Alan stopped by his parents' home to see how she made out after the trip and what she thought of the embargo. On the way, he listened to the news break on a popular radio program.
Hey, all you Cosmos Gamers! News alert: your game is a SCAM! That’s right, listeners! If you were wondering if you should hop on the Cosmos hype train, you just dodged a bullet.
Alan smiled as he remembered hearing similar broadcasts from the past. Walking inside, he found his Mom sitting.
“Hi son, I’d thought you’d be in Cosmos?” She looked up from her laptop, which sat next to the remnants of her breakfast.
“Hey, Mom, I had some business to take care of.” He sat down next to her.
“Have you had breakfast?” He shook his head, as he’d been too preoccupied with today. “Well, let me get you something.” She got up and went about making a breakfast sandwich for Alan. He’d partially hoped she would. It’s not that he didn’t or couldn’t do it himself. He just liked to have something made by his Mom.
“I just read up on all these changes going on for Cosmos. The embargo has a lot of people pretty upset. Some people say it's just another way for them to cheat players.” She layered some egg, ham, and cheese on toasted bread.
“What do you think?” He asked cautiously.
“Shoot son!” Her hand smacked the counter for emphasis. “After the first day, the whole family had a long talk. We think it's real, or part of it.” She laughed. “But real, to be sure. Your brother was the most dumbfounded.” She turned to face him, "You should have seen his face when his knowledge download had crammed most of Medical school into his brain and then some. He’s still not sure whether he should stay in school or become some sort of space doctor. Besides,” She gave him a huge grin. “It better be real.” She wielded the knife she’d been buttering bread with. “Do you know how many little items I could buy on our last trip? Instant acne remover, rapid grow gardening supplies, 10-year deodorizing spray. I even have a pill bottle of instant dental fix. One pill fixes any damage to your teeth. I plan on selling each of those pills for $50 a pop. I might even have enough to make back ten times the amount of the 5,000 you loaned me!" She put down the knife and placed the sandwich on the table, then gave him a big side hug and smiled at him. Gratitude in her eyes. "It's all because of you." He returned her smile until his stomach reminded him that he was hungry, and he didn’t hesitate to dig in.
The sandwich quickly disappeared. Once he'd finished, she placed a crisp manila envelope next to him. “Look inside.”
Curiously, he opened the envelope and found a stack of nearly completed paperwork for him to run a business in Cosmos. His eyes widened in surprise.
“All they need is your signature.” She gave him a sly grin.
“Mom, how did you know?” Alan was slightly taken aback.
“Well, I figured after yesterday you must have had something in mind, especially after purchasing a VE Generator and all. I checked some of the online chatter, and there is no telling how much an intact one might sell for. The chat rooms are all buzzing about VE energy and how it’s pretty much needed for future techs.” She looked at him proudly. “You may have the largest supply on Earth, and my son couldn’t be so dense as to try and use it all himself. Besides, who else will help you run the business.” They laughed at that.
“Alright, Mom. I’m impressed you figured it out.” He did have to get her a lot of credit.
“Well, I’ve been keeping an eye on you after you were willing to spend nearly a million dollars on the family.” She gave him a teasing smile. “How is that coming, by the way?” Before he could answer that he hadn’t yet paid for the leased pods, she continued, “Your father and I have been thinking about selling the house just so we can buy at least 1 of the pods. We’ve heard you can sublease it and we could rotate every few days.”
Alan laughed. “Mom, if my business plan works, you won’t have to worry about it.”
They discussed a few details about the business and his plans for the future. Including the different roles of his family. They agreed to talk over the details with his Dad. He hugged his Mom goodbye and swore her to secrecy, except for Dad.
It was nearing noon. His morning had been a whirlwind of going from one place to another, and he made it back in time to get access to his pod. A timer ticked down to zero as he was suddenly transported to the Terran Virtual Market Place. Before him was a vast, nearly empty field, with a single building in the center and eight dirt roads branching outward like a compass. The building itself was massive. The design was an eclectic mix of earth architecture, which appeared to mesh well despite the obvious inspiration of Earth designs. It seemed to take the shape of a circular structure, almost reminiscent of a stadium but grander than any you would find on Earth. The circular facade had great marble columns, like the Colosseum. However, as your eyes were drawn to the roof. You noticed a great dome shape interspersed with grand fairy-tale towers styled towers, delicately reaching up into the sky. Finally, at the center of the dome, a colossal skyscraper rose from the center, its shape a homage to the pagoda of Asia, but done in steel and glass. The massive structure was said to accommodate hundreds of thousands of players. Some suspected it could be developed to house even more.
As Alan drew closer to the entrance, he began to take note of other players appearing and making their way to the massive structure. He could overhear small groups of them talking to each other as he walked toward the central building. Most had not seen anything near its equal. Near the central building, a small crowd was beginning to form near a large posted sign, where he started to hear a low murmur of grumbling players.
“They can’t be serious?”
“This is a total scam! They get us to turn our money into credits, only to try and offer virtual property!”
As he approached the posted sign, a magnified notification appeared in front of his eyes.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Welcome to the North American Sector of the Terran Virtual Market! Your connection to everything, Cosmos!
To help facilitate trade among players of Earth, we are providing players of Earth a virtual market. This market will allow players to interchange goods from all over the Cosmos Universe!
Our primary goal is to provide an atmosphere to help develop Earth's Development!
Safety.
Openness.
Opportunity.
Near the sign, a few of the Valkyries spoke to the gathered masses, sharing details.
“Players, as you may know, you will no longer be allowed to bring new goods to your planet Earth. However, we offer this area as a virtual market to facilitate an exchange of goods. Before you is the central location, this acts as an auction house, event site, and administrative area, among other things.
“So how is this a market?” A passerby shouted.
“Great question, sir! The market itself is player-generated. Players may purchase plots of land and build a shop front.” She pointed out and across the vast space. “This entire sector area can be developed after the purchase of land! You can build nearly anything you want. Since you are the first to arrive, we will have the first sale starting at 1 o’clock. p.m.”
There was some grumbling at the thought of spending more on the marketplace.
“For those interested in purchasing a plot of land, please note that plots will be sold in phases, and the opportunity for purchasing a lot will be done by lottery. Those who wish to buy a plot of land must enter the lottery system. You will find more information inside at the terminals!”
As he proceeded inside, hundreds of terminals were located in a massive space, almost like a casino.
A top-view display of the area was on the screen. It looked almost like a pie with eight pieces representing the different sectors. Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and South Pacific. The Eighth zone appeared blacked out, with a simple sign that stated: locked. Humanity eventually learned this section was to house aliens in the future. But for now, it was closed, unlike the other six zones outside of North America, which were labeled restricted. Zooming in on a bright pink section slice, Alan could see the one-eighth part of the North American Sector in close detail. As he grew closer, the point of this slice was broken into small chunks. These represented the plots of land that could be bought.
As he clicked on a plot of land, a display was shown:
Size: 1/16 acre. Price: 2000 Credits. Do you wish to enter into the lottery? (5 credits for first entry) ***Please note that the land purchase must be made within 24 hours. If not, the chance to purchase will go to the next buyer.
The land he had checked was approximately 3 miles from the market center. There was a big difference when examining the land next to the central building.
Size: 1/8 acre. Price: Minimum Bid 100,000 Credits. This land will be sold via Auction, by special invitation only.
Alan considered what he had remembered from his past. There were two ways to get land: lottery or Auction. For nearly everyone, there was the chance in a lottery. Put your hat in the ring, and hope you win. If you wanted a spot, you could put in multiple entries. Your first entry was five credits, then 10, 20, 40, and so on, doubling every time. The more entries you had, the higher the chance you had to buy the property outright. You could buy it outright, but you might spend a small fortune just getting the opportunity. The Auctions, on the other hand, were for the rich. However, as he remembered from the past, less than 2% of players had earned, traded, or found more than 2000 credits by this point in the game. And as far as the very wealthy buyers, they would be saving their money for the upcoming special Auction. Both in property and other exclusive items. Alan had a window of opportunity, and that was to enter the lottery for a price range outside of what most people could buy, while also avoiding competition from the rich, as they would want to save as much as possible for the special Auction.
If no one entered the lottery, the plot of land would go up for Auction. They were located less than a half mile from the auctioned-off plots. In his last life, few people had even bothered to enter the lottery for these markets, some of these plots ended up being sold at a separate auction later, for a much higher price.
Size 1/16 acre. Price. 5000 credits. Do you wish to enter the lottery? (5 credits).
Alan selected the plots he wanted, about 8 in total. He'd finished his entry by putting in at least four bids for each, 600 credits later. He wasn’t confident he’d get all 8, but if he could purchase half of these, their value would skyrocket.
With his work completed, Alan exited the building to log out and prepare for the upcoming Auction. Passing by the entrance, he overheard a loud argument between a player and a Valkyrie. Out of curiosity, he looked over and stopped in his tracks.
The man was waving his arms while the Valkyrie continued to respond patiently. After a few moments, the man's shoulders fell, and he walked away defeated and sat on a nearby bench. Alan approached the man that he’d recognized from his previous life.
“Wow, that looked rough.” Alan offered sympathetically.
“Yeah, well, what are you going to do? I already spent my credits on tools, and now I can’t use my character on Earth all that much.” The middle-aged man responded. He had a thinning hairline and was stocky. He looked like a middle-aged cherub.
“So, what plans did you have?”
“I love cooking simulators. I always have; I just never had the knack for doing it in real life. I’ve always been kind of a klutz.” He held up his pudgy fingers. “But I discovered this game offers a chance to learn alien recipes, so I jumped at it. I even took genetic modifications to help make my fingers nimbler, and my taste buds extra sensitive.”
“So what's the problem?"
“I wanted to start a restaurant on Earth, you know the works! Occasionally go and buy Cosmos ingredients to make a little money on the side!” He gave a weak smile. “But with this embargo, I don’t know what to do. I can't bring any alien ingredients directly to Earth. I can do my cooking here, but I don’t have enough money to go into Cosmos a lot, and being a regular cook isn’t going to make me that much in credits on Earth.…” He trailed off.
“Wow, that is a bummer.” Alan pauses before continuing. “Have you thought about doing it here? Opening up a restaurant or something?”
“Hah! That's what I was arguing with the pretty lady over there about! It turns out I can’t open a restaurant without property, and I can’t do that without credits, which I don't have much of.” His fists clenched. “They said I could open a ‘food stall’, but I still have to have the permission of a property owner or pay an arm and a leg for a space in the market.” He sighed while pointing at the grand building. A moment later, he seemed to realize that he'd been venting to a stranger. He turned, the pink in his cheeks deepening. “I’m Reardon, by the way.”
"I'm Alan. It's good to meet you. Tell me about your plans?" Alan listened for a while to Reardon and his plans. While also trying not to become giddy at meeting a future icon. In his past life, Reardon had been a celebrity chef for his Cosmos cuisine. He’d started with a food stall before he’d been recognized for his talents and had been offered to start a restaurant. From there, he built a food empire. He was recognized as one of the best chefs on Earth and had even earned attention from several other races for his unique Earth Fusion dishes. Alan had never had anything cooked by him before, but it was hard not to salivate at the memory of the knock-off recipes that other chefs aspired to copy. It was those recipes that led Alan to make an unplanned decision.
“Reardon, I’m pretty impressed with your passion. I’ve thought about opening a restaurant here, but I don’t know the first thing about cooking. I’m wondering if you might come to work for me sometime?”
Reardon’s eyes lit up as if meeting someone who could pull him out of the pit. “Really?!” Alan nodded. It took longer to cook an egg than it took them to exchange their information and to set up a time when his Mom could meet with the man to pound out the details.
Checking the time, he realized he still had a few hours before the Auction would commence. And he had a few more errands to run.
Looking around, Alan knew what was coming for the land around him. It was going to become very busy in the future.