Kilimanjaro's Snow (Great Rift Valley 1)

65 million years ago, Earth, Victoria Wetlands

On the Earth's Equator, rain comes and goes quickly. After a heavy downpour, a rainbow appears, and the Victoria Wetlands shimmer with golden light, shrouded in a thin mist.

Sitting around a table on an outdoor platform are Nikola Tesla, Abbott, and Maria.

Having heard about the crisis facing Venus, Maria hadn't slept all night. She asked with deep concern:

"You say we're going to migrate Venusians to Mars and Earth, but there are six billion people on Venus. How will we transport them, and where exactly will we take them to live?"

Abbott looked up, his face grave, and replied:

"The difficulties we face are endless, but in the end, transportation capacity and landing sites are indeed the two most critical challenges."

Abbott looked at Tesla, sighed lightly, and added:

"How many people we can transport, and who goes first and who goes last—let the politicians on Venus deal with those issues. Our main task is to find and build landing sites on Earth and Mars."

Nikola Tesla gazed into the distance, at the vast wetlands and swamps, and said:

"I'm not the only intelligent person on Venus. The reason this large area of wetlands beneath our feet was chosen as the place for Venusians to be exiled is that it's also currently the most suitable landing spot on Earth we could find for Venusians."

He withdrew his gaze, pondered for a moment, and continued:

"The main reason is that these wetlands can effectively ward off dinosaur attacks. However, while this place can sustain tens of thousands of people, it cannot support a population of billions of Venusians."

"Nikola, stop beating around the bush. Don't you already have a plan to transform Earth's landscape?" Abbott pressed.

With the help of the high-energy, high-speed connector "Lightning Ball," Nikola Tesla's external brain achieved a leap in compatibility.

While an external brain isn't omnipotent, it surpasses the human brain in collecting information, processing data, and providing optimal solutions. With the external brain's augmentation, Tesla formulated a plan for Earth's transformation.

The "thinking" process of an external brain differs greatly from humans. The feasible solutions it proposes are all based on so-called correct moral standards, such as the Venusians' lack of right to exterminate dinosaur species.

The swampy areas offer scarce food for dinosaurs, their massive bodies easily get stuck, and even pterosaurs, which fly through the air, rarely visit due to a lack of food. Unfortunately, the swamps are also unsuitable for Venusians.

However, the failure of the Superlight Wave Power Station built on Venus's Tower Island gave Nikola Tesla another inspiration: the redundant thermal energy from the Superlight Wave Power Station would be injected deep into the planet's crust, causing magma to surge, the mantle to rise, intensifying tectonic plate movement, and leading to land uplift, transforming plains and wetlands into plateaus and mountains.

Nikola Tesla's external brain proposed an Earth transformation plan that could achieve the best of both worlds. On Venus, due to the scarcity of commercial land, there have been numerous instances of land reclamation from the sea. Venusian land is limited, and most of that limited land is privately owned.

According to Venusian law, approved land reclamation activities are subject to the principle of "whoever builds it, uses it." This regulation is clearly both legally and morally sound.

The specific Earth transformation plan proposed by the external brain involves turning a portion of the ocean into land for Venusian immigrants. Large areas of ocean will still exist in other parts of Earth, so marine life will not be driven to extinction. As for the dinosaurs, their existing "residency rights" on land will not be affected in any way.

Of course, any dinosaurs that trespass into the new Venusian settlement will be driven away or even killed. This would neither lead to the extinction of dinosaurs nor violate Venusian law and ethics.

"Nikola, land reclamation, that's an interesting idea. Which ocean on Earth have you chosen as your target?" Abbott asked, opening a holographic projection map of Earth.

Nikola Tesla pointed to a long blue ribbon symbolizing the ocean, situated between the plates the Venusians called "Eurasia" and "Indo-Australia." Because Venus had an ocean called the Tethys Ocean, the Venusians named this ocean on Earth the New Tethys Ocean.

"My plan is to build two Superlight Wave Power Stations on Earth, with the larger one built on a volcanic island in the New Tethys Ocean," Tesla said, pointing to a small black dot in the New Tethys Ocean. "In a few decades, under the opposing pressure of the two tectonic plates, the crust will rise, the seawater will recede, and the ocean will completely disappear, forming vast landmasses and the tallest mountains and peaks on Earth."

Maria was astonished by this unbelievable plan and asked curiously:

"You said you want to build two Superlight Wave Power Stations. Where will the other one be built?"

Nikola Tesla gave a childlike, mysterious smile and pointed to the tall Space elevator nearby. "It'll be built right here. This Space elevator is over 90,000 kilometers tall. We'll extend it twofold to 180,000 kilometers, using only a small amount of Carbon Fiber Tubes, so this station's power will be much less than the one in the New Tethys Ocean."

Abbott immediately understood Tesla's intention but raised a new question: "You want to turn this wetland into a plateau, which would be more conducive to mass Venusian habitation. But how will you keep the dinosaurs out?"

Nikola Tesla smiled and pointed to the bread Maria had personally baked on a plate on the table. "You haven't baked bread before, have you, Abbott? This bread rises in the center and has a smooth surface, but there are two deep cracks on either side of the center. I'll use these two rift valleys to block the dinosaurs."

Maria immediately understood and chimed in: "You mean, like how I bake bread, by adjusting the temperature, you'll create a plateau while simultaneously causing its sides to burst open, forming two deep Great Rift Valleys?"

"The New Tethys Ocean is vast. The new land formed, regardless of its terrain, can be well utilized by Venusians. Building a high-power station to let it form naturally is sufficient. This wetland is different; the underground rock structure is complex, and it borders dinosaur habitats. We must proceed cautiously, letting the changes happen slowly, like repeatedly adjusting the temperature when baking bread."

Nikola Tesla was a physicist and a brilliant engineer, but he knew that the origin and propagation of life were inseparable from biology. Fortunately, his girlfriend, Maria, was a top biologist on Venus. Abbott clearly realized this issue as well and said:

"Nikola and I are the ones who do the heavy lifting. If we have the capability to alter the terrain using Superluminal Wave Energy, please let our esteemed biologist provide her requirements from a biological perspective."

Thus, Maria proposed ideal topographical requirements for biological reproduction from a professional biology standpoint.

Venusians are omnivores, primarily subsisting on crops, meaning grains. A terrain suitable for agriculture is alluvial plains. Therefore, the first requirement is a long freshwater river. The upper reaches of the freshwater river need sufficient rainfall or snowmelt from glaciers.

In Maria's view, the two Great Rift Valleys to the east and west would not only block dinosaurs but also bring numerous microorganisms from the shallow crust to the surface, making this area a cradle of biodiversity.

Earth's plants, which are currently dominated by gymnosperms, would evolve to be dominated by angiosperms, better adapting to the survival and evolution of various mammals.

Abbott and Tesla envisioned the future topography of these wetlands. The swampy wetlands would transform into a plateau formed by magma accumulation. Due to abundant rainfall at the Equator, numerous barrier lakes would form, the largest of which could be named "Lake Victoria."

The accumulated lake water on the plateau would flow towards the lower-lying northern region, forming a long river whose mouth would be in the residual waters west of the New Tethys Ocean.

This residual body of water, located between the European and African plates as designated by the Venusians, is an inland sea and could be called the "Mediterranean."

The longest river on Earth could be named after the Nile River, which on Venus dried up due to climate warming. The future Lake Victoria, with its abundant water and clear quality, would form the main stream of the Nile River, which could also be called the "White Nile River."

Abbott counted on his fingers and asked Tesla: "Snow-capped mountains. This area is at the Equator. To form permanent snow-capped mountains and glaciers, what altitude do you think the snow line needs to reach?"

"About 5,200 meters. Through the Lightning Ball, the external brain's calculation indicates that intense volcanic activity will ultimately form peaks nearly 6,000 meters high. That will also be the 'roof' of this continent."

"And what do you plan to name this peak, nearly 6,000 meters high?"

Nikola Tesla's mind conjured two words from the ancient Venusian Chaga language: one meaning difficult, impossible, and the other meaning a long-distance traveling party.

After he spoke the two words separately, Maria said:

"You intend to name the snow-capped mountain on Earth's Equator of the future after the current predicament of the Venusians?"

Abbott nodded in deep agreement and praised:

"We Venusians are that difficult long-distance traveling party. In the Chaga language, it's called: Kilimanjaro."

&

Poem of Collected Verses:

Where clogs once trod, no trace remains. Ming, Li Dongyang

Heavy quilts set aside, warming the frozen valley. Qing, Cheng Jiu

Spring and summer cannot melt the snow of ages. Ming, Yang Shen

Past regrets linger to this day. Tang, Du Mu