Hou Ji Space Station is descending gradually through the thick atmosphere. Seen from the ocean, the space station resembles a shining silver pillar crossing the sky and the waterline.

The vessel Qin Fei is riding in sits underneath the Hou Ji Space Station. He can see the round bottom of the space station covering half of the sky like a wide-open metal continent. The pillar-shaped station has a diameter of 2400 kilometers and a length of 24,000 kilometers, a pure miracle of construction. On this planet, only the expansive Pacific Ocean could contain its enormous base.

“Sir, we have to leave now, or the Hou Ji Space Station will push us into the ocean.” Su Bai’s voice startles Qin Fei, who’s lost in thought.

Qin Fei shakes his head. He still hasn’t recovered from the shock of seeing Hou Ji’s impact. “Even though I envisioned this, seeing the company actually use my concept... It is more amazing than I could ever have imagined.”

Su Bai smiles kindly. “It is indeed beautiful; the customers will love it.”

Qin Fei just nods. He approaches the window and lights a cigarette. “Let’s go,” he says. “This is just the beginning.”

The vessel ascends along the side of the Hou Ji Space Station, rapidly leaving behind the ocean. Qin Fei feels dizzy from the speed; for a second, he is like a miniscule ant climbing the Tower of Babel.

After they reach an altitude of more than ten thousand meters, Qin Fei can see the shadow the space ship casts over the ocean. The tail of the shadow extends toward the east, with its tip over the South American continent.

Thin air streams past Hou Ji like rivers parted by sand dunes. In the setting sun, the spaceship is gilded in a bright red, resembling a flame. The spaceship is a lit cigarette, suspended between the ocean and the sky, eternally burning.

Qin Fei can’t stop himself from caressing the cigarette box in his hand. The brand name, Universal, is printed on the box.

The name is perhaps a bit grandiose and cliché, but Qin Fei’s company suits it. Smoking is as ancient as fire, and just as influential on human culture.

In the ancient night, fire was humanity’s only weapon other than rocks, and smoking the only entertainment other than sex.

Some people say smoking originated from the American Indians, whose tribal elders puffed under a starry sky while telling stories. Some say it was the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire who brought smoking to Europe.

Christianity could resist some Islamic influences but not the wonders of tobacco. Despite being banned by the church, more and more of the faithful continued to smoke while holding the Bible.

It wouldn’t be crazy to say that the light blue smoke of tobacco has risen from Earth for as long as human civilizations have persisted.

After hundreds of years of expansion and mergers, Qin Fei’s company became the leader of the tobacco industry. As the interstellar colonial era arrived, Qin Fei’s grandfather also progressed with the times and changed the company name to “Universal Tobacco.”

Qin Fei’s grandfather and father resisted public ridicule in their time. They worked hard to build the company, and, by now, have proven that their company deserves such an ambitious name.

A few years ago, a new drug called mood nicotine flourished in society. Invented by poor interstellar sailors and illegal migrants who had no money for cigarettes and liquor, this cheap and readily available chemical cocktail is used by people to get high. Dopamine, endorphins, and similar neurotransmitters are mixed and injected into the bloodstream for a rapid high. Every nerve center in the brain is flooded with stimulation until the user passes out.

More and more of Qin Fei’s competitors had been abandoning the traditional tobacco industry to produce this cheap (and highly profitable) mood nicotine, forcing Qin Fei’s company into years of losses.

It was then that Su Bai, Qin Fei’s wife, gave him inspiration. She suggested that Qin Fei borrow from the watch and clock industry’s experience, ages prior. When cheap and effective quartz watches first appeared, the traditional watch industry was impacted, but the artisans of Geneva didn’t lose their jobs. They moved to the luxury market. Watches became works of art, like oil paintings, encased in gold and gems.Watches turned into symbols of status, social standing, and wealth.

Qin Fei therefore had decided to make his cigarettes signify royalty. The Hou Ji Space Station would be the first step in this project. After multiple political upheavals in the interstellar colonial era, Earth had lost its old standing. Legally, Earth was now the same as any other colonial planet – so, given sufficient money and connections, anyone could do anything on Earth.

Qin Fei’s company had been building this huge space station in Earth’s orbit. When complete, it would be a cigarette that is forever etched in history.

After six hours of descent, the bottom of Hou Ji Space Station is finally touching the ocean. Huge radial waves can be seen from orbit. The distant waves reach as far as the eastern shores of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. The Pacific Ocean is like a little pond, with the Hou Ji Space Station as a giant stirring stick.

Qin Fei is now watching the descent from the main screen inside Hou Ji Space Station’s control room. He gives the order for the next step.

Inside the space station, a vacuum is created at an incredibly high speed. Air flies out endlessly from the vent, forming a storm.

Meanwhile, more than 1200 meters deep in the ocean, Hou Ji Space Station’s rear cabin doors open. Ocean water is drawn into the vacuum-like space station at a feverish speed. Driven by the high atmospheric pressure, the ocean waters between North America, Europe, and Asia begin to churn slowly and change their direction. More than seven hundred million cubic meters of water start to flow clockwise, faster and faster.

Spectacular swirls of the Pacific Ocean are born, a sight that can be seen from the colonies of the Moon! They look like Earth’s just-opened eyes.

Qin Fei’s mind is racing. Even if all of the ocean water on Earth is sucked dry, only a small part of Hou Ji would be full, but it would create a water pillar twice as high as the atmospheric layer.

After three months, the oceans are dry. The seabeds, untouched by sunlight for billions of years, finally show their haggard faces. Hou Ji Space Station stands tall in the Pacific Ocean, its top invisible in the deep part of the blue sky, looking sacred and regal.

What follows is the work of many geneticists. Tobacco blastema are loaded into the Hou Ji Space Ship by the ton. After the company’s customization work, these cells are able to live in saltwater, and multiply like cancer.

Time and patience will take care of the rest. The exponent can be an evil player in math. If left unchecked, the descendants of a single bacterium could fill an ocean in just days. These tobacco blastema cells can grow into forests very quickly.

A year later, Qin Fei returns to the Hou Ji Space Station.

“Looking good.” Su Bai reports.

The two of them face the observation window that takes up an entire wall of the space station. Ocean water fills the space outside the window, where the thick and gnarly tobacco vines grow. The vines crawl deep into the seabed and reach into the twenty-four-thousand-meter-high sky, outgrowing even that mythical beanstalk in the fairy tale.

The company is using progressive cultivation methods. As soon as one part of the ocean water grows enough tobacco, the seawater is migrated upward to grow more tobacco, until all of Hou Ji’s interior is filled with tobacco, becoming a cigarette in every sense.

“Let the ocean water out. I can’t wait!” Qin Fei can’t stop his voice from shaking with excitement.

At his words, the part of Hou Ji in the atmospheric layer opens numerous vents, and streams of ocean water gush out. From a few hundred meters to fifty thousand meters off the ground, the liquid flows hard and fast; it is like the gates of heaven flooding to cleanse the human world. The ocean water is being returned to the surface of the Earth.

This process takes another two months.

The next step is the most time-consuming: the drying of tobacco and the addition of other ingredients. With powerful suction from engines, half of the air in the atmospheric layer is sucked into Hou Ji Space Station and cycled internally, creating a process to dry the tobacco vines.

Meanwhile, the mist sprayers add all kinds of fragrance and additional ingredients into the storm, mixing them thoroughly with the tobacco. For ten years, the troposphere inside Hou Ji is filled with heavy smoke, a giant rain cloud made from air and extracted moisture from the tobacco.

Qin Fei has aged a bit in the intervening decade. He caresses his sagging chin while looking at the throngs of people inside the spaceship. The customers have come from all corners of the galaxy, all of them here to try the most amazing and delicious taste of all, the taste of the Universal Cigarette. Of course, the experience isn’t cheap, making Qin Fei quite rich. He straightens his spine at the thought.

“Everyone, we’re about to light the cigarette now,” he announces to the crowd. People quiet down and look eagerly to the nearest big screen.

In the Earth orbit, an enormous concave mirror is slowly adjusting itself. The Hou Ji Space Station and the Earth resemble a giant lollipop. The length of the space station is twice as long as the diameter of the Earth, making the planet look like a piece of candy at the end of a stick.

When the top part of Hou Ji opens, the concave mirror focuses and reflects its light toward that spot, where an expansive meadow, with a diameter of 2400 kilometers and filled with tobacco leaves, thrives in space. Thanks to excellent atmospheric pressure preservation techniques, even if Hou Ji opened its doors, its interior would still maintain oxygen.

There’s a flicker of fire. In seconds, flames begin to burn across the huge meadow. Soon, the flames connect in an ocean of fire. With air compressors’ help, the first stream of smoke from the lit Universal Cigarette is sent toward the lower part of Hou Ji, where it sits on Earth.

Three days later, the smoke drifts past the long body of the spaceship, reaching the smoke room. The walls of the room are embedded with rows of smoke openings, where the customers jostle for position to inhale the wonderful smell. Qin Fei feels gratified.

Let the poor people have their mood nicotine. The rich will come from far and wide to enjoy the spectacular Universal Cigarette. It can burn for a century. For the next 100 years, his company will be undisputed...

“God, think of what we used to have to do. We had to figure out how to sell cigarettes to Japan, Britain, America, Russia... We had to sell to everyone even if they didn’t want it.” Qin Fei said to Su Bai. “We had to think of slogans like, ‘Cigarettes are everyone’s friend,’ ‘Cigarettes are a part of your wonderful life...’ Now, I will stop all of the planets’ production lines and just keep Hou Ji in operation. Everyone will line up and beg for a taste of our cigarette...”

Qin Fei is babbling. Somehow, the world around him dims. The customers’ voices die down. The smoke they blow out thickens, until the only thing left in his vision is Su Bai’s pale face. The smile on her face fades, too, and is replaced by a cool expression.

“Mr. Qin, I’m sick of listening to you. Give me more money or get out.” Su Bai says.

Qin Fei wakes up with a start. His dingy shirt is soaked with sweat.

“Gimme, I need more!” he shouts. “I want more mood nicotine!”

“Money.” Behind the counter, Su Bai seems expressionless. At least twenty disheveled sailors swarm the space, trying to grab the mood nicotine from her hand.

Qin Fei checks his pockets. He doesn’t find any money, only something wrinkled. It is a dirty cigarette case, with the faded letters reading Universal Cigarettes.

“Where did you get that?” Su Bai is shocked.

Qin Fei throws the case onto the counter. “Gimme the mood nicotine now.”

Su Bai opens the case, which is filled with cigarette butts. She seems overjoyed. “Here you go. Enjoy, Mr. Qin.”

She stuffs a glass vial into Qin Fei’s hands. Qin Fei finds a syringe, fills it with the liquid from the vial, and injects it into his vein.