The Universe — or Nothing
Afterwords
An overview of the times prepared by Level 2students, Luna Middle School, based on recordsand commentaries in the official archives ofThe Interstellar Mining and Teleport System.(Reference: Index, Capsule V67 The InterstellarHistorian, Third Millennium, Interstellar Era.)
In the centuries that followed humankind's giantleap to Luna, scientists, engineers and scholars inalmost all of Planet Earth's disciplines probed everdeeper into space. Explorers studied and charted thesurfaces, depths and atmospheres of each of theSolar System's bodies, and scrutinized the dynamicsand constituents of space matter out to the KuiperBelt and Oort Cloud. They ventured into the voidbeyond Pluto's aphelion for hundreds of millionsof kilometers -- although not yet the stars.
The first landing on Luna in Year 1969 of the thenCommon Era was judged to be among humankind'sgrandest achievements. At the Luna landing'sTercentenary a universal calendar was ordained tocommemorate the Event as New Year's Day, Year 0,formally beginning humankind's Interplanetary Era.
By then, populated Moon and Mars bases were wellestablished. Construction cadres had venturedinto and beyond the Asteroids. Their experiences,surface and strata tests and studies influencedthe selection of sites for mining operations andstrategic outposts along the space frontiers.Advance construction battalions built basic habitatand, having attained 'shirt sleeve' environments,conceptualized, planned, gathered local materials,and designed and built infrastructure andindustries that, in time, blossomed into enormousencapsulated cities, social orders, culturaladjustments and civilizations.
Explorers became teachers and mentors. Initiallyin Earth orbit, later in lunar space and on Lunaitself, they guided settlers in developing newlifestyles and colonizing skills, and showed themhow to wrest and refine usable elements andminerals from nearby sources. They devised andtested methodologies to convert crude spacematter into forms with which to create andintegrate structures, and manufacture and operatemachines and networks that would sustain surfaceand contiguous space and inter-satellite andinterplanetary navigation and logistics systems.
The emigrants procreated and populated theircities in the void. Their disparate ancestries blendedthrough a natural vitality that accelerated humanevolution so as to survive in a radically newenvironment. In so doing, they turned away fromtraditional conventions still deeply ingrained intheir common species. Adjusting over time to thenovel experience of space, they conceived new waysor adapted their ancient qualities and prosperedin wholly enclosed artificial worlds. Organmodifications, genetic engineering and cloninggave impetus to human transformation.
Instinctively, humankind-in-space prepared for aneventual voyage to the stars.
At the close of the first interplanetary millenniumthat shaped and launched The Great Migration toSpace the original emigrants' progeny had becomean indigenous population. Five centuries into theInterplanetary Era's second millennium the SolarSystem included more than five hundred populatedcolonies and outposts, and twice that numberof robot stations for interplanetary andinter-satellite navigation, communication relay,and space rescue. Populated by humans and theirrobots, colonies extended from the voids aboveMercury and Venus through the Asteroids, thesatellites of the gas planets, to Planet Pluto.
As colonies multiplied and spread across thevast interplanetary realm the solar communitybecame impatient with time consumed in normalpoint-to-point space communications and transport.The excessive transmission and portage time wasespecially irritating in communications, shipmentof priority cargo, and human travel acrossdistances from bodies orbiting along on oppositesides of the Sun. Hyperspace technology solvedthe problem.
"Spunnels" in the public's jargon, came into being,the term compressed from the phrase "hyperspacetunnels," a universal phenomenon once suspectedand eventually confirmed. In the centuries precedingThe Great Migration the phenomenon had beengenerally referred to as a wormhole, an archaic andirrelevant expression, even in those ancient times.
Spunnel networks reduced transmission time betweenthe most widely separated points in the system fromhours to real-time. Successful in communications,scientists and engineers concentrated on thetechnological leap from spunnel communicationsto spunnel teleportation, a capability urgently andclearly essential to move humans, machines, andraw materials across interplanetary distances.
The flood of emigrants to space colonies andoutposts exceeded tens of thousands eachyear over several centuries, leaving behind astill over-crowded Earth that had long sincecried 'enough'. Among the migrants were artisansand technicians, minimally to highly-skilledadministrators, sociologists, teachers, scientistsand engineers and, scattered among them,contemporary philosophers who preached themetaphysical. Together, they represented allof Earth's peoples and a cross-section of theircultures.
Technology, however, imposed constraints. Theinsatiable appetite for metals, minerals, rareearths and other nonrenewable substances increasedinexorably. They remained the foundation for theSolar System's industries, driven by the constantclamor of indulgent lifestyles. Fully aware thatvital minerals and other substances were beyondreplenishment from within the Solar System, thesolar community nevertheless squandered itsrapidly diminishing resources.
In time, reserves of nonrenewable resourcesdropped from residue to gleanings. Recycling, salvage,ever-deeper mine shafts and tunnels, repeatedsweeps of the Earth's sea beds and planetaryand satellites' crusts, trenches, beds and cratersoffered insufficient returns. Scouring the AsteroidBelt, sifting the Kuiper-Oort regions, and intensecompetitions for substitutes provided inadequateand merely temporary relief. The solar community'spopulation, on Earth and in space, had exploded tomore than fourteen billion people. The search forsubstances to support humankind's needs rangedthroughout; there were no more sources, nor werethere sanctuaries.
Certainly, there would not be enough for voyagesto the stars.
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At long last, humankind confronted its reality. Netyields from nonrenewable reserves, residues andsubstitutes had dwindled until exhaustion wascertain and a timeline predictable. The choiceamong grim options could no longer be postponed.In the end, there were two:
-- Remain in place, ration, recycle andredistribute minerals, metals, ores and otherusable substances and substitutes with Draconiandiscipline, and take the consequences, or
-- Chance the most awesome venture in humankind'slong history: reach out to a distant star and tearfrom it the raw matter that would preserve andperpetuate the grandeur of the human experience.
The second option would be the ultimate gamble:winning would bring the cornucopia soughtthroughout the ages. Failure, even at an earlystage, would dissipate what little reservesremained. Vitality drained, humankind would slipback into the pits and the mud from which it hadso laboriously climbed.
The decision was to reach for the stars.
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The Interstellar Mining and Teleport Program
The Objective: To draw from Alpha Centauri, thenearest star system, 4.35 light-years distant, itsminerals, metals, elements and whatever usefulsubstances could be moved across space, and storethem nearby in the Solar System, accessible to allhumankind.
The Task: Increase the Solar System's spunnelrange, capability and capacity to teleport matteracross interstellar space in a continuous flow andin sufficient quantities to satisfy the purpose ofthe Objective;
Construct and dispatch an advance fleet of dronescouts to the Alpha Centauri star system atthe earliest possible time to survey, analyze andreport via spunnel on the availability, locationsand accessibility of resources specified generallyin the Objective;
Concurrently, design, construct and position aninterstellar spunnel portage system consistingof two terminals, each of which would includean integral, fully self-sufficient facility forcommand-and-control, self-service and repair,logistical and other operations essential to itsunique mission. Designate the terminal at 'star'destination the Extractor and the terminal thatremains on the solar rim, the Collector.
-- The E
xtractor selects and draws usablenon-organics from the Alpha Centauri starsystem, and collects, converts and channelsthe product into its teleport shipping facility forpoint-to-point spunnel transfer to the Collector.
-- The Collector receives the product, convertsit to its original form, and classifies, identifiesand ejects the substance for storage along thesolar rim or at a point Authority determines tobe more appropriate.
Construct the terminals four million kilometersbeyond Pluto. During construction, secure theterminals to each other and separately, to Pluto,employing mass attractors and position stabilizers,as required.
Disengage the Extractor from Pluto at launchemploying Pluto's outbound orbital momentumin a manner that the combined fleet retains itsintegrity in perpetuity.
Deploy the Extractor to Alpha Centauri and positionit in orbit above a point commensurate with dataprovided by the drone scouts. Maintain constantsurveillance and exercise control over operationsand maintenance via spunnel analyses of theExtractor's functions, structures and equipment.
Position the Collector along the solar rim andorient it consistent with the Extractor's positionand operations in the Alpha Centauri system.
Stages
The Extractor, in position at destination,analyzes, selects and draws substance fromproximate asteroids, comets, satellites,planetoids, swarms, star surface and otheraccessible bodies and strata, reduces the substanceto spunnel-teleportable constituents, loads the massinto the spunnel facility and dispatches the product.
The Collector, positioned in the Solar Systemoriented to the Extractor, receives and convertsthe Extractor's transmissions, processes substanceinto its original or a refined state, classifiesand ejects the mass for positioning in the storagezone.
Resources and Schedule
The Task requires six Earth centuries to design,construct, equip, test, deploy and activate. Themillennia of delay in initiating the Task imposesinescapable hardships on the Solar Community.
Accordingly, when justified as essential to theObjective, solar governments divert work forces,systems, and material resources from throughouttheir jurisdiction to the Task. The consequencesof these diversions are expected to significantlycurtail construction, activities, lifestylesof Earth and space colony populations, thedistribution of the solar system's residualresources and, possibly, the independence ofgovernments, organizations, and individualsthroughout the solar realm.
Critical to the program's success is timing theExtractor's launch. Piggy-backed to Pluto duringconstruction, the Extractor exploits the planet'sorbital momentum for launch. The window isprecise and short-lived along Pluto's outbound orbit;there will be only one launch opportunity for theExtractor. Disengaged from Pluto, the Extractorfleet will accelerate along its course to optimumvelocity through integrated thrust of multiplethermonuclear burst-propulsion systems or other,more advanced propulsion systems, that are orbecome available for the Task.
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The Interplanetary Era's second millennium wastumultuous. The harsh austerity imposed by theincreased deficits in metals, minerals and otherindustrial materials and their substitutes createdone set of problems; human cloning augmented withgenetic engineering and their societal and culturaleffects, especially beyond the Asteroids, createdothers. Human survival in scores of widelyscattered and unaffiliated space colonies,loosely called "tank towns," encouraged scientificand social experiments that altered traditionalcultures as well as human physiological andpsychological characteristics.
Cumulative genetic and accelerated evolutionaryalterations to the human body along with theeffects of unique, often hostile, environmentsplus sheer distance from the familiar transformedhumans-in-space into something else. The unifyingforces that had survived the Great Migrationwithered. In time, the once shared interests ofpeoples, and allegiances to a home planet, sundered.
Varied and increased rates of change openeddoors to pretenders among a colony's populace.Opportunists promoted a multitude of causes,usually self-serving. Anticipating advantages tothemselves, they combined forces and becameinfluential advocates for disengagement frompolitical, cultural and judicial dominance by thetotally foreign open sky government of Earth,billions of kilometers distant.
Disengagement, the opportunists agitated, waslong overdue; Earth inhabitants would never reallyunderstand what life in deep space was about.
The crisis came in the middle centuries.Bureaucrats representing the central governmenton Earth were isolated from the affairs of thecolonies they administered. The indigenous populaceignored their authority, their credentials werechallenged, and they were invited to return totheir home planet -- with no options.
The central government on Earth, weakened byshortages and distracted by agitators at homeand in space, was neither vigilant nor prepared.
Early in the second millennium of theInterplanetary Era, several colonies in the OuterRegion declared their independence of the originalUnited Planetary System and of each other. Othercolonies and outposts joined and within a decade,all had proclaimed themselves as newly constitutednation-states. Each reserved exclusive rights tonegotiate with other nation-states of the Region.New agreements were implemented on mattersof common interest, such as credits, industry, ajudicial system, trade and commerce, science andtechnology, space traffic control, education andcultural exchange, and creation and managementof infrastructure and management of life-supportresources within their territories and jurisdictions.
The Outer Region's proclamations panicked thecentral government.
On the one hand, Earth ethicists argued, were therights of the inhabitants of the space colonies. Asmembers of distant societies they had modifiedtheir bodies, their environment and their cultures,therefore, they had a right to seek their owndestiny unfettered by well-intentioned, butobviously impotent laws that originated on Earth.The advocates of this philosophy emphasizedthe Outer Region's right to their own physical,technological and cultural development. As uniquecivilizations, evolving at an unprecedented rapidpace, they were already radically different fromthe humankind that had remained on distant Earth.
On the other hand, claimed others, the system-widescarcity of natural sources vital to the survivalof the species was a shared crisis. The crisiscould be solved, if at all, only through the mostconcerted application of humankind's intellectualand collective genius. In one context, they wereindeed unique civilizations: robust, sophisticatedand divergent, nevertheless, instinctively takingnourishment from a common fealty to humankind'sultimate destiny among the stars. Humankindwould be far stronger and effective together,they argued, than it would be, divided within acommon species.
The debate raged across the System. The separatistswon.
Earth's General Assembly acceded to the demandsfor self-determination. The new status of the outerand inner regions was confirmed in The Treaties onthe Separation of Jurisdictions for the Planets andSatellites of the Inner Region and the IndependentNations of the Outer Region.
The outer periphery of the Asteroid Belt became theboundary. The United Planetary System was dissolvedand reconstituted as the United Inner PlanetarySystem (UIPS). The natural and artificial coloniesthat orbited the planets and satellites of theOuter Region, or the central sun, retained theiroriginal identities (Ganymede, Titan, Callisto,etc.), and Pluto added "Planet" to its name todistinguish itself from planetary satellites. Theformer colonies beyond the Belt formed a loosefederation: Independent Nations of the Outer Region(INOR).
The United Inner Planetary System insisted thatPlanet Pluto and its contiguous space remain withinthe UIPS Slingshot Special Zone of Operations untilthe Extractor and the Collector were both safelyaway from Pluto's jurisdiction, as judged by theUIPS. The Plutonian government refused. The otherINOR nations, immersed in their own problems,were indifferent. The issue was left to the UIPSand Planet Pluto to resolve.
The UIPS continued, without prior consultation withINOR and Planet Pluto, to construct and operateSlingshot logistics sites and facilities on Pluto'ssurface, in contiguous sp
ace, and within and alongthe Planet Pluto orbit. The UIPS, interpretingtraditions and treaties that had evolved fromEarth's ancient Laws of the Seas and Space,exercised and defended free and unencumberedtravel and passage by its citizens and vessels indeep space and throughout the INOR jurisdictions.
The UIPS took steps to ensure the security ofSlingshot construction and logistics support sitesand space-ways.
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The Slingshot Advance Cadre arrived in theNeptune-Pluto orbit-crossing sectors toward the endof the Interplanetary Era, before the breakup of theold United Planetary System. Colonizing Pluto andconstructing space kits that would be transformedinto surface habitat and supply depots begancenturies earlier when Planet Pluto was barely pastaphelion but within economical range of deep spacetransports. The cadre's vessels carried and towedcommunications gear, specialized construction rigs,platforms and infrastructure kits which had beenfabricated or assembled in the industrial tanktowns above Luna, Venus and Mars, and bycooperating governments of satellites in theouter region.
The Cadre's primary mission was to establish abase of operations on Pluto. The program calledfor the planet to support a colony of fifty thousandspecialists and construction workers -- and theirfamilies -- for the assembly, construction andtesting phases, plus ten thousand transients andtemporary residents. The latter would comprise'rest and relaxation' visitors, liaison and specialmissions staff from a nearby logistics depot andthe construction sites, and agricultural and foodprocessing workers from Planet Pluto's moonCharon. Also expected were cargo handlers and ship'spersonnel from transports entering and departingPluto from-and-to points throughout the system.
About eighty percent of Pluto's permanent adultpopulation would work on the two terminals.The specialized professions for the initial phaseranged from scientists and engineers to artisans,skilled and semi-skilled workers in all of thedisciplines and industrial skills required toconstruct and operate a complex station in spaceand service and maintain a permanent habitat andpopulation on Pluto's surface.
Children would be born on Pluto, natural or cloned.They, as well as the general population, wouldbe cared for and supported by a host ofadministrative, health care, educational,recreational, life support and community services.
The Cadre's mission was in phases. The firsttask of the initial phase was to land on Pluto'ssurface, seek out stable surfaces or create themby fusing subsurface strata to sufficient depthfor support of massive structures.
Gravity enhancement surface panels and theirenergy sources would be installed wherever enclosedcommunities or special purpose structures were tobe constructed. A detachment of the Cadre wouldland on Charon, Planet Pluto's moonlet, and fuseand seal sections of the moonlet's surface andsubsurface same as on Pluto.
On the solidified, stabilized surfaces of Pluto andCharon the Cadre would erect a tank town dome. Thedome would have a ten-kilometer radius on PlanetPluto and a one-kilometer radius on Charon.
Construction would proceed concurrently on surfaceand subsurface utility and life support facilitiesessential to human habitation. When enclosed areaswere shirtsleeve ready for occupancy, the Cadrewould erect essential life support, residential andrecreational facilities. These would be followed bytechnical, communications and transport networksfor Slingshot scientists, industrial technicians,and staff, followed by enclosed living areas forthe remainder of the general populace that wouldtrain and do the work during the subsequent phases.
The tanktown on Planet Pluto would be namedColdfield; its counterpart on Charon would beLamplight.
An On-site Project Management Team (OPMT) directedthe Advance Cadre. The OPMT formed the nucleus ofupper level managers, scientists and engineers, andother experts charged with organizing and guidingthe functional task groups. The functional staffswould bring into being the on-site technical andadministrative support facilities, install andoperate its equipment, and govern the communitieswithin which the populace worked and resided.
The OPMT was organized into three groups: GroupOne: Planet Pluto; Group Two: Charon, and GroupThree: Logistics Depot. Each Group had its mission:
Group One (Planet Pluto) Mission
Five kilometers from Coldfield, construct andoperate a simplified fusion-based energy generatingand power transmission system to provide sufficientoutput to support all anticipated power and networkrequirements of the planet;
Beneath and adjacent the Coldfield dome, construct,organize and operate encapsulated surface andsubsurface laboratories, manufacturing and overhaulplants, space and surface transport and trafficroutes and controls, surface roadways, utilityand communications systems, landing and mooringfacilities, energy hubs for gravity enhancementgrids, and other essential utilities and facilities;
Establish and administer institutions for lawenforcement, public health, education and othercommunity affairs.
Group Two (Charon) Mission
Convert Lamplight into a food-growing andprocessing plant capable of feeding the entirePlutonian permanent and transit populations, andon-site personnel at the Logistics Depot and theTerminals Construction Site. Encapsulate Lamplightin an impermeable radiation-resistant plasticmembrane and introduce and maintain constanttemperature and air-moisture and otheragriculture-supportive atmosphere and environmentthat meets prevailing deep space colony or equalstandards;
Constructively use Charon's and Pluto's water iceand substances generated as waste and by-productsof human habitation throughout the Pluto and nearspace sectors. Conduct research and develop drip,hydroponics and other agricultural systems, proteinsynthesis and manufacture, and ship to Coldfield,the Slingshot work site and the Logistics Depothigh-quality foodstuffs suitable for storage andconsumption. Charon operations are to be fullyautomated and robotically maintained.
In support of the Charon agricultural mission,Planet Pluto, the Slingshot Logistics Depot, theTerminals' construction site, and ships mooredor in transit within the Special Zone constitutean integrated ecological entity. All organics and allmineral and chemical plant growth stimulants, suchas discarded or excess food and fluids, bio-waste,usable industrial and community waste, and cadaversare committed to processing as fertilizers orfor specialized application to the creation offoodstuffs. Organic waste and cadaver partsunsuitable for constructive purposes (fertilizer)on Charon will be fully sterilized and reduced asclose as practicable to zero residue.
Group Three (Logistics Depot) Mission
Construct a space station to specification aboveColdfield and designate it 'Slingshot LogisticsDepot'. Arrange for the depot to serve for centralreceiving, warehousing and shipping center formateriel committed to the Slingshot Terminals,and for processing materiel through all activePlanet Pluto surface and sub-surface technicaland servicing facilities;
Provide the Depot with facilities and train itspersonnel for emergency backup in manufacturingand servicing capabilities redundant to those onthe planet;
Create a highest level technical capability tosynthesize materials, and manufacture, fabricate,test and calibrate those precision parts, tools andaccessories which are best made in the micro-gravityand pollution-free conditions of deep space and/orsafely distant from Pluto's and Charon's surfacesand their gravitational influences;
Augment the Depot's security with a gated forcefield that fully encapsulates and protects theDepot and all vessels engaged in loading andoff-loading personnel and materiel; patrolscontiguous space and keeps the Logistics Depotand UIPS citizens and property self-sufficient andsafe from disease, harassment and harm;
Install on the Logistics Depot and at the TerminalsConstruction Sites independent communications,cargo, living organism teleport centers, eachcapable of receiving and dispatching authorizedcargoes, passengers, dispatches and communicationsvia conventional, spunnel, and specifiednon-conventional channels.
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The Terminals Construction Site is the focal pointof UIPS operations. The Construction Site's missionis to research, design, fabricate, test, assembleand, ultimately, launch, position at desti
nationsand operate, monitor and maintain the SlingshotExtractor and Collector terminals en route andat their destinations.
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The planning did not anticipate the dissolutionof the United Planetary System, the creation ofindependent and estranged Regions in their place,and a hostile government on Pluto.
Military forces had been non-existent for more thanfifteen hundred years when the colonies of the OuterRegion seceded from the United Planetary System.Weapons of mass destruction had had no purposesince the birth of the first World Federation inthe fourth century of the Interplanetary Era.
In place of an organized military, the succeedingWorld Federation had created an InterplanetaryConstabulary to protect lives and property,investigate crimes, control traffic, and maintaingeneral order. Their charter extended to allplanets, satellites, colonies, outposts, stations,and all places throughout the void into whichhumankind had ventured.
The mission of the Constabulary remained unchangedduring political reorganizations within the firstWorld Federation and its successors. Its agentsranged the Solar System, and performed their dutiesquietly and efficiently. Few dared challenge theirauthority. When challenges did occur, they werenot for long.
War, and the effects of war on people and thingswere forgotten.
It was inconceivable, in those times, that theregion beyond the Asteroids would becomepolitically and culturally alienated from theunified community that humankind had created toguide them into the future. History, the citizensof the world concluded, had demonstrated theimpotence of the ancient, long-discarded arrayof adversarial nation-states and come-by-chanceleaders to govern an intellectually advancedspecies.
No one expected a return to the old, long-discardedways.
When separation of the Inner and Outer Regionsbecame inevitable, scholars in both Regionsexplored the possible and the probablerelationships that might develop under the neworder. The studies predicted that politicallyindependent nation-states would create multilateralalignments and conflicting societies, lifestyles andphilosophies.
They took into account evolving technologicaland industrial capabilities, prevailing energy anddeclining reserves of industrial metals, minerals,and other usable substances and related them to theSolar System's demographic trends and resourcespredictions. When the United Planetary Systemdissolved, the successor UIPS felt it had no choicebut to continue the Slingshot program.
The conclusions of humankind's most distinguishedscientists and philosophers suggested that twoindependent orders in space would bring with thema heightened likelihood of social and technologicaldislocations and disruptions. There would beinterregional and, within INOR, internationalcompetition that would increase the rate ofdepletion in resources. There would be a multitudeof disputes, often intentionally misinterpreted,to resolve territorial and jurisdictional differencesthat were already caught up in and molded by thedynamics of orbiting planets, and their satellitesand connecting space-ways.
The effects on Slingshot could be catastrophic.Its security was paramount. Immediately followingseparation of the two Regions the President ofthe new UIPS directed the creation of a powerfulMilitary Space Force.
The UIPS searched the ancient archives of Earth'smilitary history and designed weapons of defenseand offense. Ships of war and their supportingsystems were brought back into being, and spunnelgateways expanded to accommodate them. A militantphoenix rose from its ancient ashes.
The Military Space Force was chargedwith patrolling the space-ways beyond theAsteroids to protect UIPS vital interests. Theirresponsibilities included protecting the lives ofUIPS citizens and private and government propertythroughout INOR wherever they happened to be, inspace or on the surfaces of planets and satellites.
The role and intent of the UIPS military wasexplained to all INOR governments. "The MilitarySpace Force," proclaimed the President of the UIPS,"would remain until INOR's member Nations weresufficiently stabilized to participate in ensuringpeaceful coexistence and passage along space-waysand at moorings throughout the Outer Region, andseparately and collectively agree to participate inand support the Slingshot Program."
INOR, as a Federation, interpreted the formation ofthe UIPS Military Space Force and the President'sproclamation on its role as contemptuous of theirsocial and political maturity. The outcome waspredictable.
Local INOR Defense Forces were hastily organizedand equipped. Dozens of ships of war were built andmany space transports were converted into armedvessels. Each INOR government, using self-defenseas justification, established controlled corridorsextending hundreds of thousands of kilometersinto its contiguous space, often far beyond theirlegitimate jurisdictions. Passengers and crews offoreign space transports, passenger liners, andutility and pleasure craft, whatever their pointsof foreign origin or destination, required visas,local pilots, and armed escorts upon arrivals anddepartures. Suspicions festered on all sides.
It was an era of international and interregionalpolitical tensions and harassment, and military,technological and industrial sabotage andespionage. The history of Earth's ancients hadreturned to haunt the solar community.
The rate of depletion in the Solar Community'sreserves of vital but nonrenewable substancesrose rapidly.