August 8, 2031, Rocket City, Bright Country
Michael and Daphne named their son Vito, after Michael's father.
Time flew. Today was little Vito's first birthday. Daphne had made a birthday cake with her own hands, writing a birthday greeting in the soft, sweet-smelling frosting and outlining a red heart with strawberry jam to symbolize love.
Michael had made a point of coming home early to celebrate his son's birthday. When he was young, he'd been very handy and often spent hours in the garage tinkering with all sorts of unusual gadgets.
Though his skills had grown rusty, Michael's enthusiasm hadn't faded in the slightest. He'd made his son a toy: a large wooden ship model.
The ship's mast was made of Carbon Fiber Tubes. On the bow's deck sat a strange, honeycomb-shaped container holding a few kernels of corn that had been dehydrated. Michael had named the toy VESSEL, a word that meant a large ship, a blood vessel, and a container.
As soon as Michael stepped into the house, he heard Daphne cheerfully calling to little Vito over and over, "Mama, mama."
Vito raised his big head in his mother's arms. His chubby little face lit up with a smile, and his rosy cheeks puffed as his lips opened and closed. To their surprise, he made a sound: "Mama, mama..."
Daphne was overjoyed and showered Vito with kisses. Michael hurried over too, encouraging his son with eager anticipation. "Dada, dada. Say dada."
Little Vito smiled innocently and blinked his big eyes. As if he'd been trying to work up the courage for ages, he called out once more, "Mama."
Michael felt a little disappointed. He took his son from Daphne and lifted him high above his head, then quickly bent down and lowered him to knee height. As Michael lifted and lowered him again and again, Vito thoroughly enjoyed himself, laughing loudly.
After playing with his toys and eating cake, little Vito was so excited that he eventually wore himself out and fell into a sweet sleep in his crib.
The two parents tiptoed out of Vito's room, and Michael gently closed the door.
Daphne asked, "How's your Brain-Computer Fusion Project coming along? Didn't you say you were going to upgrade it again in the next couple of days?"
"It's going all right, but there hasn't been much progress. Brain-computer fusion seems to have hit a bottleneck. Just piling on hardware and accumulating more empirical data doesn't seem to be enough," Michael said. "VESSEL warned me that the underlying architecture of current computers doesn't match the way the human brain thinks. My team and I still haven't figured it out."
"Do you remember the big envelope Irene gave you? The one with Captain Mirov's Maya Notes? I have a feeling that modern computing architecture might find inspiration in Mayan astronomy and mathematics," Daphne said.
"When Irene gave me the envelope, she said Captain Mirov hoped we'd wait fifty-two years before opening it. I think we should respect the author's wishes. Luckily, the time will be up in half a month."
To better care for Vito, Daphne had taken an extended leave of absence from her project team at the Bright Country Space Administration.
She had promised Mr. E that while working from home, she would complete a risk assessment as soon as possible for Michael's plan to use Superluminal waves to transform Mars. One important reason the members of the Plan T Committee trusted Daphne was that they greatly admired her Mars Burst Hypothesis.
"Daphne, it's been over a year. Have you finished your risk assessment? Can you let me in on anything?" Michael asked.
Daphne immediately turned serious. "I can't. The assessment is independent of your project. It can only be submitted directly to the Plan T Committee, so I can't tell you anything."
In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Daphne scooped a bit of frosting off the birthday cake with her index finger and suddenly smeared it on Michael's face. They playfully jostled each other, then embraced. The small room was once again filled with the sweet warmth of home.
A sudden cry from Vito startled them both. Daphne sprang up as if she had a spring in her body and rushed into his room. Michael followed close behind. He saw Vito's little legs kicking wildly, his whole body seeming to convulse, and streams of white foam spilling from the corners of his mouth.
Daphne hurriedly picked Vito up and asked Michael, "What's happening? Is he having a nightmare? Should we take him to the hospital right away?"
Michael quickly composed himself and dashed into the bathroom to fetch a small cloth soaked in cold water. He folded it and warmed it between his hands so it wouldn't be too cold, then gently pressed it against Vito's forehead. Daphne carefully wiped Vito's little mouth clean and kept stroking his back.
Vito gradually stopped crying. He opened his eyes and gurgled. After struggling to let out a breath, he slowly returned to normal.
"That scared me to death. We should go to the hospital right away," Daphne said.
Michael thought for a moment, then said, "VESSEL has intelligent medical assistance. We can try it on Vito first, then go to the hospital."
Daphne sat in a chair with Vito in her arms. Michael lowered VESSEL's output power and adjusted the helmet to a smaller size, then carefully placed it on Vito's head. Whether out of curiosity or because his mother's arms made him feel safe, Vito didn't fuss.
Michael placed the external display in front of Daphne, then stood behind her so they could both stare at the screen.
The screen first displayed Vito's brain waves. Michael and Daphne couldn't understand why: Vito was awake, so his brain waves should mainly consist of the relatively high-frequency Beta Wave and Alpha Wave. There shouldn't have been any Delta Wave with a frequency of 0.5–1 hertz.
It was strange. Brain waves associated with wakefulness, light sleep, and deep sleep were all appearing on the screen at the same time. Daphne suddenly remembered that the electromagnetic waves received by the Lingguang probe had been the same when it approached Lingshen Star two years ago.
Michael activated VESSEL's intelligent medical assistance function. A diagnosis appeared on the screen: "No abnormalities found in the brain's structure. Neurons are densely packed in certain areas, with suspected abnormal electrical activity that may cause intermittent complications, such as epilepsy. Please visit a hospital for diagnosis by a medical professional."
Daphne slumped against the back of the chair as if she'd been struck by lightning. Michael gently rested one hand on her shoulder and tenderly stroked Vito with the other.
He softly reassured Daphne. "We'll definitely go to the hospital. But did you notice? Vito seems to have connected to VESSEL with ease. You tried before and couldn't do it. Could Vito have an extraordinary natural talent?"
Daphne suddenly realized it too. She speculated, "Vito is your biological son, so he shares most of your genes and even much of your brain structure. That may make it easier for him to adapt to the VESSEL you trained."
Michael thought Daphne made a lot of sense. He felt they should test it further. He'd never tried connecting two people to VESSEL at the same time, so he put on another helmet and connected himself to the external brain as well.
The brain waves of father and son merged into VESSEL. As Michael cautiously and slowly raised the output power, Daphne anxiously watched for any reaction from Vito. The child seemed perfectly fine, his little hand resting lightly in the crook of his mother's arm as if he were enjoying himself.
Once the power was set, Michael began to meditate. A cursor flashed on the screen, and words flowed onto it, line after line appearing before Daphne's eyes:
Speak softly, love, hold me close, our hearts entwined,
Semantic sensing, the instant of a gentle tremor.
In a world belonging only to the two of us,
Sharing an experience none can surpass.
The sun warms the wine of time,
We become one, melting into a night of blue velvet.
Speak softly, love, let only the sky hear,
To this life, I pledge a lifetime,
The vows of our love.
My life belongs to you, because
You spoke softly, love, and came to me.
Daphne knew the lyrics all too well. Wasn't this the love song from that classic movie? Speak softly love, translated as Speak softly love.
Daphne didn't know—and couldn't spare a thought to wonder—whether these lyrics were a reflection of Michael's consciousness, little Vito's, or the shared consciousness of father and son.
Perhaps, just as the lyrics said, in that world of brain-computer fusion, there were only the two of them. Their thoughts had already merged through the delicate tremors of sensation.
Vito's successful connection to VESSEL brought his parents no joy. Michael removed his helmet and faced Daphne. He knew they were both focused on exactly the same thing: Vito's condition.
"Epilepsy."
A poem pieced together from lines:
Traces in motion, no stillness; nature flows freely. —Song dynasty, Zhao Bian
His heart and my thoughts are one. —Yuan dynasty, Jia Zhongming
How many have ever looked as you do? —Tang dynasty, Wang Zun
Now I believe youth has not failed you. —Song dynasty, Li Tao
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