Chapter 3: Growing Pains
Ahmed ibn Bana's eyes popped open to a harsh, insistent clanging sound in his small room in Cairo. Groaning, he rolled over slapping the discordant clatter of a cheap, mechanical alarm clock into silence as he got up, stretched out, and shook himself awake. Like most college students the world over Ahmed was no fan of being up in the morning for any reason. He was a late riser before the April 15th Revolution overthrew the Mubarak regime and even with the new Muslim Brotherhood government in power that was unlikely to change. Slapping himself awake, Ahmed grabbed his small bathing kit and took his place in line.
The new dorm building Ahmed lived in was a recent addition to the fringes of Cairo's Mansheit Nasser megaslum, a swath of human poverty larger and more populous than Los Angeles. Compared to the makeshift, falling down structures that came before the new dorm complex had gone up the Salam al-Nas building was a huge improvement. Gone, at least in this part of the long-impoverished district, was the old makeshift shacks with jerry-rigged plumbing and electricity installed by a cash-strapped municipal government doing its best to bring the conveniences of modern life to every Egyptian. In its place stood a modern, if Spartan, building for housing the growing Al-Azhar University student body boasting modern insulation, new plumbing and wiring, and a tub on every floor. It wasn't exactly luxurious but compared to what came before it was the closest to Paradise any boy raised in Cairo's sprawling slums could hope to see in their lifetimes.
Ahead of him in line stood his neighbor Jamal. He turns back, cracks a smile, and says, "Ah look who has joined us in the land of the living! Are you ready for Professor al-Kouri's test on spatial geometry?" Ahmed winces a little before responding, "Why do you think I was up so late last night? It's not like I'm a political junkie like you, always watching for the latest on Mahrosa Cairo when most intelligent people are already asleep." Jamal rolls his eyes, retorting, "And the future of our country isn't important to you? President al-Din is doing great things for Egypt like making sure you can go to school for advanced mathematics."
Ahmed had nothing to say to that. Ever since the fall of the military-dominated regime of Mubarak, "the Last Pharaoh" as people were calling him in the streets now, and Muhammad al-Din's dark horse victory in the national elections following the Pharaoh's removal life for ordinary Egyptians was steadily getting better. To be sure Egypt still had many problems as the considerable stretches of dilapidated buildings making up the majority of Mansheit Nasser attested to. In spite of that there was a tangible feeling of genuine progress and improvement. Following his successful house-cleaning of the upper ranks of the military al-Din broke their economic domination and drastically slashed the Army's bloated budget, freeing up funds to invest in the previously cash-starved regional and municipal governments of Egypt.
After waiting for what seemed like forever Ahmed's turn to bathe had come. Slipping in to the small bathroom Ahmed set down his bathing kit, laid out his clothes, and turned on the tap. Even though he'd been living in Salam al-Nas for a year he was still getting used to having in-home running water. After spending most of his life in Cairo's slums where the only options for keeping clean involved buckets, time, and standing in line for hours at public taps having hot and cold at his fingertips was a life-changing luxury. Ahmed filled the tub with clean, cold water before slowly easing himself in, relishing the gentle embrace of his morning soak.
Sighing, he settled in enjoying every second of his bath knowing he didn't have long before he had to hop out and catch the autobus to campus.
After a brief five minutes Ahmed got out, dried himself off, and got dressed for class. Hopping on the bus for university he pulled out his notes. Professor al-Kouri was well-known for being a very tough teacher. He never passed up an opportunity to remind his students, "Allah gave you minds so that you would use them! We are in a new world now and the only way to beat the idolatrous aliens threatening Earth is to push the boundaries of human knowledge." Al-Kouri was not alone among the faculty or the students arguing this. Ever since the Brotherhood took power and held their first elections the official line of President al-Din's government was that all Egyptians had a part to play in unraveling Allah's design. Unlike some of his more idealistic classmates Ahmed was less interested in the grand destiny of the people of Egypt than he was in getting his degree, finding a job that got him out of the slums, and making a better life for himself.
The autobus steadily chugged through the streets, winding its way through the densely packed alleys and thoroughfares of downtown Cairo. More than once the bus came to a stop waiting for bicycles, livestock, and other cars to make their way through the labyrinthine maze of the city. On the way Ahmed plowed through his notes, feverishly doing all he could to commit the arcane concepts of spatial geometry to memory for his midterm. He needed to earn top marks on this test if he was going to get into Al-Azhar's graduate program in theoretical mathematics. So far he had been doing well in class but was always worried he wouldn't measure up, pushing the slum-raised orphan to do the best he possibly could. After a ride that seemed to last a lifetime the autobus came to a halt at Al-Azhar, letting him and the other students out. For a boy raised in Mansheit Nasser who had spent many a night sleeping amongst the graves of the City of the Dead the grandeur of the university and the promise it offered for him and many other Egyptians was never lost on him. He rushed off to class, hoping his hard work would pay off.
"New developments in computer and superconductor technology brought with it an unexpected and dramatic transformation in the world of manufacturing. To many living in the modern day this may come off as a bit surprising considering how ubiquitous 3-D printing is in all aspects of life. Yet at the dawn of M12 this technology was in its infancy. Most examples and uses of 3-D printing in this time were restricted to a handful of engineering firms for producing concept models. This is understandable as at this time the only compounds a 3-D printer could really work with were polymer based, not strong enough for use in heavy machinery or other industrial applications, and the printers themselves were very expensive. On top of these problems was the very slow speed that 3-D printers transformed polymers into physical objects, taking hours at a time for individual models. It was simply not possible to use them for any kind of manufacturing at scale as the costs and benefits in spite of the massive labor reductions the addition-based method of production offered.
More powerful computers coupled with more efficient power transmission changed all of this. Overnight 3-D printers went from being a curiosity to a new avenue for production. Better computer technology made it possible for 3-D printers, once hampered by the painstaking detail involved in the process of addition-based production, could now move at lightning speeds reducing production time from hours to minutes. Superconductors, along with new technologies designed to mitigate the negative effects of high energy transmission, made it possible for tremendous amounts of power to be channeled safely through the printers making the production of metallic objects and a far greater variety of materials possible. The result was a simple device capable of producing the component parts for anything from laptops to Learjets. Compared to older, industrial methods of material reduction-based production that depended on massive arrays of specialized machinery and skilled workers the 3-D printer greatly reduced the space, cost, and necessary labor to set up a functioning manufacturing plant.
This did not come without consequences. Late stage capitalism, based heavily on industrial capitalism, depended heavily on having large labor forces to produce goods, provide services, and purchase them. The constant flow of capital created by all of this commercial activity was critical for keeping the economic wheels of the world spinning. 3-D printing, for all its efficiencies and versatility, was a direct challenge to this existing world order underappreciated by many. Even though 3-D printing was only responsible for 20% of all manufacturing worldwide by 7 M12 much of this production was concentrated in wealthier, more industrially developed nations like the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. The result was greatly increased manufacturing and new plants opening up with no substantial increase in employment. This problem was not immediately appreciated or even connected to the 3-D printers at first thanks to their low percentage of global production but it became an increasing issue as the decade wore on. Many argue it was the inherent contradictions of late stage capitalism's demands for maximum profits pitted against the shrinking pool of consumer spending that brought about the infamous 8 M12 Global Crash.
These problems would see the rise of new, and old, ideas for economic organization and social safety nets. With capitalism effectively inventing itself into obsolescence critics, lead most strongly by the Globalist movement, argued a new way was necessary. Some, like Naomi Klein, argued these new advances required a break with the dominant Washington Consensus in favor of a stronger welfare state, government intervention in economic affairs, and responsible stewardship of new technologies to reduce the negative impacts on people's livelihoods. Others, like Noam Chomsky and David Graeber, called for more dramatic reforms like workplace democracy, a basic income for all, and an end to "profit at all cost, no matter the cost" economics. These arguments and tensions existed under the surface for some time before First Contact but with the growing economic changes new technological advances brought many were now openly questioning if the capitalist status quo was the best way to organize economic affairs."
From Chapter Three: The 3-D Printing Revolution, The Interstellar Revolution by Prof. Eduardo Garza, published in 55 M12
Quote:
Originally Posted by DemBones
Al Gore has officially announced his candidacy as President of the United States. What does everyone think about the Vice President and what impact will this have on the race for the White House?
Quote:
Originally Posted by EndtheFed
On one hand he's another big government liberal and an environmentalist nutter on top of it. That combination of policies and positions never ends well for anyone. On the other hand he's been a major supporter of Orion, seems to have a pretty solid grasp for science and technology which is necessary in today's world, and has been involved with a number of Clinton's major policy initiatives. I'm not sure what to think of him, in some ways he seems like a throwback we could avoid but in others he might be the right man for the job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZapatistaFangirl
I'm worried about his stance on free trade. NAFTA has been great for corporate interests and the bankers but everyone else is being left behind in the new prosperity. Gore's support for NAFTA, even if he's pitching it as reform, worries me considering the harm it has done to people across the continent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechSabby
He'd definitely be the nerdiest president ever (One of us! One of us!) and is really smart but his stances on globalization worry me. I'd like to hear more from him on reforming Orion though a lot of his talk on the environment is encouraging to me. I'm just hoping he doesn't turn out to be another disappointment like Clinton was
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Originally Posted by LiveFreeorDie
He's just another puppet of the secret masters and the Illuminati. None of the Beltway insiders can be trusted, they're all in bed with the Snakes!
Quote:
Originally Posted by IanTheMod
LiveFreeorDie you've already been warned and kicked for posting conspiracy theories. This time you get banned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DemBones
So getting back on topic this means so far we have Al Gore and Bill Bradley running for the Democratic nomination while on the Republican side we have George W. Bush, former governor of Texas, Senator John McCain of Arizona, businessman Steve Forbes, and longtime conservative activist Alan Keyes. Who does everyone think the final matchup will be?
Quote:
Originally Posted by EndtheFed[/quote
I think John McCain will come out on top as the Republican nominee. Bradley doesn't stand a chance against Gore and you aren't going to get a dunce like Bush or Keyes as the nominee. Before Contact I would have ranked Bush's odds a little higher but now you can't have someone who can't even pronounce the word "nuclear" right in the Oval Office.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YellowDog
I wouldn't write Bush off just yet. John McCain has a lot of appeal and support but Bush is much more in touch with his party's base than McCain is. That is usually decisive in primary elections though I don't think Bush will carry it. Like you said he's just too much of a dim bulb for the public to put him in office after First Contact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechSabby
I think Gore is going to carry the primaries and the elections. For all of Clinton's faults he's leaving office with a solid 61% approval rating and Gore was heavily involved in his administration. That's going to count for a lot on election day
From General Discussion Forum Thread "Al Gore announces his candidacy for President?" dated August 16th, 4 M12
"Along with operations like HIGHLINE and BROADWAY some of the most critical work done by the SGC during the period leading to the re-negotiation of the Protected Planets Treaty was their efforts in establishing contact with offworld human populations. As the Abydos mission had confirmed the Goa'uld need for slaves created a galactic diaspora of the human species across the stars. Wherever the Goa'uld went they brought with them large numbers of human slaves to serve as hosts and laborers. Many of these worlds were left trapped in a technologically stunted state by their Goa'uld masters to better keep these enslaved populations under control. Others would be abandoned, see their masters driven off by lucky uprisings, or forgotten amidst the endless conflict between the various System Lords.
Many of these diaspora populations were put in contact with the people of Earth by the actions of the SGC. Unlike HIGHLINE or BROADWAY operations First Contact missions were conducted with far greater care and precision. Preceded by MALP reconnaissance, and later Predator drone flights, these worlds would have their introduction to the people of Terra handled by the capable, experienced professionals of the SG Teams. These missions focused on establishing common ground, making contact with local government officials, and determining what, if any, level of Goa'uld influence was present. Only after this was done would SGC and the IOC determine what steps should be taken.
For worlds under strong Goa'uld domination, like Chulak and other seats of the System Lords, the location was noted and the teams withdrew. The SGC, in spite of their successes in small scale operations against the Goa'uld, knew they did not have the manpower or firepower to challenge the Goa'uld in their strongholds. Tributary worlds, which usually had a small Jaffa garrison at best along with annual visits from their lords, were another matter completely. Many of these worlds were used for extracting tributes in the form of labor, slaves, and raw materials. In these cases the Goa'uld assumed the power of their Jaffa soldiers, the fear they instilled in the masses, and Goa'uld propaganda claiming Godhood would be enough to keep these worlds in line.
Yet here Goa'uld arrogance would be their downfall. While many tributary worlds were successfully cowed into submission and obedience this state was maintained through fear and force, hanging on a thin thread. On worlds where resistance was confirmed, dissent building up, and the people were unhappy with their lot in life it didn't take much for the SGC to effectively break the power of the Goa'uld. These operations became part of what was known as the KEYSTONE campaign whose objective was to seek out vulnerable tributary worlds, break the power of the Goa'uld, recover whatever technology could be found, and provide aid and assistance to the local populations. Earlier KEYSTONE operations were quite risky as the information the SGC had on the Goa'uld was limited and resources for such actions scarce. Following the founding of the IOC and greater allocation of resources to the program it became possible for Stargate Command to be a force for liberation in the galaxy.
KEYSTONE was not alone in these efforts to free enslaved human diaspora populations from the Goa'uld. As Apophis' attempted spaceborne attack bluntly illustrated for all of humanity the Goa'uld had more than one option for how to handle a rebellious world. Even burying a Stargate was not enough to prevent the return of the Goa'uld if they felt reclaiming a lost world was necessary for reclaiming lost resources or maintaining their prestige in the eyes of the other System Lords. These hard realities would lead to an even more ambitious program than KEYSTONE to better protect the liberated human populations known as ASYLUM.
The ASYLUM campaign, initiated in 999 M11, was intended to provide a more robust, long-term solution to the problems encountered by those participating in KEYSTONE. ASYLUM became possible thanks to Jack O'Neil's accidental discovery and deciphering of a massive Ancient archive, providing the SGC with thousands of gate coordinates that, to their knowledge, were unknown to the Goa'uld. All of these worlds were fit for human life though most, thanks to the Goa'uld's ignorance of their existence, were not actually inhabited by human beings. These factors, in the broader context of the raging Goa'uld Succession War, made many of these newly discovered worlds ideal as sanctuaries for liberated human populations. Many of these worlds would be the sites of new settlements supported by modern technology and under SGC military protection. Each world would also see the SGC work with the local populations to establish self-sufficient planetary defense forces as the SGC's personnel could not be everywhere at once. The ASYLUM worlds became new homes for oppressed human populations who, in some cases, would send on their best and brightest to serve with Stargate Command.
For the planets abandoned or forgotten by the System Lords a different approach was taken. Here the IOC would take a direct hand in handling contact, negotiations, and resolving any problems that emerged from First Contact. The backbone of the IOC's policy was Clinton Doctrine which argued a combined, pan-species defense against Goa'uld tyranny trumped local political concerns in all of the IOC's dealings. IOC negotiation teams were under strict instructions not to interfere in local affairs or to upset the local balance of power, instead focusing on establishing peaceful contact and equitable diplomatic relations with the locals. The result was a network of IOC-allied worlds who worked together in sharing knowledge, resources, and as necessary fighting alongside one another to preserve their independence from Goa'uld rule.
Critical to the IOC's assessment was determining how technologically sophisticated the inhabitants were. Many of the worlds forgotten by the Goa'uld had advanced rapidly in their absence reducing the problems that came with contact. For those that remained in a pre-industrial state, however, the IOC emphasized minimizing the impact on cultural development as much as possible. Many commentators today have denounced this policy as short-sighted and ill-conceived especially in comparison to ASYLUM and the later uplift policies that are the galactic norm. What these critics are overlooking is at this time the IOC and the SGC simply did not have the resources to enact uplift on any substantial scale. Even ASYLUM was fairly modest compared to more recent examples of technological uplift focusing more on resettling human populations and establishing a solid, local defense."
From Chapter Four: Cat and Mouse, The History of Stargate Command Volume I: Once More Into the Breach! by Major Kyle Schroeder, SGC, published in 54 M12
"The upheaval of the Contact years was crucial in laying the foundations for the future of humanity. As the governments of the world adjusted to the new interstellar reality they settled in to work out what to do with all of it. The rapid technological advances provided by new developments funneled through the Orion Project and the economic transformations that came with them are but one of many aspects of the rapidly changing world. Geopolitical realities were changing as well with the actions of Stargate Command, though top secret at this time, not going unnoticed.
Many writers and commentators have argued, in hindsight, that it was arrogant in the extreme to believe as massive of a program as Stargate Command could have ever been kept secret. Operating on two continents with three full divisions, spearheaded by a battalion's worth of personnel in the elite SG Teams, of their own armed personnel by 2 M12 drawing recruits from around the world and, in some cases, offworld it is simply astounding the program remained hidden from the public eye for so long. Billions of dollars, offset by Orion patent fees, were poured into the program through a number of different forms of budgetary sleight of hand. When full disclosure of the program took place later on in the decade the sheer number of reporters who came forward with corroborating testimony previously barred by highly draconian gag orders shows just how widespread knowledge of Stargate Command had become.
Members of the Fourth Estate were not alone in their discoveries. Declassified Russian, Chinese, and Israeli archives all revealed within the first year of the re-activation of the Stargate these intelligence services were already trying to figure out what was going on deep in Cheyenne Mountain. First Contact and the rapid expansion of the SGC, while massively beneficial to the world and its inhabitants, saw these and other powers redouble their efforts to penetrate the SGC. The greatest successes achieved were by Chinese intelligence agents through building on their traditional strengths in industrial espionage. A number of civilian contractors, co-opted by the PRC's intelligence apparatus, quietly fed information on the program to their handlers in Beijing. Through these efforts along with coordination between the Russian and Chinese governments a broad sketch of what was happening began to form. It was based on this information that a rival gate program would emerge.
As any school child in the galaxy could tell you today Stargates are well-known for being effectively impervious to harm. Declassified SGC mission logs are some of the best sources on this with recorded examples of Stargates surviving direct hits from meteors, operating successfully on planets entering black holes, and in one case being at ground zero for a 100 megaton naquadah bomb detonation. This fact was not fully understood at the time of First Contact or appreciated by the personnel at Stargate Command. None thought it was possible for anything to have survived the destruction of Apophis' warships by SG-1 during their famous raid. The first to question this, based on what information they gleaned, were the Chinese and Russian intelligence services.
In 1 M12 a People's Liberation Army Navy Akula-class submarine on a special reconnaissance assignment in the Bering Straits encountered a large, unbelievably dense ring-shaped object in the frigid depths. The sub's commander brought his vessel in closer and confirmed a world-altering discovery: the Stargate used by SG-1 to successfully infiltrate Apophis' strike force. The commander immediately radioed for assistance and within hours additional Chinese and Russian vessels entered the Bering Sea, securing the perimeter and hauling the gate back to China. Test facilities at Red Mountain Command Base in Xinjiang, already in use for research on stolen and legally purchased Orion patents developments, were expanded with a special, hardened bunker bootstrapped into being the new gate room for the People's Liberation Army Space Force's latest acquisition. Within months the joint Russo-Chinese gate project came online as the two nations sent their own offworld teams on missions of their own.
The Russo-Chinese Gate Program, operating under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, was always a more relatively modest affair compared to Stargate Command. With less in the way of financial resources to throw at the program their efforts focused on technological acquisition. Diplomatic contacts offworld were limited to a similar search for allies and to do whatever was possible to level the playing field with Stargate Command. To this end technological research and industrial espionage were their bread and butter leaving more expensive liberation and relocation operations to Stargate Command. These developments would not go un-noticed by the SGC with confirmation of the Chinese gate program's existence happening in 2 M12 when two offworld technological extraction operations encountered one another, purely by chance, during an assault on one of the rogue Goa'uld Nirrti's outposts. This would lead to a somewhat tentative, terse arrangement between the SCO and SGC powers for direct technology sharing, coordination in planetary defense, and joint discussion and agreement on matters of offworld alliances against the Goa'uld.
These commitments were cemented with the re-negotiation of the terms of the largely defunct Outer Space Treaty in 3 M12 with its replacement by the Planetary Defense Accords. The PDA was one of the most significant pieces of diplomatic work of this period. It officially scrapped the Outer Space Treaty and greenlit the militarization of space so long as all orbital weapons deployed could not be used on planetary targets. It further established a form of mutual defense similar to the terms of the NATO agreements, declaring an attack on any one Earth nation by an extraterrestrial threat was an attack on all nations. Finally the Planetary Defense Accords stated all agreements regarding extraplanetary alliances had to be negotiated through the auspices of the United Nations on behalf of the whole planet, affirming a united stand in galactic affairs that began "at the sky's edge"."
From Chapter 2: A Brave New World, The Origins of the Modern World by Prof. Andrea Masters, published in 61 M12
"In diplomatic and political history the Planetary Defense Accords of 3 M12 are held up as a major milestone in human development. This development is held up by many as an example of the brilliant statesmanship exhibited by the leaders of Terra during this period yet it was not solely a political transformation at work. New technological discoveries and the steady percolation of the idea that humanity was not alone in the universe had brought with them a major shift in the global consciousness. Indeed it is laughable to assume the great strides of the later years of human history could have been made possible by political policy alone. As anyone today can tell you it is not possible to bring about such profound changes merely by the stroke of a pen.
For years before the signing of the PDA people were looking at themselves and their lives less and less as just citizens of their own nations. In the pre-Contact world it is understandable why such parochialism would prevail. After all the main ways people conceived of their relationships stopped at the edge of the atmosphere and space was a vast, seemingly untouchable space. Popular science fiction like Star Trek, Star Wars, and Farscape with vast galaxies swarming with interstellar civilizations is the best example of how the great void was once seen by most: an incomprehensibly alien space with unimaginable and fantastic wonders that would be traversed in the far future. Contact itself changed this by proving there was a greater world out there, a world filled with hostile forces that needed to be understood.
New trade blocs like UNASUR and NAFTA along with the explosion of cyberspace added to this by greatly easing travel and communication across vast distances. No longer were people from another country a strange other studied in school but instead were penpals, business partners, and travel destinations in cultural exchanges taking place the world over. The proven-hostile nature of the Goa'uld greatly facilitated these discussions by providing an atmosphere of a common, shared enemy. People were beginning to see and understand one another in ways they never had before, sowing the seeds for pan-global unity at the cultural level.
It was thanks to all of these exchanges, travel, and shared experiences that the world began to come together as a single whole. The PDA cemented this by establishing the United Nations, an organization dedicated to encouraging world peace and unity, as the central representative of all of the human race on the galactic stage. Where once the discussions in this chamber were seen as somewhat inconsequential the UN now had become a focal point for human interaction. One example of the growing importance of the UN in global affairs and consciousness was the rise in Peacekeeping operations in the years following the signing of the PDA. Probably the most dramatic was Operation Neptune in the Malacca Straits and off the coast of Somalia. Joint, international naval antipiracy task forces that once would have received only minimal mention in the media became the focus of long-running news specials, breathless interviews with the crews, a series of television shows the world over, and a handful of blockbuster action movies depicting blue-helmeted heroes grappling with swashbuckling modern pirates.
Another potent display of the newly found unity of the human race was the first ever Global Unity Festival organized at a dozen locations simultaneously on every continent on May 1, 4 M12. Many, at the time, derided it as nothing more than some kind of giant hippie love-in based on the largely activist nature of the organizers and participating groups. What these naysayers missed was how incredibly huge the Unity Festival was with an estimated 100 million people attending at all locations. For a week these vast throngs of music aficionados, activists, idealists, and dreamers of all kinds rocked out, took drugs, debated ideas, and enjoyed one another's company with speeches and performances from other sites simulcast on giant screens for the crowds. Though subsequent Global Unity Festivals would boast higher turnout or more impressive budgets the first ever GUF was a major milestone in the changing discussions of what it meant to be human in the new galaxy."
From Chapter 3: Coming Together, The Future is Out There: A Cultural History of the Turn of the Millennium by Prof. Travis Wingate, published in 59 M12
BILL O'REILLY: I'm Bill O'Reilly, thanks for watching us tonight!
Is our foreign policy still ours? That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points.
New reports from the recent summit at Geneva suggest President Clinton is selling out our foreign policy to the United Nations.
*cut to footage of Clinton at the Geneva Summit*
"I further believe only by working together can we guarantee our safety from the threat posed to our world by extraterrestrial enemies"
O'REILLY: But is this just an excuse to give countries like Russia and China a veto over our foreign policy? Joining us now is Robert Kagan with the Carnegie International Endowment for Peace. Thank you for joining us tonight Mr. Kagan.
ROBERT KAGAN: Glad to be here Bill. What President Clinton is proposing doing in Geneva is simply astounding in how radical, dangerous, and overreaching it is. Not only is he proposing something that is likely unconstitutional he is allowing foreign governments to have a say in American interstellar policy. There's been nothing like this ever in American history and I'm shocked to see so many in Congress going along with it.
O'REILLY: Proponents of the Geneva discussions say we need to stand as a united force against alien aggression and that such political differences must stop "at the sky's edge". Do you think this is the best way to go about doing that?
KAGAN: Absolutely not. America should not be submitting our policies on the Goa'uld for discussion or referendum based on world opinion. We need to set our course based on what is best for the United States first and lead the entire world based on that example. We have the moral stature, the military might, and the economic power to make that possible and for Clinton to abdicate American leadership on this is simply unacceptable.
O'REILLY: Why do you think he would agree to something like this?
KAGAN: I can't be sure Bill. It just doesn't make any sense to me for an American president to be taking such obviously anti-American actions on the world stage. If Congress has any backbone at all they should impeach him for treason.
O'REILLY: Do you think some of the reports on him taking campaign contributions from the Chinese might have something to do with it?
KAGAN: I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true Bill. There's just no way to explain why the President would be selling us out like this.
Transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor" first broadcast on September 3rd, 3 M12
"In the years leading up to and immediately following Contact the growth of global trade blocs was key in removing all existing barriers to the movement of goods, resources, people, and ideas on a continental and global scale. Economically these developments, often undervalued by post-Unification Terrans, were critical in making the far better known and understood Interstellar Revolution truly possible. Without these reduced barriers to trade and technology the spread of new developments would have been much slower with far less impact in what was then known as the developing world. As much as the Orion Patents receive a lot of well-deserved attention in the public's imagination the developments that came out of it were accelerated by these reduced barriers to trade and commerce.
The combination of superconducting materials, more sophisticated computer technology, maglevs, and 3D printing on an industrial scale transformed the world at unprecedented speed. Economically speaking all of these developments greatly reduced the amount of labor needed for production and transportation. Maglevs, which provided the militaries of the world with the ideal testbed for pushing the limits of magnetic technology and superconductors, reduced transportation time and costs wherever they were installed greatly accelerating the speed at which the world's logistical systems moved. This lead to reduced investment and need for warehouse and storage space, leading to reduced labor needs across global supply chains. Superconductors, being more efficient and longer-lasting than conventional materials, increased power production worldwide while simultaneously triggering reduced employment across the global energy industry as did the growth and spread of 3D printing in manufacturing. SSS systems(1) had a similar impact in white collar and administrative work by greatly reducing how many people were needed to accomplish simple tasks.
The overall result was a more profitable, wealthy economy than ever. Private enterprises, governments, and other entities profited enormously posting record-setting revenues and stock prices pushing worldwide GDP to unprecedented levels. Wealth was growing at dizzying rates with economic pundits in every market predicting even greater things to come. If the perspective one takes for measuring economic success was based on these optimistic outbursts then the world should have been entering a utopian age of shared prosperity.
This prosperity was not widely shared across society. Part of the reason so much wealth was flowing so rapidly around the world was because of the reduced need for labor to accumulate it. Technological efficiency lead to shrinking workforces across the planet accelerating the growing inequalities that already were the norm worldwide. The greater technological sophistication meant many of these developments were trickling down, in a limited fashion, to the great consuming masses but the reduced spending power was already starting to take its toll by 5 M12.
The businesses that depended most on the mass consumption model of Cold War and late stage capitalism would be the first to feel the impact. Retail businesses, particularly video, music, and other forms of mass media, were the first to be sent reeling as reduced consumer spending power reduced their profit margins feeding a vicious cycle of reduced employment and reduced wealth. Soon other service-based jobs, dependent as they were on mass consumption to remain profitable, saw similar declines. Workers and smaller business owners responded to these growing challenges by borrowing increasingly larger sums of money, leading to widespread consumer debt the world over. In the immediate term national leaders responded by relaxing restrictions on lending and increasing funding for public assistance programs and worker retraining but as later events would show this was far from enough. The changes brought on by the Interstellar Revolution would greatly exacerbate the structural contradictions of late stage capitalism, setting the stage for the spectacular confrontations of the years leading up to Unification."
From Chapter 3: The Interstellar Revolution, Globalization and First Contact by Prof. Dipesh Iyer, published in 48 M12
"The Asgard are an ancient, incredibly technologically sophisticated, and reclusive species native to the Ida Galaxy. Even with the long-standing alliance between Humanity and the Asgard there is little that is known about these mysterious friends of the human race. One thing that is certain about the Asgard is their technology, to paraphrase late 11th Millennium science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, approaches levels that even today seem magical. Another thing that is clear is ever since their first discovery of the Milky Way Galaxy over three thousand years ago the Asgard have been persistent enemies of the Goa'uld Empire. Ever since then they have worked as distant guardians, explored the limits of the universe, and done all they could to frustrate the Goa'uld's power.
Many observers, from First Contact with the Asgard to the modern day, have long questioned how it was possible for such a spectacularly advanced species to fail in forcing the Goa'uld into anything stronger than a series of tensely negotiated ceasefires, armistices, and temporary truces. As many of this line of thought argue, claiming the Asgard are nothing more than distant chess masters like the Goa'uld, the massive technological disparity between the Asgard and the Goa'uld could have won them total victory but for some inscrutable alien agenda. The flaws in this argument are twofold. The first, as any university student is quick to point out, is how the Asgard could benefit from such an arrangement. The amount of resources expended in these conflicts for their limited gains suggest the Asgard were doing all they could to defeat the Goa'uld and were only able to see modest victories in spite of that. The second, as many students of galactic history are now aware, is more mundane.
The simple fact is the Asgard have never possessed the necessary raw military power to truly defeat the Goa'uld. Long before the Asgard implemented the policy of reproduction by cloning the species already had relatively low reproduction rates. The sophistication of their technology further ensured there was no need for large, toiling masses to maintain their economic systems further discouraging large families. The relative lack of hostile spacefaring species in the Ida Galaxy further meant that most Asgard colonies were founded for the purposes of specialized resource extraction, researching exotic phenomena, and communications as opposed to examples like the Goa'uld diaspora, the Alterans, or humanity who established colonies as new homes and for specialized purposes. The result was a small, highly concentrated population with very limited capacity for enforcing raw military force on other powers.
Further complicating the situation was the logistical challenge of confronting the Goa'uld in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even though the Asgard had sufficiently sophisticated hyperdrive engines for intergalactic travel to be relatively easy for them they still faced the problem of sustaining operations on a large enough scale to really do serious damage to the Goa'uld. New intelligence was slow to reach frontline commanders who, lacking the large bodies of ground troops necessary to hold liberated worlds against Goa'uld counter-attacks, could only be in so many places at once. One particular obstacle not well appreciated by modern readers is the power of a united Goa'uld Empire rallying behind the power and might of Ra as Supreme System Lord. Unlike the Goa'uld during the Succession War that paved the way to Humanity's relatively recent ascendancy as the dominant power in the galaxy these System Lords fought Asgard incursions as a united, cohesive front. They suffered appalling losses every time yet still kept coming, knowing if they did any less the awesome power of the Asgard could pick them all off one by one. So powerful is the hatred of the Asgard among the Goa'uld that even during the Succession War bitter Goa'uld enemies would gladly set aside their differences to present a united front against the Asgard.
To offset these problems the Asgard High Council doubled down on increasing the tech gap between the two powers. Research was poured into finding deadly applications for every branch of Asgard knowledge. Some historians specializing in the Asgard speculate their use of cloning technology was one of many fruits of this ambitious research program. Many argue that with each new, major development the Asgard would take to the field again to see how much more they could chip away from the Goa'uld. It is somewhat tragic this effort would be the foundation of the Asgard's decline when, approximately five hundred years ago, they accidentally unleashed the great menace in the known universe.
This danger was a species of highly sophisticated artificial life forms known as the Replicators. Originally a series of toys created by an Alteran android the Replicators became a highly sophisticated species that survived and advanced by consuming the technology of other species. The Replicators first became known to the Asgard centuries ago when an Asgard research vessel discovered the first known sample in the fringes of the Milky Way and brought them to a lab in the Ida Galaxy for further study. The Replicators broke out of containment and rapidly absorbed the technologies of the research station, turning them into the greatest threat the Asgard had ever seen.
It was following the Replicator disaster the Asgard first negotiated the most permanent arrangement in their history with the Goa'uld: the Protected Planets Treaty. When the treaty was first negotiated in the mid 11th Millennium Ra, for his part, had tired of the endless struggle with the Asgard and the great cost of each war in terms of lives lost, ships destroyed, and worlds in need of suppression. Most crucially Ra's failure to decisively defeat the Asgard and the expectation that he take the lead in the defense of his empire was weakening his grip on power. By agreeing to the Asgard's terms and granting them a limited sphere of influence the Supreme System Lord bought a measure of stability, breathing room to prepare his fleets, and time to plot the permanent ejection of the Asgard from the Milky Way. Some speculate that Ra was in the process of preparing the necessary arsenal to implement his plans when the first Stargate expedition brought about his abrupt, unexpected demise. From the Asgard position it ensured a beachhead in the Milky Way and bought them time to deal with the Replicator crisis.
The chaos of the Goa'uld Succession War, the growing influence and impact of the SGC and Earth in galactic affairs, and the active efforts by the IOC to make contact with the Asgard provided the High Council with an opportunity. After initial contact and following encounters between the two species the High Council concluded the rise of the Terrans provided them the perfect chance to upset Goa'uld power without risking much of their own limited resources. Earth provided them with a perfect proxy not unlike examples from the Cold War period of Soviet support for North Vietnam or American support for the mujahedin of Afghanistan. It was based on these concerns they re-opened negotiations with the Goa'uld to add Earth to the list of protected planets. After intense haggling culminating in the banishment of treaty opponent Nirrti from the ranks of the System Lords the two sides agreed to adding Earth to the list of protected planets, allowing them access to the Gate network, and an understanding that any Terrans taken offworld would be at the mercy of their Goa'uld captors. Such a highly lucrative arrangement was only possible thanks to the Goa'uld instability and their fear of the Asgard's unquestionably superior, though unavailable, military technology."
From Chapter Four: The Asgard, A Political History of Our Galaxy by Prof. Li Feng, published in 59 M12
William Kristol, Chairman of the Project for a New American Century: Gentlemen as you all know the current presidential election presents us with an ideal opportunity to take control of the SGC and move it in a more beneficial direction. Gary Bauer has more to say on that in detail so I'll turn the floor over to him. Gary?
Gary Bauer, President of the Family Research Council: Thank you Bill. With the elections only a month away we've put in a lot of work making sure our friends and allies are in key positions in the political apparatus. We have successfully called in a number of markers in the Republican Party to get Senator Lamar Alexander to accept Dick as his running mate. On the Democratic side Bob has successfully parlayed his advocacy for increased Pentagon transparency along with his deep pockets and fundraising network to nab the VP slot on Al Gore's ticket. We have also managed to get a number of our allies into key positions on both campaigns, guaranteeing our influence in the coming administration no matter who wins.
Steve Forbes: Excuse me Gary but what good is having the Vice Presidential slot if either president decides not to follow their advice.
Robert Kinsey, Democratic Candidate for Vice President: I can answer part of that concern Steve. I think we can sway my running mate to the right side on this issue. Gore is a smart man, has a firm grasp of the stakes, and like most ambitious, intelligent men in his position will want to step out of Bill Clinton's shadow once he gets into office. I also think my advocacy for government transparency has been effective in eliciting sympathy from him for our position. Regardless I'll be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office as will Dick, if the Republicans win, giving us two solid backups just in case things don't go according to plan.
Richard Cheney, Republican Candidate for Vice President: Senator Alexander is unquestionably our man. He'll side with us no matter what happens assuming we win the elections. In the worst case scenario, meaning Gore wins and he refuses to buck Clinton's ill-conceived, alien-friendly policies, we have plenty of fallback plans and allies in place to deal with him. We have a number of people in high places throughout the White House and the Pentagon who will support whatever actions are necessary to make people see things our way. Don's people in particular have put in a lot of hard work to make sure everything goes the way we want it to.
Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman of Gilead Sciences: And it will all work as promised Dick. Our researchers, with help from friends inside the Pentagon and the SGC, have succeeded in procuring Goa'uld DNA and medical reports on the autopsies of former hosts. I'm confident when the time comes there will be no serious difficulty in making our story convincing to the general public.
Roger Ailes, President of Fox News Channel: Our viewers will believe anything we say. Years of castigating the evils of liberal media, right wing talk radio giants like Rush Limbaugh, and all our efforts in destroying Clinton's credibility along with all the stories we've been running on the alien threat and foreign influence in domestic politics have our audience primed to accept whatever we broadcast. If we need to take the most extreme steps necessary many will rally to our side and excuse whatever has to be done.
Kristol: All of this talk of extreme measures is seriously concerning me. If this doesn't work then what we are all discussing will probably be seen as treason at the very least.
Cheney: And it will succeed if things come to that Bill. I'd rather we have all our contingency plans in place than be caught flat-footed on Inauguration Day.
Kinsey: I agree. We need to be prepared and regardless of what others may think of what we do it is all in the name of defending our planet from alien attack. Whatever we do, when it succeeds, will be excused as necessary for the security of the United States and Earth.
Taken from the transcript for the October 4, 4 M12 Colorado Springs Summit of the Project for a New American Century, unsealed in 29 M12
1) Solid State Superconducting, a common acronym for distinguishing immediate post-contact computer systems from earlier magnetic hard drives and more archaic systems