Fever Pitch (1): The Garden Fence

65 million years ago, Venus

Nikola Tesla sat opposite Director Diston of the Venus Alliance Headquarters, with Dean Abbott and Colonel Feynman seated beside him. No one spoke, and it hardly seemed like a meeting.

Finally, Dean Abbott broke the silence and asked Tesla, "Our observations over the past three years show Jupiter is slowly moving closer to the sun. No one doubts your gravity theory anymore. Is there any way you can help us overcome this crisis? Please tell us."

Nikola Tesla's expertise was in scientific research and engineering. He was straightforward and didn't understand social niceties well.

Years ago, he knew his paper, "The Dynamic Principle of Gravity," would draw opposition and criticism from mainstream scientists at the time, but he stubbornly submitted it to the Alliance Academy of Sciences anyway.

Tesla had already devised a solution to the current immense crisis three years prior, with the help of the Lightning Ball external brain.

This time was different. No matter how socially inept he was, he could foresee the intense opposition and doubt his proposed plan would provoke.

Even he himself wasn't sure if this far-fetched, theoretical plan could succeed at every step.

"Mr. Tesla, you don't need to worry. Even if the proposed plan isn't feasible, we can all discuss it," Director Diston said, turning to Abbott. "How about this: Dean Abbott, you briefly describe our current situation first."

An accident occurred at the Superlight Wave Power Station built by Venusians on Sedna, a moon of Saturn. This caused Sedna to explode, scattering thousands of ice shards and rocks around Saturn, encasing it. The debris, over a million kilometers in diameter, altered the Superluminal waves' shielding effect, thereby disrupting the stability and balance of the Solar System.

The observational data Dean Abbott brought indicated that Venus's rotational speed was slowing down, by several minutes each day. This was an astonishing change in astronomical terms.

The duration of day and night lengthened, and the temperature difference grew, making the heat of the day and the cold of the night unbearable for the Venusians.

Almost everyone wished to escape to Mars or Earth as soon as possible, but the carrying capacity of Mars and Earth was far from sufficient.

Even more despairing was Jupiter's accelerating orbital speed, bringing it closer to the sun. Calculations showed that after a few more orbits, a chain reaction would occur, pushing Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury sequentially towards the sun.

Soon, the habitable zone of the Solar System would be completely destroyed, and the Venusians would lose their home.

Colonel Feynman sat quietly to the side. He noticed Nikola Tesla was different from their previous meetings.

In the Colonel's memory, Tesla was a man of strong convictions who always found solutions, no matter the crisis. But this time was different; Tesla remained silent, saying nothing.

After Dean Abbott's brief explanation, seeing Tesla still unresponsive, he couldn't help but say, "Honestly, I don't fully understand your gravity theory yet, but I've thought of a direction to solve the problem. The massive ice debris surrounding Saturn is outside Jupiter's orbit. If we could drag some of that ice and rock to the inner side of Jupiter's orbit, creating a counteracting force, wouldn't that stop Jupiter from approaching the sun?"

Before Tesla could speak, Colonel Feynman, who managed the deployment of Venusian transport ships, interjected, "Huh? That's impossible. There must be hundreds of thousands, even millions, of ice fragments around Saturn. We definitely don't have that many ships."

Director Diston sighed. "On a Solar System scale, humanity's capabilities are negligible. Moving millions of ice fragments is completely unfeasible."

Nikola Tesla finally broke his silence. "Abbott, your plan lacks technical feasibility, but the principle is correct. If we could create a circle of millions of objects on the inner side of Jupiter's orbit, it would act like a fence, reducing the sun's radiation pressure on Jupiter and preventing it from approaching."

According to Nikola Tesla's gravity theory, Jupiter's gravitational pull from the sun depended on the intensity of the energy it displaced. Jupiter's diameter was smaller than the wavelength of Superluminal waves, so theoretically, Superluminal waves shouldn't be able to penetrate Jupiter and inject energy. Jupiter's energy emission intensity should be identical to the energy intensity radiated by the sun.

However, the arc length of Jupiter's hemisphere exceeded the Superluminal wave's wavelength, causing a slight nuclear reaction within Jupiter. Observational calculations indicated that the energy it emitted was twice the energy radiated by the sun.

The "lens effect" of Saturn's massive ice debris exacerbated Jupiter's internal nuclear reaction, increasing the intensity of the energy it displaced and thus its acceleration towards the sun.

How could the extra energy intensity caused by Saturn's "lens effect" be counteracted? They could try to "fill" the region inside Jupiter's orbit, between Jupiter and Mars, with a large amount of ice or debris.

The solar radiation directed at Jupiter, upon passing through these fragments, would be partially blocked and scattered, reducing the radiation intensity. This would offset the influence of Saturn's ice debris and stabilize Jupiter's orbit.

Nikola Tesla slowly rose from his chair and surveyed the room. "The first step of my plan is to detonate Mars. To be precise, we will build a structure 180,000 kilometers high on Mars's surface to receive Superluminal waves, heating its core until its surface explodes. The millions of fragments blasted into space will form a ring, which we can call the 'asteroid belt.' It will serve as a fence wall to reduce the sun's gravitational pull on Jupiter."

Although everyone present had mentally prepared themselves for Tesla's plan to be unconventional, even absurd, they were still shocked when he proposed detonating Mars. For a moment, no one knew how to react.

Seeing their expressions, Tesla continued with slight embarrassment, "Detonating Mars is technically more feasible than dragging Saturn's ice debris and would effectively stabilize the Solar System's structure. But I understand your concerns."

Colonel Feynman, like Director Diston, was not an expert in astronomy or physics, but common sense told them that if Mars exploded, it would inevitably affect Venus and Earth. The humans and most life forms on Venus and Earth would perish in this man-made disaster.

Director Diston calmed himself, regaining his usual rationality and composure. "Yes, Mr. Tesla, your plan seems to question us: If the Venusians go extinct, should humanity still strive to maintain the Solar System's stability beforehand? May I understand it that way?"

Should humanity strive to maintain the Solar System before extinction? It was a truly desperate question.

Dean Abbott had worked with Nikola Tesla for many years and shared a close personal relationship. He stared intently at his old friend. "You wouldn't truly sacrifice all Venusians for the sake of the Solar System's structural stability, would you? You said detonating Mars is just the first step. What are the subsequent steps? I believe you must have a solution that satisfies both sides, right?"

Nikola Tesla forced a wry smile, still looking troubled. "Detonating Mars has already astonished you all, and I myself find this plan too outrageous. As for the subsequent steps, it's not that I'm afraid to say them, but I can't imagine your reaction upon hearing them."

The Venusians' technology was advanced, with rapid progress in the last century. Their three main areas of pride were:

Clean energy development and space technology utilizing Superluminal waves;

Artificial intelligence technology supported by powerful computing power;

Genetic biotechnology.

Nikola Tesla ticked off the three technological advantages of the Venusians on his fingers. Dean Abbott seemed to understand, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. He grasped Tesla's intention. "Your plan is to extract genetic samples from every Venusian, upload their consciousnesses to computers, transport them to a safe location, and after Mars explodes, revive the bodies through cloning technology, then sequentially download the uploaded consciousnesses into the cloned brains."

Colonel Feynman took several deep breaths but still felt an unbearable tightness in his chest. What an incredibly outlandish plan! Even with the Lightning Ball external brain's assistance, the Colonel found it hard to believe how this god-like figure came up with such an idea.

The Colonel suddenly realized what Tesla meant when he claimed Maria might have a solution earlier, during the discussion about Venus's insufficient transport capacity to evacuate its 6 billion people.

Director Diston pondered, as if talking to himself, and summarized, "Extract genes, upload consciousness, detonate Mars, clone humans, resurrect and be reborn!"

Abbott realized he had guessed correctly and pressed Nikola Tesla with a question:

"After the Mars explosion, it would naturally no longer be suitable for human survival. Once the dust settled, according to your idea, where would we Venusians revive?"

"Earth," Nikola Tesla replied calmly.

&

Poem of Collected Verses:

The scattered stars hang in sequence, Ming, Li Kai

They will surely shatter like chains. Tang, Zhou Tan

Even if we return, we should be lost, Yuan, Li Gu

How can we ask heaven about rising and falling again? Song, Shi Yangxiu