The issue of the HX Chaser, as the starship got to be called, became huge. It was such a symbol for both Technophiles and Technophobes that no one could be on the sidelines. Hubble U, trying to be neutral about this, banned HX Chaser recruiters from campus -- it was symbolic, because their Internet and video feeds to campus were not interrupted.
The Technophobes on Earth were a lot less symbolic. They lobbied for adding a new criterion to commerce screening between Earth and Titan: would commerce being sent to Titan take away from Earth's poor? And first on that list of things that would affect Earth's poor was food.
One day I saw a news feed which said, Solon Shillara of the Earth Parliament had brought this criteria change up for a vote, and I was simply amazed. I brought this tidbit up in our bull session that evening.
"Look at this." I said, "Advanced as we are today, this politician brings up food as a hot button item. Why didn't she bring up something really critical, like communication bandwidth?"
"Don't give her ideas." laughed Wesley next to me.
"Food is something all people -- rich or poor, near or far -- understand." said Professor Yomomma, "She's appealing to the 'Yahoo vote' in her district."
"Is it likely to pass?" I asked.
"I think so." said the professor, "The Technophobes on Earth are well-organized politically. But that's not the important question. The important question is how will that law be interpreted, and how will Titan Technophiles respond to it."
"How can they respond?" asked Sherry.
"Well, they could make matters a lot worse; by turning this into some sort of macho pissing contest, by threatening the flow of Kansora back to Earth... turning this into some sort of Food-for-Kansora deal.
"They wouldn't!"
"I hope not. It's about their worst choice, in my mind."
Food has been with mankind since antiquity; Kansora has been with mankind about a decade, it's a cryogenic mineral that is now mined on Titan... mined efficiently thanks to some of the Earth-restricted technology brought back by HX explorers. Technophobes on Earth say that restriction is quite justified since one of Titan's bigger industrial disasters was related to Kansora mining. On the other hand... those same Technophobes don't seem to qualm too much about buying tons of Kansora from Titan Colony because it's a potent anti-pollution catalyst.
"Imagine the emotion on both sides that would latch on to an issue like that." continued the professor, "Ancient food from Ancient Earth versus High Tech Kansora from High Tech Titan. We are talking about some serious 'people heat' if the leaders let this crisis evolve that way."
Sadly, politicians and the media love people heat.
A week later the news feeds were full of Titan Colony's President Cleavage saying, "There is no truth to the rumors that there are discussions underway about a Food-for-Kansora Program. Such discussions are not needed... not needed if Earth quickly concludes its investigations, and normalizes trade between Titan Colony and Earth."
"Holy Moly!" I say at our next lunch meeting, "The transshipment boom on Mars is going to boggle the mind! Are you sure we shouldn't stay here a decade, or so, and head off to the HX as millionaires? From the sounds of things, the HX Catcher people may need some extra cash."
Sherry and Yanci laughed. "How do you propose catching up to The Catcher?" Yanci asked.
"That shouldn't be hard. It's a long haul ship. It won't go fast. We can get a pilot ship to intercept it. Besides, it hasn't left yet... and it may not for a long while."
"You're not being as silly as you think you are. Haven't you heard the latest on it? They're going to do a lot of the finish work on it enroute. They will be flying supply ships to it on a regular basis.
"Really? You're kidding!"
"It's in the news. Cleavage and the people backing him have gotten an attack of the 'hurry-ups' and they want Chaser launched ASAP. They figure they can advance the launch date by a couple years if they build enroute. And it's not like the crew have no experience building ships, they will be Titan's brightest and best... and us, I hope."
"What's rushing him?"
"Politics... and the thought of all those other alien ships getting to the goodies before we do. We and Alpha Centuri took a lot of damage from that HX Blip, but that means we are the closest star systems to the HX. We can get a ship in and out before the rest of the mob shows up... or at least that's the thinking."
"Sounds crazy. Sounds like we will be the first ship to turn into a puff of expanding vapor. This is a live HX, after all."
"And you sound like a full-blooded Technophobe. Of course it's alive! But if all those other ships are headed for it, it must have exploitable weaknesses."
"That's a pretty big 'if.'" are any of those ships coming from the HX Hulks?"
"Hmm... Good question! We should ask around on that one."
"If there aren't, that may be Mother Nature's way of saying, 'Leave it alone.'"
We all laughed, but I was half serious about my proposal to stay, and about worrying what it would be like to be the first ship, not just the first human ship, but the first ship approaching a live HX.