It came from outer space, and landed in federal court

A 220-pound rock from outer space has got the earthlings fighting.

It’s not just any rock but the famous Fukang meteorite, a sparkly slab of greenish crystals that is said to be one of the greatest space rocks ever discovered. Exactly who owns it is the subject of a federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco that reads like an Isaac Asimov sci-fi tale.

A Novato man says it’s rightfully his. A Massachusetts couple say they paid the Novato man $425,000 for it and that it’s rightfully theirs.

The Novato man says he canceled the sale when he found out the Massachusetts couple were running a rock museum in Maine. The Massachusetts couple say the Novato man canceled the sale because of seller’s remorse, when he figured he let the $425,000 rock go on the cheap.

Meanwhile, a New York rock broker and two Kansas rock polishers say they’re entitled to a piece of the action, too.

The tale begins 4 billion years ago, give or take an eon, when the meteorite plummeted to earth and landed in the Gobi Desert of China. In 2000, it was discovered, and pieces of it began to be sold to well-heeled rock hounds, one of whom was Stephan Settgast of Novato, who said he bought a 220-pound slice of it in 2004.

In 2014, court documents say, Settgast agreed to sell the slice to Lawrence Stifler and Mary McFadden of Brookline, Mass., who paid him $425,000 through a New York meteorite middleman.

But after the rock polishers, Keith and Dana Jenkerson of Osawatomie, Kan., who had been hired to spiff up the meteorite for its new owners, said they thought it was worth perhaps $1 million, Settgast decided he wanted his rock back, the Massachusetts couple say.

Settgast went to the Jenkersons’ studio and, while they were away at a rock show, entered the premises and took back the meteorite. It was a clear case of meteorite-napping, said the spurned buyers.

Settgast maintained he was reclaiming the rock because the couple planned to put it on public display at their under-construction museum in Maine. Settgast said that violated the terms of the sale. Stifler and McFadden said a no-museum promise was never part of the deal. They say Settgast has their rock and their money, too.

Settgast sued in federal court in February to invalidate the sale and keep the rock. Stifler and McFadden countersued in March to get their hands on the rock.

Nobody knows what a one-of-a-kind meteorite is worth, according to Settgast’s lawyer, Curt Edmondson.

“It’s not like it’s a Toyota,” he said.

Edmondson denied that Settgast stole back the meteorite or planned to keep the money. He said Settgast had never formally turned over the meteorite, despite being paid for it, and was entitled to take it back because it was still his.

“It’s not like he went to Kansas and jimmied the lock on the back door and put a 220-pound rock under his arm,” Edmondson said.

Court documents suggest one reason the rock polishers valued the rock at $1 million is that they believed they were entitled to 5 percent of its value for their services. They were seeking $50,000 for spiffing it up, instead of the $20,000 they had been promised and eventually accepted.

Rock hounds say rare meteorites of the Fukang variety, known as pallasites, are beautiful and valuable but not particularly scientifically significant.

“This kind of meteorite has been studied and has little new to tell us,” said Paul Doherty, senior scientist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. “It came from the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid. We have studied lots of meteorites of this kind. It doesn’t need to be in a museum. If it was a Martian meteorite, that would be different.”

Settgast, Stifler and McFadden did not return calls seeking comment. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing on the dispute for June 29.