Chapter 23 (Flat on My Back 1): The Balance Sheet

65 million years ago, Venus

The third year after the Sedna satellite exploded due to the Saturn Superwave Power Station, a colossal mass of ice, nearly a million kilometers in diameter and centered on Saturn, orbited the Sun, slowly approaching the line connecting Xiuyuan Fourteen and the Sun.

Jupiter, revolving faster than Saturn, was catching up from behind. A spectacular celestial event seen only once in a thousand years was about to occur—the conjunction of four stars: Xiuyuan Fourteen, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Sun, aligned in a single line, presenting the strongest barrier to superwaves and thus the greatest influence on solar activity.

Could the coplanar alignment of stars and giant planets truly block superwaves and affect solar phenomena like sunspots and flares? After years of observation, Venusian scientists had repeatedly verified this and were convinced it was true.

Did superwaves exist—waves of immense speed, vast wavelength, and capable of carrying tremendous energy? The superwave power stations on Venus’s Tower Island and Sedna satellite were undeniable proof of their reality.

The gravitational force a planet receives depends on how much energy it displaces. If the ambient energy around the planet remains unchanged, its revolution and rotation will stay stable.

If, within the stable structure of the solar system, a planet such as Saturn suddenly increases in size, wrapped by a massive ice cluster, dramatically altering its blockage of superwaves, would the revolution and rotation speeds of other planets change as well?

Venusian scientists did not know the answer.

Nikola Tesla’s gravitational theory held that change was inevitable. Saturn’s gigantic ice cluster acted as a lens, focusing diffracted superwaves onto Jupiter.

Jupiter, absorbing more superwave energy, would disrupt its energy balance, triggering stronger internal nuclear reactions. The energy it emitted would increase, accelerating its movement toward the Sun, tightening its orbit and gradually drawing it closer.

Even if Tesla’s gravitational theory was correct, would this four-star conjunction have direct and significant consequences for Venus?

As Saturn and Jupiter gradually aligned with Xiuyuan Fourteen, the effect Venusian scientists, including Tesla himself, most dreaded began to unfold.

Observations revealed that almost every day, a newly formed sunspot on the Sun faced Venus, a phenomenon not observed from Mercury, Earth, or Mars.

Dean Abbott pointed to nearly a month’s worth of sunspot observation data and asked Tesla,

“Nikola, our findings show that only the blocking relationship of giant planets triggers significant new sunspots. Venus’s own blockage shouldn’t have such a big impact. Why do the new sunspots always face Venus?”

Tesla connected to his external brain via a lightning sphere. After a moment, he answered Abbott, his face crestfallen:

“It’s a simple geometric problem we all overlooked. The ratio of Saturn’s distance to the Sun and Venus’s distance to the Sun precisely matches the ratio of the superwave wavelength to Venus’s diameter. Saturn’s massive ice cluster acts as a giant lens, and Venus lies exactly at the focal point.”

Abbott instantly grasped the principle and exclaimed, “Superwaves diffract through Saturn’s lens and are completely blocked at Venus’s focal point, creating an energy void at the Sun’s relative position. This explains why enormous sunspots always face Venus.”

Dean Abbott was a meticulous scientist. For decades, he had cataloged the relationships between the planets and solar activity, and all the seemingly bizarre correlated events, seeking to validate Tesla’s superwave theory. He recalled a previously observed anomaly and asked,

“Enormous sunspots produce intense flares. If the solar wind blows directly toward Venus or Earth, it slows their rotation.”

Nikola Tesla looked at his learned and wise old friend, and replied helplessly,

“New sunspots continuously facing Venus greatly reduce the energy Venus expels, causing its rotation speed to drop abruptly.”

On Venus, where Tesla lived, the rotation period was about twenty-four hours, almost identical to Earth and Mars.

Venus had a population of about six billion, forty percent of whom were religious, while ninety-nine percent believed in science—or at least trusted the common sense gained from experience.

When common sense was shattered, a day was no longer twenty-four hours, and the interval from sunrise to sunset grew ever longer.

The changes wrought by the Tower Island power station—uplifted plateaus, receding seas, air pollution, food shortages—had caused widespread anxiety among the Venusians.

But most did not see these as insurmountable crises and felt no urgent need to flee Venus. It was the ever-slowing passage of time that truly sparked panic.

The Venusian Alliance government tried to downplay previous crises for stability's sake. But this was different—the slowing rotation of Venus was something everyone could feel.

The temperature gap between day and night began to widen: hot by day, cold by night. Fear spread contagiously; more and more people had to admit it was time to consider abandoning Venus.

Little Cynthia’s mother, Venu, had never broken Venusian law and thus was not exiled; she had voluntarily accompanied the exiled clone child Cynthia to Earth. Last month, she returned to her small fishing village on Venus to visit her husband, Brahma.

With Venus’s rotation slowing and day-night temperature extremes intensifying, the pre-dawn hours brought howling winds and outdoor temperatures plunging below minus forty degrees, bitterly cold. Venu urged her husband to leave Venus and join Cynthia on Earth.

The couple packed their belongings and made their way to the spaceship launch site. The spacious, empty hall was packed with people. Calls rang out from the crowd: to Mars, to Earth—anywhere, as long as they could escape Venus quickly.

Venu was told that her passenger ship between Venus and Earth had been requisitioned by the Alliance government, and all civilian flights from Venus to Earth and Mars were canceled.

Venu was beside herself with grief—not only worried about her and her husband’s situation, but also about Cynthia on Earth, who would be heartbroken not to see her mother. Brahma comforted her and guided her out of the hall.

Night had fallen, the long, cold darkness was descending, so the couple decided to find a small hotel in the city for the night, returning to their fishing village the next day.

Electricity use was rationed among city residents. Streetlights were off, and outside the hotel window, darkness reigned. In the dim room, the couple huddled close together.

Venu clung to her husband: “Darling, it’s so dark—I’m scared, hold me, I’m cold.”

Brahma gently brushed her hair, murmuring, “Don’t be afraid, my love. I’m here. I will always be with you.”

Confronted with such radical change, a profound sense of sorrow and helplessness welled up within Venu. She turned on an old, low-power computer and logged into a well-known social platform.

The platform was in chaos: pleas for help, angry rants, but mostly discussions about how to escape Venus. Brahma joined her, pointing to a comment:

“Venu, look at this. It says supposedly the scientists ruined us all. Curiosity is essentially greed, and ultimately it will destroy all Venusians.”

Venu and her husband took up the topic, venting their suppressed frustration, one remark after another. Thinking of Cynthia far away on Earth, Venu—once an accountant—typed rapidly, posting her thoughts:

“Venusian Human Balance Sheet”

We, the people of Venus, once created a brilliant civilization, and are now about to pay a terrible price.

We believe in science, discover laws, and thus greatly satisfy our desires and curiosity.

But before the immense power of nature, humanity is so small and so presumptuous.

Venus was our beautiful home. The voracious power demands of artificial intelligence models are dragging Venus into an endless inferno.

The scientists I know tell me that Jupiter is moving closer to the Sun, and Mars and Earth are no longer safe havens.

Are we ignorant, or simply too fond of knowledge? The price is the destruction of Venus, perhaps the entire solar system!

Isn’t it said: every loan must have a repayment, assets and liabilities are always balanced?

On the path of exploring and transforming nature, we won one milestone after another.

But what has this endless so-called progress truly brought us? And what have we lost?

Is it only when humanity is destroyed and the solar system collapses

that we will obtain a balanced, but entirely zeroed, balance sheet?

When the judgment of fate arrives, who can we rely on? Will we still believe in miracles?

&

Collected verse:

Broken sounds follow broken winds. — Tang, Zhao Gu

Four stars shine gently in the purple palace. — Song, Su Shi

Waves surge across the vast universe. — Song, Wang Anshi

Drifting on the blue waves with playful fishermen. — Tang, Liu Yuxi