"Yeah," Jackson confirms, not entirely aware that the state of affairs for the colony is upsetting his boyfriend. It's become business as usual for the colonists and after so many years of being outside regular governmental jurisdiction, they don't seem to be holding out much hope for things to change.
"Most of the original colonists are indentured to the Program. They sign up for fifteen or twenty years, sometimes more, in exchange for something. It's usually financial. People figure they'll never pay off their debt on their own, so they sign up and the Program pays it off for them, then the person's contractually obligated for however many years of service." Which is what happened with his parents, though Jackson doesn't explain as much in so many words.
"Each colony has a yearly production quota for whatever they produce. Some colonies are lucky and their planets are suitable for terraforming and farming. I've even heard of a colony dedicated to farming solar energy from the star it orbits." Whereas Boeshane's location is unfortunate. Jackson shrugs a little. "When a colony fails to meet it's yearly quota, then it starts gaining interest. Really, when you think about it, sometimes the Program is the same system a lot of people were trying to escape, a huge debt that can't be repaid." But it's the luck of the draw and maybe that's the appeal. Some colonists work off their debt on centralized colonies near inhabited systems farming crops, others get stuck on a rock filtering minerals out of the ocean.
no subject
"Most of the original colonists are indentured to the Program. They sign up for fifteen or twenty years, sometimes more, in exchange for something. It's usually financial. People figure they'll never pay off their debt on their own, so they sign up and the Program pays it off for them, then the person's contractually obligated for however many years of service." Which is what happened with his parents, though Jackson doesn't explain as much in so many words.
"Each colony has a yearly production quota for whatever they produce. Some colonies are lucky and their planets are suitable for terraforming and farming. I've even heard of a colony dedicated to farming solar energy from the star it orbits." Whereas Boeshane's location is unfortunate. Jackson shrugs a little. "When a colony fails to meet it's yearly quota, then it starts gaining interest. Really, when you think about it, sometimes the Program is the same system a lot of people were trying to escape, a huge debt that can't be repaid." But it's the luck of the draw and maybe that's the appeal. Some colonists work off their debt on centralized colonies near inhabited systems farming crops, others get stuck on a rock filtering minerals out of the ocean.