Star People
Side Story 18
Give Us Superior Technology
June 12th, 15 AE…
Atlans Capital City Akandri…
King Voster and his wife watched the evening news in the Royal Bedchambers with some expressions of concern. It had only been a week since the kingdom’s historic and successful mission to the Moon. For the most part, the overall population was proud of their recent technological achievements; nuclear fission, the transistor, early mass computational devices and rocketry.
However, for some people, it wasn’t enough. A new group of technological enthusiasts had formed. For some people, the pride of being the most technologically advanced country in the world was their main driving force. And to have a new nation with technology more than 2 centuries ahead of them; bit into their pride deeply. Several individuals were generally acting out of scientific curiosity, but for the majority, they were extreme fanatics and saw Free Land as a rival and a means to upgrade their country. The Kingdom of Atlans was a superpower and they deserved to have the best technology, even if they had not technically earned it.
This was the organization known as GUST or Give Us Superior Technology.
GUST had its beginnings when the Star Alliance first announced its existence to the world, over four years ago. At the time, it was simply a gathering of some of the top scientists and engineers Atlans had to offer. However, when they first encountered Free Land technology, their ideals and pride of being supreme among the mechanically-advanced were completely blown away.
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July 23rd, 11 AE…
“What is this amazing device?” Atlans Engineer Wilks Pragi asked as he held up a metal square that was about the size of a credit card.
“Oh, that’s one of our current models of portable holo-computers.” Star Alliance Engineer Montgomery Bliss replied as he took the device and demonstrated by laying it on the table and tapping the center. The black square lit up and began projecting a flat screen image in front their eyes.
“How is this possible?! What is this?!” Wilks gawked at the image. He was astounded at the clarity and vibrant colors as the home screen projected itself in midair. It made the film projectors he was used to seeing as crude and primitive. “You called this a computer, right? Does that mean you can make calculations with it? How many calculations can it do?”
Montgomery shrugged his shoulders as he manipulated the holographic touchscreen. “It’s not one of those fancy, high-grade models. The best it can do is about 8 Tetrahertz (THz).”
“What’s a Tetrahertz?”
“Well, a Hertz is a cycle per second. In other words, it’s 1 event in 1 second. We’re talking about how many tasks or cycles can be performed in a second. So if you add the prefix kilo, that’s a thousand. So a Kilohertz is 1,000 cycles in a second. A Megahertz would be one million cycles per second. A Gigahertz would be one billion cycles.”
“So… a Tetrahertz… would be one… trillion?! This tiny thing is able to do up to 8 trillion tasks in a second?!”
“Well… yeah. Like I said, it’s not like one of those high-end models. Those can do over 10 Exahertz. The prefix exa has 18 zeroes behind it. We call that a quintillion by the way.”
Wilks’ jaw practically dropped to the floor as he stared at the seemingly simple, but incredibly complex gadget.
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As time went on, those first few groups of scientists and engineers began to come together due to their shared interest in advanced technology and scientific theories. Soon, a certain phrase began to be repeated among them.
Why didn’t we think of that?
After the creation of the Warhawk, some members of this newly-formed, unofficial organization began to feel jealousy and resentment.
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Jan 14th, 12 AE…
Atlans Army Air Corps Engineer Second-class Huxal Vors let off a low whistle as he gazed upon the aircraft engine on the table in front of him. The newly-developed P-40 Warhawk powerplant was a thing of beauty. It had taken more than five months to replicate the original Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled, V-12 inline engine. Unlike the radial engines of the Warhawk’s predecessors, this powerplant promised to give more speed and agility than the Wind Master fighters currently in service.
The theory itself was simple enough. Despite only having twelve cylinders, the overall shape of the inline engine, produced less drag and wind resistance. As a result, it didn’t need as much power to get up to speed. The inline engine weighed less and was more fuel-efficient. As he thought about it, the engineer wondered why Atlans didn’t come up with this aircraft engine design themselves.
The biplane and its radial engine had been in use for over 20 years since their creation. There were inline combustion engines as well, but they were good for cars and ships. They simply weren’t powerful enough to push an object through the skies. Furthermore, the aircraft needed two sets of wings to achieve enough lift to get that heavy engine into the air. This was the reason why all aircraft before the arrival of Free Land, were generally made in the biplane format.
There had been some theoretical studies done on a monoplane design, but no actual testing was done until Atlans were given the plans to the P-40 Warhawk. Soon afterwards, the biplane designs were dropped in favor of the monoplane as the Army Air Corps found themselves with a fighter that was, on paper, at least 200 mph faster, and could climb to more than triple the altitude.
As he continued to admire the engine that would soon be installed in the airframe, another thought came to Huxal, making him frown a bit.
Hold on a second! The Free Land engineers said this Warhawk was an ancient design! I’ll admit it’s better than our biplanes, but they’ve got starfighters! I heard that those things can reach to over three times the speed of sound and can even fly into space! How come they didn’t give us the plans to those? I’m pretty certain we could have figured out how to build one! That’s not fair!
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July 30th, 12 AE…
“Please, sir! Why can’t I take off the panel?” Corporal Jessa Cordas whined as her superior stopped her from trying to access the insides of a Scrapper Mech.
“You know the rules, Corporal.” Sergeant Warco Sanso said with a stern expression. “We’re allowed to use Free Land’s Scrappers, but only for fighting against Mechanoids and Behemoths. We’re not allowed to take one apart. Trying to reverse-engineer a Scrapper could get us blacklisted from using them again!”
“It’s not fair! Think of what we could learn just by studying the basic design!”
“Well, I will admit that I am really curious on how this thing works…”
“Then it’s okay then?”
“No, it’s not okay. I said I was curious, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let myself or any of my subordinates disobey a direct order from the upper brass. And after what they did to the Sath, I definitely don’t want Free Land declaring war on us for violating the agreement.”
“So how do they expect us to repair and maintain these things?!”
“They don’t expect us to do that. That’s the reason why they transferred those maintenance and repair crews from New Pearl Harbor.”
“Come on, Sergeant! One little peek! I promise! I won’t ask for anything else!”
“Access denied, and that’s final!”
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
Both turned to the sound of the applause and saw the head of the repair crew standing nearby. This was Lieutenant Rudolph Vesterin, who had been transferred to Atlans a few weeks ago.
“I’m glad to see that you’re following orders, Sergeant Sanso. Although I can understand your subordinate’s curiosity. However, we need to have her understand the reasons why we don’t allow for unauthorized access to our core technology.”
“To protect military secrets, right?” Jessa surmised.
“That’s only one of the reasons.” Rudoph shook his head while replying. “It’s also to protect you from the technology itself.”
“Huh?”
“This will be a one-time thing. I have the authorization to allow you to remove that panel and let you have a look inside.”
“REALLY?!”
“Yes, really. However, you will not be allowed to touch any components nor make any notes or pictures. This is just to prove a point.”
“But…”
“Would you rather that I don’t open that panel at all?”
Jessa was taken aback by the simple statement, and after quickly considering her options, decided that a quick peek was better than nothing at all. She reluctantly nodded. Behind her, the Atlans sergeant couldn’t help but be curious about what was within a Scrapper.
With practiced ease, Vesterin applied his ID badge to the access slot. Since it was encrypted and coded to his DNA, there was no way the Atlans engineers could duplicate or use the badge, even if they managed to steal it. The panel opened up and revealed an incomprehensible maze of data relays, electron-transfer conduits, computer controls and devices that Jessa had no clue to their designs and purposes.
“It’s… so overwhelming…” She finally said after a long while. “I… don’t even know… where to start…”
“And now you understand the reason why we don’t want you messing about with Free Land battle-mech equipment.” The Star Alliance lieutenant stated as he quickly shut the panel, much to Jessa’s disappointment. “You could get yourself killed if you’re not authorized and don’t know what you’re doing. The auto-defense system will prevent any unauthorized attempt to remove or tamper with the mechanisms and you might just trigger the self-destruct protocol. You want to go out in a blaze of glory for your curiosity?”
Jessa gulped a bit at the thought of being blown sky-high.
This was partially a lie, since the panel Rudolph had opened only went to the backup controls. The auto-defense system would still activate, but the self-destruct protocol would only be triggered if Jessa had tried to access the vital core systems.
“I may not know how it all works now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t teach me, right?” The eager corporal insisted.
“That’s a big negative. Even if we were willing to teach you, which we are not, at your current level, it would take you at least 15-20 years of nonstop study and training just for the basics on quantum-electron theory, hyper-physics and ion-mechanics. And that doesn’t include the intensive class and practical training at the Star Alliance Academy, so you can tack on another few years.”
Jessa backpedaled a bit after hearing the sheer amount of education she would have to undergo.
“Now if you come across and learn these advanced principles on your own, then we can’t do anything about it, but you’ll have to go through all the trial and error process. We can’t just give you this technology just because you want it. You’ll have to earn it.”
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Sept 9th, 12 AE…
Richlike Airfield…
“Well, I’ll admit that it’s much better than the Warhawk, but I still wish Free Land would give us the plans to a starfighter.” Aviation Chief Engineer Archen Wilker stated as he watched the new Mustang prototype being rolled towards the runway.
“It’s like Free Land thinks that we can’t handle more than just propeller planes.” Assistant Chief Engineer Godser Fielden remarked. “We had to push the design of the Warhawk as far as it could go before they finally decided to give us the Mustang blueprints. I’ll admit that the engine and airframe are superior, but they’re not things that we wouldn’t have eventually come up with ourselves.”
“I’ve heard that the Army engineers are now working on a new mobile, armored land weapon.”
This caught Godser’s attention. “Did Free Land actually give us the plans to a Battle-Mech?”
“No. It’s a tracked armored vehicle. It's basically better than our old tanks. Remember those experiments with those things the Army engineers had a few years back?”
“Yeah. They were too slow and adding on armor and weapons just made them even slower. I thought the project was abandoned, since we couldn’t come up with an engine strong enough to move all that weight.”
“Well, Free Land gave us the plans for an advanced engine that can deliver more than 500 horsepower and could theoretically make this vehicle travel up to 50 km/hr, despite weighing over 30 tons. The new tank also has a 76mm gun and around 76mm armor thickness. They called it the M4A3E8 Medium Tank or Sherman Easy Eight. The higher-ups thought that name didn’t suit their new weapon, so they came up with the Justifier.”
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Feb 1st, 14 AE…
“Okay, that about does it for the new airframe.” Chief Metallurgist Demot Lacrane stated as the new F-86 Sabre fuselage and wings were moved out of the wind tunnel apparatus. He turned to his assistant. “Have they finished with the new formulations for the nickel and aluminum alloys?”
Assistant Chief Metallurgist Arsted Racter nodded as he read the reports on his notepad. “We’re just about there. I’d say in another week to ten days. After that, we can begin casting the turbine blades and outer casing of the engine.”
“We’re finally saying goodbye to the propeller engine and hello to the jet engine. We’re on schedule to begin engine testing in a few months.”
“No thanks to Free Land.” Arsted said in a near quiet whisper.
“What was that, Racter?” Demot asked with a bit of a stern tone. The expression on his face told Arsted that his superior had heard the backhanded comment.
Seeing that there was no point in denying his words, Arsted decided to voice his opinions and took a deep breath. “What I’m saying is that Free Land isn’t doing anything to help us develop this jet. Sure, they gave us the plans, but they’re content to just let us stumble about and figure it out for ourselves. Why can’t they just show us how it’s done?”
“You’re not going to learn anything if someone gives you all the answers. And remember that Free Land didn’t need to give us these plans. Just like they didn’t need to give us the plans for the Warhawk, the Mustang, the Justifier, or any of the other technology we’ve gained in the last couple of years. Free Land did us a great favor by pointing us in the right direction. I’m not going to spit on their generosity.”
As Demot walked off to check on the new ailerons, Arsted stood by himself and fumed in silence.
Generosity? Bah! It’s more like we’re being treated like a starving dog surviving on scraps! Instead of steaks, they’re just giving us bones with very little meat on them! We had to resort to stealing from Naran and lying to Free Land to get the nickel and aluminum alloy formulas. Maybe we should stop waiting for pathetic handouts and start taking what we need to get ahead!
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June 19th, 14 AE…
A reserved warehouse in the capital…
“I now call this meeting of the Give Us Superior Technology group to order!” A tall man in a business suit and glasses declared as he stood on a raised podium and spoke to a large crowd.
The person in question was Hinzet Gudern, a wealthy businessman, with several hundreds of high-level financial and political connections all over the world… except for Free Land. Out of all the nations on the planet, it was the country of the Star Alliance that he had the least influence with. And that aggravated him to no end.
When Free Land announced its existence to Istaria, Hinzet had initially dismissed them as simply some backwater, new nation. After all, it couldn’t possibly compare to the Kingdom of Atlans, the most technologically-advanced nation on the planet. The inventions and products made in his country were always in great demand around the world and were especially coveted in places that were underdeveloped and had low magical ability. Hinzet’s company specialized in exports and technological advancement research. It was through this business that he was able to meet with kings and other powerful leaders, establish lucrative trading deals, and gain partnerships that gave him even more power.
He had thought that he was the great whale in this lake of finance and politics. However, as soon as he came into contact with Free Land, he was reduced to being a minnow in the ocean. Free Land on the other hand was the leviathan. Their scientific knowledge was simply beyond anything that was available and made even the most advanced of Atlans devices look like mere toys. And the most aggravating thing about this situation was that he wasn’t allowed to get his hands on any Star Alliance technology.
Oh he had tried to make a deal with Free Land on many occasions. However, he had been denied every time. Nothing he had offered was of any value to them. And they would refuse to export any advanced core technology. That meant no Battle-Mechs, Starfighters, advance starship designs, hyperspace drives, high-energy sources or any other examples of late 22nd century technology. Free Land devices represented a gold mine that he just couldn’t exploit. The technology that the Star Alliance did gift to the other nations were more advanced than their previous levels, but it was insulting to Hinzet and several others that they would get obsolete scraps while the otherworlders kept the cream of the crop for themselves.
Hinzet wasn’t alone in feeling resentment towards Free Land. Several hundreds of other businessmen, politicians, military personnel, civilian workers and a good portion of the general populace also shared the same feelings of jealousy and anger. They had a lot of pride in being the most technologically advanced nation in the world and to be knocked off that position by an upstart new nation was almost intolerable. Over the next two years since Free Land announced itself, the organization known as Give Us Superior Technology or GUST, had formed.
At first, they performed peacefully, staging protests and rallies to showcase their discontent over the Council of Prime Directors’ decision to withhold more advanced technology from the rest of the world. However, as time went on, things began to become more serious. Riots began to occur, between GUST members and those who were satisfied with the status quo, of getting outdated technology from the Star People. There have also been reports of GUST members trying to break into Free Land’s overseas bases and civilian companies, and several instances of attempted industrial espionage. These occurrences were mostly assumed by the general public to be the work of the Dreenat, but the higher ups in the Star Alliance knew better.
At this point in time, GUST had become increasingly incensed over Free Land repeatedly denying Atlans membership into the Star Alliance. What sent them over the boiling point was the Dwarf Nations actually succeeding in gaining membership and access to that advanced technology. This in turn caused GUST to become resentful towards the diminutive people. There had also been attempts to trade for dwarven devices mixed with Free Land advanced technology, such as the neo-psion reactors and dwarven mech frames, but those were also refused.
Even after gaining rocket technology, nuclear power and the beginnings of the computer, the members of GUST still felt inferior.
And on this night, Hinzet voiced out an intense speech of pride and anger as he ranted and railed against the unfairness of being denied the advanced science that Atlans truly deserved.
“How many of you agree that our nation could have fought the Zedan on its own if we had been given Starfighters and Battle-Mechs? How many of you agree that our farmlands, infrastructure, industry and energy production would greatly benefit our people, if Free Land were to allow us to upgrade them to Free Land’s level? How many of you agree that we have long-earned and deserve the RIGHT to Star Alliance Membership?”
There was a thunderous roar of applause and shouts of approval to Hinzet questions. Many held up signs with the slogans such as A Superpower Deserves Super-Technology or Star Alliance Membership or Bust. People were snapping pictures and using relatively old-style film cameras to record the rally. Though no one in that place realized it, the entire event resembled a rally from a dark period in Earth’s past. This was a scene that was reminiscent of a certain dictator’s rise to power, which would eventually drive the nation onto a path towards near-destruction.
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Sept 17th, 14 AE…
Hinzet nodded as he and his group met with another group in another warehouse. Unlike the rally from months before, this one was nearly empty and was deathly quiet.
“Hello Mr. Gudern. We of the Dreenat have a proposition for you.”
To be continued…
This was a scene that was reminiscent of a certain dictator’s rise to power
I assume the certain dictator is shitler, right?
Ah! A New chapter, and I'm guessing GUST Is gonna be blown sky-high by something, Also I predict that there gonna be some sort of coup or Change in government..?
Plot hole I need to point out: in the earliest chaps, Atlan stated that they already have WW1 British Mark 2 tanks so Atlan engineers should not say like they do not have tanks to begin with when discussing the Justifier Tank
If Hinzet decided to conduct coup de tat, it would be far more disastrous to Atlan since Star Alliance will deem Atlan new GUST government absolutely trustworthy and blacklisted them permanently from accessing to more technology.
I seriously think the Dreenats proposal to Hinzet is to steal the Super Seeds from Elven Kingdom or the Alchemical Self-repairing magic from Sath and pass it as their own so Atlans can gain Star Alliance membership.
Since GUST members like to take shortcuts, I think Dreenats can use them as Guinea pigs in their trials and errors experiment in their tech development to avoid the blunder they made with the Pseudo-Planet Ravager.
I also have an idea of an event that make GUST realizes that their attempt of taking shortcuts resulting in disaster: GUST and Dreenats scientists manage to develop a pathogen that potentially give human far superior physical capabilities than Velor, Dwarves, and Caitian combined as well as the extreme long life of the Divine Elves and far more powerful magical capabilities than the Kyeterri and Elves combined. Star Alliance realizes that the pathogens they are developed are literally T-virus after several test subjects go berserks and mutate into monsters. They warn GUST not to push further and go back to formula but GUST does not listen and push further so they can gain Star Alliance membership.
Unknown to them, Dreenants actually manipulate GUST to develop this pathogen to actually develop bioweapons instead of means of evolution. Eventually the pathogens escape containment and causes major Atlan cities into Raccoon cities and Star Alliance has to cleanse these cities with high energy beam. Dreenats from the shadow satisfied with the result of their bioweapon and develop it further in secret to take down Star Alliance while GUST disbands after the disaster having learned the error of their ways
Also, How Vexor and Garret can gain from the Dreenats alliance with GUST? I do not think they can gain anything since Hinzet would never think of collaborating with these two idiots and refer to kill them outright to make sure these two cancers will not grow in Atlan body rather than waiting like Number One
Yeah, I realized that plot hole, so I'm doing a rewrite to the chapter
As for the other stuff, I can't say much without giving spoilers.
@AnimeaddictionV Ok by the way, how much Star Alliance corporations hurt the pockets of people like Hinzet? Since Star Alliance products are so cheap and superior, Hinzet company and many companies in Atlan, Naran and other countries pretty much lose tons of market share and their stock value plummet heavily. Also I have a feeling that Star Alliance corporations might attempt to buy out Hinzet's company. Therefore, beside the patriotism and pride, Hinzet and many people in GUST resent Star Alliance because they cannot make as much profit like they used to be and many people lost employment due to layoff not to mention the potential of Hinzet and his GUST members have to sell their assets to Star Alliance corporations when they cannot compete
This is the same reason why Naran resents Star Alliance as they suffered trade deficit a lot
@Tomrichman The thing is that Naran and Atlans had the monopoly when it came to consumer goods and services. Normally, when a rival business came about, they'd do what Rockefeller, JP Morgan and all those other old-school tycoons did and either bought them out, or sold their own products at a discount. They could afford to take losses while their rivals couldn't. Yeah, that doesn't work with the Star Alliance.
Furthermore, due to the restrictions of the New World Technology Share Laws, (way back in chapter 1), the consumer goods cannot be too advanced nor can the methods of advanced manufacture be released to the public. Like Nasaak said, it's not a question of if but WHEN their technology will be used by the natives. Right now, the Star Alliance hasn't been selling stuff like anti-gravity pods, microscopic supercomputers, or meson-power cutters. Furthermore, they have been encouraging other nations to begin innovating and setting up industries, like the Sath and Atlans. That's the reason why they introduced the Volkswagen Beetle, the Polaroid instant camera and even the bicycle. This is especially true with the Dwarf Nations, who have been modifying and innovating with any new tech they are introduced to. This eventually led to the creation of the Neo-Psion Reactor, the Gigaran, the TPS and finally, Star Alliance membership.
The Council of Prime Directors hopes that the other countries will be inspired by the example set by the dwarves to find their own inventions and eventually earn membership into the Star Alliance. Unfortunately, with GUST and Naran, they let their pride lead to impatience and trying to find a shortcut to that ultimate goal. This also means recklessness and a lack of caution, which will eventually lead to disaster.
@AnimeaddictionV Even Star Alliance corporations do not sell advanced stuffs, their products that match the current tech level of Atlan or Naran still way better in quality and techwise than what any companies in Atlan or Naran can make so it still deeply hurt the pockets of Hinzet and many people like him in Atlan or Naran. Based on what you said, does that mean Star Alliance corporations are not allowed to acquire or merge with companies in Atlan or Naran due to the threat of tech leaking right? I say this because Hinzet must have thought of merging his company with Star Alliance corporations or even let his family own company be absorbed so he can slowly buyout the shares of Free Land company mp
@Tomrichman It's something like that. Remember that Terrans are from Earth and they're quite well-versed in corporate shenanigans. The New World Technology Share Laws are sort of like the Prime Directive of the Federation but with a bit more freedom. Yes, the Star Alliance is willing to help lesser countries develop, but they're not going to just shove advanced technology into their faces when they're clearly not ready for it. One example is nuclear fission. They tried to stop it from happening, but since Atlans came across that unexploded Micro-Ender bomb, there was no helping it. Remember back to the dangers of radiation that the United States and the USSR almost destroyed themselves and the highly controversial experimentation and accidents, (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, etc). The Star Alliance had no choice but to teach Atlans and Zedan all the safety procedures and handling of radioactive isotopes. Plus they knew that their current level of tech wasn't going to cut it. So Free Land had to use more efficient technology to do the job.
Yes, Hinzet did try some corporate plans, but since it hasn't worked, he's now going to make some underhanded maneuvers with the Dreenat.