Under the leadership of Alili, everyone briefly visited several other rooms filled with weapons on the second floor before continuing to climb up the stairs.
But what disappoints Weiran is that no matter the third floor, fourth floor or fifth floor, their layout is similar to that of the second floor. Except that the number of various weapons and ammunition is far more than expected. The only difference It's just that there are some more computing units and consoles on the fifth floor that have had their core components removed.
It was also on one of the operating tables that Weiran discovered a newspaper from August 1990, which undoubtedly proved his previous guess that this place might really have been abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union. .
Putting the newspaper back in place, Alili took them to the roof of the building to look at the big pot antennas that were covered tightly with snow.
These big guys are extremely rusty. Even though the cold wind here is not strong due to the obstruction of the mountains in the distance, those big pot antennas still make horrible crunching noises from time to time. < /p>
“Take this, we’ll need it later.”
As Alili spoke, he took out several pairs of iron pins for mountaineering from his bag and handed them to them respectively. Wei Ran, Suisui and Ji Ma were taking selfies with their mobile phones.
The group returned to the fifth floor of the building on the left. After each of them tied the iron feet to their shoes, Alili was the first to walk over on the rusty suspended plank road.
"Let's go up and have a look too." Wei Ran waited for Suisui who was following him to nod, and then he took steps to follow Alili.
Stepping on the creaking rusty steps all the way up, when they stepped on the steps carved out of the mountain, they became more and more careful. The suspended plank road just now was only ten meters long at most. There are handrails on both sides, but the handrails on both sides of the mountain steps are only two finger-thick, rusty steel wire ropes. Even because several supporting pillars in the middle have broken, these two steel wire ropes not to mention protect the steps. Human beings, even themselves, are probably just struggling to support themselves.
Empty the bullets in the rifle's chamber, and Wei Ran returns it to Suisui to use as a hiking stick. Ji Ma, who is following Wei Ran, sees this and immediately empties the rifle's chamber in his hand. He gave up to Suisui who was walking in front of the two of them.
Under the leadership of Alili, the group climbed carefully on the snow-covered steps for nearly half an hour, and finally stood at the foot of the hemispherical building on the top of the mountain.
It is not obvious from the bottom of the mountain, but it can be clearly seen from the top of the mountain. This hemispheric building with several floors is surrounded by a circle of barbed wire, and there is even a barbed wire hanging on it. It's like a metal sign that says no one is allowed in.
But now that the Soviet Union is gone, this brand cannot stop anyone. Even the padlock on the gate of this barbed wire fence is there.It was replaced by Alili a long time ago.
After he used the key to open the iron door of the hemispheric building and the two similarly locked glass doors behind the iron door, the three people following him were immediately attracted by the huge optical astronomy station in the center of the interior space. The telescope attracted all the attention and the beam of light from the flashlight.
This huge telescope is at least four meters in diameter. The huge lens is facing a long glass skylight on the hemispherical dome. However, due to the snow outside, this skylight is only Just a little bit of light can shine through.
On one side of this large telescope, there is a row of cabinets covered with plastic sheets against the wall, as well as a tightly covered console.
Wei Ran pointed the beam of the flashlight back at the optical telescope above his head, "This thing is not cheap. Just the lens on it is worth a lot of money if it can still be used."
"How about we dismantle it and take it away?" Ji Ma said impatiently.
"Take it away?" Wei Ran laughed dumbly, "That lens probably weighs at least more than ten tons. If it were so easy to take away, I'm afraid it would have been taken away in the 1970s."
p>"Break it into pieces and take it away?" Ji Ma asked still unwilling to give up.
"Put away your gangster logic, it will be worthless if it is broken into pieces."
Wei Ran said but suddenly stopped here, all his attention was drawn not far away The logo on the console attracted me.
"What's wrong?" Suisui, who had been standing next to Wei Ran, asked.
“Don’t tell me, there are really valuable treasures here.”
While speaking, Wei Ran lifted the thick plastic sheet covering the console, “There is actually something here. There is such an old guy."
"Is this valuable?" Ji Ma came up and asked, "Isn't there the same one in the building on the right?"
"That's okay? Are they the same?"
Wei Ran walked to the wall and pulled off the plastic sheets on the iron cabinets. He was completely relieved when he saw that the various circuits and indicator lights on them were all very complete.
"Can you explain it quickly?" Suisui caught up and asked.
"These cabinets"
While speaking, Wei Ran pointed to the cabinets placed against the wall, and then pointed to the console behind him, "And that control "They are computers."
"Isn't this kind of thing obsolete?" Suisui asked suspiciously, "Maybe its computing speed is not as fast as today's cheapest laptop."
"You can't say that"
Wei Ran walked back to the front of the console, bent down and wiped the metal plate with the words "Сетунь" on the console with his sleeve and said, " Different from the mainframe computers and even various home computers that have become mainstream today, this is a ternary computer that was briefly brilliant for less than ten years in the 1960s."
"What's the matter? Difference?" Jima asked confused.road.
"How do I know the difference if I am not a computer major?"
Wei Ran stood up and changed the topic and said, "But according to the records of modern Soviet history that I have learned , this ternary computer is very stable, even maintenance is simpler than other computers of the same period, and even the production cost was the lowest at the time.
But unfortunately, the Soviet Union had a total of 10 computers at the time. Only about 50 units were produced. And soon, it was replaced by the more expensive binary computer."
"Since it has so many advantages, why not continue to develop it?"
Suisui said puzzledly, even though her father was a history professor, this girl was not at all interested in what happened before she was born.
“The mainstream theory is that because of Soviet bureaucracy, although this ternary computer was cheaper to build, it was born at the wrong time, just in time for the years when Brezhnev was in power. At that time, the Soviet Union was full of corruption from top to bottom. This high-tech product that did not allow people to make more money would naturally not receive financial support. If Moscow State University, which studied it, could persist for a few more years to survive Bollie. Zhnev, maybe it really has a chance to be developed.
But on the other hand, I remember Professor Alexei once mentioned that this ternary computer is more consistent with the actual use of computers. Logic, but the power consumption is higher than that of the binary system of the same period. Especially in the era of electronic tubes, the difference in power consumption is amplified by the electronic tubes that consume a lot of power, making it easy to fill up the cost of use. The advantage brought by the manufacturing cost has been eliminated.”
At this point, Weiyan spread its hands, “It doesn’t matter whether it was born at the wrong time or it was not chosen by the times. In short, this is a three-step process. The greatest value of the computer today is its limited existence and the collection value given to it by time."
"But who would be willing to buy such a thing?" Jima asked disappointedly.
"How about asking my dad?" Suisui expressed her thoughts.
Wei Ran shook his head when he heard this, and looked up again at the huge optical telescope not far away, "Rather than selling it to someone, I think it's better to find out why there is something here first. A forgotten observatory is more important."
"Victor, come and take a look at this," Alili, who had been silent just now, pointed to a metal cabinet that he had pried open.
When the three heard the words, they immediately gathered around and discovered that there were square black plastic boxes neatly placed in the iron cabinet.
On the side of each box facing everyone, the time accurate to the second is written in neat pen handwriting. There is even an old movie projector in a wooden box at the bottom of the cabinet.
He randomly pulled out a heavy plastic box. There was a label the size of a cigarette box on the front lid. In addition to the printed "CCCP" and "Soviet Academy of Sciences",In addition, the words "Venus Project-359" are also handwritten.
"Venus Project? 359?"
Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then a look of surprise appeared on his face, and he subconsciously looked back at the huge telescope again.
As if to verify his guess, Wei Ran carefully opened the plastic box in his hand. After seeing the full roll of film inside, he was completely sure of his judgment.
"Can you see anything?" Alili asked, standing aside.
Weiyan refastened the plastic box in his hand and put it back in place before exclaiming, "This may be an observatory set up by the Soviet Union when it was exploring Venus in the 1960s. , As for these movie films, they should be about the various types of detectors launched at that time." As he spoke, Weiran looked at the labels on the sides of the film protective boxes and found the latest ones. One pulled it out, pointed to the writing on the front cover and said, "This is the last roll of film. The record on it is Venus 8 in 1972."
"Would it be possible to capture something in it? Aliens?" Jima asked expectantly
Hearing this, Wei Ran pointed to the old-fashioned projector at the bottom of the cabinet, "Why don't we try to see if that projector can still be used? You’ll know what’s being filmed inside.”
“That’s a good idea!” Before Jima finished speaking, he had already lifted out the wooden box containing the projector and placed it on the table not far away. superior.