The Secret of the DeFi Passage Star Map Draftsman II: Fate of the Galaxy

Someone had attacked the laboratory, and that was not the outcome the Defenders’ Alliance had wanted to see. Chairman Layte paced in circles in the empty hall, beside himself with worry. Minister Zhou Qing had advised him long ago to tighten security on Planet Gorov, but even as more and more factions gathered above the planet, Chairman Layte had kept gambling that no one would take the risk of attacking the laboratory. Minister Zhou Qing had argued with him about it many times. Only when the attack actually happened did Chairman Layte quietly send for Minister Zhou Qing—and Minister Zhou Qing had not shown up on time. So here he was, Chairman Layte, checking his communication device over and over for messages while peering out the door. In truth, the destination itself no longer mattered. What he needed was for the laboratory to find the exact location of the DeFi Passage. Layte had seen Sakya’s research results, and they amounted to an inference at best, not complete information. Chairman Layte did not believe they could guarantee that they would make it in time for the Great Migration. On top of that, thanks to Hamilton’s misjudgment, the laboratory’s research had already drifted off course. Thinking about all this, Layte stamped his feet anxiously and kept pacing back and forth.

“What are you playing at? You only get here now?” The moment he saw Minister Zhou Qing stroll into the hall without the slightest hurry, Chairman Layte strode toward him, his complaints echoing through the magnificent domed hall.

“Oh, come on, why are you angry with me? Look at you. Did I cause all this?” Minister Zhou Qing waved his hand and impatiently slowed his steps.

“Minister Zhou, I suggest you watch your tone.” Layte glared at him viciously.

“Oh, getting worked up, are we? Fine, I’ll watch my tone right now,” Minister Zhou Qing said through gritted molars. He closed in on Chairman Layte and went on, “How many times did I tell you to stop keeping secrets? At the very least, don’t keep them from the Star Map Draftsman and his people. They’re the ones actively looking for a solution. They’re not your enemies.”

“What did you say?” Chairman Layte roared back, glaring.

“You remember this: today’s mess is entirely the work of that narrow mind of yours, no wider than the eye of a needle. And another thing—Hamilton has spent the second half of his life building you a super Star Bridge and finding coordinates for you, and what do you do? Let me tell you,” Minister Zhou Qing shouted until the veins on his neck swelled like fire hoses suddenly filling with water. He jabbed a finger at Chairman Layte’s nose and continued: “Now, if you don’t tell them about this, you can forget about ever leaving this universe bubble.”

“If I can’t leave, nobody leaves. Besides, your daughter…”

“You…” Minister Zhou Qing bellowed. His right hand was balled into a fist aimed at Chairman Layte’s face, clenched so hard that his whole body shook, and flecks of spit flew from his mouth. “I’m telling you, if you mention my daughter again, it will be the last thing you ever say.”

Chairman Layte was frightened by what Minister Zhou Qing said. After all, he was only a half-old man who had never taken White Crystals. Minister Zhou Qing’s daughter, on the other hand, had been led astray: knowing full well that the DeFi Passage could not admit lifeforms that had taken White Crystals, she had chosen to take them anyway. By the time Minister Zhou Qing found out, it was too late. He sent people to take care of everyone at that gathering, and in front of his daughter he personally raked the room with gunfire, again and again, until the shattered flesh had fused with everything else and no one could tell anymore which parts belonged to people and which belonged to hatred. Only then did he stop. As for his daughter’s partner, the one who had talked her into swallowing the White Crystals, Minister Zhou Qing did not deal with him right away. He had the partner’s entire family taken to a cave on a barren planet, and then, in front of his daughter and her partner, he blasted that cave flat. At first, neither Minister Zhou Qing nor his daughter could forgive the other. She could not forgive him, and he could not forgive himself. But now, all he hoped was that the Great Migration would come a little later. Every day he spent with his daughter was one day fewer, and he had even thought that he might as well stay behind with her in this universe bubble that was about to be annihilated. But some people were innocent. At the very least, something should be done for them. They should not all be buried the way it had happened on that planet—even if he never saw their faces again, his heart would be full of nothing but remorse.

“All right, Minister Zhou,” Chairman Layte said, his tone turning mild, as though he meant to have a fair exchange with a colleague. “Let’s stop saying things out of spite. I want to know whether the laboratory’s work is still going normally. We’re out of time.”

“Are you ready to talk properly now?” Minister Zhou Qing asked, staring at Chairman Layte coldly.

“Fine, I understand.” Chairman Layte nodded, stepped closer to Minister Zhou Qing and bowed slightly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought up your daughter.”

Minister Zhou Qing did not react right away. Only when Chairman Layte looked at him again did the anger on his face slowly fade.

“Sakya is wavering. So is Hamilton.”

“Ah…” Layte shook his head. “Minister Zhou, I admit this was my misjudgment. Would you be willing to make a trip to Planet Gorov for me? Tell them the truth.”

“What do you think?”

“Oh, come on, Minister Zhou, I’ve already apologized to you, and I’ve recognized my mistake. Don’t keep holding on to it.” Layte stepped even closer. After thinking for a moment, he patted Minister Zhou Qing on the shoulder after all and went on: “We’re the lucky ones. Thanks to our families, who still remembered the Great Migration and passed these secrets down to us—secrets that should have been forgotten as the generations turned over—we have a chance to save more people. But before, it really was my mistake. I should have told everyone the secret sooner. Now all I can do is ask you to go and tell the people at the laboratory.”

“Why don’t you go?”

“It wouldn’t be right for me to tell them. After all, I built the Defenders’ Alliance on the argument that the Magellanic galaxies are going to collide with the Milky Way. If I now say it’s because of the Great Migration, what will people think of me?”

“You’re just afraid of ruining your image, so you want me to take the heat for you.”

“Yes, yes, Minister Zhou, I admit all of that. That’s why I’ve come to beg you to step forward for me and make this clear to them.”

“You call this begging me?”

“All right, Minister Zhou. Please, I’m begging you.” Chairman Layte bowed deeply.

“That’s more like it. Let me tell you, if it weren’t for the friendship between our ancestors, you think I’d even give you the time of day?”

“Oh, yes, yes, my fault, Minister Zhou.”

“Got it. I’m off.” With that, Minister Zhou Qing walked out of the hall and set out for Planet Gorov.

Most of the people in the laboratory had been injured. Carlson had sent medical teams to treat them, but there was simply too much for them to handle. When the pain in people’s bodies was finally squeezed out through their mouths, it turned into heart-stopping wails. As for those who had already lost their lives, Carlson had the army deal with them; the soldiers burned the bodies with energy right there on the spot and then vacuumed up the piles of ash. Hamilton was still looking at the destroyed laboratory with an aching heart, and no one noticed the disappointed smile on his face. Before setting off, Dawn wanted to talk with Sakya about whether the destination was accurate. If the place on his model where the dark matter was slipping out was the DeFi Passage, then Dawn was going somewhere very, very far away—farther, even, than the distances carbon-based beings like them could imagine. If the location was not very accurate, Dawn was afraid that when he came back, it would be just like when he had left Earth: he had nearly missed his son’s whole life. Some things, once missed, were missed for good; there was no getting them back. So Dawn was still a little worried. He didn’t even know how much confidence he had in the plan he had proposed. All he could do was hold Sandra’s hand tightly while he waited for the staff Hamilton had assigned to accompany him to load the antimatter. This time the antimatter container was even bigger. In the words of one staff member, there was enough to take Dawn on a lap around the whole universe bubble.

“Mr. Sakya…” Dawn said as he walked into Sakya’s laboratory.

“You came at just the right time. Although I agree with your plan, I’m not confident about the location of the DeFi Passage. I don’t know whether the position we’ve detected now is off. After all, on a scale as large as the universe, even a tiny deviation turns into a distance beyond anything we can imagine.” Sakya pointed at the chart he had revised as he spoke.

“Yes, I understand, sir. I’m quite worried this time. The distance is too great. Is there any way you can make sure this location is reasonably accurate?” Dawn asked, pointing at the opening on the chart where the dark matter leak had been marked.

Sakya shook his head, then sat down with a sigh.

“You know the universe is expanding, expanding faster than light. When you set out, the entrance to the DeFi Passage will be at this point, but by the time you get there, I can’t guarantee it, and I can’t predict it accurately either. The super Star Bridge doesn’t travel the way light does—I’m sure you know how it works—but even if you take a shortcut with the super Star Bridge and get there in a short time, the expansion during that interval will shift the position of the entrance. By my rough calculation so far, by the time you arrive, it may have drifted by 390 Osei. You should keep that in mind. If, when you get there, the entrance to the DeFi Passage is gone…”

“Sir, I know,” Dawn interrupted. “I’ll take the point where my ship arrives as the center and search everything within a 390-Osei radius to find out where the entrance to the DeFi Passage is.”

“That’s all we can do.”

“No need for that. I have a better way.” Just as Dawn was about to ask Sakya whether he had reached any other conclusions, Minister Zhou Qing walked into the laboratory talking. He sat down in the chair closest to Dawn and, without a word to anyone, switched on a device he was holding. An information diagram was projected into the air.

The people in the laboratory crowded around the diagram, and people even started gathering outside the laboratory. Minister Zhou Qing looked around once and simply shared the information to every screen in the laboratory. Dawn stared absently at the three-segmented marking. Sandra wanted to try guessing what it was, but the way she pulled her hand back showed she wasn’t sure. Minister Zhou Qing swept his eyes over everyone, and once he was certain all their attention was on him, he adjusted the diagram. At either end of what had been just a three-segmented cylinder, two irregular spaces appeared. One looked a lot like Sakya’s diagram of their universe bubble; the other was much the same shape, but much smaller.

“All right, this is the DeFi Passage that connects our universe with the new universe. This is where the dark matter is being drawn out into the new universe bubble. The Shepherds have stated their goal: to use the dark matter of our universe bubble to nourish the new universe, where it will gradually mix with the antimatter there and give rise to nebulae, and then galaxies. For lifeforms to migrate to the other universe, they need to ride in ships made of the same material as the Star Map Draftsman’s ship, pass through the DeFi Passage, and settle in designated galaxies. Then, building on the knowledge those civilizations already have, they develop all over again. All of you know this already.”

“Then what are these sections?” someone in the crowd called out impatiently.

“That’s what I’m here to tell you all about today. But before that, I must first tell Mr. Sakya, and Mr. Hamilton too, that we have to spend our time finding the correct location of the DeFi Passage. That is our main goal. Right now, Mr. Sakya’s research is correct, but that location—the location you marked—if it’s off, then by the time I migrate over there, the DeFi Passage may already be gone,” Minister Zhou Qing said, looking at Sakya and Hamilton.

“I’ve already explained this location to the Star Map Draftsman…” Sakya said helplessly.

“I know it’s difficult, but right now we can only rely on you, sir. Thank you for your hard work.” Minister Zhou Qing bowed slightly to Sakya and went on: “Look at this passage. How should I put it? Well, it’s like this. The DeFi Passage isn’t a one-time thing. It doesn’t open once, let everyone through into the new universe, and then close. In fact, the DeFi Passage has three stages. The first stage is draining the old universe bubble of its dark matter—I believe you already know about this stage. The second stage is a temporary home for the civilizations taking part in the migration. They need to hide inside the DeFi Passage, all of them, before the dark matter is drained dry. And then,”

“What do you mean? What do you mean, hide inside?” someone in the crowd shouted.

“All right. After the dark matter of our current universe bubble has been drawn into the new universe bubble, it will take a very long time for galaxies to grow there. So until there’s somewhere to set foot in the new universe bubble, we have to wait inside the DeFi Passage. You might ask, why not wait in the current universe bubble? Good question. Because once this universe bubble has no dark matter, its energy will be zero, its life will be zero, its light will be zero. In short, it will be dead silent here. I don’t think anyone wants to wait in an environment like that.”

“So how long do we have to wait?” someone asked again.

“I don’t know,” Minister Zhou Qing said flatly.

“Minister Zhou, you just gave us all this information. You said the second stage of the migration is waiting inside the DeFi Passage, right? But you don’t know how long we have to wait? Then is anything you said before even true?” It was the same person who had asked before, pressing him.

Minister Zhou Qing did not answer right away. He squeezed the edge of the table, sighed, stood up with a smile, and said, “You’re free not to believe it!”

“Minister Zhou, the way you put that…”

“Enough.” Minister Zhou Qing roared sharply, then immediately returned to his original tone and went on: “The goal now is very simple. Stop looking for information about the destination. Focus on calculating the exact location of the DeFi Passage. As things stand, the DeFi Passage still seems to be in the first stage. If we wait until they’ve drained the dark matter, then it really will be too late. For now, we need everyone to notify every civilization capable of building ships to build bigger ships according to the information the Star Map Draftsman provided. They need to think about self-sufficiency. Then get ready and depart in groups through the super Star Bridges.”

When he had finished, Minister Zhou Qing looked around and found that no one had moved.

“Get to work! What are you waiting for, death?” Minister Zhou Qing roared in a voice and tone that bordered on cursing, and people in the laboratory began moving one after another.

Right after that, Minister Zhou Qing gathered the core staff and explained the whole background to them. To make Sakya believe that the DeFi Passage had three stages, he told them the entire story of his own family and Chairman Layte’s family from beginning to end. “Taken as a whole, there are no holes in the logic.” That was how Hamilton summed it up. But he resented that Chairman Layte hadn’t told him these secrets first. Being kept in the dark while he built the very things they wanted—however he looked at it, he couldn’t swallow it. So Hamilton left halfway through, and even though Minister Zhou Qing kept apologizing behind him and kept telling everyone to think of the bigger picture, it was no use. Dawn was unhappy with what they had done too, and he complained to Minister Zhou Qing directly: if they had explained the secret to everyone earlier, they could have saved a great deal of time. What’s more, the laboratory would not have been wrecked by people coming to steal the destination coordinates, and all of the laboratory’s resources would have been concentrated on calculating the location of the DeFi Passage’s entrance instead of being in the state they were in now. Minister Zhou Qing joked apologetically that it was a good thing he had come, otherwise Dawn would already be on his way to the edge of the universe—so that was to his credit as well, for getting there in time. Obviously, apart from Dawn, nobody was very satisfied with Minister Zhou Qing’s answer, and they all went their separate ways.

Dawn stayed in the laboratory for a short while. He contacted Stacean and told him that the situation now called for focusing more on building ships, and he explained all three stages of the DeFi Passage in detail. Stacean did not doubt a word of what Dawn told him. He kept adding things they might need to prepare. When they came to the subject of food, Dawn told Stacean how, when he was trapped aboard the Dawn ship, he had eaten tree leaves to stave off hunger, which in the end had poisoned all his internal organs—not a pleasant experience. “That must have been hard, Dad.” Stacean took it to heart. He immediately had Katherine send the task down the line: every ship needed to have a self-sufficient system. Fortunately, the Solar System’s technology for this was very mature. After all, in the days since they had lost Earth, the people of the Solar System had been able to grow grain and improved fruit on ships large and small. Fruit no longer required a tree to grow huge before it bore anything; fruit trees now were no different from potted plants on a desk. But they really had lost many varieties of fruit. Stacean brought up White Crystals himself, wanting to confirm whether, as Prince Carlson had said, anyone who took them could not enter the DeFi Passage. He was worried. After all, Stacean had been genetically modified. Dawn saw his worry, and before Stacean could finish asking his question, Dawn cut him off: “I’m here. I’ll take you in. I won’t leave you behind again this time.” Stacean didn’t say anything. He just smiled at Dawn and nodded. After they went offline, Dawn couldn’t let it go for a long time. He decided to confirm the information with Minister Zhou Qing again, but when he went back to the laboratory, he found Sakya and Hamilton arguing. When they saw Dawn, the two of them stopped, and Hamilton stormed out of the laboratory.

“Mr. Sakya, what’s wrong?” Dawn asked, walking over to him.

“Ah, tell me—at a time like this, why are these people still so full of petty schemes? We’ve put our whole hearts into finding the destination’s coordinates, we’ve been at it for so long, and now Minister Zhou Qing comes and tells us our research was headed in the wrong direction. Even something like the fact that the DeFi Passage has three stages, they had to hide it. If this keeps up, then if anything else changes later on, I’ll find it very hard to believe them again. Even if what they say might be true, I’ll find it very hard to trust them.” Having said that, Sakya let out another long sigh.

“Yes. On Earth…” Dawn was about to cite an old story, but when he noticed Sakya looking at him in confusion, he guessed that Sakya had no idea what Earth even was. Dawn changed his tone and went on: “Where I come from, there’s a story that every child hears. It’s about a man who herded sheep. He amused himself by shouting ‘Wolf!’ The first and second times he shouted, all the villagers rushed over to help, but no wolf came, and the villagers realized they had been tricked. The third time, when the wolf really did come, no matter how he shouted, the villagers all thought it was another trick, and no one was willing to come and help. In the end every last one of his sheep was eaten, and all he had left was regret. But…” Dawn simply sat down near Sakya and continued: “Sir, in the story what was lost was the sheep, but this time, what’s going to be lost is us. And right now all these people are playing the ‘wolf’ game. I don’t have the patience to keep waiting, and I don’t have the confidence to wait, either.”

“I agree with you. So what do you have in mind?”

“I want to visit Jonathan’s mother. I hope you’ll come with me, sir. With your benevolence, maybe we can get some useful information out of the Old Lady,” Dawn said, stretching his arms and legs out hard.

“I don’t think that would be appropriate. The Moreth Federation has rules: unless the Old Lady herself allows a visitor to approach, no one else is permitted near her. That star region is full of surveillance, and there are patrolling troops. Even if all you have is the thought of it, they can make you vanish from the universe.” Sakya shook his head.

“I know. When the Old Lady saved me back then, it definitely wasn’t because I had saved Jonathan. My gut tells me now that she saved me because I’m a Star Map Draftsman.”

“Hmm, that may make sense. So what are you planning to do?”

“Can you get in touch with her?” Dawn sat up straight in his chair.

“I’ll try.” With that, Sakya started working the communication device.

“Thank you, Mr. Sakya. I’m going to get some air. Contact me when there’s a response.” Dawn bowed slightly and then headed outside. Ever since he had last heard that Jonathan was doing guard work in Kukra City, Dawn had guessed that Jonathan’s ambition, like a wildfire, had flared up once again. What was his goal this time? Could it be that the Shepherds would let him rule a galaxy in the new universe bubble? That probably wouldn’t satisfy Jonathan’s ambition. There was one other possibility: he already knew the Shepherds’ plan, and the Shepherds had offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse—that he could take part in the Great Migration without a scratch.

In fact, while Dawn was speculating, Hamilton happened to be talking to Jonathan over a link. Jonathan had found out that the DeFi Passage had three stages, but he wasn’t sure whether the information was accurate. Hamilton wanted Jonathan to sound out the Shepherds indirectly, but the Shepherds had been very busy lately and had never shown themselves in public, let alone given Jonathan a chance to be alone with them. Still, Jonathan now understood one thing: the Shepherds’ promise to help him rule the Milky Way must have been false. Ever since the news Dawn had brought back from the Ponlehai Civilization had spread through the Orion Arm, Jonathan had been anxious all day long. He was stuck in a contradictory state between hope and disappointment. On one hand, he hoped the news Dawn had brought back was false and that the Milky Way he wanted to rule was still full of life. On the other, there was the disappointment of reason telling him to accept the facts. The two emotions fought to the death in his head the whole time, and in the end they left Jonathan in a daze. Hamilton told him not to lose heart, but he could never find a reason that would keep Jonathan from losing heart. The two of them sat in silence on the communication channel for quite a while, until someone called for Jonathan and they eased out of it.

“Moreth Steader Jonathan, if you have no other plans right now, I can understand,” Hamilton said.

“How could that be, sir? I, Jonathan, am never without a plan. If this universe bubble really has no one left, and there’s only this handful of people in the Milky Way, then I’ll go and start over in the new universe bubble.” Jonathan forced out a brittle excitement and gave a few tentative laughs.

“Yes, I believe the Moreth Steader’s ideals can certainly be realized. By the way, do you know how their super Star Bridge is used?”

“I do. I’ve been there in person for every one of their tests.”

“Now I’m starting to suspect that only Kukra City’s super Star Bridge can pinpoint the entrance to the DeFi Passage, and that the one on Planet Gorov is probably of no use.”

“There’s no need to say that, sir. With Master Sakya there, he’ll surely find it.”

“I hope so,” Hamilton said. He glanced down at his feet, lined up the tips of his toes, and went on: “Oh, and if you ever need the Star Source, just call me any time. It’s all ready.”

“That would be wonderful, Mr. Hamilton.” This time Jonathan only smiled, but he was full of confidence.

“I hope it helps you achieve your dream.”

“It certainly will, sir. I’ll first…” Jonathan had meant to say something, but now he was unsure.

“Yes. First seize this chance of the Great Migration. Anyway, the new universe bubble will be a whole new world. You have a dream and you have the strength; you’re sure to make something of yourself there.”

“That’s for sure. You’re right, sir.”

The two of them chatted like that for a while. After going offline, Jonathan rested his head on the desk and looked over and over at the lines on the palms of his hands. If he looked only at the line running from the heel of the palm to the web of the thumb, it was very clear. But if he tried to make out all the lines of the whole hand, it was a spiderweb with the look of a hunter about it, and it left Jonathan agitated and confused. He clenched both hands into fists at the same time, as if he wanted to crush all the turmoil in his heart. He thought that if there was no new chance to become a king in this universe bubble, there would certainly be one in the new universe bubble. He took a small device out of his bag and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. Inside that device was all the knowledge about Star Bridges and ship equipment. If he lowered his expectations a little and started by ruling a small star region in the new universe bubble, that would be no problem. With this technology he could rule more small civilizations in a short time, and in that case, he might even be the first to take a new Milky Way. But if the DeFi Passage really had three stages, his dream could only die along with him in the first stage of the DeFi Passage. If he took White Crystals, he couldn’t enter the DeFi Passage; if he didn’t take them, he could only die in the DeFi Passage. Thinking about this, he felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest, so bad he couldn’t even catch his breath. Jonathan sprang up from his chair, threw his head back and breathed with all his strength until his lungs were stretched to the point of pain, and in the end it turned into tears. Even after he had knocked over every chair, the pain did not go away.

“Moreth Steader,” said King Theobald, whom Jonathan had summoned after a long while, once he had calmed down.

“Thank you for always staying by my side,” Jonathan said, doing his best to squeeze a smile onto his face as he looked at King Theobald. Smiling was not his strong suit, but this time the smile was very sincere. “I’m afraid we have no chance left.”

“Moreth Steader, chances are made by people.”

“You know the situation now. Whether it’s the current universe bubble or the new one, we have no chance.”

“Moreth Steader, the time before the DeFi Passage goes from the first stage to the second stage—that’s the chance.”

“What do you mean?” Jonathan put away the smile on his face; he seemed to have guessed what King Theobald was thinking.

“Before it moves to the second stage, there’s bound to be a long stretch of time. We can use that gap to rally all those people out there. We can sweep the Milky Way flat,” King Theobald said, his eyes shining. He clenched his fists, looked out the viewport, and went on: “Moreth Steader, think of it this way. The universe is so big, and there are very few civilizations as advanced as the Ponlehai Civilization. Besides, even if they set out over a hundred years ago and helped lower-level civilizations migrate along the way, how many people actually get a chance to take part in this migration? There must still be a great many civilizations left behind in this universe bubble.”

“They don’t have the ability to migrate either, and they don’t want to die either.” King Theobald walked up to Jonathan and said it looking him in the eye.

“So what if there were no Great Migration? Then the dark matter of this universe bubble wouldn’t be drawn away, and this universe bubble would go on existing,” Jonathan said, gripping King Theobald’s shoulders.

“Yes, Moreth Steader. That is what the Centaly think.” King Theobald nodded firmly.

“But up there…” Jonathan pointed at the grid cells above Kukra City. The Shepherds were busy inside those cells now, and no one knew what they were doing. Jonathan lowered his voice and went on: “The ones up there—what do we tell them?”

“We don’t tell them anything. Suppose,” King Theobald said, pointing out the viewport as he continued, “suppose some of Kukra City’s secrets reached the ears of those people out there, and they wanted to come and share in those secrets, but Kukra City didn’t want to give them up. If some violent conflict broke out at that point—well, we Centaly would want to share the secrets with everyone, so we wouldn’t resist the people from outside, would we?” King Theobald quickly drew a circle in the air.

“Then how would this secret get out?”

“That.” King Theobald pointed at the super Star Bridge. It was no different from any other day: crowds of scientists were still there carrying on with their tests, and those people had no idea whether there would be tickets for them in the Great Migration to come.

Unable to find a usable chair among the ones Jonathan had knocked over, the two of them sat down on the floor. They talked it over for a long time, until at last King Theobald left the room with a confident smile on his face. And so the secret that Kukra City was the only way to the DeFi Passage began to spread from ship to ship.