Chapter 11 (Fire Moon 1): Blood Vessels

65 million years ago, Victoria Wetlands, Earth

Last night, Nikola Tesla and Maria barely slept, holding each other tightly as if they could never say enough. After more than eighty years apart, their reunion was precious beyond measure.

Their breakfast with Abbott was a late one, nearly noon by the time it ended. Seated around the table, Abbott spoke:
"Last night I kept thinking about your Earth terraforming plan. It makes sense. Now, tell me about your Martian proposal."

Tesla pondered for a moment before replying, "On Venus's equator, we raised a tower 180,000 kilometers high. Injecting super-wave energy caused the crust to bulge. We did this on Earth to alter the landscape, but on Mars, it's not feasible."

Abbott nodded, "Right, Mars is the first foothold for Venusian humans in your plan. The Venusian experience taught us that erecting super-wave power stations on a planet’s equator triggers intense geological activity, severely affecting human survival."

Maria said, "Nikola, don’t you have the external brain connected by the Lightning Sphere? It can help you think deeper."

"The Lightning Sphere isn’t omnipotent," Tesla replied. "It’s based on big data and logical reasoning. It only accelerates my thought process and gives me more options and decisions."

"The external brain is more rational than the human mind. Most of the time, it guides me to optimal choices, but sometimes my thinking gets stuck on a phrase or even a single word."

Abbott pressed, "Are you saying the optimal solution for the Martian power station is stuck on a word?"

"Yes, the word is VESSEL. It means container, but I can't see how a container relates to the Martian power station plan."

"VESSEL isn’t just a container," Abbott replied. "I’m in medicine—Blood Vessel means vein or artery. Doctors sometimes use VESSEL to refer directly to blood vessels, but more precisely, it’s the conduit for nutrients in animals and plants, also known as a vascular channel."

VESSEL, vascular channel? How did this relate to the Martian super-wave power station? Tesla and Abbott fell into deep thought, shaking their heads in frustration.

The weather was clear, the sun hanging bright and white overhead. Suddenly, the shadow of the moon intruded upon the sun’s round disk; a rare annular solar eclipse was beginning.

"A solar eclipse? Neither of you astronomers gave me any warning. Will it turn into a total eclipse?" Maria asked Tesla and Abbott.

The three craned their necks to watch. Abbott, scholarly, explained to Maria.
Due to the coincidence of distances and apparent sizes between the moon, Earth, and the sun, when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, it can perfectly cover the sun, causing an eclipse.
If the moon is closer to Earth, it blocks the sun completely, resulting in a total eclipse. If it’s farther, it appears as if the moon is set within a glowing ring, forming an annular eclipse.

Tesla remained silent, as if struck by inspiration. Suddenly, he spoke to Abbott, seemingly out of nowhere:
"I understand now. If we embed Mars within an energy ring, that is the optimal solution for the Martian super-wave power station."

Tesla offered no further explanation. He hurriedly kissed Maria goodbye, grabbed Abbott, and strode toward the space elevator, speaking as he went:
"Abbott, let’s go to Mars right now."

Near Mars orbit, Tesla and Abbott’s spacecraft circled Mars at five kilometers per second.

"The Venusian lesson taught us not to build the power station directly on the equator’s surface. If that’s a contact-type station, the best solution must be a non-contact power station. Enclose Mars non-contactly with a circular structure in space."

Abbott, a top physicist, immediately grasped the idea. "Exactly. Build a closed ring above Mars’s equator. If the ring’s diameter reaches 180,000 kilometers, it can serve as a super-wave power station. Excess heat won’t enter the ground, so tectonic activity won’t be triggered."

Tesla and Abbott eagerly discussed the plan—constructing a closed ring structure in Mars’s outer space, like assembling a colossal space station. Technically, it was feasible.

But if, like a space station, the ring was built mainly from metal, the amount required for a ring 180,000 kilometers in diameter would be astronomical. Was there a better way?

"Abbott, we could weave hollow tubes from carbon nanotube fibers, seal them into a ring, and fill them with water—like soft fire hoses," Tesla suggested.

This closed ring tube, 180,000 kilometers in diameter, would fully absorb the super-wave’s wavelength. The structure would generate heat inside, driving water to circulate within the walls. The conversion of thermal and kinetic energy would produce electricity, creating a super-wave power station.

Tesla suddenly realized: tubes—energy generating and transmitting tubes. Wasn’t this the answer his Lightning Sphere external brain had offered? VESSEL, vascular channel.

Vascular super-wave power station!

Abbott raised another issue, "Nikola, even if the vascular power station is built and generates huge amounts of electricity, how will you deliver it to Mars’s surface? If it can’t reach Mars, it’s useless for Venusian humans."

Tesla laughed heartily. "Don’t forget, I invented alternating current and was the first to propose and verify wireless power transmission."

Abbott immediately understood—it was indeed possible. He recalled the tens of thousands of artificial satellites still populating Venus’s near-Earth orbit—the Star Array satellites, a commercial company’s wireless internet system covering all of Venus.

On Venus, anyone anywhere could connect their phone to the Star Array satellites and surf the net freely. In the future, Venusian humans could likewise receive power wirelessly anywhere on Mars, even charge their phones.

Abbott thought of another issue: the vascular ring, 180,000 kilometers in diameter, floating in space, would orbit Mars under Martian gravity.

But without a stable anchor point, the ring and Mars would shift relative to each other, possibly collide, and the ring would be hard to stabilize.

Tesla didn’t answer immediately, instead directing Abbott to look out the spacecraft window. Outside, a white dot appeared—that was Mars’s only moon, what Venusian humans called "Mars Moon."

Abbott, familiar with the solar system’s astronomical data, exclaimed,
"Nikola, you’re a genius! Mars Moon is 90,000 kilometers from Mars, its orbital plane aligns with Mars’s equator, and its eccentricity is almost zero. It can serve as the anchor point—its orbit is the closed ring for the vascular station, and it’s stable, won’t shift."

"Once the vascular super-wave power station is built, Mars will have abundant and stable electrical resources. Nikola, you truly are a genius!" Abbott praised.

"Abbott, do you remember my lunar mass anomaly experiment proposal?" Tesla asked.

Abbott had long noticed Mars’s gravity was less than Venus’s; Venusian humans felt light and awkward on Mars’s surface.

According to Tesla’s gravity theory, a star body is a radiation source; its surface radiation temperature and energy intensity are relatively fixed. Its output radiation flux and peak wavelength are also fixed accordingly.

Tesla, through mathematical derivation, showed gravity is proportional to the product of energy intensity and peak frequency-determined radiation flux.

On Mars’s surface, given constant energy intensity, changing the peak radiation wavelength alters the output radiation flux. This was precisely Tesla’s aim in designing the lunar "mass anomaly" experiment.

The vascular super-wave power station would emit strong, extremely low-frequency long-wave radiation. Mars would absorb this, causing its peak radiation wavelength to shift significantly toward the red, i.e., longer waves. Mars’s equatorial surface gravity would increase dramatically. The mechanism was identical to the lunar "mass anomaly."

Increasing gravity without increasing planetary mass—just by changing the peak radiation wavelength?

Abbott was skeptical, but recalled that in recent years, Venusian spacecraft passing close above Earth’s equator had repeatedly experienced sudden, abnormal increases in gravity. He thought, debate is pointless; best to wait for the lunar "mass anomaly" experiment results.

Abbott, returning to himself, reviewed Tesla’s plans for terraforming Earth and Mars. He felt his journey had not been in vain; the question of a Venusian foothold was finally answered.

But Abbott was troubled by another major issue. Transporting nearly six billion Venusian humans from Venus to Mars would require enormous resources and time—a nearly impossible task.

Even with military assistance, the Venusian Alliance government would face enormous challenges: how many could be evacuated, and who would go first?

Tesla seemed to read Abbott’s mind, patting his shoulder:
"You can’t move all six billion Venusian humans. If your plan stalls, find Maria. Maybe she’ll have a solution."

Abbott looked up, startled, meeting Tesla’s gaze:
"Maria—what solution could she possibly have?"

&

Inscribed poetic lines:

The cloud pavilion and jade terrace allow brief leisure. —Zhao Sicheng, Song Dynasty
Scarlet pouch and lock, jade linked rings. —Huang Tai, Song Dynasty
White rainbow flies, racing lightning’s flash. —Pu Shoucheng, Song Dynasty
Ten thousand acres of silver waves, gone in a moment. —Yang Wanli, Song Dynasty