INTRODUCTION
Nobody really knows how big the universe is. Some say it's small and inside our heads, and some others say it's massive and branched. Some just wish they'd make up their minds and figure out what exactly the universe is.
The product of this universe's extreme size is that there are an awful lot of planets in it. These planets can be as fixed as Blockia, where spherical beings are shunned to the lowest points of society while a cube rules as king; or they could be as free as... well, Earth. Some planets are uninhabited, miserable places. The problem with these planets is that over time they got in the way of things. Interstellar vehicles were stuck behind huge conga lines of moonlets in one notorious incident near Arroq Statol.
But some planets stay put. They don't move in conga lines, but follow a perfect orbit. They are uninhabited, save for some tourists that may or may not pop in for a bite to eat, and the Interblox Mining Company starships that hang over these planets day and night. One such planet, sunken into myth and legend like jell-o in a mold, is the mysterious planet of Oro. It is said to be made of pure gold all the way down to the core, where the gold flows hot and runny. The oceans on Oro are said to be chilly liquid gold, an impossibility to be sure; however it is a legend, so what would you expect? The people of Oro are said, as well, to have died from turning into gold themselves. Many people have tried to find Oro, but none have ever returned save for one old man, and he died a day later from metal fever (a skin-mineralization disease that turns you into a metal statue).
The odd thing was, his statue was lead, not gold.