THE STRANGE PLANET by J.Y.


	"Captain."

	Pause.

	"Captain."

	"What."

	"It's Lieutenant.  I found another one.  Sector Epsilon 
Quadrant Q, x-109, y-87, z-6.  It's not too big."

	"Another one?  You're already three past commission, you know.  
Just might get an extra week of vacation.  You sent the scanners down 
already?"

	"Yeah, they're down.  I've already got as much as I'll probably 
get from them.  Am I coming in pretty clear?"

	"It's clear enough, I can hear you.  You have the full report 
then?"

	"I got it.  Is the data recorder on?"

	"Yeah, it's on.  Go ahead."

	"All right.  It's a blue planet, fairly small.  The surface is 
covered with a few white stripes and streaks.  Not too impressive 
looking.  Surprisingly, though, it appears to sustain a number of life 
forms.  These forms range from microscopic in size to one hundred meters, 
or possibly more even.  There is also reason to believe at one time 
there may have been even larger creatures as well."

	"Huh.  This is going to make for a boring report."

	"Wait, I'm not done.  Most of the dominant species have to 
work to produce food and materials to keep their race thriving.  
Ironically, it is these people who make up the least percentage of 
monetary income and flow."

	"That's weird.  What are the recent technological acheivements?"

	"Well, most of their stuff is still pretty primitive.  They do
have this one thing that's kind of nifty, though.  It's a machine that 
can store an exact copy of its surroundings and transfer them to small 
sheets of paper, or they can be wired to large, flat display units."

	"Hmm.  That's cool.  So, what's the major source of income?"
  
	"Heh, this is where it gets weird.  The creatures that get paid 
most are the larger ones.  They get paid to run around and hurl 
projectile objects at each other.  And get this.  The large object-tossers 
get paid even more if they hold certain objects in their hands and let 
other creatures use the image-data-recorders to record them.  Then the
other creatures sell the objects that the object-tossers were holding."

	"Weeiirrd."

	"Totally.  Am I still coming in okay?"

	"Don't worry, it's coming in clear.  How big is this place, 
exactly?"

	"This is what I couldn't figure out exactly.  The scanners got 
jammed by some frequency coming from the planet.  It seemed like it 
was trying to identify itself.  Sounded something like 'See-tie.'  At 
any rate, the scanners couldn't analyze the exact size; I'd guess 
roughly about twelve thousand kilometers across, maybe.  Roughly."

	"All right, that's probably enough for the report.  Good job, 
Lieutenant."

	"Thanks, captain.  I going home now; have to get some rest 
before the ceremony tomorrow."

	"Sure.  I'll see you tomorrow then."

	"See you."

	

copyright 1999 J.Y.