THE ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA

PARADISE

Paradise is the generally accepted name for the floating station registered with the Galactic Administration as Mother Truckers Service Station and Mall. Paradise was the original Arnie's surplus store, whose Moon branch is now more generally known.

Paradise was originally built by Arnie and his buddies, after they left the Imperial Service, from discarded space junk and surplus parts. It's a collection of decrepit cargo pods and various flotsam and jetsam, while underneath are the old drives and engines. This explains such oddities as the ramshackle commodity market. All the people who live here and run the shops are retired servicemen, stevedores, or cargo handlers.

When first constructed, Paradise used to move about the Solar System, but the motors clapped out and now it's stuck in Venus orbit while they try to get a fix together. The project isn't going well at the moment.