Orion 2: Repeating Cycle

In August 2029, Africa

Daphne never expected that she and Michael would run into Mandy Petkova and the renowned journalist Martha in Nairobi, Kenya. Mandy's foundation had a native tribe protection program located in Kenya.

The four of them shared a common destination: the Rift Valley Province in northwestern Kenya. They agreed to meet first at a lake-side research station funded by Acebe Company, and then together visit an ancient native tribe included in Mandy's foundation's protection program.

East of Lake Victoria, volcanoes stretched in a continuous line. The eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, extending from south to north, was interspersed with freshwater lakes of various sizes, continuing all the way to Ethiopia and Egypt.

The research base set up by the lake primarily focused on geological studies, with an emphasis on the faults of the Great Rift Valley, the soil, and sediment layers sampled from the bottom of multiple lakes.

Dr. James, who proposed the "capsule" survival pod plan for Mars' Valles Marineris, was very interested in the sediment layers at the bottom of the East African Rift Valley lakes. He hoped to find commonalities between the grand canyons of two planets in the solar system alongside the research team.

After meeting and introducing themselves, Michael impatiently asked James:

"Did the analysis report on the sediment composition match your predictions?"

"Samples have been collected from the lakebeds of five different freshwater lakes. They formed around the same time and their composition is consistent. Unfortunately, it's completely different from the Martian soil composition we have on record," Dr. James replied.

Michael, being understanding, comforted him, "It's okay, let's study the faults formed in different geological eras then, focusing on the water content in each layer."

Martha asked curiously, "I thought your research station was for studying flamingos or the wildebeest migration. Studying lakebed sediment layers isn't romantic at all."

Daphne Braun had accepted Michael's invitation to Africa. She had initially thought Dr. James's research would focus on survival issues in the Great Rift Valley, but instead, it was about the similarities between Martian soil and the sediment layers of the Great Rift Valley.

She hesitated for a moment, then softly said to Michael, "If you're looking for geological structures similar to Mars, perhaps my hypothesis could help you."

Michael immediately thought of Lingshen Star, which Lingguang would approach on the 22nd of this month. According to Daphne's Mars Burst Hypothesis, Lingshen Star was formed when Mars' internal molten metal erupted into space. He blurted out:

"Are you referring to Lingshen Star?"

"Oh, you're overthinking it. Lingshen Star is part of Mars' core. Weren't you trying to study soil compositions similar to the Valles Marineris sediment layers? If not in the East African Rift Valley, I suspect it might be somewhere else on Earth," Daphne replied with a hint of mystery. After that, she briefly explained her conjecture to Michael and promised to show him the detailed analysis report when they returned to Liang Nation.

The primitive tribe funded by the Mandy Foundation was deep in the dense forest, about 1 kilometer from the road. The group followed a gravel path to the ancient indigenous African tribe.

The chief was very welcoming and led them to a thatched hut set up in an open space. A table made of huge logs displayed various tools, resembling a modern assembly line. There were fine hemp fibers, dried and washed, various colored dyes extracted from plants, and a wooden rope-making machine.

The rope-making machine was ingeniously designed, using wooden levers and gears to twist the dyed hemp fibers into uniform and dense ropes.

The chief tied a black and red rope around Michael's wrist, while the chief's wife tied white ropes around the wrists of the ladies. "Knot tying" was a form of welcome etiquette for this tribe.

The chief dipped his finger in black dye and applied it to Michael's forehead, and applied white dye to the foreheads of the ladies. Mandy explained that this was the highest form of etiquette for welcoming distinguished guests from afar, and assured them not to worry about the dyes, as they were extracted from natural minerals found at the bottom of the lake.

Daphne Braun felt the white lake mud applied to her forehead was as moist and silky as face cream. The weather was very hot, and there seemed to be a slight breeze. The lake mud on her forehead quickly dried.

For some reason, Daphne felt her heart rate quicken. In a daze, she saw faint sparkling lights before her eyes. She blinked hard and found nothing unusual.

Michael was drawn to a stone slab embedded in a pillar, on which various colored ropes were evenly hung. Each rope had knots of different sizes and quantities. He asked Mandy sensitively:

"Is this the legendary knot-tying for record-keeping?"

Mandy nodded approvingly and said, "Yes, many African tribes retain the custom of knot-tying for counting, recording events, and keeping time."

The African tribe used knots on ropes to record the passage of time. The sight of the ropes involuntarily made Michael think of Professor Braun's Superluminal Wave Theory and "Nikola Tesla's ropes."

The chief's youngest daughter shyly approached Daphne, holding a colorful rope knot. The knot formed a pattern: an oval shape resembling a duck egg, with two horizontal segments and one downward segment below it.

Martha knew the meaning of this pattern. She asked Daphne, "Daphne, this pattern is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. What do you think it represents?"

Daphne looked at the pictographic pattern and thought of a woman's uterus and the symbol representing a female. She said:

"I guess it means life. This must be the symbol of life, right?"

Everyone was amazed by Daphne's insight and then marveled at the wisdom of ancient peoples. Recording time and representing life with rope knots!

The little girl gave the colored knot to Daphne. Daphne picked up the little girl and put her own pendant around her neck.

Daphne and Michael's next stop in Africa was the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Daphne's data analysis and conjectures about the three Great Pyramids of Giza piqued Michael's curiosity. The two of them visited the site to admire this human marvel up close.

Daphne noticed that the inclination angles of the three Great Pyramids were not the 60 degrees of an equilateral triangle, but were all between 51 and 53 degrees. This was precisely the sum of the axial tilts of Venus, Earth, and Mars.

These three pyramids were the tombs of three generations of pharaohs: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. She believed that the proportions of their volumes corresponded to Earth, Venus, and Mars, respectively.

Daphne pointed to the Pyramid of Menkaure and the three smaller pyramids aligned to its south and said:

"The Pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three Great Pyramids and corresponds to Mars. These three smaller pyramids to its south are lined up. Look at this structure of one large and three small ones, does it remind you of anything?"

Michael was startled and blurted out:

"Their arrangement is very similar to Olympus Mons on Mars and the three smaller volcanoes to its southeast. Are you saying the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids here in imitation of the Martian volcanoes?"

Daphne chuckled and said:

"Your imagination isn't broad enough. This geometric shape of one large and three small ones comes from Orion in the sky. My hypothesis is that ancient Martians built artificial volcanic clusters in the shape of Orion, and the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids referencing Orion."

"Orion?" Michael murmured to himself.

He noticed the three stars in a line in Orion, the three craters on Mars, and the three small pyramids south of the Pyramid of Menkaure. This was clearly "111."

Michael suddenly remembered something else, as if a previously puzzling question was suddenly answered. To confirm his conclusion, he asked Daphne:

"A stone slab was unearthed from the Great Pyramid with the number '142857' inscribed on it. What meaning do you think it holds?"

Daphne had heard of this before. There were various calculations and speculations about "142857" online. Multiplying it by 1-6 only changed the order of the digits "142857" without producing any other numbers, while 142857 multiplied by 7 equals 999999, often used by short video creators to grab attention.

Daphne believed that the meaning corresponding to the number "142857" was 1/7. It might have been a calculation benchmark left by the master craftsmen who built the pyramids for their apprentices, as 1/7 is the most difficult fraction to remember among those with denominators below 10.

Of course, there was another possibility: "142857" was a hint. According to strict mathematical definition, "142857" is the repeating cycle of the decimal representation of the fraction 1/7.

Michael believed his girlfriend was not only smart and quick-witted but also principled and rigorous. He posed the leading question that pointed to the answer in his mind:

"If the repeating cycle of '7' in decimal is '142857', then in what base is '111', represented by three small pyramids side-by-side, the repeating cycle of '7'?"

Daphne immediately understood. She shouted excitedly:

"It's binary! '111' is the repeating cycle of the number '7' in binary. The pyramids lined up as three ones are hinting that, besides decimal, we should also use binary!"

Could it be? Were the arrangements of craters and pyramids on Mars a hint and reminder from past humans to us today?

Daphne Braun was certain she was right because "142857" and "111" were very clear hints and reminders.

&

Poem for delaying the chapter:

Ancient towers shrouded in clouds, remnants of the past, Ming, Liu Sò With the constellations hidden in his chest, it is astronomy. Ming, Sang Yuè Old friends look to each other across three matters, Tang, Wang Wei Today it is difficult to speak of seven parts. Yuan, Qiu Kuí