As the exploration fleet was on its week of shore leave on the outposts and the partially functional Mars base was printing ship after ship, back on Earth, a press release had quietly gone out from the imperial press agency. It didn’t generate much news at first, and it was only a few sentences long, but it gradually gained momentum over the first three days after it was put out.
“The Terran Empire is in search of those willing to aid in exploiting the resources of the solar system. For more information, contact your nearest imperial space agency recruiter.”
As the news crept out and spread, the details were soon announced by the first people to visit the ISA in their virtual office.
@Fluffy_Dog_Hugger: [This is awesome! I’m gonna go to space, man! SPACE!]
@Eternal_Crusader: [@Fluffy_Dog_Hugger details? I read the announcement but haven’t checked it out yet]
@Fluffy_Dog_Hugger: [@Eternal_Crusader they mapped the solar system and need asteroid jockeys to go out and mine]
@Thawk7678: [@Fluffy_Dog_Hugger isn’t that dangerous?]
@Nerdrage001: [@Thawk7678 @Fluffy_Dog_Hugger yeah that defo sounds harsh. Howd they map it???]
@Fluffy_Dog_Hugger: [@Nerdrage001 @Thawk7678 @Eternal_Crusader It isn’t as dangerous as you’d think. The @ImperialSpaceAgency mapped the solar system using a combination of automated drones & crewed ships. They labeled all the hazards & asteroids & are gonna build processing factories.... (thread)]
The online conversation grew more boisterous over time and the details were eventually all dug out. When the initial press release had gone out, the eXtra-atmospheric Navigational Aid, Version 0.1 (XNAV 0.1) became available in the Akashic Record for public viewing and downloading.
It was version 0.1 not because it was incomplete, but because version 1.0 would only be released after the entire galaxy was mapped. 0.5 would be the version that included the spiral arm that Earth was a part of: the Orion Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.
And in addition to the map being made public, two other pieces of news were released by people who had spoken to the ISA representatives. First, in partnership with the imperial treasury, the ISA would be issuing low-interest no-collateral signature loans for the purposes of setting up a small business as an asteroid mining crew. Those loans would cover the startup costs for the business itself, as well as an asteroid mining ship.
The second piece of news was related. They would allow people to design their own ships in virtual design garages, which the empire would then perform rigorous tests on. If the design passed the quality standard, the empire would allow the design team to list it on a virtual marketplace for others to buy, and the designers could either manufacture it themselves or allow Hephaestus Heavy Industries to manufacture it for a cut of the final sale price.
Thus, anyone could be involved in the new industry that the empire had created. Even if one chose not to go out into the solar system as an asteroid jockey, they could design ships for the asteroid jockeys from the comfort of their own home. It was a monumental achievement for the nascent empire and economists estimated that it would create millions, if not hundreds of millions of new jobs. It could even conceivably create billions; the possibilities were limitless!
But along with the limitless possibilities came limitless risks. The risks of asteroid mining were obvious, but less so was the risk of designers putting everything they had toward creating new ship designs and failing, leaving them penniless after quitting their jobs and living on savings only to fail to design a ship that the empire’s testing would accept.
Among the most fervently interested were people in their twenties and early thirties. They were sure that they could create popular designs, and almost overnight, thousands of ship design corporations were registered with the imperial commerce agency.
One of those newly formed design corporations was Imugi-
danche Co., which had been formed by a group of five Koreans, all of whom were in their mid-twenties.
(Ed note: Imugi is a Korean mythological creature. It’s a lesser dragon that aspires to be a true dragon, and represents overcoming various trials and adversities to achieve a goal. Danche is the romanization for 단체, meaning organization, or group, in Korean.)
......
“Park Seo-Yeon, was our design accepted?” Kim Ye-Jin asked, barely able to stand steady with all of his nervous fidgeting.
“We sent the design about twenty minutes ago, so we should have an answer soon. Chill, bro—we’ve got this,” Seo-Yeon calmly answered. He was just as nervous as his friend and partner, Ye-Jin, but as the scion of a moderately wealthy businessman, he was better at hiding his nerves.
“You’re right.” Kim Ye-Jin sat down on the couch and crossed one leg over the other, but was unable to stop his foot from bouncing. “I’m just nervous. I mean, we all quit our jobs for this, and not everyone was born rich, you know.” He playfully glared at his friend seated across the coffee table from him.
“Even if we fail this time, we’ve still got time. We can keep improving the design and resubmitting it. And it isn’t like we don’t have savings to live off of until we strike it rich, so just be patient. We’ll eventually succeed.”
Kim Ye-Jin had stopped paying attention to his friend and taken out his phone, refreshing the company’s email inbox over and over, not wanting to wait for the internal refresh to notify him that an email from the ISA had arrived.
Another young Korean man walked into the room through the open door. “Has Ye-Jin settled down yet?” He raised the case of canned beer he had brought with him. “I come bearing peace offerings,” he laughed.
“Sook-Han!” Park Seo-Yon stood and grabbed the newcomer by the shoulders. “Haha! Is it time to drink already?”
“When isn’t it time to drink, brother?” the newcomer exclaimed, then set the beer down on the coffee table. “Ye-Jin, chill out and have a beer!”
Kim Ye-Jin set his phone down next to the beer and said, “You’re right, worrying won’t make the email come any faster.”
Just then, his phone dinged with a notification.
