The Beginning of Occupation
After deterrence failed, the Trisolaran civilization moved with stunning speed to establish control over humanity. Droplets — the strong-interaction probes that had destroyed two thousand human warships in the Doomsday Battle — were deployed at key positions within the solar system, forming an invisible blockade network. Any human vessel attempting to leave Earth orbit would be intercepted and destroyed by Droplets. Humanity was trapped on its own planet, like a besieged city.
Though the Trisolaran fleet was still at considerable distance from the solar system, through remote control via sophons and the Droplets' physical blockade, the Trisolaran civilization had achieved effective control over human society. The Trisolaran civilization chose not to directly destroy humanity — at least not immediately. They needed Earth as a future colony, and humans retained short-term utility.
The Trisolaran civilization's management of humanity was conducted through an unexpected medium — a humanoid sophon avatar. Using its powerful quantum computing capabilities and force field manipulation technology, the sophon projected a highly realistic holographic human figure. This image was configured as an elegant woman wearing a traditional Japanese kimono, with a dignified countenance and composed demeanor. She called herself "Sophon," serving as the Trisolaran civilization's plenipotentiary representative on Earth in this personified form, directly communicating with human leadership and issuing orders.
The Australian Reservation
One of the cruelest decisions made by the Trisolaran civilization was the forced relocation of all humanity to the Australian continent. The logic behind this decision was cold and clear: concentrating humans in a limited geographic area facilitated control and surveillance while clearing the remaining continents for Trisolaran settlers.
Australia's selection had strategic considerations — it was a relatively isolated continent, surrounded by ocean, geographically easy to blockade. But for billions of humans, this continent's carrying capacity was woefully insufficient. Though the global population had decreased for various reasons, it remained an enormous number. Compressing so many people into the area of a single continent inevitably led to catastrophic consequences.
Food supply became the first crisis. Australia's agricultural capacity was fundamentally incapable of feeding billions of people, and the Trisolaran civilization had no obligation to provide adequate food supplies. Water resources were equally severely insufficient — most of Australia has an arid or semi-arid climate, with inland deserts covering vast areas. Basic survival needs including housing, sanitation, and medical care were far from being met.
Even more devastating was the psychological blow. Humanity had degraded from an interstellar civilization possessing a space fleet spread across the solar system to a refugee population clinging to survival on a single continent in a matter of days. The dignity of civilization, technological achievements, hope for the future — all dissolved into nothing under occupation. People struggled to survive in overcrowded temporary camps, with violent conflicts and the collapse of social order everywhere. Human society regressed to a near-primitive state in an extremely short period.
Sophon's Rule
The humanoid sophon avatar managed occupied humanity with elegant cruelty. She regularly convened "human conferences," conveying the Trisolaran civilization's directives to human leadership from a position of superiority. Her attitude was polite but distant, like a ranch owner regarding their livestock — not exactly abusive, but never treating them as equals.
In her management, Sophon demonstrated the Trisolaran civilization's precise understanding of human psychology. She would occasionally display a gentle side, offering humans illusory hope; but when boundaries were crossed, she would unhesitatingly demonstrate firmness, reminding humans of their status as a conquered people. This mixed soft-and-hard management strategy effectively suppressed the possibility of large-scale human resistance.
However, Sophon also revealed a deeper trait of the Trisolaran civilization — a certain curiosity and even appreciation for human culture. She chose a Japanese kimono as her external image and on certain occasions even performed tea ceremonies. This behavior suggested that although the Trisolaran civilization viewed humans as a lesser civilization, they were not entirely indifferent to certain cultural achievements humanity had created.
Hope in Darkness
During this darkest period, several key events preserved a thread of hope for humanity. First, the "Gravity" — a human ship that had already left the solar system before deterrence failed — was still sailing through deep space. The human crew members aboard this ship ultimately made a history-changing decision: activating the gravitational wave broadcast to transmit the coordinates of both the Trisolaran system and the solar system to the universe. While this act also exposed Earth, it re-established Dark Forest deterrence — the Trisolaran civilization would face mutual destruction alongside Earth.
When Gravity's broadcast reached the Trisolaran world, the Trisolaran civilization's behavior underwent a dramatic transformation. They realized their star system's coordinates had been exposed to the universe, and destruction was only a matter of time. Under these circumstances, continuing to occupy Earth was meaningless. The Trisolaran civilization began its retreat, ending its brief but agonizing occupation of humanity.
Though the Australian Reservation period was not lengthy in time, it left an indelible trauma in humanity's collective memory. It proved a cruel fact: under the universe's law of the jungle, a technologically inferior civilization could be stripped of everything in an instant — dignity, freedom, hope, and even the most basic living space. This experience also profoundly influenced humanity's subsequent strategic thinking — no one would ever again naively believe that kindness and peaceful intentions were sufficient to protect a civilization's security.