At the beginning of The Galactic Travel Era, scientists assisted by an AGI had developed ‘The Core.’ A controllable micro quantum singularity drive capable of absorbing or expelling energy at a near infinite scale. To regulate it and prevent tampering or abuse, they also built an ‘impenetrable’ AI-monitored forcefield system powered by The Core.

The mass-produced and ubiquitously utilized Cores catapulted humanity through the solar system and beyond. In addition, they were the driving force behind a post-scarcity existence with interstellar travel, planetary terraformation, and instantaneous resource collection.

Humankind had achieved feats once thought unobtainable.

One galactic calendar day, an emergency broadcast was transmitted by teleportation frequency to reach every colony throughout the occupied galaxy.

Robert Sagan and his wife, Sarah, both contracted robotics terraforming engineers, colonized an exoplanet called New Mars.

They attentively listened to the Galactic Council’s urgent announcement:

“To all colonists: You must immediately shut down your Cores indefinitely! A xenophobic ‘Earth First’ reactionary group has discovered the means to disable the forcefields and trigger remote Core explosions that can wipe out your colony and the entire solar system in which you reside. Therefore, we suggest that everyone permanently dismantle their Cores. If we wish to survive as a species, there’s no other choice. Godspeed and good luck!”

“Bob, what does this mean for us?” asked Sarah.

“It means we can never have nice things.” Robert frowned.