There lived on the world Haim...

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***

Smartphones went into large-scale production. And it began to bring income - first of all, my accounts began to receive funds. I wondered - how can I increase my income? Unlike retail, I received funds in large batches - contracts for wholesale deliveries to retail chains. Each contract was worth hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars. And the further I went, the more chains were interested in my goods. However, not everything was so cloudless - the plant's capabilities were limited. The high price of goods compensated for low productivity. Higher productivity - in China, where you can hire ten thousand Chinese, assemble everything on the assembly line, but the quality... so only robots worked. In fact, all smartphones are made in Asia, except mine.

* * *

Moscow.

* * *

The Russian Ministry of Defence didn't look very presentable. Just an ordinary grey government building, not a pentagon. It was fenced in, and a soldier stood at the entrance gate, marking those who came in. The entrance was blocked by a full-length steel turnstile. I had to go up to the soldier and explain that I, say, appointed. He quickly called someone, clarified, and issued a pass.

I don't usually go to clients, but this time the Minister of Defence invited me for tea and biscuits - it's a sin not to go if they even give me biscuits. I assume this is about my technology.

I wasn't wrong. Having gone to the fourth floor, through the corridors, I got to the minister's office. The minister was clearly in favour - his office was luxurious, not at all military.

The secretary only had time to report that I was expected. I was on time.

- Good afternoon," I entered.

- Good afternoon, - he looked at me closely.

The Minister of Defence was Comrade Zotov. He looked like an ordinary elderly man, with a big, eagle nose and Georgian features. But with a Russian surname. He nodded me to a chair next to his desk:

- Make yourself at home. I'm glad you took the time to talk to me, you don't usually have any contact with anyone....

- It's usually about selling my technology," I sat down, "I think you know how much the Pentagon offered for molecular field effect transistors. And given that I haven't sold them, and you're unlikely to get more, you won't be begging me to sell the patent.

The minister smirked:

- That's right. Even if there was a patent, we don't need it. The military-industrial complex can't handle such sophisticated technology.

There was a pause for a second. I set the briefcase on my lap. I had a couple of suggestions for the military, because selling phones wasn't the only way to make money. Satellites were just as effective - I wasn't limited by the satellite's mass and power supply, which meant I could sell satellite services. This was what I planned to do, especially since I had launched the last universal satellite into geostationary orbit as recently as yesterday. But the Minister started first:

- First of all, I would like to know why you chose Ekaterinburg as the location for your company? After all, even in our country, this is not the best place for an organisation of this type. It's far away from suppliers, from buyers too...

- Frankly speaking, I don't care, - I shrugged my shoulders, - the plant can be located anywhere, it doesn't require much. A tonne of titanium a day - one wagon will be enough for a month. Before I used the technology in the smartphone, I used it in the technology of an automated factory with flexible production technology. My plans are to enter the markets for industrial robots, electric transport, energy..... And these are extremely metal-intensive industries, and it is better to locate them in the Urals.

- And electricity? There are no large hydroelectric or nuclear power plants in the Urals...

- Experimental power plant, - I dismissed it, - so far my plant is not even connected to the city grid. And from now on I'll use only my own electricity... If it works out well, I can even sell it, at no cost.

The minister was satisfied with that answer:

- Well, that's good. I hope you won't deny our military-industrial complex industrial robots. They have long lacked quality production machines ...

- I try to stick to the opinion that the human factor in production should be minimised.

So far the conversation seems to be going quite favourably. I, in a fit of complacency, decided to sweeten my promise:

- If your industry requires any specific robots, you can forward the TORs for them to the Abstergo Directorate. At least ninety per cent of the time, robots work on my smartphones - humans only load, clean, and maintain the shop machinery.

The minister was impressed, though outwardly he didn't show it:

- Amazing. Look, Hyarthi, after the nineties, we have had a significant lag behind our competitors in industry. Unfortunately. The human factor, obsolete equipment, plus the lack of our own competent developers of high-tech machinery...

I put my hands up:

- I will work with any of your enterprises on one condition. My systems will listen to all telephone conversations and monitor the internet communications of everyone involved. And their families, friends.

The minister was surprised:

- Isn't that a bit much to ask for?

- It's a compulsory measure. If half of the funds allocated for the modernisation of production are stolen, the main losses will be incurred by me and the state. I don't want that. I don't think the state does either. So either you clean out these Abyiv stables, or don't take offence that I will enter them without taking off my boots.

It's quiet.

- You have such a bad opinion of our people?

- I'm a realist. We take everyone under the hood and work, whoever is provoked gets a kick in the arse.

- There aren't that many good specialists.

- You're wrong, - I refused, - there are good specialists. They are just quickly shrinking in the environment of general blatancy, cover-up, theft and bribery. In my opinion, if you change the situation, they will quickly show themselves, it won't take a year.

The Minister thought for a while:

- That's an interesting opinion. We'll have to think about it, but your demands contradict the constitution....

- Perhaps. Although if the FSB receives materials from an unnamed source, it will not be against the law. In turn, all I want is that no one asks what this source is and who is behind it...

The Minister smiled:

- Well, I think it's quite feasible to do that, although it will only make sense if there's a lot of material. I understand your demand, if you in turn promise to deal with the enterprises of the military-industrial complex, I will try to organise such a thing....

That was more than good. Theoretically, I can make a lot of money from the military-industrial complex, but to get them - it will be necessary to deal with their own capabilities of the military industry, because they will not blindly buy equipment from me, and in case of a technological gap - will go into denial. Without a second thought, I promised:

- I will produce industrial robots and CNC machines. I have a counter-offer - you will provide me with premises for this. Building a factory from scratch takes much longer than refurbishing an existing one. Considering that it requires a lot of metalworking - even more so.

The Minister was interested in my adamant tone:

- And what in return?

- Minus a year and a half or two years to the output speed, plus a discount in the amount of the land price.

- You don't take into account the cost of the buildings?

- I still need my own buildings adapted to the production line.

- Does location play a role?

- Not much. Preferably close to a railway junction - I'm going into the electric transport business. For example, a railway...

The minister thought about it. Well, such proposals do not pass quickly.

- I'll think about it, see if I have any suitable sites," he said cautiously. "As for industrial robots, I'm afraid the volume of our orders can't be that big yet..." The Minister was clearly hesitant.

- I would ask you to take into account that robots are replacing live people at work, who have to be trained and paid a lot of wages. In addition, they are more efficient in terms of quality and speed of work, highly automated production allows you to calculate productivity extremely accurately.

- What's that got to do with it? - The minister raised an eyebrow, - the fact that they replace people is understandable. However, this is the profit of the distant future, and we do not have extra money now....

- There is no extra money in nature, - I grinned and started to name some details: - the price for the manipulator is around fifty thousand euros, laser cutting - one hundred and sixty, welding - two hundred, machining - three hundred thousand, pelletising - eighty ... in general, the price for a highly robotic plant like mine - about a billion euros.

The minister's eyes really started to round and I calmed him down a bit:

- But I can reduce the price of robotisation to two hundred million, that is five times.

- Holy shit," his eye twitched, "that's a lot of money.

- Approximately as much as the amount of budgetary funds stolen from the defence industry in a year," I grinned, "so the question is urgent - either we cut our hands and robotise the military-industrial complex, or you simply won't have the money to afford such a pleasure. For my part, I can assure you that the advantage of robotised production is its amazing flexibility. Any product upgrade is just a set of programmes that can fit on a flash drive. If you bring new programmes to the factory, the robots assemble a new product using them.

- It seems too utopian," the minister hesitated, "everything is smooth in words, but who will produce these programmes?

- That's what we need professionals for, both at the factory and on the developers' side. I am about to implement a new product - you can come and see the process live, - I shrugged my shoulders.

- What are you going to produce? - The minister was interested.

- An electronic watch. With a navigator and some chips ...

The minister was interested in it, and not badly...

- Wait a minute, a watch? What's the gimmick?

I took my watch off my hand and showed him, leaning over the table:

- Look. This is the Geos navigation system.

That was enough to make him look at me suspiciously:

- I've never heard of it.

- It's my design. Recently launched sixteen satellites into orbit. If you want, I can give you the coordinates, you can check it out. The satellites are on geostationary. The advantage of the system is that it was developed for military purposes and communicates with all receivers - it can transmit the direction to the target in three-dimensional space. This red arrow shows the direction to the ministry's gatehouse.

The minister turned his watch - the arrow was pointing in the direction of the passageway.

- What's the point?

- Jypies is too complicated to operate," I explained, "and the satellites don't pick up the information. Plus, it's used by the Tsrushniki, and I don't want to satisfy Uncle Sam's curiosity. "Geos" allows you to transfer information between the device and the satellite, between satellites... so, sitting in Ekaterinburg, my secretary can see on the computer where I'm travelling and, looking at the map, shows me where to go. Or I can load the route into the satellite's memory, which in turn gives me the direction where I need to go or drive. The serial devices will also have a display that shows the range to the target and the height of the target above ground level.

The Minister was most interested in this:

- Satellites, you say... somehow I'm not surprised. And how could I not know about the deployment of satellite navigation? - the minister was interested.

- It's a trade secret, no wonder you didn't know. But it will be on sale soon, so I think I can tell you now. First of all, I was hoping to integrate the system into my devices, but I think you will be interested in it....

- What are the possibilities? What kind of navigation is this, can you explain it to me?

- The Geos Navigation System. Based on 16 satellites. In the future, I'll be launching as many more, but that'll be necessary when I have enough receivers, it's currently operating on sixteen. There are satellites on geostationary and in the future - in low orbit, the accuracy of reception - four millimetres, update rate - five receipts of coordinates per second. The height of reception is up to geostationary orbit. Due to powerful transmitters, satellites can be seen very well almost everywhere, except for high latitudes - the Arctic Circle, Greenland, Australia - there reception is average, at the north and south poles - satellites are simply not visible, because of the shape of the planet. The main difference from all existing systems is that the device does not calculate anything ...

- Wait, - the minister interrupted me, - I don't know much about it....

- Then let me explain it this way, - I nodded, - GPS satellites fly somewhere at an altitude of forty thousand kilometres, they know their coordinates. The satellites constantly send radio signal - information about time and their coordinates. The satellites fly over the entire planet, constantly in motion. The device receives a signal from several satellites, but there is some time between the reception of each signal - while the signal is travelling. The device calculates its coordinates based on this time difference between the signals. It's like in a three-dimensional coordinate model, where you need to know three coordinates to calculate your position. "Geos works in a more advanced way. The satellites hover over a certain point on the planet's equator, that is, they rotate with the earth. They do not need to constantly transmit their coordinates, because the coordinates of the point over which the satellite is hovering, with millimetre accuracy, are already entered into the device. Therefore, if, say, the signal of satellites one to five is visible from here, they will always be visible. The satellite signal does not fluctuate or change over time. The device calculates its coordinates in real time based on the change in time of the signal travelling from the satellites to the device. The device can also receive a signal-code from the satellite, the coordinates of the target. If there is a wide channel with the satellite, a complex route can be entered into the satellite and it will divide it into metre sections and transmit the coordinates of the next point of the route to the device. Say, for an aircraft or a rocket... In turn, there is a possibility of feedback - if the device is powerful enough, it can transmit to the satellite data about its location and the satellite will track the location of the device, transmitting it through a network of satellites to the operator or a programme....

Zotov was legitimately interested:

- Are you sure you can guarantee the characteristics you said?

- I give you my word, - I grinned, - it works.

- And how much does the receiver of this system cost? Expensive?

- Surprisingly not. Because the most complicated part is in the satellites. The accuracy of positioning depends on the accuracy of calculation of time intervals. On an ordinary Chinese element base can be for ten dollars to build a receiver that will calculate the coordinates with an accuracy of three to five metres. This will be enough for a household consumer. On a good element base - an error of four millimetres. The cost is already under ten thousand rubles. Plus the cost of the device, in which the receiver is built in....

- And why this ruble? - Zotov arched an eyebrow with interest.

- A good base is mine. And I, as it seems, I live in Russia. Dollars are not accepted here. It doesn't make it any cheaper," I shrugged.

We did without a presentation. And, expectedly, Zotov asked:

- So every entrepreneur can set up the manufacture of such receivers?

- No, of course not. For this you need information about the location of satellites, plus the satellite will not be able to transmit any information if the device does not have the appropriate chip-key. Each chip-key contains an encryption key, and it is also on the satellites. If the chip-key is not registered, the information about orbit corrections will not be decoded by the receiver, and it will calculate false coordinates by the same signals, with a difference of tens and hundreds of kilometres from the normal ones.

The minister was satisfied with this answer:

- Extremely interesting. Protecting your commercial interests?

- And theirs.

- I won't ask how you managed to pull this off in secret. How much will it cost to use your system?

- Not much," I said, "if you mean military receivers, about a hundred dollars per chip.

* * * * * *

Here's the deal. I make him a demo sample of an industrial robot for the military-industrial complex, five thousand chips. I'll pay him accordingly. No tenders, because I have no competitors. I'm a monopolist, but even with a monopoly, I'm competing with glonass and manual labour. I have to show the great profitability of my system. Yes, the Ministry of Defence is not particularly rich, but as a start-up customer, it's fine. It's easier to negotiate with one Zotov than with a lot of merchants.

It's quite easy to reduce the price of industrial robots. And the robots themselves are extremely simple, especially compared to my usual creations. Access to extraterrestrial materials only makes them cheaper to build.

* * *

Jobbs was lying in his hospital room. Drinking tea, with biscuits.

Suddenly, the door opened and Hammer walked in. He was waving a newspaper from the doorstep. Steve saw him and wished Justin's ugly face would go away.

- Did you see that? Although what am I asking..." he looked round the room, "who did it?

- You wouldn't know it," Steve grinned wryly, "I guess he left you for dessert.

- Come on," Justin grinned, "who knew he could do that? What I don't understand is, why did he forget about me?

Jobs, taking a sip of his tea, noted:

- He hadn't. Unlike me, destroying your company doesn't benefit him. So he's going to get his revenge in a more original way.

Justin, grinning, threw the newspaper on the chair and left his companion's room. However, he didn't manage to go far, he was stopped by a phone call.

- What is it? - he asked irritably to his interlocutor. It was his secretary.

- Sir, we have a problem.

- What else could have happened?

- The missiles we supplied to the Ministry of Defence a month ago exploded.

- Aren't missiles supposed to explode?

- Not on the airfield, sir. They broke off during take-off. Forensics showed poor workmanship on the mechanical part. It was also made of a cheaper alloy that had worn out over time...

- What, huh? How? - Hammer gasped in indignation," but I personally procured.....

- Maybe it's a defect at the factory. Or maybe it's sabotage. But, in that case, the enemy has been sitting in our company for over a year now....

* * *

A week later, another remarkable incident occurred. The employees of the Humvee Corporation had accidentally used hexogen instead of TNT in artillery shells. The jolt-sensitive explosive caused widespread casualties and destruction at the Humvee Company's warehouse. By the time they figured out what was going on, it was too late. The shells hit the troops without exploding, where they caused explosions - in ports, warehouses... the total damage suffered by the army exceeded a billion dollars. No one ever realised how hexogen could have been confused with TNT, but a month after the incident, the Hammer Corporation lost almost half of its value and was forced to sell weapons to third world countries... Its former orders went to Stark Industries. Pepper Potts couldn't be happy that Stark, in a fit of hubris, didn't go after the new processors.