Free Space (Promptober 2025 #1)

Ganymede, where it all began.

"Corps and governments can squat on dirtballs.
  Space is free for everyone."
          - Maya Sindutti, Free Space Advocate

Back when mankind started expanding and colonizing the other planets in the Sol system, everyone wanted to own everything. Corporations fought governments, and colonists resisted both entities through protest and force of arms. Spacers, who adapted to life in microgravity and flew everyone wherever they needed to go in-system for a fee, always held the view that space should be free for all. Nobody owns the nothing between the orbiting rocks. What is there to own? The corps tried to buy and sell flight paths anyway and patrol empty patches of space to establish some sort of ownership.

Until the Ganymede Incident.

Typical ownership squabbles broke out as more people took notice of Ganymede. Colonists landed and attempted to claim patches of the surface that the corporations already fought about in court. Both Mars and Earth built military bases to exploit the abundant water for refueling their ships, and both considered terraforming projects. Spacers had a station in orbit and shipped huge masses of water and gasses from it. And over the course of a single day, Earth, Mars, and six corporations claimed the spacer-controlled Ganymede High Port. Nobody knows exactly how it started, but it ended with eight entities claiming entire swaths of empty space and the High Port right along with it.

Spacers were no fools. They saw the writing on the wall as they tried to maintain shipping and trade in a system with dozens of entities who thought they owned everything. Spacers had attracted nanotech researchers for years with offers of zero-g lab space and lucrative stipends. They sold 80% of the fuel available in the entire system. They added certain undetectable "insurance measures" to all of their fuel in the guise of purity metrics that burned cleanly. They were ready.

When Mars accelerated a fleet to attack Ganymede High Port, their flagship detonated, disappearing in a silent fireball. The rest of their ships drifted harmlessly past, as their fuel no longer burned. Spacers broadcast that any further hostilities would be met with lethal force courtesy of the Free Space Movement, and everyone else blinked. Spacers won the war they never wanted in 10 minutes flat, as they held every ship around Ganymede hostage. They set forth their terms, claiming the stations they built and all space outside of planetary atmospheres and moon surfaces as Free Space, nominally under the stewardship of the Spacers.

The Free Space Movement has existed in several incarnations over the years, always advocating for free trade and free passage through any space untouched by atmosphere or planetary body. Some Spacer decides to dust off the name and act under its auspices in some random corner of known space every few years, and nobody bats an eye. Spacers maintain their own rules for salvage etiquette and ownership, and every Spacer is nominally a Free Spacer. They're usually willing to help in an emergency, just don't be surprised if you receive an invoice if they render aid. Spacers don't typically have hierarchy beyond captain and crew, but every Spacer knows about and usually respects the ideas behind the Free Space movement, as they've become synonymous with the Spacers' outlook in general.

The Free Space Movement In Play

Anyone who's spent any time on interplanetary or interstellar hauls knows about the Free Space Movement. There's no hierarchy, but mentioning Ganymede or Free Space to a fellow Spacer might open doors that would otherwise slam in your party's face. Talking with a Spacer captain will still require negotiation since neither fuel nor time are free, but mentioning the movement might get you that meeting. If you ever claim a piece of space in the name of any entity, be prepared for a ragtag armada to show up in the name of the Free Space Movement and disabuse you of that foolish notion.

Note: Yes, this is quite literal for today's entry. I got inspired, and I ran with it. I'm going all over the place with the prompts over this month, and hopefully I'll keep up with it. I doubt all entries will be quite this long, but we'll see how it goes.

Part of the Promtober project for 2025.