Rejection

August 2029, Sand Oil Nation

In 2018, Governor Pierce of Liang Nation lifted the ban on oil extraction within its borders, propelling Liang Nation to become the world's largest oil producer. Prior to this, Sand Oil Nation held the top spot.

Although Sand Oil Nation's oil output had slipped to second place, a recent discovery of a surprisingly vast gold deposit beneath its soil had been made. Sand Oil Nation was truly blessed by the heavens; its land was covered in sand, gold lay beneath the sand, and oil lay beneath the gold.

Naturally, the Sand Oil Nation Sovereign Fund had become the world's largest equity investment fund. The fund was managed by Prince Harufa, who had just turned 50.

Michael Maxwell's Mars colonization plan had taken initial shape. Once it entered the implementation phase, what he needed most was not bold ideas or integrated technology, but money.

Michael had heard of Prince Harufa long ago. He could have asked friends in the financial circle for an introduction, but Michael's methods were always unpredictable.

Irene Petkova was a close friend of Prince Harufa and a consultant for his private healthcare team. Prince Harufa readily accepted Irene's suggestion and invited Michael Maxwell to a meeting in Sand Oil Nation.

Prince Harufa was tall, with bright eyes and a prominent nose that stood out on his slender, strong face. The Prince greeted Michael warmly and enthusiastically, saying:

"You are an explorer and entrepreneur I deeply admire, my dear friend. How may I assist you?"

"Thank you for your praise. I also greatly admire your grand plan to build a cluster of smart cities in the desert," Michael said, his eyes gleaming, and he got straight to the point.

"I intend to terraform Mars and turn it into a second Earth. This will require substantial investment, and of course, there will be generous returns."

"A second Earth? When you speak of terraforming Mars, do you mean people living in sealed habitats without seeing the sky?" the Prince asked.

Michael's expression was slightly mysterious yet extremely resolute. He replied:

"I will restart Mars's magnetic field, its oceans, and its oxygen-rich atmosphere. Humans will be able to breathe and walk freely on Mars. Mars will become a true second Earth."

The Prince looked puzzled. The conversation, though amicable, reached an impasse. Michael Maxwell could not reveal Nikola Tesla's theories, nor the technical principles and engineering details of the Superlight Wave Power Station to the Prince.

Michael assured the Prince that everything he said was feasible because he possessed an unknown super-energy source with immense power. The terraforming of Mars would take a very short time.

Michael understood the Prince's skepticism towards this so-called unknown super-energy source. He proposed that after the Sand Oil Nation Sovereign Fund committed a certain investment amount, Michael's company would conduct an experiment on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, to demonstrate the power of this super-energy source.

"Seeing is believing. I eagerly await your Enceladus experiment," Prince Harufa said, though he seemed more concerned about another issue. "You say the terraforming of Mars will take a short time. No matter how short, it depends on my physical condition."

Michael Maxwell looked at the Prince in surprise, then turned to Irene Petkova beside him.

The Prince's personal health was private and clearly not suitable for discussion at this occasion. The first meeting between the entrepreneur and potential investor concluded.

Prince Harufa had no idea what kind of mysterious energy source could exist in the world, and Michael Maxwell had no idea what condition the Prince's health was in.

Irene Petkova knew the Prince's physical condition intimately. With the continuous advancements in biopharmaceutical and gene therapy technologies, many of the world's top billionaires had begun receiving regular stem cell injections to enhance their vitality and prolong their lives.

Prince Harufa had developed an immune reaction to the stem cells. The top medical team and his health consultant, Irene, convened to diagnose the issue. The rejection was caused by the incompatibility between the stem cells and the Prince's blood. An effective treatment involved using small molecule amino acid clusters dissolved in the blood.

When more than 50 amino acids combine, they form proteins. The combination of a few or a dozen amino acids is called a small molecule (small peptide). Small molecules dissolve in water and blood, playing a crucial regulatory role in gene therapy.

The medical team discovered that existing artificially synthesized small molecules could not effectively resolve the Prince's immune rejection.

Some experts proposed that certain indigenous tribes, untouched by modern medicine, possessed "primal blood" in their bodies. Perhaps the natural small molecules in primal blood had greater activity and therapeutic effects than any artificially synthesized small molecules.

Irene Petkova recalled an ancient village on India's Deccan Plateau where the inhabitants retained "primal blood" in their bodies. It was a research case from her time as a biology professor.

This ancient village was located on the outskirts of Gwalior City in Madhya Pradesh, India, situated between the warm Ganges Plain and a mountain canyon corridor.

Despite the harsh living conditions, the average lifespan there was very long. The oldest resident was named Vanita, whom the locals respectfully called "Grandma."

Vanita was indeed a grandmother, and one of her grandsons was Bharat. Like many young people in the tribe, Bharat had left the mountain village to study and work in the city, becoming a programmer at a tech company in Mumbai.

A few years ago, Grandma Vanita fell seriously ill and became bedridden. Irene Petkova's research team happened to be stationed in the area at the time.

Since Vanita refused modern medication, Irene proposed a compromise: a blood transfusion from one of her direct relatives.

Consequently, Vanita's grandson Bharat quit his job and returned to the village to regularly donate blood to his grandmother.

A miracle then occurred. Grandma Vanita's health gradually improved. Although she had difficulty walking, she regained her usual spirit when sitting at the table playing cards.

Grandma Vanita's cards were an ancient Indian divination tool. Grandma Vanita was an extremely accurate fortune-teller, and villagers, even those from distant cities, often sought her out for readings.

As Grandma's eyesight worsened, Bharat, having returned to his hometown, wrote a program that digitized the card designs and combination rules onto the computer network.

There were two decks of cards, with 52 cards each, red and black backs. Each deck had four suits, with 13 cards per suit. Grandma used the combination order of these 104 cards for divination. After quitting his job, Bharat unexpectedly became an online fortune-teller.

Bharat had a deep affection for his grandmother. When he left home for the first time to attend school in the city, Grandma had held his hand and said:

"Children in the city know more than you do. You might often be stumped by their questions. Grandma will tell you a secret: you can ask them a simple question back, and I guarantee they won't know the answer."

Later, Bharat found that Grandma's question never failed him. It always stumped his proud, city-born friends. The simple question was:

"Do you know your grandmother's name? Do you know your grandmother's grandmother's name?"

Grandma was old, and Bharat knew she would eventually leave him. He decided to use his limited artificial intelligence knowledge to collect as much data as possible of her voice and likeness, allowing Grandma to "live" forever in the digital world.

Not only Grandma, but Bharat also modeled living elders in his family and deceased relatives from their memories into similar-looking digital family members on the computer. Bharat called this intelligent audio-visual system "My Family Tree."

Bharat had received a modern education and frequently exchanged information with Irene. During a video call with Irene, Bharat asked her Grandma's question. Irene was momentarily speechless, like a child who had done something wrong, and replied:

"I know my grandmother's name, but I don't know my grandmother's grandmother's name."

As she spoke, tears inexplicably welled up in Irene's eyes.

Irene praised Bharat's creation of the family tree and suggested he establish a dedicated website to offer this service to more people. She said:

"Bharat, you've done something very meaningful. If a person dies and even their great-grandchild doesn't remember their name, who else will know they ever existed in this world?"

To offer services to more people and build their own family trees, Bharat said he couldn't do it because he didn't have enough money.

Today, Bharat received a call from Irene. When he answered, Irene seemed hesitant to speak. She appeared to gather her courage and slowly, in a low voice, said:

"Bharat, I have a special patient who needs a blood transfusion, and I need your help. I don't know if this is right or wrong, ethically speaking."

Bharat said without hesitation:

"To be able to help a sick person with my blood, I believe he must also be a friend you care about and are close to. What could be wrong with that?"

Irene remained silent for a full minute before stammering, "My friend's illness wasn't natural. The cause might stem from desire and wealth, so I feel it might be inappropriate to use your Primal Blood to treat him."

Bharat also fell silent. Irene spoke amidst her turmoil, "I don't know if I should have called you, or even asked you this. My patient friend also thinks the Family Tree Project is very meaningful, and he's willing to provide financial support for it."

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Poem:

Alas, the years are late, Tang, Luo Binwang

Bright beauty is hard to sustain. Tang, Yao Kang

White dew gathers sweet fruit, Tang, Du Fu

Like my loyal heart. Song, Yuan Fu