The Goa'uld had been searching for naquadah for millennia, honing their scanners to perfection. Recovering two kilograms of the precious metal from orbit seemed impossible, but if fate dropped a Teltak directly overhead, the chances increased. Despite Seth's impressive arsenal, none of the incoming ships noticed—only background noise in the air. Knowing to target the jungle structures, I easily chose a course. According to the data, the Mexican rainforest region is relatively isolated, allowing me to narrow the search to hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. A huge number, but among the many structures, only the pyramids interested me. Having filtered them using my scanners, I began a methodical visit. As luck would have it, only the last pyramid, hidden by impenetrable jungle and forgotten by civilization, turned out to be the one I needed.
Ironically, finding the "Fountain of Youth," a kilogram of naquadah, seemed far more difficult than finding a couple of tons. They were orders of magnitude different. There were no landmarks, except for the aforementioned hole in the ground, where, rumor had it, two scientists had climbed. It's no surprise that the device remained undiscovered. I'm sure even the Asgard scanners wouldn't have helped search for a kilogram-sized device on the planet. Honduras, although close in size to my Mexican search area, was devoid of any landmarks. However, the plains were ruled out: Jackson, as we know, was moving upward, indicating highlands. Therefore, 20% of the country could be eliminated from the analysis. Egypt was simpler: all I had to do was identify all the temples in the desert—there were quite a few—and fly over each one, allowing time for scanning. I even wondered if the time-traveling SG-1 teams' MNTs had already arrived there, or if they hadn't gotten there yet. I don't like temporal anomalies, especially when there's a time machine floating around somewhere.
After twenty hours of monotonous scanning, I located Osiris's ship. The scoundrel had hidden it in an underground vault, accessible through rings—very much like Set's tactic. To scan each temple, I had to land literally right next to it; orbital scanning was useless. I didn't dare open the vault containing my personal tape drives without a key—I knew all too well how secure such security systems were. Fortunately, retrieving the teltak was a simple matter. The ship, serving merely as a means of escape to the nearest planet with a gate, was not protected in any way. Despite its age, it had escort capabilities for the main ship, and I easily linked it to my systems as I made my way to my Jaffa. To my surprise, they weren't frozen and were glad to have the second ship to while away the time while their "god" was busy. Having installed the gate, I waited until nightfall in Mexico, and we, choosing the least populated areas, set off. After unloading the gate, we used tractor beams to prop it upright against the pyramid. Then I ran a wire to power the gate's dialer from the teltak. The system came to life, and the Earth Gate was online.
"Sir, the local queen tried to contact you," my subordinate's voice rang out.
"Did she ask how important it was?" "Isara was a smart woman and wouldn't have bothered me without reason."
"Yes, it concerned the general council of local mayors. She needed to talk to you."
"Okay, tell her I'll be ready to meet in a couple of hours," I said, hanging up and gathering my subordinates. "There's a dangerous goddess sleeping inside this pyramid, she's in a sarcophagus, so perform any manipulations without opening it. We'll blow up the wall and extract the sarcophagus, then transport it to Urvashi. A few of you will remain on this planet as a garrison. Don't draw unnecessary attention to yourselves. If you see any trespassers, simply stun them."
"Yes!" Jaffa didn't have phrases like "Yes sir," that's how they confirmed an order.
- I'll be back in a couple of days at the most.
Now I had to figure out where to keep the Goa'uld queen, capable of manipulating her pheromones and possessing a cunning superior to that of a thousand of my brethren. On the one hand, I would send her to Cimmeria, but only after I found Harlan's technology to copy her consciousness. Stasis capsules seemed an excellent option; they were how the Goa'uld transported people from Earth, tens of thousands at a time. The main thing was to stun her and hide her in one of the secret rooms on Cheops.
I can congratulate myself – Hathor is captured. And now I have a sarcophagus.
"Queen Isara, was there something you wanted to discuss?" We spoke in my office, where I preferred to work. Although it looked more like the laboratory of a deranged scientist: flasks of chemicals, physics instruments, and measurements were everywhere. Even a chthonic battery attached to a flask of liquid naquadah. Yes, I tried to replicate O'Neill's feat of squeezing enough energy from naquadah to dial an intergalactic address. Of course, the universe merely laughed at my efforts.
"The governors were shocked by the news, and also by the fact that they'd have to pull people out of the economy to resume naquadah mining—a highly unpopular decision. But, using the carrot you provided me, they're already thinking in terms of railroads and the expansion of various industries. They have very close ties with the guilds and merchants, and I've revised your proposal on many points to make it more acceptable."
"More acceptable?" "I think I was quite generous there: extensive proposals for agricultural reform, a transition from factories to plants, and the electrification of production. I also planned a larger purchase of various machines and their conversion to electricity, so as not to create a useless industry—the oil industry. I plan to fully utilize nuclear reactors; fortunately, uranium mining and purification are not difficult tasks for me."
- Your conditions are, how can I put it, very generous.
- And this is unacceptable?
"My people are accustomed to hard work, not to mention the fact that it's wrong to simply give away goods for free. It's better for them to buy them, even at a reduced price. But buying them is valued far more than mere gifts. I've also managed to negotiate with the owners of various mines; they're willing to persuade some of their miners to transfer to the naquadah mines if you can supply them with the same tools. The miners, in their new uniforms, will be a great example for the unemployed in the city—the work, while hard, will be well-paid. I've taken your wishes into account, keeping shifts as short as possible.
"Okay, let's start with the miners, setting them high wages. I can make equipment for the other miners, too, but won't metal production increase, leading to a drop in the price of metal products? And even if we allocate one combine harvester per community, even on an installment plan, that will increase the food supply, leading to a drop in prices when supply exceeds demand, and it might become unprofitable for farmers to harvest their fields." "Perhaps I was ignorant, but I remembered that period of US history. Within the planet, only the internal market is available." "Perhaps additional regulation will be needed at this point, where the state will have to set the price and not allow it to fall to a minimum."
— Such an analysis eluded me.
"Think about it. Now about the railroad. I'll finance its construction myself, connecting ten mining towns where naquadah is extracted, using the exported goods. The merchant guilds can use their internal resources to build their own railroads. Iron will become cheaper, and I'll provide the industrial enterprises that smelt iron ore with electric furnaces, as well as the opportunity to purchase electricity from me. True, this will put those who produced charcoal out of business. While that's good for the trees, it's not so good for these people. They'll become unemployed. However, I think I can provide them with work.
I can't fly around and catch lightning myself. This way, I'll just redirect people's work. The local tropics were practically uninhabited, and it's precisely in the tropics that lightning strikes most often. I could find such a place and install devices there to collect lightning strikes into naquadah batteries. It would take a lot of work to create such a structure, but it would create jobs for the people who previously created the fuel, who will now be traveling to monitor the equipment and replace full batteries with empty ones. Considering that I plan to practically "light up" the local cities, bringing a ton of electricity-based technology from Earth, demand will be high until I find Harlan and figure out this damn wireless power transmission.
The Goa'uld have this technology; Apophis had a handheld wireless dialer, but it's clearly not enough to scale it to an entire planet. Essentially, I had an idea to create something like the Internet, but for energy. When routers can distribute power to different locations, it will eliminate the need for wires, ensuring energy independence. Essentially, you can connect to any router using a receiver. It's somewhat similar to the Protoss pylons from StarCraft, but I need Harlan to access his database. And then, I suspect, decades of work, if the Altairians don't already have a solution. By installing several hundred nuclear reactors, you can create a significant surplus of free energy.
- City councils are very interested in your technologies for water supply, sewerage, and others.
"Oh, I think I finally figured out what you're doing, Isara. You're trying to get me involved in the economy, so I'd get paid for my technologies, and then I'd use those funds to mine naquadah. That way, I wouldn't be devaluing gold by introducing gold that's not backed by commodities. Smart, you could have just said so."
"I'm still studying you and your reactions, trying to be as careful as possible," the black-haired woman stated bluntly.
"There's a certain logic to that," I couldn't help but agree. "But my goal is as clear as possible: I need a prosperous domain. Prosperity is achieved through economic activity, a constant circulation of goods. The most successful nations are those where the average citizen has a substantial income cushion. Let's say a person earns 10 gold pieces a year, and their mandatory living expenses are 7. That means they can spend 3 on themselves and various luxuries, or save up to start their own business. The higher the cushion, the more goods can be offered to a person. They will be actively involved in economic activity, wanting to increase their wealth, enriching everyone around them.
"It sounds noble in theory, but for some reason you think technology can solve all problems." Isara's words were quite accurate, reflecting my worldview. "But they'll simply create new ones. For example, when people realize that wages in the mines are high, they'll all rush there, leaving other sectors of the economy exposed. To compete with the mines, everyone else will have to raise wages, which will be an impossible task for many. Right now, the fear of the death mines is strong, but in a month or two, when significant funding is available, word will spread. Everyone will want to sign up."
"These mines once held 100,000, and given my six-hour shifts, the mines' potential output for four shifts is 400,000. 400,000 men and women removed from production would be quite significant and would create a significant economic imbalance. Typically, the agricultural sector suffers first in such situations; without combines and various attachments, such a situation would normally lead to famine. But thanks to my technology, the outflow of population from rural areas won't be a one-time disaster. On the other hand, 400,000 miners extracting naquadah, even taking into account the density of the material, could amount to several hundred kilograms of naquadah ore per person. In the short term, this might be a boon for me, but it would completely shake up your economy, which is no longer the case. Perhaps opening a mining school as a buffer? This would reduce the risk of cave-ins and also establish a wage buffer. Professional miners with extensive experience would earn more for their seniority and experience, while young miners would earn less. This wouldn't create a wage imbalance." Although it can create internal elitism.
The conversations with the Queen were quite interesting. I had a basic understanding of economic processes, but only basic. With such an education, I wouldn't have played the stock market, let alone business. But Isara was a practical person; even with her lack of education, she understood many things instinctively. In the Middle Ages, economic problems also arose when it was necessary to choose who to subsidize. I need to bring her some books on economics from Earth. And then translate them into Goa'uldish. I'll have to look up synonyms for "futures," "swaps," "floating interest rate," and other such nonsense in Goa'uldish. Someone have pity on me?
"After some time, I will establish contact with a world far more advanced than yours; it will be capable of supplying a certain range of technologies. These include self-propelled vehicles, as well as aircraft, flying machines. But such devices rely on combustible fuel, which doesn't suit me, so an infrastructure to replace this inefficient energy source will be needed. Therefore, it will be necessary to organize the production of electric motors and replace the old motors in cars. This will require a fairly large building to assemble all the necessary materials. True, this may put horse breeders in an awkward position, but I will find some planets where your animals can be sold."
I might even be able to justify this to Ra. So, I arrived, herded a bunch of them to work, and now I'm selling off the surplus horses. Given the low technology, there's a constant need for pack animals. Those Mongols who wanted to force Carter into a harem might also need horses, and there are plenty of low-tech planets out there. It's important to preserve jobs and production capacity, and gradually reduce them.
After initially saturating the market with vehicles for naquadah transportation needs, I will pass on all the technological information for creating self-propelled vehicles, allowing your merchants to create their own designs. As well as the technology for creating electric motors.
- That's generous.
"It's practical. Creating such self-propelled machines will require competent workers, which will prompt everyone to invest in education, paving the way for universal education. Given your population of 30 million, the number of educational institutions will need to increase to 15,000. Of course, this won't happen overnight; it's simply impossible. Increasing literacy will lead to increased competence."
"Are you preparing a rebellion against your master?" Isara asked unexpectedly.
"Of course, like any Goa'uld. Right now, my status is lower than that of your tax collector; I want to climb the ladder." I smiled. "However, 'Rebellion' is too strong a word. If Ra can't control me, then it's his own fault. Weakness is unforgivable in our society. He set the conditions, gave me the worst ship to bind me to him. If I bypass these restrictions, I'll show my value as a servant or a rival. I'd prefer for him to consider me a weak Goa'uld for as long as possible. But I'm not stupid; I can wait 50 years to make my move. Or I can wait longer. Patience is key; those who rush never win. Your planet has all the resources it needs to become a powerful space power. I'm interested in this; this planet is far from the Empire's territory; you can develop."
- This could put my subjects at risk.
"Your subjects have always been under threat, they just never realized it. It's impossible to negotiate with the Goa'uld, to beg forgiveness or neutrality. Only races that can fight them have a chance of survival. The Tollans, the Hebridans, the races that challenged the Goa'uld and won. Only by understanding the threats from space will you have any idea how to defend yourself from the Empire. Even if you betray Isara, perhaps even kill me, you will need to protect yourself from the Empire. Only by becoming strong will you earn the right to live."
- Can't we just live without fear of invasion?
"I know of four powerful races, as powerful as the Goa'uld are as many times as the Goa'uld are powerful as you. The Asgard possess super-powerful weapons and ships. They are peaceful, but they have the resources for war. The Nox are pacifists, but they have the technology to hide from us, and if forced, they will strike a powerful blow. The Ancients, the builders of the gates, were peaceful explorers who hated war, but their weapons are capable of crushing star systems. Usually, peaceful existence is ensured by a big club with which to strike anyone who doesn't take a hint. Such races can live peacefully, others exist in blissful ignorance. Now you have a chance to rise, take it.
"I'll use it." The Queen was very convincing.
"Okay, your success is also my success, because I'm not such a good administrator." He laughed a little, catching her cold gaze.