65 million years ago, Venus
Nikola Tesla and Abbott returned to Venus. They reviewed their plans for transforming Earth and Mars once more, with Abbott drafting a report to submit to the Venus Alliance Committee.
The Venus Alliance arranged for Tesla to stay temporarily at the Rivenburg Hotel, giving him two connecting rooms: one for living and sleeping, and the other as his workshop.
More than eighty years had passed. Everything on Venus felt utterly unfamiliar to Tesla.
Although the staff serving the guest rooms and restaurant included both men and women, all of them were polite and smiling, and it was still easy to tell that they were intelligent robots.
The century-old hotel had clearly undergone several renovations and upgrades. What surprised Tesla most was that he could no longer find the bar on the top floor—the most famous bar in Rivenburg eighty years ago, according to his memories. The service system told him it had been closed for more than a decade.
Did people on Venus no longer socialize? Intelligent robots had replaced human labor. Shouldn't people have more time to spend in bars and enjoy themselves?
Nikola Tesla connected to the Lightning Ball in his workshop and finally got his answer.
After Venus entered the Information Age, artificial intelligence technology had made tremendous leaps forward. As productivity soared, intelligent machines replaced human labor, bringing a sweeping transformation to the way society worked and lived.
Investors and technical engineers associated with Artificial Intelligence Large Models formed society's elite. Artificial intelligence replaced huge numbers of jobs, creating successive waves of unemployment in manufacturing, services, and even agriculture. Social tensions continued to worsen.
The elite were the elite, after all. The CEO of Venus's largest artificial intelligence company came up with a "genius" solution: companies developing Artificial Intelligence Large Models would pay enormous taxes to the Alliance government while also contributing to a social welfare fund.
From then on, people on Venus no longer needed to work or labor. They could receive generous benefits and subsidies from the government and the fund. In other words, they no longer had to produce anything; they only had to consume.
Artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology kept evolving, offering ever more ways to satisfy people's consumer desires.
More than a decade ago, Venus's largest smart-device manufacturer, Orange, released a pair of smart goggles, bringing the real lives of Venus's people into the virtual world everyone longed for.
Smart nutrition analysts tailored food to each person's unique constitution. It was healthy and safe, but there was one drawback: it had no color, aroma, or flavor, and offered no variety or surprises.
The smart goggles changed all that. People could put them on while eating and, by moving their eyes to trigger brain waves, enjoy every delicacy in the database of human knowledge on Venus.
Virtual reality and precise neural stimulation and feedback could give people on Venus the same visual, olfactory, and gustatory experience as if they were eating the food of their choice.
The same bowl of porridge could taste like lobster, vegetable salad, or even freshly picked strawberries still fragrant with the earth.
The slogan of a famous virtual food company had become ingrained in nearly everyone's mind: "Technology transforms life; consciousness transcends perception!"
Socializing was virtual, too. People could choose a setting, invite friends, arrange a feast, and even pick the weather they liked.
On a warm afternoon, on a long stretch of white sandy beach, waves rolled against the shore with a gentle rush. People lounged beneath parasols, sipping deliciously cold cocktails.
This idyllic life might be enjoyed by a burly, unshaven man lying lazily on a filthy wooden bed. All he had to do was put on his smart goggles.
Nikola Tesla disconnected from the Lightning Ball, his heart heavy with conflicting feelings. He remembered a task Maria had entrusted to him on the last night before he left Earth.
Maria had told him that she had a friend on Venus named Brahma, who lived in a small fishing village on the coast, a few hundred kilometers from Rivenburg. She had asked Tesla to visit him and deliver a package.
Brahma had dark cheeks and a sturdy, stocky build. He greeted Nikola Tesla, who had traveled a long way, with courtesy.
When he learned that Tesla was Maria's boyfriend, who had been unconscious for many years, he welcomed him like family. Grinning, he boomed with delight and pulled Tesla into his little courtyard.
"I often heard Doctor Maria talk about you. She said you were unconscious for years after an accident. She must be so happy you woke up."
Brahma gripped Tesla's arm in his thick hands, looking him over, then asked, "How is Doctor Maria? Are Vinu and Cynthia doing well, too?"
Nikola Tesla was caught off guard. Both times he had visited Maria on Earth, they had been in a hurry, and Maria had never introduced him to her other companions. He had never even heard of Vinu or Cynthia.
"Maria is well. It seems she only thought of me as a courier and asked me to deliver this package to you. I've never met the other two people you mentioned." Tesla handed Brahma the package, then asked curiously, "Maria studies life sciences. Why do you call her a doctor?"
Brahma laughed and told him the story of his family and Maria.
Brahma was a veteran. After leaving the military, he became a truck driver, delivering equipment to Maria's research institute.
His wife was named Vinu. She worked as an accountant at an accounting firm, and they had a daughter named Cynthia.
More than a decade ago, Venus's planetwide intelligent logistics system went into operation. Truck drivers were no longer needed, and Brahma lost his job.
Vinu had lost hers even earlier. Before the accounting industry disappeared, the company's human resources department had already urged her to leave after a mistake at work.
She had prepared and publicly disclosed a balance sheet for a listed company, but the figures were wrong: the difference between its assets and liabilities wasn't zero. It became a minor laughingstock.
After losing their jobs, Brahma's family lived the life they had longed for under the welfare system run by the Alliance government and the artificial intelligence security fund. They didn't have to work, only enjoy themselves, indulging every sensory and emotional desire.
In time, the couple grew tired of that life. What worried them more was that Cynthia was still young. Would she be trapped in this virtual reality for the rest of her long life?
Vinu was just an ordinary housewife, but she wanted her daughter to experience real life with her own eyes and body, even if it wasn't all that wonderful.
So Vinu's family gave up their benefits, threw away their smart goggles, and returned together to the little fishing village where Vinu was born. They took up a "primitive life," making their living by fishing.
Brahma was astonished to discover that Maria, whom he had thought of as one of the elite, also lived in a mysterious house not far from the village.
She didn't seem to work for a research institute, because when she moved cargo, she didn't use the Alliance's intelligent transport system. Instead, she asked Brahma to use his truck to carry her equipment and instruments.
Once, while delivering a load, Brahma went into the courtyard where Maria worked and saw a fawn. One of its legs looked strange, as if it had a congenital deformity.
Maria trusted Brahma as a friend and quietly told him that she had created the fawn using cloning technology. When he got home, Brahma spoke to Vinu in a hushed, mysterious voice:
"Maria can clone a fawn. She's hiding out in this remote place. Could she be cloning humans, too?"
They both liked Maria, and neither was the meddling sort. Before long, they put the thought out of their minds.
A few years ago, under the influence of the Superlight Wave Power Station, Venus's climate grew increasingly harsh. Ocean levels kept falling, and marine life seemed to be changing its habits.
Brahma's daughter, Cynthia, loved the sea. Going out to fish with her father made her happier than anything else. She always stood by the side of the boat, her little hands on the rail as she gazed out over the water.
Whenever pods of humpback whales leapt from the sea, Little Cynthia would sing along with them in her babyish voice.
Brahma's fishing boat wasn't big. As the sea retreated, he had to take it farther offshore to catch as many fish as before.
Then, at last, the day of misfortune arrived. The weather at sea changed suddenly, and the boat capsized. Dragging Cynthia, who had been injured in the collision, Brahma struggled back to shore.
There was no hospital in the little fishing village. Brahma carried Cynthia, who had hurt her back, into Maria's house. He believed that Maria, as a life scientist, must also be the best doctor.
Brahma was wrong. "Doctor" Maria couldn't save Cynthia! Vinu rushed over and took her lifeless daughter from her husband's arms, wailing in grief.
In despair, the father caught sight of the fawn in the courtyard. He collapsed to his knees, tugged at Maria's clothes, and begged:
"Doctor Maria, you can clone a fawn. Please, help us. Clone a Cynthia for us."
Maria's cloning technology wasn't yet complete. Her research had revealed that it lacked a small molecule with targeted regulatory functions. Experiments showed that a small molecule found in humpback whales could effectively compensate for the shortcomings of synthetically produced amino acids.
Maria helped Brahma to his feet, then looked at Vinu, the despairing mother, with deep sympathy. "I can't promise you a daughter who'll be completely free of defects, but I can try."
Maria took Cynthia from Vinu's arms. She gently stroked the girl's cold cheek, then looked up and said:
"Brahma, go out to sea one more time. I need the milk of a female humpback whale, released into the seawater."
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Verse compiled from lines of poems:
Together, we make one fragrant spring. — Li Baiyao, Tang
Only then do we know the medicine is not genuine. — Li Shengyin, Ming
Frankincense, together with aconite. — Xu Cheng, Tang
The classics and arts suffice to plan one's life. — Fan Peng, Yuan
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