Midyear of the second year after the end of the Three-Civilization War
Designated: the Sixth System
An interstellar stealth reconnaissance ship quietly entered this system.
This starship had been patrolling this system for over a week.
"Still no sign of any intelligent life?" The captain looked at the star map, a very large area of which had already been scanned.
"That's right. So far we've scanned at least a third of this system's area and still haven't found any trace of intelligent life living here. But on some habitable planets we have found some living things. Most of these creatures have only low intelligence, though; they don't count as true intelligent life yet," the adjutant beside her said, pointing at the positions of several habitable planets already marked on the star map.
As an interstellar stealth reconnaissance ship charged with a survey mission, their mission this time required not only determining whether intelligent life or some interstellar civilization existed here,
but also determining how many habitable planets this system had and how many resources could be developed and used.
Only by first fixing an initial map
could they lay the groundwork for the main force to follow and save time.
"Speed up the search. Go straight to the large planets and patrol around them, to make sure first that there really is no civilization here. That way we can notify headquarters to send more starships over," the captain said gravely.
"Yes!"
After that, another three days were spent.
The final result was that there was no civilization at all in this system; it was a system waiting to be developed.
When this news reached the Fierce Dragon civilization, it could be said that some were glad and some were resigned.
The Fierce Dragon Sixth System Symposium.
"Never thought we'd find a system with no intelligent civilization at all." Secretary Officer Barbara rubbed her temples.
"No intelligent civilization: doesn't that count as an advantage?" someone muttered.
"With no intelligent civilization, taking over this system has no difficulty, it's true. But it means this system is completely undeveloped. No people, no ready-made industrial system. Everything has to start from scratch. The amount of work is quite enormous," Secretary Officer Shuixian said beside them.
She was now the head of the Development Agency, in charge of everything to do with developing systems.
In a word she had named the pros and cons behind it.
"All right. Everyone's here. Let's settle how the Sixth System will be arranged in the future. This time the Development Agency takes the lead. Shuixian, tell us first the plan you've drawn up." Zhao Chen looked at Secretary Officer Shuixian.
Secretary Officer Shuixian stood up; in her hands was the development outline the Development Agency had settled on after working round the clock.
"Since we can now confirm there's no intelligent civilization at all in the Sixth System, we can step straight in and develop it in the shortest time. By the results of our survey, though this system isn't large in area, if initial development can be completed, with T2-grade industrial production equipment put in across the board and T3-grade industrial production equipment in the key places, annual output value can reach an astonishing hundred billion star coins; with deeper development after that, this annual output value can rise further still!" Secretary Officer Shuixian said.
Zhao Chen did the sums in his head: a hundred billion star coins more, and growing continually in the future; that was one more source of revenue opened up.
"By our plan, this initial construction is to be completed within a year and a half. But to complete this step, there are several very big problems to solve. First is investment! Investment isn't only a matter of money. Actually, money and resources are minor matters. The biggest problem is population. This is a system with no intelligent life. That means a serious shortage of labor. And getting people to move there willingly is no small difficulty. Unless it's forced migration." Secretary Officer Shuixian looked at Zhao Chen.
Forced migration did not meet Zhao Chen's policy standards, and was naturally vetoed outright.
"Actually, I think we can use a lot of new technology in developing this system," Chief Engineer Annie, invited to the meeting, said, raising her hand for once.
Zhao Chen looked at Chief Engineer Annie and signaled her to go on.
Annie went on, "The new technology, actually, I define as unmanned space: including unmanned operations, unmanned transport and unmanned cities. In short, any work that can be replaced by machines is all replaced by machines. We actually have this technology. As for why it isn't promoted in the existing five systems: on one hand the initial investment takes a sum of money, and on the other it would squeeze out over eighty percent of jobs. Unemployment would rise. That way, order under the Fierce Dragon civilization's rule would run into big problems. But in this system that problem won't exist at all. There are no jobs to begin with, so how can there be unemployment?"
Hearing Annie's words,
everyone present brightened.
"That's a good idea. Afterward, your Development Agency can work closely with Chief Engineer Annie's side and find a way to put this plan into practice," Zhao Chen said with a nod.
Annie said hurriedly, "Wait a moment. When I say fewer people, that doesn't mean no people at all. Unmanned equipment is good, but it's bound to break down sometimes, and its adaptability has weak spots too. Every unmanned workshop needs at least two technicians in charge."
"Shuixian, work it out: if it's arranged this way, how many people do we expect to need?" Zhao Chen looked at Secretary Officer Shuixian.
Secretary Officer Shuixian came up with a figure in no time at all.
"For the initial arrangements, at least a hundred million people. As development continues, the population finally needed should be about five hundred million."
A hundred million people was no small number either.
For a planet it was actually nothing much.
Most planets had a hundred million people.
But in a system not yet developed, never mind a hundred million: even a million, or a hundred thousand, would be very hard.
"We can launch a Migration-Development Program. Tell the public the real situation. Whoever's willing to sign up for the Migration-Development Program of their own accord, we can provide free technical training, job placement and migration subsidies. Take a job, for example. Within the Five Great Systems its wages are a hundred thousand star coins a year. Then so long as one is willing to join the Migration-Development Program, the wages can be set straight at double. And for the first ten years, a fixed raise of 30% every year! At the same time we provide housing, meals, education and a whole range of free guarantees. Beyond that, we also offer a buy-out form of the Migration-Development Program. Say some families urgently need a sum of money right now. Then so long as they're willing to join our Migration-Development Program and sign a contract for a certain term, say a three-year contract, a five-year contract or a ten-year contract, we give them an interest-free loan outright, and the loan is deducted bit by bit from their monthly wages afterward. That way, those joining the Migration-Development Program can leave with peace of mind!" Secretary Officer Barbara laid out several plans in one breath.
Nothing more than giving money, giving jobs, giving more freedom of choice.
Under a bombardment of these sugar-coated bullets, she did not believe no one would sign up.
"But remember one thing. This is for developing this Sixth System efficiently, not a place anyone at all can go. So those who go also need to pass assessments, screening and so on. Of course, for mining on some mining planets, prisoners can be sent straight over," Secretary Officer Barbara added one point.
In developing remote systems, some interstellar civilizations would choose to send over riffraff and small fry; though systems could be developed that way too,
problems would arise as well: the development efficiency of these remote systems would suffer,
efficiency would be very low, and there would be cases of refusing to obey administration.
The Fierce Dragon civilization was not expanding for the sake of expanding, but for more resource output, so what it had to choose was high-efficiency development.
"And then there's infrastructure. We have to take two steps. On one hand, send T2 and T3, and of course, if there are T4-grade interstellar industrial ships, so much the better. On the other hand, any component modules that can be built in the factories of our Five Great Systems can be built first, then shipped over and assembled. That way the construction cycle can be shortened. And of the infrastructure to build first, a star-gate is a must, then starports, space stations, habitable cities on the planets and so on. The resource extraction sites, on the contrary, aren't part of the first construction. Only once the infrastructure is built can more people go there in the future, and only then can the resources there be developed on a grand scale!" Secretary Officer Shuixian said gravely.
Next, Secretary Officer Shuixian said, "And then there's the matter of a garrison. Though at present we've found no intelligent civilization in that system, and no trace of visits by other civilizations either, we have to guard against the unexpected. It would be best to send a fleet to garrison it. Otherwise, just when we've finally finished building, a fleet might suddenly come charging out and destroy all the infrastructure we've built. And if they kill the people we've sent over too, not only would we suffer enormous losses, but the casualties would also hurt our standing among the public. By then, recruiting people to join the Migration-Development Program would be very hard."
"That we can arrange. At first we can station three hundred interstellar warships there, and add more step by step later if needed. That's all easy to discuss," Marshal Chu Xuan said beside her.
After a round of consultation, the development blueprint for the Sixth System was basically laid down.
"Oh, right, one more question. What about the administration of this Sixth System?" Secretary Officer Barbara suddenly spoke up.
In the other systems, system governorates had all been set up.
Then what about this Sixth System?
With no population, if a governorate were set up, whom would it govern?
If not, what about the future?
"For now a governorate can be set up provisionally, with an internal framework copied from the existing governorates' structure. But it need not be fully staffed; just enough to get by. As for the post of system governor: since Shuixian is in charge of the Sixth System's development work, Secretary Officer Shuixian will serve as acting Governor of the Sixth System!" Zhao Chen announced on the spot.
Secretary Officer Shuixian, hearing that she was to serve as acting Governor of the Sixth System, had not expected it herself.
"I…"
Secretary Officer Barbara looked at Secretary Officer Shuixian with a smile: "It's the most suitable arrangement. After all, this is your work in the first place. The opening stage is mainly development, which is what you're in charge of anyway. With you managing it directly with full authority, a lot of unnecessary steps in between are saved too. Then you report to us directly; if there's a problem, say so directly. Very efficient. When development across the regions is balanced in the future, you can hand this post on to someone else then."
Hearing this, Secretary Officer Shuixian said nothing more,
and accepted the task,
privately resolving too that she would develop this Sixth System to perfection, and never give His Majesty or the Lady Secretary any cause for worry.
——————
The news of the Fierce Dragon civilization's discovery of the Sixth System was soon made public.
And the related construction plans also got under way; a great many factories received large orders for construction.
Where these module components, once built, would be hauled off to was easy to imagine.
At the same time came the related Migration-Development Program.
On every planet of the Five Great Systems, ads of every kind, online and off, blanketed everything with publicity.
"Just look at that child of yours: the moment she gets home, she hides in her room. Tell her to go out and look for a job and she won't. Wasn't university a waste, then!"
"The job we found for her before, she wouldn't go when we told her to. That was a job I went to a lot of trouble to find through a contact!"
Outside the bedroom door, the sound of her parents quarreling went on and on.
A young woman sat in her chair with her hands over her ears.
It was not that she did not want to work; it was only that she did not want to do work she did not want to do, nor the kind of work whose end she could see at a glance:
work, marriage, children,
and then a life exactly the same as everyone else's.
Just at this moment,
a message popped up on her handheld terminal, a mass message from the local network provider.
"Want to start a new life? The Fierce Dragon Migration-Development Program awaits your choice."
Below it was a link.
As if driven by some unseen force, she tapped that link.
The link led to a website, one built specially for this Migration-Development Program.
Those interested could ask all kinds of questions here.
Every procedure was simplified:
assessment, training, medical check, all of it could be arranged for you.
Looking at the blueprint described on it,
she could not help daydreaming about that system not yet developed.
Perhaps there she could choose to live a new life.
In the end, in the shortest possible time, she made the biggest choice of her life.
She opened the sign-up window and filled in her details.
What came next was to wait for notice.
She listened to the voices of her parents and her brothers and sisters talking outside the door.
They probably did not know that the daughter they had always thought so plain and ordinary had made so earth-shaking a choice!