June 2030, Rocket City, Brightland
Daphne Braun was due in August. Michael gently stroked her swollen belly and said to her:
"Our son will be here in two months. I can't wait to meet him."
Daphne placed her hand over Michael's and said, brimming with a sense of accomplishment:
"I actually wanted a daughter more, but the doctor told me it's a boy. Michael, why don't you name our son?"
Michael thought for a moment, then said:
"My father's name is Vito, so let's name our son after his grandfather. I'm Michael, and both my father and my son will be called Vito."
Daphne was very pleased with the name. She murmured it to herself:
"Vito, little Vito. What a lovely name."
Lately, Daphne had eased up on her diet. She could eat and sleep well, and had gained a noticeable amount of weight. She was savoring the joy and happiness of becoming a mother for the first time.
As she gained weight, she felt that her personality and temper had grown gentler, too. Even in her academic work, when she needed to make rational judgments, she found herself instinctively adding a touch of emotion.
Still, Daphne understood that some work was serious and couldn't be approached by intuition alone. For example, she had been tasked with assessing the risks of Michael's plan to restart the Mars project.
"Mr. E and my father told me that we're both in the know about Plan T and have each signed a confidentiality agreement. They've asked me to start looking into and assessing your plan to use Superluminal waves to transform Mars," Daphne said.
Michael Max had been waiting for Daphne to bring up the subject. He, too, had received a notice from Mr. E: Plan T's risk assessment team would conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the restarted Mars project. What surprised him was that the person preparing the assessment report was his girlfriend, Daphne Braun.
Michael smiled. "They're not even trying to avoid a conflict of interest. They've actually asked my dearest Daphne to assess my plan."
Daphne took Michael's hand off her belly and said with a serious expression:
"Do you think I'd let my personal feelings interfere with my work? Besides, my boyfriend is always doing earthshaking things. Where would a little girl like me even find room to play favorites?"
Michael told Daphne that he, too, believed a risk assessment was essential. The benefits to humanity of using Nikola Tesla's Superluminal Wave Theory to transform Mars into a second Earth were obvious. But they had to proceed cautiously and make absolutely sure nothing went wrong. After all, humanity had only one Solar System to live in.
Michael's company had already established a department to continuously assess the feasibility of each technology and its associated risks.
Of course, an independent assessment by outside experts would carry even more authority. Michael promised that he and his company would cooperate fully with Daphne's independent assessment.
"Michael, did VESSEL take part in your company's internal assessment?" Daphne asked curiously.
"It did. VESSEL is incredibly powerful as my second brain. Its strength comes from data analysis and learning from experience. But when it comes to transforming Mars, especially the nature of Superluminal waves, we humans lack both data and experience," Michael said, sounding a little helpless.
"Even so, with your brilliant brain and VESSEL's help, your thinking should be significantly enhanced. Have you tried it?" Daphne asked.
Michael had indeed tried. With VESSEL's help, he had thought of a few more technical solutions than the company's business team—for example, using materials found on Mars to build ceramic supports for the Superlight Wave Power Station.
But when it came to the safe range of the amount and rate of energy needed to restart Mars's magnetic field, VESSEL's estimates were so broad and imprecise that they were practically useless.
Michael's genius lay in his ability to come up with a solution whenever he encountered a problem. Since VESSEL wasn't performing well, the first thing to do was upgrade and iterate VESSEL itself.
"I upgraded VESSEL. I used 100,000 GPUs. That didn't just speed up its calculations; it also allowed it to connect more deeply with my brain. We can try it now," Michael said. "I also added a live-reading function to VESSEL. While we're thinking, you'll be able to see the converted text on the screen as it appears."
Michael sat in a chair, put on a specially designed helmet, and connected to the newly upgraded VESSEL. Beside him, Daphne watched the screen, reading the text converted from his brain waves as if she were watching a live broadcast.
Was it feasible to build an 180,000-kilometer-high Superlight Wave Power Station on Mars? The answer was yes.
What was the safe range of power required to channel energy into Mars and restart its magnetic field? An astronomical figure appeared on the screen. Daphne quickly ran the calculations, unable to stop herself from marveling at the immense power of Superluminal waves.
Could they ensure Mars's safety within the safe range, so that it wouldn't explode? The screen in front of Daphne froze. The cursor blinked in place, and no new text appeared.
Michael raised his right hand and waved it twice, severing the connection. After taking off the helmet, he shook his head as if he felt uncomfortable. He collected himself, then said to Daphne:
"It still doesn't work. While I was thinking, I felt that my own brain was too dominant. In other words, VESSEL was extracting too little of my consciousness. Looks like we'll have to wait for Irene to help us."
A few days later, Irene met up with Michael and Daphne, bringing the latest biological agent she had developed and a mysterious guest. Irene's main area of research was the metabolism of sugars in the human body.
She had discovered that targeted small-molecule biologics could not only treat diabetes effectively, but also had a marked stimulating effect on the brain's nerves.
Irene extracted small molecules made up of a dozen or so amino acids from the milk of female Humpback Whales. She then added active substances extracted from plump kernels of ancient wild Mexican corn to create a safe brain stimulant.
It was safe because it wasn't addictive, and therefore wasn't a drug of abuse.
What's more, Irene had made a special visit to Bharat's grandmother, Vanita. She believed the old woman was reasonable. Whether Bharat should have given Prince Harufa a blood transfusion had been a difficult question, but that was in the past. Irene felt that this time, the reason for asking Bharat to donate blood was different.
What left a deep impression on Irene was Grandma Vanita's clear yet calm sense of right and wrong. As it turned out, Vanita believed that the Primal Blood flowing through her grandson Bharat's veins shouldn't be traded. But if it could help scientific research and benefit humanity, that was different. In that case, it was certainly acceptable.
Irene led the shy Bharat over to Michael and said with a smile:
"This is your idol, Michael Max."
Bharat was so excited that he didn't know what to say. His face flushed red. Michael and Daphne chatted warmly and amiably with him, easing the awkwardness. Then Irene got down to business.
"Michael, you're both type A. Bharat has agreed to give you a blood transfusion, alongside my biological agent. I'm really looking forward to seeing you and VESSEL integrate more successfully."
Irene administered an appropriate dose of the biological agent to Michael, then guided him and Bharat to sit in two chairs tilted back at a steep angle.
A nurse secured a blood-drawing needle in the vein of Bharat's left arm. A pressure device connected it to another needle inserted into a vein in Michael's left arm.
Michael took a deep breath, pulled down the visor on his helmet with his right hand, and activated the connection to VESSEL. Daphne noticed that when Michael and VESSEL considered the same questions as before, they worked much faster. The results appeared as text and instantly filled the screen. The question that had stumped them last time reappeared.
Could they ensure Mars's safety within the safe range, so that it couldn't explode?
They had an answer!
It couldn't be made one hundred percent safe. Even within the safe range, the probability of a Mars explosion was one in a million. To Daphne, even the slightest risk was unacceptable!
Daphne noticed that Michael's thoughts seemed to have shifted. The following text appeared on the screen:
"What proportion of the consciousness in my brain does VESSEL extract as my second brain? Or, put another way, how much can the biological agent and Primal Blood enhance my brain's thinking power?"
"Only 3% of the neurons in your brain can be activated, and I extract only 2% of that 3%."
"That's far too little. We've already done all we can to increase computing speed, and we've used the biological agent and even Primal Blood. Is there any other way to further increase the proportion of my consciousness that I can upload?"
Michael hoped to find a way to avoid that one-in-a-million risk of an explosion. Clearly, VESSEL still couldn't provide an answer.
The cursor blinked on the screen. Daphne's heart tightened. Had it frozen again?
A few seconds later, she saw the following text:
"The underlying architecture of current computers is not advanced enough. Their logical judgments don't align with the way the human brain naturally thinks."
"The underlying architecture—are you talking about a hardware or software problem?" Michael pressed.
"Neither. It's a problem with the numeral system," VESSEL replied.
Verse collection:
Cleverness and clumsiness, neither seeking speed nor delay—Qing, Hongli Clearly, the workings of creation offer hidden aid—Ming, Wang Zhen The long autumn's vast calculations go together with the heavens—Song, Hu Su Through transformations into a sea of change, the land remains unknown—Qing, Xu Fang
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