The place is Osipa IV, the newest addition to the Osipa planetary system. But don't look for wildebeest grazing the broad savannah. Don't watch for the fluke of a soobagooba (a whale-like mammal found on Epsilon Karimore II) to break the surface, sending up clouds of spray as it thrashes, driving the huge creature 
down to the ocean depths, once more.
The sky is on fire! There is no sound to be heard, other than the waves lapping gently on the shore. Way out towards the horizon, the ocean is bubbling furiously as white-hot lava pours from deep fissures in the ocean floor. It is way too soon for plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, reptiles or mammals to have evolved. Even primitive organisms have not yet begun their struggle to exist in the dense, super-heated, sulphur clouds of 'deep sea smokers'. This world is young - barely eighty-two million years old, in fact. What we are witnessing, here, on Osipa IV, is nothing less than the birth of an entire eco-system. Unlike the four other worlds in the Osipa system, all the building blocks for life are here, sloshing around in the ocean. A rich, primeval, organic soup, which covers upwards of three-quarters of the planet.
This is the event of a lifetime. The folks at Tokamasima's Ion Propulsion Laboratory are responsible for these incredible pictures, taken by their Slingshot III probe, which was launched just about when Christopher Columbus was doing some - local, of course - discovering for himself. However, unlike the new world Columbus found, which was burgeoning with life, and indeed already had an owner - lots of them, in fact - Osipa IV is a virgin planet. It exists in a so far uninhabited system - and is unclaimed by anyone - which is why, of course, the Tokamasima Ion Propulsion Laboratory, and their holding company, Tokamasima Enterprises (Formatira) Incorporated, are so interested in it; and which is, of course, why we were forced to resort to all kinds of nefarious tricks to bring this report to you.
Osipa IV is not the first new world to be born, nor, we hope, will it be the last. According to secret, preliminary geological and bio-potential reports, it exhibits all the signs of being one of that small, elite group of worlds destined to become home to an almost limitless number of species of fauna and flora - a true, ecological paradise. Tragically, it may never be permitted to fulfill its enormous potential - Tokamasima Enterprises (Formatira) Incorporated will see to that! How? Using the very latest genetic engineering techniques, perfected at their heavily defended laboratories on Tokamasima-Saximax III, technicians, working from orbital platforms, will shortly begin the task of converting the existing, simple, organic molecules into more complex ones, capable of annihilating entire planetary populations. Osipa, we are sad to report, is destined to become a huge biological weapons factory. Not for Tokamasima Enterprises a small refinery, in an industrial park on some planet, presenting an easy target for environmental protestors or unscrupulous politicians angling, as always, for the popular vote. Tokamasima Enterprises have been carefully and secretly scouring planetary systems, within five light-years of their base, with thousands of autonomous probes, searching for just such an opportunity for almost limitless profit as is offered by Osipa IV.
This isn't the first time myself and others have come up against Tokamasima Enterprises, or its agents. On those previous occasions, they have managed to wriggle free of prosecution by hiding behind lawyers and court injunctions. By having their own planetary base, from which they operate, they leave those who would hold them to account little room for maneuver. A successful prosecution requires proof that they have supplied biological weapons to one or more sides in a conflict. By not dealing directly with their customers, but by working through intermediaries, each of whom takes a small cut of the overall profits, their part in the manufacture and distribution of these dreadful weapons has been impossible to prove. Perhaps, by bringing the plight of Osipa IV to the notice of our readers, pressure will be applied to Tokamasima Enterprises and they will reconsider destroying a virgin world, which holds so much promise. We can scarcely imagine what remarkable, and possibly unique, life-forms might evolve there one day, given a stable, slow burning star, the absence of rogue 'planet-killer' comets or asteroids, and the continued lack of attention from Tokamasima Enterprises (Formatira) Incorporated.
