Interstellar Survival: Invasion

At that moment, I suddenly discovered something. The 10 ships in the sky weren't exactly packed together. There was still space between them, and the rays of light coming through those openings looked like beams of light with different colors. Old Du and Kelly were still busy trying to think of a variable for the puzzle, but an idea suddenly rose in my mind when I saw the many beams of light coming down.

"Can the variable be the light of the three stars? The three stars are constantly moving, and the light coming from them will shift as time passes. Perhaps the rays of light can serve as hour and minute hands," I suggested to Old Du.

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Upon hearing my suggestion, Old Du looked up at the ships in the sky. He looked pensive. On this completely bare planet, the light from the three stars was clearly the only thing they could use as a variable.

"Jack, move Skyhawk's front by 45 degrees. Form a triangle with the two ships to its right," ordered Old Du.

Jack immediately did as told, creating a triangle in the sky. A blue beam of light came down from the created opening. Old Du continued giving Jack orders to fine-tune the ship's angle, trying to aim the beam of light at one of the clocks.

Soon, the angle was adjusted. The blue beam of light was aimed at one of the clocks, but nothing changed. The clock hand we had expected to see had not appeared.

"There is no change to the clock. We still don't have the variable," said Old Du, shaking his head.

Once again, everyone sank into silence. We were all trying to think of a way to solve the puzzle.

"Old Du, the three stars in the sky are red, yellow, and blue. If the blue beam doesn't work, should we try a different beam?" suggested Kelly.

"I'm also considering the three colors," said Zhang Xingxing as inspiration hit her. "Generally, a yellow star is a young star, a red star is an old star, and a blue star is in between. I suggest we try the yellow light first."

Her words injected everyone with fresh hope. Old Du did as she suggested and ordered Jack to change the ship's angle again. Shortly after, a yellow beam bearing all our hope came down upon one of the clocks. Everyone stopped breathing, waiting for Old Du to announce the result.

After looking down for a while, Old Du abruptly looked up in excitement, "A clock hand has appeared! It should be the hour hand!"

Everyone cheered, seemingly having forgotten that we were doing all this in order to find the beasts and undergo a dangerous battle with them. They were all feeling the excitement of solving a puzzle.

"We now have the hour hand. What time is it?" I asked.

"The hour hand should be pointing roughly toward one o'clock," said Old Du.

"Adjust the angle of the other ships. According to our previous guess, we will need the blue beam now. A new angle is needed," said Zhang Xingxing in excitement.

Soon, a new opening between the ships was created, allowing a blue beam to land on the clock with the hour hand. With that, the minute hand appeared on the clock. The time displayed on the clock was 1:15.

"1:15. This is a start. Next, we can figure out the time displayed on each clock and try to find some pattern," I said.

"Since there are red, yellow, and blue stars, it is clear there is also a second hand on the clock. We need to create the second hand as well," reminded the prudent Kelly.

Her words reminded everyone. We had nearly forgotten something so important. After another adjustment, the clock showed the time 1:15:30. We performed the same steps on the 10 clocks we found. The time difference between each clock to the next was 1 minute. It seemed like we had found some sort of pattern to the puzzle.

"We now have the order of time. We only need to find out what they mean," said Old Du as he started studying the time sequence.

"What does this sequence represent? Don't tell me we can use this sequence to travel to different points in time in the future?" muttered Zhang Bao'er beside me.

"The beast planets have existed for at least 100,000 years. However, these are clocks for the 24-hour system. If they represent the time these planets have existed, does the one minute difference between each clock indicate that these are the points in time when unique events would happen?" wondered Zhang Xingxing.

"One minute difference per clock. Does this signify that the beasts will appear in a day, a month, or a year? And what point in time are we on?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

Repeating what we did, Kelly also found the same sequence of time on a different planet. Different from us, the time difference on her planet was two minutes per clock.

"I feel like this is an alarm clock," Zhang Bao'er suddenly said.

"Alarm clock? Explain what you mean," asked Old Du.

"I believe the concept of an alarm clock is that once per day, the beasts will be given some free time on the surface. Or perhaps it's once a year. I suggest that we wait a day here. If the beasts appear in accordance with the time on these clocks, we will be able to see them in a day," said Zhang Bao'er smugly.

"Brother Bao'er, I did not expect you to come up with such a profound idea. Your idea makes a lot of sense," said Baron Sisse in support.

"So in accordance with Bao'er's idea, these clocks are basically alarm clocks and the time displayed on them are the points in time when they will be awakened. This point of awakening is also different for each planet," Old Du concluded based on Zhang Bao'er's idea.

Without a better alternative, we had accepted Zhang Bao'er's hypothesis for now. I also suggested to Zhang Bao'er that the fleet should stay in the sky to observe for a day.

Suddenly, Kelly voiced her objection, "I don't think this clock puzzle is as simple as Zhang Bao'er had thought."

"Lady Kelly, what do you have in your wise mind?" said Zhang Bao'er unhappily.

"If the gap of one minute represents the settings of an alarm clock, I believe 10 of these clocks would be sufficient for them. What's the point of making enough clocks to circle the planet? According to what we know, there should be 1,440 of these clocks on this planet. Wouldn't that be a waste?" said Kelly.

"Easy. This planet is too big. With so many clocks, they can more easily wake up the beasts," said Zhang Bao'er, giving an argument that was also actually reasonable.

"Look at this planet. There are no signs of life. If the beasts will show up in a day, why set the alarm on the surface? In that case, this clock puzzle will no longer be a puzzle. I believe Zhang Bao'er is oversimplifying something as complicated as a clock puzzle," said Kelly, giving an argument that was just as convincing.

"Kelly, if these clocks do not represent alarm settings, what do you think they are?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"I don't think the times on these clocks represent the future. Rather, they represent the past. We need to view these clocks in reverse," said Kelly.

Zhang Xingxing asked, "View these clocks in reverse? Can you explain more, Kelly?"

"We have confirmed that these are Blue clocks. If there are 1,440 of these clocks on your planet, I believe that each clock should have its own meaning," said Kelly confidently.

I also voiced my support. "I agree with Kelly. The puzzle here is definitely not as simple as Bao'er thinks. Each clock on this planet has its own special meaning."

"I also agree with Kelly's profound opinion. Zhang Bao'er's fallacious reasoning is completely unscientific and unreliable," said Domo, taking the chance to step all over Zhang Bao'er.

"But we still don't know the meaning of the recorded time on these clocks. We also don't know how we should even start solving this puzzle," said Zhang Xingxing gloomily.

Everyone started exchanging opinions, trying to figure out a way to unveil the secret hidden by these clocks.

"There are 1,440 minutes per day. Bao'er, let's try seeing this using Kelly's theory. What would you like to do during the span of one day?" I asked Zhang Bao'er.

"What else can I do? After sleeping in, I'll wake up for breakfast. Then, I'll play some games until lunch. After that, I'll take a nap. Later in the afternoon, I'll wake up to have some snacks and then take a walk outside. In the evening, I'll have a big meal and go to the bar. Finally, I'll go back home and sleep. A simple day of an ordinary person," said Zhang Bao'er joyfully.

"More like the life of a pig. Are you going to spend your days like that? I want a regular day for you," I said.

"That is basically what I usually do in the span of a day. Not to mention a month, I'll do the same for the entire year," argued Zhang Bao'er, who seemed to be addicted to arguing.

"Fine, fine, you're amazing. You can live a life of eating and sleeping for 365 days a year," I said.

"Sigh. You don't understand. If someone can live like that for a lifetime, it would be quite a comfortable life," said Zhang Bao'er, insisting on his fallacious reasoning.

I ignored Zhang Bao'er and started muttering to myself, "A lifetime like that will cripple someone. The appearance of every single complex life form is incredibly rare in the grand scheme of things. Wasting a precious life away like that is not something I can accept. A lifetime. A lifetime…" 

"What is it, Canyue? Why are you mumbling to yourself? Are you feeling jealous because of my beautiful life?" asked Zhang Bao'er, seemingly asking for more nagging after seeing that I was ignoring him.

"A lifetime of living a beautiful life. Hahaha, Zhang Bao'er, that would be a waste of a life. If you really live an entire lifetime like that, won't you—" I froze, suddenly thinking of something.

Seeing that I was suddenly blanking out, Zhang Bao'er was alarmed. He shook my shoulders and shouted, "Canyue, how are you? What happened?"