The imaginary world of Thrax Forder is our own Earth, but how it might be in 40-50 years time. Most of the technology that exists in the Thrax Forder stories actually already exist now in some form, or else the technology and know-how exists; it has just not been perfected as well as it is in these stories. There are no aliens, no faster than light travel and not many spaceships. Earth has established scientific outposts for research purposes, but only within the confines of our own solar system. Places include:

Orbiting Space Hotel

Earths first satellite hotel orbits the world and is the ultimate tourist destination. Only the very rich can afford to stay here, but the views of earth are breathtaking. Thrax plans to make some easy money by flying the rich and famous to this hotel and also to the moon when the first lunar hotel is finally built there.

Lunar Base Alpha

This is a grand name for the small scientific research facility that has been erected on the moons surface. It has science labs and crew quarters and up to a dozen astronauts live there at any time. The crew are representatives of the North American, European, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Indian space agencies. Thrax Forder was the first private astronaut to land a ship on the moon.

Lunar Homestead (or Dome-icile)

This is the private building project of Thrax Forder. All that is visible above the surface is a large dome shape, as more than half of the structure is under ground. Thrax created the structure by inflating a very large and robust balloon and then placing it into an existing crater that he and Isaac had further excavated. When the balloon was positioned correctly, Thrax had covered it in concrete using a mixture that was mostly moon dust, water and other additives. When the dome was erected, Thrax and Isaac had excavated the under ground area further to create a living area and storage room. The inside of the excavation and the dome had been coated in more concrete and the walls smoothed down. Although the results look quite good; so far it is just an empty shell, little more than a man made cave with steps leading down into it. Thrax hopes to be able to add power, lighting an airlock and decontamination facility eventually.

Dubai Spaceport

This was built during the boom years at the beginning of the century. It is a flat piece of ground with two runways, a control tower, a large glass administration building and three hangers. Thrax rents two of the hangers, one for his ship and the other to store cargo. He also rents an office there where he meets clients. The main employees of the Spaceport are:

• Donna – Receptionist
• Lisa – Communications Manager
• Muzzi – Head of Security
• Abid – Head of the consortium that owns the spaceport

British Corporation

Following the two great economic collapses of the 21st century, the British Government purchased all the companies that were bankrupt and nationalised them. The post service, transport, energy, communications and banks are now public sector controlled. By law, the government is only allowed to control 49% of the UK economy, however their many operate around the world. Public services are generally referred to as ‘The Corporation’ by most people.