Odd planetary law

[Jymesion]

Sorry if this is a little muddled -- idea snuck up on me and won't
leave until I feed it . . . and I've got nothing it likes.

Insignificant planet in an insignificant system. Only plus is it's a
convenient layover for interplanetary travel (of unknown form except
that ships are involved).

A megacorp established a colony to provide support for its ships.

As required per interplanetary law, the residents met to form a
government.

One of the provisions of the constitution they established was
recognition of slave ownership by foreigners.

That effectively kicked out the megacorp because its contracts with
multiple governments prevents them from owning property in a slave
state, and it'd be a public relations nightmare.

Colony is self-supporting by agriculture, aquaculture, and mining
metals from the ocean, but has nothing to trade, and ship-support
services are only marginally profitable. Asteroid belt/other system
components can't be mined profitably.

Tourist industry is nearly non-existent because private space ships
are rare, and liners can't drop people off there and pick them up
later without establishing a local office, which most cruise lines
can't do because it's a slave state. (The locals view this as a plus.)

Bright point is a niche market in interplanetary diplomacy:

If a spy from PlanetA is caught on PlanetB, and PlanetB has a prisoner
from PlanetA, a private citizen from PlanetB can bring the spy,
registered at customs as his slave, to this planet, and a citizen from
PlanetA does likewise with their prisoner.

A bribe (considerable but not onerous) causes a bureaucrat to mix-up
the slaves' name tags. Voila! Everybody's happy -- PlanetA has their
spy back, PlanetB gets their guy back, no one has to admit to a
prisoner exchange, and this planet profits (the income tax rate for
bribes in 99.5%).

My problem: it's a vignette, a look at how a law to kick out a
megacorp transformed into a profit center. (I hate vignettes!)

So I need either a surefire idea killer, or something to spark an idea
for a real story in this setting.




Probably not important, but the idea demands this setting:
Only major landmasses are three UK-sized islands. The ones in the
north and south hemispheres have abundant fertile land, but are not
conveniently habitable outside the growing season. The other one (with
the space port) is semi-tropical. Mean ocean depth is 300 meters.
Claim to fame -- planet has six orders of magnitude more atolls than
any other habitable planet.

[jl...@sofluc.co.uk]

On Monday, 20 May 2013 21:41:46 UTC+1, Jymesion wrote:

> If a spy from PlanetA is caught on PlanetB, and PlanetB has a prisoner
> from PlanetA, a private citizen from PlanetB can bring the spy,
> registered at customs as his slave, to this planet, and a citizen from
> PlanetA does likewise with their prisoner.
>
> A bribe (considerable but not onerous) causes a bureaucrat to mix-up
> the slaves' name tags. Voila! Everybody's happy -- PlanetA has their
> spy back, PlanetB gets their guy back, no one has to admit to a
> prisoner exchange, and this planet profits (the income tax rate for
> bribes in 99.5%).

This part of your vignette doesn't work for me. I can't see why Planets A and B would go to so much trouble. They could just swap spies with no one admitting to a prisoner exchange anyway.

But even if you handwaved an explanation of why it had to happen that way (which I doubt I'd find credible, but let's suppose), I can't see it being more than 0.0000....0001% of the GDP of the planet! Ok, more than that, but still negligible, even for a poor planet. How often do spy swaps happen on our world (with a population of six billion)?

[Jymesion]

On Thu, 23 May 2013 07:55:49 -0700 (PDT),
"chromo...@googlemail.com" <jl...@sofluc.co.uk> wrote:
>On Monday, 20 May 2013 21:41:46 UTC+1, Jymesion wrote:
>> If a spy from PlanetA is caught on PlanetB, and PlanetB has a prisoner
>> from PlanetA, a private citizen from PlanetB can bring the spy,
>> registered at customs as his slave, to this planet, and a citizen from
>> PlanetA does likewise with their prisoner.
>> A bribe (considerable but not onerous) causes a bureaucrat to mix-up
>> the slaves' name tags. Voila! Everybody's happy -- PlanetA has their
>> spy back, PlanetB gets their guy back, no one has to admit to a
>> prisoner exchange, and this planet profits (the income tax rate for
>> bribes in 99.5%).
>
>This part of your vignette doesn't work for me. I can't see why Planets
>A and B would go to so much trouble. They could just swap spies with
>no one admitting to a prisoner exchange anyway.

There's always a need for neutral territory and consent by that
government for it to take place on their turf. Each such action
requires separate permission, which sometimes isn't easy to get if
there's any chance it might become high-profile or if it's corporate
espionage.

Then too, there's always a danger of a doublecross, escape, or other
complication, things not likely under this arrangement.

>But even if you handwaved an explanation of why it had to happen
>that way (which I doubt I'd find credible, but let's suppose), I can't
>see it being more than 0.0000....0001% of the GDP of the planet!

The income would be a pittance compared to the exports of an
industrialized planet situated in a high-traffic area, but for a
planet with few natural advantages, it's any port in a storm. And
remember -- they're collecting from both sides.

>How often do spy swaps happen on our world (with a population
>of six billion)?

Probably about three times a year. I've heard estimates it might be as
high as one a week, somewhere in the world, but it depends on your
definition and what reports you're willing to believe.

Cruise lines and companies establishing colonies at convenient
stopover planets indicate a large and active culture. Activity always
begets illicit activity.

[jl...@sofluc.co.uk]

On Friday, 24 May 2013 05:52:15 UTC+1, Jymesion wrote:
> On Thu, 23 May 2013 07:55:49 -0700 (PDT),
> "chromo...@googlemail.com" <jl...@sofluc.co.uk> wrote:
> >On Monday, 20 May 2013 21:41:46 UTC+1, Jymesion wrote:
> >> If a spy from PlanetA is caught on PlanetB, and PlanetB has a prisoner
> >> from PlanetA, a private citizen from PlanetB can bring the spy,
> >> registered at customs as his slave, to this planet, and a citizen from
> >> PlanetA does likewise with their prisoner.
>
> >> A bribe (considerable but not onerous) causes a bureaucrat to mix-up

> >This part of your vignette doesn't work for me. I can't see why Planets
> >A and B would go to so much trouble. They could just swap spies with
> >no one admitting to a prisoner exchange anyway.
>
> There's always a need for neutral territory and consent by that
> government for it to take place on their turf. Each such action
> requires separate permission, which sometimes isn't easy to get if
> there's any chance it might become high-profile or if it's corporate
> espionage.

In space??

Actually, even on Earth I'm a bit puzzled why anyone would need neutral territory, given that the middle of the ocean isn't *that* densely populated yet.

But, on Earth, getting to the middle of an ocean probably is more expensive than going to a neutral country.

If that's true in your universe (it's cheaper to go to another inhabited world than to the nearest bit of empty space -- and there is a *lot* of empty space in our universe! ) then it says a lot about your universe and the cost of space travel in it. That's not necessarily a problem: I could suspend disbelief if I liked the story, but I *would* have to suspend disbelief.

OTOH, I have to suspend disbelief a lot about things in the real world! :-)

Jonathan