by Max Barry

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Region: New World Union

| Emerald Station, 663 km Above The Amazon, Outer Atmosphere

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A slow-moving vessel comes into view above Earth having completed a successful journey spanning several months. It's operating semi-autonomously thanks to an AI-based navigation computer, modified specifically for the now accomplished mission. The ship carries with it the prize of a century, a "small" asteroid the size of half an American football field, wrapped in a web of cables and restraints to keep it tied to its school bus-sized hauler. Several additional ships piloted by organic workers are sent from the station to assist in safely transporting the cargo to the station. The event is broadcasted all throughout the Verdant Republic from Boa Vista to the nation's capital in Novo Manaus, the efforts of the government to discover alternative means of resource extraction finally bearing fruit.

Citizens in the country's many public squares erupt in cheers and celebration as the autonomous ship "Pioneer" detaches from the asteroid to dock, leaving the other ships to begin the process of harvesting its metallic contents. It'll take several weeks to fully deconstruct the asteroid given the country's entry-level space capabilities, but the fact that such a feat as asteroid mining had been achieved at all inspires hope in the young nation's leadership at the prospect of advanced interstellar operations. As Operation "Stone Throw" draws to a close, a new era in Amazonian history begins with the formal establishment of the Verdant Asteroid Mining Industry.

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