ninety-miles per hour on the northern fork of
the national road when the defining monument of Gold Harbor came in his view. It
was a big, golden arch. However, big does not even begin to describe it, even
gigantic would be an understatement. The arch rose hundreds and hundreds of
feet in the air and was so wide that the entire sixteen lanes of national road,
parted four times, passed underneath it along with a small creek, a multistory
building right at the center of it and much empty space to boot. Sayett had
seen it many times, but each time the sight did not fail to leave him
awestruck.
Although
the size of the arch was spectacular, it was not its most amazing
characteristic. Its uniqueness and its grandeur was the gold plating it was
covered in. Real gold covered the entirety of the external surface of arch from
one side to the other leaving no external spot of any other material. Here, all
that glittered in the shining sun was truly gold.
Not
surprisingly then the building at the center of it was the Gold Harbor Town
Police headquarters, moved there after the construction of the arch to prevent
the damage and theft of the gold plating. Sayett knew of no other city whose
central police station was located near its border, but then again he knew of
no other city whose most valuable treasure was a gigantic gold plated arch
setting out in the public.
The
history of the arch was intricately tied to the town of Gold Harbor as much
symbolized it, and gave clue to its original character as the name of the town
itself. Located at the very north of the western coast of the Starfire Nation,
Gold Harbor was one of the twelve cities with population in millions. In the
mountains to its north and northeast, much gold was discovered; so much that
not only were Gold Harbor mines the biggest producer of gold in Starfire
Nation, they regularly produced near a quarter of entire national production
and during its peak year had reached a record forty two percent of nationwide
output.
The
golden arch had been financed by the thousands of gold mining companies that
had mushroomed and existed before the consolidation, with each owner donating
some portion of his production towards the gold plating of the arch.
The
city had grown up to serve the mines with heavy machinery companies sprouting
and making the city their headquarters. The industrial output of earth moving
and metal smelting machines was no less impressive. But what made Gold Harbor
big was its port, now the second biggest on the west coast after the port of
Southstar way down.
Gold
mining gave the town its starting impetus, its name and even its significant
monument, but it was shipping and trade that made Gold Harbor the big city,
drawing Starfirians from around the country to gain employment in dock work,
heavy equipment factories and shipbuilding.
It
happened that Starfire Nation was never a big gold using country. Gold was one
of the metals used as currency when the national currency was based on metals
in the past, but it was significantly lower ranked in use at the fourth place
after Copper, Iron and Silver as a currency.
Starfirian
state and its leaders had always taken a dim view of the luxury goods including
such as gold and gold jewelry and there were heavy taxes on domestic sale of
gold items. Starfirian leaders and philosophers preferred instead that national
wealth be invested in productive assets such as infrastructure and industrial
companies instead of inert metals. To that end they saw an opportunity to use
gold as an export to add to the trade surplus. And thus the Port of Gold Harbor
grew focused outward towards the rest of the world, exporting more than ninety
percent of its gold production each year.
The
port grew quickly on the back of the gold exports. However, gold had the happy
property of commanding high prices for physically
the national road when the defining monument of Gold Harbor came in his view. It
was a big, golden arch. However, big does not even begin to describe it, even
gigantic would be an understatement. The arch rose hundreds and hundreds of
feet in the air and was so wide that the entire sixteen lanes of national road,
parted four times, passed underneath it along with a small creek, a multistory
building right at the center of it and much empty space to boot. Sayett had
seen it many times, but each time the sight did not fail to leave him
awestruck.
Although
the size of the arch was spectacular, it was not its most amazing
characteristic. Its uniqueness and its grandeur was the gold plating it was
covered in. Real gold covered the entirety of the external surface of arch from
one side to the other leaving no external spot of any other material. Here, all
that glittered in the shining sun was truly gold.
Not
surprisingly then the building at the center of it was the Gold Harbor Town
Police headquarters, moved there after the construction of the arch to prevent
the damage and theft of the gold plating. Sayett knew of no other city whose
central police station was located near its border, but then again he knew of
no other city whose most valuable treasure was a gigantic gold plated arch
setting out in the public.
The
history of the arch was intricately tied to the town of Gold Harbor as much
symbolized it, and gave clue to its original character as the name of the town
itself. Located at the very north of the western coast of the Starfire Nation,
Gold Harbor was one of the twelve cities with population in millions. In the
mountains to its north and northeast, much gold was discovered; so much that
not only were Gold Harbor mines the biggest producer of gold in Starfire
Nation, they regularly produced near a quarter of entire national production
and during its peak year had reached a record forty two percent of nationwide
output.
The
golden arch had been financed by the thousands of gold mining companies that
had mushroomed and existed before the consolidation, with each owner donating
some portion of his production towards the gold plating of the arch.
The
city had grown up to serve the mines with heavy machinery companies sprouting
and making the city their headquarters. The industrial output of earth moving
and metal smelting machines was no less impressive. But what made Gold Harbor
big was its port, now the second biggest on the west coast after the port of
Southstar way down.
Gold
mining gave the town its starting impetus, its name and even its significant
monument, but it was shipping and trade that made Gold Harbor the big city,
drawing Starfirians from around the country to gain employment in dock work,
heavy equipment factories and shipbuilding.
It
happened that Starfire Nation was never a big gold using country. Gold was one
of the metals used as currency when the national currency was based on metals
in the past, but it was significantly lower ranked in use at the fourth place
after Copper, Iron and Silver as a currency.
Starfirian
state and its leaders had always taken a dim view of the luxury goods including
such as gold and gold jewelry and there were heavy taxes on domestic sale of
gold items. Starfirian leaders and philosophers preferred instead that national
wealth be invested in productive assets such as infrastructure and industrial
companies instead of inert metals. To that end they saw an opportunity to use
gold as an export to add to the trade surplus. And thus the Port of Gold Harbor
grew focused outward towards the rest of the world, exporting more than ninety
percent of its gold production each year.
The
port grew quickly on the back of the gold exports. However, gold had the happy
property of commanding high prices for physically
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