Chapter 15 (Microcosm 1): The Humpback Whale
Sixty-five million years ago, Venus
Nikola Tesla and Abbott returned to Venus, where they once again reviewed their plans for transforming Earth and Mars. Abbott took the lead in drafting the report, which was then submitted to the Venusian Alliance Committee.
The Alliance arranged for Tesla to stay temporarily at the Ravenfort Hotel, granting him two interconnected rooms: one for living, the other as his workspace.
More than eighty years had passed, and everything about Venus now felt utterly alien to Tesla. The staff in the rooms and restaurant, though both male and female, were impeccably polite and wore pleasant smiles—yet it was easy to discern they were all intelligent robots.
This century-old hotel had clearly undergone numerous renovations and upgrades. To Tesla’s astonishment, he could not find the renowned bar he remembered from the hotel’s top floor eighty years ago. The service system informed him that the bar had been closed for over a decade.
Do Venusians not socialize anymore? With robots replacing human labor, shouldn’t people have more time to spend in bars, enjoying themselves?
Connecting to his Lightning Sphere in the studio, Nikola Tesla finally found the answer.
After Venus entered the Information Age, artificial intelligence technology made great leaps. Productivity soared, intelligent machines replaced human workers, and the entire society experienced a radical transformation in its modes of production and daily life.
Investors and engineers associated with AI became the elite class. Waves of unemployment swept through manufacturing, services, and even agriculture as jobs vanished to automation, exacerbating social conflicts.
True to their nature, the elite came up with a “genius” solution: the CEO of Venus’s largest AI company proposed that, alongside paying massive taxes to the Alliance government, AI model companies should also fund a social welfare foundation.
From then on, Venusians no longer needed to work or labor; they could receive substantial welfare and subsidies from the government and the foundation, focusing solely on consumption rather than production.
Even the ways and means of satisfying consumer needs were constantly upgraded by AI and virtual reality technology.
A dozen years ago, Orange Corporation, Venus’s leading smart device manufacturer, launched an intelligent visor that transported Venusians’ daily lives into the coveted virtual world.
Food on Venus was personalized, prepared by intelligent nutritionists according to each individual’s constitution. Though healthy and safe, these foods lacked color, aroma, flavor, variety, and surprise.
The smart visor changed everything. People could dine wearing it, and by moving their eyes and triggering brainwaves, they could savor any dish from the Venusian human database.
Virtual reality and precise neural stimulation allowed Venusians to experience the sight, smell, and taste of imaginary foods as if they were real.
The same bowl of porridge could be lobster, vegetable salad, or even freshly picked strawberries with the scent of earth.
The slogan from a renowned virtual food company had brainwashed nearly all Venusians: “Technology transforms life, consciousness transcends perception!”
Socializing was virtual too. People could set scenes, invite friends, arrange gourmet feasts, even choose their favorite weather.
A warm afternoon, a stretch of pristine white beach, waves crashing softly against the shore, people lounging under umbrellas, savoring chilled cocktails.
This idyllic, blissful life might be nothing more than a burly man with stubble lazily sprawled on a dirty wooden bed, doing nothing but wearing a smart visor.
Disconnecting from the Lightning Sphere, Nikola Tesla felt an indescribable emotion. He recalled the night before leaving Earth, when Maria entrusted him with a task.
Maria had told him she had a friend named Brahma living in a small fishing village by the sea, hundreds of kilometers from Ravenfort. She asked Tesla to visit him and deliver a package.
Brahma, with dark cheeks and a sturdy build, received Nikola Tesla politely when he arrived from afar.
Upon learning Tesla was the boyfriend who Maria had been waiting for during her years of coma, Brahma became as warm as family, grinning broadly as he dragged Tesla into his little courtyard.
“I often heard Dr. Maria mention you. She said you were in a coma for years after an accident. She must have been so happy when you woke up.”
Brahma sized Tesla up, holding his arm with his strong hands, and continued, “Is Dr. Maria well? Are Venu and Cynthia all right too?”
Tesla was taken aback. Both times he’d visited Maria on Earth, he’d been in a hurry, and she had never introduced him to any other companions. He’d never heard of Venu or Cynthia.
“Maria’s doing well. It seems she just made me her courier, asking me to deliver this package to you. I haven’t met the other two you mentioned,” Tesla replied, handing the package to Brahma. Curious, he asked, “Maria studies life sciences—why do you call her ‘doctor’?”
Brahma laughed and began recounting his family’s story with Maria.
A retired soldier, Brahma became a truck driver after leaving the military, transporting equipment for Maria’s research institute.
His wife, Venu, was an accountant at a firm, and their daughter was named Cynthia.
Some years ago, Venus introduced an intelligent logistics system, making truck drivers obsolete. Brahma lost his job.
Venu’s unemployment came sooner. Before the accounting industry vanished, she was asked to leave after a workplace mistake: she prepared and published a balance sheet for a listed company with an error—assets minus liabilities was not zero, causing a minor scandal.
After losing their jobs, Brahma’s family lived the dream under the Alliance government’s welfare system and the AI insurance foundation: no work, just enjoyment, indulging every sensory and emotional desire.
As time passed, the couple grew weary of this life. Their greater concern was for Cynthia, still young—would her long future be trapped in this virtual reality?
Venu, an ordinary housewife, wanted her daughter to experience real life with her own eyes and body, however imperfect it might be.
So, the family gave up their welfare, discarded their smart visors, and returned to Venu’s birthplace—the fishing village—to live a “primitive” life, fishing for a living.
Brahma was surprised to find that Maria, whom he considered an elite, also lived in a mysterious house not far from the village.
She seemed not to work for her research institute, as she didn’t use the Alliance’s intelligent transport system for moving goods but asked Brahma to drive his truck for her.
One day, Brahma delivered a load to Maria’s yard and saw a fawn with an oddly deformed leg.
Maria trusted Brahma and confided in him that the fawn was created through cloning technology. Returning home, Brahma told Venu, with an air of mystery:
“Maria can clone a fawn. Living in this remote place, could she be cloning humans?”
The couple, fond of Maria and not prone to meddling, soon dismissed the thought.
A few years later, the climate on Venus worsened under the influence of the super-oscillation power station, the sea level dropped, and marine life seemed to change its habits.
Brahma’s daughter, Cynthia, loved the ocean; fishing trips with her father were her greatest joy. She would stand at the rail, little hands gripping the edge, gazing out.
When pods of humpback whales leapt from the waves, little Cynthia would babble and sing along with them.
As the sea receded, Brahma’s small fishing boat was forced farther into the deep to catch as many fish as before.
The ill-fated day finally arrived. The weather turned suddenly at sea; the boat capsized. Brahma, dragging his injured Cynthia, struggled back to shore.
The village had no hospital. Brahma, clutching his injured daughter, rushed into Maria’s cottage, believing that the life scientist Maria must also be the best doctor.
Brahma was wrong. Dr. Maria could not save Cynthia. Venu arrived, took her lifeless daughter from her husband’s arms, and wept bitterly.
In his despair, Brahma glimpsed the fawn in the yard, collapsed to his knees, and clutched Maria’s sleeve, begging:
“Dr. Maria, you can clone a fawn. Please, help us—clone Cynthia for us.”
Maria’s cloning technique was not yet perfected. Her research found that it lacked a small molecule with targeted regulatory function. Experiments showed that the small molecule in humpback whales could compensate for the deficiencies of synthetic amino acids.
Maria lifted Brahma and looked compassionately at the devastated mother, Venu.
“I cannot promise you a flawless daughter, but I can try,” she said.
Maria took Cynthia from Venu’s arms, gently stroking the girl’s cold cheek, and then said,
“Brahma, one more voyage. I need the milk of a female humpback whale released into the sea.”
&
Inscribed poem:
Together we create a fragrant spring — Tang, Li Baiyao
Only then do we realize the medicine is not genuine — Ming, Li Shengyin
Frankincense and aconite together — Tang, Xu Cheng
Learning is enough to secure one’s livelihood — Yuan, Fan Peng