EarthSale

COPY: CORPORATE HISTORIAN

LOCATION: PALFREM DISTRICT TPX41/P39/Z649

OWNER: J. CHRIST INC.

LOCAL PLANET I.D. ‘EARTH’

LIFE FORMS: ANIMAL & PLANT - CLASS. 18/468

OTHER LIFE: HUMAN - APPROX. 6 BILLION UNITS

LOCAL TIME: 1 EARTH YEAR = 0.000000982 CENTRAL DIVISIONS

(All times in this report are in Earth years)

Earth was constructed four billion years ago by God Almighty, a successful mineral merchant from Mulkine in the Veayr District, using materials from the nearest star, Palfrem 87546. His intention was to use the planet as a base for local operations as he had won the contract to explore the entire district. There were several other planets in the solar system at the time, but the extensive renovations required made the new planet a more viable option.

Unfortunately for Almighty, his plans were thrown into chaos by the celebrated Houleron mineral discovery. Houleron is much closer to Central than Palfrem, so Almighty’s market shrank to the distant, and minimal, outposts of the universe. Almighty soon found himself close to bankruptcy and after many years of haggling with creditors, retained only one asset - Earth.

The planet became a staging post for passing travellers for the next few billion years and Almighty managed to turn a small profit. Then his son arrived from Mulkine to take over the business and renamed it J. Christ Inc.

Christ was confident he could turn Earth into a profitable concern. "I’d graduated from Mulkine Provincial Business College," he told me, " majoring in Organizational Farming." He mortgaged the planet to finance his ambitious plan to farm Flemeth (dinosaur hide). Extensive research had proved the planet’s atmosphere ideally suitable for the trade.

Importing several thousand species of dinosaur from the development colony of Flemwole in the Ruyop District, Christ set about his task. He brought in the best wranglers and the business flourished for 100 million years. Christ was well on the way to the fortune that had eluded his father.

Like his father, however, Christ was soon dealt a serious blow. "Because Earth is so remote, I was only vaguely aware of the problems with the SPOCTIS lobby group in Central."

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Inferior Species had campaigned for millions of years to have Flemeth outlawed on the grounds that dinosaurs were being mistreated. Christ disputes this, but SPOCTIS, buoyed by their success in banning dinosaur baiting, finally got their way. Flemeth farming was suddenly illegal.

"I was shocked. The business was so lucrative I hadn’t bothered to diversify." Christ’s precarious financial situation forced him onto the black market. Aided by Earth’s isolation he enjoyed, nervously, a few thousand more profitable years.

This came to an end when a SPOCTIS operative, disguised as a Gidopean wrangler, infiltrated the operation. Christ was heavily fined and the entire stock of dinosaur was confiscated and returned to Flemwole. Left with only the Earth, Christ was on the point of selling up and returning home. But he changed his mind when a passing traveller told him of the startling news from Hydron 4. Christ sensed that he was back in business.

For two million years scientists had been tinkering with humans. The famous A.D. Amone invented them after stumbling on a simple process of manufacture involving materials from animal classification 18. The problem with humans, however, was that they had little practical use. Amone had installed some basic intelligence in his prototypes, but they were capable of only the most menial tasks without extensive supervision.