“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“these hoses into the electrolysis chamber.” The two followed the hoses to the next box-like chamber, “When the catalyst chamber is done with the carbon dioxide, the electrodes light up in here to split the water. Hydrogen is looped back to the hydrogen holding tank over there, where it goes back into the catalyst chamber and oxygen is siphoned off into the oxygen holding tanks over here so it can be re-introduced into the atmosphere via those hoses connecting it to the ventilation system.”
“
“
“
“
“
st</sup> Ring Cooperative—to bolster the garrison and ensure the continued neutrality of the Neutral Zone.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
So, incomplete records on one end and erased records on the other. someone in RHS was doing a little dirty dealing with the Red Wolves. I''m going to have to find out who... and I know just the place to look next.
st</sup> Ring Cooperative was a staunchly capitalist, democratic federation made up of eight semi-autonomous stations, all of them on the 1<sup>st</sup> Ring Line which connected several major lines together. It intersected Line 1 twice. Utopia and Serenity were both on Line 1 where it met 1<sup>st</sup> Ring Line: Utopia north of Express Line 42, Serenity to the south. Although both the People''s Republic and the Collective Union claimed Ragnarok as their capital, the de-facto centre of administration of the former was in Utopia and the latter was in Serenity.
Their candidates always won the elections, and their policies were always the ones that got through congress and senate. No wonder, with the involvement of the innocuously-named Financial Advisory Board, a ''think-tank'' which ''advised'' the government on ''matters involving economic concerns.''
not selling their souls to corporatism, the corporations only grew bigger and wealthier. Special free trade agreements were made as part of the peace treaty, lowering tariffs and restriction of movement on goods being transported by corporations that were on the Financial Advisory Board. The few companies dealing in construction and life support based out of the Republic and Union were small and feeble compared to those in the Cooperative.
st</sup> Ring Line not affiliated with any of the above three groups had made a military pact called the 2/3 Alliance (named for the intersection of Lines 2 and 3). The situation there was even worse. Without a central government to protect local interests, the stations were almost completely under the sway of the Cooperative economically—and, to a large degree, politically as well.
st</sup> Ring. Serious competition was virtually unknown. Like many such corporations, they had contracts with the armies of both the Republic and the Union.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“