K3+

In the far distant future, humans no longer settle planets but build continent-size cylindrical megastructures called rotating habitats that perfectly replicate Earth conditions. Millions of these colonies orbiting a single star capture its entire energy output and provide housing for quadrillions of people—otherwise known as a Dyson swarm.

Humans are genetically enhanced and live forever, but their bodies never age past the early twenties. Planets become a curiosity because very few have set foot on one. So we meet the main character, Fedrix, celebrating his birthday by space-diving into an alien world with a group of friends.

But Fedrix was born on Earth as Federico. Yet another immigrant dazzled by the American dream of the 70s who, forced into early retirement by the brutal reality of corporate indifference, never imagined he’d dream again.

A small group of free-thinkers, engineers, and NASA washouts band together to take space exploration in a different direction. They became known as the Space Initiative and gave second chances to those like Federico, known in certain circles for his advocacy for rotating habitats.

After mining asteroids for decades, the Space Initiative builds the first rotating habitat: a tiny colony capable of housing a thousand people. Federico becomes the colony administrator.

Mining planet Mercury, later on, enables them to build O’Neill cylinders, island-sized rotating habitats, each capable of housing tens of millions.

With virtually unlimited energy and raw materials, the Space Initiative becomes very wealthy, declares itself a sovereign nation, and starts offering housing to those who seek escape from economic enslavement on Earth.

Two centuries later, people in space live in a post-scarcity utopia while those left on Earth are still struggling, and nations begin to collapse due to underpopulation. In an attempt to cling to power, China, Russia, and the U.S. ban emigration hoping to stop the exodus to space.

Meanwhile, the Space Initiative is desperate to extract a scientist who just achieved Faster-Than-Light communication. Because they recognize this discovery as the key to a unified galactic empire, the Initiative is willing to do whatever it takes to rescue him. But as the exodus to space continues, the ultimate conflict for the future of humanity becomes inevitable.