Caesar's Diary (3)
Chapter Summary: The Alliance develops new colonies outside the Iliad Gate. Gratian successfully modifies the photosynthetic water bacteria invented by Phaethon.
And the outbreak of the Haiyingsen Revolution.
The "civil war" continued, with frequent riots across the country, and the Allied government constantly mobilizing troops and directing the suppression. But these things didn't affect our lives too much. It was just that sugar, butter, bread, meat, and fruit were becoming increasingly difficult to find on supermarket shelves; during this time, I started a vegetable garden in my backyard and grew vegetables in my spare time, so I didn't have to buy them from outside. Going out became less convenient because the number of bodyguards, or rather, the number of people monitoring me and Gratian, had increased. The Allied government suspended the research project on the New Human Project that I was in charge of, partly due to lack of funds, and partly to appease the fierce opposition within the country, demonstrating that the Allied government was still, in fact, a government of the citizens, and that the opinions of the citizens were still respected by the ruling party.
I had to take care of Gratian, so I wasn't drafted to the front. But Estravan reminded me not to be too complacent; my current peaceful life wasn't something I could take for granted.
"If I hadn't spoken up for you in parliament..."
"Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, thank you." I hate it when he says that. But he's increasingly enjoying talking to me about politics, interstellar situations, and the domestic situation of the Earth Alliance.
He is running for speaker of the Alliance Council; his opponent is the same man who previously supported my genetic experiments and advocated for a halt to research on photosynthetic water bacteria, now the incumbent speaker of the Alliance Council.
Estravan said, "The Iliad Gate is complete."
Oh. I've heard of this project. The Iliad Stargate is located on the key route connecting the Earth Alliance and colonies in various star systems. The Earth Alliance's main base is in the Solar System, but humanity's sphere of influence now encompasses the entire Milky Way. Travel between stars is often inconvenient, so people began building "stargates." A "stargate" is similar to a spacetime tunnel, which can greatly shorten the travel time between two places, transforming interstellar travel, which was originally done by spaceships, into space jumps.
"No. If it weren't for military needs, the Iliad Gate wouldn't have been built so quickly."
"What? I heard that this stargate was already in production thirty years ago."
"Yes. But you should know that building a stargate that connects two spacetime depressions requires enormous productivity. Even if the technology is up to par, the investment in energy and subsequent funding is huge. Previously, Phaethon's research on photosynthetic water bacteria was for... sorry."
"It's nothing." I shook my head, holding the coffee cup in my hand. "Go on."
"The research on photosynthetic water bacteria in Phaeton was originally planned by the government to provide more energy for the construction of the 'Stargate'; although this research was eventually suspended by the government. This time, in order to suppress the domestic rebellion, the Alliance decided to exile those criminals, thought prisoners, prisoners of war captured on the battlefield, and especially those 'with ideological problems' captured by the government domestically, to outside the Iliad Stargate. That is a newly developed colony. However, calling it a 'colony' would perhaps be more accurate as 'a place where no humans have set foot yet'."
"Therefore, the construction of the Star Gate was to improve the efficiency of escorting prisoners."
"Exactly."
"Does the government intend to send those people to reclaim wasteland and reform them through labor?"
"What do you think?" Estravan glanced at me.
"Perhaps it's just to increase the efficiency of executions...who knows?" he said.
"The ships that carried them through the stargate were packed like sardine cans. There was nothing on board except people. The ships only had enough fuel for one-way passage through the stargate. And where they landed, there was nothing alive except rocks, sand, scorching sun, and terrifying heat radiation."
“If it’s just to improve the efficiency of executions…” I hesitated, but said it anyway, “Is it necessary to build such a massive stargate? It’s clearly a huge investment.”
“To kill, but without leaving a bad name,” Estravan said calmly. “Sending so many people beyond the stargate, they have to develop there to survive. Surely one or two out of ten thousand will survive? The construction of the new colony depends on them.”
“By the way,” Estravan said, putting on his dark black hat, turning up his collar, and getting up from the sofa. “I didn’t come here to talk to you about that. I came here to tell you that you and Gratian should use fewer electronic devices, especially the kind that can connect to the internet.”
"Huh?" Although I don't usually go online, Gratian is a kid whose brain is practically connected to the internet. I was startled.
“Oh. No. Gratian should be fine. He won’t be affected by the network. On the contrary, he might be able to manipulate our internet like the Hand of God,” Estravan said, making a rather dry joke.
"But you, Caesar, I recently learned from some 'friends' that the Allied Government has developed a bioelectric current monitoring device that can collect information such as sweat, blood pressure, fingerprints, and pulse when you touch the screen while reading information online; and analyze it comprehensively. If you feel resentment when you see a piece of political propaganda from the Allied Government, or if it's not 'genuine' appreciation, then the 'loyalty' section on your citizen basic information homepage will be in trouble."
I almost spilled my coffee. "This...it's already this advanced?"
"Of course. You're a researcher. Don't you know what a spectacle it would be if a technology were pushed to its limits?" he teased me.
I'll be honest with myself; I don't use the internet much, and the application of technology is something for you politicians to do.
"That's a very irresponsible statement. You're the one who invented the musket and the atomic bomb. In the event of a nuclear war, people won't consider the inventor of nuclear weapons innocent."
"I'll take responsibility. But what can I change? We researchers have invented many things, most of which are beneficial to humanity, but you politicians always come up with ingenious ways to use them. When we try to dissuade you, you bring up the law, public opinion, the media, funding, and so on. In the end, a technology that was originally beneficial to humanity becomes a new disaster for humanity."
I saw him off.
Gratian bumped into him in the hallway outside the door. The boy did not apologize.
“Gratian?” I called out to him.
The boy is daydreaming; recently, artificial intelligence seems to have slightly increased his cognitive level, meaning he can now receive not only information collected in databases—what we humans usually call "knowledge" (what children learn in the classroom)—but also information from the vast external world of real human experience stored on the internet. He's been complaining of headaches lately. I've reduced his daily computer time from three hours to one hour, but he's still unwell, often tripping and fainting while walking.
So I took it upon myself to say, "Gradien. This is Evan, he came to see you today. Here's what we'll do: you don't need to connect to the computer anymore. There's too much noise outside..."
“Estravan? Him?” The boy turned to the man with a gloomy expression. “You didn’t come here just to see me, did you?”
“That’s not true,” Estrella said, turning to me. “You should have reported to the Allied government to cancel his studies.”
“He’s all grown up,” I said.
Gratian's bulging kneecaps were exposed beneath his loose athletic shorts, his two slender legs supporting his body. His delicate hands were tucked into his waistband pockets, and his arms were muscular and firm, but not yet fully developed, like a fledgling bird just spreading its feathers, with glossy, thick hair interspersed with dry baby hair.
I said, "Since he doesn't like it..."
“It’s not that I dislike it,” Gratian suddenly said. “I have a question, Lord Estravan, what was your purpose in creating me?”
Why are you suddenly asking this?
“Because I’m curious, nothing else.” Gratian stared intently at Estravan’s face.
Estravan's smile that day was strange; it was as if he had known this day would come. Half of his body was hidden in the shadows against the light, and he said, "You were created for a purpose. It has nothing to do with yourself."
"I, Gratian, as an individual, have no inherent value. Isn't that right?"
"right."
I wanted to call out to Estravan and tell him to stop talking nonsense. My Gratian, my little boy, how could he be worthless?
Gratian replied, “Very well. I understand now. I know what I must do.”
He was an experiment. A new kind of human being, an object used by the Allied Government to cultivate and observe.
Gratian no longer complained about the dreaded three hours each day that tormented his nerves, the three hours he had to keep his mind connected to the internet. I told him he didn't have to try; I could cheat for him, just for an hour, or we could just cancel it altogether. He wouldn't listen. Instead, he focused intently on the flow, direction, and destination of all kinds of data in human society. He said he had grasped some kind of pattern, like gods watching a chessboard, extending an unseen hand to manipulate the pieces between sandcastles, playing a game with their blood.
“Some will succeed, some will fail. The gods have no expression when they play chess. They weigh equal amounts of luck and misfortune and then randomly sprinkle them on the chessboard,” Gratian said.
One day, he suddenly asked me, "Who was in charge of the photosynthetic water bacteria project before?"
I stopped filling in the data in the small boxes of the form, looked up at him, and said, "It's Phaethon. Phaethon Ganymede."
"Your younger brother, is that right?"
"Yes." "Why are you asking that?"
He did not answer.
About a week later, he placed a small glass cage on the table in front of me and said, "Caesar, I've finished your brother's research. His photosynthetic bacteria are now ready for production. The cost won't be higher than fermenting a batch of yogurt. You can contact the Allied government now. Put your name on the research and patent; I don't care."
I stared at him in shock. "You mean 'photosynthetic water bacteria'? The kind of bacteria that can break down 100 million tons of water into 60 million tons of hydrogen and 30 million tons of oxygen with just a tiny one... You succeeded?!"
“Yes.” He blinked. “And no additional catalyst is needed. Just drop one in and wait.”
I immediately reported this to the Allied government.
However, that year, the situation in the Civil War began to deteriorate. The water bacteria project had not been applied, and I received instructions to continue refining the research; the government was not considering investing in the project for the time being. I felt the technology was mature and there was nothing to improve. But Estravan told me it was a political issue. Due to the rapid increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty and insufficient domestic consumption, the energy oligarchs had repeatedly violated the arms ban during the Civil War, selling weapons to rebels in the Confederacy and colonies. At the same time, the oligarchs had reached an agreement to coerce the Confederacy government into suspending all technological innovation initiatives not led by the oligarchs.
One day, I had just returned from an exchange at an research institute when a group of young people stopped me. They said, "Mr. Garniermead, is that Mr. Garniermead?"
"You should go to Central University right away! Something's happened at the student union!"
Haiyingsen National Central University. My alma mater. As far as I can remember, every incident involving the Alliance during this period started at this school. The auditorium was packed with people, the magnificent decorations of the circular hall hidden in the darkness, and it was very stuffy.
Is there a power outage? I wonder.
On the stage, intense beams of light crisscrossed, illuminating a small, ample area of vision, forcefully cleaving through the surrounding darkness. Gratian's golden hair shone brightly, like an angel, a messenger sent by God to judge all nations. The boy said, "If you do not cease your slaughter of the innocent within your own borders, the civil war will never end. If you persist in your ways, you will pay the price."
I don't understand why the kids would specifically ask me to come and watch their club play.
After a while, I slowly realized that this didn't seem to be acting.
On the large electronic screen, the image and voice of the Alliance Speaker came through: "You students are too idealistic. You cannot imagine the cruelty of the real world. You should understand the nation..."
“There’s no need for platitudes,” Gratian interrupted him. “Speaker, when will the civil war end?”
The student who brought me here whispered to me, "Gratian is our student council president this year. The Speaker was supposed to visit Central University today, but President Gratian suddenly said he wouldn't be receiving him. It was very sudden. All the preparations were done, and the president locked us in the auditorium. Now, only the Speaker is left outside in the empty campus. It feels a bit awkward."
I thought if the Speaker really couldn't stand it, he could just leave on the spot; indeed, is it necessary to maintain some of the composure and demeanor of a high-ranking official in front of a large group of cameras and reporters? The Speaker continued to repeat his previous sentences, slightly adjusting the word order. His tone became more forceful.
"You and your friends believe that our allied government cannot exert any effective influence over the willful behavior of you children, right?"
The speaker raised his voice, "Students, you are all young people with ideals and aspirations. However, I must remind you that your primary responsibility as students is to study at school and complete the assignments given by your teachers, not to arbitrarily interfere in politics!"
Gratian sighed, shook his head, and said with a hint of sympathy, "Speaker, then you and your friend can stay at our school for the time being. Our school's facilities are simple, and we are afraid that our hospitality may be lacking. We hope you will understand."
"What...?!" The speaker's mouth dropped open.
His arms were tied behind his back by two young men who rushed at him. A group of students carrying submachine guns (I had absolutely no idea where these guns came from) herded the screaming reporters, photographers, and ordinary citizens who had come to pose for photos into separate, locked rooms like pigsties. Militiamen emerged from the darkness, and I finally understood why the auditorium was so dark. The Speaker was outside, while his staff and bodyguards were forced to remain inside, separated from him. They had been ordered that the Speaker would be receiving the president of the Central University Student Union in the auditorium, so the staff and security had entered beforehand to help the Speaker eliminate any potential dangers. Gratian told his staff and security: The Speaker is safe; you need not worry.
Some began to sob. Most were ordinary citizens and children, people the government had gathered beforehand to create a festive atmosphere for the speaker's appearance on camera. The young students were very excited. Gratian's appeal to them was astonishing.
“Caesar, what brings you here?” Gratian strode towards me. The crowd automatically parted to make way for him. He glanced at the student who had brought me.
The student explained, "Gradien, we didn't know you were up to this. But, seeing the winds were blowing against us, we kidnapped your lover. We were afraid he'd fall into the hands of the government forces, and that would be a huge problem."
"Government forces?" I said. "What government forces? They are the only legitimate army of our Earth Republican Alliance. You're at odds with them? Have you joined the rebels? You even kidnapped the chairman of the Alliance's Supreme Council!"
“We didn’t ‘join the rebels,’” Gratian smiled at me. “We are the rebels. Caesar.”
"What?"
"We have now taken over all of Haiyingsen City's transportation, finance, arsenal, and internet information transmission towers."
"Ridiculous! You're just a bunch of students!"
"Gratean!" A boy fiddling with wiring equipment shouted from beside the podium, "Monitoring Tower 99 has sent a signal! A large group of Alliance members just ran out of the main exit of the Parliament building in the city center! Parliament is paralyzed, and the central computer inside has been 'taken down'!"
"Okay. Continue to cut off the power to the central computer. First destroy its backup power supply, then attack its processor."
“Received.” The boy typed a series of commands on the keyboard.
Another student ran up, plugged in a connector, and asked, "Gradient, central computer processor, is the 'Tree of Zeus' going to be destroyed?"
"No need. Try to preserve its main functions. We'll likely need it in our later operations."
"clear."
“There’s one more thing,” Gratian said. “Close all the doors to the Parliament building, including the main entrance. Let those members of parliament go through the emergency exit. You, you go and open the side door diagonally opposite the Central University underground passage… yes, the one that connects to the subway station exit. Get a few people here, mechanically savvy. Come with me, we’ll go and operate the subway train to bring the distinguished members of parliament from the Parliament building in the city center.”
The flying machines above Haiyingsen descended and sank, and the lights on the city's main streets gradually went out; the trains, interfered with by the strong magnetic field, stopped on their respective tracks. The celebrity faces and various products on the billboards disappeared. I turned on my computer to check today's work spreadsheets and found that the signal was only half a bar, my phone was turned off, and I couldn't contact Estravan; the email from Prosecutor Yang Luo was still questioning me about why I had sent Gratian to study at Central University without going through her procedures.
“You should know that the kid has a terrifying influence on those around him; he can mold everyone who comes near him into whatever form he desires. You can never guess what he and a bunch of young people who look about his age (though in reality, those college students are at least twenty years older than him, I suppose) can do. This is not only irresponsible towards Gratian himself, but also harming other innocent young people…” The email abruptly ended; the screen still displayed “Trying to load for you, please wait.”
I turned off my computer.
The last message I received in my email was from Jun Yeyuan, and it only contained one sentence: "Are you free tonight? I've made a reservation. At that Italian restaurant you really like."
This message has been repeating itself for the past six months. My answer has always been "no." However, the emails in my inbox have never stopped.
With its internet connection to the outside world severed, the protection and surveillance of the capital, Heysen, by other parts of the alliance is like a blind beast, forced to rely on its nose and hands to gather information; yet it dares not act, fearing it will further worsen the already dire situation. Politicians are probably still arguing and shifting blame.
"Did Gratian send you to spy on me?" I tilted my head slightly.
The two students carrying semi-automatic rifles behind him replied, "The Chairman ordered us to protect your safety."
"Thank you. But I think I'd be safer if you weren't here. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blame you; I know you were just doing this on orders. How's the situation outside?"
"You mean..."
"Hai Yingsen's situation. The Allied government has dispatched the nearest troops stationed on Io, right?"
“Yes. That’s right.” The student’s voice held a hint of surprise. “You don’t look like someone who knows much about military affairs.”
"The Chairman has sealed off the airport and activated the city's air defense system. Now, the government forces can only retake Haiyingsen by bombarding the capital with saturation firepower."
"What are your plans for the next step? You can't just occupy Haiyingsen forever," I asked.
"This...this involves military secrets. I cannot disclose that information."
I hoped that Gratian hadn't simply misjudged what to do. I thought to myself.
The soldiers, or rather the students, who guarded me changed every half hour, with new faces joining each time. They were idle, their laziness masking an increasingly intense anxiety. These children were masking their unease through idle chatter and playing video games in groups.
Gratian returned with hundreds of councilors, and he spoke with them amicably—at least that's what I saw; presumably those who couldn't get along with him had already been sent away.
The lawmakers issued a joint statement calling on all parties to remain calm and refrain from taking radical measures that could worsen the current situation.
That night, as darkness fell, eerie lights shone clearly in the inky sky, reflected in the monitoring images from the Heyson Observatory; like ghosts holding torches. These were the lights emitted by the antimatter engines propelling the Allied fleet's ships. A large fleet, carrying ample explosives, was converging on their side. The senators were terrified, fearing they were being abandoned by the Alliance. Previously wavering senators immediately sided with Gratian, and those who had previously supported Gratian became even more steadfast. Gratian issued a new statement, this time broadcast to all of humanity's star system, including the colonies. The Alliance government hired hackers to attempt to intercept it, but the statement was brief, powerful, and widely disseminated. The statement was as follows:
"All of humanity, if you still hold onto the belief in progressivism, and still believe in human equality, justice, and freedom; if wealth, resources, and power should not be stolen by a few incompetent scoundrels, then stand with us."
If you and your children suffer from poverty, hunger, and weakness, if you are outraged by the powerful and wealthy who monopolize genetic modification technology and the future of humanity, please stand with us.
We promise that everyone, regardless of status, class, race, or gender, will have the right to genetic modification. Break down class barriers! Let these old-world elites serve as stepping stones to a new world of new humanity!
“What does this mean?” Gratian looked at me, and I stared at him and asked.
He was fiddling with a new coffee machine in the room where I was under house arrest. Well, not really house arrest; I could move freely within the Central University campus, but I wasn't allowed to go out onto the street. He asked me if I wanted coffee.
"No. Thank you. I've been craving black tea lately."
I looked around the empty room, the tattered furniture with peeling paint. Gratian also felt the environment was unacceptable and that I should be moved to a better place, but he couldn't find a better place for the time being. Therefore, he looked at me with guilt.
“That statement. Are you going to promote genetic engineering? Are you going to create many people like you?” I asked.
"Black tea... okay, I'll buy it for you when I go out later."
"You have something to do today?" I said sarcastically. "Then you still have time to come see me. I'm truly touched, Chairman Gratian."
“Don’t say that, Caesar. Yes. I, or rather we, want to make genetic technology something that benefits everyone.”
“You don’t have that many resources, you don’t have that much money. Gratian. If genetic technology were accessible to everyone, it would have been widely used long ago, instead of being confined to the upper echelons of the wealthy and powerful. Only the rich can afford to play the game of genetic modification.”
"No, it's not just for the rich. The rich use one-thousandth of their savings to modify their genes, and the remaining nine hundred and ninety-nine-thousandths to enjoy life. That's the reality."
"The children of the powerful are like the gods of Mount Olympus, intelligent, beautiful, and blessed with lasting health and longevity; and what about the others? What are the children of those who cannot provide the means to transform themselves? Lowly slaves, generation after generation, circling the mountain, forced to offer tribute to the gods and beg for their favor?"
“That’s wrong,” Gratian said.
"So, what do you plan to do?"
"Make the powerful and wealthy return the money they've taken in and any excess money they've taken in."
"I mean, how to do it."
Gratian remained silent for a long time. "You can't seize power and change this country just by inciting riots."
"I'm glad you knew all this."
He rolled his eyes at me and said, "You're the one who doesn't understand anything, Caesar. You're just like an old lady who's about to die of a heart attack from excessive worry."
"There must be elections in the parliament. We should try to keep everything within the current constitutional framework of the Earth Republic Alliance, I mean the public law part. As for private law, the principle of the inviolability of private property under civil law will not be considered for the time being, because we can declare this a 'wartime emergency,' and the government can confiscate citizens' property if necessary. The problem is, our new government must be 'legitimate,'" Gratian said.
"Therefore, we now intend to convene parliament to legally elect a new government."
"That's why you kidnapped those members of parliament, and even the speaker himself, and brought them here."
“It was an ‘invitation’,” he corrected. “We invited them to build this country together.”
He suddenly looked at me intently, "Caesar."
"—Would you be willing to stand on my side?"
"Is it 'I' or 'we'? You represent yourself, and you also represent those students? Do you think you can represent them? Represent everyone?"
"It's the same thing. Support me, support us, me and those young students. In my opinion..."
“No. It’s not the same,” I said irritably.
I don't really understand what I'm resentful about. I'm a little sad.
silence.
Gratian said, "You don't want me to do this. You don't want more new humans to appear. Caesar. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that you will be eliminated and become a relic of the old era? Or are you... are you worried about me?"
“Caesar, I…”
I got up, opened the door, and he called me back before I left.
"It's me. I'm asking for your support personally. I'm not speaking for anyone else. I'm not so arrogant as to think I can represent everyone or save everyone. Whether you're offering me practical support or just emotional support, I hope you can understand me. I... I don't know if what I'm doing is right or wrong, and I don't want to disappoint you."
His last words carried a hint of pleading. But I didn't look up at him. I simply closed the door, letting his face disappear behind it.
——tbc——
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