Hot Wavelength

Chapter 12 (Great Rift Valley 2): Slipper Bread
In December 2029, Liangguo Sazhou Rocket City

Michael Max invites his girlfriend Daphne Braun to his home for the weekend. To avoid embarrassment, he comes up with a plausible reason: he wants to conduct an important scientific experiment with Daphne.

On the phone, Daphne asked curiously, "What kind of scientific experiment are you doing?"

Michael replied in a serious and deliberately solemn manner, "My dear Doctor of Astronomy, this experiment is closely related to your Martian explosion theory. It requires sophisticated electrical equipment and complex processes to complete. The experiment is called 'Baking Bread'."

Daphne giggled. She knew that the bread Michael was referring to was Italian ciappa bread, also known as "slipper bread" because of its cracked surface and slipper-like shape. A few days ago, Daphne had tried making it and mentioned it to Michael.

Toast? That's a really lame excuse for a date.

For Daphne, the reason didn't matter; she had already been drawn to the immense energy emanating from Michael.

Daphne firmly believed that true love is unconditional, and being with Michael was the happiest thing for her, without needing any reason.

Despite being the world's richest man, Michael Max's home appears quite shabby, consisting of a prefabricated house of less than 100 square meters that was erected in just three days on an empty lot.

The two began their important scientific experiment.

The sophisticated electrical equipment Michael mentioned was actually an old-fashioned electric oven, but the complex manufacturing process he described was true.

The process of kneading and proofing the dough, wrapping each dough ball in plastic wrap to retain moisture, and baking is extremely complicated and requires precise control of temperature and steam humidity.

Preheat the oven to 260 degrees Celsius. Place the baking pan containing the dough and another baking pan containing water inside. The water-filled pan will create steam. After baking for 30 seconds, open the oven door, spray water, and reduce the oven temperature to 230 degrees Celsius. Repeat the baking process.

When the dough is heated, it expands; when it is cooled, it shrinks; when it is heated again, it expands again; when it is cooled again, the hard crust on the surface will crack open, forming deep valley-like patterns, much like a slipper.

“Daphne, your Martian burst hypothesis is very interesting. If Mars expands when heated and contracts when cooled, and this happens repeatedly, its outer shell will burst,” Michael said.

“Michael, you’re so perceptive. The principle behind the explosion of a spark and the formation of a slipper bread is the same,” Daphne said, leaning against Michael’s broad chest, their flour-covered aprons pressed together.

Through the transparent oven door, you can see the bread inside expanding and cracking open with a dull thud.

The bread was on the table, and the two were in high spirits. Daphne told Michael about her research and findings on the Martian landscape.

Mars has a surface elevation difference of over 20,000 meters, making it the planet with the greatest elevation difference in the solar system. However, because there is no strong plate tectonics on the surface of Mars, there are no folds on a large scale, and its surface can be described as smooth and flat.

Overall, Mars has only two types of terrain: flat plateaus and flat plains. On the plateaus are Olympus Mons and three smaller volcanoes arranged side by side to its southeast.

Along the southeastward extension of these four volcanoes lies a long canyon, stretching over 4000 kilometers, called Canyon of the Mariners, second only in length to the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

The Olympus Mons is situated at the junction of a plateau and a plain, with no transition zone, but rather an almost vertical cliff, with heights reaching hundreds or even thousands of meters.

The plains show numerous traces of water flow, but not the appearance of river impacts, indicating that Mars was once warm and wet, with vast oceans.

The rocks in the plateau and cliffs are only tens of millions of years old, while the plains, which were once the seabed, are over billions of years old.

The most perplexing is Mariner Valley on Mars, which was observed by Mariner 9 in 1972 and named after the spacecraft.

The Valles Marineris is over 4000 kilometers long, 300-600 kilometers wide, and 8 kilometers deep at its deepest point. Unlike the two arc-shaped East African Rift Valleys on Earth, the Valles Marineris is straight, with no mountains or folds on either side, just endless plains. How was it formed?
In the 70s, one theory suggested that Mariners Valley was formed by one or more floods, but this view was quickly refuted. Even a large flood would not have been enough to carve out such a wide and deep canyon, especially since there were no similar traces on either side of the canyon.

The prevailing view is that the Gorge of Mariners was formed by the collapse of the plains during the uplift of the Olympus Mons plateau.

The slipper bread experiment and the arc-shaped structure of the East African Rift Valley on Earth suggest that if the Martian plateau was uplifted due to geological movements, then the rift valley should have been distributed in an arc around it, and it is impossible for it to collapse and crack along a straight line in a fixed southeast direction. Moreover, it has cracked along this straight line for more than 4000 kilometers, which is longer than the radius of Mars.

There's another unsolved mystery about Mariners Valley: the numerous sedimentary layers discovered at the valley floor. Sedimentary layers are a common geological phenomenon, often forming at the bottom of lakes or as deposits of volcanic ash. Where did these additional sedimentary layers come from after Mariners Valley was formed?
Michael listened intently and asked, "According to your hypothesis, the plateaus on Mars were once land, and the plains were once the seabed. So how did Valles Marineris form?"

"I think Mariner Valley is caused by the flow of underground magma from a volcano, which cooled down and caused the ground to collapse. But what I don't understand is why the underground magma would flow in such a straight line."

The two fell silent. Suddenly, Michael's eyes lit up. He pulled Daphne up and said, "I can help you connect to my VESSEL. After brain-computer interface, it will help you think more deeply."

Michael led Daphne to the special chair, paused, and added, "My brain-computer interface project is still in the experimental stage. VESSEL, or non-contact external brain connector, was designed specifically for my brain. Although you have more expertise in Mars than I do, I don't know if you are compatible with VESSEL."

Daphne was eager to try, and jokingly said, "Let me give it a shot. If it doesn't work, consider it a failed bread-baking experiment."

Daphne relaxed, sat in the chair, put on the special helmet, and signaled Michael to turn on the equipment. The power continued to increase, and Daphne felt drowsy and dizzy.

She tried hard to concentrate and enter a meditative state. After a few minutes, Daphne helplessly raised her right hand, signaling Michael to turn off the phone.

Michael helped Daphne remove her helmet. Daphne slumped into a chair, closed her eyes tightly, and said weakly:

"I'm so dizzy, I can't think straight."

The experiment connecting Daphne Braun to VESSEL failed.

At night, Daphne's head rested on Michael's shoulder, her arms draped softly and naturally across his chest, her breathing even, deep in sleep.

Is this a dream? Daphne saw a beautiful planet with vast oceans, majestic mountains, one large and three small, and four volcanoes spewing fiery lava into the sky.

A jet of fire sometimes grows large and intense, sometimes shrinks and dims, just like the temperature in a bread oven, sometimes high and sometimes low. The planet's outer shell expands and cracks under the influence of these alternating hot and cold temperatures.

With a "crack," the landmass, along with mountains and lakes, shattered and flew off the planet's surface. The entire seabed, carrying seawater, was instantly splashed into the air and froze into ice. The remaining landforms of the planet became barren plateaus and flat plains.

The junction of the plateau and the plains left clean, vertical breaks, marking the original tectonic plates of the planet. The seabed, where underground magma flowed, collapsed with a deafening roar, forming a long canyon.

Some of the sedimentary structures that broke off from the bottom of the plateau lake fell back into the seafloor plains and canyons, and the planet lost its azure and verdant colors, slowly turning into an earthy red.

Michael's shoulder twitched, startling Daphne awake. Michael said softly:

"I'm sorry, I woke you up. I just had a dream."

Daphne snapped out of her reverie and asked in surprise, "You had a dream too? What did you dream about?"

“I dreamt that thin clouds were floating above Mariners Valley, and I was using a robotic arm deep inside a cabin in Mariners Valley to excavate ice from the rock,” Michael replied.

"Your dream was too realistic. There were ice blocks in the rock formations of Mariner Valley, and thin clouds in the Martian summer sky. These are all real. Didn't I tell you?"

Daphne rubbed her eyes and continued, "You told me you wanted to build a Martian survival base deep in Mariner Valley. What did you call that survival pod again?"

Michael replied, "Sailor Valley Capsules."

&
The poem composed of collected verses at the end of the chapter:
Long-lived believe in spirits, Tang Dynasty, Li Dong
To dream of seeing the form. (Song Dynasty, Li Liuqian)
Seeking the source in a secluded valley, by Ouyang Xiu (Song Dynasty)

Tide rises on the outdoor shore. (Song Dynasty, Xu Ji)

(End of this chapter)