Richard J. Ronayne

Novella

Phenix Publishing Ltd

Nation-X Project

Dozens of my stories are currently being illustrated for release by Phenix Publishing Ltd for their Nation-X project, a multi-year project for 4-8000 word educational novellas.

This series was designed for young adults and high schoolers across Chinese and American schools, harnessing anthropomorphism to help digest mature, dark or joyful topics, whilst reflecting life, and exploring real social issues in an exciting and educational way.

--------------- PROPERTY OF PHENIX PUBLISHING LTD  ---------------
Asteroid Mining
By Richard Joseph Ronayne

CHAPTER 1: Cracks in The Mirror
“Quiet down, everybody!” President White ordered the Governors of the six regions that made up Nation-X at an emergency meeting. “I summoned you here to find a resolution, not to digress further into territorial disputes. Please, voice your concerns one at a time, I will not allow for any interruptions. Please, Eli, elaborate on the issues you are bringing forward for Southland.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. As I was trying to say, Southland has no natural deposits of the rare metal, indium. A surge of demand for indium has developed as an important component for solar panels, which we are required to invest in due to its renewability as an energy source, as per the Presidential orders to meet targets for moving to net zero emissions. However, we simply will not meet those targets because Midland and Northland, the two regions that have deposits of indium, are refusing to sell the quantities required at a fair price. Instead, they have escalated the costs to exponential levels to take advantage of the surge of demand,” the Elephant explained passively, still causing visible irritation from the Governors of those regions.
“I have not escalated anything!” Reginald roared back in defence. 
“Calm yourself Reginald!” the President ordered, struggling to contain the sensitive tensions of the room. “Reginald, you are now invited to speak.”
Reginald gave a scornful glare toward the President. “Indium does not simply grow on trees, Mr. President. It is a finite resource that must be traded responsibly for the people of Midland! Our supply is dwindling, and we must invest further to expand our mining, to dig deeper, to meet the demands. Where is that money going to come from, if not from those demanding the metal? Besides, because of your orders, Mr. President, we have our own targets to meet, which, as a region with access to the metal, we will put our own needs first. If you want the metal for your needs, you take it away from us for our needs, therefore the price tag is understandably higher. It is simple economics, if you can get your thick trunk around that, Eli,” Reginald snarled viciously, as Eli showed a rare display of visible anger, but managed to contain it. “I am sure that Peterson has similar logic behind his regions trade prices.”
“Only cool heads will prevail here, people. Peterson, please explain Northland’s limitation of indium supplies,” the President said.
“Thank you, Mr. President. Reginald is correct in his assessment of Northland’s potential for supply. I would further point out though, that our entire supply of indium will be consumed within eighteen years regardless of any price tag that we attach to the metal. It is for that reason, that I am announcing Northland’s immediate ban on any extra regional sales of Northland indium,” the power lusting penguin declared, descending the room into chaos once again.
All six of the Governor’s stood up and began screaming angrily at each other from their panels. President White had no choice but to manually turn their microphones off. “If you will behave as children, you will be treated as such. You are the elected Governors of Nation-X, you owe it to your constituencies to behave as they would expect of their leaders.”
The Westland, Southland and Eastland Governors immediately apologized and sat back down calmly. It took a little longer for the Midland and Northland Governor’s to follow, but they slowly sat back down, showing no semblance of calm though. Northeastland’s Governor, Frank Todd remained standing, however.
“Very well Frank, you may now speak,” the President acknowledged, knowing that Frank would not concede the moment anyway.
“Yes, I think I shall, Mr. President,” Frank scorned. “I would like to bring the chamber’s attention to the demand for another rare metal, platinum. Northeastland has the only known supply of platinum left in the world. It is used as a conductor for electric motors, which the President has foolishly overlooked the supplies of, with his Presidential order to replace all gas fuelled motors with electric by the end of the decade. If Northeastland does not act to preserve its rightful access to its own regional resource of titanium, then it will expire within fifteen years. Protecting the needs of Northeastland is my absolute priority, and so I am declaring, with immediate effect in response to the Presidential order, Northeastland will no longer be supplying the rest of Nation-X with any more titanium! Northeastland first!” Frank shouted, raising his arm victoriously in the air.
Again, the room descended into chaos, this time President White was pulled into the fray as well. “You cannot be serious Frank! You aren’t thinking about the people of Northeastland, you’re thinking about the well-paying oil and coal tycoons that you are so suspiciously close to!”
“How dare you, Mr. President! This is an insult! You should follow your own advice and behave as a person of your position is expected to,” Frank smiled, enjoying the rare moment of getting under the President’s skin. “Now calm yourself sir, for Northeastland will simply be using the platinum to build electric vehicles, which we will then sell to other regions.”
The President sat down. He knew when he had been outplayed. Frank had somehow defeated all the corruption charges that the President had ordered against him, and now they shared a tense working relationship. “Meeting adjourned!” he announced, conceding that the meeting would not see any progress made today, as he scurried away back toward the Presidential Office.
The Governors packed away their documents and left the chamber one by one. As Frank went to leave, he found himself blocked by a pair of secret service agents. “You have been summoned to the Presidential Office, Governor. You will come with us, now,” they explained, taking the Governor’s briefcase, and escorting him to the office.
 “Sit down, Frank!” the President ordered as soon as Frank entered. “What the heck kind of a stunt are you trying to pull here? We both know you are as corrupt as they come, even if I can’t prove it, so let’s be straight. You know that I can seize the platinum supplies to make sure they are ethically shared across the globe. So, what will it take to persuade you it is in your interest to continue supplying the nation with platinum?”
“The gloves are off then, are they?” Frank grinned. “Very well. Go ahead and seize them, that’s what I want you to do, Emerson. Give me the excuse I need to break Northeastland away from Nation-X and reform as the new State of Todd, which I will lead forever, as the Supreme Emperor.” 
 
CHAPTER 2: Science Shall Be Our Savior
Frank left the room, as the President ended their private meeting in awe at the sheer greed of Frank. He knew that Frank wasn’t bluffing, he would never be satisfied for power.
Calming himself so he could think clearly, he mentally calculated the chess moves that would resolve the supply issues and be required to stop Frank from pulling Nation-X apart.
He pressed the intercom to speak to his secretary. “Get me Louise Griffon, I want to see her in my office urgently,” he said, releasing the button to return to his deep thinking.
Louise was surprised to be summoned by the President so urgently, as a government helicopter arrived to sweep her away from the Nation-X Space Agency headquarters. Agents in black escorted her from her office, all the way to the Presidential Palace.
As she walked into his office, she saw him leaning over the fireplace in such deep contemplation that he did not seem to realize she was present. “Mr. President?” she called out from across the room.
Receiving no reply, she walked toward him and could hear him muttering to himself under his breath. “One hundred years, not on my watch. New resources. Maybe, just maybe.”
“Mr. President, you summoned me?”
His head tilted slightly, as he became aware of her. “Summoned. Yes,” he murmured, as another moment passed before he pulled himself away from his distant plotting, as he turned to greet Louise. “Yes, thank you Louise. I hope I haven’t interrupted your work too much, but Nation-X is undergoing the greatest crises of its one-hundred-and-twenty-year history. I believe you are the key to maintain global peace.”
“Me?” she replied, taken aback. “Of course, sir. I will do whatever is required of me for the nation.”
“Good, please, take a seat Louise. I will explain. We have known for a long time that the resources of Planet-X are dwindling. In our need to save the planet from the climate crisis, the technology required is consuming precious rare metals at an accelerated rate. We estimate that we have seventy years before we can no longer sustain civilisation’s technological demands. The world will be depleted, and we will be powerless to avoid making the planet inhospitable to all life,” the President declared.
“I am aware of the issue, sir.”
“Of course you are, but I believe that as the Director of the NXSA, you hold the key to the solution. I recall seeing a partition for a space mining operation from your office a few years ago.”
“Indeed sir, the NXSA is made up of the world’s leading scientists and engineers. Our job is to foresee the world’s upcoming issues and prepare missions to avoid them. If I recall, Sir, you declined the mission partition as unnecessary at that time, and not in Nation-X’s best financial interests,” Louise countered, curious of the conditions that had changed the President’s position so abruptly.
“Indeed, and I stand by the decision I made at that time. However, the security of Nation-X, and indeed, I fear, the security of civilization’s continuation, let alone global peace, is at stake now. Explain the mission to me again, please?”
“Of course, Sir. The NXSA was proposing that the mining of asteroids for resources was the next logical step in not just continuing civilization, but to advance it. We will inevitably consume this planet as the population continues to multiply at ever increasing rates, Planet-X will no longer be able to sustain life. The only path for civilization to continue is toward the stars. By harvesting the trillions of asteroids that exist in the solar system, we can reduce the pressure on Planet-X’s resource consumption, and secondly use the asteroids to truly begin our first steps into becoming a space faring civilization,” Louise reiterated from her memory of the mission’s specifications.
“I believe it is time to take that step now, Director. Please, explain the mission that you are proposing?”
“Very well, Sir. Without the mission specific documents at hand, which explain every detail, I recall that three steps were calculated. Firstly, an electric powered probe would be sent to target a resource rich asteroid. These asteroids are estimated to individually contain more financial value than currently exists within Nation-X’s entire economy. The probe will be used to stop the rotation of the asteroid, so it is easier to control the velocity and the projected path for the asteroid. If timed exactly, the asteroid, over the course of several months, will be powered by its own momentum until it is caught in the gravity of Planet-X, specifically arriving at an exact moment where it will be caught, and slowed, by the moon’s gravity. This will be used to maintain a secure orbit for the asteroid, where a mining satellite will be sent as the second phase of the mission,” Louise established.
“Fascinating, and this is all feasible and safe?” the President queried.
“Yes, Sir. The calculations are perfect, and the technology has existed for over a decade. There is no chance of the asteroid impacting the moon or the planet. What made the mission unfeasible before was the incredible costs required to power the crafts required to intercept and mine the asteroid. A decade ago, however, this problem was resolved, as electric engines and solar collectors have been perfected to allow space craft to travel much further distances,” Louise explained, clearly showing frustration that the importance of this mission had taken so long to be acknowledged.
The President picked up on this. “Louise, I know I rejected the mission before, but I hope you trust my decision. There was no public hunger for such interstellar ambition, and my job is to feed the public. I wish I had tried harder to persuade them of the need though. I swear to you now, I will handle the public criticism, as you have from this moment a greenlight for the mission to begin as soon as possible.”


--------------- DELETED FOR SAMPLE VIEWING ---------------