Frank had lived the first thirty years of his life as Alfred Nobel. Alfred had been a computer programmer for StellarSoft, and had stashed away a good deal of money. Alfred took a vacation and while over the Phillipines in a charter plane shot the pilot and sent the plane into a nose dive. Alfred bailed out and watched from the air as the plane exploded into a small island. Two weeks later the authorities found the plane wreck. Alfred was assumed dead. At about that same time, a man emerged from the Phillipines calling himself Frank Sherpton. He claimed to have been mugged and had his identification stolen.
The reason Alfred pulled this switch was because the FBI had been tipped off about an Internet accounting scam that Alfred, A.K.A. Frank, was involved in. Alfred had withdrew all of his money from the bank and hidden it in an apartment in New York he had rented under the name Frank Sherpton. Three weeks later all that could tie Frank Sherpton to Alfred Nobel were fingerprints. Four weeks later all records of Alfred Nobel mysteriously disappeared from FBI computers.
The man formerly known as Alfred Nobel got a job at a galactic pitchfork, one called "Kaufman Corporation Launch Site". The Kaufman Corporation was one of only a handful of non-government pitchforks. Kaufman Corp. was a loan agency for new governments that wanted to transform small colonies into economic powerhouses. Kaufman Corp. also shipped supplies to these colonies at a discount if they had taken out a loan. Frank was in charge of launching these materials to the desired planet. He would oraganize the various cells involed and push the big red button at countdown. Then the electro-magnets would start up and prepare to launch the cargo away at one tenth of light speed. Large streams of blue energy would form between the prongs. Five seconds later, the cargo would be further away than the moon. In about 40 minutes it could be to Mars. In 42.2 years it could be to Proxima. When traveling that far, most cargo vessels are set to punch through space-time when they get at least half an AU (astronomical unit) away from Earth. This shortens the trip by about 42 years.
It is such a punch through that Frank Sherpton is about to undertake. He is now far enough away from the planet to attempt a star leap. This entails exiting space-time and then punching through from outside to a completely different place without really moving anywhere at all. The procedure is dangerous enough to warrant hazard pay. That was why he took it. Frank is stockpiling money so that he could live on a ranch of his own on Venus. Venus was the next big planet to conquer after Mars had been domesticated. Already scientists had sent down plants that manufactured a base from the acid rain. Slowly that planet was neutralizing and losing it's harsh yellow clouds. Frank lifts the cover on the star punch button. If the punch went wrong, you vanished, or exploded. The sheilds could only hold you outside reality for a limited amount of time. If you came in wrong, you could end up in the middle of the planet. Or a star. Or another ship.
Frank prays and then pushes the button. He and his ship explode into millions of pieces. Frank Sherpton, A.K.A. Alfred Nobel, is no more. What happened was this; one of the essential vaulves had clogged, causing only part of the punch to be completed. Like trying to ride a bike with no wheels down a 45 degree hill, the ship crashed. It crashed on itself, and now Frank is dead. They say in space no one can hear you scream. He wouldn't have had time anyway. One of his eyeballs floats through the rubble. Because of the way that they are made, eyeballs are the largest part of a person to survive in an accident of this nature. Go figure. If there's a moral to this story, it has to be a complete coincidence.