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This section deals with Spacer history.
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Spacers
After a funding crisis in the late 60s, the Spacers started to
try to distance themselves from Earthly politics. Then it was
gradually noticed that the prices of diamonds and precious metals
had stopped rising. At the same time a series of notable buildings
built were bought by a company called Embassy Properties in many
of the world's largest cities.
The next development came when the United States Congress voted to stop all funding of space research. The Spacer's League was formed and claimed for itself the rights and privileges of a nation state. The United Nations Assembly and individual governments denounced this claim but the Spacer's League had an answer for them. The Spacers said that they had millions of tonnes of gold, silver and platinum for sale by auction. The United Nations voted by a large majority to ignore the auction but the government of a middle eastern state offered to negotiate with the Spacers. (The name of the state has been omitted to save embarrassment.)
The Spacers accepted the offer and landed a huge spacecraft loaded with precious metals in the desert area near the capital. The spacecraft was quickly surrounded by a military battalion and the Spacers were arrested. Serious consequences were expected but the soldiers found that the spacecraft was sealed against them. Drills and cutting lasers were tried but neither had much effect.
The crisis was defused very quickly. It was discovered that most of the children in the capital had been given or had posted to them presents of boxes of 20 marbles. The colourless, blue, red and green marbles were beautifully finished perfect spheres that were 16 millimetres in diameter. It was not long before they were found to be made of diamond, sapphire, ruby and emerald. They were gems of a quality that had never been seen before on Earth. In each box was an envelope addressed to the Spacer's temporary headquarters on Lagrange 5. There was also an order form for more marbles at the rate of 100 marbles for one banknote of any value. At the bottom of the order form it stated that this offer was only valid for children between the ages of five and twelve. Any marbles found in the possession of an adult would be treated as stolen property and confiscated.
Some of the lucky children were foreign visitors who took their marbles with them when they went home. The world's media had a field day with the story. The arrested Spacers were released as soon as the news broke. In one move the Spacers had shown that they had an excellent intelligence service and could dominate the currency of any country in a matter of hours.
The United Nations called an emergency meeting to recognise the Spacer's League as an independent diplomatic entity a week later. The Spacers have never divulged how the precious metals and gem stones were produced. It was later deduced that the spacecraft that had been surrounded had been protected by a reflective diamond coating.
The Spacer's Treaty was drawn up to govern the relationships between the Spacers and the World's governments. The Spacers undertook not to flood the world's markets with gems and precious metals in return for the right to have an embassy or consulate in every country. The Spacer's would only sell their valuable products on Earth to cover the costs of maintaining their embassies and consulates. The treaty also stipulated that anyone who applied to be a Spacer would immediately be given the protection of Spacer status on a temporary basis. This protection would last until the applicant had completed the selection process. If an applicant was successful, the Spacer status would become permanent. Retiring Spacers would be given the right to reclaim citizenship of their country of birth or to accept the citizenship of any other country if it was offered.
After the treaty was signed by the majority of the world's governments the Spacers announced that their unit of currency would be the Credit. The coins are made of gemstone materials with tiny symbolic spacecraft at the centre The highest value of CR1,000,000,000 is a diamond disk with three spacecraft in sapphire, ruby and emerald in the centre. The lowest value of CR1 is an emerald disk with a single ruby spacecraft in the centre.. The remaining 26 values use in decreasing value: diamond, sapphire, ruby and emerald disks and spacecraft, from CR500,000,000 down to CR2. The rate of exchange was set at CR1 = US$1.00
When the Spacer coins started to circulate, the gem value of the 1 credit coin was estimated at US$750.00. Many people kept them as souvenirs or for numismatic collections. Now they have a lesser gem value but have become acceptable everywhere on Earth at their nominal value. The Spacer Credit has become the hardest currency on Earth - in more ways than one. A set of Spacer coins was presented to each country that had accepted a Spacer Embassy or Consulate.
Shortly after the Spacer's Treaty was signed, a new story hit the headlines. A woman was arrested in Denmark for possessing children's' marbles. The Spacer's consulate in Odense was informed and asked what action should be taken. The reply was simple: If the woman revealed where she got the marbles from, she should be cautioned. If she did not, she should be charged with the illegal possession of gems of the equivalent Earthly value. The woman confessed and a series of arrests followed in several countries. The marbles were returned to their original owners.
In a few months it became common to see Spacers on holiday in most of the world's resorts. Spacers could be identified by the tattoos on their foreheads that displayed their names and ranks (assuming that they were not masked by makeup). They also wore transparent body stockings - underneath conventional clothing in cities and towns - and nothing else when they were in secluded places. Hospitals and doctors were given instructions for removing a body stocking when it was necessary to treat a Spacer for a severe illness or injury. The collar of the body stocking was made to fit a space helmet. A Spacer could survive the vacuum of space and remain active for several minutes wearing only a body stocking and a helmet. The Spacer name for the body stocking they wear is a Formfit.
The Spacers League has not sold much of its high tech equipment to Earth-based companies. The transfer of Spacer technology to Earth has mainly taken place through gifts of medical equipment. Special units of military forces have been given so-called explosion containers to deal with old unexploded devices that have remained hidden since the wars of the last century. Spacer gossamer is a defensive device that is greatly feared by military commanders around the world. Only diamond coated materials are proof against it. It can cut tanks and rockets into slices with equal ease. The Spacer's College has attracted and recruited some of the brightest young people on Earth. The highly advanced level of Spacer technology has been an inevitable result.
Few Spacers have resigned from the service but one notable exception was a Swedish Spacer. She was the second daughter of the King of Sweden. When her older sister abdicated, she became Queen of Sweden. On her return to Earthly affairs she requested the Riksdag to pass a law granting all Spacers honorary Swedish citizenship. The members of the Riksdag voted against her proposal but voted for an alternative proposal of their own. "All Spacers arriving in Sweden should be treated as guests of the Queen." The Queen happily acknowledged the wisdom of the Riksdag's decision. The Queen's name is never mentioned in Spacer circles.
In recent times the Spacer's Embassy and Consulate buildings have become more like clubs for Spacers visiting Earth. The Spacer's Embassy in Britain in the London district of Bloomsbury has informally changed its name to The Spacer's Club.
A large number of retired Spacers have made their homes on Earth and have become unofficial ambassadors for their League. The Earthly neutrality of Spacers has made them ideal adjudicators in several international disputes. The Spacers League is reputed to have made very generous donations to the United Nations agencies that deal with humanitarian affairs. It is also rumoured that the Spacers have helped several non-governmental organisations specialising in sickness and famine relief.
Spacers on active service receive no salaries but their needs and wants are bountifully supplied. Spacers visiting Earth are allowed CR100.00 a day to cover their costs of accommodation and short distance travel within the country they are visiting. Long distance and international travel costs are paid for or vehicles are provided by the Spacer's League. The relatively small allowances that Spacers receive on Earth have been set to achieve several purposes. Since Spacers carry very little money, they are less likely to be targets for robbers. The money that they spend on Earth has had no effect on national economies. Becuse they do not carry much money, they are less likely to be overcharged for any goods or services that they buy.
Spacers have helped the rescue services and the police on many occasions but they have insisted that these Good Samaritan actions are never reported on Earth.
The Spacers League has a policy of not discussing Spacer affairs with non-Spacers. As a result it has been difficult to gather much information about them. It has been estimated that there are around 1200 Spacers from the numbers admitted to the Spacer's College. Of these around 800 are female. Candidates are accepted in roughly equal numbers but the drop-out rate among male students is very high.
Male Spacers have therefore acquired a reputation for masculinity. Many people consider Spacers to be 'outsiders' whose way of life is strange if not outrageous. Male Spacers are not considered by mothers to be suitable husbands for their daughters but their daughters dream about being partners of male Spacers. The displays of toy dolls in the shops reveal what girls think of Spacemen. Their favourites are the powered, male, dress-up dolls that are always displayed in vacuum suits. In nearly every case the vacuum suit is discarded to reveal the anti-decompression 'formfit' body stocking that is normally worn aboard spacecraft. These powered dolls can now be found in nearly every teenage girl's bedroom.
Because of their reputation, male Spacers are seldom seen alone. They prefer to be accompanied by one or more female Spacers in public places to discourage confrontations with teenage girls.
The Spacers League uses the term Spacer on its own to refer only to a female Spacer. Male Spacers are always referred to as male Spacers.
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