They do WHAT?

 "They do WHAT?" J'zigrath's ears stood up on end in surprise. 

 "Their entire technology set is based on harnessing explosions and detonations. IT's why we didn't detect any antigravity tech. They don't have any. All they have is explosions."

 Zinda continued pulling the Human approximation equipment off of her face. The glue pulled at her scaly skin as she removed it. "The ground vehicles carry around a distilled liquid that explodes at a certain mix of oxygen. The explosions push mechanical levers which are geared to wheels."

 J'zigrath stared blankly, his ears flattening. 

"They race them. For entertainment." Zinda said, flatly. 

J'zigrath found his voice. "But the orbital infrastructure? How did they get that stuff up without serious antigrav tech?" 

Zinda laughed and smiled. "Explosions."

 J'zigrath looked up at the taller female. "The mathematical precision required to ride an explosion into orbit is astronomical." Zinda continued laughing. "They invented the math themselves. I cannot follow it, but they did it originally without AI's."  

 She continued pulling the prosthetics off, while talking. "It gets worse!" she said. They have more unmined Element 92 in their crusts than the entire Empire has from The Thirty Worlds. And they know how to use it."

The intercom beeped. "Commadant! Contact! 131 by 90 mark 70! Element 94 explosive!" "Shields up!" J'zigrath shouted. A couple pounds of Plutonium decided it was no longer going to follow social distancing guidelines.  

Comments

  1. PrayerborneDecember 3, 2020 at 11:54 AM

    Reminds me a bit of 2 Turtledove universes: one in which aliens show up with antigrav and FTL, but no other tech beyond our Rennaissance, and promptly get pimp-slapped by the US military;
    and the WorldWar series, when hyper-cautious, slowly-developing aliens do a fly-by in the 13th-century, see how primitive we are, and assume we're still at the same tech level when their invasion fleet shows up in 1942

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