A story from The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey, telling the story of the creator of the Epstein Engine. One hundred and fifty years ago, before the events of the novel Leviathan Wakes, the Asteroid Belt was a distant frontier with a gigantic reserve of mineral wealth beyond the reach of economically viable development, but one could not even dream of the outer planets. Three generations after the first colonists pierced the rock and soil of Mars, humanity's second home, Solomon Epstein fashioned a slightly modified nuclear engine. Epstein did not give people stars, but he opened access to planets and, in addition, to the Belt.