As nationalist wars of independence raged through Continental Europe, England’s Industrial Revolution catapulted the small realm into superpower status. They called it “the empire on which the sun never sets” because there was always at least one British flag, in some colony somewhere in the world, where daylight fell. England was without peer, and only their small population kept them from truly ruling the world, rather than simply the seas.
I never wanted to leave home as a kid. Northern Minnesota was the only place I wanted. It was beautiful. Now when I go back, all I see is the ghosts of friends that will never party on the beach again and a hometown they rebuilt bigger and better than I ever saw it before. It’s not home, and I don’t know the people that live there now. So I don’t go back often. Besides, there’s always lots of things for a Cowboy to do out here. I can keep busy for a lifetime.
The first few months of The War were full of so many losses for us. We’d lost so many ships, and so many people, and then we came in and drove the Shang back from Fort Wichita. We didn’t do it alone of course. Other brave ships held the line, and then of course there were the Peloran. But we were a symbol, a flame in the darkness, an example that we could win. That’s the real reason we Cowboys became so powerful as The War continued. We had good marketing.
The Industrial Revolution brought profound change to England in the 1800s. Skilled workers could demand higher pay, and a driving need for more production resulted in more jobs available. Household incomes increased, and luxuries once limited to the rich became commonplace. New discoveries in medicine increased the human lifespan, and the monumental differences between the blue-blooded rich and the poor began to shrink. It was the first step into a new world.
When I grew up, I never thought I’d have to really fight for much of anything. Oh, there were the schoolboy scuffles and such, but that’s normal. It was the big fighting I never thought of. War. Earth was so peaceful back then. Still is actually. I don’t spend much time back there. There’s just too much to do in all our colonies. And I’ve become a bit of a wanderer. Staying in one place just doesn’t work for me anymore.
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