April 2027, Zhongliang Continent, Galas Sea
Daphne Braun seemed to hear a "ticking" sound, but her head was pounding, as if it was filled with lead. What was that sound? An alarm clock? No. A timer? Also no.
It was the sound of a metronome! Slowly, Daphne woke up, she moved her fingers, opened her eyes. In the darkness, she confirmed, it was the sound coming from the metronome. Daphne had practiced piano since she was young, she was certain, the rate of the metronome was 60 BPM, that is, 60 beats per minute.
Daphne groped around and pressed down beneath her, it was a mattress. She tried to prop herself up to sit, as if triggering some mechanism, the light above turned on. Daphne covered her eyes, slowly getting used to the light in the room.
The room was not large, about 15 feet square, the floor only had a mattress, above were two white light strips, opposite wall was embedded with a loudspeaker, in the corner of the room was a suspended bracket connected to the wall, on which a metronome was fixed, its winding knob seemed to be controlled by a timing device.
The ticking sound of the metronome gradually stopped, Daphne recalled what was happening, obviously, this was not a dream. In the morning, outside the residence, jogging, someone covered her mouth and nose from behind with a wet cloth.
"Am I kidnapped?" Daphne muttered to herself.
"No! Daphne, no one kidnapped you, we just ask for a favor," suddenly a 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, you will know who we are later," the AI said, "You are in a container on a ship, in ten minutes, a barge will carry the container to the shore, I have said this is not a kidnapping, after docking, the door will automatically open, no one will restrict your freedom."
Daphne then noticed, the room indeed had some sway.
"Not a kidnapping? You drugged me, locked me up here, what do you want?"
"Daphne, we want you to deliver a verbal message, as a reward, you will receive a large sum of money, nearly $50,000."
Daphne was confused, saying, "What are you talking about, I don't want your money, what message, to whom? Can't you deliver it yourself? Why find me?"
The AI question-and-answer machine emitted a kind laugh, "Dear Daphne, you are too nervous! Very sorry to trouble you, but please remember the message."
The message was: "Little girl."
Daphne felt even more puzzled, saying, "What 'little girl'? To whom should this message be delivered?"
"Just remember the words 'little girl', you don't need to ask to whom," the AI said, "Alright, the ship is about to dock, once again, we apologize. For this, after the ship docks, you will receive a gift, you will need it. Goodbye!"
The loudspeaker went silent again, continued to emit the sound of the metronome, Daphne glanced at the corner metronome, it was not moving, had stopped making sound long ago. Daphne discerned that the sound of the metronome from the loudspeaker was a recording, she also discerned the recording's metronome rate was alternating between 20 BPM and 40 BPM.
The so-called "ship" seemed to stop, the top of the room transmitted a suction sound, swaying slightly as it was lifted up, raised, then lowered, afterwards gently stopping, very steady, it must have been placed on land.
About a foot square of the wall below the speaker suddenly popped open, revealing an inside compartment, inside laid a mobile phone, with a pearl white case. Daphne knew this was not her phone, because her phone case was rose gold, Daphne tried pressing the power button, the phone screen lit up.
Suddenly, the wall to Daphne's left slowly opened outward and downward, finally aligning with the ground. Fresh moist air mixed with a small amount of dust spread into the room. Daphne took a deep breath, stood up, and walked outdoors with the phone. Directly in front was an open area made of broken stones and coarse sand in a dark gray color.
Daphne walked forward a dozen meters, then turned back to look, there were several huge container barges and hundreds of containers placed rather disorderly, with gigantic container cranes moving back and forth, up and down. There was no one around Daphne, it was probably morning, the sea breeze was slightly salty.
The waves rhythmically beat against the cement stone piers of the dock, contrasting with the emptiness and silence of being unoccupied, the morning light was dim, thin mist carried a bit of chill. Daphne thought rapidly, escape! But she didn't know where to escape to.
Daphne held the phone in front of her, the phone had already completed booting up, and was not set with a password lock. Daphne opened the contacts, found only one record, written "Dad". Daphne hesitated for a moment, looked closely, below the word Dad, the number was indeed her father's mobile number. Daphne eagerly made the call...
Southeast of Rocket City in Liangguo Sazhou is the location of Liangguo Space Agency's launch center. The office area of the space center consists of several scattered small houses, a nondescript two-story building near the huge parking lot is the research center involved in the aerospace part of Liangguo's T plan.
Professor Braun, a senior project manager at Liangguo Space Agency, is the head and chief scientist of the center. Professor Braun's grandfather was a physicist from G country, who moved to Liangguo after World War II, the rationality, speculation, and mathematical talent inherently in Professor Braun's genes made him a top expert in celestial dynamics and rocket engineering at Liangguo Space Agency, combining theory and technology.
Professor Braun was tall, at 5 feet 9 inches, with a broad forehead, deep-set eyes, a straight nose with a slightly hooked tip, clearly a wise and rigorous scholar. Two days ago in the morning, he discovered his daughter Daphne was missing, he hurriedly reported to David Halsey, a representative of the Liangguo Counter-Terrorism Bureau, who also worked in the same building.
Due to the high level of secrecy of the T plan, Professor Braun was a core member of the T plan, receiving special protection from Liangguo Investigation Bureau and Counter-Terrorism Bureau, his daughter's disappearance might involve a kidnapping, which drew David's high attention.
While Professor Braun and David were discussing how to find Daphne in the office, Professor Braun's phone suddenly rang, showing an unknown number, the professor answered the call, a hurried voice came from the phone:
"Dad, it's Daphne."
"Daphne, are you okay? Are you safe? Where are you?" Professor Braun asked anxiously.
Daphne said, "I'm on an empty space at a container terminal, I don't know where this is, there's no one around me, it seems safe." David rushed out of the office, ran to the intelligence analyst's desk, demanding to immediately locate the coordinates of the phone talking to Professor Braun.
A few meters away, the container where Daphne was just now suddenly emitted white smoke, accompanied by the smell of acrid substances, then the mattress inside caught fire. Daphne instinctively ran towards the farther end, while looking around with the phone, not far away, a sign with green background and white letters in Xiguo script, the string of letters should be a place name.
Professor Braun, on the phone, heard that place name at the same time David rushed back, shouting:
"The phone signal is 200 miles away, at Abixi Port in Jianqiang Country."