Earth's Legacy: The Pia contingency

A new habitable world was discovered in the universe. The people of Earth could get there but only as a space colony.The real question was who would go?The atheists of Earth agreed to go to explore the new planet but only if they could form a new society, a society free from all religious beliefs. The untold secret goal of the group was even darker than they told their everyone, darker than anyone could have imagined.As soon as the space colony ship went past the point of no return, the leaders announced a harsher system that was originally proposed. Anyone caught worshipping anything was immediately put to death.Unbeknown to the leaders of the original colony, a small group of Believers imbedded themselves into the colony. They were visited by an angel of God who told them to go. They were told that they didn't have to go but if they didn't billions of souls would be lost for all of eternity.Some of the group that were visited by the angel went on the mission, some did not.The new planet was named PIA, an abbreviation for Planet of Intergalactic Atheists. The story picks up several generations after the original colonists landed. The grandson of the founder of the athestist group was in charge of the planet just as his father had been and his father's father before him. Stephen Steele was the grandson of one the original Believers that had imbedded themselves onto the space colony. The Believers spread out across the planet when they first arrived so as to keep safe. They formed small cell groups as well. That way if one group got caught the others would stay safe.His Grandparents migrated to the mountains. They lived in a small isolated village they named named Ash, Ash was very far away from the Darwin, the capital of the planet.Kristin Knope was born to be a prostitute just as her mother and her mother's mother was. Kristin never met her father as even her mother didn't know who he was. Even if she did know it would not have mattered much. Most children on PIA were raised in state run orphanages. If either of their parents stayed around it was usually the mother. Child were considered throw aways, especially children born into the lower class and Kristin was the lowest of the lowest class. She was born into the Hopeless class.On Pia the manual laborers were necessary at first, not so much later on. The laborers soon became useless. As more and more machinery arrived from Earth they were tossed aside. Soon an entire class of people moved into the gutters of Pia. They became the Hopeless class.Stephen Steele's parents and grandparents were part of the original team of Believers that developed their computer cyber systems. They were necessary to run the planet. They were considered valuable and given much freedom in the early days of Pia. They also helped create the Pianet, their world wide web. Fresh out of law school, Stephen Steele came across Kristin Knope on the streets of downtown Darwin. He had barely heard of a prostitution when he met Kristin due to his isolated upbringing.When he recognized what she was he determine to help her. He sent her to a charity that helped prostitutes reeducate themselves.It was years before they met again. By that time Kristin had a degree as a teacher and was teaching Kindergartners at Simpka elementary.Due to unfortunate circumstances Kristin lost her job and had to get work where ever she could. She also had a degree in paralegal studies and got a job in Stephen Steele's law office. They didn't recognise each other at first from their long ago chance encounter but they soon remembered each other.Stephen's real mission in life was was the same as his parents and grandparents, to tell people about God and let them decide for themselves whether or not to follow him.The Supreme Chancellor of Pia says that he is against all religions but in truth he is not. In fact he is being controlled by one. A mysterious being that suddenly appears.