CHAPTER-60- Four Thousand years later.

January 1, 6385: Four Thousand years had passed since the arrival of
the refugees from Dedov. The planet Earth had become a virtual paradise.
There had not been a war on Earth since the holocaust. There had not been a
battle fought. Hardly anyone on the planet could be identified as being from
any but the same race. The population of Earth was approaching five Billion.
There was one nation and one language. They had devised an entirely different
system of government, economic organization, production and distribution.
Most people were happy with the way the system worked because it worked for
everyone.
January 10, 6385: One lone ship materialized in Earth orbit. The
commander identified himself as Commander Whigl of The Intergalactic
Association of Civilized Planets. “People of Earth,”he began “We have been
observing your progress carefully over the last forty Earth centuries. Our
Supreme Council has carefully considered all aspects of your civilization and
come to the conclusion that you are now ready.” He then extended the invitation
to Earth to join the Association as a probationary member.
Recent article from University of Washington
University of Washington -- A new means of propelling spacecraft being
developed at the University of Washington could dramatically cut the time
needed for astronauts to travel to and from Mars and could make humans a
permanent fixture in space.
In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam, quick
trips to distant parts of the solar system could become routine, said Robert
Winglee, a UW Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the project.
Currently, using conventional technology and adjusting for the orbits of
both the Earth and Mars around the sun, it would take astronauts about 2.5
years to travel to Mars, conduct their scientific mission and return.
"We're trying to get to Mars and back in 90 days," Winglee said. "Our
philosophy is that, if it's going to take two-and-a-half years, the chances of a
successful mission are pretty low."
Mag-beam is one of 12 proposals that this month began receiving
support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Institute for
Advanced Concepts. Each gets $75,000 for a six-month study to validate the
concept and identify challenges in developing it. Projects that make it through
that phase are eligible for as much as $400,000 more over two years.
Under the mag-beam concept, a space-based station would generate a
stream of magnetized ions that would interact with a magnetic sail on a
spacecraft and propel it through the solar system at high speeds that increase
with the size of the plasma beam.
Winglee estimates that a control nozzle 32 meters wide would generate
a plasma beam capable of propelling a spacecraft at 11.7 kilometers per
second. That translates to more than 26,000 miles an hour or more than
625,000 miles a day.
Mars is an average of 48 million miles from Earth, though the distance
can vary greatly depending on where the two planets are in their orbits around
the sun. At that distance, a spacecraft traveling 625,000 miles a day would take
more than 76 days to get to the red planet. But Winglee is working on ways to
devise even greater speeds so the round trip could be accomplished in three
months.
But to make such high speeds practical, another plasma unit must be
stationed on a platform at the other end of the trip to apply brakes to the
spacecraft.
"Rather than a spacecraft having to carry these big powerful propulsion
units, you can have much smaller payloads," he said.
Winglee envisions units being placed around the solar system by
missions already planned by NASA. One could be used as an integral part of a
research mission to Jupiter, for instance, and then left in orbit there when the
mission is completed. Units placed farther out in the solar system would use
nuclear power to create the ionized plasma; those closer to the sun would be
able to use electricity generated by solar panels.
The mag-beam concept grew out of an earlier effort Winglee led to
develop a system called mini-magnetospheric plasma propulsion. In that
system, a plasma bubble would be created around a spacecraft and sail on the
solar wind. The mag-beam concept removes reliance on the solar wind,
replacing it with a plasma beam that can be controlled for strength and
direction.
A mag-beam test mission could be possible within five years if financial
support remains consistent, he said. The project will be among the topics during
the sixth annual NASA Advanced Concepts Institute meeting Tuesday and
Wednesday at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seattle. The meeting is free and open
to the public.
Winglee acknowledges that it would take an initial investment of billions
of dollars to place stations around the solar system. But once they are in place,
their power sources should allow them to generate plasma indefinitely.
The system ultimately would reduce spacecraft costs, since individual
craft would no longer have to carry their own propulsion systems. They would
get up to speed quickly with a strong push from a plasma station, then coast at
high speed until they reach their destination, where they would be slowed by
another plasma station.
"This would facilitate a permanent human presence in space," Winglee
said. "That's what we are trying to get to."
University of Washington

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CHAPTER –59- The Criminal Justice System

There was no capital punishment. The entire justice system was
dedicated to criminal reform and behavior modification. In most cases the
punishment fit the crime. Community Service rather than Incarceration was the
customary penalty for violations of the Criminal Code. Probation was the
custom. The worst violators, the absolute Incorrigibles were sedated, put on a
shuttle and dropped off at some remote location thousands of miles from the
United States. When they awoke they had no idea where on Earth they were.
They were told that if they ever showed up in the United States again they
would be put on Moon Base. There had been a special section of Moon Base
walled off . Tasteless food powder and running water but only one gallon per
day would be provided, inmates would have an air mattress, a blanket and a
toilet but nothing else. No one had ever sent to Moon Base. Most convicted
criminals just did their public service, followed the advise of their counselor and
their probation officer. They attended the mandatory classes and tried to put
the matter behind them. If they had been unskilled they were taught a
marketable skill and placed in a paying job where they could apply that skill.
The Government ran trade schools that taught useful skills to all
unskilled workers that wanted to better themselves. No one needed to live in
substandard housing. Everyone was entitled to a Government job that paid the
minimum wage. Even people who were pertinently confined to bed had the job
of lying in bed and received the minimum wage. If anyone ever refused to do
any work at all they were removed to Catalina Island where they were provided
with tasteless powdered food they could remain there until they notified
authorities by phone that they were seeking employment.

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CHAPTER –58- Taxation in the new order

The Government implemented the fairest of all possible tax systems.
They simply credited the accounts of people and firms that they owed money to.
This, you would think, would have the effect of eroding away the value of credits
but it never seemed to have much effect on the value of credits. If a person had
more credits accumulated in his account than he had immediate need of he
could transfer the surplus to a bank that would pay him interest on those
surplus credits. The bank, in turn would loan those credits out to worthwhile
borrowers at a higher rate of interest than they were paying the depositor. The
individual that was seeking a greater return on surplus funds than the bank was
offering could transfer the surplus credits to a corporation that was soliciting
additional funds for expansion. In return the corporation agreed to pay the
investor a prorated share of the profits of the corporation if any or a prorated
ownership in the corporation but not necessarily in corporate management.
Large Government issued contracts for goods and services, in excess of
one million credits had to be approved by a Government watchdog committee.
If the committee was not one hundred percent in favor of the proposed
expenditure then the Government had the opportunity to modify the request. If
an impasse developed between the Government and the committee both sides
would be given the opportunity to present their side of the issue on public
Television before the mater was put before the voters.
Though there was no executive or legislative branches of Government
there was an active civil service headed by a civil service commission. The
Government then pretty much amounted to the civil service commission who
were chosen in the same way that the Supreme Court was chosen.
The Civil Service Commission ran the General Accounting Office, the
Department of Public Safety, The Department of Public Records and a number
of other public agencies.
The General Accounting Office not only had charge of posting and
transferring credits but were oversaw the Securities Exchange Commission,
that kept an eye on the Corporations, and the Planetary Deposit Insurance
Corporation that kept an eye on the banks
The General Public could challenge the actions taken by any agency. In
some cases by circulating a petition and in other cases by filing a civil action.
There was a lot more to the Government than that but the system
worked.

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CHAPTER –57- Medical Care

The Government maintained a network of free medical care facilities.
There was one at or near every school. They were all staffed by five full time
people and were always open with one or more of the people on duty. Anyone
who felt sick or had sustained a minor injury could go to a local clinic and
receive free medical attention on a first come first served basis. If the person
on duty at the clinic could not solve the problem then the citizen was given a
slip authorizing him to make an appointment at a regional clinic. If the regional
clinic which was staffed by Family Practice MD's could not solve the problem
then the person was referred to one of the local Medical Schools, hospitals or
specialists.
If the person did not choose to go this route he was free to make an
appointment with any medical practitioner or facility that he wanted but when he
did this he knew that he would be charged for the service. Soon there were
private health Insurance companies offering coverage for a fee to any person
that wanted it. They all had different coverages available for a different fee.
Most people used the free public health care system.
There was also a free preventative health care program for people over
fifty where they were entitled to an annual physical examination and follow up
care once a year for routine cases otherwise as often as the primary health care
provider dictated.
Medication was all manufactured directly by the Government and
provided to the people as a free service.

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CHAPTER –56- The wealth of the Former Residents

When the people of Earth Died off most of them left behind the trappings
of the things that represented wealth in their society. It is interesting to note that
many people who knew that their fate had been sealed and they had only a
short time to live spent a good deal of that time in protecting their valuables.
They put valuables in safes, safety deposit boxes and on occasion just took
them out and buried them. The new people exploring the old cities almost
never found rare coins or jewels, just lying around. This presented a real
problem for the people of the new society.
Most people realized that such items had no value but they still could
now resist picking up a shiny piece of jewelry or a coin for that matter. Many
people made a hobby of scavenger hunting or breaking into old safes and
strong boxes and removing the contents. As time went by and the new
population fanned out around the globe it became more and more difficult to
find such items. They generally used welding equipment to get into safes and
extract the contents. The items themselves gradually regained some value and
people began using them for barter.
One of the mathematicians calculated that if there had been twelve
Billion people and they had each had an average of one hundred items of
treasure there would be twelve hundred billion formerly valuable items left on
the planet. An average of two thousand six hundred items for every person
now on the Earth. That did not count the coins that were in common circulation.
Since they were being disproportionately allocated to the people that sought
them out many people soon accumulated tens of thousands of these trappings.
This is the idea that finally emerged. People were allowed to keep any of
them that they wanted to keep. But a committee was empowered to assign a
credit value to each item or type of item and almost ten thousand workers were
trained as appraisers. Anyone who turned in such items to a central collection
point would be awarded the appraised value of the item in additional credits to
their accounts. These valuables would then be placed in the vaults of Fort Knox
with all the gold that was found there.
Under this system a one ounce gold coin was accepted for five hundred
credits. Diamonds would bring about one thousand credits per carrot. Some
people started making an effort to locate these items and turn them in others
made an effort to find them and keep them for a rainy day while others just
ignored the whole proposition. Most elected to just turn in the things they found
but didn't go out of their way looking for them. One faction looked at as robbing
the dead and wouldn't even pick an item up if they came across it.
At Fort Knox finished jewelery was kept in one location, rare coins in
another, finished diamonds in another and gold coins in another. As fewer and
fewer items flowed in prices paid rose and the barter value of these items within
the economy rose proportionately. Eventually the Government opened
Jewelery stores and offered these items for sale to the public. Engagement and
wedding bands proved to be very popular.
In this way a planetary reserve was built up and whether the Government
realized it or not the credit's became backed by the Planetary reserve at Fort
Knox. This made a lot of people feel more secure knowing that their
accumulated credits were backed by something.
For the sake of convenience ordinary minted coins were eventually put
back into circulation and were sold by the Treasury at the rate of one credit for
one dollar in change. Foreign coins not minted by the United States were never
put back into circulation but were sold by the jewelery stores, for a nominal
price, as souvenirs. Most of the paper money was discriminating but what
when sound paper money was found choice specimens were preserved to
eventually be displayed in museums. The coin supply lasted for almost two
hundred years before the coins became so worn that they were no longer
recognizable. At that point the Government started minting new coins in the
same denominations but of a new design.

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CHAPTER –55- The Private Sector

Anyone could quit Government service and go into business for
themselves or find a job on the private sector. Corporations were springing up
right and left. Several Martian corporations jumped in to doing business on
Earth. Among those was Super Stores that opened a chain of retail outlets Big
Boy Burger that opened a chain of burger outlets and Hour Glass, Inc. that
staked out land in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino areas of the former
California and started growing grapes. They reopened the long deserted
winery's and started producing wine that they marketed all over the United
States, Mars and Arton. The Artonian natives wanted nothing to do with the
stuff but he humans on Arton seemed to like it. Hour Glass, Inc. also
reactivated a number of breweries in the Western United States. They went in
to the manufacture of twelve ounce beer containers and glass bottles for wine.
The beer products were sold throughout the United States as well as being
exported to Mars and Arton. Even with only six million potential customers,
Hour Glass soon became the largest corporation in the three planet system.
Big 7 convenience stores from Mars began to open outlets all over the
United States and bought products from other manufactures which they sold on
Earth and exported to Mars and Arton. They had over two thousand outlets on
the three planets. Martian Wood Products, Inc. began harvesting trees in the
Northwest, cutting them into lumber and making plywood that they also
marketed on all three planets. In conjunction with their lumber yards they
opened hardware stores. Since there were not many companies manufacturing
hardware items Mars Wood Products, Inc. started up long abandoned factories
and started manufacturing their own hardware and paint products. Soon they
were also manufacturing tools. They also had outlets on all three planets.
A few fledgling Earth companies began doing business on Mars and on
Arton and a few Arton companies began doing business on Earth and Mars.
The Government accounting office expanded the credit's system to make it
available on Mars and Arton. It took almost one hundred years before the three
planets were consolidated under the one government. The capital City of the
three planet system was officially located in San Diego, The State Capital of
Earth was in Sacramento. The state capital of Mars was in New Phoenix. The
State Capital of Arton was located in Island City, Arton.
The Arton ships and the Dedov ships were beginning to show their age
and would soon need to be replaced. The plant where the Arton ships were
originally built had been restored to operation. The plans used to construct the
original ships were still available. Care was taken with the original now brittle
documents and manuals which were all carefully reproduced. Parts were being
fabricated, and manufactured. Additional hardware was being ordered. The
nuclear drive engines were very difficult but the job had to be done. After much
trial and error and testing at the main plant in Bakersfield the shuttles began
hauling the pieces into space. Men working in space suits out of the Earth
orbiter began to assemble the parts in space.
It took almost twenty years before the A5 had been fully tested and found
seaworthy. It took an additional twenty years before the A6, A7 and A8 were on
line and the earlier Arton fleet was retired. The A9, A10, A11 and A12 were built
to a smaller scale from the original plans used for Mars Runner but carried the
more powerful engines of the Arton fleet. These ships replaced the old Dedov
fleet that had been making the Mars to Earth run for the last fifty years. Man
had equaled his greatest achievement with far fewer resources. It had been
feared that the project would bankrupt the economy but in the forty years that it
took to build the eight new ships the three planets had all prospered. The ships
had been built with a combination of Government and private sector effort. The
next major task was to replace all the shuttles and to build and equip domestic
aircraft for Arton and Earth. By the time that task was completed they would be
well into the twenty fourth century.
When mankind returned to Earth he found an almost limitless supply of
electric Automobiles that required only new batteries but in the intervening time
most of the cars and trucks on the road had just worn out. The population of
the three planets had grown in leaps and bounds everyone wanted a new car.
Some of the factories had been destroyed during the war but cars were not built
by just one company even before the war. Most parts that went in to cars had
been built in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Auto America, Inc was formed.
Crews were dispatched around the world to find the machines that had built
parts for automobiles. The machines necessary to build a small station wagon
were located, dismantled and moved to California. A new factory was built in
what had been Orange County. Within three years, while the space ships were
still on the drawing board the first new cars in almost 100 years began to roll off
the assembly line. Dealerships were set up in all the major cities of Earth and
even one dealership in Island City, Arton to market and service the cars. To
simplify production and turn out as many as possible as quickly as possible, no
changes were made in the hundred year old plans, there were no options
offered and they were all painted off white. Within a year the plant was
producing almost one thousand cars a day and they were all paid for in full
before they were even built. In subsequent years Auto America offered more
models, more color choices and more options. Three years after Auto America
rolled their first car off the assembly line Detroit Auto Company began making
and selling pick up trucks. A new company in Arizona began building and
marketing big rigs, the eighteen wheelers which there was also a critical need
for. All of these vehicles required tires, in fact the tires on the vehicles that the
first Earth colonists found had just disintegrated after a little use. The
Government had started manufacturing tires at a plant in the former Tijuana
within two years of the landing of the first colonists. The Government sold the
plant to one of the first corporations formed. Since that time the plant had
tripled in size and a second plant had been opened in Eugene in the former
state of Oregon.
All in all, not only Earth but also on Mars and Arton there was a critical
labor shortage. Many people were holding down two jobs some were working
twelve hour days. Colleges and Trade schools were graduating people in half
the time that it took to train people before the catastrophe. Everything seemed
to be running twenty four -seven. They only took time off to get married, have
babies and bury the dead.

READ MORE - CHAPTER –55- The Private Sector

CHAPTER –54- The New Economy

So far the entire three planet system had been running without any real
economic system for the last eighteen years. Everyone had just been too busy
to give it much thought. They were trying to get things working again. There
were few luxuries or special privileges to be had. Carl Marx would have loved
it, the state of perfect communism. The problem with that was that as soon as
all the pressing needs had been met people had a desire to acquire luxury
items, jewelry, and special privileges that if made available to all wouldn't be
luxurious or special. If a person wanted to have a splurge meal, there was no
restaurant that served such meals. If a person wanted to give another an
expensive special gift there was no place that manufactured such items and no
store that sold them. If a person wanted to spend a week on a cruise ship
seeing the sights there was no cruise ship. Everyone had tooth paste but it
came in a generic tube labeled “tooth paste”. So far what exchanges that had
taken place had been on the barter system. The planets need an economy.
That set off a two year debate on how such an economy could and
should work. On Mars, over the years they had dabbled in currency and an
economy only to abandon it in times of turmoil and crisis. Once again the
economy of Mars was working in a limited fashion. On Dedov they had a
vibrant economy until the planet had faltered. On Earth before the disaster
there had been a world economic structure so complicated that no one
understood it. What they needed on the new Earth was a simple system that
would allow people access to luxuries and special privileges that they had an
opportunity to select for themselves. Private ownership of property didn't seem
to be an issue with anyone on a planet that had formerly had enough real
property to accommodate nine billion people but now was home to only four
and a half million. No one wanted or needed private ownership of land.
Everyone respected the place where another person wanted to live, if they
didn't like it there were millions of other places to live. What these people
needed was some kind of enticement to cause companies to produce a better
product or induce a person to open an upscale restaurant.
What they came up with was a computer program that started everyone
out with the same amount of credits. The arbitrary number selected was ten
thousand. Everyone had a cell phone that could access the system but only the
individual that owned the credits could transfer a portion of them to someone
else. Everyone that performed a job that benefited society in general would
have an additional one thousand credits added to their account on the first of
every month. If someone wanted something that cost more than the credits he
had available he could borrow credits from someone else. The people all
agreed that this could, in time, evolve into a good system so the majority was
behind the idea.
Over the next hundred years that simple concept grew into a complex
three planet economy that actually worked. Within that flexible framework it
became possible to lend and borrow money, to receive grants to obtain luxuries
and special services, to open businesses to form partnerships to form
corporations to do just about anything anybody ever wanted money to do for
them. The system was not based on anything but the faith of the people.
Actually no economy has ever been.

READ MORE - CHAPTER –54- The New Economy