Chapter 16: Exodus and the Pirates

outline: (This is from the incomplete sci fi I've been writing, titled "Spacetrains are for peacetime" on my www.kestsgeo.com website) Despite efforts to bring in off-planet resources to offset past ecosystem errors of civilization, the earth surface ecosystem clearly is going down. Decision is made to move most of humanity temporarily into the Clarke Belt Ring, which has plenty of room for everyone on the earth; Stanford Torus cities built mostly of lunar and asteroidal resources. The plan is to bring the worldwide ecosystem back into balance using whatever has to be done, once people are off the planet for the duration. However, a glitch happens, and a group of men take over just as most of the people have gone to orbit cities. The pirates claim earth is theirs, and begin a war with the Clarke Belt people, and block the restoration of the ecosystem in their power-crazed greed.