Homelander continued to raise the stakes.
"Vought had long prepared thousands of fully automated microscopic assembly lines."
"Our robotic arms could perform incomparably precise and rapid assembly work in miniature environments."
Homelander planted both hands heavily on the conference table, his gaze blazing.
"I could tell everyone here with complete responsibility."
"These two monumental projects that appeared to require decades, at Vought..."
"...would not take decades, nor seven or eight years. Just two months! The products would all be online!"
Stunned silence.
The conference hall seemed to have become a gallery of statues.
The politicians' worldview had been reshaped by technology that transcended their era.
The Secretary of Commerce was the first to react.
"My god..." His face flushed red with excitement.
"This... this does not merely solve a crisis. This is the ultimate industrial revolution in human history!"
"No more storage costs! No more transportation losses! Building a skyscraper would only require carrying a few boxes to the site and pouring them out! An aircraft carrier could be assembled in a laboratory the size of a swimming pool!"
"This is a miracle! A miracle of industry!"
He gestured wildly with excitement, looking at Homelander as though he were an angel descended to earth.
"With this technology... two months... that is absolutely enough! Absolutely enough!!"
"As long as we get through this crisis, America, which possesses this technology, will control the lifeblood of the world economy!"
"So, gentlemen."
Homelander straightened up, cutting off the Secretary of Commerce's celebration.
"What you need to do now, besides sparing no effort to implement the 'Ellis New Deal' and consolidate all resources under Vought's allocation..."
"The most important thing is to stall for time."
"Since these Skrulls chose to replace people silently, it showed they were not prepared for an all-out war either. They