Resources: Freedom Is Reborn Read online

  "Agent Chane, please restrain the general. The administrative area has a conference room that can be used to hold these four. I am releasing the station lock down."

  "I would be happy to Jim." It didn't take us long to get them down the tube to admin and into a conference room. It did take some time to cut the nets. The goop was almost impossible to remove, so we had to cut them out of their spacesuits. The commandos looked funny standing there in their underwear.

  Since the door didn't have a lock, I was concerned with how to keep them secure. Amber suggested that we seal it shut with the goop.

  Today’s Political News, Washington DC

  "This is Samantha Snow reporting, Ben Wilson, CEO of Humanity Holdings has called a news conference regarding the Sustainable Earth Initiative. We will be covering this event live when it starts."

  For the next few minutes, the screen displayed the Humanity Holdings trademark logo.

  "For those that do not know me. I am Ben Wilson CEO of humanity holdings. Over the last five years, my company and a group of others have been working to create a space colony.

  When we started, we realized that the earth was running out of resources and at some point, would not be able to support our society and people. We felt that space would give us the opportunity to obtain more resources and sustain our world.

  The Sustainable Earth Initiative is obviously something that runs exactly opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. It looks inward and just moves resources around. This does not do anything to resolve the worlds dwindling resources.

  Well today, I am proud to announce that we have accomplished our first goal. The colony is now wholly self-sustaining! If you look up into the sky at night you can to see the sparkle of the colonies spherical habitats. For this and other reasons, we have named our colony OZ.

  Just like the 13 colonies that started the United States, we declare our independence from earth. As we create more colonies across the solar system, we will become known as the Free States of Sol.

  We have also ratified the Free states of Sol Constitution. While this is similar to the United States Constitution, it has been updated to account for the vastness of space and current technology. Shortly the countries of the earth will be given the opportunity to join the Free States of Sol.

  Does this mean we've turned our backs on earth? No, it does not, on the contrary, we are still committed to helping earth with new resources that shall provide sustainability and stability. Let me name a couple of those for you.

  We have already started mining the asteroids and will expand extensively over the next couple of years. Metals and other elements that are needed to sustain and continue growing the world will become more available. In many cases these elements become more plentiful, and thus cheaper.

  The second initiative, I will talk about today addresses climate change and global warming. To help move away from burning fossil fuels, we will be building an extensive array of solar collectors and beaming the energy to earth. With resources from the asteroid belt and automated construction this will start off slowly, but rapidly build up. We project that within 10 years that there won't be a need to burn fossil fuels.

  At this time we can be contacted at (866)FreeSol (866-373-3765) or through our websites. www.FSOS.gov or www.FSOS.org.

  Good evening ladies and gentlemen and thank you for your time."

  ******

  Samantha Snow, "Well there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. A rogue group of people and companies that are defying the Sustainable Earth Initiative.

  Tomorrow join us for an analysis of what this means and the governments’ response."

  Government Habitat, Oz, Lagrange 5

  "I thought that this would be an appropriate place to meet for the first time as a group. Some of you were here for the big announcement and celebration that we had achieved self-sufficiency. At that time we used this habitat as a giant ballroom since then it was decided that it would become our seat of government and a place to bring all our people together.

  As you can see some shops have already started to open their doors for business. This seating area is part of what will become the central park in the habitat.

  Now Ben if you don't mind, I'd like you to start off with where we are and where we're going."

  Ben, "Well first I'd like to welcome Therron Chane and Joni Jackson to our group. Theron will be our head of security and JJ is going to be working in some form of administrative capacity.

  Regrettably, Theo was unable to make the last shuttle. Currently, he is hiding in the submersible ocean habitat.

  As you all know it's been a long road with many twists and turns. While we are sustainable, there is still a lot to accomplish. As new material arrives from the moon and asteroid mining, things will get easier.

  At the moment we are a bit cramped with the number of people we brought up from Earth, but over the next few months, two more 250-foot habitats will be completed and relieve the pressure. After that, the first moon colony will be started, and a permanent mining crew sent out to Nemesis. Jackie, would you take over as to regards to the mining at this point?"

  "I'd be happy to Ben," said Jackie, "currently we have five mining vehicles on or around nemesis. The mining crew is being sent out to help expand our capabilities quicker and address any issues in real time that may need human interaction.

  We will also be launching another four vehicles to a different asteroid cluster that is promising. Although it will be months before they get there and start to produce anything.

  Finally, I am involved extensively with the moon colony. It will be located at the South Pole by a crater that has frozen water, hydrogen, and oxygen. These resources will be vital to future colony expansion. An interesting note is that the colony will be built inside a nearby moon lava tube. This benefits us by eliminating a lot of the construction work. We should be up and running very quickly."

  Thereon, "I guess that means I'm up. As you all know I'm going to be in charge of colony security. The FBI agents that came up with me have agreed to be the core of this unit. Initially, JJ will be providing administrative support for any issues that come up.

  Each of the larger habitats will have a small police contingent with support staff. The buildings and containment facilities are currently being built and should be completed in the next couple of months. Additionally, one of the older 50-foot spheres is being converted into a prison. The prison will be for only the most violent hardcore criminals.

  As you all know on earth, there's been a lot of issues with police exceeding their legal authority. We will partially address this by all police officers wearing body cams and microphones. These cannot be shut off or removed while on duty. It should go a long way in eliminating some of the abuses that been seen with police in the past.

  There are some additional issues that we are addressing due to the environment in which we will be operating. The police uniforms are an advanced spacesuit that will allow them to move back and forth between space and habitat environments. It will also give them some protection from other hazards. The police weapons are at this time are rubber bullets, stun guns and billy clubs. Other methods are being worked on to restrain individuals and protect the habitats environment.

  That is it, for now, Ben."

  "As far as the habitat construction, Theo's son has taken that over. He worked quite extensively with his father and knows the business well.

  Now for some new business. Right now we are concentrating on expanding. Too few habits is risky and like putting all our eggs in one basket. That is another reason that we are constructing more habitat spheres.

  One of the new spheres is actually going to be used to send the miners to the asteroids. Granted it will take them longer to get there, but they will have everything they need.

  Once these two colonies are established, we will begin stockpiling materials to construct a space ring. Once completed it will allow us to move materials to and from orbit without spaceships. Be
n and I have been very involved in the engineering issues for the space ring. Without giving too much detail, it will be much less costly than a space elevator." As I watched Ben whispered something into his communicator and he pointed towards the holographic sphere above us.

  Just then the holograph started to fade to black. Suddenly a bright yellow sun began to rise from the bottom with the planets circling. As I watched the hologram, it morphed into a flag with the solar system and the words "The Free States of Sol."

  I lifted my glass and motioned to the others to follow, "To the Free States of Sol, to OZ and a new beginning!" after we drank we said our goodbyes for now and got on with our work.

  This is the first Science Fiction book that I have published. I hope you enjoyed the book.

  Initially, it started out that Ben was going to be the central figure. As I wrote, Agent Chane took center stage. I think that his development through the book was good. I am sure that he will return in the next book along with others later this year. His love of coffee was a surprise, since I really dislike that nasty stuff.

  The first draft of this book was completed back in July of 2017. When I started the editing, I realized that there were some severe time-line issues and put it aside till Feb 2019.

  Since this book was more of a political and philosophical work, I didn’t include as much technology as I would have liked. The other books in the series will have more, I promise. The tentative titles are Habitats and Space Ring.

  I did give some thought to the communications and space safety. How do you communicate in a space environment with all the different types? I have never heard of anyone proposing using Cellular technology.

  Safety will probably be one of the most significant issues in space. I wasn't coming up with anything when I came across an article on NFC (Near Field Communications.) The beauty of it is that cell phones and other devices already have this technology and others build into them. (NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 4g)

  My next Science Fiction book “The Berkelium Effect” will be out before the end of June 2019. It is based upon a scientific discovery that leads to a reaction-less drive and other technologies. The bad guys want it at any cost. Don’t worry the good guys will win. This will also be part of a series with the second book coming later in the year. I wrote the book during the National Novel Writing Month Challenge in Nov 2018. Unlike two years earlier (computer issues), I completed the challenge of writing 50,000 words.

  Again, thanks for reading.

  Douglas Talbott