The flight back home was quiet. The Friend felt she was finally discovered - by the bigger league. The Mentor was definitely more than his humble looks. She recalled Maharishi paid Matsya a silver coin for a boat ride. Was there a connection - she wondered!

Just like Matsya, she felt rich. At least in that moment when Mentor said he would email her a 100 week contract with equal similar payments - that was one full bitcoin. A million Sats a week for the next two years! Other projects barely ran a month. They paid her bills but she had to keep an eye on her balances, for the work demanded being in expensive city. And a flying car was the only way to commute in over crowded San Francisco. If you dared to walk, you were sure to step over a homeless. Despite all the free AI grants - sometimes to scan their irises and other times to recognize scents - the homeless were all over the place. No one could figure out a solution - so much so they started saying “the spirit of the city” was in the litter on it’s streets. By the way, there was one more reason she leased the expensive chariot. She had signed up for a new air fleet service that allowed her to park free at the airport. The car pretty much paid for itself picking up commuters from the airport before her day started and after it closed. Her flying car was factually lot better than the dilapidated boat of Matsya, but in a way, it was comparable if you discounted the time and place!

On the other hand, being a back-end guy, the Boyfriend could stay in the suburbs. And walk his two dogs in an oversized Californian ranch. She flew in whenever she wanted a home cooked meal with thoughtfully paired wines. He charged tenth of a percent for the payments - ten basis points as they talk in money lingo. Not a bad evening for him either - it was the biggest single transaction of his life to date.

Boyfriend loved his work. More than money, he was passionate about the technology of money - almost a borderline geek. He mixed well with Angel and Fairy and that was important to the Friend - this was the only group where she could be herself. And she liked that he made conscious effort to bring in good vibes - donated nice tips to Fairy’s random causes - never missed a single birthday or an anniversary weekend - and his home baked banana breads were always his personal “signature” gifts :-).

Things were great in this small inner circle except for one small issue - he wasn’t bought into Fairy’s ideas of activism and governance. He was fine with fair credit ¹ to humans. But two of them were at odds on “regulation”. He was vocal for small government and least regulation that Fairy always contested with a cynical question - if no regulation than why have governments in the first place? She challenged his “trust” in the elected - if you vote for them then you must believe in the collective wisdom - otherwise what is the point of elections? If you feel government is bad than fix it or galvanize a better way. You don’t get to blame governance unless you participate - she used to say!

Climate change was another beef. She was not cosy to burning 90 % of compute (and thus almost half the energy) on data layers. To what avail? - she argued - to keep a track of nickles and dimes! She attributed those forest fires to the increasing global temperature - particularly after visiting one herself that she insisted - she wanted to have a first hand exposure. Boyfriend, on the other side, believed the climate threat was a hoax ².

He made sure he never broached these topic in Friday meet ups but off late, Fairy was getting more critical. She didn’t miss a single chance to somehow bring up the discussion. That left little wiggle room in the inner circle - the external media was anyway awash in sensationalising the climate crisis. The media cared less if the compute was invested on AI or on open infrastructure - all they cared were the clicks. However, the general vibe was to consume less among Angels whereas humans wanted more and more of the free stuff.

It sure wasn’t for the lack of trying - to put the nuances in layman terms; but Fairy always turned a poker face - how much money do we need? Does any other species care for the money? Would your dogs love you more if you had more and less time for them ?

You can’t engage the ones who had already made up their minds - he surmised. And he thought she was averse because she was never exposed to scarcity - thanks to her ultra rich heritage. To her credit, she never asked anything from her parents but everyone knew she had one key to the multiSig trust - that held hundreds (if not thousands) of coins - of her grand paternal property. Even if she didn’t spend, the stash was as an assurance - it opened doors for her. But friends are not supposed to say such things - he cursed himself - if rich say money is NOT important it feels like a slap to the face of poor - isn’t it ? But worst part was her abhorrence made her ignore the beauty of underlying technology - and the problems that it solved. She probably missed that the designer of new money didn’t seek any of it for herself!

For example she laughed off to the fact that Bitcoin was never competing with any sovereign currency. It started simply as a data layer below the currencies - to record a “proof” - and issue a token in recognition of that computational work. Just like a wooden token was given to someone carrying Ganges water ten miles off the bank - a “proof of work”. Because a currency must be accounted to the amount of work it’s one unit could get done.

The only thing of “value” is “work” - a set of predefined actions - Karma. And it doesn’t matter if the work is done by the nature, or humans, or machines - or even dumb silicon based computers !

The traditional way to assign a value to this work was to store a precious metal and issue a paper token. Starting with Dev's wooden token all currencies were backed by precious metals. Even the US dollar was substantiated with most precious metal of all times - the silvery white slightly radio active enriched Uranium! - he argued - would you care for the greenback if there wasn’t a military industrial complex to back it up? The problem with this method, however, was the amount of work per token (and hence the inerrant value) was fixed. Well, in case of US Dollar it was ambiguous.

This meant the prices of commodities would fluctuate based on demand. To circumvent this problem, sovereigns had to deploy monetary and fiscal policies which rarely worked as intended. And businesses had to hedge the futures with contracts at an ever increasing premium. More certainty you seek in muddy waters more inflation you add to the system.

After initial high volatility of couple of ramp up decades, Bitcoin solved this problem - Inflation (or deflation) was shifted to the token - in essence wheat would always cost the same - if there was more demand (of commodities) the value of token would increase and if there was less the value of token would reduce. This was because the bitcoin allowed to change the service fee per transaction - more demand meant more transactions and hence higher service fee.

Higher service fee meant the token attracted more compute. If miners deployed too much compute the protocol could throttle the complexity of the mathematical problems that they must resolve as a proof of work. For the first time we found a unit of value that could accommodate variable work.

Which also meant you could fix the total number of the tokens in circulation for ever. No more fiscal or monetary policy. No more inflation or deflation because once the prices of the commodities got stable, every thing else became stable - if the price of wheat is stable how much that of a loaf of bread would change? Just minor changes on account of local shocks to the supply chain - say an earthquake or a forest fire - that could be preempted with accurate AI forecast models. Given most of the labourers were anyway robots - the labor and financial arbitrage became a thing of past. Certainty meant no more futures’ contracts!

And in doing so, the “computational power” became the “backfill commodity”. Turned out, it was a blessing in disguise to combat blatant growth of AI.

Quite the opposite, Fairy thought he had no empathy - the governments couldn’t print money to help the poor. How much revenue a government could generate with low taxes ! If they enforced higher rates, moving to a lower tax jurisdiction was easy for the rich. Though it seemed to her the last narrative changed her own position - ever so slightly. She felt more accepting after reading how Shantanu and Dev started the wooden currency backfilling the precious metals. And they put in a unique accounting method that was built on good Karma rather than amassing weapons of destruction. Carrying fresh Ganges water to the doorsteps served both as a public service as well as a public ledger. Governments could still do the same if only they cared to innovate. The narrative has the power to capture people’s imagination - she smiled to herself!

And the boyfriend did sense this subtle change. We have an uncanny ability to understand unsaid things. Jokingly, he left a teaser note in Fairy’s inbox as he boarded Friend’s flying car - I hope you agree currencies only need to provide liquidity among different players before they settle on to an underlying data layer. “Lightening” is a liquidity mechanism to the first native bitcoin currency - a Satoshi - before it settles on a transparent public ledger. No one ever stopped any sovereign to provide similar efficient liquidity - in fact most of them tried CBDCs for surveillance - why did they not do so with complete anonymity and public good in mind? They couldn’t compete because “Sats” were not only fast, easy and lowest fees - they were also completely private - just like Dev's currency - he wrote - I guess no “KYC” was asked before you get a wooden seal for water -:)

Why do you always tease her - she laughed as he showed the note to Friend - you should appreciate that a common consumer (such as Fairy), may not be interested in payment layers and the geekery that goes with it!

I give you that - said the Boyfriend while eagerly looking for Fairy’s response.

Bitcoin and Lightning standardised the data rules and turned them into a “protocol” ³. With these underlying and unyielding rules, Angels democratized the data ⁴. In fact that is what made them Angels. Those who thought the rules could be improved - mostly for vested interest - were called Wizards!

Angels had religious faith in the words of Satoshi - Wizards thought they could do better than him !

As a scientist, our Angel had little to do with the payment systems. His training was to make sure artificial intelligence was judiciously used in bio research for the obvious risks - more so for the fear of “unknown”. The general rule was to tread slow for consciousness was still a mystery. You could design a functioning super-man (in lab) but no one was sure if he would fight for the good!

The quest had led him to old scriptures - to understand the ancient knowledge of creation but no one really understood how and when the mind becomes self aware. This space, however, was more challenging because you couldn’t ethically play with the living. The order of the wisdom was to go gentle - peel one layer at a time.

To him compute intensive data layer(s) meant a friction to a world fast getting overtaken by AI. There was hardly any bio application that didn’t use AI in some shape or form - some of them downright scary. Just regulatory controls were not sufficient. The broader system must provide better avenues for the investments. Bitcoin offered that alternative. He understood for an investor, greater return on their investments was paramount - you can’t blame them for doing their jobs effectively. They invest in AI if only it brought better ROI than simply buying bitcoin. Which meant a higher profitability bar for the applications.

It’s not that he had some sort of epiphany. His views were shaped by real world experience. Not that he himself built a business but he interacted with people with deep wallets - particularly Fairy’s older brother. Almost of the same age as Mentor, Brother had a broad portfolio of interests in bio-hacking.

He was now convinced that the fire incident was off the radar. But now his worry shifted to this new project that was gaining substantial attention. His next endeavor was looking good but it was even darker. He was asked to join the “Sleep Project” as an expert on “unintended consequences”.

Sleep interface was not new. It was already being used in real world applications that needed human intervention - such as call center escalations. Even air traffic monitoring needed real humans to beam into stuck vehicles. But no one had still deployed a real compute intensive model in human mind- such as “personalized” gene therapies. The noble idea (on the paper) was to use our brain to repair our own broken genes. Who wouldn’t want such capability ! But there was a hidden agenda that even Angel didn’t know. It was an attempt to leverage human neural networks - dubbed as “green compute” to lower AI’s dependence on Silicon chips. If it worked in “self-healing” then sky was the limit - it could be used in anything else - a freedom from competing with data layer for exaflops.

Angel was asked to look at the unintended consequences. His experience with the honey project was a big plus. He was among the first to identify the loophole in bio designs - and got his voice heard - thanks to association with the Mentor. Fairy’s brother helped him get his paper published.

A part of him felt this new project might risk his relationship with Fairy, but he couldn’t say a “no” for Mentor himself proposed him for the job. That - he thought - was the downside of being close to the powerful - you must adjust your priorities! To his reprieve, he was not the architect to capture human brains - he was actually a watch dog. At the end - he liked that now his close group was plugged in - at least Fairy won’t complaint if he worked eighty hours weeks. He could always say he was working at Mentor’s recommendation and for her own Brother.

Secrecy was his only problem because all such programs came with a hardened NDA. But he could always count on Mentor to truthfully explain his role in case the media got hint of the designs being hatched. And this time he was determined to play hardball with the power brokers. He looked at Fairy sitting right by him lost in the next chapter that Mentor gave them - again a hard copy printed on a dot matrix Epson - so close yet so unaware of his work - he thought ..

Fairy was busy reading the next post. She was keen on what went down between Shantanu and Matsya on his return to the boat. She was least concerned of the future or even tomorrow. She simply lived in the moment. She replied a smily to Boyfriend’s note - a sign that she was letting her critique some rest. In truth, she recognized there were things she couldn’t control or may be not understand - and she didn’t even wanted to. In this moment she wanted to live those human emotions that raved through Matsya - so difficult to relate to in her time and her race.

Off late a new desire was taking shape in her mind that she was unable to place to herself - she wanted to be a mother! She pushed the thought aside thinking may be she was feeling too much for Matsya.

The night had many things going in parallel. New ideas, new convictions, new connections being formed - as if something was getting reorganized - yet it was humble and subtle. It was somewhat like that night on the banks of Yamuna when Shantanu made a connection with Satyawati. In that connection he joined the vast network of Mathura. The undercurrent of Mathura saw Dwaipayana craving for her mother and a mother so devoted to a cause that she couldn’t claim her own child - holding her hand.

Ratri - The Night

Sun had already gone down as the King hurried to the docks. Maharishi had suggested many times to have him spend a night at Ashrama for finding a return passage at this hour might be difficult. Boats stopped plying with the sun set. Little did he know that Shantanu had already planned his return.

As they reached closer to the bank, King could see a single boat. And he got the unmistakable musky smell as the wind turned a corner towards them. Satyawati had asked Dashraaj's youngest daughter Saryu, who still worked on the boat, to return back home with gold coins for she didn’t want to have the gold on them as the evening approached. The older sisters were already married in adjacent village. Saryu offered to stay back though she wanted to be the one to handover Gold to her father.

Satyawati was sure, by now, Dashraj must be celebrating the unexpected bounty - with his undercover Asura friends, who had gradually occupied the village. She told Saryu to let Dashraj know she might be very late for she had promised the rich farmer a passage back, and she was anyway used to be on the river in nights.

It was not the first time Satyawati decided to stay back on the waters. Many of such nights she been to the island, alone, rekindling the memories of her days with Maharishi and little Dwaipayana. Her hopes of seeing them again diminished as the time passed. Sometimes, she wondered, if those days actually happened. Five years was a long time and each day was a battle with herself. She wondered the moment we get everything we ever wanted - in her case beauty, fragrance and success - we immediately start craving for something else. She also noted that her cravings slowed down as the time passed - she was getting glimpses of her identity and strange peace took over as she started understanding who she was. Yet they were always at the back, though she had learnt to live with them. And now, she was probably ready to move on.

14.1

She was quite surprised when she saw the farmer being escorted by three Yogies. She already knew he wasn’t an ordinary man for no one would gift gold for a boat ride, but the fact that he was escorted by Yogies meant he was lot more than his appearance. She thought to herself - who exactly is he? The thought gave way to the sight of a young boy walking behind them. His dark complexion mixing with the ensuing darkness of the evening. Her heart skipped a beat. Something in her felt it was Dwaipayana - her son.

The older Yogies knew her well from their frequent visits to the village and they had taken her boat number of times ; but Maharishi made sure he and Dwaipayana never crossed her path. He didn’t want to make her task more difficult by rekindling the memories.

If this is Dwaipayana, why did Maharishi send him this time? — she thought — Is there a message?

She was still wondering when Lomaharshana one of the older Yogies bowed to her and asked - Maa (means mother) - a standard way for Yogies to address women, are you planning a ride across the river ?

Satyawati woke up from her thoughts - Yes Yogi! - do you all want to go across?

No Maa, only Maharaaj would like to go back to his camp on the other side. We are happy to come with you, should you need someone with you on your return for safety. Or we may wait here till you come back. - said Lomaharshana.

That won’t be necessary Yogi. Yamuna is like my mother! I am safer with her than any place on earth - Satyawati smiled - btw, you said Maharaaj? Of where? - Satyawati asked folding her hands.

Loma almost bit his tongue. He didn’t realize that Shantanu was under cover and the thought that he blew king’s cover hit him like a brick. Dwaipayan quickly understood the situation. He was about to intervene but Shantanu stopped him with gesture of his right hand.

Devi (a common address for an upper class woman) - I am Shantanu, king of Kuru Kingdom - He said, knowing there was no harm in losing his cover. In fact, he thanked the fate for making it easy to let his true identity be revealed to Satyawati. For one he was tired of playing the “hide and seek” through out the day, second he did want Satyawati to know who he was. It had be hard to reveal it himself. That would seem as if he was trying to impress her with his position though he actually wanted to do exactly that.

Satyawati didn’t know how to react! She had the most powerful king right in font of her and possibly her long separated son too. She remembered the words of Maharishi - “You will rule the world “. She knew it was inevitable - she had, however, not preempted the scope of this moment! - it is not trivial to know the future but present is most unpredictable.

She almost sat down by the weight of “reality”. She had thought about Maharishi's words almost every day since she left him behind, but she didn’t realize the physical truth would be so much bigger, and so abrupt, and shocking. She felt excited, overwhelmed and hundreds of more emotions striking like a thunderbolt. As the moment passed, Satyawati, once again staged a quick recovery. She readied herself for the enormous opportunity destiny had delivered on her hands.

Dwaipayana moved a step closer and held her hand. Being a child it felt okay for him to hold the hand of a woman almost his mother’s age. He didn’t know yet he was holding his real mother - would you need some water - he asked!

And who are you Yogi, never seen you around - Satyawati asked to reconfirm her presumption.

I am Krishna Dwaipayana Maa - Son of Maharishi Parāśara - said Krishna, oblivious to all that had transpired to get to this moment in time.

Satywati hid her pleasure behind a thick curtain of tradition. It was customary to give Yogies something when you see them - food, grains or money - whatever on hand. She pulled three wooden seals from her bag. Handing all three to Krishna - one for each - she asked - and who is your mother Krishna - Satyawati wanted to see if her son knew his own roots. When she saw Krishna's face blanking out, she lovingly added - how would you know everything that is there to know without knowing your own roots - who you are?

How would you know everything that is there to know without knowing who you are?

Shantanu was surprised to know wooden seals made it beyond his empire. What use did they found on Yamuna? - they were made to carry Ganges water to the thirsty ! Money built on good Karma spreads - he thought to himself.

14.2

A simple question, yet so profound. Yogies left the banks as king and Satyawati boarded the boat. On his way back, Krishna thought why did Maharishi never brought the topic of his mother. Why such a simple truth is hidden from humans. Why don’t we automatically know our lineage? - our own history.

Any other child would have rushed to his father to check who his mother was ? But Krishna was no ordinary child. That night, Krishna climbed his favorite tall tree and sat there. This was his den when difficult questions troubled his child mind. If Maharishi sought not to tell this simple thing, there must be a reason — he thought — more importantly does every manifestation hides something?

Is Sun and the moon and the mother Earth, that we perceive with our senses, hide something behind the perceivable. If that was true, would it be right to say bigger the manifestation, bigger was the hidden truth? Then what is the biggest manifestation of all? Isn’t it the human body itself? What does this body hides behind it? Is it what Maharishi calls Atma? He didn’t know when he slept, on the tree. Many questions still unanswered but he knew what to ask. And he also knew truth must reveal itself if we asked the right questions.

Maharishi had told him never to seek answers — instead, seek the right questions to know the truth!

As the boat merged into the waves of Yamuna, Shantanu too wanted to seek the truth — from himself. Is he open to a new relationship or he must carry on with the memories of his past?

Yamuna was shining bright with the young full moon. As the boat got stable, Shantanu thought Satyawati would sing a song. Five minutes into the ride , he asked her if she didn’t like to sing in the evenings? Satyawati was caught off-guard — Maharaaj I have never sung in front of a king. I am not sure if I am talented enough to indulge you in my music.

King stood up from his seat and walked close to Satyawati — your song was probably the best I have ever heard. May I know your name? And what family you belong to? — Shantanu was eager to break into a conversation. The desires that were born in the morning, were now playing all sorts of tricks. Alone with her in the night, on calm Yamuna with slight breeze, and musky smell surrounding him like a thick fog, he could have easily blamed the moon for turning his mind upside down. And he justified his thoughts based on what Krishna said this morning — a king must give the empire a worthy queen. Was she the one he was looking for ? Was it the time he moved on from memories of Ganga. Why should he bear the loneliness when it was Ganga who decided to leave ?

Maharaj my name is Satyawati and I am daughter of of the village head Dashraaj — Satyawati wanted to make sure king didn’t go deeper into her identity. She didn’t want the word Matsya re-tagged back to her.

King took a closer look at her. In her late twenties or early thirties, she still looked like a girl. And her musky smell got even stronger as king stepped closer — Are you married Satyawati ?

Her heart skipped a beat, but right after, a smile came on her face — a confirmation that she knew her future. Maharishi's words seemed true now — One of them might take you as his wife and there after you will rule the world . The king of largest empire known was asking a fisher girl if her heart was free to take him in. She found the desire to rule the world building up in her groin. This is her moment. She was not meant to ferry a boat all her life. Her life had a purpose. But she must use this opportunity. She looked at the King. Her eyes gazed deep into Shantanu's. With a smile on lips — what do you want Maharaj? Of course I am not married and there is none in this village that might win my heart!

King got first glimpse of her eyes. Deeper than Yamuna. He found himself lost. And that smell. He couldn’t figure if it was real or a dream. All he knew that his truth was right in front of him. She was the one. His soulmate and the queen of the kingdom. He must not let this moment pass without avail. He slowly moved his hand to take one of hers — Will you be my queen and come with me to the royal palace?

Satyawati blushed. As beautiful as she was , she looked even more for she found her own kingdom in the heart of Shantanu. King’s heart was clear. And his touch the warmest she had ever felt. A part of her wanted to give her entire self to Shantanu right there, but the reason prevailed. She let Shantanu take both her hands — Maharaj you will need to speak with my father if you must take me as your wife !

Shantanu was pleased with her acceptance and valid pre-condition. It showed she could exercise her will but still maintain the tradition — a pre-requisite to the highest position of royal queen. — he thought — She is definitely not the one to slip for his wealth and why should she? Gods have gifted here the best of looks , voice , smell and mind. Bowing down on one knee Shantanu took out a ring from his little finger and proposed to her kissing her hands — Sure, I will meet your father tomorrow !

Maharishi woke up in the middle of the night. He wasn’t able to get to sound sleep this night. Something, he felt, was going on and it wasn’t that he met the king or his proposal was accepted. Destiny was weaving a web at deeper levels that he didn’t have ready access to. As he stood up to drink water, he saw through his window, Krishna was sitting on his tree. He understood Krishna must have met Satyawati. That meant King had met Satyawati. The pain of the thought was his truth.

As he sat down he wondered if he did right to keep Krishna away his mother? He felt proud on the knowledge he demonstrated this afternoon but his knowledge needed impregnation with reality. He must indulge in something physical. He needed to find his purpose.

Dashraj had a night of his life. First he thought how to hide the Gold. Once properly secured, he headed to the local pub with “drinks on me” slogan. All his friends ate and drank belly-full till the middle of the night. On his way back, he marveled at his genius for having found a cash cow in Satyawati. And then he worried if she left like older girls to marry someone. He must crop any plans of her wedding even before they get framed.

Shallow minds plan with two eyes of shorter sight. Once they commit it gets hard to see the bigger one of one who runs the planet and beyond. One reason present is so unpredictable for our designs must give in to the greater waves in making.

Satyawati was his path to riches and a daily celebration on the local pub. With the new gold, he was planning to set up a big metal shop - to make finest hand-crafted swords. He knew Kansa was buying steel from Magdha - and he paid two coppers for a wooden seal of Kuru. Why was Magdha, an enemy of Kuru kingdom interested in Dev’s currency? He brushed the thought aside - tonight was his night - it was his passage back into the politics of Kansa. Now that Maharishi was dethroned, he must set the plans fast in motion. After all the ups and downs, he thought he was finally due. False pride stained his shallow mind more than the local hooch.

The ride back to his camp was lost in time for Shantanu. He didn’t know when he started and when he reached the camp. Sleep was no where near the king. He was planning the communications he must send tomorrow morning. One to his son Dev for deploying best of his river crew for the island. Second, to Kansa for the deal of the island. And third, and probably most important, to Dashraj for a face to face meeting. Should he go to his home or should he invite him over. He thought later would be appropriate because he didn’t want to step into Kansa's land. His own life seemed precious now.

His gaze suddenly went to the wooden seal he had taken from Satyawati. He wanted to send it to Dev as a souvenir. As he looked closer, he could see the seal was a little off. Dev’s craftsmen wouldn’t make such a mistake. Is someone else printing their currency ! Why ?

Satyawati didn’t go home that night. She spent some time on Yamuna and took another trip to the island. As she stepped into her cave, she felt calm as if surrounded in a mother’s lap. She was excited but she wasn’t sure how Maharishi was feeling right now. Does he know? He does know everything. Does it mean she would never be together with Krishna ?

Yamuna , spoke to Mathura that night — to let her know her times were changing. Very soon, Mathura would be the most important city ever in the history.

Notes and Research: