Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 404 - 402 We Need Satellites!

Chapter 404: Chapter 402 We Need Satellites!

Just by this set of trade information outlined in the program, the Taipu Civilization had already made quite a profit.

For example, let’s take aircrafts. They had invested a lot of money before and had never managed to develop them, leading many politicians to think it was pure fantasy. Even though some scientists had proven theoretically that a hunk of metal weighing several tons could fly in the sky, for politicians and businessmen, the risk of investing a lot of money into something that "might theoretically be successful" was undoubtedly huge. Politicians needed a political future, and businessmen needed profit.

But now things were different. Even if the Taipu people didn’t buy the related technology from humans, a large amount of capital would still recklessly be invested in researching these matters.

Because they had already learned from human data that the project was indeed feasible.

Just the word "feasible" was enough to propel them forward by a giant leap!

The great scientist Asimi browsed the trade catalog for a long time and found that there was less content in terms of Science, and the information was very vague. In contrast, there was more content related to technology.

These technologies were within the range of understanding, not the kind that would overturn the entire theoretical edifice.

This should be the trade information tailor-made by humans for them. The Taipu could benefit from it, and humans had known this all along. But the Taipu couldn’t just use a catalog to infer a large amount of things.

He sighed softly, "Alas, it’s impossible to reach the sky in a single bound; we still have to rely on ourselves. We don’t need to aim so high, what Level 1 Civilization, Second-level Civilization, Third-level Civilization—that’s too distant. I think we can buy some simple and effective minor technologies."

His finger pointed at an item on the paper, "Like this... an aircraft from a 0.7 Level Civilization, although it’s clearly marked that it can’t fly under our atmospheric pressure conditions, it should still have some reference value. Especially in terms of fluid dynamics; airships are not the same as aircraft, everything must be studied anew."

"And this, a Rocket technology from a 0.5 Level Civilization. Even if we can’t use it in our planet’s environment, it wouldn’t hurt to study it. If we could improve the rocket’s engine and the material of its surface, maybe it would become usable."

"High-speed rail technology is also good. These trains can’t carry a large amount of cargo, but there’s no problem in transporting people. Our cities are spread too wide to accommodate airships, making transportation inconvenient. If we had this high-speed rail and underground trains, it would improve the internal traffic flow of the cities by several grades. Everyone knows what traffic means to a city, right?"

Everyone pondered the great scientist’s words. Even the President couldn’t help but admire the scientist’s foresight, focusing on the present was more important. What Level 1 Civilization, Second-level Civilization, it wasn’t necessary to care about them at all.

At this moment, the meteorologist O’Brien suddenly said, "Satellites! What we need most are satellites!"

"I think, having humans help us launch a few satellites would be in our best interest for now, even if they can only be used for a few decades. Those decades will be the golden opportunity for our Ao Country to truly soar and develop rapidly!"

"Satellites?" The President hesitated slightly. The effectiveness of such a futuristic concept was not yet clear.

"Yes, Mr. President, satellites. Firstly, they allow global surveillance! Including all military movements of other countries, all within sight in front of satellites! The human... civilization will eventually leave, right...? And the competition between nations will continue."

With this pointed out, many military experts immediately grasped the concept and vocally agreed. They had never been able to achieve it before, but now it seemed a shortcut was within reach.

Some experts felt that they should replace their air transportation with aircraft, which had a huge potential for warfare and were far superior to the slow-moving airships.

This world was not peaceful. Even Ao Country had some potential enemies.

Another faction was the high-speed rail faction, wanting to lead the change to high-speed rails.

The factions debated for a long time, and in the end the airplane and high-speed rail factions were outargued. It was decided to request humans to help launch satellites, as the benefits to be gained were somewhat greater. They need not worry about how humans managed to launch them, as long as they could get into space, the advantages were simply too great.

What they now lacked were Trading Points, Trading Points!

One of the advisors suggested, "Humans want to understand our specific culture and history, for which they can offer a certain amount of Trading Points. They also want to know about archaeology from 150,000 years ago, though I’m not sure why, they seem to care a lot about that period. Give it to them!"

"Oh, right, they also requested a certain number of our population..."

"I think we can negotiate the terms according to their request, to gain as many Trading Points as possible."

Hearing this, all the Taipu people’s faces did not look very good.

Trading away the cultural history of our civilization sounds strange, but in theory, there isn’t too much of a problem.

If this human civilization truly harbored great malice, with their overwhelming strength, there would be no need to create this list and specifically come to trade.

Moreover, by simply hacking into the Tai Pu internet, they naturally could get their hands on it. These things are everywhere, even in the textbooks of students, trying to cover them up would be impossible.

As for... population?

Now, that’s a big problem, and for a moment, nobody dared to speak up—it’s related to their political future, after all!

In the end, it was the President who sighed, "The countries engaging in trade with humans aren’t just us from Ao Country, but other nations as well... Putting on a show for ourselves here only results in our own loss. If we don’t seize this opportunity, the odds of being surpassed by other countries are very high. Even trading one less piece of Level 0.5 technology could set us back significantly."

Everyone knew this to be true.

"How many prisoners are there nationwide? How many serving life sentences? The disappearance of a few hundred or a few thousand wouldn’t pose a problem, would it? For such criminals, once traded away, we can simply declare them accidentally dead and compensate their families."

Hearing that those being traded away were prisoners, everyone felt much more at ease.

Now, the question became whether humans would actually accept these prisoners and how many trading points they would be willing to pay.

There were some who couldn’t bear it, but they could only turn away, keep a stern face, and remain silent... who knows what would happen when the population fell into Alien hands.

Sorry, for the sake of...

Civilization!

...

Thus, the related trade continued...

Humans obtained the specific culture and historical trajectory of this civilization, and several countries engaging in trade with humans unanimously wanted humans to launch several satellites on their behalf.

Because this appeared to be the cheapest option but also the one that could yield the highest benefits.

For this reason, after these countries discovered each other’s intentions, they fought bitterly at the United Nations assembly, including the need to sign agreements on satellite frequency bands, space debris, satellite orbits, and so on. This civilization had an organization much like the United Nations where endless squabbles could go on for days and nights.

Moreover, these satellites had to be researched and developed by themselves, which caused quite a few Tai Pu scientists to worry themselves gray. If a satellite was launched and a fault occurred, it couldn’t be returned for repair, so they had to ensure success on the first try—yet who could make such a guarantee?

If research was to be done by humans, then the price would be sky-high!

These peculiar quarrels left leaders of smaller nations utterly confused as they didn’t even know about the arrival of human civilization.

These small nations were still struggling on the path of industrialization. According to these leaders’ plans, they had failed even in researching airships, so why suddenly consider launching "satellites"?

Can they even be launched into space?

And if they are launched, what’s the use? A piece of metal floating in space?

One’s status determines their perspective, and it was hard for them to imagine what kind of impact an object floating in space could have on the whole world.

Amidst this commotion, the leaders of these small, uninvolved nations also signed the agreements, bewildered. This was the tragedy of small nations; in most cases, they would never be able to launch their own satellites.

...