2043: Humanity is expanding into the Solar System, ‘Emergence’ as it’s been called, led by the two most significant and rival geopolitical blocks, United Americas and Greater China. Both blocks already have at least one fledgling colony on Mars and established three mining operations on the moon. Candidates for a new political office, the World Advocate, elected by social media users, feel the investment would be better spent here on Earth alleviating the plight of the poor, and opposition to Emergence grows. An unexplained, and dramatic, increase in sunspot activity has resulted in huge solar storms ejecting vast amounts of material, some of it unavoidably heading Earth’s way, necessitating augmenting Earth’s natural defences with field-generating satellites. One World Advocate candidate says the solar storms are the wrath of God, and the way to stop them is to withdraw entirely from space! Then, of course, there are the aliens…
Englishman Oxney King is a former engineer and technology consultant who has spent many years designing solutions to real-world problems. He’s a keen interest in politics, observing how the big corporate machines, often seen as the ones driving society forward, operate in the places of power; and the effect, good and bad, that has on us, the little people.