“The youth of the cluster went far toward explaining the presence of Scranton, for like all third-generation stars, the sun of Argus was very rich in metals, and so were its planets. Of these there were only a few-just seven, to be exact, of which only the three habitable ones had been given numbers, and only Argus III actually colonized; II was suitable only for Arabs, and IV for Eskimos. The other four planets were technically of the gas giant class, but they were rather ,undernourished gi...ants: the largest of them was about the size of Sol's Neptune. The closeness of the stars in the cluster to each other had swept up much of the primordial gas before planet formation had gotten a good start; the Argus system was in fact the largest yet to be encountered in the cluster. Argus III, as the city droned down over it, looked heart-stoppingly like Pennsylvania. Chris began to feel a little sorry for the coming dispossession of Scranton-of which he had no doubts whatsoever-for surely the planet must have provided an intolerable temptation.MoreLessRead More Read Less
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