Chapter 20 (Hot Jupiter II): The Frontier

October 2029, Rocket City, Sa State, Liang Country

Daphne and Michael had just returned to Rocket City from Jinsheng State. The two spent the weekend together, with Michael personally preparing breakfast: fried eggs and a vegetable salad. Daphne took a sip of her unsweetened coffee; its rich aroma carried a hint of bitterness, but her heart was filled with sweetness.

What an outstanding man, she thought to herself for what must have been the hundredth time. Though she considered herself an intelligent and radiant young woman, the depth of her connection and love with Michael had far surpassed anything she had ever imagined. Daphne felt she had been especially favored by fate, and secretly vowed to cherish this love.

The weather was pleasant. The two of them nestled together on a bench beneath the porch. Suddenly, something seemed to occur to Daphne, and she asked Michael, "Martha told me she learned a secret from her contacts: that Nikola Tesla’s sealed theories could create a super energy source. Have you heard of this?"

Michael straightened, turned slightly, and gazed into Daphne’s eyes. After a moment’s thought, he replied, "My dear Daphne, I have no secrets from you—neither in my personal life nor my business plans. But there are some things I am obliged to keep confidential, and so I cannot answer your question."

Daphne had only asked casually, but Michael’s response caught her off guard and made her sit up straighter. Was Martha telling the truth?

"As far as I know," she continued, "your company launched a probe targeting Enceladus. Is the goal to search for life beyond Earth?"

Michael Max understood that Daphne’s question was born of curiosity. The Enceladus probe had indeed been launched by a private company, and if the aim was to seek evidence of extraterrestrial life, there was nothing to hide.

But Michael knew well that the real purpose—whether it was his plan to build the first superwave power station on Enceladus, or Professor Braun’s experiments designed to test Nikola Tesla’s gravity theory—was subject to strict confidentiality. He could not tell Daphne.

So, instead of answering directly, Michael steered the conversation toward the broader theme of life beyond Earth. He spoke of carbon-based organisms, composed of organic molecules, and posed the question: where did these organics come from?

Recent research had shown that the essential materials for life, such as amino acids and proteins, may have come to Earth aboard comets—meaning organics were neither unique nor native to our planet.

Other celestial bodies that also harbored organics included comets and asteroids in the asteroid belt, as well as Europa and Enceladus. Scientists had detected phosphorus in the spectral emissions from Enceladus, strongly suspecting that life might exist beneath its icy shell.

If Earth was not special, and if organics—or even life itself—were widespread throughout the solar system, then the next question was: is the solar system special? The Milky Way contains hundreds of billions of stars; are the building blocks of life just as widespread there?

In the face of the vast cosmos, humanity’s technology and observational capabilities remain extremely limited. Not only is evidence of extraterrestrial life scarce, but even the discovery of exoplanets has only yielded just over five thousand so far.

Yet, according to scientific estimates, the Milky Way alone could contain over a hundred billion planets.

To find “Earths” in the habitable zones of stars, Liang Country had launched the K Space Telescope, targeting a region 1,500 light-years from Earth. In this swath of sky, over a thousand exoplanets had been discovered, and to everyone’s surprise, most were far larger than Earth—even larger than Jupiter.

Astronomers had to switch from using Earth’s radius as the standard for comparison to using Jupiter’s. That is, exoplanet sizes were now measured in units of Jupiter.

Why were the discovered planets all so large? Scientists explained it was due to selection bias: with the same observational capabilities, larger planets are simply easier to detect.

Yet another, more troubling anomaly emerged: these exoplanets orbit very close to their parent stars. Their “Jupiters” practically hug their “Suns.”

Jupiter orbits the Sun at 5.2 astronomical units—over 700 million kilometers away—while most exoplanets found are closer to their stars than Mercury is to our Sun.

Some have semi-major axes of only a few million kilometers, resulting in surface temperatures that can exceed 2,000 degrees. Astronomers called these giant, scorching worlds “hot Jupiters.”

This led back to the same question: is our solar system special?

If the prevailing pattern is for planets to be larger than Jupiter and orbit close and hot to their stars, then our own Jupiter’s distant orbit—along with the asteroid belt, Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury on the inside—is atypical. Was this an accident, or the result of some unique physical mechanism?

What force kept our Jupiter from migrating toward the Sun? Was it merely luck?

As Hawking once said, if humanity believes the Sun or Earth to be the center of the universe, it is hardly a humble view.

Daphne was convinced: the solar system is not unique!

She argued that the convenient distance of Jupiter created a wide habitable zone—there must be a rational physical mechanism, one that humans have yet to grasp.

Their discussion grew ever more animated. Daphne added, "The solar system, as a cradle for life, does seem rather special for now. Earth sits in the habitable zone, Jupiter is far away, separated by the asteroid belt and Mars. If Jupiter, like those exoplanets, were orbiting inside Mercury’s track, we wouldn’t just lack intelligent life—Earth itself would have long since been consumed by the Sun."

“In the face of the boundless universe, humans are truly insignificant,” Michael replied, taking Daphne by the hand and drawing her inside. “For those like me, driven by curiosity and action, every answer only brings a dozen new questions.”

On the wall, the television was broadcasting the morning news. One story in particular caught their attention, and Michael turned up the volume. The channel was Sky High News.

The face of Martha, Sky High’s chief investigative reporter, filled the screen. A news ticker scrolled across the bottom: "The Business of the Rich: Can Money Really Buy Everything?"

Martha reported that many of the world’s wealthiest individuals were using stem cells to maintain their health and prolong life.

Her investigation revealed that some recipients experienced immune rejection. To counteract this, the latest therapy involved transfusing "prime blood" from young donors.

“Prime blood” referred to healthy blood from people untainted by modern pharmaceuticals—typically young adults raised in remote, underdeveloped tribes. The transfusions were given to the same wealthy individuals who routinely injected themselves with costly stem cells.

Martha delivered a passionate address, posing a sharp moral question: can money truly buy everything? Can "prime blood" have a price tag?

She all but accused a certain tycoon from the Oil Kingdom of preparing for such a transaction.

Michael unconsciously squeezed Daphne’s hand. He recalled rumors he’d heard in the Oil Kingdom about Prince Halufa’s declining health—could it be linked to stem cell treatments and immune rejection?

Martha’s exposé didn’t seem baseless. Was the prince really planning to pay for "prime blood"? The very thought was hard to accept.

He turned to Daphne. “Though I’ve only met the prince once, I could sense that his moral character was as great as his wealth. I’d rather believe he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Daphne didn’t know Prince Halufa and fully agreed with Martha’s moral stance, but the news itself left her unmoved.

She viewed Martha’s reporting from a different angle than Michael. What struck her was Martha’s tenacity as a reporter—nothing escaped her notice.

As if reading her thoughts, Michael suddenly realized the extent of Martha’s skills and profession. He asked, “When you saw Martha the other day, besides talking about Tesla’s theory and my Enceladus mission, did she ask you anything else?”

Daphne thought carefully. “She also asked if my love for you had any limits—whether I’d support you no matter what. For example, if your experiment might blow up Saturn’s rings.”

&

Collected lines of poetry:

My love for you is like Junping’s gentle guidance.
With whom else could I share my heart?
How great the heavens and earth, giving rise to all things.
The grace I have received is immeasurable.