The Universe Machine

Tom Anderson is a super-rich playboy who owns a string of mines in the Aluminus II system and lives with his private butler in a golden palace on the moon of Titus. Tom spends money like water, traveling the galaxy in his sleek star ship, the Mary Lu. One day, in a bar on the planet of Earth 3, he encounters a man who shows him a strange magical box able to make his daydreams appear within the box. Tom wants to purchase the box, but the man tells him it is not for sale. He tells Tom about a star system on the edge of the galaxy, with a strange planet, called Ventura 4, where such magical boxes could be acquired, for a price. Tom travels to Ventura 4 where he encounters one of the Old Ones, an ancient alien from a time before the universe was created. The alien sells Tom a magical box, a machine which Tom can use to create his own universe, and populate it with his own planets and living creatures.