Gravy Train

Titus McWorther has spent a century building his perfect retirement on a secluded, self‑sustaining world—a tiny planetoid tucked behind a dark nebula, complete with custom gravity, lush soil and a private atmosphere. Now, after two tranquil years, he decides the only thing missing is a whimsical luxury: an automatic bath‑unit with a back‑scrubbing attachment and toy‑boat docks, and he sends a precise order to the galaxy’s biggest supplier.

But the interstellar courier network is a tangled web, and his request collides with a diplomatic missive from the distant planet Gauyuth‑VI. The two messages become entangled, and a bureaucratic clerk in the Western Cluster’s aid office mistakenly treats the private order as a high‑priority political agreement. As officials scramble to honor what they think is a treaty, the quiet retirement of a solitary pot­entate is suddenly thrust into the middle of interstellar politics, promising a cascade of unintended complications.