Orbital Solitude

It is the year 2865, about 300 years following the discovery of a method to transform Dark Matter (DM) into pure Dark Energy (DE). Dark Energy enabled incredibly powerful spaceship thruster technology. The discoveries transformed humanity almost overnight into a space-faring species and caused an upheaval in the underlying financial structure of society. DM became the de facto currency leading to a modern day gold rush to mine the solar system’s sources of DM. It was discovered that DM is most prevalent near highly massive orbital bodies like stars, planets, and moons. A wave of space prospectors raced to stake their claim firing off in space probes into the night sky. The DM in the local Earth system has long since been mined to extinction and those wishing to cash in on the rush must send their probes farther from the relative safety of the strictly enforced Earth Neutral Zone (ENZ) safe zone. Outside the ENZ the solar system is lawless and dangerous. Piracy abounds. The International Space Station was privatized ages ago and ISS Industries jumped at the opportunity to monopolize access to space. The ISS was transformed into a massive space port and shipyard to provide a space-based platform from which to launch mining probes. The ISS shipyard churned out hundreds of Basic Space Probes (BSP) to meet demand. The BSP is just big enough to get out to a planet and back with a small but valuable load of DM. The probe pilots are in a race to mine the resources necessary to build their fleet and ultimately build space stations in orbit around planets. Once a station is built it establishes control of the planet. Once the DM in Sol System is depleted the ultimate winner will be the pilot who controls the most planets. Three days ago you sold your home on Earth, cashed in your investments, and used it all to buy a one-way ticket to the ISS where your brand new BSP and your destiny awaits…