Whole planets dedicated to humans need to touch things. They range from your typical cat cafe walking with elephants, to even swimming with sharks. And that's just the animals from earth! Each plant has a different variety of species to accommodate any human, Making them a great alternative for humans who keep touching the unknown animals on equally unknown planets. -- Anon Guest
Humans look with their hands. This is a known, if confusing fact. Humans have reasonably reliable senses that use light to see things, yet they inevitably also have to touch. They want to see how it feels, or pet every beast, and in extreme cases, see what that weird-looking fruit tastes like.
This has caused multiple deaths. Not always in the humans, but also in the crewmates attempting to stop them.
Fortunately, planets can be customised. They started with one that should have been a Havenworld, if not for an accident of happenstance. Next, they stocked it with every plant and lifeform that was safe and interesting to touch. Not only those, but the ones that were safe to climb, and the ones that were safe to ride.
They turned it into a resort.
Beautiful places to stay. Villas, cabins, and so forth. Swimming pools. Spas. And, of course, alleged wilderness trails. Everything was, if not beautiful, at least tactilely rewarding. The people responsible had made sure a sustainable ecology had formed with every introduced lifeform.
Humans, of course, loved it. An entire world full of creatures that were fun to touch, or fun to ride, or both at once. An ocean stocked with lifeforms that could be caressed, played with, or simply accompanied under the waves. The entire world was a tactile wonder.
There were so many Humans who wanted to spend shore leave there that they were endangering the very environment made for their enjoyment. Drastic steps had to be taken. In brief, they had to make the supply match the demand.
Similar resorts popped up wherever there was a planet available. More intense operations began with making planets to fit.
The Humans did have one stopping point with these resort worlds. It came when some owners helpfully informed the Humans that some of the pettable stock were edible. This horrified the Human visitors, especially when it concerned lifeforms that welcomed their interaction.
"What? I can't eat one of those," they would protest.
The owners were baffled. "Scanners indicate that you are capable of digesting the creature once properly cooked," they objected.
"Okay," huffed the Humans. "I won't eat one of those."
It took some hours to explain, and even more hours to understand. Yes, the Humans understood that their protein originally came from plants and animals. Yes, Humans had fewer qualms about eating plants that they had petted, but they refused to eat a creature they had petted.
"But why?" came the anguished cry.
A final interpreter thought they had the key of it. "Humans consider it vastly improper to consume anything they have bonded with."
The Humans agreed. Therefore the meat and protein at all resort worlds was sourced exclusively from food printers. The vegetables, however, were permitted to be locally sourced.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / dennisvdwater]
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