By
Ben Rooney
If
you long to work on the Starship Enterprise, send your resume to NetDragon
Websoft.
The
online game developer run by an avid "Star Trek" fan has built its
headquarters in China in the shape of the legendary spaceship that Captain Kirk
used to "boldly go where no man has gone before."
NetDragon
was founded by Liu Dejian, one of China's most wealthy men and a self-described
Trekkie, according to various Chinese and American news reports.
The
six-story building in China's southeast Fujian province is about 850 feet long
and 300 feet wide. The company reportedly spent nearly $100 million to build
it, and construction was completed in October.
NetDragon
executives reportedly asked CBS, which produces Star Trek, for permission to
build their terrestrial version of the Enterprise.
"That
was their first time dealing with [an] issue like this and at first they
thought that it was a joke," the company told the Wall Street Journal.
"They realized somebody in China actually did want to work out a building
modeled on the USS Enterprise only after we sent the relevant legal
documents."
As
if the Star Trek theme weren't unusual enough, the building also features a life-size
replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.
