Hello dearest readers, I'm just adding a note here to say that I'm taking a bit of a winter vacation. I'll be back in the new year with more Critical Future's stories, but in the mean time, visit tychoish.com and be well. -- tycho garen

After Earth, Part 2

A Trailing Edge story, by tycho garen
on 30th July 2008. (commentary)

This is the second installment in the second sequence of the Trailing Edge story. Read part one here. I once again leave you in the very capable hands of Mr. Leon Winter.

Earth is where our history–in a very real sense–still lives, even if we no longer do.1 This is complicated by the fact that, not much of Earth remains.

This is a superficial effect: much of the planet has simply been abandoned. A generation or two after the riots, Titan and Europa sent in withdrawal teams that tried to consolidate the Earth population in a number of key population centers. For the general safety, or some such.

But more importantly it’s a historical effect: for hundreds of years humanity to rebuild Earth, to fix the problems, and though some small gains were made, Earth never really recovered from the Visa Riots.

The Visa Riots, or more precisely records from that time are what have brought me back to Earth on this occasion.

It’s almost too obvious in retrospect. There were too many people on Earth–not based on survival. Humans, we’ve found, can survive much in closer quarters than the estimated average space allotment on Earth at that time., but there were only so many resources, only so much space, only so much opportunity.

So when the colonies and outposts started opening up to people. Colonies with equity clauses in their charters. Going to Mars or the Moon wasn’t just the chance of a lifetime as it had been for the initial explorers and scientists, but it was–quite literally–the chance of generations. And understandably, when the Colonial Consortium tried to limit what everyone had expected to be “open colonization. The people of Earth Rioted.

The issues that sparked the riot were quickly resolved–though arguably the result was a disaster in its own right–but the damage was never really resolved, but that is the way with such historical explosions.



Notes:

  1. While it’s very true that I’m concerned about the point at which we stop belonging to one moment in time or location in space–When did the Martian Colonists become Martians and not Earthers?, for instance–I’m not sure that I have an answer. Particularly as it relates to our own ties to Earth. ↩

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  1. [...] is the second installment in the second sequence of the Trailing Edge story. Read part one here, or part two. I once again leave you in the very capable hands of Mr. Leon [...]

    Pingback by Critical Futures: a next wave science fiction review — 31 July 2008 @ 7:59 am

  2. [...] is the third installment in the second sequence of the Trailing Edge story. Read part one, part two or part three. I once again leave you in the very capable hands of Mr. Leon [...]

    Pingback by Critical Futures: a next wave science fiction review — 1 August 2008 @ 8:01 am

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