“So, did you find anything to your liking ?” Asked Old Ji has I made my way to the front desk.

“Not quite, I wanted your opinion for the final choice” I responded, handing him three small planet spheres.

“Now now, let’s see what striked your fancy.” He said with a smile “The first planet is a good choice for it’s price, it’s a planet with 7 different seasons and two moons. Gravity is on the very heavy side though but it will definitely generate very strong and adaptable humanoids. However that planet is on a collision course with another planet in it’s solar system. An humanoid civilization would have at most a few ten million years to grow before complete and utter extinction. A rather short time but not quite impossible to manage, especially since there already exist a few humanoid species that only ask to gain sapience, the ensuing humanoid race would probably be one of the most adaptable in the universe. A very good long term choice, coming with a big challenge” He finished

The second is a bit worse in my opinion. The planet is completely stable on it’s orbit and always show the same side to the sun, only two season exist. Extra hot and survivably hot, depending on how close the planet is from the sun during its revolution. This planet would only strike the fancy of a gods trying to develop some underground humanoid civilization or humanoid extremely resistant to heat or cold climate but not adaptable to any changes between the two. Maybe some hot blooded humanoid would adapt correctly on the sunny side, like some form of lizard man. In short this planet offer very limited possibilities but greater stability than the first one. The resulting species probably won’t last too long in the grand scheme of thing but it’s a safe bet” He said, shrugging his shoulder

The last one is a gamble, low amount of spirit energy making it a potential high class planet but unfortunately situated in an extremely contested region of space. The chance of making any humanoid specie strive to space age is ridiculously low. Assuming the attempt was not discovered before the specie reached its industrial revolution, any kind if wireless and satellite transmission should never be used, if used it would make the planet easily detectable in a few dozen years. Which is not practical since the industrial age is such a crucial and hard to manage period, avoiding the use of such technology would be borderline impossible. Any success would however lead to countless benefits for the god in charge. He would be at the very least promoted for it’s achievement, especially since we humanoid have been trying to spread our influence in that direction recently. In short, High risk to lose an important amount of time on nothing, high rewards in case of success.”

I nodded, I had more or less reached the same conclusions on the first two planets by myself. “Could you advise me, I really want to satisfy my boss” I asked politely.

“Sure young once, that’s my job after all. Now, if it was me, I would definitely take the high risk gamble here since it his wouldn’t cost me much in case of failure anyway. However, I understand that you work for a short tempered god, is that correct ?”

“Yes, he is the god that will be in charge of this world”

The giant nodded “For a god with short temper, I wouldn’t advise to take this gamble. They tends to develop their worlds as fast as possible, hardly stopping to stabilize the geopolitical situation. They generally care very little how much mistake are made or how much their humanoid hate each other. The planets they are in charge of are generally nothing but a giant mess.”

“Really ? It didn’t seem that bad in my opinion” I asked

“Most certainly, especially if that short tempered god ended in office 42” Said Old Ji, Smiling.

Really ? Is there some kind of deal with office 42 ? I opened my mouth, wanting to ask, but Old Ji continued speaking before I could raise my voice.

“Anyway, entrusting such a gamble to a short tempered man would be a mistake. The first world is much more suited to those character in comparison. Any other god would be hard pressed by this challenge but I trust your boss will succeed or fail in the upbringing and ask for a change of planet way before the collision has a chance to happen.”

I nodded, that didn’t seem too bad. “I will be taking that world then” I said smiling. “Thank you again for your advices”

“My pleasure lad, I will still need 4520 unit to complete this transaction”.

I winced at that, that was nearly all of my economies. Leaving me only some 300 hundred something unit. I would need to watch my spending for a while …

Well, time to go back.

I hope Dan won’t be too angry.

***

“So, let me recapitulate. I put into your care a middle class world in rather good state and gave you a three hour time limit to simply have it exchanged. However, for some reason, that world couldn’t warrant a refund since the planet was losing its magnetic field. Not only that but that world was destroyed since it was apparently worthless, preventing me from recuperating my investment in any way. You then came back, half a day late, with a low class world on a collision course with another planet. All the while hoping that I WOULD BE SATISFIED ?” Dan finished screaming, more angry than ever.

“Yes, but this world offer good prospect if you ...”

“SILENCE !!! YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK UNLESS ASKED TO !” Dan screamed. He then took a while to calm down a bit. Addressing the other gods of the office, he spoke again.

“Now my fellow co-workers, what do you think should be his punishment ?”

Brenda was the first to speak “Let’s just get rid of him, arrange the worst reincarnation we can think of and send him on it’s way. Something like a few lifetimes of torture.”

“Or we could jail him, nothing but a few thousands eons in solitary confinement to teach respect !” Continued Nuts while supported by a nodding Ben.

“Huuum, tempting” said a pondering Dan while I tried to make myself as small as possible.

“I have a better idea” said David as everyone turned to look toward him. He tried to swindle our money, so let us do the most logical thing. Let’s strip him of his salary and work him to the bone until everything is reimbursed, with interest of course !” He said with a smile.

“Oh, but what if he tries to escape or refuses to work ?” Asked Dan, in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer.

“I doubt a floaty could run from us”. Said Stan

“Also, even if he did run, what’s a few thousand of units ? Such a loss can be replenished in less than a day if we pool our gathered spirit energy.” Said David

“And if he doesn’t work well enough, the two other option can still be considered” Finished Brenda

“And we would acquire a talented servant which would do it’s utmost to please us. In fear of further punishment of course” Said Ben alongside a nodding Nuts, both very happy with the situation.

Dan, nodding, turned toward me with a grin. “So Cyndric, what will it be, will you work for us until you debt is fully reimbursed or must we directly consider the other two options ?”

Lowering my metaphoric head, I responded. “I will work”

“Good” Said Dan. “In your interest, I really hope that you won’t make further mistakes. Now go, I must familiarise myself with this world. I quite like the challenge it poses.”

I nodded, hearing Brenda calling me to finish her pedicure.

I definitely wouldn’t see the color of my salary again, at least not for a very very long time.

This gotta be said, my after life really suck ...