Space Pioneer Chronicles #1 – Resources
March 10, 2013 Stories No Comments
During the acquisition of 2776, this new American flag was drawn up to represent Earth at the center of the New Planetary States.
He sat swiping his hand across his PC.
Patiently waiting for the drives to spin down and begin the atmospheric breach process, he stayed mentally detached from the series of events about to unfold. The entire song and dance was a mechanical procedure he’d been through tens of times before. Scared? Nah. He’d gotten to the point where it might as well be a trip to the head. Luckily, there were no “snakes” on this trip.
Two boring months of travel and a year or so of hard labor, but the pay was worth it. Land on the asteroid, establish basic living quarters, gather up as much ore as possible and return home.
Except this time it wasn’t ore and it wasn’t an asteroid.
The ExxonMobilShell corporation, after developing it’s own ship fleet hundreds of years ago (along with many other companies), began sending out mining vessels to local system asteroids:
“For the sole and express purpose of seeking rare universal materials in order to ensure the security and future existence of the human race.”
Once those ships could travel between the stars, all of those rich, deposit-filled asteroids were theirs for the taking. Pure profit, especially if they were partially funded by the government.