Based on the picture "Attack of the Seastars" by Gidroliz.
Thanks to Todger 65 for the edit.
As dumps go this isn't half bad.
Judy strolled along the beach. The beach wasn't pretty or pristine but the description couldn't apply to the planet either. Grayson World's lack of tourist attractiveness came not from dangerous lifeforms but its utter colorlessness.
They don't call this planet "Gray seas" for nothing.
The skies were gray, the beach was gray, the seas were gray. Grayson spent most of its 460 day year in overcast. It was 90% water, much of it shallow oceans. What little landmass present was gathered into two small island continents and archipelagos scattered across the planet.
Tropical rain forest characterized much of the plant life, albeit the second island continent contained considerable grass land. In spite the overcast, the temperature was a very humid eighty degrees; warm and humid, a Grayson trademark. The temperature rarely dipped below sixty in the winter season.
Judy didn't come to Grayson for pleasure . . . well, not
exactly
true; she couldn't resist a brief gloat. Business explained her presence. Her physical presence was necessary to take possession of the property, according to the palimony settlement.
The property in this case, being the island, the beach, and the surrounding coral reef.
And this place is supposed to make me a fortune. It looks like shit,
she fumed.
Barry cheated me. Didn't think the idiot had it in him.
Judy Myers, as cheating, gold-digging con artists went, wasn't too smart but definitely no chump. One could say her intellect was just above average. Smart enough, at least, to know a good mark.
She spent most of her 25 years with small cons and petty theft. A nice life but she wanted more. Then a colleague suggested Hebrides Four, a nice, well populated colony, initially settled by a feminist collective. The laws were extremely favorable towards women, especially with divorce and palimony. All she needed do was find a rich pigeon, live with him awhile, and then take him to the cleaners.
Judy thought it over and decided,
Why not?
She was hot, not supermodel hot, but hot enough. She had black hair, cut short in a pixie style, lovely brown eyes, a snub nose, full lips, a fit, athletic body; a nifty little package that could get lucky.
Things went near perfect. She found a mark; a boring rich bug collector named Barry. She played with him for a few years (and around him as well, Barry was shit in bed) and, when the time came, got a lawyer and sued for palimony.
Unfortunately, her suit hit a snag; most of Barry's assets were tied up in real estate, on planets scattered around the Terran controlled rim.
Okay, pick the one he fights hardest to keep.
It turned out to be this shithole.
I don't understand it,
she thought looking around.
The finance net says this place generates billions of bitcoin per cycle.
The place looked like it barely brought out a couple thou.
Judy also took note of the quiet. Except for a soft warm breeze and murmuring surf, everything was still.
Boring, boring, boring.
There had to be a reason Barry would fight for the place. Grayson contained few precious minerals, and not enough heavy metals to turn a profit. Fossilized fuels were in abundance but few planets used those anymore. Strategic military value was nil and trading vessels only used the planet as a rest stop. In other words,
Sleepy, quiet, and out of the way. Maybe it's biologicals.
As an ocean planet with some land mass, Grayson sported an abundance of plant and animal life, some of which found their way to zoos and botanical gardens, but even that trade didn't bring the numbers claimed by the finance net. Judy figured the profits were probably chemical or genetic.
Exotic plants and animals had all sorts of genetic tidbits; valuable to any research or pharmaceutical company. Barry, as property holder, owned everything on it. Companies could take what they wanted, so long as they paid him licensing fees, a cut of the profits from whatever product of research, and stock options.
Yeah, it's biologicals.
Judy flashed back to the courthouse after the judge awarded her the property. Barry had fought her tooth and nail in his dull, quiet way but gave in at the end.
"So Barry," she gloated on the courthouse steps, "What's so special about the planet. Why the fight?"
Barry looked at her with a sour expression, as if she were rot on an apple. "Find out yourself, bitch," he said with a cold, bland menace that took her aback. Barry never cursed. He was a boy scout; the kind Judy regarded with utter contempt.
I really pissed him off.
It unsettled her for some reason.
The wiki on the planet was mysteriously corrupted, with gaps in information scattered throughout the site; a computer virus. Judy had her suspicions. She decided a quick trip to Grayson was in order.
The manager of the local hotel expressed genuine surprise on seeing her. His surprise elevated to shock when she told him, "You work for me now."
Barry owned the hotel; when the property transferred to Judy, so did ownership of the resort. The news, apparently hadn't reached the manager. She showed him the legal pad, with a holo from Barry. "Show my ex-live-in every courtesy," he gritted through his teeth.
Judy spent a few days rest before heading to the beach. Few guests were present; mostly a scientist or two, or a business person on layover.
Geez, what a backwater,
but the advantage was no distractions from nosy guests while she investigated.
Now standing on a gray beach, under a gray sky, by a gray sea, an odd thought popped into Judy's head:
Why am I wearing my body suit?
Typically women like Judy wore bikinis on beaches, but bikinis were for fun and sunbathing. Grayson wasn't fun. Besides, the gray sky made the bikini idea ridiculous. It didn't disguise the fact of the planet's heat and humidity. Judy was sweltering, so the full body suit seemed ridiculous too. She didn't think twice about removing it and, for good measure, her bra and panties.
There's no one nearby, the staff stays at the hotel and really, who gives a fuck? It's mine. I can do what I want.
She stood, letting the mild ocean breeze cool her skin, and then rummaged in her body suit for the bio-scanner. Scanners were standard for exploratory missions. They scanned the genetic and chemical properties of xeno-flora and fauna, then compared them to data on the infonet.
If I'm going to find what Barry's been hiding, this is the best way.
Judy, earlier, decided to explore the waters around the island, and the next day, the island's interior. She didn't worry about dangerous lifeforms. Grayson was rated B-plus for safety, so long as people stayed away from the deep ocean.
Grayson's islands were unique for their extensive coral reefs. Fringing reefs extended for leagues beyond the islands' shores. A human could walk for days in ankle deep water before coming to the surf. Meanwhile, a profusion of seaweed, seagrass, sponges, and other plants and animals covered the coral, creating a living cushion so soft, early explores named it barefoot coral.
The wiki warned, however, the reef flats were dotted with shallow pools and depressions, so Judy knew not to be too reckless.
I'll just walk a few miles out and take a look at some of the pools.
Barefoot coral lived up to its reputation. Even though the coral and rocks looked hard and sharp, walking over the reef felt like striding across a thick, wet carpet.
Judy scanned the area with her bio-pad. It listed all the species of grass, seaweed, and other life in the vicinity, from the microscopic to the larger fish. Chemical and genetic compositions were listed on the screen. Judy, then, looked up the species on the wiki, focusing on industrial and pharmaceutical uses, specifically in relation to her ex's, now her holdings. She didn't find much beyond the culinary.
Some of the sea plants were harvested for restaurants but not in quantities justifying any profit. Plus, most of the plants scanned could be grown on other planets, convenient for restaurants and food companies not wanting to pay extra for shipping.
So it's not the plants.
The microscopics and plankton didn't seem useful either, except as food for the local fish.
Huh? What's that?
Judy was scanning near one of the pools when she saw it; just a glimpse. Her first thought,
A spider?
It darted away before she could do a proper scan.
She consulted the wiki for info on Grayson arachnids.
Nothing much,
she saw. No details to match the creature.
It was just a glimpse. I'll have to take a closer look.
The pool didn't seem too deep, more an indentation really, characterized by the slightly darker water. Judy wasn't about to take a chance of missing an exotic new species.
Barry is hiding something. I know it!
Judy grit her teeth.
This place generates too much money.
Other than barefoot coral, Judy noticed small rock-like formations dotted around the pool. They looked strange but she couldn't pinpoint the reason. They were covered in moss, their shapes generally round, and ranged in size from small pumpkins to large watermelons. Smaller stones sat flush and adjacent to the rocks, many also round and roughly the size of melons.
The overall shape of the formations disturbed Judy. She noted similar formations around the other pools. Judy put aside her misgivings for the immediate task: finding Barry's secret.
She stepped to the rim.
Should I dive in and investigate?
According to the wiki, the pools were safe, compared to the deep ocean where most of the big predators lived.
The info could be corru . . . What's that?!
It was on one of the rocks, at the edge. Judy had a clearer view this time. She crept up and used the bioscan. One word flashed across the screen, "Seastar."
The wiki provided more information. "Species of starfish? Valued for pharmaceuticals? Aha! What kind?"
The wiki's corrupted information provided few details but when the word "longevity drugs" appeared, Judy actually heard an ancient cash register go off, "Kerching!"
"You clever, sneaky son-of-a-bitch!" Judy felt some admiration, surprised he managed to keep this secret throughout their relationship.
