In this first chapter we meet Coraline (Cory) Redmann, a famous journalist who is host of a weekly news magazine broadcast worldwide by the government-controlled "Global Broadcasting Network".  The Year is 2086 and Cory is about to take the stage for yet another installment.  

Ten years earlier, Cory made a name for herself with her controversial expose'  entitled "The Great Collapse of 2028", wherein she detailed the events leading up to the implosion of the American credit-based economy and the subsequent downfall of the West.  It gained her instant notoriety, paving the way for an outstanding career.  Only twenty-three at the time and fresh out of journalism school, she'd managed to put together a shocking five-part documentary on how an entire financial system (not to mention way of life) vaporized  overnight, leading to chaos in the world's major cities, dissolution of the world's banking system, and the death of millions worldwide.  Flashing back to Part One of her 2076 expose', we learn how it all came to pass forty-eight years earlier.  

In the second part of Cory Redmann’s expose', written back in 2076, she delves into the aftermath of the financial debacle which saw the implosion of America’s economy and the destruction of its proud society.  America’s lingering greatness revealed itself in many ways.  Citizens supported one another throughout the upheaval.  But the sanitized version detailed in government-approved history books doesn't tell the full story.

In reality, thousands tried to flee the big cities and make it to foreign destinations or vacation homes aiming to ride out the crisis.  Many that Cory interviewed remembered freeways choked with vehicles.  Those who owned homes in the suburbs tried desperately to catch trains and subways full of terrified people; or clamored for tickets onboard jet airliners.  Thousands upon thousands tried, but few succeeded.  Those left behind often found themselves trapped. 

In “Part 2”, Cory focuses much of her attention on the days of recovery (also retribution) that followed the first six months of the debacle.  The U.S. military eventually moved into major cities to quell rebellions that continued to spring up, eliminating the last of the deadly “war bands” - urban militias formed in response to the crisis.  As for Europe, the effects of the crash were much the same as in North America.  Looting, clashes with riot police, starving refugees fleeing the cities for the countryside … Europeans certainly saw and experienced their fair share of turmoil.  Yet through it all, one person – one right honorable gentleman - managed to surface amidst the ongoing tumult and rise to prominence.  His name was Karl Habsburg. 

In Part Three of Cory's groundbreaking documentary, she addresses Karl von Habsburg's meteoric rise to power; as well as the principles touted by his Pan European Movement, which rises to prominence and is voted into office by an exhausted Europe.    

Habsburg and the Pan Europeans institute systemic change, we learn, eliminating wasteful social programs and performing much-needed belt-tightening.  A new government is formed called the Global Union, and what Cory discovers in her many interviews is that survivors of the Great Collapse ardently supported Habsburg's efforts.  Felt it was "about time", or so they claim, now that 48 years have passed.  We go on to learn how globalization of commerce is pursued in earnest, along with a worldwide conversion to alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar.  This has the dual effect of putting millions of North Americans back to work...and causing the collapse of Islamic Theocracies controlling Middle Eastern oil reserves.

The timing couldn't have been better, we learn, for as far back as 2015, scientists had been predicting that the world’s supply of fossil fuels would become depleted within decades.  The Earth - and more importantly humans as a species - would have to reckon with this irrefutable fact.  Things had to change.  The Global Union reacts swiftly - and in so doing sets off an economic expansion that brings about the dawning of a new, spectacular era. 

In Part Four of her controversial expose' from 2076, Cory shifts her focus to the massive turnaround in the world economy during the years following the Great Collapse.  A radical revamping of global energy production leads to SOLAR becoming the accepted source for powering the planet.

Developments within the “photovoltaic” industry come fast and furious from drawing board to reality, leading to an economic boom.  Millions of unemployed Europeans and North Americans desperate for steady work once again find good-paying jobs, in that what's required will be the placement of thousands of square kilometers of solar mirrors in order to establish a modernized energy grid.  

But by 2046, a new opportunity comes to light which creates an even bigger stir within the scientific community:  Scientists announce plans for mining the solar system for precious metals and minerals necessary for powering the new global economy.  It starts with the Earth’s moon and eventually expands to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  The moon provides Helium 3.  Asteroids provide platinum.  It won't be long before nuclear fusion-powered spacecraft will become a reality.

Journalist Cory Redman concludes her controversial expose' from year 2076 with her depiction of the race to send a manned mission into deep space; the goal being to seek out long term possibilities for galactic colonization.

She turns her attention to the GU’s diabolical and rather ambitious 30-year long space flight program which began in the 2040's.  In 2049, the GU Food and Agricultural Ministry calculated that food production had to increase by a minimum of seventy percent by the year 2100.  Yet there isn't a definitive way to accommodate this rise in need – not on planet Earth, anyway.  Temperatures on the planet have increased upwards of 3.3 ◦C, and expectations are for that to triple by the end of the century.  There simply isn't any easier answer.  Studies all reach one irrefutable conclusion:  the destiny of humanity is to explore and colonize space. 

Kapteyn B, an exoplanet within the Kapteyn star system, 12.8 light years away, is believed to be the best candidate for colonization.

In this episode we begin Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  Here we get to meet some of the main characters in the story.   The setting is a corporate dormitory in the year 2086 and four young stoners - all of them scientists working for an aerospace firm in southeastern Canada -  are watching the news program World Week.  It's a Sunday night and they're taking a break from their projects; something they do each Sunday, along with getting high smoking THC resin from a glass bong.

First there's  Kelvin, the once-ambitious Virginian who's taken a slight detour with his life as of late.   Next, there's Gunther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official.  Then there's  B.J., the promiscuous wild child from Colorado who's never had a boyfriend but always has a date.   And there's Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta.   What they hear at the opening of the broadcast sparks a lively discussion once the show goes to commercial.  A space mission to an alien planet 13 light years from Earth?  Kelvin sees it as the opportunity of a lifetime.  The others think he's crazy.

Tonight we continue with Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  We've already met some of our main characters and tonight we're going to meet some more; namely two of the space twins eventually selected for the mission. 

So far we got to meet Kelvin, the handsome Virginian who's good with the ladies.  Günther, the soft-spoken German whose father is a government official.  Also B.J., the lovely math whiz from Colorado whose brains and good looks are only matched by the gal's limitless sex drive.  And finally Robin, the flamboyant transgender from east Atlanta who introduces the concept of 'the twin paradox'. 

 It's been months since the official announcement; along with the unveiling of the new Santa Maria galactic exploration vessel.  The media has covered it ever since, thrilling the public with imagery of the ship’s designs, details of crew functions, accommodations, as well as descriptions of the ship’s anticipated mission protocol.  Meanwhile, the ongoing search for just the right set of identical twins is coming to a conclusion.  Sure enough … Günther’s father embraced the wild idea proposed by his son and his friends back at Magellan Aerospace.  To be sure, he's taken things much further than originally suggested. 

Tonight we continue with Part 2:  Pioneers and Explorers.  So far we've been introduced to our first two space twins, Oswaldo (Ozzie) Guerrero and Shamiso Kachote.  Now it's time to meet our third space twin ... and learn of a salacious scheme to get Kelvin selected to the crew for the upcoming space mission to Kapteyn B.  

We start off by traveling from Houston all the way to Canada, where we visit an orphanage for young males ages two to thirteen.  It's a rough existence for the boys living there but among the many hundreds there is to be found a pair of identical twins who possess the makings for becoming brilliant scientists someday.

Kelvin and B.J. are asked to tag along with Space Programme staffers, making the short drive up from Mississauga.  They spend the day visiting the facility and gathering intel on the two candidates.  When testing continues into a second day, the finalists are transferred to a hotel down the road in Toronto.  B.J. and Kelvin are invited as well; and that's where the two stoners get to demonstrate how they got their reputations.  Yet when they befriend one of the staffers - a young woman from Germany - their fortunes take a turn for the better.  Seems Helga and her husband Steffen know exactly who Kelvin needs to be talking to if he wants a spot on the crew.