Hot Wavelength

Chapter 40 (Baby 2): Softly Speaking of Love
August 8, 2031, Liangguo Rocket City

Michael and Daphne's son is named Vito, the same name as Michael's father.

Time flies! Today is little Vito's first birthday. Daphne made a birthday cake by hand. She wrote birthday wishes on the soft and sweet cream of the cake and used strawberry jam to outline a red heart symbolizing love.

Michael made a point of going home early to celebrate his son's birthday. When he was younger, he was very handy and often spent time in the garage tinkering with new and interesting gadgets.

Although his skills had become rusty, it didn't dampen Michael's enthusiasm at all. He made a toy for his son—a large wooden model ship.

The ship's mast was made of carbon fiber tubing, and on the bow deck sat a strange, honeycomb-shaped container containing a few dehydrated corn kernels. Michael named this toy VESSEL, a word that means ship, vessel, and container.

As soon as Michael entered the house, he heard Daphne calling out to little Vito with great enthusiasm, "Mommy, Mommy."

Vito, nestled in his mother's arms, tilted his large head back, a smile playing on his chubby little face. His rosy cheeks puffed out, and between his parting lips, he uttered a sound: "Mama, Mama..."

Daphne was overjoyed, hugging and kissing Vito repeatedly. Michael also came over, encouraging his son with anticipation: "Daddy, Daddy, call Daddy."

Little Vito smiled innocently, blinked his big eyes, and after holding it in for a while, called out again, "Mommy."

Michael was a little disappointed. He took his son from Daphne, lifted him high above his head, and then quickly bent down to put the child down at knee height. Vito seemed to enjoy the process of repeatedly lifting and lowering the child, laughing loudly.

After playing with toys and eating cake, little Vito, in his extraordinary excitement, finally lay down in his crib and drifted off to sleep.

The parents tiptoed out of Vito's room, and Michael quietly closed the door.

Daphne asked, "How's your brain-computer interface project going? Weren't you supposed to do another upgrade in the next couple of days?"

"It's going relatively smoothly, but progress is slow. Brain-computer interface seems to have hit a bottleneck. Simply piling up hardware and accumulating experience data doesn't seem to be enough," Michael said. "VESSEL pointed out that the underlying architecture of existing computers is not compatible with human brain thinking habits, and my team and I haven't figured it out yet."

“Do you remember that big envelope Eileen gave you? It was Captain Mirov’s Mayan notebook. I have a feeling that modern computing architecture might be inspired by Mayan astronomy and mathematics,” Daphne said.

"When they gave me the envelope, they said that Eileen said Mirov wanted to open it 52 years later. I think we should respect the author of the notebook, and thankfully the time will be up in two weeks."

To better care for Vito, Daphne took a long leave of absence from the Bright Nation Space Agency project team where she worked.

She promised Mr. E that she would complete the risk assessment report on Michael's plan to use superluminal waves to terraform Mars as soon as possible while she stayed at home. One of the important reasons why the members of the T Project Committee trusted Daphne was that they greatly appreciated her proposed Martian explosion hypothesis.

“Daphne, it’s been over a year. Have you finished your risk assessment report? Can you give me some information?” Michael asked.

Daphne immediately became serious and said, "That won't do. The evaluation report is independent of your project and can only be submitted directly to the T Project Committee. It cannot be disclosed to you."

In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Daphne used her index finger to scoop a piece of cream from the birthday cake and unexpectedly smeared it on Michael's face. The two playfully hugged each other. The small room was filled with the sweetness and warmth of home.

Vito's crying startled the two of them. Daphne sprang up as if she had a spring in her body and rushed into Vito's room. Michael followed closely behind and saw that Vito's two legs were kicking wildly, his whole body seemed to be convulsing, and white foam was coming out of his mouth.

Daphne frantically picked up Vito and said to Michael, "What's wrong? Is the child having a nightmare? Should we take him to the hospital right away?"

Michael calmed himself down, rushed into the bathroom, and grabbed a small, damp towel. He folded the towel, warmed it with his hands to keep it warm, and gently placed it on Vito's forehead. Daphne carefully wiped Vito's mouth clean and gently stroked her son's back.

Vito gradually stopped crying, opened his eyes, gurgled in his throat, and after exhaling with difficulty, slowly returned to his normal expression.

"I was so scared! Let's go to the hospital right away," Daphne asked Michael.

Michael thought for a moment and said to Daphne, "My VESSEL has intelligent medical assistance functions. We can try it on Vito first, and then go to the hospital." Daphne held Vito in her arms and sat him in a chair. Michael lowered the output power of the VESSEL, reduced the size of the helmet, and carefully put it on Vito's head. Whether it was out of curiosity or because his mother's embrace made him feel safe, Vito did not cry or fuss.

Michael placed the external monitor in front of Daphne, then moved behind her and stared intently at the screen with her.

The screen first displayed Vito's electroencephalogram (EEG). To Michael and Daphne's surprise, Vito was awake, and his brainwaves should have been dominated by relatively high-frequency beta and alpha waves, rather than delta waves with a frequency of 0.5-1 Hz.

It was strange; different brainwaves representing wakefulness, light sleep, and deep sleep were appearing on the screen simultaneously. Daphne suddenly remembered that two years ago, when the Lingguang probe approached Psyche, weren't the electromagnetic waves it received similar?

Michael activated VESSEL's intelligent medical assistance function, and the screen displayed the diagnosis: "No abnormalities were found in the brain structure, but there is a dense concentration of neurons in a local area, suggesting abnormal electrical activity, which may lead to intermittent complications such as epilepsy. Please go to the hospital for a professional diagnosis."

Daphne slumped back in her chair as if struck by lightning. Michael gently supported Daphne's shoulder with one hand and tenderly stroked Vito's body with the other.

He gently comforted Daphne, saying, "We definitely have to go to the hospital. But have you noticed? Vito seems to be able to establish a connection with VESSEL very easily. You tried before but failed. Could it be that Vito has a special talent?"

Daphne also suddenly realized this situation, and guessing the reason, she said:
“Vito is your biological son, and he shares most of your genes and even brain structure, making him more adaptable to VESSEL, who was trained by you.”

Michael thought Daphne's words made a lot of sense, and he felt it was necessary to test it further. He had never tried what would happen if two people connected to VESSEL at the same time before, so he put on another helmet and connected himself to the external brain as well.

The brainwaves of father and son merged into VESSEL. As Michael cautiously and slowly increased the output power, Daphne nervously observed Vito's physical reactions. The child was perfectly normal, his little hands gently clinging to his mother's arm, seemingly quite content.

With the power adjusted, Michael entered a meditative state. The cursor blinked on the screen, and text flowed, line by line, appearing before Daphne's eyes:

Speak my love softly, hold me tight, our hearts are connected.
Semantic sensing, a gentle, trembling moment.

In that world that belonged only to the two of us,

Share experiences that no one else can match.

The sun warms the fine wine of time.
We became one, blending into the blue velvet night.

Speak your love softly, so that only the sky can hear it.

Entrust this life, promise this lifetime.
Our vow of love.

My life belongs to you, because...

You whispered "I love you" and came before me.

Daphne was very familiar with these lyrics; wasn't this the theme song from that classic movie, "Speak Softly Love"?

Daphne didn't know, nor did she have time to think, whether the lyrics she output were a reflection of Michael's consciousness, Vito's, or a reflection of the shared consciousness of the father and son.

Perhaps, just as the lyrics say, in that world of brain-computer interface, there are only the father and son. Their thoughts and ideas have already merged into one through the slightest tremor of their senses.

Vito's successful connection with Vessel did not bring joy to his parents. Michael took off his helmet and faced Daphne, knowing that their concerns were now exactly the same: Vito's illness.

"epilepsy".

&
The poem composed of collected verses at the end of the chapter:
Movement without stillness, nature in harmony; Song Dynasty, Zhao Bian
Our hearts and minds are of one mind. — Jia Zhongming (Yuan Dynasty)
How many people have ever been as handsome as you? — Tang Dynasty, Wang Zun
I now believe that youth should not be wasted on public service. — Li Tao, Song Dynasty

(End of this chapter)