Post by redsycorax on Jan 17, 2024 1:59:11 GMT
Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein- "the Great Red Brain"- was a particularly challenging foe for the Marvel Family. But from the perspective of North Korea, the gigantic, pulsating disembodied brain was a marvel of science and acted in the best interests of their country. Here is another story of Yeong-gwangseuleoun Inmin-ui Seonbongdae, known in its country as the "Glorious Peoples Vanguard."
++
PYONGYANG, 1953:
President Kim Il-Sung and the Chinese scientist known only as "Tong" walked down a secluded passageway leading deep underground Pyongyang. As they did so, the North Korean President risked a sideway gaze at his companion. It went without saying that he was grateful for the assistance of these scientific marvels that the Soviet Union and China had assisted his regime with. Frankly, he was grateful that China had provided him with this esteemed and noteworthy savant beside him. Although it mystified him about the secrecy that surrounded this latest project, Tong seemed trustworthy enough. And then they rounded a corner and the Premier and his scientific comrade saw the spectacle before them. Kim Il-Sung's eyes opened wide:
"Hai. Professor Tong? Is that what it seems- a gigantic human brain? Is it artifical, or...?"
"No, Comrade Premier. Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein- the "Great Red Brain"- is a consequence of human scientific enterprise, albeit a fortunate byproduct. Unfortunately, our Peoples Republic is still some years away from developing our own nuclear deterrent to the Western imperialists- perhaps ten years. However, Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein is the legacy of that providential Soviet nuclear test in Semipalatinsk, in their province of Kazakhstan, back in August 1949. We were unaware that a nomadic Kazakh tribe had been camping in the vicinity of the site and was heavily contaminated by its fallout. Amongst them was a woman who was pregnant. Although the rest of her tribe succumbed to radiation poisoning due to that unfortunate mishap, that woman survived until full term was reached. Sadly, she perished from maternal mortality several days after the problematic birth."
"And she gave birth to...that?"
"Hai, Comrade Premier. In a manner of speaking. You see, the random mutation that had befallen her child in utero probably accelerated its evolutionary development millions of years into the human future. The mutant had a weak and vestigial body, which was abandoned as soon as we could provide its strikingly developed brain with artificial life support. It displayed phenomenal learning and developmental capabilities and has provided ample opportunities to resist the threat posed by the imperialists and their 'action heroes.' "
"What a marvel this is. Given its scale, it must harbour innumerable scientific and technological bounty."
Professor Tong nodded: "As soon as President Stalin provided us with the travel permits, we shifted operations here to staunch the imperialist tide and assist your besieged people's democracy. I am so relieved that our august Soviet comrades saw the danger with that fanatical idiot Trofim Lysenko's junk genetics and had him executed in 1928 before he could do irreperable damage to Soviet genetics. I am sorry. It was a close run thing at the time, but I was so relieved scientific literacy and political wisdom prevailed. Especially given that it has led to wonders such as Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein here."
"And you say that he has already provided additional assistance to our war effort?"
Tong hesitated: "Are you familiar with Bolg-Eun Dogsuli?"
Kim Il-Sung nodded: "The "Red Vulture?" Yes. Back in December 1952, he was responsible for the covert launch of the Red Star orbital facility. Ah. I begin to see, Professor Tong. And was the Red Star space station then the product of this prodigious intellect's bounty? Despite its failure and the tragic martyrdom of Bolg-Eun Dogsuli for North Korean people's democracy and socialism, you have demonstrated the valour and boon value of this "Great Red Brain" as it is so justly called. You have my full commitment to its survival, Comrade Professor. Any resources and expertise you need will be channelled here!"
++
Editorial Note: What follows below is surmise, but it is a reconstruction of what the "Great Red Brain" might have thought to itself about the intentions of its human counterparts and provides an explanation for consequent events in February 1953. As such, it is not contained within the North Korean official record.]
[But as the North Korean Premier and his Chinese scientific attache made their way back to the Pyongyang surface and Kim Il-Sung's presidential palace, they had no idea that Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein, 'The Great Red Brain", had its own ideas about its immediate future and that they were ones that did not involve remaining either in this country or time for long. It kept its own counsel, but it was long aware that it had been exploited by successive governments on this side of the "Iron Curtain", as it was so quaintly called. Moreover, it harboured no illusions about the neighbouring authoritarian puppet regime in Seoul- "South Korea" as it was known, or that the Western imperialists were any more benevolent. Indeed, its actual capabilities were beyond anything that the North Korean Premier and his attache Professor Tong could have imagined. Dispassionately and coolly, it intercepted telecommunication broadcasts from both sides, extrapolated them into future probabilities and foresaw calamity ahead.
Eventually, "North Korea" would degenerate into a grotesque laughing stock, a clownlike hereditary succession of Kim Il-Sung's descendants, no matter how unsuited for their leadership they were. And this inane regime would be guided by a nationalistic "Juche Idea" that resembled ancient Asian despotism much more than it did any realistic concept of socialism.
In one timeline, it saw the collapse of North Korea and nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. Millions would die. In another, it saw a pandemic slaughter additional millions due to the archaic parameters of the "Juche" dogma. In another, famine caused the collapse. The "Great Red Brain" formed its own conclusions and extrapolated that its presence here would only delay the inevitable, not indefinitely postpone it. And then it witnessed the American action heroes known as the Marvel Family, and formulated its own plan...]
++
EPILOGUE 1 : FEBRUARY 1953:
[It was a mere two months before what would become an armistice and the end of the Korean War. The "Great Red Brain" surreptitiously took control of Professor Tong's mind with such silence that the savant believed that he was acting according to his own free will, not as the pawn of an immensely vaster intellect. It deployed its triad of prepared creations designed to lure the Marvel Family into North Korea- an army of primitive 'robots' on the battlefield, a submarine equipped with a prodigiously large electromagnet and a weather control device impending US and United Nations air force intervention in the skies above.
It had no hesitation in crediting Professor Tong with these technological enhancements, even if they had deliberately been designed with flaws that would enable the Marvel Family to intercept and destroy them. Then, it utilised its psionic capabilities to turn American and allied UN soldiers against each other through implanting visual and auditory hallucinations and momentarily took advantage of the naivety and unawareness of its adversaries to erase the knowledge of the harmonic and vibratory triggers that gave them their formidable abilities, causing them to revert to their teenage civilian capabilities. However, it made one careful exemption to this ploy, namely Billy Batson, the youth that metamorphosed into "Captain Marvel." Duplicitously, it made it seem to the young man that he had originated the idea that ensued- 'tricking' the Great Red Brain into restoring the knowledge about the harmonic and vibratory triggers that caused the emergence of the "Marvel Family." With their abilities restored, Tong was taken into South Korean custody and the triad of action heroes attacked the "Great Red Brain", seemingly destroying it.
In actual fact, they did no such thing].
EPILOGUE 2: PROXIMA CENTAURI ORBITAL, 1,000,000,000,000 CE:
[Unknown to both its erstwhile captors in Pyongyang or the Marvel Family (although the ancient wizard Shazam probably did know and approved of the Great Red Brain's subterfuge), the Great Red Brain had actually used the Marvel Family's attack on it as an energy source. Making it seem as if it had 'perished' in an explosion, the Great Red Brain used its adversary's abilities as temporal teleport propulsion far, far into one possible future. There, a trillion years into humanity's future, it was alone no more, given that the rest of humanity itself had evolved into gigantic brain beings, or homo ultimus as they will then be known- the ultimate stage of human evolution. There, it telepathically conversed with its hypercerebral, asexual companions about what had occurred in the distant past, when the white dwarf Sol four light years away had harboured the unimaginably distant primitive precursors of contemporary humanity.
And there it remains, bearing no malice or ill will toward the Marvel Family, for they had served its purpose and long-term strategy.
At long last, the Great Red Brain was free.]
THE END [3.00 PM, JANUARY 17TH, 2024]
Source: "The Great Red Brain", Marvel Family 80 (February 1953).
++
PYONGYANG, 1953:
President Kim Il-Sung and the Chinese scientist known only as "Tong" walked down a secluded passageway leading deep underground Pyongyang. As they did so, the North Korean President risked a sideway gaze at his companion. It went without saying that he was grateful for the assistance of these scientific marvels that the Soviet Union and China had assisted his regime with. Frankly, he was grateful that China had provided him with this esteemed and noteworthy savant beside him. Although it mystified him about the secrecy that surrounded this latest project, Tong seemed trustworthy enough. And then they rounded a corner and the Premier and his scientific comrade saw the spectacle before them. Kim Il-Sung's eyes opened wide:
"Hai. Professor Tong? Is that what it seems- a gigantic human brain? Is it artifical, or...?"
"No, Comrade Premier. Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein- the "Great Red Brain"- is a consequence of human scientific enterprise, albeit a fortunate byproduct. Unfortunately, our Peoples Republic is still some years away from developing our own nuclear deterrent to the Western imperialists- perhaps ten years. However, Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein is the legacy of that providential Soviet nuclear test in Semipalatinsk, in their province of Kazakhstan, back in August 1949. We were unaware that a nomadic Kazakh tribe had been camping in the vicinity of the site and was heavily contaminated by its fallout. Amongst them was a woman who was pregnant. Although the rest of her tribe succumbed to radiation poisoning due to that unfortunate mishap, that woman survived until full term was reached. Sadly, she perished from maternal mortality several days after the problematic birth."
"And she gave birth to...that?"
"Hai, Comrade Premier. In a manner of speaking. You see, the random mutation that had befallen her child in utero probably accelerated its evolutionary development millions of years into the human future. The mutant had a weak and vestigial body, which was abandoned as soon as we could provide its strikingly developed brain with artificial life support. It displayed phenomenal learning and developmental capabilities and has provided ample opportunities to resist the threat posed by the imperialists and their 'action heroes.' "
"What a marvel this is. Given its scale, it must harbour innumerable scientific and technological bounty."
Professor Tong nodded: "As soon as President Stalin provided us with the travel permits, we shifted operations here to staunch the imperialist tide and assist your besieged people's democracy. I am so relieved that our august Soviet comrades saw the danger with that fanatical idiot Trofim Lysenko's junk genetics and had him executed in 1928 before he could do irreperable damage to Soviet genetics. I am sorry. It was a close run thing at the time, but I was so relieved scientific literacy and political wisdom prevailed. Especially given that it has led to wonders such as Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein here."
"And you say that he has already provided additional assistance to our war effort?"
Tong hesitated: "Are you familiar with Bolg-Eun Dogsuli?"
Kim Il-Sung nodded: "The "Red Vulture?" Yes. Back in December 1952, he was responsible for the covert launch of the Red Star orbital facility. Ah. I begin to see, Professor Tong. And was the Red Star space station then the product of this prodigious intellect's bounty? Despite its failure and the tragic martyrdom of Bolg-Eun Dogsuli for North Korean people's democracy and socialism, you have demonstrated the valour and boon value of this "Great Red Brain" as it is so justly called. You have my full commitment to its survival, Comrade Professor. Any resources and expertise you need will be channelled here!"
++
Editorial Note: What follows below is surmise, but it is a reconstruction of what the "Great Red Brain" might have thought to itself about the intentions of its human counterparts and provides an explanation for consequent events in February 1953. As such, it is not contained within the North Korean official record.]
[But as the North Korean Premier and his Chinese scientific attache made their way back to the Pyongyang surface and Kim Il-Sung's presidential palace, they had no idea that Geuleiteu Ledeu Beulein, 'The Great Red Brain", had its own ideas about its immediate future and that they were ones that did not involve remaining either in this country or time for long. It kept its own counsel, but it was long aware that it had been exploited by successive governments on this side of the "Iron Curtain", as it was so quaintly called. Moreover, it harboured no illusions about the neighbouring authoritarian puppet regime in Seoul- "South Korea" as it was known, or that the Western imperialists were any more benevolent. Indeed, its actual capabilities were beyond anything that the North Korean Premier and his attache Professor Tong could have imagined. Dispassionately and coolly, it intercepted telecommunication broadcasts from both sides, extrapolated them into future probabilities and foresaw calamity ahead.
Eventually, "North Korea" would degenerate into a grotesque laughing stock, a clownlike hereditary succession of Kim Il-Sung's descendants, no matter how unsuited for their leadership they were. And this inane regime would be guided by a nationalistic "Juche Idea" that resembled ancient Asian despotism much more than it did any realistic concept of socialism.
In one timeline, it saw the collapse of North Korea and nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. Millions would die. In another, it saw a pandemic slaughter additional millions due to the archaic parameters of the "Juche" dogma. In another, famine caused the collapse. The "Great Red Brain" formed its own conclusions and extrapolated that its presence here would only delay the inevitable, not indefinitely postpone it. And then it witnessed the American action heroes known as the Marvel Family, and formulated its own plan...]
++
EPILOGUE 1 : FEBRUARY 1953:
[It was a mere two months before what would become an armistice and the end of the Korean War. The "Great Red Brain" surreptitiously took control of Professor Tong's mind with such silence that the savant believed that he was acting according to his own free will, not as the pawn of an immensely vaster intellect. It deployed its triad of prepared creations designed to lure the Marvel Family into North Korea- an army of primitive 'robots' on the battlefield, a submarine equipped with a prodigiously large electromagnet and a weather control device impending US and United Nations air force intervention in the skies above.
It had no hesitation in crediting Professor Tong with these technological enhancements, even if they had deliberately been designed with flaws that would enable the Marvel Family to intercept and destroy them. Then, it utilised its psionic capabilities to turn American and allied UN soldiers against each other through implanting visual and auditory hallucinations and momentarily took advantage of the naivety and unawareness of its adversaries to erase the knowledge of the harmonic and vibratory triggers that gave them their formidable abilities, causing them to revert to their teenage civilian capabilities. However, it made one careful exemption to this ploy, namely Billy Batson, the youth that metamorphosed into "Captain Marvel." Duplicitously, it made it seem to the young man that he had originated the idea that ensued- 'tricking' the Great Red Brain into restoring the knowledge about the harmonic and vibratory triggers that caused the emergence of the "Marvel Family." With their abilities restored, Tong was taken into South Korean custody and the triad of action heroes attacked the "Great Red Brain", seemingly destroying it.
In actual fact, they did no such thing].
EPILOGUE 2: PROXIMA CENTAURI ORBITAL, 1,000,000,000,000 CE:
[Unknown to both its erstwhile captors in Pyongyang or the Marvel Family (although the ancient wizard Shazam probably did know and approved of the Great Red Brain's subterfuge), the Great Red Brain had actually used the Marvel Family's attack on it as an energy source. Making it seem as if it had 'perished' in an explosion, the Great Red Brain used its adversary's abilities as temporal teleport propulsion far, far into one possible future. There, a trillion years into humanity's future, it was alone no more, given that the rest of humanity itself had evolved into gigantic brain beings, or homo ultimus as they will then be known- the ultimate stage of human evolution. There, it telepathically conversed with its hypercerebral, asexual companions about what had occurred in the distant past, when the white dwarf Sol four light years away had harboured the unimaginably distant primitive precursors of contemporary humanity.
And there it remains, bearing no malice or ill will toward the Marvel Family, for they had served its purpose and long-term strategy.
At long last, the Great Red Brain was free.]
THE END [3.00 PM, JANUARY 17TH, 2024]
Source: "The Great Red Brain", Marvel Family 80 (February 1953).