My first official act as mayor of Fox Nest was to tour the construction site of our great project, the Pyramids, and I offer the following report.
Construction is on schedule and, as far as we can tell, on budget . As you all know the Pyramids will be a great big pile of stones assembled in such a way that they will stand for thousands of years. This will make us Phoenatics 'cultured'.
Since some have decried the usefulness of this great endeavor the construction plans have been modified slightly. the Pyramids will still be a great big pile of stones meant to last for thousands of years but it has been decided that they will be hollow. This will allow the Pyramids to have a usefulness in addition to the bringing of 'culture' to us.
One idea being bandied about is to use the Pyramids to store grain for our country. Given the size of the structures it is estimated that enough grain could be stored in the Pyramids to enable our country's population to grow dramatically with a speed that would be unmatched by any other country. Supporters of this idea argue that population equals strength.
Another idea is to fill the Pyramids with all the scrolls and tablets and such that we can gather in an attempt to amass all the knowledge of the world. Supporters of this idea argue that knowledge equals strength. (BTW, if this option is decided upon we would call the Pyramids the Great Library.)
A third idea is to fill the Pyramids with Vestal Virgins who can tell the future. In this case we would call the Pyramids the Oracle!
Whichever option is finally chosen those who work on the Pyramids welcome the change to hollowness since it means less rocks have to be used. One worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "It takes 10,000 of us a whole day to move one of those huge blocks just 13 cubits. And if someone calls in sick we just can't get anything done!" The same worker also called for captured American slaves to be used on the construction site and urged that we procure more of them.