Challenge #02432-F242: Unfortunate History
"No way. A society advanced enough to even think of getting into space must live in harmony with itself. Everybody has following the rules encoded in their genes. The consequences of disrupting the system of government are equivalent to those of an asteroid impact. Of course you'd say that I'm a Havenworlder, things work differently on Terra, yada-yada-yada, but that's an universal rule... right?" -- Anon Guest
"Er. Not really. Humanity's first steps into space travel were the direct result of an antagonistic -uh- widdling contest between two overpowered polities as a method to show whose ideology was better." Human Dae seemed embarrassed, but it wasn't about the choice of bowdlerisms. "Then, the first colonies on another planet were made by a bunch of billionaires to escape the climate change disaster. They sold tickets to potential colonists when they were really meat for the grinder. They died of all the space hazards whilst making some rich vent-hole's off-planet resort the pinnacle of safety and luxury."
Thrrp stared "You are not serious."
"It gets worse. Our first colonies on the moon were scientific, but the gloss came off that gingerbread in under a year and they converted everything into a penal colony - a dumping ground for the people that the governments didn't agree with. It stayed that way for years until the Nae'hyn liberated them with a network of underground tunnels and lots of therapy." Human Dae paused to stare at the muggers waiting in Memory Lane. "Lots and lots and lots of therapy."
"It's impossible. Even the nastiest of Deathworlders managed to band together to create offworld colonies and begin space exploration. Though... usually by eliminating all opposition before they began."
"Yeah, we had different ways of eliminating the opposition. After we discovered the one-way wormholes, there was a lot of bundling up dissident groups and throwing them down time to make a world in their own image. Big shock - they often made better worlds than the groups with the power."
Thrrp possibly wasn't ready for the answer, but still had to ask, "What worlds did the powerful groups make?"
Human Dae said, "You've visited Greater Deregulation..."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / designprojects]
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