65 million years ago, Venus
Nikola Tesla, Abbott, and Colonel Feynman stepped out of the space elevator and onto the outdoor platform of Power Station No. 1, located on Venus's equator.
"Is this Tower Island, the site I chose for the Superlight Wave Power Station all those years ago?" Tesla asked Abbott.
"Yes. This is Tower Island, on Venus's equator," Abbott replied gravely.
"Tower Island used to be only 50 meters above sea level, and it was very small. Now it's all land. Did the sea retreat, or did the mountains grow taller?"
"The Superlight Wave Power Station caused the sea to retreat. We're now 3,000 meters above sea level. You could also say the mountains grew taller."
Tesla could hardly believe his ears. He shouted,
"It's only been a few decades. How could this happen?"
The Venus Tesla remembered had a pleasant climate and relatively stable tectonic plates. It was a paradise where Venusians could live.
Venus was 108 million kilometers from the sun, and its orbit lay in the best position within the habitable zone of the Solar System. Since Venus's axial tilt was close to zero degrees, there was almost no seasonal change throughout the year.
Of course, the temperature varied, but not with the seasons. Instead, it varied with latitude: hot at the equator and cold at the poles.
At 60 degrees north and south, the average daily low and high temperatures were 10 and 25 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Because the northern hemisphere had a greater proportion of land than the southern hemisphere, the belt around 60 degrees north was the main settlement area for Venusians.
Rivenburg lay at 59 degrees north, in Venus's eastern third time zone. It was the seat of the Venus Alliance's administrative agencies. Venusians liked to associate the city with a kind of liquor, jokingly calling it "59 Degree Vodka."
The self-driving electric car carrying the group stopped in front of the Venus Alliance administrative building. Its doors opened automatically, and Colonel Feynman hurried ahead a few steps to usher Tesla and Abbott inside with professional courtesy.
"Director Diston, this is Mr. Nikola Tesla. We successfully awakened him and brought him here to meet you," Abbott said, introducing him to Diston, director of the Alliance administrative office.
Director Diston of the Venus Alliance administrative office was tall, with reddish-dark skin, short curly hair, and a penetrating gaze.
"Nikola, it's wonderful that you've awakened and can help us. To avoid public panic, our discussion today must remain strictly confidential." Diston gestured to Dean Abbott, asking him to explain the situation on Venus to Tesla.
Dean Abbott activated the holographic projection, and a globe of Venus, marked with detailed topographical features, appeared before Nikola Tesla.
Ninety years earlier, at the age of 40, Nikola Tesla had begun studying energy after inventing AC power.
He firmly believed that all physical events and the laws behind them could be expressed in terms of energy.
Energy determined everything. Energy was everything.
Nikola Tesla proposed the Superluminal Wave Hypothesis: that the universe was filled with a uniform, omnidirectional energy wave. It traveled at an extremely high speed, had a frequency on the order of 10 to the 16th power or higher, and a wavelength of about 170,360 kilometers.
Objects with a diameter greater than that wavelength, such as stars, were struck by incoming superluminal waves and underwent intense energy reactions. Objects smaller than the wavelength were bypassed by the waves and did not react to the energy, so they could not sense the waves' presence.
Based on his Superluminal Wave Theory, Tesla wrote a paper called The Dynamic Principle of Gravity.
After the paper was submitted to the Venus Alliance Academy of Sciences, most of its physicists and astronomers did not agree with it. Only Abbott, who was not yet the academy's dean at the time, strongly supported it and organized multiple experiments to verify the existence of superluminal waves.
In the following years, Tesla turned to researching applications for Superluminal Wave Energy and searching for a site for the planned Superlight Wave Power Station.
With the abundant electricity provided by superluminal waves, he and his girlfriend Maria, a bioengineering expert, hoped to turn the ideal of "Ultimate Immortality," longed for by everyone, into a practical engineering plan.
Their plan was:
To achieve bodily immortality through Gene Cloning Technology;
To achieve the immortality of consciousness through Brain-Computer Interface Technology.
At the age of 43, Nikola Tesla, a Venusian, invented a high-speed, non-contact brain-computer connector. He called it the "Lightning Ball." During an experiment, an accident occurred, and he fell into a coma. He became a vegetable and remained asleep for a full 86 years.
"Abbott, I remember everything from before I fell asleep. Tell me what happened afterward!" Tesla pressed him.
In the decades after Tesla fell asleep, Venusian technology advanced rapidly. It moved from the Electrical Age, which he had ushered in, into the Information Age.
The Superluminal Wave Theory research group led by Abbott observed solar activity and discovered that the alignment of celestial bodies such as Regulus and Jupiter periodically affected sunspots and solar flares. This indirectly verified the theory.
Sixty years ago, the Venus Alliance Space Administration launched two space tugs, which stretched out an 180,000-kilometer "rope." It received energy from incoming superluminal waves, providing direct evidence that the waves existed.
An artificial structure 180,000 kilometers long could be struck by a full wavelength of superluminal waves, becoming an inexhaustible energy source—in other words, a Superlight Wave Power Station.
Abbott and the project experts worried about the possible side effects of the Superlight Wave Power Station, so they did not build one directly on Venus. Instead, in the distant Saturn System, they built an 180,000-kilometer structure between Saturn and its largest moon, Sedna, creating the first Superlight Wave Power Station in Venusian history.
The Saturn Power Station provided ample energy for Venusian space activities. After several years of observation, no side effects from the power station were detected.
Sedna was the largest moon in the Solar System, and its surface was covered in a thick crust of ice. Perhaps due to the power station's influence as a tremendous heat source, only a small amount of solid ice had been observed sublimating into water vapor.
Faced with irrefutable evidence, the Venusian scientists who had once questioned the Superluminal Wave Theory changed their minds and supported building Superlight Wave Power Stations, hoping to bridge the growing gap between the demand for computing power and the dwindling electricity supply.
Following the recommendation in Nikola Tesla's paper, Abbott and the others extended the 90,000-kilometer space elevator on Tower Island, at Venus's equator, from its original transport function to a length of 180,000 kilometers. They built Venus's first Superlight Wave Power Station.
Superluminal Wave Energy, independent of the sun, was truly "inexhaustible." So Power Stations No. 2 and No. 3 were built along Venus's equator in quick succession. Venus had ample energy to support its computing power, and its AI Models expanded geometrically.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. The side effects of the Superlight Wave Power Stations began to appear. Since the conversion rate from heat to electricity couldn't reach the theoretical design's 100 percent, the leftover heat passed through Tower Island's rocks and accumulated inside Venus.
In just a few short decades, tectonic activity on Venus had intensified and the landscape had changed drastically. Volcanoes erupted in many places, and earthquakes measuring over magnitude 8 struck one after another.
Incredibly, as tectonic plates collided violently, the Tower Island region rose rapidly. Its elevation climbed from 50 meters to over 3,000 meters, exposing land and causing the sea to retreat.
Exposed rocks above sea level released large amounts of carbon dioxide when warmed by sunlight. The gas accumulated in Venus's atmosphere, creating an intense greenhouse effect.
Frequent volcanic eruptions also caused the proportion of sulfides in the atmosphere to rise sharply. In many parts of Venus, people even had to wear gas masks when going outside.
"How could this happen? We should immediately disconnect the 180,000-kilometer structure and shut down the power station!" Nikola Tesla said anxiously.
"A few years ago, we shut down all the other Superlight Wave Power Stations except No. 1. Computing power has a rigid demand for electricity. If we shut down Power Station No. 1, many of the smart devices people rely on will stop working." Abbott rubbed his hands and shook his head, his conflicted feelings plain to see.
"The side effects of Power Station No. 1 are so severe. We can't just leave it running. Do you have a plan?" Tesla asked.
"Nikola, this isn't just about whether to shut down Power Station No. 1. The situation is far more serious than you can imagine. That's why I went all the way to Mars to wake you."
Abbott pointed to the countless craters on Venus's surface and continued, "Volcanic eruptions, worsening atmospheric conditions, rapidly rising temperatures... Venus may no longer be suitable for human habitation."
"You mean that even if we shut down Power Station No. 1 now, we still can't return Venus to the way it was?" Tesla asked.
"I'm afraid so. We are insignificant in the face of nature. The deterioration of Venus's environment is irreversible and unstoppable. Soon Venus will no longer be fit for us Venusians to live on." Diston picked up where he had left off, revealing a secret no one wanted to hear.
He continued, "That's why we awakened you in such a hurry. We hope you and Dean Abbott can help us face this enormous crisis."
Tesla trembled all over and shouted, "What? If we shut down Power Station No. 1 immediately, have you calculated how long we have to escape Venus?"
Abbott gazed at Tesla. His low voice carried a note of sorrow as he replied,
"Starting now, the countdown is estimated to be 50 Venusian years."
A poem pieced together for the chapter:
At handling things, he excelled at taking risks, Song, Shi Daoqian
Suddenly the cable snapped, and could no longer hold, Song, Zhao Fan
Outside Qingguang Gate, a channel of water, Tang, Liu Yuxi
The fortunes may yet come around again, Tang, Du Mu
Before you continue