NOVPUBChapter 774: 760 Top-Level Design of Pan-Galaxy (Part 3)
Kelidarl gently touched the fast-food restaurant’s payment portal with her smart wristband, and the electronic system’s voice announced, “Payment completed, you have paid 2.25 Yuan.”
“It really is convenient,” Kelidarl entered her usual state of admiration.
In fact, on Iridium Star, various forms of quick payment had existed for thousands of years, and even before the Earth had entered the Intergalactic Era, the rudiments of quick payment had already appeared in the form of scanning QR codes. However, in many civilizations, the use of physical currency is still a payment method that is hard to abandon.
The situation on Iridium Star was somewhat unique; there were no commercial banks on Iridium Star. Due to its economic system bearing traits of communism, the “money” that Iridium Star citizens had was directly tied to their personal citizen identity. Holding credit currency itself was Iridium Star issuing credit currency to citizens, mainly to satisfy people’s daily needs.
On the other hand, the First Galactic Star adopted the United Yuan, making various resources and products easier to be exchanged for currency. The new United Empire citizens from various civilizations living and working there could earn a salary in United Yuan. Therefore, the First Galactic Star had a much more prominent commercial aspect.
Kelidarl bought what was known as the “Iridium Star specialty food” hamburger. Although the Taroffi Civilization was a Lower Civilization, they were connoisseurs of food, so she didn’t find the Earth people’s hamburgers to be something that should only exist in heaven. Nonetheless, trying new foods was still a pleasurable experience for her.
Her assistant Lansendal said, “It seems that the cost of living on the First Galactic Star isn’t that high.”
“After all, it’s a High Level Civilization, and maybe even the most technologically advanced in the current Galaxy—Iridium Star. For them, producing food and various other consumer goods must be a very simple task. From this perspective, the prices of these items cannot be considered low, at least they do not truly reflect their actual consumption,” said Kelidarl, who, after all, was a scholar. Even though she came from a Lower Civilization, she could clearly see the issues at hand.
Lansendal pouted and said, “If Iridium Star’s technology is really that advanced, why don’t they simply supply everyone with all the goods they need?”
“Because doing so would be an excessive waste of the Universe’s resources. I heard that Iridium Star people have a very meticulous plan for resource and energy consumption, aiming to recycle and reuse various resources to the greatest extent. A High Level Civilization might contribute significantly to the increase of cosmic entropy; they are not like to quickly consume the Universe. Moreover, the new Universe we’re currently in has only the Galaxy, which is not as vast nor as rich in material as the previous Universe,” Kelidarl replied.
After wandering around like tourists for most of the day, Kelidarl and Lansendal returned to their apartment. Even though the First Galactic Star was vast and there were many unused spaces, the Iridium Star people’s frugality was still very evident. In this city built for the Civilizations’ Representatives’ Congress, there were no standalone residences; all of them were apartments inside skyscrapers hundreds of meters tall.
Iridium Star people had transformed many of the buildings originally constructed by the Jinxi, and even excavated many underground facilities. Thus, Iridium Star people created many functional spaces in the smallest unit area. Even representatives or civil servants with high positions did not reside in particularly luxurious or spacious houses. For example, Kelidarl’s apartment was only 180 square meters.
For a few particularly large species, there were also tailor-made residences, but when they had to go to work, Iridium Star chose to have them operate through the use of Bionic Human bodies transferred by consciousness; otherwise, Iridium Star would have to build the various institutions and venues particularly large.
Just after arriving home, Kelidarl received a new document from the United Empire’s Transportation Department. Although the document was more than two thousand pages long, just the title alone shocked Kelidarl greatly.
“Proposal and Preliminary Discussion for the Construction of a Stargate Network on the Administrative Stars of the United Empire’s Member Civilizations”
The name of the document was simple and straightforward, but the amount of information and the ambition and resolve it displayed completely stunned Kelidarl.
As everyone knows, the Galactic High Governance Council, using the Stargate system established by some unknown predecessor civilization, had created a Stargate network that facilitated High Level Civilizations’ travel across Star Sectors. However, the scale of this Stargate network was quite limited, generally with only two or three gates within a Great Star Zone, mainly used by High Level Civilizations to travel from one Great Star Zone to another. The broader group of Middle to Lower Civilizations was not allowed to use this facility.
In contrast, the version of the Stargate network for Iridium Star was much more ambitious. All member civilizations participating in the Iridium Star United Empire would join in the construction of this Stargate network, and at the edge of the Gravity Well orbit of every Administrative Star of the United Empire, a Stargate would be established. If this Stargate network were successfully built, one could easily reach any Administrative Star of the United Empire from any planet.
Lansendal was so surprised when he saw the document that his jaw nearly dropped to the floor, “This… This isn’t possible, right? The cost of constructing Stargates is exorbitant, the technology complex, even the previous big ten powers didn’t build Stargates on every Administrative Star. Many planets have a small population and are unlikely to engage in much exchange activity; wouldn’t building Stargates be a waste?”
However, Kelidarl’s eyes were ignited with passion; she shook her head and said, “It’s not a matter of whether it’s a waste or not. The Chancellor’s intentions are very clear; he wants to use the Stargate network to connect all the planets of the Iridium Star United Empire together, to make exchanges between the various civilizations even closer. From a defense perspective, the Stargate network also has significant advantages. If a planet is attacked, the Unified Empire’s Army stationed elsewhere can provide support as quickly as possible. Like with the current Swarm disaster we’re facing, the Star Whales won’t need to maintain such a large scale. Wherever there’s a threat, they can help out.”
Lansendal, however, viewed it more negatively: “Similarly, if the Stargate network is truly constructed, the promise of independence and autonomy given to the various civilizations will probably be nothing more than empty words. Iridium Star is deliberately using such a means to completely control all civilizations. The fleets and military rights of the civilizations have already been handed over to the United Empire, and now with the Stargate network, Iridium Star can manipulate us however they want, leaving us no room for resistance.”
Kelidarl sighed: “While that may be so, if we had refused earlier, we would have been annihilated by the Swarm. At least the current situation is satisfactory. The Iridium Star Chancellor is a benevolent leader who hopes for the Galaxy to develop in a better direction. Let’s pray he continues to be like this.”
