Hot Wavelength

Chapter 5 (Equator 1): Oratorio

6500 million years ago, the ancient African continent on Earth

The spacecraft carrying Nikola Tesla successfully docked with the Earth Space Station, which is located in geosynchronous orbit 36000 kilometers above the Earth's equator.

On the busy Venus-Mars route, it served as a transit point and was affectionately known as "Midway" by the Venusians.

“Mr. Tesla, please go see Maria. We are short on time and can only give you six hours.” Colonel Felman waved his arm to the side and behind him, and a holographic projection screen magically appeared in front of Tesla. Felman pointed to the time displayed on the screen and said:
"Our spacecraft uses Venus time. As you know, Earth's rotation speed is slightly slower than Venus's, and a day on Earth is 15 minutes longer than a day on Venus. Please pay attention to the time and return on time."

Abbott opened the box containing the spacesuit and said to Tesla:

"Nikola, put it on quickly and take the space elevator down."

"A space elevator? You've made a breakthrough in carbon nanotube technology? And woven it into the 'rope' I'm talking about?" Tesla subconsciously looked up. "We're 36000 kilometers from Earth. To balance and taut the space elevator cables, you must have extended the structure upwards to over 9 kilometers, right?"

Abbott smiled mysteriously, patted Tesla on the shoulder, and said:
"Yes, over 9 kilometers, buddy. I know what you're thinking. If it were extended to 18 kilometers, this device could receive wavelengths beyond the light spectrum and become an energy source."

Tesla donned his spacesuit and entered the sealed capsule of the space elevator, thinking to himself, "18 kilometers, energy source, which is the superluminal power station." For the first time since waking up, he showed a knowing smile.

To avoid the lateral centrifugal force generated by the Earth's rotation, the space elevator could only be built near the Earth's equator. The Venusians found a large swampy wetland on the continent of Africa, which they named after them, where the Earth's equator happens to pass horizontally.

Because there are no tall plants here, dinosaurs rarely appear. The Venusians named this swamp "Victoria Wetlands" after their mythological goddess of hunting.

The sealed capsule came to a stop on the ground, the hatch opened, and two uniformed staff members came up to help Tesla take off his spacesuit. A woman stood opposite him, gazing at him intently.

“Maria, is it really you?” Tesla took a few quick steps, rushed forward, and hugged his beloved woman tightly.

Maria was born six years after Tesla, making her over a hundred years old. Fortunately, Venusian biotechnology has made leaps and bounds, so a Venusian over a hundred years old is considered to be in their prime, and most of them look only in their forties or fifties before the genetic revolution.

Maria herself is a genetic biologist. Standing in front of Tesla, her appearance is unchanged, almost exactly as Tesla remembered her from 86 years ago.

Maria had long hair, a round face, fair skin, and a slightly plump figure. Her bright, lively eyes blinked, revealing the wisdom of an intellectual woman and the motherly kindness that Tesla claimed to possess.

Whenever this topic came up, Maria would playfully punch Tesla's shoulder with her small fist, scolding him affectionately:

"She's still a young girl, what do you mean by kind? Do I look that old?"

After the passionate kiss, Tesla cupped Maria's face in his hands, examining her closely. With a sense of foreboding, he didn't know whether he hoped or not to find even the slightest trace of melancholy in Maria's eyes.

Maria's expression was joyful and peaceful, and there was no trace of sadness in her clear eyes.

“Maria, what are you doing on Earth? Isn’t this our Venusian exile?” Tesla couldn’t help but ask.

Maria pulled Tesla down to sit and began to tell him her story.

Maria graduated from Venus Union University with a PhD in bioengineering, where she conducted research on gene cloning technology. Her team has worked on everything from cloning mice to cloning sheep, and even cloning human organs.

Cloning human organs and tissues represents a medical leap for Venus, significantly extending the average lifespan of Venusians.

At the same time, some naturalistic human rights organizations and religious groups in Venusian society strongly opposed Maria's actions, and some media reporters fueled the flames, turning Maria into a "dark" scientist under the moral cudgel.

The bill to ban the cloning of human organs and tissues was hotly debated in the Venusian Alliance Parliament. In the end, the Alliance Supreme Court ruled that the technology of cloning human organs and tissues does not violate the Constitution, but should be restricted to use only when human life is endangered.

The Union Parliament subsequently passed the "Restriction Act on Cloning Human Organs and Tissues".

Maria has her own theory that Venusian humans have evolved too slowly to adapt to environmental changes and cannot keep up with the rapidly developing digital information age.

A more important reason is that the human intervention on the natural environment by Venusian inhabitants has completely disrupted the rhythm of human evolution, making artificial intervention using genetic engineering technology absolutely necessary. Tesla seemed to understand, and he looked directly at Maria and asked:
"So, you violated the restraining order and continued to engage in experimental and medical activities involving the cloning of human organs and tissues?"

Maria smiled mysteriously, a smirk playing on her lips, revealing an enigmatic expression. She changed the subject, saying to Tesla:

"You've never been to Earth before, have you? Let me show you around."

The Victoria Wetlands stretched as far as the eye could see, the tropical breezes salty and sticky, and outside, as Maria described, was a huge, open platform paved with wooden planks.

Tesla walked to the edge of the platform, held onto the guardrail, and looked around curiously.

In the distance, there seemed to be a large group of people busy with something. Maria handed Tesla a high-powered telescope and pointed in the direction of the crowd.

Through the high-powered telescope, Tesla first saw flocks of sheep in twos and threes, with what appeared to be many fawns among them. Then a human-shaped figure appeared in the telescope, dressed not in normal clothes, but in a strange black suit resembling a diving suit.

The man wore a gas mask-like helmet with protruding sections for his mouth and nose, and a tube attached to the back of the helmet, clearly indicating it was a respirator. Tesla moved his binoculars and spotted several more people dressed similarly. Tesla asked in surprise:

"Maria, who are they?"

“They are clones I created, and that’s why I was exiled to Earth with them,” Maria said calmly, though with a hint of embarrassment.

"Huh? Then why are they dressed like that? Do they have some kind of congenital physical defect?" Tesla asked.

Maria explained the situation regarding clones amidst Tesla's occasional clicking of his tongue.

Thirty years ago, Maria used stem cell and gene technology to directly clone a human body.

The cloning experiment was basically successful. The cloned human's physical characteristics and functions are no different from those of a human, except that the cloned human's respiratory system is not fully developed and requires the assistance of a respirator during strenuous activity.

The clones' vocal cords and the neural network system in their brains that controls language development are normal. Strangely, they cannot learn to speak, yet they seem to have collectively created a way of communicating through calls, similar to human singing.

“Nikola, what I find utterly baffling is that these clone friends are extremely sensitive to human music. Their interactions are like concerts, or even operas.”

As Maria spoke, she took a violin out of its case, tuned it, and then added, "Our Venusian pianos have 88 keys, spanning 11 octaves. I've measured it; my clone friend's cry can span a full 7 octaves, far exceeding that of humans."

Tesla was speechless for a moment, while Maria's piano music began, first as poetic and melodious, then as plaintive and sorrowful.

Tesla seemed to have heard both pieces of music before; a voice in his heart told him that one expressed the joy of love, and the other expressed the sorrow of love.

As if summoned by some force, the clones stopped what they were doing, removed their respirators, and gathered in small groups on a gentle grassy slope, some standing and some sitting.

So, songs rose and fell, including sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, tenors, and choruses.

Nikola Tesla held Maria's hand, closed his eyes, and became immersed in the song.

He suddenly realized that this beautiful melody came from the oratorio composed more than 200 years ago by the father of the Venus Symphony:

Genesis.

&
A poem composed of collected verses, in the style of Li Bai's "A Gift to Wang Lun":
Singing the Song of Youth Again for You, by Jiang Shiquan (Qing Dynasty)

All are the first sounds of humanity. (Sui Dynasty, Cui Tu)

Yet, leaning on the slow strings, I sing of parting sorrows; Song Dynasty, Yan Jidao
Half due to sorrow, half due to deep affection. —Chao Chongzhi, Song Dynasty
(End of this chapter)