I raise my eyebrows. "Wait, are you actually considering it?"
"I was wondering… Did you ever think that you should have built more bleed torsion generators?"
Well, I suppose that would have depended on whether people could
reproduce them. 'Give a man a fish', and all that...
"I considered a world where I did, and realised that it would involve me doing an awful lot of work for no real personal or planetary benefit. And that's with a safe technology." I shrug. "Then other clean power technologies entered the market, prices collapsed and I got the result I wanted."
"Everywhere they were accepted."
Ideally, once the holdouts catch on that said clean technology is A: Cleaner and B:
Cheaper, I could see them reconsidering.
I nod, because I spent quite a bit of time repairing nuclear power plants last month. And clearing roads for coal shipments, and repairing pipes for pumping gas… Europe and America are switching over, but it's not happening all that fast. I think Ted Kord said there was some sort of problem getting the legislation through to rewire the United States, but I stopped worrying about it because Lex was… On it.
Mr. Queen looks puzzled. "Why wouldn't they be? It's cheap, clean-." He jerks his head my way. "It is clean, right?"
Since about two weeks have passed in universe since the start of the episode. And what's the bet their equivalent of 'Big Oil' is trying to cover their beloved profits. Probably with lobbying about 'Unproven
mad science' or 'Think of the
cost!'
"LexCorps' generator essentially absorbs solar and galactic background radiation at extreme wavelengths and turns them into useable electricity. There might be some sort of giant monster sleeping below the Earth's crust that usually feeds on it those wavelengths so now it will rise up and eat us all because it's getting denied its food, but other than that possibility it's completely safe."
"When we get out of here, check for that monster."
Ah, I see Lex is pulling out the Knight technology, then. About time it saw use, even if it
is making Lex richer.
"Already did. Couldn't find it."
He closes his eyes for a moment. "You had to put it like that."
Because now Ollie is going to be laying awake at night sweating about 'Couldn't
find it' instead of 'Nothing there.'
And I thought Renegade was a
troll.
Superman nods. "What about the other generators that got released?"
"One's a thaumic converter and the other is an oddly efficient method for producing hydrogen. I guess they used alien technology, but they can reproduce it so it doesn't really matter."
"Which is the best?"
As long as neither technology can run out of control, consuming all Magic or drying up the planet, or something like that.
"The radiation converter and the thaumic converter both draw on a power source that will effectively never run out. But there's only so much exotic radiation around, and I'm not sure… There might be a point where we're trying to convert more than is intersecting with the Earth. I don't know, and I'm not sure if anyone knows. The thaumic converter distorts local magic fields, which might start being a problem if more people start learning magic. And you need magic users to build and repair them. There wasn't a problem in production, but they were trying to hire Atlanteans to expand and… We were reaching the end of the 'available' Atlantean magician workforce."
Which raises the question of why is it suddenly out there
now? Did someone have a breakthrough back before the Anti-Life thing and only now manage to get things together?
"And as more people started using them, that might start being a problem anyway."
I shrug. "Maybe. They haven't been used on a wide scale yet. Now, hydrogen is dead simple. Any half-way competent engineer could make a basic hydrogen-powered generator, so there's no shortage of people who can make the high-end ones. It needs hydrogen which is generated by… Well it used to be generated by combining methane with steam, but these days it's mostly generated using genetically engineered bacteria. The only waste product is water which means that it's as environmentally safe as it can get."
...And now I'm getting Cyberpunk flashbacks, with their fuel oil replacement,
CHOOH2, that's produced by engineered bacteria. Made the
companies that produced it
extremely wealthy and powerful...
"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Queen leans forward. "Weird space energy and magic I get, but how do you take in bacteria and get out water and electricity?"
"There's plenty of hydrogen in things. Getting it out with bacteria's just more energy efficient than most alternatives. That.. one actually works in my original parallel universe as well."
The trick is making something that can do the
job, is easy to produce but won't breed out of control. Our world is still working out the first part, never mind the second or even the third...
"So why bother repairing nuclear reactors?"
"Because they were there, along with the infrastructure and expertise to run them. If you mean 'why weren't their governments using something better', I'm not sure."
Because they're obstinate, and being too cautious about the costs involved. It would take
billions to switch over, and you have the issue of maintaining power in the process.
And that could make for angry voters.
Superman nods. "According to Lex, China has a lot of restrictions on who can own their infrastructure. He'd have had to essentially give the technology away, and the only people allowed to make money on are would be the Chinese."
"True. Every company working in China has to have a certain percentage of Chinese ownership. Was Lex asking us to forcefully bypass that?"
Ah, Lex. Your control freak tendencies biting you in the ass.
He nods again. "He knew that we already emptied out the Gobi Desert prison. They way he put it, if we got rid of the coal power plants and put in his radiation converters, they wouldn't have any choice but to accept what he was offering. He.. also made a pretty convincing environmental argument."
Mr. Queen nods. "China does burn an awful lot of coal."
It would also force China to work with him to
maintain them, since their own engineers would struggle to do so without
training.
"Which releases radiation and lead into the air as well as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon particulates. China actually has smog."
"America has smog."
Not on the same level, though.
"It's a problem in backwards, primitive-."
Superman slight raises his right hand. "My point is, we could replace them. I could replace them."
And it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. But the message it would send...
I shrug. "Superman, if you wanted to take over the world, you should have said something a couple of weeks ago."
Mr. Queen frowns in puzzlement. "He's not talking about taking over the world. Just fixing it up a little."
Think a little, Ollie. How would the Chinese government react to an American Superhero, an icon of their ideals, interfering in the Party's sovereign affairs? 'Explosive' would be an
understatement.
"He's talking about overriding a national government when they do something stupid. And not just a small country where people might not notice." Or care. "And we're talking about doing it at a time when the national government is in a mess, and probably can't meaningfully stop us."
Mr. Queen nods. "So you think once they get organized, they're just going to undo everything."
While playing the 'belligerent victim' card. And probably demanding reparations from anyone involved they can think of.
"Remember the training exercise, when with nothing at stake the Chinese government didn't notify the Justice League?"
"That's not the same thing. We're talking about giving them stuff for free here. New reactors would let them get their whole economy started up again."
Yes, but again, how would they
maintain them? Especially if Lex decides to play keep-away with the training and scientific knowledge need?
I shrug. "I could be wrong. I hope I am. But I don't think I am. They won't buy from Lex on terms he will accept because they don't want to give up control. They won't accept us switching them over on our own recognisance because it shows they've lost control. The best we could do is find a senior enough person in what's left of their government to okay it, and help that person rise to the top before anyone can stop them."
"So… Conquer the world, with extra steps."
By
proxy, at least. With the risk of said proxy being decried as a mouthpiece for 'Imperialist, capitalist American interests.'
"More 'make a deal with someone, who then conquers their own country', but basically..." I nod.
Superman regards us both with growing disquiet. "Ollie?"
He's really learning just how much of a
headache dealing with OL's
unique perspective is, isn't he?
Mr. Queen shrugs, leaning back in his chair. "He's not exactly wrong. What did you have in mind?"
"Kryptonian technology is a lot more advanced than human technology. Outside of some pieces of biotechnology that work with kryptonian-specific physiology, just about everything I have could improve something."
As long as you can prevent it form being weaponised, which someone will eventually try to do, and given the hypercognitive potential of DC humans, might well manage to. Never mind what Lex will do with it, because you know he
will get his hands on it no matter how they try to avoid it.
"Okay. Ah… Two options. Release designs that slightly improve things that already exist. Carbon scrubbers that are a bit more efficient that what's in use now. Or are cheaper. Slightly better solar panels that can be built using existing human technology. People will gradually switch over on their own."
"Kryptonian.. solar panels are a lot more than 'slightly' more advanced."
Well, there's another clean energy source for you. Just make sure they can't be turned into solar-powered death rays or something and you're
fine.
"Can anywhere on Earth build them?"
"A couple of places probably could." He looks pointedly at me. "I.. thought-."
And
that issue brings it back to 'dependant on one source for paradigm-changing tech.'
"Sure, I could fabricate them, but that just makes everyone dependant on me." I shrug. "Uplift is difficult, Superman. You've seen how much progress I've made?"
He nods. "What was the other option?"
I bet OL's feeling
such a tingle of smugness, seeing how much Kal is struggling with this. He might not be
proud of it, but he's feeling it.
"Pick somewhere small and offer to completely uplift the place. Deliberately destroy their existing economy and culture and replace it with something that can serve as an example of what can be achieved."
Mr. Queen gives me a sideways glance. "Or just change one part. Like power generation. Making energy cheaper -and cleaner- has a whole bunch of positive knock-on effects."
"Okay. I can do that. Did you have anywhere in mind?"
Either is a good option, though the former smacks a little of a
subtle form of conquest.
