 Why were the beings readily applying for the trip to Earth?
It was our first day of recruiting on the planet, and the alien life-forms had lined up for hundreds of feet back from my rented office. The aliens came in every shape and form, in all colors and textures—and all of them eager for a Corrigan contract. The Galaxy is full of bizarre beings, but there's barely a species anywhere that can resist the old exhibitionist urge. Stuff like this: Want to visit Earth—see the Galaxy's most glittering and exclusive world? If you are a non-terrestrial, there may be a place for you in the Corrigan Institute of Morphological Science. It's the best of its kind, the only really decent place where Earthmen can get a gander at the other species of the universe. "Before we begin, I'll need certain information about—" "I am a being of Regulus II," came the grave, booming reply, even before I had picked up the blank. "I'll be placed on exhibition at your Institute on Earth. I'll be required to remain on exhibit no more than one-third of each Terran sidereal day." The spherical creature clapped his hands in joy, three hands clapping on one side, two on the other. I buzzed for Ludlow and gave him the fast signal that meant we were signing this alien up at half the usual pay, and Ludlow took him into the other office to sign him up. We needed a green Regulan in our show; the last one had quit four years ago. But just because we needed him didn't mean we had to be extravagant in hiring him. A Terraphile alien who goes to the extent of rechristening himself with a Terran monicker would work for nothing, or even pay us, just so long as we let him get to Earth. He was followed by a roly-poly blue-skinned humanoid from Donovan's Planet, four feet high and five hundred pounds heavy. I passed him along to Auchinleck to sign at anything short of top rate. It was the isolationism of the late 29th century that turned me into the successful proprietor of Corrigan's Institute, after some years as an impoverished carnival man in the Betelgeuse system. Back in 2903, the World Congress declared Terra off-bounds for non-terrestrial beings, as an offshoot of the Terra for Terrans movement. Before then, anyone could visit Earth. After the gate clanged down, a non-terrestrial could only get onto Sol III as a specimen in a scientific collection—in short, as an exhibit in a zoo.
 If was their only opportunity after the Terra for Terrans movement.
 They were looking for a way to overturn Earth.  If was their only opportunity after the Terra for Terrans movement.  They were bored of their lives on their home planets.  They were hoping for handouts.