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Lee Interorbital
History > 0030 to 0900 AT: Solsys Era > 130 to 400 AT: The Interplanetary Age
Culture and Society > Economics
Culture and Society > Economics
 Image from Steve Bowers |
Marcus Alfonse Lee was born in 2119 CE (150 AT), part of the first generation of genetically engineered babies that would come to be known as Homo Superior. His mother, a rocket engineer named Victoria, trained him from a young age for a leadership role in the family-owned business she founded, then named Lee Launch Systems. Having sought and been granted legal majority early, and becoming chairman of the board just after turning 17 years of age, he was quick to see the potential for venture capitalism in the space rush then just beginning in the 2130s CE (160s AT).
By 2150 CE (181 AT), the company, now renamed Lee Interorbital and taken public, had a fleet of LEO shuttles. By 2170 CE (201 AT), they had established their own orbital habitat, a combination of theme park, business hotel, and tax and data haven, officially called Elysium but more affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) known as Marcus World. This was to be the first of a number of "company biospheres" that were later to dot the asteroid belt and the surface of the half-terraformed Mars.
Even after numerous life extension treatments and deep into his second century of life, Lee ruled the corporation with an iron hand, investing heavily in cutting edge biotech, asteroid mining, and even experimental habitats deep in the Outer Solar System, a stormy sea that had already sunk many lesser investors. By 2300 CE (331 AT), he seemed to be becoming increasingly rigid and inflexible in his decisions, a common problem among many early over-rejuved people.
A series of catastrophic business decisions saw stock plummeting and the company brought to its knees. A corporate takeover by the aggressive AI in charge of Hyperion Interplanetary saved the company but ousted Lee. Bitter and disillusioned, he defected to the Gengineer Republic, and likely died of old age not long thereafter.
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Updated 23 October 2022
Initially published on 03 December 2001.
Updated 23 October 2022
Initially published on 03 December 2001.
