The Society [ZYB3R]

Tin Town, though not a town in the normal sense of the word, the name fit. First because Tin Town was made of metal, and second because it qualified as a collection of inhabited dwellings, and that's what a town is. So what if this particular town was in orbit around a planet, and was equipped with a hyperdrive, and had once been an ore barge? To the ten thousand five hundred and sixty two sentients who lived there, Tin Town was home. As Pegasus drew closer McCade dimmed the main viewscreen. Tin Town shimmerd with light. Much of it came from the signs that coverd its hull. They rippled, flashed, and pulsated, advertising everything from ***HOT SEX***, to Clyde's Cyborg Clinic. "Check in and check us out." some of the ligth came from Tin Town herself. As the hull turned on its axis, an endless array of solar collectors flashed in the sun and generated a belt of ligth. In addition, there were the winking navigation beacons, the glow of weilding torches, and the occasional blue-white flare of steering jets when ships jockeyed for position. McCade had never been to Tin Town before, but like everyone else, he'd heard of it. The habitat had been founded some seventy years before by a group of people who disliked government of any kind. They belived everyone should accept responsebility for every aspect of their lives, and having done so, they owed nothing to others. As a result they were commonly referred to as "Loners." The group first tried to live out their philosophy on a succession of rim worlds. Things would be fine for a while, but after a while new settlers would come along and conflict would soon follow. The new settlers would want to establish a fire department, or a police force, or some other public service, and they'd propose a government to organize and provide it. The Loners would object, suggesting a privately owned enterprise instead. They felt each person should be free to support the service in question or go without. "But what about the destitute?" The settlers would ask. "Don't we have a moral duty to help them?" "Not at all," the Loners would reply. "With the exeptinon of a very few who should borrow money and start again, the destitute failed to provide for themselves. Now they want us to take responsebility for their lives and protect them from the consequences of their own folly. That's not fair. Why should we support a government we don't want or need." Nedlessly to say the rest of the settlers went rigth ahead and formed government without the, provided services, and imposed taxes. At this point the Loners were forced to pay or leave, and time after time they left, eventually settling on some other planet where they were forced to start all over again. Eventually some of the Loners grew tierd of the unending struggle and decided on another course of action. If they couldnt have their own planet, they'd create an alternative. A habitat large enough to hold them but small enugh to control. their habitat would be mobile too, so they could leave unfriendly enviros whenever they wished, including human space if that became necessarry. Research show that a conventional ship wouldn't be big enugh and a coustom-designed habitat would be way to expensive. The solution strangely enough was an ore barge. Unlike most ore barges, this one was equipped with drives of its own and was fairly new to boot. The barge had come onto the market when the company that owned it went out of business. Due to its unusuall design and size, other companies had declined the opertunity to buy it. But the barge was perfect for what the Loners had in mind, so they formed a corporation and bougth themselves a dream. Contact Lord Leftfield for an Invite.