Work begins on the new mother ship. The Mirondians adapt to the uproar about using The Moon, and instead this construction takes place on an asteroid that crosses Earth orbit. This is a big project, and even with Blip construction techniques it will take years to complete. Much of the asteroid itself will get consumed to make the hull for the mother ship. Other necessary components and ingredients are being hauled in from around the Solar System. Clustered around the asteroid and emerging ship are numerous settlements for humans. As the project gets fully underway the humans here number in the tens of thousands -- this is by far the Solar System's largest in-space "city".
Much of the off-earth solar system community is enthusiastic about this project. It is bringing commerce, people, much needed infrastructure and speedy transportation to locations all over the Solar System. The people on Earth are much more of two minds on this project. Some are benefiting and happy, some are benefiting and worried, many are just plain worried. This is such a change!
<<<*>>>
Jane is living at Mother Ship City now, a resident of one of the city's "neighborhoods" as the various space settlements are called.
Jane is on a comm line with Zeb. He is on Earth. Earth and the asteroid are close by each other right now, but they are still far enough apart that there is a several second delay in the transmission due to the distance. When they are far apart, on opposite sides of the sun, the lag gets up to sixteen minutes.
"Zeb, how goes it?"
"Doing fine here. Did you hear the news? I have a blushing bride now."
"No! Congratulations! Send me some pics and info when you get a chance."
"I'll do that. What's up?"
"I'm living and working at Mother Ship City now. Our company has been looking over the design of some of the HVAC components being used in eating areas and we see room for improvement. There have been some significant changes to the surrounding components over the last month. The current fabricators are being, dare I say it, bozos. They are still using pre-blip techniques. Is this something one of your groups can take over? I'm sending the spec's."
Zeb takes a quick look. "Off-hand, it doesn't look like anything too difficult. But... something to keep in mind, those people at the old place are going to be real unhappy if they lose their jobs. I'm checking the stats on that other company. This looks like this component is a big part of what they do."
"Yeah, but they are selling it to us based on its value as being artisanal crafted. This part has moved up in functional importance. It's not decorative now, and we don't need artisanal, we need fully functional and more adaptable. And we need a whole bunch more, about ten times what the previous plan called for."
"We can handle it, no problem. I'm passing your RFP on to the right group. I'm just wondering... is there something else this other group can be making for you?"
"Artisanal is their forte. Let them make something artisanal for the groundpounders on Earth. The economy is booming, they can find something."
"Booming out in space, not so much so here on Mother Earth."
"It should be! It's a lot closer to the Mother Ship than anywhere else in the Solar System. Have those artisanals pull their heads out, and Earth can boom just as much."
Zeb just sighs at this.
<<<*>>>
John and Jason are on a talk show again. This one is a forum for those unhappy with how the Mirondian Mother Ship project and Blip are transforming Earth society.
John says, "This Mother Ship project is showing us the dark side of dealing with the Mirondians. They are now squeezing human contractors, particularly those on Earth. They now want things done for a pittance, and it's do it their way or the highway. They allow no creativity, no humanity, in developing the product."
Jason says, "Look at the millions who are out of work because they won't conform to doing things this... this... blip way! Blip is dehumanizing. Those people doing it the blip way are turning into robots... who are mind controlled by the Mirondians! Look at how much they have to talk with them to get anything done! Look at how often the Mirondians change their mind about what they ask for, and the humans meekly say, 'Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir.' This is not what we want for Earth! This is zombie apocalypse... with warm zombies!"
John says, "And now we are doing something about this. We are starting a group called PEOPLE FIRST!. The goal of this group is to make sure that Earth stays suitable for humanity... real humanity, not Blip humanity.
"As our cause grows in strength and numbers, we are going to make sure that... Earth, at least... stays suitable for human culture development. We want Earth to be for humans, not some weirdo aliens, or even more weirdo humans who think like aliens."
<<<*>>>
John and Jason may have despised Blip techniques, but they were not slow about raising the profile of their cause.
Just two weeks after that talk show interview, the People First folk had executed their first high-profile stunt. They hacked into the system controlling a harvester working an Iowa wheat field and had it harvest out a big crop circle that spelled "Miro Go Home" that could be seen from the air. That completed, the harvester went back to its normal duties before any authorities could show up.
Next they hacked into a news channel on Earth (not one of the Mirondian Ship channels) and had an imitation Dr. Evil threaten the Show Room Asteroid with an invasion by cute ninja kittens unless he was paid <finger to mouth> One Million Dollars! It was cutely executed and it went viral around the Solar System.
This was followed just a week later by something more sinister. They snuck in to, and mass protested, Club Bora Bora, an exclusive tropical beachside resort popular with Mirondians who visited Earth. Now the authorities were getting as interested as the media.
But with these stunts the People First group got a lot of what they wished for. The media folk started running a lot more stories about the misery of those places being left behind as the boom progressed, and presented this inequality as unfair.
One of those left behind places, ironically, was The Moon. Charles "Good Time Charley" Monson, President of Moon Boosters, was happy to get air time to complain. He was on a talk show shortly after the second People First stunt.
"They are turning us into a Solar System Park!" grumbled Good Time Charley, "Christ! There was no one complaining about 'Moon Pollution' or 'Moon Surface Scarring' when the military built MB-10 to protect us from the Mirondians. That was the biggest surface complex ever put on the Moon. Now, we can't sneeze in our space suits without one of these new Pollution Allotment Licenses that Earth government thought up to stop the Mirondians. This is deeply silly! Worse, this is going to foster those Earth bureaucrats to get into even more influence peddling here on the Moon... Pfft! What little there will be to peddle."
"And to add insult to injury, those Mirondians aren't even using The Moon as the Earth-Starship transshipment point, they built a whole new shipping complex at the Earth-Moon L-5 point. These Mirondians are taking revenge. They have turned their backs on us completely.
"Our brightest and best are leaving. We are soon going to be as much a backwater as Pluto!"
<<<*>>>
Between Year Five and Year Ten, the tensions grew. The starship got closer and closer to done, which meant that launching it and filling it with crew would soon happen, and much of that crew would be human. As with all other things concerning Mirondians, people started choosing sides on whether or not it was a good idea to become part of a starship crew.
In this time many people were choosing sides, but many more people still stayed confused. So much good was happening... and so much bad! So many happy people, and so many angry people! For most people, the confusion was getting very deep. And when people get confused, they either make no choice, or poor choices.
In Year Seven, the Mirondians started formally recruiting Solar System people for a Year Ten departure, and the side choosing got nasty.