“While the salvage brought down from the Fleet was enough to get basic shelters up, it soon became apparent that there was an urgent need for more resources to support the colony. Julian Shepard took charge of the mining efforts - leading prospecting teams into the mountain range now known as The Teeth, and founding the mining camp which would later become known as El Dorado. The workshops from many of the surviving ships were removed and re-purposed to give some basic tools to the camp, which allowed those working there to begin to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Every seam of ore found was processed, reforged, and used to make better mining tools that could dig deeper, with only small amounts making it back to improve Landing at first.
This strategy, while unpopular in the short term, paid dividends within a few months, as the camp at El Dorado was well established, and daily shipments of metals from the rich veins under The Teeth allowed the engineers at Landing almost unlimited resources to build whatever they wanted. Unsurprisingly, for people who had spent so long relying on ships for every aspect of their lives, one of the first industries was the space program. Julianne Relley led the charge - focusing on satellite technologies, including the GPS and communications infrastructures that are still in use today. While it is doubtless that much of the investment came about due to people wanting an escape route in case Terra Libre was not as safe as it seemed, the boost that came from having worldwide telecoms, mapping, and surveying coverage kickstarted the economy of the planet.
Within a few years, the second largest continent, Ichabod, was converted into an automated farming system. Designed to be modular, and allow for any future expansion, the systems in the farms could grow anything that was present in the genebanks, harvest it, and ship it out to Landing or the other smaller settlements. With basic needs being provided for automatically, Terra Libre underwent an industrial and cultural revolution - while some maintenance jobs were still required, the level of automation coupled with rationing habits ingrained from months aboard ships meant that there was plenty for everyone, and everyone had time to pursue their interests.
The volcanic continent of Fuckno was the next to be harnessed - great power stations sunk their claws into the boiling heart of the land. The volcanic heat provided ample power - power which was beamed up to a satellite network for later transmission to ground stations around the planet.”
- An excerpt from History of the Exodus, Volume 2: Eta Helion, 2172
“Reports are coming in of an industrial accident in El Dorado. So far, there is only one confirmed death, the manager of the plant, whose office appears to have become filled with superheated steam following a disastrous leak.”
“Well you see, Frank, we're dealing with a whole new planet here. It's certainly a tragedy that that police station was hit by the diverted downbeam, but this is the first time we have seen such atmospheric phenomena, so we could hardly have anticipated it. The public can rest assured that we have put every possible measure in place to detect and prevent any future incidents.”
“Kiernan Healy, an engineer with an almost unsurpassed record both during and following the Exodus, was arrested today. According to Vyrin Rosen, Mr Healy had conducted deliberate sabotage against almost every project he had been involved in, adding backdoors which allowed him to seize control at any moment. Investigations are continuing into a number of fatal accidents, which may have been a result of this sabotage as Mr Healy attempted to prevent any investigation.”