Five hours later, the song would exit the solar system. In four years, it would reach Proxima Centauri; in ten thousand, it would exit the galaxy; in two hundred thousand, it would reach the galaxy’s nearest neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud. In six million years, their song would have reached the forty-odd galaxies in the cluster, and in a hundred million years, the fifty-odd clusters in the supercluster. In fifteen billion years, the song would have spread throughout the known universe and would continue onward, should the universe still be expanding.

“Joy commands the hardy mainspring

Of the universe eterne.

Joy, oh joy the wheel is driving

Which the worlds’ great clock doth turn.

Flowers from the buds she coaxes,

Suns from out the hyaline,

Spheres she rotates through expanses,

Which the seer can’t divine.”

The song concluded, everyone fell silent on the concert lawn. World leaders were lost in thought.

“Maybe things aren’t so hopeless just yet, and we ought to renew our efforts,” the Chinese president said.

The US president nodded. “Yes. The world needs the UN.”

“Concessions and sacrifices are insignificant compared to the future disasters they prevent,” the Russian president said.

“What we’re dealing with amounts to a grain of sand in the cosmos. It ought to be easy,” the UK prime minister said, looking up at the stars.

The other leaders voiced their assent.

“So then, do we all agree to extend the present session of the UN?” the secretary general asked hopefully.

“This will of course require contacting our respective governments, but I believe that won’t be a problem,” the US president said with a smile.

“Then, my friends, today is a day to remember,” the secretary general said, unable to hide his delight. “So let’s join once more in song.”

“Ode to Joy” started up again.

Speeding away from the sun at the speed of light, the mirror knew it would never return. In more than a billion years as a musician it had never held a repeat performance, just as a human shepherd will never toss the same stone twice. As it flew, it listened to the echoes of “Ode to Joy,” and a barely perceptible ripple appeared on its smooth mirror surface.

“Oh, that’s a good song.”

1 The French musician’s 1992 performance in China was the first by a major foreign pianist, and he has remained the most recognized classical musician in the decades since.

2 Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is known as the Fate Symphony in Chinese.

3 “Ode to Joy” by Friedrich Schiller.

FULL-SPECTRUM BARRAGE JAMMING

TRANSLATED BY CARMEN YILING YAN

Dedicated with deep respect to the people of Russia, whose literature has influenced me all my life.

Liu Cixin (2000)