PROLOGUE
“Let’s see now...” Gass of Vaypoor said, as she checked her list.
In front of her, on a sheet of something the natives called paper, was written a breakdown of the planet’s valuable elements. Because she had no hands to hold the piece of paper, the human boy who had been helping her held the list up for her to read.
“Are you sure this is everything?” she asked.
The boy, who was shivering in the cold mountain air, nodded.
“Hold still boy,” she said as his shaking hands jostled the paper.
The gauntlets on the boy’s arms glowed green and his twitching hand went still.
She examined the columns of words and numbers. The list was pretty comprehensive, she assumed the boy knew what was valuable.
Iron - 30 million tons
Water - 1,448,259,888,391,745,625 tons
Titanium – 10 million ton’s
Oxygen – 567,235,786,532,245,890 tons
Sugar – 15 million tons
Chocolate – 5 million tons
Oil – 66 billion tons
Diamonds - 50 billion tons
“Also the moons made of cheese,” the boy said.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he replied, clearly bored.
“Good. Now then this planet is worth lots of money and you’re going to help me sell it,” she said.
“Ok....who too,” the boy asked.
“Anyone who can pay for it,” Gass replied “you must handle the auction and negotiations.”
“One problem,” the boy said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“You don’t own this planet, anyone you sell it to cannot take legal possession of it, since you don’t have to right,” he explained.
“That’s not an issue,” she said. “The people bidding for it won’t know that I don’t own it, and you are not going to tell them.”
The boy shrugged.
“However the planet is not currently suited for the richest aliens in the universe to settle on. Give it a few more decades and it would have been warm enough, however Glayciar’s scheme reset the hard work human’s have been doing to warm the planet.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I have a few ideas.”
“How much hotter are we talking about?” he asked.
“Hot enough to melt all the ice on the planet,” she said.
“That will cause massive flooding won’t it?” Luke said.
“Yes it will. America, Australia, parts of Asia will end up underwater.”
The boy frowned.
“Your country too.”
“I see,” he said.
“But the flooding only makes the planet more agreeable for the richest aliens,” Gass said. "you see it's like a game or magic trick. You have to make the potential buyers think they're getting something valuable."
The boy had stopped shivering completely and was staring hard at her.
Gass wasn’t paying him any attention though, she was already thinking about what she would buy with the money she was going to make. “Go and organise the sale. I need to start some Global Warming,” she said and looked up into the sky, and dreaming of money.
In front of her, on a sheet of something the natives called paper, was written a breakdown of the planet’s valuable elements. Because she had no hands to hold the piece of paper, the human boy who had been helping her held the list up for her to read.
“Are you sure this is everything?” she asked.
The boy, who was shivering in the cold mountain air, nodded.
“Hold still boy,” she said as his shaking hands jostled the paper.
The gauntlets on the boy’s arms glowed green and his twitching hand went still.
She examined the columns of words and numbers. The list was pretty comprehensive, she assumed the boy knew what was valuable.
Iron - 30 million tons
Water - 1,448,259,888,391,745,625 tons
Titanium – 10 million ton’s
Oxygen – 567,235,786,532,245,890 tons
Sugar – 15 million tons
Chocolate – 5 million tons
Oil – 66 billion tons
Diamonds - 50 billion tons
“Also the moons made of cheese,” the boy said.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he replied, clearly bored.
“Good. Now then this planet is worth lots of money and you’re going to help me sell it,” she said.
“Ok....who too,” the boy asked.
“Anyone who can pay for it,” Gass replied “you must handle the auction and negotiations.”
“One problem,” the boy said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“You don’t own this planet, anyone you sell it to cannot take legal possession of it, since you don’t have to right,” he explained.
“That’s not an issue,” she said. “The people bidding for it won’t know that I don’t own it, and you are not going to tell them.”
The boy shrugged.
“However the planet is not currently suited for the richest aliens in the universe to settle on. Give it a few more decades and it would have been warm enough, however Glayciar’s scheme reset the hard work human’s have been doing to warm the planet.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I have a few ideas.”
“How much hotter are we talking about?” he asked.
“Hot enough to melt all the ice on the planet,” she said.
“That will cause massive flooding won’t it?” Luke said.
“Yes it will. America, Australia, parts of Asia will end up underwater.”
The boy frowned.
“Your country too.”
“I see,” he said.
“But the flooding only makes the planet more agreeable for the richest aliens,” Gass said. "you see it's like a game or magic trick. You have to make the potential buyers think they're getting something valuable."
The boy had stopped shivering completely and was staring hard at her.
Gass wasn’t paying him any attention though, she was already thinking about what she would buy with the money she was going to make. “Go and organise the sale. I need to start some Global Warming,” she said and looked up into the sky, and dreaming of money.
