A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 238 International Cooperation is Too Divided

This quarter is one that will be etched in the history of the Skas, a quarter in which the entire Ska civilization entered a historical turning point. Aliens, who should only exist in science fiction, actually visited the Skas' home planet, Reka, during this quarter.

These aliens are different from the traditional aliens in Ska science fiction. They do not pilot spaceships that traverse light-years between stars to reach the Ska's home star system. Instead, they travel across a planet, spanning vast distances on the scale of light-years.

Ska's science fiction creators felt that their previous imaginations seemed too barren, that aliens didn't fly spaceships but instead flew planets.

Is it possible that spaceships are actually like bicycles in alien societies?

Is it possible that planets that can span light-years actually fall into the category of "spaceships" in the minds of extraterrestrials?

This quarter is a science fiction explosion season. The passion of all science fiction creators in the Ska community has been ignited because a living example of an alien has appeared in space.

Regardless of how strangely the Ska people's ideology had veered in different directions, the Ska people's government was on high alert.

In just a few days, the international coalition composed of various countries swiftly passed the "Reka Mutual Defense Treaty" bill. The treaty stipulated that although there were differences among the Ska people, as part of a unified civilization, each country had the responsibility and obligation to jointly resist foreign invaders. Any alien enemy that attacked one of the treaty countries in any form would be tantamount to declaring war on all the treaty countries.

The reason why the Ska peoples acted so aggressively was that they felt a direct threat.

People say that when the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. However, the various countries are the tallest "tall ones" in the Ska people's society. If the sky really falls, the first ones to be hit will be the various countries on Reka Star.

Ordinary Skars can turn to their government when something goes wrong, but if the government is in trouble, they have to solve it themselves, because there's no one left in the country to help them.

Unlike usual conferences, this International General Assembly was as noisy as a bustling marketplace.

The conference was divided into four factions due to the different strategies adopted by various countries in dealing with extraterrestrials.

"The development policy for space must prioritize heavy industry, and within heavy industry, military industry must be placed first. We, the Ska, must establish our own space force to defend against the threat of aliens."

This is a military radical faction led by the Sog United Government, which advocates building a space fleet belonging to the Ska civilization in order to guard against possible space wars.

The other faction is the industrial research and development faction, led by the Madrid Comprehensive Federation.

"We oppose this radicalism. No one on the entire planet Reka has ever fought a space war. We know nothing about how to deploy defenses in space, how to defend against incoming enemies, or how to attack them."

"In space, the development of heavy industry must be the top priority, but the construction of military industry can be delayed. Military research and development should be the priority. The space battlefield is different from the ground. The new battlefield will inevitably require new equipment and new military ideas."

These two factions are not against space war; on the contrary, they believe that space war could break out at any time after the appearance of aliens on the Z-16 planet.

However, the two factions have significant differences regarding their priorities in the development of the space industry.

The other two factions, however, fundamentally differed from those who advocated military force.

They are the peace negotiation faction led by the Kingdom of Saint Mona, and the economic development faction led by the Holy Trade Alliance of Ska.

"The aliens from Z-16 came by faster-than-light travel. This technology alone is enough to give them military overwhelming power over us, the Ska."

"War should only be a last resort. Peaceful negotiation should be the primary means to minimize space conflicts and avoid the outbreak of space war."

Those who advocate for peace negotiations believe that war should always be the last resort, and that negotiation is always the best option, as it avoids casualties and damage to plants.

Moreover, the aliens on the Z-16 planet are clearly far more technologically advanced than the Skaians. The fact that the Z-16 planet could traverse such vast distances between stars is beyond the imagination of the Skaians.

How could the Ska people possibly defeat such an opponent?

Those who advocate military action and those who advocate industrial research and development scoffed at the proposals, and were very dismissive of the peaceful negotiation faction's views.

"Weakness will only embolden the other side to take advantage of us; sufficient military force is the fundamental power to defend the truth."

"It's unlikely that the aliens on Z-16 have mastered faster-than-light technology, or rather, they might be technologically similar to us Skaians."

"The evidence lies in their capture of the probe we launched toward Z-16."

"If they really have faster-than-light technology, they could easily pilot a small spaceship using faster-than-light technology to reach the vicinity of our probe, capture it, and then return at faster-than-light speed, which would be much faster. However, they are using conventional propellant propulsion."

"In other words, if a space war were to break out, we are not without a chance of winning."

Both sides believe that the aliens on Z-16 did not possess faster-than-light technology. It's just that the Ska's detection technology was too backward in the past, and the celestial orbit of Z-16 was very elongated, extending beyond the Kuiper Belt, with each revolution period being extremely long. This is why the Ska only discovered the existence of Z-16 now.

Moving a star requires astronomical amounts of energy. Rather than believing that aliens moved Z-16 to their Ska's home star system, both sides are more inclined to believe that Z-16 was originally part of their home star system, but had not been discovered before.

The economic development faction, led by the Sacred Trade Alliance of Ska, did not speak up for the peace negotiation faction, nor could they agree with such a naive idea of ​​peace negotiation.

"Why can't you understand that government-led heavy industry development is no match for spontaneous industrial development by the private sector? Free market economy is the right path, as it can fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of the people."

"Economic development has never been forced by power, but rather created by the spontaneous labor of the people. Only by fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of the people can we work together to quickly complete the construction of the space industry."

"The development of the space industry should be primarily driven by civilian applications, with the government playing only a guiding role."

The so-called economic development faction advocates that the development of the space industry should be distributed among every Ska, and that the government should not, and need not, bear the fiscal deficit of industrial development, so as to minimize the cost of developing the space industry.

Once the private space industry has developed to a certain extent, it can be nationalized.

This is considering the construction of the space industry from an economic perspective. From the perspective of economic development proponents, war is an economic account, and industry is just the physical manifestation of the economy. If the economy is managed well, then having as many space warships as you want will be a small problem.

Each of the four factions has its own agenda and dislikes the others' views, so the Ska civilization has never been able to reach a consensus.

The only point of consensus is that the space industry must be developed and a space force must be established.

(End of this chapter)