Germany, c.2140
In a town near Düsseldorf, Germany, lived a family of eight. Herr Schröder was the owner of a coal mine, Frau Schröder stayed at home, and the children were in number six, spanning fifteen years from the oldest to the youngest. Herr and Frau Schröder, being God-fearing people, instilled in their children a love for
God, a servant's attitude toward men, a good work ethic, and a deep patriotism. The oldest, Aric, strove to maintain these noble character traits throughout his life, and they permeated everything he did. When he was twenty-five, he got married to a nice, godly young woman named Ruth Wieland. Sadly, two years later his father died in an accident at the mine. While his passing was heartbreaking for his family, they were comforted by the fact that they would see him again in heaven someday. The ownership of the mine was passed on to Aric.
Germany, 2145
Since about 2140, Germany's economy had been going downhill and mining profits were decreasing every year. So in 2145, Aric Schröder sought a way to improve the business and get the income back up. He found his answer in the global market of space mining: mining on other planets, moons, and asteroids.
Aric researched and found a promising mine site among the rocky rings of a terrestrial planet in the Proxima Centauri system, only 4.2 light-years away. When he told his wife what he was thinking, she was somewhat dubious about the prospect of relocating the mine and the family to an undeveloped planet, especially considering the costs and other practicalities. A day later she entered Aric's den. He was busy figuring costs, personnel counts, and a myriad other things.
"Relocating the mine and equipment I can see, but Aric, how will you move the workers, whole families? Where will you put them? The planet is undeveloped," she said.
Aric stopped his busy figuring and tallying of resources and turned to face her. "I was thinking," he replied hopefully, "if I contact the UESA, I can see if they would be willing to start a colony on this planet. If so, they will send the means by which to start it. Normally, they would get the people and transport them to the location, but in this case, I supply the people, and they will probably pay for their transport."
"It isn't likely that all of your employees will want to move, though."
"I know. I will tell them all what my plans are, and if any are willing to come, they can get back to me. In addition, I'm sure I'll need to hire more people who are willing to relocate. And if enough people don't want to move, I can sell part of the mine here and invest the returns in more equipment."
Ruth let a moment pass. He had that gleam in his eye that he got when his mind latched onto a project. She had her own doubts, but replied, "You've thought this through, haven't you? You have prayed about it?"
"Yes, I have," he said sincerely, rising from his seat, "and I have come to the conclusion that the move will be good for many reasons. I discovered the UESA allows the colonists to decide how to govern themselves, under a few suggested guidelines standard to all UESA colonies." He put his hand on her arm. "So it is very likely that this colony can be ordered according to biblical principles—" (and here Ruth could not help but smile at the thought) "—and hopefully we will make enough profit to send some home, or to help other people, and...who knows what all can come out of this?"
Ruth was smiling as she sighed resignedly. "Well, you certainly seem to have answers for everything, and if it is God's will I suppose there’s no reason not to do it."
"Foton Enterprises: transport at light speed," the ad read. Aric was looking through the advertisement database for transport companies. Foton Enterprises, a large company, was only fifty kilometers away. He contacted them and explained his plans. He listened while the representative on the other end gave a speech on the fact that they use only Keppler Industries T-477e's known as "Epsilons," one of the most reliable transports out there, making the trip from Earth to Mars in only one and a half days, etc., etc.... Eventually, Aric managed to hire three of the colossal ships to move the mine.
Aric spent incredible amounts of time running around dealing with the cranky transport pilots, talking to his employees about the move, hiring new people to replace those who decided to stay on Earth, and trying to maneuver through the mazes of bureaucracy to get his move sponsored and a colony started on the planet Cassius.
His wife was very patient with all that he was doing, but she saw that all this work was wearing him out. This she told him one day and urged him to delegate some of the tasks to others. Aric prayed for helpers and soon his old friend Warner Brooks, who was in the U.S. Space Force, contacted him from North America and asked if he could help in any way. Aric gladly gave Warner the task of getting the move sponsored by the UESA. As he delegated more, Aric had more time for his family and wasn't so tired any more. He thanked God for his wife's wisdom.
In 2148, the UESA granted its full support of Aric's program. Ruth said, "It's certainly a miracle from the Lord!" "That it is, Ruth: all His doing." Aric replied.
Warner Brooks resigned his position of Colonel in the USSF and joined Aric Schröder that year bringing along additional information from the UESA. They had granted a couple dozen scientists, technicians, and other workers to help in the establishment of the mining company and the colony, and there was a list of their names connected with their roles. Aric was reviewing some of the details with Warner.
"We are almost set to go," Aric reported. "The mining equipment will fit on three transports I hired."
"And the UESA has fifteen tee four-seventy-seven epsilons for all the colony materials, the personnel, and all your employees," Warner added.
A look of amusement crossed Aric’s face. "The Epsilons, eh? Same kind as the ones I hired. They seem pretty common nowadays."
"Yeah. It makes sense, though. They’re gigantic, extremely reliable, and they can make the trip from Earth to Mars in only—"
"Oh, please!" Aric exclaimed with a smile, "That’s the same spiel that the representative from Foton gave me!"
Warner chuckled. "Well anyway, they will send two ships over to the Foton Enterprises spaceport to pick up all your people. The rest of their ships will be in orbit on September fifteenth, so you have to have everything ready by then."
"That won’t be a problem. We've had enough time to pack up almost everything."
Warner continued. "Once in orbit, you can transfer to the personnel ship and then take off whenever you want. Cruise on over to Mars to refuel for the trip out, and..."
"Hello Cassius!" Aric sid with a grin.
The fifteenth of September came, and Aric Schröder’s three Epsilons were all loaded up and ready to go. Aric said goodbye to his wife and two young children, then met Warner at the spaceport. The five transports lifted off and met the rest of the convoy in orbit. Aric and Warner transferred from their ship—one of the UESA's that came to Germany—to the main personnel transport. The captain of the ship was a somewhat gruff man by the name of Dwight Garvin. One of his crew once said of him, half-jokingly, "Our captain is a beast—with whips." Garvin took them to meet all the other essential personnel. Near the end of the line, he said, "This here is Ross Shepard, colony builder."
Aric shook Ross' hand. "It is a pleasure."
"Likewise," the man replied.
"So you are the colony builder. We will be needing a lot of your services in the next year, I think," Aric said with a smile.
"And this is Benjamin Corwood, the spacecraft specialist and head mechanic." the captain said, moving along.
"Ah yes. I have been wanting to ask you, Dr. Corwood, if these Epsilons are as reliable as I have been told, why do they need a mechanic to go along?" Aric said, shaking his hand.
"Don’t believe everything you hear, Mr. Schröder. Every ship has its problems," Corwood reminded him.
When the introductions were over, Captain Garvin said, "Come on, let’s get this convoy moving!"
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