轉載自：微信『栗子學園』小程序
『栗子學園』發佈時間：2020年5月13日
北半球春季，如果在晴朗的夜晚，臨睡覺前，正南方半空中，有幾顆跳動閃爍的小星。
它們組成的形狀像一扇晶瑩潔凈的窗戶。
太空裡清新的星辰氣息，仿佛從那翕張不定的小窗吹進來，輕輕撫慰著人們的夢境。
這個星座叫烏鴉座。
初次辨認烏鴉座的人們可能會有相同的疑惑——那星座的形狀怎麼也看不出是一隻烏鴉。
與其說這幾顆星的形狀像烏鴉，還不如說，更像那種讓鳥兒站立在上邊的吊架。
至於它為什麼被稱為『烏鴉』座？
想來和希臘神話有關。
在這烏鴉座的西邊，有個巨爵座，傳說『巨爵』是太陽神阿波羅的酒杯，『烏鴉』是用巨爵為太陽神斟酒的仆人，所以人們就把東邊靠近巨爵的幾顆星稱為烏鴉座。
烏鴉座看上去是那麼遙遠，那麼寧靜，與人世間的紛擾並無瓜葛。
可是，前一段時間，那片天區發生的天體事件，讓地球上的各大星際殖民公司和航天大國深感不安。
根據近地軌道某國宇航員依巴谷的太空天文臺觀測報告，烏鴉座邊緣的室女座61k行星周圍曾經爆發一次怪異的閃光，隨後，該星與地球的信息聯絡中斷。
61k是距離地球十幾光年之外人類已經開發的星球，那裡是星際能源供應和行星發動機生產的基地。
61k失去聯絡之前，沒有傳回異常的通訊信號。
事情發生的時候，61k上邊沒有執行任務的宇航員。
禍不單行。
這次件事之後不久，烏鴉座觸須星雲方向，隸屬於阿爾伯特深空動力公司的人工改造星體——殖民7號星，信號消失。
殖民7號失聯，使阿爾伯特深空動力公司和它的所屬國開始揣測事件背後的『人為』原因，懷疑這是太空競爭對手——小安德烈深空通訊公司幹的。
緊接著，小安德烈深空通訊公司開發的星體——殖民6號星，在半人馬座星區，信號消失。
很快，地球各星際殖民公司開始行動起來，向烏鴉座周圍的室女座羅斯128恒星周圍的殖民地增兵。
名義上，各殖民公司要在羅斯128建立抵禦烏鴉座方向外星入侵的防線；實際上，這幾樁離奇的天體失蹤事件使各航天大國之間的猜忌加深，太空軍備競賽迅速升溫。
即使各方對事件的調查完全沒有頭緒，彼此之間還是本能地加強了戒備。
地球人在深空的軍事對峙，使星際殖民國家逐漸分化成由跨國商人集團控制的兩大陣營。
一方是小安德烈深空通信公司控制的國家陣營，小安德烈是頭兒；另一方是阿爾伯特深空動力公司控制的國家陣營，首領是西曼。
殖民7號剛剛失去聯絡，西曼和所屬國宇航局就讓宇航員賈斯汀，駕駛『印第安座』星際戰艦，飛向烏鴉座星區，準備去登陸室女座61k行星和殖民7號星，維護設備，恢復它們與地球的聯絡。
印第安座武裝航天器如一粒微塵，掠過星際，進入室女座與烏鴉座交界的深空。
賈斯汀從深眠中醒來。
『印第安座』減速，指揮艙防護罩打開。
檢查完設備和飛行記錄，賈斯汀調暗艙燈，將目光投向舷窗外。
沒有近空殖民地的喧囂，遠離銀河，這裡是一片星光寥落的區域。
烏鴉座四個角上的亮星，失去了地球上所看到的晶瑩色彩，勾勒出來的直立四邊形，不再像一扇靈動的窗，反而像是暗黑空間裡一扇半掩著、使人感到猶疑的門，每個宇航員似乎都會望而生畏，停下前進的步伐，不知道那晦暗的門後邊是什麼？
賈斯汀思緒中掠過一絲沮喪，甚至隱隱感覺到，那烏鴉座看起來像是一座孤懸在正前方太空中的墓碑。
周圍空間裡億萬顆暗淡的恒星，如煙似霧，被各種引力源拉扯，變得絲絲縷縷，如細密的蛛網，又像隨風飄動的透明簾幕，勾連在這人跡罕至的墓碑周圍。
印第安座艦艏前方傾斜的巨爵座的容器裡邊，好像還蕩漾著美狄亞調制的毒液酒漿。
被美狄亞的計謀俘獲的珀利阿斯的一部分靈魂碎塊兒，似乎還在浸泡在毒酒中，在暗夜無邊的深空裡發出低沉的哀吼。
一滴毒液——烏鴉座觸須星雲——從傾斜的巨爵容器口中滑落，飄在半空中，落向下方長蛇座的脊背。
長蛇座的九頭毒蛇希德拉，正陰險地向赫拉克勒斯《武仙座》緩緩爬去，尾巴掠過荒涼的墓碑。
烏鴉驚起，又回落到墓碑上。
賈斯汀不是第一次來這麼遙遠的深空，他定了定神，收回目光，啟動重力探測，鎖定左前方的室女座61恒星系統。
根據艦載探測儀器的數據，計算之後，賈斯汀得出結論，室女座61恒星系統內部的各行星已經改變了軌道，進入彼此之間的引力調整期。
這意味著，室女座61恒星系統中的行星之間，正在發生著大量的極端天體事件。
賈斯汀的模擬結果顯示，沒有61k引力參與的恒星系統運行狀況與目前的觀測結果是一致的。
這說明，61k消失了。
賈斯汀感覺身上有些發冷。
重力探測器探測不到61恒星系統以外的天體有明顯的擾動，根本無法找到61k逃逸的路徑信息。
『難道61k直接融化成了虛空？
軌道上走著走著，就消失了？
或者說，61k沒有逃逸，直接就沒了……』賈斯汀靜靜地看著烏鴉座星空的邊緣方向，自言自語道。
一片死寂中，探空雷達忽然發出『嘀—嘀』的提示音。
雖然聲音不大，賈斯汀還是嚇了一跳。
經過一番辨認，他發現那是小安德烈深空通訊公司的航天器，航行在前方很遠的地方。
此時，賈斯汀的思緒稍稍平復了一些，盡管那是競爭者陣營的航天器，但它們的出現，減少了賈斯汀的恐懼和孤獨感。
賈斯汀重新振作精神，感覺身上逐漸暖和起來。
這時，本國宇航局天琴座通訊系統的機器語音響起：『宇航局呼叫賈斯汀！宇航局呼叫賈斯汀！立即切換北極星盤，建立聯絡！』
星盤是深空導航設備，擁有龐大的數據庫和高精度的運算能力。
賈斯汀能從近地軌道來到深空烏鴉座，整個航程就是在星盤的自動引導之下完成的。
重新與本國宇航局建立聯絡之後，賈斯汀納悶兒，自己從太陽系出發後，艦載星盤一直穩定地保持與總部星盤信號同步聯絡，為什麼自己一覺醒來星盤聯絡中斷了？
現在，賈斯汀沒有時間去細想這個問題。
『印第安座戰艦賈斯汀呼叫宇航局！艦載星盤一直開啟，隻是暫時聯絡中斷，原因不明……』賈斯汀一邊查看星盤空間顯示器中的任務項隊列，一邊向本國宇航局報告，『目前，現場確認室女座61k行星失蹤！不可思議……原因待查，完畢！』
『賈斯汀！室女座61k行星確認失蹤，宇航局收到！』
賈斯汀感覺清醒了許多，著手執行導航星盤提示中的第二項任務：實地探測殖民7號星。
此時，印第安座戰艦已經接近殖民7號行星消失前的坐標位置。
賈斯汀調整戰艦姿態，引擎減速，向著烏鴉座星區范圍內右側的『觸須星雲』方向飛去。
烏鴉座觸須星雲，好像巨爵座容器裡飄灑出來的一滴彩色的液體，又像通體閃著熒光的小蟲。
小蟲擺動長長的觸須，沖著墓碑一樣的烏鴉座輕緩地遊動，謹慎地感知著星際空間中細微的擾動。
細看小蟲的軀體，由上下兩個漩渦星雲組成，那是兩個星系碰撞的結果。
兩條顏色淺淡的細長觸須是碰撞之後生成的螺線形物質流，水波一樣蕩漾在寂寞的深空裡。
當減速的印第安座置身於殖民7號星消失前的空間坐標點，賈斯汀瞪大眼睛，直接向舷窗外搜尋。
戰艦外，上下左右，空無一物。
殖民7號是人工變軌的流浪星體，比一般的小行星大很多，深空動力公司在該星儲存了各種資源、設備，一直將其作為向更遠處深空探索的中轉站。
賈斯汀之前推測，殖民7號星隻是信號丟失，而不是星體本身消失。
現在，印第安座戰艦置身於殖民7號星消失前的坐標位置，停泊在星際四壁真空裡，一動不動。
殖民7號哪去了？
English Version：
ASTROLABE
VOLUMEⅠ
the Shadow ofLight sail
CHAPTER1 TheGraveyard of Stars
In spring in the northernhemisphere，if on a clear night，just before going to bed，due south inmid-air，there are several small stars dancing and twinkling. They form the shape of a crystal clearwindow. The fresh star breeze of theuniverse seemed to blow in from the twitching window，gently soothing people’sdreams.
This constellation is calledCorus，or Corvus.
First-time visitors to theconstellation Corvus might have had the same puzzle – whydoesn’t the constellation look like a crow？
The constellation is not so muchshaped like a crow as a standingframe on which a parrot might stand.
As for why these stars arecalled “Corvus”，it seems to have something to do with Greekmythology. To the west of Corvus，thereis a constellation called 『Crater』，or the Cup. According to Greek mythology，『Crater』is the wine cup of Apollo. The crow was a servant who poured wine for Apollowith the big cup，so people called the constellation near Crater to the eastthe Crow.
The constellation Corvus seemsso far away，so peaceful，and out of touch with human affairs on earth. Some time ago，however，celestial events inthat region had disturbed the major interstellar colonizing companies andspace-faring nations on Earth.
According to space-observatoryobservations by low-Earth orbit astronaut Hipparchus，an eerie flash of lighterupted around Virgo 61K，near the edge of the constellation Corvus，andcommunication between the planet and Earth was interrupted. 61K is a exploredplanet more than a dozen light years from Earth，serving as a base forinterstellar energy supply and planetary engine production.
There were no abnormaltransmissions from planet 61K before it lost contact with Earth. At the time of this incident，no astronautswere operating on 61K.
Misfortunes never comealone. Shortly after this event，signalsfrom Colonial 7，Albert Deep Space Dynamics’ modified star，disappeared in thedirection of the Corvus Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/9).
The loss of contact with theColonial 7 has led Albert Deep Space Dynamics and its host country to speculateon a “human” cause behind the incident，and to suspect a space rival,Andre Deep Space Communications.
Immediately after，the AndreDeep Space Communications planet，Colony 6，lost its signal in the Centauriregion.
Soon，earth’s interstellarcolonization companies were on the move，sending reinforcements to coloniesaround the star virgo Rose128 around the constellation Corvus. Nominally，the colonial companies were tobuild a defense around Rose128 against an alien invasion in the direction ofCorvus; In fact，these bizarre signaldisappearances have deepened suspicion among the space powers，and the spacearms race has heated up rapidly. Even inthe absence of a clue to the investigation，each party instinctively stepped upits guard.
The military confrontationbetween earthmen in deep space gradually divided the star colonizing nationsinto two camps controlled by transnational merchant groups. The country faction controlled by Andre DeepSpace Communications was a group，with Andre Junior as the leader; The national camp controlled by Albert DeepSpace Dynamics was another，led by Seaman.
As soon as the Colony 7 lostcontact，Seeman and his NASA crew sent astronaut Justin，who piloted the Indianinterplanetary warship，to the Corvus region，preparing to land on virgo 61Kand Colony 7 to repair equipment and restore contact between the two planetsand Earth.
The armed Indian spacecraft,like a high-speed speck of dust，flits across the stars into deep space wherevirgo and Corvus meet.
Justin woke up from a deepsleep.
As The Indian slowed down，thecommand module’s shields opened.
After checking the equipmentand flight logs，Justin dimmed the cabin lights and began to look out intospace.
Here，without the noise ofnear-space colonies，far from the Milky Way，is a region of sparse starlight.
The bright stars in the fourcorners of the constellation Corvus have lost the striking colors seen onEarth. The upright quadrilateral theyformed no longer looked like a glistened window，but like an ajar door in adark space. Every astronaut would stopin his tracks with fear，for no one knew what lay behind that dark door.
Justin felt an unspeakablesense of frustration. The frustration even made him feel that the shape of theraven constellation was like a tombstone hovering in space ahead. In the spacearound the tombstone，hundreds of millions of dim stars，like smoke and fog,are pulled in strands by various sources of gravity，like a fine web，or like atransparent curtain that moves in the wind，surrounding the unvisitedtombstone.
Medea’s poisoned wine seemedto be swaying in the tank of the tilted Constellation Of Colossus ahead of theIndian ship. A fragment of Pelias’ssoul，captured by Medea’s stratagem，seemed still to be soaked in poisonedwine，uttering a low wail in the boundless darkness.
A drop of venom，the TentacleNebula in Corvus，slipped out of the slanting constellation Crater and floatedin midair toward the back of Hydra below. Hydra was creeping insidiouslytowards Hercules，his tail sweeping over the desolate tombstone. The crowstarted up and dropped back down on the tombstone.
Justin has been to deep spacemore than once. He collected himself，withdrew his gaze，and activated thegravity probe，locking on the Virgo 61 star system ahead to the left.
Based on calculations fromonboard instruments，Justin concluded that the planets within the Virgo 61 starsystem had changed their orbits and entered a period of gravitationaladjustment with each other. This means that a large number of extreme celestialevents are taking place between the planets in the Virgo 61 star system.
Justin’s simulations show thatstellar systems without 61K gravity behave in a manner consistent with currentobservations.That means 61K disappears.
Justin felt a little cold.Gravity detectors cannot detect significant disturbances outside the 61 starsystem，so no information about 61K’s escape path can be found.
“61K melted into nothing？
Did it just walk along the track and disappear？
Or 61K didn’t escape，it justdisappeared…” Justin said to himself，looking quietly at the edge of theconstellation Corvus.
A dead silence，sounding radarsuddenly issued a “di – di” prompt sound. It was not loud，but Justinwas taken aback. On the radar display，he identified them as Andre Jr. ‘s deepSpace Communications spacecrafts，sailing far ahead.
At this point，Justin’sthoughts calmed down a little. Even though they were the spacecraft of therival camp，their appearance reduced Justin’s sense of loneliness. Justinrallied and felt himself getting warmer.
At that moment，the roboticvoice of the Lyra communication system rang out: “Headquarters to Justin！Headquarters to Justin！ Please switch the North Astrolabe immediately andestablish contact！”
The astrolabe is a deep spacenavigation device with a huge database and high-precision computing power.Justin was able to travel from low Earth orbit to the deep space constellationCorvus，guided by the astrolabe.
After re-establishing contactwith the headquarters，Justin wondered: Since his departure from the solarsystem，the signal from the ship’s astrolabe had been in sync with the signalfrom the headquarters. But why，when he woke up，contact with the astrolabe hadbeen disconnected？
Right now，Justin doesn’t havetime to dwell on it.”Justin the Indian to headquarters！ The astrolabe hasbeen open，but contact has been temporarily interrupted for unknownreasons…” Justin reports to headquarters while checking the task queueon his astrolabe display，”Currently，Virgo 61K is missing！ Incredible…Cause to be checked，report end！”
“Justin！ Virgo 61Kconfirmed missing，central copy！”
Feeling more awake，Justinembarked on the second task in his chart’s instructions: a field survey ofColony 7.
At this point，the Indianwarship is close to the coordinates of the colony 7 planet before itdisappeared.
Justin adjusted his ship’sstance，slowed his engines，and headed toward the “Tentacle Nebula”to the right of the Corvus region.
The Corvus Tentacle Nebula(NGC 4038/9) looks like a drop of colored liquid floating from a container inthe constellation Crater，or like a fluorescent insect. The insect wiggles itslong tentacles toward the gravestone constellation Corvus，cautiously sensingsubtle disturbances in interstellar space.
If you look closely at theinsect’s body，it consists of two swirling nebulae. That’s the result of twogalaxies colliding. Two slender pale-colored tentacles，spiraling streams ofmatter formed by collision，ripple like water waves in the lonely depths ofspace.
When the slowing Indianstopped at the coordinates of Colony 7，Justin looked out the porthole with hiseyes wide open. Outside the spacecraft，up，down，left，and right，there wasnothing. The planetary probe in the command module was eerily quiet.
Colony 7 is a rogue planetwhose orbit has been altered by humans，much larger than the average asteroid.Deep Space Dynamics stores a variety of resources and equipment on the planetand has been using it as a staging post for deep space exploration.
Justin had speculated thatColony 7 was just missing signals，rather than the planet itself.
Now，the Indian battleship,anchored in the interstellar vacuum，sits motionless at the coordinates of thecolony 7 before it disappeared.
Where’s the Colony 7？