Chapter 2

Mat was sitting at the family table as they called it. It was still night, so the room was lit by soft artificial light from the ceiling and walls. The room wasn't much bigger than his room, however, most of it was filled with decorative plants and glass doors showing a garden. Everybody was sitting with Mat, looking at him with curiosity.

"Explain yourself," said his mother with an authoritative voice, but her red eyes and smile showed her actual thrilling mood.

"I was excited to be able to gamble so I entered a lottery," he said with a cracking voice since he was both scared by her attitude and happy with the overall situation.

"Year's worth of tickets and thousand credits! That is not a small amount of money! Who gets into ticket debt the first day he becomes an adult?"

"Well it worked...out?!" dad immediately realized he said something he shouldn't since his wife looked at him with wide-open eyes.

"That is not the point! We have to teach him properly!" she said, almost hissed at her husband and turned to face Mat. "I cut your allowance by 20% until you start a new semester!"

"Harsh!" Anya, his younger sister, poked Mat to his side, while she said it.

"He has a planet to live on," responded mother in a strict voice. The following silence was broken by everybody bursting in laughter.

"Okay, okay...so you have to talk alone with the person that comes tomorrow. Good luck! We have to go working. Even though you won a planet you will not forget your responsibilities at home! You will still go to school, help with chores, and come with us on trips,"

"I understand,"

"Good! Now it is time to call family members and also give them a minor heart attack!" She raised her hand to use her WW, but her husband stopped her.

"Maybe we should wait what will the officer say before calling everybody. This lottery is highly important to the government..." he explained.

"For once you are the fun killer," his wife laughed.

***

Mat was sitting at the family table alone tapping the desk nervously. He has been awake for hours, waiting for the people and not able to do much of anything. Finally, his WW vibrated and he jumped to open the front door.

"Hello," said a couple of men at the same time. One was a policeman wearing a dark blue uniform with a utility belt, while the other was a businessman wearing a suit, tie, and pair of white gloves. The policeman was tall, almost two meters. His beard was brown and short and he wore a smile on his face. His college wasn't as tall, but his hair was almost identical. He wasn't smiling, but still had a pleasant presence to him.

"Hello," Mat responds and allows them to enter. He leads them to the dining room and tells them to sit at the table.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

"Coffee would be nice," the policeman said as he was sitting down.

"Tea for me,".

"What tea?"

"Green tea would be the best, thank you," answered the businessman

"You are welcome!" Mat said with a happy mood and left them alone while he prepared a tray with their beverages. He took soda for himself and sit in front of them.

"Well then, I will start! My name is Jerrold, nice to meet you," the policeman introduced himself and before Mat could say anything in response, he continued.

"I am here to explain to you legal bindings that come to both winning the national lottery and owning a planet. Everything, of course, will be sent to your WW but I still have to tell you the most important parts and give you a form to sign," he took a sip of the coffee and continued.

"First the lottery. Since it is the first prize it is mandatory for you to receive it. You cannot give it away to your family or friends. You cannot sell it or donate it. It is yours and yours only,"

"What? Why can't I give it away or sell it?" Mat asked surprised.

"It's pretty simple, the government wants to show how amazing the lottery is and if everybody who wins the top prizes just sells them, or gives them away, it shows that the stuff government gives away is not worth the trouble. There were studies done that people see the prize value higher than it actually is and felt cheated when the market value was much lower,"

"Okay fine, what else?" now Mat was getting more nervous, his happy smile changed to a more neutral look.

"You will have to make a live appearance on a video broadcast to tell the people how great the prize is. Since it takes some time to arrange it, you will have time to familiarize yourself with the planet information and stuff you cannot tell the people,"

"Live on the internet?" Mat was more nervous about the idea of being before cameras than the blatant censorship.

"Any way that mostly covers the lottery part. Just so you know having a lottery ticket debt has no real legal repercussions, you will just pay it with your future tickets. However it is still recorded on your public internet account and so some employers might not want to hire you,"

"My mother already told me so,"

"Good, now when it comes to owning a planet there is several hundred laws and responsibilities that is no point explaining in detail. However, right now you own what is called an Ownership-change contract, which will last for a month while all the documents are transferred to you. This gives you time to carefully go through all legal matters and be prepared for it. For now, we should discuss the taxes and the banned activities," the policeman siped the coffee while Mat ignores the soda and stared at him intensely.

"Taxes?" Mat utters almost like an insult.

"Of course, while it is a land far far away, it is still a land. Planetary taxes apply to any planet owner and depend on the planet's economic status. It is a yearly tax so you will have still time to figure it out," the policeman smiled.

"Please tell me I won't go broke!" Mat said more scared.

"Well, that is up to my collage to explain. He will tell you the status of the planet and how the tax is calculated. I still have to inform you about several responsibilities you have. As a private citizen without any legal permit, you cannot have any military stations of any kind. Without legal networking checkups, you cannot own more than one communication satellite, there are several biological and social responsibilities and more, but they are all written in detail in the document you will receive. I will be available for a meeting If you have any further questions," the policeman drunk the coffee again and Mat nodded.

"I think I need to read it all first," he said feeling more nervous by the warm smile on the man's face.

"Of course, don't hesitate to ask if you think of something now,"

"Hmm...I really need to know more about to planet," Mat looked at the man in a suit, mostly to not stare at the pleasant smile of the tall man in a uniform.

"So it's my turn?" he laughed and smiled at Mat. "My name is Lucas, nice to meet you,"

"Nice to meet you," Mat responded a little bit later as the smile he was presented by was even more uncanny. It was pleasant and warm, yet he felt like an ice cube just melted on his forehead.

"Similarly to my college you will also get a full report about your planet information, but I am here not only to tell you basic information about it but also to help you with all the paperwork. Now! We both know what you want to know about the planet and yes it does have a life. It is macroscopic as well! Congratulation!"

"Awesome!" Mat said but he was more hesitant to be more positive than that.

"Yes, while the planet is slightly bigger than Earth, it has a breathable atmosphere and life is macroscopic and even on land. It has one natural satellite and three continents. The average temperature is higher than Earth, so don't expect any ice poles,"

"What about its rotation speed, how long is the year and day?" Mat asked one of the hundreds of questions he came up with this morning but was the only one he could recall at the moment.

"It's slower than Earth so when it comes to the year it is about 1.8 Earth years. One day, however, is almost 25 hours,"

"Oh!"

"Anyway the planet only had one mandatory systematic scanning so it could get an economic status for taxes. Since it has life, it is 4.5 years of travel from the nearest portal, has no known mineral deposits, no strategy value, no historical value, no population, and no point of interest nearby it belongs to the Tier 1 tax category. That comes to 10 000 credits per year,"

"Well, that scared me,"

"That is not all though, there is still a tax for profit-oriented research, possible virtual tourism and of course any business is taxed normally, though the rate for it differs a little. There is also the tax from the winning as the government takes a 5% cut from the winning prize to pay for the administrative work and for our salary. However since you won a planet it is not possible to simply translate 5% of its ownership to a government so instead, the 5% is going to be calculated by a value of the planet...which is going to be complicated,"

"5% prize for a fucking planet?" Mat asked slightly irritated by where the talk was going.

"Please calm down." the policeman said and put his finished coffee on the tray. There was no menace in his voice, it almost felt like a dad saying his son to be quiet during a movie, but Mat shut his mouth so fast he almost starts coughing.

"The value of the land is undefined because of how out of reach it is, there is particularly no value in the planet itself so don't worry to get bankrupt, but the base minimum is going to be around 300 000 credits,"

"That is way more than I have!" said Mat with a cracking voice.

"We are aware but we still need to be paid, please don't blame us. That is how it is, though we will need at least 30 000 credits upfront,"

"What am I going to do?" Mat asked but both men ignored him, thinking it was rhetorical.

"You should focus on the media broadcast, the rest isn't as pressing," the businessman said and stood up. He pulled out his sleeve and start using his WW while the policeman did the same. After a few seconds of silence, they both connect to his WW and send him a form to sign. He does so using his electronic signature.

"We will send you everything soon, so relax and enjoy your fame and prize!" the businessman said and smiles at Mat one last time.

"Congratulation kid! I always wanted a planet!" said the policeman and gently put his hand to Mat's shoulder. Then only slightly over half an hour and they turned to leave with his college. As they shut the door behind themselves Matt sat back to his chair with a pale face and watery eyes.