Custom Casket Company - The Southern Funeral Director Magazine
Custom Casket Company - The Southern Funeral Director Magazine
Custom Casket Company - The Southern Funeral Director Magazine
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18<br />
A Brief History of<br />
Early Non-Terrestrial<br />
Memorialization<br />
by: Oscar Rios<br />
Chapter One –<br />
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust to Dust.<br />
In the early days of space colonization Luna, or<br />
Earth’s moon, was the site of the first non-terrestrial<br />
burial. This occurred on October 21st, 2083, forty<br />
two year before Lunar independence for Terra. In<br />
those days Luna was little more than a construction<br />
site for early colonial transports (as the Montgomery<br />
-Quade shipbuilding facility wouldn’t be finished<br />
until 2096). Other than that Luna was mostly used<br />
as a location for mining and as a fueling station for<br />
colonial transports, loading up on Luna ice to power<br />
the vessel’s early Ion propulsion systems. In this<br />
period Luna was administered by a variety of Terran<br />
governments and a handful of small independent<br />
companies, all working to support the Martian<br />
colonization efforts.<br />
It’s a commonly held belief that Ho-Wu Tseng was the<br />
first person to die on Luna, but this is not the case. Mr.<br />
Tseng was actually the ninth person to die on Earth’s<br />
moon; he was only the first person whose body was not<br />
returned to Earth. A review of the historical archives<br />
of Luna clearly shows that the EU had three deaths<br />
before then, the United States two, and the Sino-<br />
Chinese Pact suffered the remaining three deaths on<br />
Luna before the death of Mr. Tseng. <strong>The</strong>se deaths<br />
had all been a combination of construction accidents,<br />
fatalities due to undetected medical conditions and in<br />
one case an apparent suicide. <strong>The</strong> bodies of these<br />
seven men and one woman were all returned to Earth<br />
by their respective governments. However Ho-Wu<br />
Tseng was a construction foreman for the Rosenthal<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Southern</strong> <strong>Funeral</strong> <strong>Director</strong> w Alliance NFDA & CANA Pre Convention 2011<br />
Consortium, an independent sub-contractor hired by<br />
the Sino-Chinese Pact to mine Lunar ice a operate a<br />
refinery to process it into Ion Fuel.<br />
In those days competition was fierce, between the<br />
National Earth government programs and the subcontractors<br />
they employed. In many cases corners<br />
were cut and safety was sacrificed in the name of<br />
efficiently and profits. It was just these conditions<br />
that would spark the Lunar Independence Movement<br />
and lead to major industrial reforms, but that wouldn’t<br />
occur until the early 2100’s. Ho-Wu Tseng died in an<br />
industrial accident at RC-RF2, a lunar ice refinery. A<br />
faulty coupling valve gave way, filling the chamber<br />
he was working in with super heated steam. Mr. Wu<br />
is credited with sealing off the chamber and closing<br />
the valve feeding pressurized steam into the ruptured<br />
coupling. His actions undoubtedly saved the lives of<br />
the other seventeen workers in the refinery. However<br />
he was burned over 60% of this body and died two<br />
days later, on October 12th, 2083.<br />
His superior working at the refinery requested that the<br />
body be transported to back Earth for final disposition.<br />
However, the request was passed through channels for<br />
seven days, as no at the Rosenthal Consortium wished<br />
to authorize the transport. <strong>The</strong> reason was cost.<br />
Supply ships from Earth were infrequent and every<br />
gram of weight was factored in. This was true both<br />
transports coming to and returning from Luna. It was<br />
estimated that transporting Ho-Wu Tseng’s remains<br />
back to Earth for cremation (as was his family’s<br />
wishes) would cost the Rosenthal Consortium 53<br />
Million Credits.