2030 Good News, Bad News, Inside Story
Although it was worth sympathizing with Thorâs experience before the truth was revealed, Luke wasnât moved.
He had only heard of the name Frigga.
Loki was the murderer who caused the Battle of New York, which led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people on Earth. Few people on Earth wanted him alive.
Besides, Thorâs family had lived for thousands of years. Most of the time, they reigned in harmony and power.
Earthlings lived for only several decades, and saw plenty of death.
For Luke to say that he could understand what Thor was feeling would be like a young beggar feeling sad over the tragic death of a 120-year-old super magnate.
The deaths of Frigga and Loki was bad news for Thor, but had little impact on the people of Earth.
The only good news from Thor was that the Aether in Dr. Janeâs body had been removed by Malekith, and her life was no longer in danger.
But for Earth and the Nine Realms of Asgard, this was 100% bad news, because the Aether had now been claimed by Malekith, who would use it to destroy the universe.
Hearing that, Luke couldnât help but confirm again, âAre you sure he really can destroy the universe and not just Asgard?â
Dr. Jane couldnât help but look at Thor.
Just now, Thor had only said that this âWilsonâ was a friend, but hadnât said what sort of friend he was, so she wasnât sure if she should divulge the inside story.
It wasnât a good thing for people with ulterior motives to know that the world was about to be destroyed.
She stared at Thor for at least two seconds. He was puzzled at first, then vaguely got it. âWilson is from the Bat Squad. We can trust him.â
Everybody: ââŠâ
Darcy gaped and murmured, âNo wonder he said he was very familiar with you.â
Thor glanced at her before he decided to ignore her.
Dr. Jane was only slightly surprised for one moment before she returned to the topic. âAn astronomical event which happens once every 5,000 years is about to occur. The Nine Realms will converge at one point, and Malekith intends to launch the Aether through this Convergence.â
Dr. Selvig continued, âAs the number of realms which converge at this point increases, the power of the Aether will increase, to the extent that it will affect the entire universe.â
Thor looked at Luke. âThe center of this Convergence of the Nine Realms is Earth.â
When Luke heard that Earth couldnât escape, he stopped caring about the impact on the rest of the universe or whatever.
Now, all that was left was how to solve the problem of Malekith.
He asked, âWhen and where will this Convergence appear, and for how long?â
Thor said, âIt should be in the next two days. It wonât last more than ten minutes. However, Iâm not sure exactly where the center will be.â
Luke looked at Selvig and Jane.
Instead of counting on the tank that was Thor, he might as well count on the technical support of these two.
Dr. Selvig said, âIf we can get to a supercomputer, Jane and I can try running some calculations.â
Thor: âThen Iâll contact the AvengersâŠâ
Luke coughed and said, âThereâs no need to go through so much trouble. I have a special laptop in my car. Letâs try that first.â
Everybody was lost for words. Donât lie to us. Are supercomputers the same as laptops?
A moment later, Luke went downstairs and got into his car. He actually took out a test machine from his inventory and went upstairs again.
After he turned it on, he set up new user access and placed it in front of Dr. Selvig. âTry it.â
Dr. Selvig looked at the âlaptopâ suspiciously. âThis⊠doesnât need to be plugged in?â
Luke said, âIt should be able to run on the internal power source for half a month.â
In fact, it was powered by an arc reactor, and wouldnât lose power for years.
Both Selvig and Jane felt that it was nonsense. Computers used energy. The more intense the computing process, the more energy they consumed, and the hotter the computers got.
These were several of the unresolvable major issues with laptops.
Supercomputers were a completely different existence; they ran on similar basic principles, but the actual technology was already 18 generations ahead.
Thus, Dr. Jane couldnât help but ask, âHow?â
Luke gave the order. âT01, activate the virtual keyboard and motion capture operation.â
As he spoke, the laptop projected a 50-centimeter virtual screen with a virtual keyboard that glowed with a light blue light.
Luke looked at her and asked, âThis probably isnât enough for you and Selvig. Activate dual-screen operation mode.â
As soon as he said that, two screens and keyboards appeared side by side.
âFor precision, enlarge the screen to a maximum of 160 degrees.â Luke moved his hands and zoomed in on the screen and keyboard to show how flexible they could be. He said, âIt has its own database and can access most public databases via satellite. Please.â
Stunned, Darcy murmured, âThatâs awesome! Watching an action movie on this would be amazing.â
The others had similar expressions, except for Thor â after all, Asgard had a lot more magical technology than this.
A few minutes later, Dr. Selvig and Dr. Jane got to work.
Their movements were a little jerky at the beginning, but the more they worked, the more fluid their actions became.
This laptop could be used with a keyboard or hand gestures.
It even had a virtual interface like Tonyâs, but it would take a lot of time to learn it. They didnât have the time now.
In fact, this laptop was a âmini supercomputerâ which Luke had created with the Pym Particle.
The results could only be said to be barely satisfactory. He still had to continue studying it.
However, this was the prototype, and he would keep it as a souvenir. In any case, the things in his inventory wouldnât rot or age.
After that, Selvig and Jane got busy.
Darcy and the intern went to rest, and Luke drank beer with Thor and asked about the situation in Asgard.
Previously, Thor had only said a few words, and hadnât touched on the details.
Now that Luke asked, Thor gave a âproperâ account of the devastation which Asgard had experienced.
Luke still found it unbelievable. âThe Dark Elves can get through your security system so easily?â
Thor smiled bitterly. âIn any case, theyâre a very ancient and powerful race. It was my grandfather who defeated them. We have records of the Dark Elves, but that was 5,000 years ago. Who would remember them now?â
Luke thought for a moment and realized that was true.
The lifespan of an Asgardian was about 3,000 years. After 5,000 years, anyone who had fought the Dark Elves before would definitely be gone.
For Earthlings, it was like a legend of a ruthless race from 160 to 170 years ago appearing once more. Who would think of such an enemy right away, and be able to take perfect precautions?
âHow strong are the Kursed warriors?â Luke asked another question he was interested in.
Thor hesitated. âEven for me, itâs not easy to kill one quickly.â
Looking at his expression, Luke knew that Thor was putting up a front again.