 What was the real reason for the Earthmen to come to Zur?
"It is an outrage," said Koltan of the House of Masur, "that the Earthmen land among the Thorabians!" Personally, he was in favor of the coming of the Earthmen to the world of Zur. By this, he seemed to imply that the Thorabians would rob the Earthmen, which the Lorians would not. "Doubtless," said Zotul unexpectedly, for the youngest at a conference was expected to keep his mouth shut and applaud the decisions of his elders, "the Earthmen used all the metal on their planet in building that ship. By and by, the Earthmen came to Lor, flying through the air in strange metal contraptions. The Earthmen were going to do great things for the whole world of Zur. There was also some talk going around about agreements made between the Earthmen and officials of the Lorian government, but you heard one thing one day and another the next. Accurate reporting, much less a newspaper, was unknown on Zur. Finally, the Earthmen took off in their great, shining ship. The anti-Earthmen Faction—in any culture complex, there is always an "anti" faction to protest any movement of endeavor—crowed happily that the Earthmen were gone for good, and a good thing, too. One day, a fleet of ships arrived and after they had landed all over the planet, Zur was practically acrawl with Earthmen. Immediately, the Earthmen established what they called "corporations"—Zurian trading companies under terrestrial control. In spite of the fact that a terrestrial ship had landed at every Zurian city of major and minor importance, and all in a single day, it took some time for the news to spread. This, for some unknown reason and much to the disgust of the Lorians, was set up in Thorabia. Moreover, the Earthmen brought miles of copper wire—more than enough in value to buy out the governorship of any country on Zur—and set up telegraph lines from country to country and continent to continent. Within five years of the first landing of the Earthmen, every major city on the globe had a printing press, a daily newspaper, and enjoyed the instantaneous transmission of news via telegraph. "As I have always said from the beginning," chortled Director Koltan, "this coming of the Earthmen had been a great thing for us, and especially for the House of Masur." About this time, plastic utensils—dishes, cups, knives, forks—made their appearance on Zur. They destroyed it, which proved how valueless it really was.
 they wanted to take over without war
 they wanted to take over without war  they wanted to share their technology with other worlds  they wanted to find ways to make more money  they wanted to discover intelligent life on other planets