"Pres Lu," White laid a bunch of used draft papers in front of him. "I can"t get the results."
With dark circles under his eyes, Bixing Lu looked weary. Every once in a while, he would rub his temples and forehead.
The tireless robots displayed in the empty lab were silent and lifeless like terracotta warriors.
With his forehead resting upon his hand, Bixing Lu flipped through White"s work. The breaking dawn from the energy tower cast beams of sunlight into the lab, throwing a soft shadow on his face. He stayed quiet for such a long time that White even started to think that he"d push aside the draft papers in the next second and tell them it was all over, and they wouldn"t have to work in vain anymore.
That antic.i.p.ation made young White a bit nervous, though he didn"t really know why.
However, after he"d been waiting anxiously for quite a while, all Bixing Lu did was to ask calmly, "I presume you"ve all read the reference books. What do you not understand?"
The students exchanged an uneasy look.
Rickhead said in a gruff voice, "Everything."
"That"s not possible," Bixing Lu stacked the messy papers into a pile with a blank expression. "Unless you didn"t pay attention to what you were reading."
He was always gentle and affectionate when he talked to people, leaving them the sense of being valued wholeheartedly. But now, though he was still gentle and patient towards his students, and as hard as he tried to restrain himself, there was still a hint of weariness in his voice.
Anyway, when all was said and done, a person who couldn"t be moved no matter what you do was probably really a stone under human disguise. He"d been dead from the day he was born, and wouldn"t mind if his flesh and bones rot again.
The door to the lab stayed open this whole time. Not a single soul had pa.s.sed through it.
Bixing Lu glanced at it, heavily disappointed. He felt ridiculous and frankly a little despicable keeping this up. There"s an invisible countdown timer hanging over this place, ticking towards their death. He knew about it but he hadn"t planned on telling anyone.
Whatever was happening must be serious military operations if the Ten Squadrons were involved. Even if Lin hadn"t planned on using the base as bait, the scoundrels at the base were still not the ones to be trusted. The contradictory thing was, he understood the situation very well, but he"d still hoped he could just kindle a fire on them with his crude flintstones.
It was practically illogical of him.
"We don"t understand the mathematical models used here," Mint said, bracing herself. "We don"t...we don"t even know how to subst.i.tute the figures."
Bixing Lu remembered himself, paused before saying, "Mhmm, so all that talk about you "having reached a level equivalent to primary education" was just a scam, wasn"t it? How much did your primary degree cost you?"
White fiddled with his fingers, answering warily, "I didn"t buy it. I just...well I didn"t have the chance to use it for a long time so I"ve forgotten most of it."
Mint interrupted him, "80 bucks for an authentic cert guaranteed, traceable registration number with the Ministry of Education. Plus another 200 bucks, you"d get the full set of application material."
"Too expensive," Bixing Lu turned on his personal terminal and took out a reference book. "The old Dean of the College of Information Technology said you could get the full set for 138. You got scammed."
"President, the primary education systems in the other galaxies cover all the cla.s.sic mathematical models." Jingshu Huang pointed at her temple. "By the time their kids" brains reached a certain level of development...Well, of course, by that I mean normal brains, the Eden would instill the knowledge into them. It"s as if they were born with that knowledge."
Bixing Lu lifted his eyes from the book and shot her a cold gaze. "What are you trying to say?"
"The cavemen who drank blood and ate flesh were human. The ancient Earthlings who"d never left the atmosphere were human. We"re human, — but we"re not all the same. We"re different from the people of the IU. What they"re born with are the things we might never achieve even if we dedicate all of our life to it." Jingshu Huang said. "President, you"re measuring us against IU standards. Don"t you think that"s unfair?"
"No," Lu gave her a wry smile, flipping through the e-book hanging above his terminal with a flick of his finger, "Do you consider it an achievement just to understand a primary mathematical model? There"s a thought. But to me, existing maths models are but tools, not much different from your mallets and your hammers and your ropes. The first person to invent a mallet could be called a genius, but should all the apes who follow suit and use a mallet to crack nuts be said to qualify to recive a "Genius Achievement Award"?"
What was meant to be humorous became unintentionally mean. The sensitive Jingshu Huang picked up on the frustration in his voice, "President, w- what"s wrong?"
"Nothing." Bixing Lu lowered his eyes and softened his tone. "Read the book yourselves. I"ve given you permission to use the library on your personal terminals. There are detailed explanations for each model. If there"s anything specific you don"t understand, you can pick it out and ask me, but I"m not guiding you through the safety manual of a mallet. Any questions?"
White was stammering, "President, so do we still have to do our a.s.signment?"
Lu gave a terse "Yes."
"But..."
"If you believe something is useful, then try to convince someone else. If you can"t, then do what you have to do." Lu said. "In a war, the energy problem takes top priority. It has to be solved one way or another. There"s no way around it."
Otherwise, even if the Ninth Squadron were to land, it"d be a ha.s.sle if they couldn"t find a place to dock and a stable energy system. They"d come all the way from beyond the realm after all.
Putting disappointment aside, they still had to do what they had to do.
The students knew to be tactful then. They exchanged looks and walked aside, leaving Lu alone.
The word "Mathematics" might sound inaccessible, but "the safety manual of a mallet" might sound more down to earth. Perhaps it was because of the new state of mind. As noon approached, the students, who finally set their minds to reading the "manual", managed to put together some sort of patterns after they taught themselves with discussions in a soft voice and some occasional bickering. The whole process was just like a scene in which some toddlers were fumbling with their toy blocks for the first time.
Lu didn"t pay them much mind. Before long, he finished calibrating the repair program for the first batch of robots. They could start working now. The only problem was that things were going to be slow due to the lack of robots. Lu thought he"d best further simplify the energy system plan of the base.
He sent the first line of robots to the field. Just as he was returning to the lab, someone suddenly stopped him, "Lu...urgh, Expert Lu."
Lu spun around and was surprised by what he saw.
It was baby-faced Sat.u.r.day, Holiday with the rabbit ashes hanging around his neck, the gap-toothed old man and the crippled old man who were fighting endlessly when they last met, the old film aficionada who told Lu to fix the multimedia devices, and Big who always found every pot and bowl too small...and so on. The whole lot was here. Not only were they here, they also brought another bunch of people with them.