Chapter 17 Chapter fifteen

(Quoted from page 634784, paragraph 5a. Entry: Mangrass) Back in the mists of antiquity, in the great and glorious days of the former Galactic Empire, life was blazing, rich and almost tax-free.Powerful starships shuttle between alien stars, pursuing adventure and riches in the farthest reaches of the entire galaxy.In those days, the spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women, and the little furry creatures from Centauri Prime were real little furry creatures from Centauri Prime.All dared to face unknown risks, pursue great achievements, and explore areas full of uncertainties that no one had set foot before-these formed the solid foundation of the empire.

Of course a lot of people got very rich because of it, but that's perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of, because no one is really poor - at least not one worth mentioning .Inevitably, at some point in time, the lives of all the wealthiest and most successful businessmen became quite dull and trivial, and they began to think that it was all the fault of the world they inhabited.Not one of them was entirely content: either that the weather wasn't great in the second half of the afternoon, or that the day was half an hour too long, or that the sea was an unnatural pink color. As a result, a new specialty industry came into being: custom luxury planets.The home of this industry is the planet Manglas.There, hyperspace engineers siphon matter through white holes in space and use it to construct fantastic planets—gold stars, platinum stars, soft rubber stars with frequent earthquakes—all of which are built according to the strictest rules of the galaxy's most Made to order by the rich and rich.

The venture succeeded to the point that Magrath itself soon became the wealthiest planet ever to exist, leaving the rest of the galaxy impoverished.So the whole system collapsed.Empires collapsed, and a long silence fell over a billion hungry worlds, disturbed only by the pens wielded by scholars as they penned their complacent political economy treatises late at night. Magrath disappeared, and its memory soon became a dark legend. Of course, in this enlightened age, no one believes such legends.