Marie, an artist, and Samantha, her wealthy financier wife twice her age, were searching through deep space for a barren planet to terraform and invest in.

"Hey Sam, I heard someone say on the holo-media that before space colonization, it was impossible to invest in property."

"Oh, that's right. It sure feels like another lifetime." Samantha chuckled. “Years before you were born, our One Earth government mandated a one-to-one policy in a desperate bid to save the planet from total climate, economic, social, and environmental devastation."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“One-to-one?” Marie looked perplexed.

"Yes, it meant only one type of an item was allowed per person and must be recyclable or repairable and could never be disposed of without proper authorization. It was working. The environment started becoming sustainable. A post-scarcity, egalitarian system developed. Equality became everyone’s main focus, and world peace ensued but ..."

"But what?" Marie stared at her with anticipation.

"Oh, the aliens. Once they arrived with wormhole technology giving us access to the entire galaxy, 'all bets were off' in curbing any future commercialism and capitalism. So now we like to say, 'the galaxy’s the limit!'"