The Planet We Repossessed
Two debt collectors seize a planet that insists it is a person.
ImagineYourBook writes a fresh draft from this idea.
How it begins
Mabel attached the repossession notice to the planet's north pole.
This was ceremonial.
The actual notice traveled through the orbital network, but her employer believed important financial events required a photograph.
She stood in the snow holding a company flag while the survey drone adjusted its angle.
"Smile," said the drone.
"No."
"Professional reassurance is associated with improved compliance."
Mabel showed her teeth.
The ground moved.
Not an earthquake. More like a person shifting beneath a blanket.
The flag leaned toward her.
A voice rose through the soles of her boots.
"That tickles."
The drone stopped recording.
Mabel looked at her assistant.
Arun was already kneeling, one gloved hand against the ice.
"Did you hear that?"
"Yes."
"What language?"
"Mine."
"It spoke mine."
They looked at each other.
On the horizon, a dark line of cloud rearranged itself into something almost like punctuation.
Mabel consulted her tablet.
Asset seizure procedures covered hostile populations, abandoned infrastructure and contaminated landing zones. They did not cover assets objecting in complete sentences.
"Under the terms of your outstanding obligation," she began.
"I don't owe you anything," said the planet.
"Your registered owner does."
"I wasn't aware I had one."
Arun stood slowly.
Below their landing site lived nineteen million people. Farmers, engineers, teachers, children. Mabel had read the summary. She always read the summaries, though her colleagues claimed this made the work unnecessarily personal.
"Who signed the loan?" the planet asked.
Mabel brought up the document.
The company named on it had been dissolved two hundred years before the first settlement.
She read the date again.
The flag slid out of the snow and fell at her feet.
"I would like," said the planet, "to speak to someone who is allowed to be embarrassed."
Arun covered his mouth.
Mabel switched off the drone.
"For once," she said, "you've reached the right department."
Your idea. Your book.
Keep the spark. Change anything.
Create my bookCreated with ImagineYourBook. Free to use as inspiration.
Outline and characters
- Mabel serves a repossession notice on a planet.
- The planet answers through its weather system.
- Arun establishes that its speech predates the colony.
- The federation argues personhood would invalidate every land deed.
- Colonists fear losing homes they built in good faith.
- Mabel discovers the original loan was issued to a dead company.
- The planet offers to cancel all debts if people leave.
- Arun negotiates coexistence rather than another forced removal.
- Mabel exposes the fraudulent chain of ownership.
- Residents and planet write a treaty based on use rather than possession.
Characters
- Mabel Quinn, 47. An interplanetary repossession officer
- Arun Pike, 40. A translator hired to interpret a planet's claim
Series possibilities
- Other worlds begin asking whether their treaties were signed under duress.
