Читать книгу Overturned - Rothilda von Rotortod - Страница 8

"But that won't last forever," another critic said. "Eventually, the negative effects of the power generation fiction will become obvious."

The expedition leader showed his half smile again. "That may well be – which is why we must use the initial fears to set in motion a self-reinforcing process. The original, primary interests in the new form of power generation will thus be supplemented by other, secondary interests".

"And what kind of interests are these?" the critic wanted to know.

"Well, I primarily thought of financial interests," explained the expedition leader. "As the Earthlings say: 'Money makes the world go round'."

The others looked at him irritated. "Money?" someone finally asked. "What's that?"

The expedition leader smiled, which means: The right corner of his mouth, the side where his thinking brain was located, twitched slightly. "Well, how can I explain this? In the end it is a kind of magic numbers. They exist in both material form – as tiny metal plates or paper notes – and immaterial form. In the latter case, they are no more than columns of numbers on a monitor. Everyone needs a minimum of them to satisfy their basic needs. Anything beyond that can be used to fulfill your dreams."

"What nonsense!" exclaimed the commissioner who had just expressed his scepticism. "Everyone knows that it is the very nature of dreams that they can't be fulfilled!"

"That's right," admitted the expedition leader. "But for the Earthlings it doesn't matter at all whether they really try to fulfill their dreams with the money or only dream of the fulfilment of their dreams – the numbers have an electrifying effect on them either way. They are really crazy about them. Therefore, if we link the emotions associated with them to our wind power story, we will be able to stop critical enquiries for a long time. Even those who see themselves as environmentalists might, under these circumstances, see what is harmful to the environment as beneficial to it. Maybe this could even be a way to make the Earthlings see our landing pillars as sacred buildings in the end. This would make our narrative practically unassailable."

Even now, scepticism still prevailed in the commission. The customs of the Earthlings simply seemed too strange to most of the commissioners. However, for lack of alternatives, it was decided to implement the project. Perhaps things would turn out to be easier than they seemed at the moment.