Beyond the beaches of Canopus there are also vast fields that grow succulent foods. And of course they take special care to make the special stuff. There is a reason that Canopian brandies and wines are famous everywhere we have flown. Brandywine Spirits makes the best stuff, in my opinion, around a self-named lake and river large enough to generate its own microclimate. And during the brief winters, they make some delectable ice wines.
We established the Great Pacific Firewall to protect the remaining American computer networks from Chinese hackers. The fall of Japan and the Philippines shattered the firewall for a time, and the Kingdom of Hawaii became a highway for Chinese hackers. Amber arranged for some servers and generators to be “misplaced” on their Midway Islands, and they quickly became the heart of the new firewall. And that is why her firewall cover art wears a grass skirt.
While the Japanese were busy building a new empire and the Allies worked to disassemble other empires, the shattered husk of Germany labored under odious Allied sanctions. Required to pay reparations and give up vast tracts of resources, the German economy entered a period of hyperinflation as it proved unequal to the task. People lost faith in the government that could not keep them secure, and a new revolution began to build.
We didn’t colonize Canopus until after Contact. It is a long ways from Earth even now, and no colony expedition of the time could have made it through The Wall. Now it’s one of our Beacon Stars and a major trade hub in that area of space. It’s a nice world actually. Lots of oceans, lots of ocean-front property, and lots of white sandy beaches. And very temperate too. It is an amazing vacation destination.
When the Second Great Depression came and devastated the American economy, Amber did what she could to continue watching and alerting her agents. But between the general failure of the power grids and the fall of the international communications networks, she found her options limited. She soon joined the Great Pacific Firewall to gain access to its power reserves and network links, though most people thought she was just the program cover art. A very few knew better.
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