Chapter 9 (The Great Rift Valley I): The Snow of Kilimanjaro

65 million years ago, Victoria Wetlands on Earth

Rain comes swiftly and leaves just as quickly along the equator, and after the downpour, a rainbow arcs across the sky. The Victoria Wetlands glimmer with golden light, shrouded in a delicate mist.

Seated around an outdoor table were Nikola Tesla, Abbott, and Maria.

Maria, sleepless and anxious after learning about Venus’s impending crisis, asked, “You say we need to relocate the human population of Venus to Mars and Earth, but Venus has six billion people. How will we transport them, and to which specific places suitable for human habitation?”

Abbott looked up, face solemn. “Our difficulties are countless, but ultimately, transportation and settlement are the two most important challenges.”

He glanced at Tesla, sighed softly, and added, “How many people can we move, who goes first, who follows—let the politicians of Venus handle these questions. Our main task is to find and develop settlements on Earth and Mars.”

Nikola Tesla gazed into the distance, toward the vast marshes, and said, “I’m not the only clever mind on Venus. The reason we chose this expanse of wetland as the exile site for Venusian humans is because, for now, it is the most suitable place for their survival on Earth.”

He withdrew his gaze and, after a moment’s thought, continued, “The main reason is that these wetlands effectively shield us from dinosaur attacks. It can sustain tens of thousands, but it cannot support billions.”

“Don’t keep us guessing, Nikola. Haven’t you already devised a plan to reshape Earth’s geography?” Abbott pressed.

With the aid of the high-energy, high-speed connector “Lightning Sphere,” Tesla’s compatibility with his external brain had reached new heights. The external brain was not omnipotent, but for gathering information, processing data, and providing optimal plans, it far surpassed the human mind. With its assistance, Tesla developed a plan for transforming Earth.

The external brain’s “thinking” differed greatly from human reasoning; its proposals rested on what it considered proper moral standards—for example, Venusian humans had no right to drive dinosaurs to extinction.

Marshlands offered little food for dinosaurs; their massive bodies risked entrapment, and even flying pterosaurs rarely visited due to the scarcity of prey. Unfortunately, these swamps were equally unsuited to Venusian humans.

The failure of the super-lightwave power station on Venus’s Tower Island had given Tesla another idea: the station’s surplus heat could be injected deep into the planetary crust, causing magma surges, mantle uplift, intensified tectonic movement, and surface elevation—turning plains and wetlands into plateaus and mountain ranges.

Tesla’s external brain proposed a solution that balanced all interests. On Venus, scarcity of commercial land had prompted widespread reclamation of sea for farmland. Venusian land was limited, and most of it was already owned.

According to Venusian law, approved land reclamation followed the principle “whoever creates, uses.” This regulation was both legally and logically sound.

The external brain’s specific plan for transforming Earth was to turn a stretch of ocean into land for Venusian immigrants. Other regions of Earth would still have vast oceans, so marine life would not face extinction. As for dinosaurs, their original terrestrial “residence rights” would remain unaffected.

Of course, dinosaurs who trespassed into the new Venusian settlements would be driven away or even killed—this would not cause dinosaur extinction and clearly aligned with Venusian law and ethics.

“Land reclamation from the sea—an interesting idea, Nikola. Which ocean on Earth are you targeting?” Abbott asked, opening a holographic map of Earth.

Nikola Tesla pointed at a long blue band representing the ocean, situated between the plates Venusian humans called “Eurasia” and “Indo-Australia.” Because Venus had an ocean named Tethys, Venusians referred to this terrestrial ocean as the “New Tethys Sea.”

“My plan is to establish two super-lightwave power stations on Earth. The larger one will be built on a volcanic island in the New Tethys Sea,” Tesla said, indicating a small black dot in the sea. “In decades, with the two major plates converging and compressing, the crust will rise, sea will recede, and the ocean will vanish entirely, giving rise to vast land and the highest mountains and peaks on Earth.”

Maria was astonished by this incredible scheme and asked, “You mentioned two super-lightwave power stations. Where will the other be built?”

Tesla grinned with childlike secrecy and pointed to the towering space elevator nearby. “Right here. The space elevator stands over ninety thousand kilometers tall. If we double its height to one hundred eighty thousand kilometers, using only a small amount of carbon fiber tubing, its station would have far less power than the one in the New Tethys Sea.”

Abbott immediately grasped Tesla’s intent, but a new question arose. “You aim to turn this wetland into a plateau, making it more suitable for mass Venusian habitation—but how will you keep out the dinosaurs?”

Tesla laughed and gestured to the plate of bread Maria had baked. “Abbott, have you ever made bread? This loaf is domed in the center with a smooth surface, but there are two deep cracks flanking the center. I’ll use these two rift valleys to block the dinosaurs.”

Maria immediately understood and exclaimed, “You want to mimic my bread-making—adjusting temperature so that, while forming the plateau, its sides burst open, creating two deep rift valleys.”

“The New Tethys Sea is vast. Whatever landscape the new land takes, Venusians can make good use of it. Just build a high-powered station and let nature take its course. This wetland is different—its underground rock structure is complex and borders dinosaur habitats. We must proceed carefully, let the change unfold gradually, like baking bread with repeated temperature adjustments.”

Nikola Tesla was a physicist and a genius engineer, but he knew life’s emergence and proliferation depended on biology. Fortunately, his girlfriend Maria was Venus’s leading biologist. Abbott recognized the importance and said, “Nikola and I are just brute laborers. If we have the power to alter the landscape with super-lightwave energy, let our great biologist state her requirements from the perspective of life.”

So Maria, from her professional standpoint, outlined the ideal landscape for biological propagation.

Venusian humans are omnivores, with crops as their main food source. The best terrain for agriculture is alluvial plains, so the first requirement is a long freshwater river, with abundant rainfall or snow-capped glaciers at its source.

In Maria’s view, the eastern and western rift valleys would not only block dinosaurs but also bring vast numbers of microorganisms from the shallow crust to the surface, making this area a cradle for biodiversity.

On Earth, the dominant plants would shift from gymnosperms to angiosperms, better suited for the survival and evolution of mammals.

Abbott and Tesla envisioned the future landscape of the wetlands: the swamps would become a plateau of accumulated magma. Equatorial rains would create many dammed lakes, the largest of which could be named “Lake Victoria.”

The lakes on the plateau would gather and flow north to lower terrain, forming a long river whose mouth would lie in the residual waters west of the New Tethys Sea.

This remnant sea, between what Venusians call the European and African plates, would be an inland sea—“the Mediterranean.”

The longest river on Earth could be named after Venus’s Nile, which dried up due to warming. In the future, Lake Victoria would be abundant and clear, forming the main stream of the Nile—this main branch could be called the “White Nile.”

Abbott counted on his fingers and asked Tesla, “Snow-capped mountains—this is the equator. To create glaciers that never melt, how high must the snow line be?”

“About 5,200 meters. Through the Lightning Sphere, the external brain calculated that intense volcanic activity would eventually create peaks nearly 6,000 meters high, making it the roof of the continent.”

“And what will you name this nearly 6,000-meter peak?”

Nikola Tesla’s mind recalled two words from the ancient Venusian Chaga language: one meaning difficult or impossible, the other referring to a long, arduous journey.

He spoke both words, and Maria said, “You’ll name the snow-capped mountain on Earth’s equator after Venusian humanity’s current plight?”

Abbott nodded in heartfelt agreement. “We Venusians are indeed that hard-pressed caravan—the Chaga word is: Kilimanjaro.”

&

A poem of gathered verses:

The prints of clogs where I once walked have faded, — Ming, Li Dongyang
Heavy quilts divide the warmth beside frozen valleys. — Qing, Cheng Jiu
The ancient snow remains through spring and summer, — Ming, Yang Shen
The regret of past years endures to this day. — Tang, Du Mu