Moon Tranquility Sea Base, under the transparent dome.
Zhu Chaoyang gently pressed the last buckle of the titanium alloy safe, and the door slid open silently. There is no gold or silver jewelry inside, but a crystal chip encapsulated by carbon nanotubes, only the size of a fingernail.
"Here are stored here all the basic scientific principles of mankind, major language classics, the essence of art of various civilizations, and..." He ran his finger across the surface of the chip, "real cases of how 50 million poor children changed their destiny through knowledge."
His wife Lin Jing next to her took over: "As well as the failed lessons and successful models of global economic governance." She turned to the global live broadcast camera, "There should be no threshold for knowledge, and there should be no backup for civilization - but today we have to do this because the earth is more fragile than imagined."
Behind them, a huge circular screen displays earth data in real time: atmospheric carbon concentration, ocean acidification index, biodiversity curve... And, the most eye-catching number - the global absolute poverty population: 0.
The voice of the Secretary-General of the United Nations came from the earth: "Thirty years ago, no one believed that this number would return to zero. It is you who have proved that knowledge can not only change an individual's destiny, but also reshape the trajectory of civilization."
Zhu Chaoyang and Lin Jing looked at each other and smiled. Zooming out, outside the lunar base, countless solar panels are converting sunlight into energy, maintaining this most remote temple of knowledge for mankind.
The story begins with a kerosene lamp in the mountains of southwestern China fifty years ago.
