While most of the early lunar colonies founded around the outer planets were mining communities, the great ocean planet of Europa was different. Its vast, mysterious waters were home to all manner of curious beasts, of infinite scientific and, crucially, gastronomic interest. The Europolitan Fishing Company seized upon this opportunity, sending in hoardes of robotic fishermen specially created to plumb the fathomless depths. These hulking automata were designed to catch, kill and store their precious finds before they could be brought to the huge floating processing plants, and thus sent to the most exclusive galactic eateries. But after a very brief boom, where new and more delicious species were being discovered and hunted to extinction every day, the seas proved unsustainable. The remaining creatures were too wily and too warlike, and Europa ultimately too hostile for commercial operations, leading to the collapse of the company in just under a year. The robots were abandoned, and all industrial operations closed, with any human settlers soon leaving Europa for the more civilised colonies of Ganymede and Titan. Though uninhabited for millennia, Europa was recently a destination for Junoan explorer Cadmus Thorne, who reported eerie lights emanating from deep beneath the watery surface. Perhaps the robots, with their atomic engines and rustproof Callistomium shells, have survived in that strange underworld, their vast headlamps still hunting for their elusive aquatic prey...
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