Homesteaders

 Homesteaders transports you to a reality where the People’s Republic of China (the P.R.C.) has used money, politics and intrigue to control deep space. America and other space faring nations are largely confined to the Earth-Moon System but the Main Asteroid Belt is where the action is and China controls it. Main Belt is Earth’s main source of metalloids, volatiles and above all Helium-3, the stuff that stokes the fusion furnaces of Terra. Newly graduated scientists and engineers with off-world aspirations have little choice but to work for P.R.C. chartered companies. Space systems engineer Harry Benton (Tin Man) signs with Deep Space Extractions Inc. (D.S.E.) to help build the Helium-3 aerostat tanker fleet to collect and deliver this precious fuel to Earth. Harry dies in a horrific shipyard accident, but this is not the end for Harry … it’s only the beginning.  Harry Benton is destined to become the center piece in a three-part triangle, he didn’t even know existed!

The Ceres Microgravity Research Institute examines Benton’s mangled body, pronounces him dead and thus a candidate for the Wong Tai Sin Protocol, a technique used to restore the dying and the dead. Harry’s return to the living signals a series of rollercoaster events for him and mankind.  Months of  operations and painful therapy transforms Harry into a weeper, so named for the amber tears these patients shed. The procedure saves his life, but there’s a heavy price to pay. Harry’s injuries qualify him for retirement and a pension, but his intolerance to heavy gravity prohibits a return to Earth or even Luna.  Seemingly destined to become a permanent Cererian resident, Harry files for and receives a special permit to repair personal employee gadgets. He soon is overwhelmed with requests including those of the enigmatic Wǔ Zhāng, executive assistant to Wang Ming-húa, D.S.E.’s Chief Executive on Ceres, who is impressed with his work. The twin animatronic dragons Harry Benton fashions for the Chinese New Year wins Wang Ming-húa’s favor and helps Harry secure his claim when he wins a lottery to prospect Asteroid #2135 GS.

Harry and Aussie expatriate Aristide Laurent ship out on the D.S.E. container ship Celestial Quest, to claim their five kilometer, 20 billion ton asteroid. After offloading equipment and supplies, Benton and Laurent are left to begin their 9 month isolation trial. Their mission is to discover profitable quantities of platinum family ores and Helium-3.  They find far more than they bargained for.

We follow their exploits as they struggle to build their base following the Habitat Cook Book, rescue slave prisoners from the hulk of a drifting prison ship and discover treasures beyond their wildest dreams, including a millennia old artifact with the psychic and technical capability to challenge China’s Asteroid Belt monopoly and transform the destiny of the human race.