Snowpiercer is both a train and a science fiction work. The train itself is the most important stage in this science fiction work.
In the original work of "Snowpiercer", Blue Star turned into a cold hell due to inexplicable reasons. The last surviving humans were crowded on a never-ending train driven by a perpetual motion machine and kept moving forward. As long as the train stopped, Humans will freeze to death, so the train keeps moving forward, endlessly.
On the train, the rich lived a life that was no different from before the disaster. Coffee, tobacco, botanical gardens, aquariums, libraries... all these things were enjoyed by the rich as a matter of course, while the poor at the bottom Living in a last-class carriage, relying on protein blocks made from cockroaches to survive, they must endure crowding, filth and hunger, and live a life without dignity.
This is a rather dystopian science fiction work, which uses an extremely satirical approach to describe the huge life differences between the rich and the poor and the polarization of social classes. It is a quite classic work.
Of course, this is of little practical significance to Chen Xin and the staff on the train. Although the current environment of Blue Star is also an extremely cold hell, even worse than what was described in the original book "Snowpiercer", Blue Star The surviving humans on the planet are not at the point where they need to be crowded on a train to survive, especially a train driven by something as impossible as a perpetual motion machine.
However, the concept of Snowpiercer is desirable. In today's harsh environment, humans need railway transportation. Trains that can operate normally in this environment are very important, and Snowpiercer is a very good reference object.
“One of the design tasks required by the state is the planning of a mobile shelter, which is to develop a train based on the railway that can be permanently or long-term residential, and move along the railway to transport survivors in the north to the south where the environment is slightly better. Or just follow the rail line." The staff didn't hide the incident, and it wasn't something that needed to be kept secret.
Regarding this topic, Chen Xin thought for a while and then shook his head and said: "The cost of traveling along the railway is too high. Not to mention how you can provide enough food for the survivors on the train, the number of people a train can carry is only one or two thousand. Just people.
Considering that it also needs to carry supplies and ensure survival, it is already remarkable that a train can ensure the survival of hundreds of people, and the cost of maintaining the train is enough to build a shelter that can accommodate more people. "
"That's true, but this can be regarded as a backup plan. After all, if something happens and needs to be done, it's always good to be prepared." The staff naturally understands that building a row can accommodate hundreds of people. The train of human survival consumes many resources, but as he said, it is better to be prepared than to use it, and to be unavailable and unprepared.
Chen Xin agrees with this. Technology can never be too little or too much. If some people think that technology has reached its peak and humans will no longer have new inventions, it is just because some people are not very smart.
So Chen Xin also gave some suggestions of his own for Snowpiercer.
After all, he is a writer. Chen Xin may not have as much knowledge as scientists in terms of certain ideas, but he is not inferior to those scientists in terms of creativity. He even has more inspiration because of his profession.
The staff was also very interested in the suggestions put forward by Chen Xin. After recording some of the practical ideas, the staff also enthusiastically invited Chen Xin to go to the train manufacturing plant in Jianning when he had time. Participated in the development and design of Snowpiercer.
Chen Xin was very interested in this, but he did not agree directly. He only said that he would consider going there when he had time. After all, he still had a lot of things to do here.
As for why he accepted the invitation, it was because Chen Xin thought of a more feasible but equally difficult-to-realize setting from the Snowpiercer idea, that is, a mobile base.
This is a setting that is more common in various science fiction or fantasy works than Snowpiercer, and appears in many games, comics, and film and television works.
The small one might be a car, similar to Chen Xin's own RV, but the big one might be a very large unit like Rhode Island, Mobile City State, or Floating City.
A small mobile base is easy to implement. With modern technology, it is not too troublesome to build one.
As for larger mobile bases, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any. For example, an aircraft carrier can be regarded as a mobile base swimming in the water.
But apart from these, it is somewhat difficult to build a land mobile base similar to Rhode Island.
It's not that it can't be built, but there are no suitable roads for such a big thing to travel on. A series of problems such as structure, materials, shock absorption, energy, and life support are all restricting the emergence of mobile bases on land.
However, these problems may be constraints and troubles for others, but for Chen Xin, they are not a problem at all. The worst is to upgrade the system, and it can be built after all.
But Chen Xin turned around and thought about it. It seemed that he didn't need to build such a thing, or that he didn't need to build something so big.
The mobile base is not a necessity for him. It is just to take his family to escape the disaster when there may be an irreversible disaster. Therefore, it does not need to accommodate too many people, and it does not need to be built. Too big.
So he doesn't really have to build a Rhode Island, just a mobile base vehicle will do.
After a few thoughts passed through his mind, Chen Xin had no intention of putting this idea into practice immediately. After all, a mobile base is different from a fixed shelter. There are too many things involved. Even if Chen Xin can now obtain it from the country, It is also impossible to easily create a usable mobile base without help and resource support.
However, he feels that when upgrading his shelter in the future, he can add some functions appropriately, integrate the structure of the existing shelter, and slowly adjust it in the direction of a mobile base. Maybe after several upgrades, it will It can be turned into a mobile base and go anywhere.
When Chen Xin was thinking about where he would go when he had a mobile base in the future, he and his staff finally walked to the front of the train and saw the nuclear reactor in operation.
"This is the nuclear reactor of this car. It can currently provide a maximum output power of 35MW. We are only running it at 70% power." The staff was obviously very concerned about the nuclear reactor in front of them, which was less than the size of a six-seater minivan. Satisfied and proud.
