I first met Sheriza (Sherry) when I was ten and she was eight. Our families met while vacationing on Olympus Mons -- both families were there to see the Solar System's tallest mountain, and it turned out that our families got along so well that we decided to coordinate future vacations.
In those days Sheriza was OK, but her brother, Yanci, was really neat. He'd do all the stuff I wasn't supposed to do, like ride the neutrino-jet jet skies. Why wasn't I supposed to ride the jet skies? Because they were HX technology... whatever that was. All I knew at the time was that they were a whole lot neater than just sliding down a slope on a snowboard.
Snowboarding was hard to do! But both our fathers agreed that it was important for us kids to learn how. They agreed on that, but there was a whole lot they disagreed on. There were discussions at the dinner table on that vacation that I was only beginning to understand.
"Why shouldn't we keep taking advantage of HX technology?" argued Mr. Krazney, "A lot of good men and women are giving their time, and even their lives, to acquire it."
"It isn't human technology. Using it will pervert our research skills. It's basic science 'crack.'" returned my father.
"Pfft. Technology isn't species-specific. It's universal."
"Second. It will cause huge social dislocations. Do you want that?"
"The social dislocations happen because everyone is getting so much better off. If we have to have social dislocations, those are certainly the kind I want to suffer from! We can survive those handily, if we don't lose our nerve."
As you may have guessed, even back then my father is an active First Earther. He was, at the time, regional president for the North American region. Mr. Krazney, Yanci and Sherry's dad, was Logistics Officer for Titan Colony, but he was stationed in Greenland.
Yeah! Titan! He was helping those colonists on the outer edge of the solar system: the gateway to Old Burnmeshorts' Honeycomb Comet, and Hulk One and Hulk Two -- the HX moons that were found drifting in deep space between the stars a hundred years later.
A four hundred fifty years ago, Titan Colony was founded as just another outer solar system science colony. It grew a little bigger than most because Titan was a big moon, and because it had a thick atmosphere which had some interesting chemistry to research, and it produced some exportable cryogenic compounds, but nothing special other than that.
Then the Honeycomb Comet were discovered -- filled with alien technology!
At first all the technology was sent straight to Earth. But soon social scientists on Earth were warning that these new technologies were too powerful for Earth's social systems. Their use had to be restricted, or the rich would get richer and the poor poorer, and that would lead to unrest, and that would lead to terrorism.
The Honeycomb explorers didn't like hearing this. Neither did the other human colonies in the solar system.
"We aren't paid diddlely-squat for bringing back what will become 'restricted technology'." complained the explorers.
"We're poor already! Have you priced air lately?" said people of the other solar system colonies. They wanted all the technology they could lay their hands on -- HX or otherwise.
At first a compromise was worked out: inbound Honeycomb explorers would make a "refueling stop" at Titan Colony before taking their finds to Earth. There they would sell those technologies that Earth was likely to restrict. Earthers let this happen because: a) they figured that it was OK for Titan Colony to let itself be blown to bits if something went seriously wrong, and b) because Titan Colony was not self-sufficient. If some technology worked out better than expected, Titan Colony could be counted on to give it to Earth willingly.
That worked for about fifty years. Titan Colony nearly blew itself to bits on two occasions that were publicized on Earth, and the outer system colonies have thrived on anything they could use -- including those things that nearly blew Titan Colony to bits.
Then the balance of things changed. Earth alarmists noted a change in the mix of goods being sold to Titan Colony. The mix is getting heavier in cultural goods and art, and lighter in machine tools. It was also getting heavier in people emigrating to Titan Colony.
The rise in immigration was an issue that cut many ways. At first Earth looked upon emigration as a relief on population pressure. Titan Colony's population rocketed up until it was number three in the Solar System: ahead of the Moon, but behind Mars, and Earth was happy to see it happen. But when Earth's population went beyond stabilizing and started to decline, Earth people muttered more about, "losing our brightest and best" than "social relief valve."
Then began the First Siege of Titan, and the outcome of that was informally recognizing that Earth interests were no longer the same as Solar System interests. It took a couple more historic events before that was formally recognized.
So much for some background, now back to my story, I met with Sherry and Yanci in 2545, and we vacationed together in 46 and 47 just fine.
We were on vacation on the island of Palau on Earth when the Big Blip hit in 48.