Beta V 1500-1700

A remote and uninhabited planet that Avon picks as a rendezvous point for Keiller's meeting with an unknown buyer for a stolen shipment of black gold. Black gold is in fact normal gold, altered at the molecular level to be made absolutely worthless during shipment to deter theft. It can only be converted back to real gold though a secret process controlled by an encoded computer system. Keiller makes contact with the black gold's owner, who knows the code and secret conversion process, and Avon decides to hold the shipment for ransom. Since the gold is atomically altered, it is unstable and cannot be teleported or it will turn to dust. Because of this, Scorpio lands on Beta V so the black gold can be manually taken off the ship.