbook from the department to see if there were any leads from the calls made by citizens from last night to this morning. Ever since the “Morning Star” newspaper started offering high rewards for citizen reports, the frequency of hotline calls had increased significantly, making it less stressful for our social department reporters to find stories. There were six pages of call records from the last ten hours, and I marked those of interest with a triangle. After finishing one round, I had made seven marks, and the takeout on my desk was almost cold. I was about to quickly finish the box lunch before further screening when my desk phone rang. “Hello, may I speak with Nado?” It was a man’s voice. His Mandarin wasn’t standard, but I couldn’t pinpoint the accent. “Yes, who are you?” “This might seem abrupt, but did you post a thread on the eyes website on the 25th of last month?” I was immediately stunned. Eyes was the name of that decoding website, but how did this person find me? I thought back again; I was sure I hadn’t provided my real name or correct contact information when registering for the eyes BBS. Almost no one provides accurate details when registering for free online. The only true information I provided was my country and city – China, Shanghai, and my rarely used English name – Nado. Whether he was the forum admin or used some hacking skills to see my registration info, it shouldn’t have been possible for him to find me. Still in shock, the person on the other end, sensing my long silence, asked again: “Did you post a thread on eyes on February 25th, with an image needing decryption?” “Who are you? Do we know each other?” I countered.