三体 3: Death's End, 死神永生 (Spoilers for the entire 三体 series)

[phills]

Just like for the Dark Forest, I collected a bunch of sci-fi terms from the book that I thought I'd share, for others who want to read the book:

 

Crisis Era

 

群星计划 (Stars Our Destination Program): Program to allow UN to auction off rights to star systems
阶梯计划 (Staircase Program): Program to send a human into space at high speeds to meet the Trisolans
克隆人 (human clones)

冬眠 (hibernation)
急速冷冻 (flash-frozen)
细胞 (cells)
解冻 (thawing)
海绵状 (spongy): cells after flash-frozen and thawed

液氦 (liquid helium) 容器: used to freeze bodies for Staircase program

同位素 (isotope) 电池: A type of battery to power the vessel used in the Staircase program
辐射帆 (radiation sail): A type of space travel method considered for the Staircase program
裂变核弹 (fission bombs): used to propel the Staircase program vessel
氢弹 (H-bomb): used to propel the Staircase program vessel

常规推进器 (conventional propulsion systems)

巴纳徳星 (Barnard’s Star): A red dwarf star 6 light years from earth

 

Deterrence Era

 

模拟信号 (analog signals)
中微子信号 (neutrino communication signals): a more advanced methods of communications
引力波 (gravitational waves): another more advanced methods of communications
引力波天线 (gravitational wave antenna): used to send/receive grav wave signals, importance for broadcasting the deterrence signal

振动弦 (vibrating strings): used for gravity wave antenna
简并态 (degenerate matter) 物质: used for the vibrating strings for gravity wave antenna
泡利不相容原理 (Pauli Exclusion Principle): quantum mechanics principle, explaining the degenerate matter

 

强互作用力材料（strong-interaction materials): super strong materials made using the strong nuclear force

强互作用力宇宙探测器 (strong-interaction space probe): technical term for the "droplet"
威慑博弈学 (deterrence game theory)

终极威慑 (ultimate deterrence): a term in deterrence game theory

执剑人 (Swordholder): person controlling the doomsday trigger
人类中心论 (human supremacy): one of the ideologies arguing against co-existance with Trisolarans

宇宙迫害妄想学说 (delusion of cosmic persecution)

 

Post-Deterrence Era

 

迪杰里多 (didgeridoo): Australian musical instrument
蘑菇云 (mushroom cloud)

莫霍不连续面(Mohorovičić discontinuity): boundary between crust and mantle of the earth
地幔 (mantle)
橄榄岩 (peridotite): hard rock, common in the mantle

宇宙橄榄球赛 (cosmic football game): describing the long struggle between Tri-solarans and Earth

翘曲点 (warped points): how the starship crew accesses 4-d space
力场 (force field)
四维空间 (4-d space)
四维碎块 (four-dimensional fragment)
在三维的投影 (projection into 3d space)
光学效应 (optical effect)

高维空间感 (high-dimensional spatial sensation)

三维直径 (3-D diameter)
环箍直径 (band diameter): another form of diameter vs 3-D diameter?
三与三十万综合征 (three and three hundred thousand syndrome):  ?

冗余单元 (backup control unit)

罗塞塔 (Rosetta) 系统 or 石碑: Rosetta system / stone for translating between languages

 

Broadcast Era

 

导轨 (guide rails): of the space elevator
第一宇宙速度 (geosynchronous orbit)
拉格朗日点 (Lagrange point): point at which you no longer feel the planet's gravity

深海液体 (deep-sea acceleration fluid): fluid to help humans withstand high speed acceleration

生态循环系统 (ecological cycling systems): long term life support systems

行星际飞船 (plantary spaceship)
恒星际飞船 (stellar spaceship)
准恒星际飞船 (near stellar spaceships)

离子体 (plasma): serves as exhaust material of a spaceship

 

曲率驱动 (curvature propulsion): method of travelling at light speeds

真空 (vacuum)

介质 (medium): through which light can travel at decreased speeds, as opposed to vacuum

 

Bunker Era

 

木卫二 (Europa): moon of Saturn
木卫十三 (Leda): another moon of Saturn

赤道 (equator)

轨道 (orbit)

科考飞船 (science vessel)

透镜 (lenses)
 

Shape of space cities:
纯球体 (sphere)
圆柱体 (cylinder)
椭球体 (football-shaped)
轮辐形 (wheel with spokes)
纺锤形 (spindles)

 

Ways to dock with space cities:
同轴对接 (docked along axis of spin)
平行对接 (parallel docking)
垂直对接 (perpendicular docking)

 

磁性鞋 (magnetic shoes)

环日加速器 (circumsolar particle accelerator): for producing mini black hole

反物质子弹 (antimatter bullets)

质能转换方程 (equation relating energy to mass): aka e = mc^2
放射性原理 (principle of radioactivity)

史瓦西半径 (Schwarzschild radius): the radius of a black hole
黑洞的边界称为视界 (event horizon): the point of no return of a black hole
潮汐力 (tidal forces)
托卡马克 (Tokamak) 装置: equipment used currently for doing nuclear fusion experiments

[phills]

Super-advanced aliens

 

宇宙的熵 (entropy of the universe)

低熵体 (low-entropy entities): aka humans and Tri-solarans, from POV of advanced aliens
低嫡群落 (low entropy clusters)

坐标 (coordinates): to be destroyed
主核 (main core): alien computer

母世界的超核 (supercore on the homeworld): alien supercomputer

弹星者 (star pluckers): what they call earth civilization

一小块凝固的时间 (small piece of solidified time): something that can serve as a gift among the aliens

 

Alien categorization of communication methods:
中膜 (medium membrane)
长膜 (long membrane)
轻膜 (light membrane)
短膜 (short membrane)
原始膜 (primitive membrane): how aliens categorize human comm methods

清理 (cleansing)
质量点 (mass dot): used for cleansing.  Causes ka-boom!

种子仓库 (seed magazine): where aliens get the mass dots

死角 (blind corners): places that can't be reached by the mass dot explosion
二向箔 (dual vector foil): 2-D flattening weapon

两害相权取其轻 (the lesser of two evils)

 

End of Bunker Era

 

决定论 (deterministic): i.e. not random
分形图案 (fractals)

 

冥王星 (Pluto)
卡戎 (Charon): moon of Pluto

氮 (nitrogen)
甲烷 (methane)

 

Galaxy Era

银河系 (Milky Way)
仙女座星云 (Andromeda Galaxy)
本星系群 (local galactic group)
超星系群 (Virgo Supercluster)

星系旋臂 (arm of a galaxy)

猎户旋臂 (Orion Arm): of the Milky Way

拓荒 (terraforming)

多普勒效应 (Doppler effect)

相对论效应 (relativistic effects)

天文单位 (astronomical unit)

普朗克时间 (Planck time)
基本粒子 (fundamental particle)
夸克 (quark)

存放的容器 (containment field)
反物质发动机 (antimatter drive)

超膜 (supermembrane): concept from string theory
超膜上的空泡 (bubbles in the supermembrane): can act like their own universes
超膜广播所: supermembrane broadcast

点阵图形 (bitmap): from supermembrane broadcast

 

Misc

 

Layers of the sun:

辐射区 (radiation zone)
对流区 or 对流层 (convection zone or layer)

光球层 (photosphere)
色球层 (chromosphere)
太阳的大气 (solar atmosphere): corona?

 

地质纪年 (Geological eons), or 地质年代:

太古代 (Archean Eon) 21亿年
元古代 (Proterozoic Eon) 的震旦纪18亿3000万年
古生代 (Paleozoic)
寒武纪 (Cambrian) 7000万年
奥陶纪 (Ordovician) 6000万年
志留纪 (Silurian) 4000万年
泥盆纪 (Devonian) 5000万年
石炭纪 (Carboniferous) 650万年
二叠纪 (Permian) 5500万年
中生代 (Mesozoic)
三叠纪 (Triassic) 3500万年
侏罗纪 (Jurassic) 5800万年

侏罗纪 (Jurassic) 5800万年
白垩纪 (Cretaceous) 7000万年
新生代 (Cenozoic)
第三纪 (Tertiary) 6450万年
第四纪 (Quaternary) 250万年

一根分子链 (chain of organic molecules): one of the early starting points of evolution of life
巨大爬行动物 (giant reptiles)
哺乳动物 (mammals)
三叶虫 (trilobytes)
尼安德特人 (Neanderthal): earlier human species
 

[phills]

I ended up liking it more than the other 2 books, 三体 3 > 2 > 1.  It's the most imaginative of the 3. 

 

Before I read it, I thought I would like it less because the summaries made it seem so sprawling.  One even called it a collection of short stories.  But I think that's unfair; I think it ties strongly together into 1 narrative (through the fairy tale), and the span of time really lets you see the story all the way until the end of the universe.

 

I liked the second book too, but the second book is more of a war story, rather than a sci-fi story.  In hindsight, I used to like the first book, but now I think of it as just the intro.

 

Couple of things I wonder about:

 

Spoiler

1. What is the Giant supposed to stand for in the Fairy Tale? Why does he not shrink with distance according to the laws of perspective?

 

2. The princess in the Fairy Tale ends up with 长帆.  I assume that's why 程心 ends up with 关一帆 rather than 云天明. 

 

How did 云天明 foresee that outcome when he composed his story, hundreds of years ago?  (Funny 帆 is even in the name of both guys).

 

 

[phills]

One more, all the Byzantine related words I looked up:

 

Byzantium

君士坦丁堡(Constantinople)
君士坦丁十一世 (Constantine XI): Byzantine emperor at the time of the fall of Constantinople

法扎兰 (Phrantzes): real-life minister of Constantine XI, George Sphrantzes

狄伦娜 (Helena): fictional "witch"

狄奥多西世 (Theodosius II): Roman emperor who built the "Theodosian Walls" of Constantinople.
查士丁尼 (Justinian) 大帝: famous Byzantine emperor who retook Rome
曼努埃尔二世(Manuel II): another Byzantine emperor
约翰八世 (John VIII): son of Manuel II, and predecessor of Constantine XI

 

达夫纳宫 (Palace of Daphne): one of the major wings of the Great Palace of Constantinople
圣索菲亚 (St. Sophia) 大教堂: Church of Holy Wisdom, famous church in Constantinople

圣罗马努斯门 (St. Romanus Gate) : Second largest gate to enter Constantinople, where Constantine the XI is said to have died

博斯普鲁斯 (Bosphorus) 海峡: Straits separating Asia and Europe, Constantinople guards one end of it

金角湾 (Golden Horn): primary inlet of the Bosphorus
奥多修斯 (Odysseus): famous Homeric hero, but also the name of a wall in Constantinople
布拉赫 (Blachernae) 内区: A neighborhood of Constantinople

曼帝国 (Ottoman / Osman): the Ottoman Empire

苏丹 (Sultan): Turkish leader title

穆罕默德二世 (Mehmed / Muhammed II): aka Mehmed the Conqueror, Turkish leader who conquered Constantinople
法齐赫 (el-Fātiḥ): the "Conqueror", another name for Mehmed II
土耳其人 (Turkish person)
安那托利亚 (Anatolia): Another name for the area around Turkey

乌尔班炮 (Orban Cannon): famous large Turkish cannon that "took down" Constantinople

爱琴海 (Aegean): Sea around Greece
耶路撒冷 (Jurasalem)
特拉布宗 (Trabzon): city in Turkey
热那亚 (Genoa): Italian city, supplying mercs to Constantine XI

威尼斯 (Venice)

普罗旺斯 (Provence): Place in France
胡夫金字塔 (Pyramid of Khufu): famous large pyramid of Egypt
 

帕拉 (palla) 斗篷: a type of Roman shawl for women
丘尼卡 (tunic)
圣女贞德 (Joan of Arc): famous French girl / young woman who led the French to defeat the English
圣母玛丽亚 (Mary): mother of Jesus

十字军 (Crusaders)

清真寺 (mosque)

西欧黑死病 (Black Death): The famous plague

腺鼠疫 (plague)

 

[ablindwatchmaker]

On 11/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, phills said:

ended up liking it more than the other 2 books, 三体 3 > 2 > 1.  It's the most imaginative of the 3

 

 

SPOILERS (I don’t know how to hide text)

2>3>1 

 

I really liked the first 2/3 of the book, but I didn’t like the lack of a real antagonist in the latter third. It was still good, but I thought it suffered from some serious pacing issues. From the time chengxin wakes up in the bunker era to the time they flee the solar system, it really crawls. 
 

On 11/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, phills said:

Before I read it, I thought I would like it less because the summaries made it seem so sprawling.  One even called it a collection of short stories.  But I think that's unfair; I think it ties strongly together into 1 narrative (through the fairy tale), and the span of time really lets you see the story all the way until the end of the universe.

 

I liked the second book too, but the second book is more of a war story, rather than a sci-fi story.  In hindsight, I used to like the first book, but now I think of it as just the intro.

 

I agree, that’s a bit unfair. You still have a protagonist, the same characters, and an overarching narrative that ties all of it together. 
 

I have no idea what 

On 11/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, phills said:

1. What is the Giant supposed to stand for in the Fairy Tale? Why does he not shrink with distance according to the laws of perspective?

I think he represents the speed of light. He is the only one who can’t be drawn into 2-D space, and his size is “constant.” 
 

On 11/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, phills said:

How did 云天明 foresee that outcome when he composed his story, hundreds of years ago?  (Funny 帆 is even in the name of both guys).

There is a lot of fill-in-the-blank stuff at that point lol. I mean, the idea that he would be able to time it so perfectly, even with light-speed travel, is pretty crazy. Unless he had sophomore watching her the entire time. If that’s the case, I’m not sure how the triosolarins couldn’t figure out that he had transmitted information to them. It should have been pretty obvious, assuming they stuck around. 
 

On 11/7/2021 at 3:27 PM, phills said:

2. The princess in the Fairy Tale ends up with 长帆.  I assume that's why 程心 ends up with 关一帆 rather than 云天明.

He just wanted to piss off his readers by never having them meet up lol. That part of the book, in the mew solar system, is WAY too convenient. 

[phills]

On 11/9/2021 at 12:33 AM, ablindwatchmaker said:

The hardest and/or most boring parts for me, in order: 

...

2. Description of the steam governor engine and the structure of the fairytale, not the fairy tale itself.

 

Yea I forgot about the steam engine part.  I actually didn't understand that fully; I can't picture a steam engine in my head.  I think they meant something like this,

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_governor

 

 

which I had seen before, but I didn't understand how it tied into the story.  I read thru it once and continued on.  Was it the umbrella control?  I still don't know what the umbrella spinning mechanism means by the end of the book. 

 

The theory of literary analysis stuff, I didn't really pay too much attention to it either.  It was short.  I think the idea is the double metaphor is just for confirmatory info, rather than direct info.  E.g. the unrolling the Hershingen bits of paper was confirmation for the bubble expanding/shrinking idea, while the Hershingen soap behind the boat was the primary evidence.  Note both were "Hershingen" items, tieing them.  But once they came up with their grand theory, they stopped finding any more examples of it, so I'm not sure it was actually a *good* theory rather than a 1 time thing.

 

On the literary analysis stuff, if I was reading the book in English, I might have tried to figure out on my own what the Fairy Tale was hinting and started looking for my own "double metaphors."  But reading the book in Chinese, I had to save my brainpower for language processing, and so I just read on for the answer a few pages later. 

 

It's more after I'm done with the whole book that I now marvel at seeing additional correlation between the Fairy Tale parts and the end of the book.  I googled some reddit discussions and may try to piece it all together later.

[phills]

SPOILER DISCUSSION

 

On 11/9/2021 at 12:58 AM, ablindwatchmaker said:

I think he represents the speed of light. He is the only one who can’t be drawn into 2-D space, and his size is “constant.” 

 

That's a good one.  云天明 was telling them Manipulating Speed of Light, aka the Giant, would save them.  That makes perfect sense.

 

I think I saw some reddit guy say the Giant was the scientist who fell into the mini black hole.  That has some merit, but I prefer your interpretation.  He warned them that Flattening was the Danger, and Manipulating the Speed of Light the solution, just as the Wizard did.

 

On 11/9/2021 at 12:58 AM, ablindwatchmaker said:

I really liked the first 2/3 of the book, but I didn’t like the lack of a real antagonist in the latter third.

 

Yea the last part has no antagonist.  It's seeing the End of the Universe, and possibly whether 程心 will find 云天明 or not.  I wasn't sure they'd get together, but they didn't even get a conversation.

 

I do think 云天明 was watching her all along, using his Sophon VPN.  Otherwise how could he arrive at the star system just a week after her, and ~300-ish years after they last talked?

 

Another question for you: was the reason 云天明 didn't wait for them was because 艾AA didn't want to wait, and 云天明 didn't want to leave 艾AA stranded alone? 

 

[ablindwatchmaker]

On 11/8/2021 at 11:43 AM, phills said:

That's a good one.  云天明 was telling them Manipulating Speed of Light, aka the Giant, would save them.  That makes perfect sense.

 

I haven’t checked out any other fan theories, but this makes the most sense to me, though I didn’t understand this immediately when I was reading it. 
 

I don’t see how it could be the scientist, since the fairytale is constructed long before  the construction of the black hole. 
 

On 11/8/2021 at 11:43 AM, phills said:

I do think 云天明 was watching her all along, using his Sophon VPN.  Otherwise how could he arrive at the star system just a week after her, and ~300-ish years after they last talked?

Exactly, and in this case why wouldn’t he just use the sophons to communicate directly? I mean, if they are willing to build a pocket universe for them, I can’t see why communication would be an issue. 
 

On 11/8/2021 at 11:43 AM, phills said:

 

Another question for you: was the reason 云天明 didn't wait for them was because 艾AA didn't want to wait, and 云天明 didn't want to leave 艾AA stranded alone? 

Didn’t wait for them? If I remember correctly, I think the way it plays out is that the 黑域 shrinks the speed of light so much that their speed prior to being enveloped still exceeds the new speed of light, so they are traveling at the new speed of light, much faster than the relative position on the planet, causing the crazy discrepancy in the passage of time. My thought process starts to stumble with the physics more than the language barrier, so I’m filling in the details from a memory that is shoddy to begin with lol. 

[ablindwatchmaker]

On 11/8/2021 at 11:31 AM, phills said:

which I had seen before, but I didn't understand how it tied into the story.  I read thru it once and continued on.  Was it the umbrella control?  I still don't know what the umbrella spinning mechanism means by the end of the book. 

Yeah, it’s the umbrella control. spent ages trying to visualize that and understand the literary analysis before I ended up watching a YouTube video describing the governor. This is the kind of stuff I’ve got to stop doing. I understand 99.5% of the book, without having to use any english, and yet I will spend ages trying to understand a single paragraph

 

On 11/8/2021 at 11:31 AM, phills said:

It's more after I'm done with the whole book that I now marvel at seeing additional correlation between the Fairy Tale parts and the end of the book.  I googled some reddit discussions and may try to piece it all together later.

Overall, the series is amazing and should be required reading for anyone who wants to experience Chinese science fiction at a high level. I was particularly enamored with dark forest theory as an answer to Fermi’s Paradox, and I love any kind of game theory to begin with. 

 

[markhavemann]

It's nice of you to share your vocab but it definitely contains spoilers for anyone wanting to read 三体. Might want to put that nice and clear right at the top of the post.

 

I'm halfway through the first book. I didn't know the name of any of the sequel books, and so I clicked into your post after avoiding the "三体 movie trailer" post a few days ago, not wanting to ruin the book for myself since I had no idea where it was going.

 

Luckily I saw the spoiler alerts two thirds down the page, after reading all that vocab about alien contact and other civilisations. The first 130 pages of the book have been building up towards the idea of humans being alone, but so much for that I suppose...

 

 

 

[phills]

Sorry, I changed the title to include Spoilers.  I didn't think the vocab would spoil the plot of the third book, but I can see how it'll spoil the other 2 books.  Just knowing what sorts of things will come up in the third / the future.

 

There's a lot of stuff that happens between the first third of the first book and the third book, so I wouldn't make any particular assumptions about the direction of the plot just yet.  There's a lot still in store.

[phills]

SPOILER DISCUSSION

 

On 11/9/2021 at 2:38 AM, ablindwatchmaker said:

黑域 shrinks the speed of light so much that their speed prior to being enveloped still exceeds the new speed of light, so they are traveling at the new speed of light, much faster than the relative position on the planet, causing the crazy discrepancy in the passage of time.

 

Yea.  But 云天明 has his pocket universe, so he can hide out in there and wait out the 18 million years until they land.  I seem to remember the book saying (?) / hinting (?) that 艾AA didn't want to wait.

 

Now I think about the last Pocket Universe story more, I'm seeing it not just as a final discussion on Altruism vs. Self-Interest regarding returning mass to the universe.  It's also exploring the problems of being able to Time Travel to the Future at will.  It reminds of the end of The Time Machine by Jules Verne.  When you can travel forward to the ends of time, it becomes very lonely / isolating.  You're constantly searching for meaning -- something worth living for over just pressing "Fast Forward," which is easy and always "has potential".

 

In theory, one Source of Meaning is being able to "Be There" at the start of a new universe, which is exciting.  But it's lonely & isolating since they'll lose contact with everything in the current universe, including any human civilization remnants which are still surviving.  The longer the wait, the greater the distance from everything they know. 

 

When the frantic SOS signal revealed to them that the Big Reset was uncertain, I think it also made them wonder if it was worth it to keep waiting or to start living life now.  The worst thing would be to wait for another billion years and just face heat death alone with no new universe either.  That would be the same as dying now. 

 

If it's not a sure thing, it becomes like a dream / aspiration / religion.  You posit the existence of a Big Reset and the 11 Dimension Heaven, and have faith in it.  But if you're postponing life, waiting for a miracle, you might as well live now, for a miracle. 

 

So after the SOS, they switched their religion from belief in 11-D Heaven (uncertain) to belief in Self-Sacrifice to enable the 11-D Heaven (also uncertain).  While both are uncertain, the second religion instructs them to live now rather than postponing.

 

From this point of view, it wasn't just altruism that made her choose to go back.  But also pragmatism/staying with your situation, choosing to live now rather than postponing.  Just like 程心 insisting on living in Australia after the Broadcast (No altruism there, she just didn't want to run away from her situation).  Maybe after you've reached the End of Time, you realize the time jumps are cool, but it's the people who don't time jump that have actually lived (like Wade, Luo Ji).  Perhaps 艾AA thought the same thing, despite falling for the 帅哥, 关一帆, and loyalty to 程心.

 

That's another one of the big themes of the book series, so it was nice to see that last story echo it.  I thought that made it a great End of Time story, despite some cracks in the logic.

[Publius]

On 11/8/2021 at 5:27 AM, phills said:

I ended up liking it more than the other 2 books, 三体 3 > 2 > 1.  It's the most imaginative of the 3.

Same here. I always have a soft spot for end of the universe stories. Like the Viking girl turned Mayor Me in Doctor Who (same actor as Arya Stark), who has come the long way (because she's immortal), sitting there at the end of time, waiting for the Doctor and his companion. How lonely she must be. Three-Body book 3 somehow reminded me of Asimov's Foundation epic. Big idea, huge timespan. Oh and because of this book we now have a very expressive word 降维打击

 

P.S. I think you might want to change the title to reflect this is a sequel to 三体.

[phills]

I was browsing reddit threads for this book, and found an interesting post on the Chinese names of the characters. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/threebodyproblem/comments/azmbx2/for_nonchinese_readers_here_are_a_few_things_that/

 

I always wondered if they were supposed to be allusory, but felt like it was too gauche to ask.  Anyways, here is the thread's theory on the names, which I thought was particularly fun for language learners. 

• Luo Ji (罗辑) = 逻辑 = logic
• Cheng Xin (程心) = 誠心 = sincerity
• Yun Tianming (云天明) = cloudy sky turns bright; brings hope in the story
• Yang Dong (杨冬) = 阳冬 = sun in winter, or maybe cold sun; she was Ye's hope but also one of the first who committed suicide in the story
• Wade (维德 rather than the more common 韦德) = preserving morality; fights hard in the story
• Ye Wenjie (叶文洁) = transliteration of Avenger (pronounce it), or perhaps short for 文革中保持洁然之心 (preserve a pure heart heart during the Cultural Revolution)
• Sophon (智子) = also is a Japanese woman name Chiyoko or Tomoko, thus Sophon appears as a Japanese woman in the story

Most of these were new to me.  Before I saw the post, I considered Luo Ji as representing logic.  I actually thought it was identical characters because I confused 罗 with 逻 ?  And 程心 obviously plays a kind hearted character.  But I didn't get the other ones.

 

I thought 叶文洁 as Avenger was the cleverest, but it may not actually be something the author meant to do.

[Publius]

Yeah, I don't think 叶文洁 is intentional. 智子 is rather obvious but won't play well outside East Asia.

[ablindwatchmaker]

On 11/8/2021 at 10:44 PM, phills said:

Yea.  But 云天明 has his pocket universe, so he can hide out in there and wait out the 18 million years until they land.  I seem to remember the book saying (?) / hinting (?) that 艾AA didn't want to wait.

I’m an idiot, you’re right lol. I think you are right about that, and it conforms to how the ending plays out with them deciding to go back and take their chances. 
 

I’ll respond again later, I need to get on my reading if I am going to have any chance of hitting my goal lol.