In the vast universe there is a lot of space and therefore it is not surprising that humanity calls everything that is above the atmosphere space. Since the Big bang the universe kept expanding and matter formed galaxies which formed clusters of galaxies and danced in a dance directed by the gravity slowly drifting apart.

The slow part was only applicable if an observer could look at it from outside our universe since the speed was mind boggling for humans. 75 kilometers per second might not seem a lot but considering that at the time this is being written the fastest human object was an unmanned solar probe called Parker’s Solar probe which travels at 192 kilometers per second and before that it was a manhole cover that was blasted upwards during a nuclear test that traveled at 55 kilometers per second.

The universe has been expanding for billions of years since its inception. Humanity approximates it at around 14 billion but it could be even older.

In one galaxy at the edge of the universe there was a star system not unlike many others and on it was a planet that gleamed with a metallic sheen as it revolved around its central star. It has been in existence for billions of years but the most surprising thing about it was that it was artificial. The whole planet was a shell built around another star of crisscrossed hoops that maintained equilibrium.

The original inhabitants left long ago as if they were not satisfied with the esthetic of this metallic extravaganza, but before they left they inhabited it by a workforce which had a very crucial role for the whole Universe, at least as far as they were concerned.

The workforce was a species which resemble octopuses, but instead of eight they had many tentacles. Their bodies were purple for males and light purple for females with huge eyes. If not for their excess tentacles they could be easily mistaken as octopuses. Their primary job seemed to be an entertainment and news company for the original occupants on the outside but deep down they had a much deeper reason for existence.

To explain it we have to go all the way to the end. Yes, the end. The end of the universe to be exact. The proverbial end was still in fact very far away timewise but through advanced simulation the race that employed them figured out the universe would eventually stop expanding and start contracting again.

In the end what would be left would be the same stuff that made it expand a new iteration of The Big Bang. That of course presented a bit of a problem for the beings that occupy the said universe since they long found a way to become immortal but could not find a way out of this predicament. They went so far as to simulate going out of the borders of the current universe moving whole star systems but even those would eventually lose their fuel and turn dark. Lucky for them they were not the first ones that searched for a way out and although for them it seemed impossible someone had made it.

The ones who made it out of the current universe were a cosmic race that was one of the first beings that explored other stars before they managed to destroy their home planet. With a couple of billion years of a head start they managed to drill a hole in the fabric of the Universe and relocate into other more stable ones. How they did it they would not say but after countless pleading they made a pact with the other advanced races to at least help them relocate.

Of course there was a price to pay. No one wanted their next neighbor being an asshole so they flooded the whole old Universe with something humanity would call nanobots. Well instead of calling them nanobots we would probably call them zeptobots. Created from the particles that constituted strings. Strings are just theoretical building blocks of matter for humanity and other than an obscure and unproven theory were out of reach for it. The zeptobots were the ultimate creation of a civilization that left our Universe they left in it. Their only purpose was to calculate a currency for entry into the new Universe. Fortunately and unfortunately for all other races involved it was a currency that was not really hard to get, but the sheer amount of it needed for one person to move on was staggering. The currency was positive karma.

Let’s get back to our ubiquidextrous race who tirelessly worked in the metal monstrosity.

This was the punishment for their entire race as they destroyed a carefully prepared experiment for harvesting karma as they went on a conquering expedition of three galaxies. They can also thank karma for still being alive as no one wanted to eliminate them as the karmic cost was too great. Instead of destroying them outright they had to sign themselves over in servitude for a billion years being in charge of karmic contestants. They could be called karmic entertainment news network - KENN.

Survival often triumphs freedom and as they say karma's a bitch and their masters cared a lot about karma. As for what they considered to be entertainment it was the equivalent of reality shows on Earth which they spiced up using their special means. The more idiotic or extreme the contestants the higher ratings they got, but considering they cared a lot about karma the contestants tended to be karma positive at least on the outside.

Not everyone with positive karma was a good guy and not everyone with negative karma was bad. It all depended on their circumstances.