April 2027, Zhongliangzhou, Galas Sea
Daphne Braun seemed to hear a "tap-tat-tat" sound, but she had a splitting headache, as if she had been filled with lead. What is that sound? Alarm clock? no. Is it a timer? Neither.
It’s the sound of a piano metronome! Daphne slowly woke up, moved her fingers and opened her eyes. In the darkness, she confirmed that it was the sound of a metronome. Daphne has been practicing piano since she was a child. She is convinced that the metronome rate is 60BPM, which is 60 beats per minute.
Daphne fumbled and pressed the mattress beneath her. She tried to push herself up and sit up, as if something had been triggered, the light above her head came on. Daphne covered her eyes and slowly adjusted to the light in the room.
The room is not big, about 15 feet square. There is only a mattress on the floor, two white light strips above the head, a loudspeaker speaker mounted on the opposite wall, and a suspended bracket connected to the wall in the opposite corner of the room. A piano metronome is fixed, and the clockwork knob of the metronome seems to be controlled by a timing device.
The ticking of the metronome gradually stopped, and Daphne thought about what was going on. Obviously, this was not a dream. Early in the morning, while running outside her apartment, someone covered her mouth and nose with a wet cloth from behind.
"Am I kidnapped?" Daphne said to herself.
"No! Daphne, no one kidnapped you, we are just asking you to do a favor." A sudden voice came from the loudspeaker, startling Daphne.
"What is this place? Who are you?" Daphne asked.
"I am an AI question and answer machine. I can answer all your questions. We are your friends, and you will know who we are in the future." The AI machine said, "You are in a container on a sea ship. The barge will arrive in ten minutes. The container will be brought to the shore. I have already said that this is not a kidnapping. After docking, the door will open automatically and no one will restrict your freedom."
Only then did Daphne notice that the room was indeed shaking.
"Not a kidnapping? You knocked me out and locked me up here. What are you going to do?"
"Daphne, we would like to ask you to deliver a message. As a reward, you will receive a large amount of money, nearly $50,000."
Daphne was confused and said: "What are you talking about? I don't want your money. What kind of message should I send to whom? Why don't you just tell it yourself? Why are you looking for me?"
A kind laughter came from the AI question and answer machine, "Dear Daphne, you are too nervous! I am very sorry for the trouble it has caused you, but please remember the message."
The message was: "Little girl."
Daphne felt even more strange and said, "What 'little girl'? Who is this message for?"
"Just remember the words 'little girl'. You don't have to ask who you passed it to." The AI machine said, "Okay, the ship will dock soon. I apologize to you again. For this, after the ship arrives, , you will receive a gift and you will need it. Goodbye!"
The loudspeaker stopped talking and continued to make the sound of the metronome. Daphne glanced at the metronome in the corner. It was not swinging and had stopped making sounds long ago. Daphne identified the metronome sound as a recording played through a loudspeaker, and she also identified that the metronome rate in the recording alternated between 20BPM and 40BPM.
The declared "ship" seemed to have stopped, and there was a sound of being sucked from the top of the room. It was hoisted up, raised, and lowered, and then stopped lightly. It was very stable, and it should have been placed on the ship. on land.
The wall about a foot square below the speaker suddenly popped open, revealing a hidden compartment inside. In the hidden compartment lay a mobile phone with a pearl white casing. Daphne knew that this was not her phone because her phone case was rose gold. Daphne tried pressing the power button and the phone screen lit up.
Suddenly, the wall on Daphne's left side slowly opened outwards and downwards, finally touching the ground. Fresh and moist air mixed with a small amount of dust filled the air. Daphne took a deep breath, stood up, and walked outside with her cell phone. Directly ahead is an empty, dark gray field composed of gravel and coarse sand.
After Daphne walked forward for more than ten meters, she turned around and saw several huge container barges and hundreds of irregularly arranged containers. The huge container cranes were moving back and forth, up and down. There was no one around Daphne, it was probably morning, and the sea breeze was slightly salty.
The waves beat regularly on the cement stone piers of the dock, reflecting the emptiness and quietness of no one. The morning light was dim, and the slightest mist brought a slight coolness. Daphne thought quickly, escape! But she didn't know where to escape.
Daphne held the phone in front of her eyes. The phone had been turned on and no password protection had been set. Daphne opened the address book and found that there was only one record in it, saying "Dad". Daphne hesitated for a moment, and a closer look showed that the number under the word "dad" on the horizontal bar was actually her father's mobile phone number. Daphne couldn't wait to dial the phone...
The southeastern suburb of Sazhou Rocket City in Liangguo is where the launch center of Liangguo Space Agency is located. The office area of the space center is composed of a number of scattered small houses. An inconspicuous second floor near the huge parking lot is the research center for the aerospace part of the Liangguo T plan.
Professor Braun, senior project manager of Liangguo Space Administration, is the director and chief scientist of the center. Professor Braun’s grandfather was a physicist from China and moved to China after World War II. The rational, speculative and mathematical talents inherent in Professor Braun’s genes enabled him to become a member of the Chinese Space Agency’s astrodynamics and rocket engineering department. Top experts integrating theory and technology.
Professor Braun is tall, 5 feet 9 inches, with a broad forehead, deep eye sockets, a straight nose, and a slightly hooked nose. You can tell at a glance that he is a wise and rigorous scholar. Two days ago in the morning, he discovered that his daughter Daphne was missing and hurriedly reported it to David Halsey, a representative of the Liangguo Counter-Terrorism Bureau who also worked in the small building.
Because the confidentiality level of the T Plan is extremely high, Professor Braun is a core member of the T Plan and is under special protection by the National Bureau of Investigation and the General Counter-Terrorism Bureau. The disappearance of his daughter may be related to a kidnapping incident, which has attracted David's great attention.
When Professor Braun and David were discussing how to find Daphne in the office, Braun's cell phone suddenly rang, showing an unknown number. The professor answered the phone, and a quick voice came from the phone:
"Dad, I'm Daphne."
"Daphne, are you okay now? Are you safe? Where are you?" Braun asked eagerly.
Daphne said: "I am in an open space at a container terminal. I don't know where this is. There is no one around me. It seems safe." David rushed out of the office and ran to the intelligence analyst's workstation and asked him to Immediately locate the coordinates of the cell phone that Professor Braun is talking to.
More than ten meters away, white smoke suddenly poured out of the container where Daphne was just now, accompanied by the pungent smell of acidic substances, and then the mattress in the container caught fire. Daphne subconsciously ran towards the farther end, holding up her phone and looking around as she ran. On a sign not far away, white letters on a green background were written in Western characters. The string of letters on it should be a place name.
Professor Braun heard the place name on the receiver of his mobile phone. At the same time, David rushed back and shouted:
"Mobile phone signals are 200 nautical miles away, building a strong port of Abisi."
