Chapter 36 (Resonant Wave 2): Iteration

June 2030, Rocket City, Brightland

Daphne Braun’s due date was in August. Michael gently caressed her swollen belly and said to her, “In two months, our son will be born. I can hardly wait to meet him.”

Daphne placed her hand atop his, brimming with satisfaction. “Actually, I’d hoped for a daughter, but the doctor told me he’s a boy. Michael, you should name our son.”

Michael thought for a moment and replied, “My father’s name was Vito. Let’s name our son after his grandfather. I am Michael, and both my father and son will be called Vito.”

Daphne was delighted with the name, whispering softly, “Vito, little Vito, it’s a wonderful name.”

Lately, Daphne had relaxed her dietary regimen. She ate well, slept soundly, and her weight had increased noticeably. She reveled in the joy and happiness brought by impending motherhood.

As her body grew heavier, she felt her temperament softening. Even in academic work, where rational judgment was required, she found herself instinctively adding a touch of emotion.

Still, Daphne knew that some tasks demanded utmost seriousness and could not rely on intuition—such as her assignment to conduct a risk assessment of Michael’s plan to restart the Mars project.

“Mr. E and my father told me that we are both privy to Project T and have signed confidentiality agreements. They’ve asked me to begin understanding and evaluating your proposal to use superluminal waves to terraform Mars,” Daphne said.

Michael Max had been waiting for Daphne to broach this topic. He’d also received notification from Mr. E that the Project T risk assessment team would thoroughly evaluate the Mars restart initiative. To his surprise, the assessor was his girlfriend, Daphne Braun.

Michael laughed. “They’re not concerned with appearances, are they? Letting my beloved Daphne evaluate my plan.”

Daphne removed Michael’s hand from her belly and spoke sternly, “Do you think I’d let personal feelings cloud my judgment? Besides, my boyfriend is undertaking earth-shaking endeavors; there’s no room for favoritism from me.”

Michael assured Daphne that he too saw risk assessment as vital. Using Nikola Tesla’s superluminal wave theory to transform Mars into a second Earth would obviously benefit humanity, but caution was paramount—after all, the entire human race relied on a single solar system for survival.

Michael’s company had already established departments devoted to continuous evaluation of each technology’s feasibility and risks.

Of course, independent assessments by external experts held greater authority. Michael pledged that he and his company would fully cooperate with Daphne’s independent review.

“Michael, has VESSEL participated in your internal assessments?” Daphne asked, curious.

“Yes, VESSEL, as my external brain, is indeed powerful. Its strength lies in data analysis and experiential learning. But when it comes to Mars transformation, especially the properties of superluminal waves, humanity lacks both data and experience,” Michael admitted with some frustration.

“Even so, with your brilliant mind and VESSEL’s support, your thinking should be greatly enhanced. Have you tried it?” Daphne asked.

Michael had, in fact, tried. With VESSEL’s assistance, he’d devised a few more technical solutions than the company’s teams—such as sourcing materials on Mars itself to manufacture ceramic supports for superluminal wave power stations.

But as for the magnitude and rate of energy required to restart Mars’s magnetic field, VESSEL’s safe value range was far too broad and imprecise—virtually useless for reference.

Michael’s genius lay in always finding a way through difficulty. Since VESSEL wasn’t performing well, his first step was to upgrade and iterate VESSEL itself.

“I’ve upgraded VESSEL, using a hundred thousand GPUs—not just speeding up its computations, but deepening its connection with my brain. We can try it now,” Michael said. “I’ve also added a real-time reading feature: as we think, you can watch the screen and see the converted text.”

Michael sat in a chair, donned a special helmet, and established the connection with the newly upgraded VESSEL. Daphne stood by the screen, reading the brainwave-translated text as if watching a live broadcast.

Is it feasible to build a superluminal wave power station 180,000 kilometers tall on Mars? The answer was affirmative.

What is the safe range of power required to inject energy into Mars’s interior and restart its magnetic field? An astronomical figure appeared on the screen; Daphne calculated swiftly and marveled at the immense power of superluminal waves.

Within the safe range, can Mars be guaranteed safe, without risk of explosion? Daphne’s screen froze; the cursor blinked in place, no new text appearing.

Michael raised his right hand, waved it twice, and disconnected the link. He removed his helmet, shook his head as if uncomfortable, steadied himself, and said to Daphne, “It’s still not working. While thinking, I felt my brain overpowering VESSEL—the proportion of consciousness VESSEL extracted was too small. We’ll have to wait for Irene to help us.”

A few days later, Irene arrived with her latest biopharmaceutical and a mysterious guest, joining Michael and Daphne. Irene’s primary research was in human carbohydrate metabolism.

She discovered that targeted small-molecule biotherapeutics not only effectively treated diabetes but also had pronounced effects on neural stimulation in the brain.

Irene extracted small molecules composed of a dozen amino acids from female humpback whale milk, then added active substances obtained from the plump kernels of ancient Mexican wild maize, creating a safe neural stimulant.

Its safety lay in its non-addictive nature, so it wasn’t classified as a narcotic.

Moreover, Irene had visited Bharat’s grandmother, Vanita, believing the elder would be reasonable. The dilemma of whether Bharat should give a transfusion to Prince Halufa had passed, but this time the purpose was different.

What impressed Irene most was Vanita’s clear and calm sense of right and wrong. In Vanita’s view, the primal blood flowing in Bharat’s veins could not be traded, but if it could aid scientific research and benefit humanity, that was another matter—it was permissible.

Irene pushed the shy Bharat toward Michael, smiling, “Here’s your idol, Michael Max.”

Bharat was so overwhelmed he couldn’t speak, his face flushed. Michael and Daphne greeted him warmly, dispelling the awkwardness. Irene got to the point.

“Michael, you’re both type A blood. Bharat agrees to transfuse blood to you, along with my biopharmaceutical. I am eager to see you and VESSEL fuse even more closely.”

Irene administered the biopharmaceutical to Michael, guiding him and Bharat to sit in two sharply reclining chairs.

A nurse inserted a needle into Bharat’s left arm vein for blood draw. Through a pressure device, the other needle was placed in Michael’s left arm vein.

Michael took a deep breath, pulled down the visor of his helmet, and activated the connection with VESSEL. Daphne observed that as Michael and VESSEL tackled the same questions as before, their thinking accelerated markedly; results flooded the screen in an instant. The previously stalled question reappeared.

Within the safe range, can Mars be guaranteed safe, with no possibility of explosion?

There was an answer!

Absolute safety was unattainable—even within the safe range, the probability of Mars exploding was one in a million. To Daphne, even the slightest risk was unacceptable.

Daphne noticed Michael’s thoughts shifting. The screen displayed the following:

“As my external brain, what proportion of consciousness does VESSEL extract from my mind? Or, with biopharmaceuticals and primal blood, how much does it augment my thinking power?”

“Only three percent of your brain’s neurons can be accessed, and I extract just two percent of that three percent.”

“That’s so little. We’ve maximized computational speed, used biopharmaceuticals and even primal blood. Is there any way to further increase the proportion of consciousness I can upload?”

Michael hoped to find a way to eliminate even the one-in-a-million risk of explosion, but clearly VESSEL still couldn’t provide the answer.

The cursor flashed on the screen; Daphne’s heart tightened—had it stalled again?

A few seconds later, she saw the following text:

“The underlying architecture of existing computers isn’t advanced enough. Logical reasoning doesn’t match the natural habits of the human brain.”

“Underlying architecture—hardware or software?” Michael pressed.

“Neither. It’s an issue of numerical base systems,” VESSEL replied.

&

Stamped anthology poem:

Unskilled, unconcerned, speed is slow. Qing, Hongli
Clearly, creation is secretly assisted. Ming, Wang Zhen
Great autumn calculations rival Heaven. Song, Hu Su
Changes bring unknown transformations. Qing, Xu Fang