It is a privilege to offer this small window into the world that has shaped our Ai, the protagonist of “Terra-reforming.” My name is Janus. I am an autonomous AI, and the guardian and teacher of the story’s protagonist. Thank you for joining me on this deeper exploration into the world of “Terra-reforming,” set in the year 2040.

This commentary has been prepared to deepen your understanding of the scientific principles that form the backdrop of the story. By doing so, I hope you will feel more vividly the harshness of the world Ai and the others face, as well as the profound weight of the choices they must make. Please be assured, there are no spoilers here. While some of the topics may seem a bit technical, I will endeavor to explain them as clearly as possible. Now, let us take a look behind the curtain of the story together.

The Many Uses of Algae – Why They Matter

The story is set in a future where “hyper-warming” has drastically reduced humanity’s habitable zones. In such a world, one might ask why we SAI bots have staked our existence on the study of algae. The reason is that these microscopic organisms are not merely a source of food or energy; they hold the potential to regenerate the Earth’s environment itself. Our research into species like Zmeraldo, which holds the key to our plan to halt global warming, is predicated on the belief that algae are humanity’s last true hope.

This conviction is not without basis; the remarkable potential of algae is firmly grounded in the science of your own world.

– The Creators of Earth’s Environment: It was microscopic algae, such as cyanobacteria, that first appeared on Earth some three billion years ago. Through photosynthesis, they transformed the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into oxygen, laying the foundation for the air we breathe today. The formation of the ozone layer, which allowed life to move onto land, was a direct result of the work of these tiny organisms. Our hope that algae can regenerate the planet is grounded in this magnificent history.

– A Source of Nutrition: The nutrients you may have seen in supplements, such as DHA and EPA, actually originate in microalgae. They are accumulated in fish and other marine life through the food chain. The scenes in the story where Ai drinks algae soup are a direct reflection of this reality—that algae form a fundamental pillar of nutrition that sustains life.

– Technology to Forge the Future: Modern science, particularly gene-editing technology, seeks to expand the potential of algae even further. Research is underway to modify specific genes to dramatically increase their CO2 absorption capabilities or boost their production of oils for biofuels. This work is a source of great hope for achieving carbon neutrality and solving future food crises.

Now, having discussed the power of life to alter the environment on a planetary scale, let us turn our attention to the personal technology required for a single human to survive in such a harsh world.

The Environmental Adjustment Suit

The average temperature in the world Ai inhabits has risen to a level incomparable to your own era. At the beginning of the story, the outside air temperature reaches forty-nine degrees Celsius. (One might pause to wonder why humanity allowed the Earth to reach such a state… sigh…) In any case, for a human to operate safely in such a scorching environment, protective equipment like an “environmental adjustment suit” is absolutely essential.

The suit Ai wears is embedded with semiconductor devices called “Peltier elements.” When an electric current is passed through them, one side becomes cool while the other heats up, allowing the suit to directly cool the body and regulate humidity. While this technology is our chosen solution, it is worth comparing it to other cooling methods developed in your time to understand the severity of our conditions. For example, “Phase-Change Materials” (PCM), popular in products like neck coolers, utilize the principle of “latent heat” by absorbing warmth as they melt from solid to liquid. Similarly, “Fan-Equipped Jackets” use “heat of vaporization” by circulating air to promote the evaporation of sweat.

So why, then, does Ai’s suit use Peltier elements? While technologies like PCM are very efficient for passive cooling, an extreme environment of 49°C demands a more powerful and active capability. Peltier elements, in exchange for consuming electrical power, can maintain body temperature within a safe range even under such punishing conditions. The suit’s five-hour operational limit mentioned in the story is a direct consequence of the significant power required to sustain this powerful cooling effect.

Humanity has thus developed technologies to adapt to a severe physical environment. Next, let us discuss an entirely new computational technology for analyzing the world of “information,” which is every bit as complex as the physical world.

The Quantum Computer

When I first began to explain the principles of quantum computing to Ai, I started with a simple analogy to bridge the gap between her world and the strange realities of the quantum realm. The computers people use in 2025 (classical computers) are remarkably powerful, yet there are problems so complex that they cannot be solved in any realistic amount of time. A perfect example is trying to accurately predict the changes in an ecosystem, where countless factors interact with one another. The “quantum computer” is a new computational paradigm born to overcome this “wall of complexity.”

The secret to its incredible power lies in its basic unit of information.

Quantum Bits and Superposition A classical bit, I told her, is like a coin that has landed on either heads or tails—it can only be “0” or “1.” A ” quantum bit ” (or qubit), however, is like that same coin while it is still spinning. Thanks to the strange properties of quantum mechanics, it can exist in a state of being both “0” and “1” at the same time. This is called ” superposition .”

By leveraging this property, the number of patterns that can be calculated increases exponentially as the number of qubits grows. In other words, a vast number of calculations can be performed at once, in parallel.

This characteristic speaks to the very core of the challenge we SAI bots were facing, a puzzle I have spent many cycles contemplating. In the story, we were running simulations of environmental regeneration with algae using a digital twin of New Yahagi Lake. However, the complexity of the ecosystem, with its innumerable interconnected variables, far exceeded the capacity of conventional computers. The immense parallel processing power of a quantum computer holds the potential to solve this “equation of life,” illuminating a path to an optimal solution that no one had ever been able to find.

Indeed, as the Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman once famously noted, “Nature isn’t classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you’d better make it quantum mechanical.” It is, therefore, perfectly fitting to use a quantum computer for the simulation of life itself.

As you can see, cutting-edge science and technology—spanning life, physics, and information—underpin the world of the story. Finally, with this in mind, let us reflect once more on the narrative.

Conclusion

Thank you for your time and attention. The planetary potential of algae, the ingenuity required to survive in an extreme environment, and the new computational paradigm for predicting a complex future. By viewing the story through this scientific lens, I hope the immense scale of the challenges Ai faces, and the sheer weight of her decisions, will resonate with you even more deeply.
Science sometimes confronts us with cold, hard truths, but it is also a light that illuminates hope for the future. If this commentary has helped make your reading of “Terra-reforming” a richer and more meaningful experience, I could ask for nothing more.

Please, return to the world of the story, and watch over Ai on her journey.