When the meeting resumed, Woolsey started with an apology.
"I understand that you want to help, but don't you think it's a little much?" he asked. "You already said we are too unstable for your technology, and now you want to turn around and help us. Why?"
"I said you are too unstable for my weaponry," I clarified calmly. "And I want to help because I was born on this world, okay? I don't want to watch my home be destroyed in a moment of executive anger. That's why I'm willing to upgrade the power grids of every nation, in exchange for a complete ban on nuclear weapons research while on the planet. You want to make mushroom clouds on the black side of the Moon? Feel free. You want to add to the deadliness of the Venus? Go ahead. Heck, you could use Mercury for target practice if you wanted. I'd just like to make sure the Terran atmosphere remains as pristine as possible."
"A laudable goal," Woolsey agreed. "Would you be willing to work with the C.o.N.?"
"No," I smiled agreeably. "You can't legislate a change like this. You can try…but it won't work. It's been done before, and it always seems to fail in fascinating ways. You should read the history on it."
"So, what can we expect you to do?" Dr. Weir asked, leaning forward in her seat.
"In a nutshell?" I asked. "Atmospheric cleanup, medical technology updates and subsidies, a world center of science, and a universal power grid. That's everything I'll be doing on my own to help this world. I will also be working on my own projects and businesses."
"You plan to be a businessman?" Daniel asked, with some surprise in his voice.
"Yeah. It will give me something to do when I'm not busy being a ruler," I answered.
"Being a ruler is a full-time job," Sam protested.
I shrugged. "Sure," I said lazily. "that may be how you've done it, but it doesn't seem to work out too well for you people, so I'm trying a different method."
There was a shocked silence at my bluntness, then Daniel coughed nervously. "Alrighty then. Ah, we'll leave you to it, then."
"Good. I wouldn't want to get the impression that official envoys from another nation are expressing doubt in my ability to rule," I answered.
The less than artfully hidden barb struck home, and Daniel winced. "So, going back to the launches you have planned, when are those to occur?"
"Marcus?" I asked, kicking the question over to him.
"The second Custos will be launched at eleven thirty in the morning, two days from now. The ballistic carrier in in five days, and should occur about six at night," Marcus answered.
"Aside from that, all you should see is Jumpers launching at various times. As I am sure you are aware, they have the ability to land nearly anywhere, and do not require any special airport infrastructure of any kind. We intend to send a representative to the C.o.N., to ensure that the Alterran nation is acknowledged as legitimate, and we intend to begin setting up embassies around the world as soon as possible."
"Everywhere?" O'Neill asked.
"Everywhere," I confirmed. "The Alterran nation is a new one, and will not play host to the same set of politics that the older nations seem to enjoy so much. If we find that a nation is causing trouble among us, then we shall act, but they must be given the chance to grow up, and we intend to give them that chance."
"Fine. On your head be it when everything goes south. You seem to be a bit naïve about all this, and it's going to cause a lot of trouble for you. Iran and North Korea in particular cannot be reasoned with. Cuba isn't that great either. There is a reason why they are still where they are," O'Neill warned sternly.
"I'll give them the chance first. I'd rather not start with a sour disposition towards any nation," I answered firmly. "That discussion is closed."
O'Neill didn't look happy, but subsided with a grunt.
"Onto…more pleasant things, the U.S. has agreed to sponsor you before the C.o.N., when you make your bid to be recognized as a sovereign nation. We are also willing to make a trading agreement with you, and set up our respective embassies," Dr. Weir said, pushing a folder over to me.
I briefly looked at the pages within, then smiled, pleased with what I saw. "Excellent. I hope our continued interactions remain this friendly," I said, pulling out a pen. I signed with a flamboyant flourish, then signed the copy. The two pieces were then passed to Arin, who also signed, using an elegant yet conservative cursive style. Finally, Dr. Weir signed, and I took my copy of the agreement, and handed it to Arin. "Please put that in a safe place," I said. "And, could you bring out a bottle of champagne for the occasion?"
"Certainly," Arin replied, dipping her head slightly. "It will be a few minutes."
When Arin returned with the champagne, she filled the flutes with a practiced ease before setting the bottle down again. "To a bright future of cooperation," I said, holding up my flute.
"To cooperation!" the others answered, and we all took a sip.
"So, when will you move into your embassy?" Dr. Weir asked, setting aside her flute.
"Next week sometime. We have yet to design and build it, you know."
"Oh, I had entirely forgotten about that," Dr. Weir said, slightly embarrassed.
"I'm sure we could put something together for you," O'Neill chimed in.
"In less than nine days?" I asked. "The Custos we launched? That was fully assembled in two days. I think we can deal with our own construction."
"Two days?" O'Neill echoed oddly.
"Yes, for a fully-functioning short-range starship with a crew of six," I replied crisply, a smile tugging at my lips. "Building an embassy should be no sweat, comparatively speaking."
"Would we be able to watch your construction methods? I think we could learn a thing or two," Woolsey asked.
I shrugged carelessly. "Sure, but I doubt there's anything you could really pick up on at the moment. We're going to build the pieces here, then assemble on-site. It will take all of fifteen minutes when we get there."
"That's…how do you plan to manage that so quickly?" Daniel asked.
"Modular construction with what could crudely be referred to as a nanite mortar to hold everything together," I answered smugly.
"That sounds rather dangerous," O'Neill said. "What's to stop them from doing what the replicators of Asuras did?"
"Programming," I answered. "Their sole function is to hold the sections together. Nothing more, nothing less. This also makes the structure less vulnerable towards earthquakes, because the nanites can flex during tremors, and reform when the geological restructuring is completed."
"That actually sounds rather handy," Daniel interjected. "California could certainly make good use of that technology."
I nodded. "Yeah…I don't really know the best way to deal with that right now. Some will be understandably wary of the technology, for various reasons, and I'd rather give them the choice rather than force it on them."
"It could save a lot of lives, and cut down on property damage," Woolsey said. "In the light of that, why shouldn't we make it mandatory?"
"Oh, you can," I answered, shrugging. "You could add it into the local building codes and be done with it, but for the older buildings? I'd offer a tax credit on it, and leave it at that."
"And just how much would this cost us?" Weir asked.
"The technology, or the actual product?" I clarified. "The product will only run you the cost of the materials fed into it. I think I'm using a special titanium aluminum mix, but with the filters here on Atlantis, plus my ability to go get it out in space, I wouldn't face the costs here that you would experience anywhere else on the planet. As for the means to make it? You really just need a tank and a 'seed pile' to start with. From there, you just dump raw materials into it, but be aware that you can contaminate the mix. It should eventually come out, especially if you did something like toss a tire into it, but other metals could weaken the mix…or improve it, I'm not a metallurgy expert, so I wouldn't know," I explained.
"And the technology?" Weir pressed. "How much will that cost us?"
"I want to start up a car company. If you could get me a dealership lot, and waive any taxes and fees on the property for a year, I'll give you a seed to start with," I said, after a moment of thought.
"On behalf of my government, I accept," Woolsey said. All eyes turned to look at him, and he shifted in his seat under the sudden scrutiny. "What? The President authorized me to make the final decision in all negotiations involving the Atlantean government."
"Are you able to communicate with your government in a timely manner?" I asked.
"Yes, because we are quartered on the USS Ronald Reagan, I can make my reports at the end of the day via video chat," Woolsey explained. "Why?"
"There's a ton of code that prevents the nanites from tearing stuff up when emplaced, but for transportation purposes, a glass container would be appropriate. While in slurry form, it will tear apart everything that isn't glass; the material was chosen because of how cheap it is, and the ease with which it can be acquired," I said. "Your contacts in Washington may wish to know that, especially if they are to take delivery of a seed amount when the embassy is built."
"That seems…" Woolsey trailed off trying to find a word, and apparently failing.
"Practical?" I asked, smiling. "For the most part, the Alterrans were a pragmatic people, though quite a bit taken with their moral superiority. As you may well know, that lost them the Pegasus galaxy, and millions of lives. Their mistakes will be rectified," I finished, my smile gone.
The delegation shifted in their chairs, and I blinked. Had the temperature dropped slightly?
"Yes. Well, you have certainly given us quite a bit to think about today; perhaps we should adjourn for now?" Woolsey asked.
I nodded. "Certainly," I said, standing. "I hope you have a good afternoon."
As the delegation left, I returned to my lab, and began occupying myself with finding the most compatible powerplants to supply each nation that signed the nuclear ban treaty. Eventually, I settled on the XII. While not as efficient as the last model created, the MCCX, the XII was the closest to current power standards, steadily generating 230 volts with a near perfect sine wave. Satisfied as to the cleanliness of the power it would supply, I began work on the blueprints for the facility. What I found in the database barely covered the basics of how to build the engine itself. The structures that supported it would need to be manufactured in advance, and there was no mention of how they had gone about it when the original Aterrans had built theirs.
"Arin, could you send a burst to the Reagan? Inform them that the cold fusion plant generates 230, instead of the 120 that they would be used to. I am willing to have 62 facilities constructed, as well as have the crews from the old plants trained in the usage of the new plants, and upgrade the entirety of their power grid to a 230 standard," I said, finally looking up from the computer. I rolled my head around, trying to soothe sore neck muscles, but it didn't seem to work.
"Certainly," Arin replied. A moment later, I felt her hands on my neck, and froze for a second, before relaxing as she began gently massaging the sore muscles. "Out of curiosity, do you intend to maintain the genetic lock in these facilities?"
"No…why?" I asked, moaning slightly as her fingers firmed rolled against a particularly sore muscle.
Arin paused for a moment, and pulled up one of the document spreads, highlighting the security within the complex. It was still set to Alterran genetic keys. "It's still locked out," Arin said softly.
"So…how to set up security then? I asked. "If we did keycards, someone could steal a high ranking card, and wreak havoc. Handprint scanners mean that it would be slightly more difficult, as an intruder would need to steal a hand."
"Retina scans," Arin supplied. "A dead eye would deteriorate quickly enough that nobody could get away with stealing an eye for the scanner. If we need to keep sections of the plant segregated from one another, then we could implement additional security cards. The iris would simply get you past the lobby, or into particularly sensitive locations. Besides which, the failsafes built into this complex mean that nobody is going to say 'God is greater', and then succeed in poisoning the land."
I scratched at my chin thoughtfully for a moment. "I thought retina scans harm the eyes?"
"No, and especially not the Alterran ones," Arin answered.
I nodded. "Good enough for me. Iris scans for each security level, then." Silence filled the lab as I worked on the changes, a silence broken only by the bubbling of the nearby water tank. After several minutes, I saved the files, and ejected a crystal.
"The override codes are ready, correct?" I asked.
"Yes. They operate on the hard code level, which should have made it next to impossible for someone to remove it, even if the rest of the program is a bit more vulnerable," Arin said. "After they have integrated into the structure though, even that vulnerability won't matter."
"Good enough for me," I answered, inserting a chip into my tablet.
"We should get going if we wish to make it to the rendezvous in time. The vessel, if it could be called that, has slowed to sub light speeds to navigate the asteroid belt past Mars. If we go now, we should catch them right at, or at least close to, Lagrange three," Arin stated.
"Good enough for me. Open up the roof, we're going."
A/N: Something witty has been said in this author's note. I'm almost sure of it.
Stevenopolos: Interesting idea with the aliens. I do believe I'll keep that in mind, thanks. As a matter of fact, I do remember the Srivani…well, everything but the name. Janeway got seriously pissed, and flew her ship twixt a binary if I recall correctly. The Srivani couldn't cope, and left.
Also, yes. Thor did in fact take his cues from watching Stargate, and though I didn't expressly describe his ship, it is in fact that Beliskner from SG-1.