Local Time: 9:12 AM | Earth Year 3252 | Planet: Queen’s Gate | City: Brompton | Western Commerce Center
Miraculously, there had been no catastrophes with his repayment and making things equal with Chief, nor with the three-shilling ride on the transbus to one of the market areas in Brompton.
After he had disposed of Mycroft and his men and cleaned up a bit, rather than going to sleep, Rory had used GalNet to find the place where he would sell the chopped-up bodies of the two large snakes from the nest and the two others he had collected. The western market area was a common location for lower-level hunters to sell their materials, so Rory wouldn’t stick out. It wasn’t that he was trying to hide per se, it’s just that the Walshes were always in the back of his mind. In this case, it was more wanting to avoid drawing too much attention rather than actively hiding. He was more passively hiding surrounded by lots of other just like him, at least on the surface. He was happy being just another Soul Warrior hunting for a livelihood.
Getting off the bus after it landed in the posh area, he looked at his tablet and followed its directions past a bunch of busy shops and places to eat. He was used to seeing the way the wealthy lived because of walking to and from school, but he had never been able to actually afford anything in any of the shops. Curious, Rory stopped at a little eatery and checked the menu projected out front. Basic tea and biscuits were eight pounds.
Are these people cracked? Who pays eight pounds for one tiny meal?
Shaking his head at the waste, he ignored the rest of the businesses and finally entered a shop that bought and sold meat. Newton’s Butchery and Meat Warehouse was a large galactic corporation that had a decent reputation serving lower-level hunters. It bought and sold meat up to level 15, which was perfect for Rory – he’d be able to use this place for a long time.
The business was clean and shiny with M-steel on the inside. A large case of delicious-looking meats with various labels projected was against the left wall. A few short lines were there, each leading to an automated sales servant projected in front of each buyer.
Straight ahead was a sign that said, “Small Sales (Less than 10 kg)” in front of a desk with a number of scales, automated tellers, and one bored-looking normal lady to help if there was an issue.
To the right was a sign, “Sales Over 10 kg,” that was above a door to somewhere else. Rory walked that way.
On the other side of the force barrier that dropped and door that slid aside was a large dull gray warehouse-like building with a few more M-steel doors, each leading to their own rooms.
Despite how busy it was outside, in here there was only a single other person. She was a short blond, just above five feet wearing a forest green trench coat with matching boots. Rory figured she was in her thirties, and average-looking. Oddly, she was rubbing her hands together and breathing on them, as if cold.
Blinking, Rory realized he could see his breath misting in front of him. He wasn’t cold in the least. Laughing quietly to himself, Rory realized he forgot what it was like being cold. This planet had no seasons or material temperature changes and he’d gotten used to that, forgetting that back on Earth –and on most terraformed worlds – the weather changed throughout the year.
Apparently, he didn’t feel the cold; at least not at this temperature. He figured it was likely that he couldn’t stand in a blizzard or anything, but he was apparently good in meat storage at least. Well, it didn’t help him on this planet either way.
Refocusing on his purpose, Rory saw that outside each individual room was a projected interface, the farthest of which he walked up to. The three options were:
1. Sell Under Existing Account
2. Update Existing Account
3. Create New Account
He tapped the third and it asked him to scan his commo, so he placed his hand with the ring in the little lit area under the box. The display changed to list his full name and address which made him blush slightly and look around unconsciously. Shaking his head, he kept reading. Also shown was an old picture of his face, as well as his sex, age, height, weight, Soul Construct status (which was “Active”), and Banking information (which showed “Unavailable”). Well, his weight had certainly increased in the last two days. He’d apparently been gaining a good amount of muscle because it definitely wasn’t fat. He couldn’t even remember when he’d had fat to spare.
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His body had once again noticeably changed. That morning had shown yet more differences to his physique and it was all positive in his view. The night sleep wasn’t particularly pleasant, but if he gained from it, growing pains were the least of his concerns. Rory reflected ruefully that when the discomfort had woken him up in the dark of the night, he’d freaked out thinking his scars were back and his getting better was all a dream. But when he had accidentally lit the space by hitting his tablet, which was on his chest from him falling asleep reading it, he had realized what the ache was and welcomed the burn of his improved condition.
Anyway, Rory confirmed all the information on the display and it told him to wait for an assistant. So he stepped back and waited. Looking around and seeing nobody, he pulled up his tablet and found directions to his next two stops. Just as he was seeing if there was an enhancement-specific store nearby to plan for what kind of money he was looking to have to earn, a burly man with short but professionally-cut gray hair and a neatly trimmed gray beard wearing a long furred coat marched up to him.
Rory was opening his mouth to say hello when the man’s brusque voice declared, “Great! A newbie. Before you open your trap, I don’t care what your name is. Just tell me what you want and keep it quick, cause I’m freezing my dick off in here.”
Ooookay then. Rory did as he was told. “Umm. I’m here to sell the bodies of two large snakes and a few smaller ones. I had to chop up the big ones to fit them in my vault. What do-”
“Brilliant!” the man exclaimed as he raised his arms and dropped them and declared in a tone that told Rory he thought it was definitely not brilliant. “You probably buggered the whole thing.” He proceeded to point at the door and demanded, “Get in that room and dump them out of your piece of shit commo.”
Piece of shit? It was the most expensive thing Rory had ever owned.
Sighing, he went inside and noticed his breath was even more visible, the white streams floating for a bit. Ignoring that despite his thin shirt and pants he still wasn’t cold, Rory went to the middle of the room, opened his vault, and started dropping the pieces of snake with a thump and clang.
A moment later, the man entered behind him. “Why the fuck aren’t you cold?” he asked brusquely. “And how many were in your fucking party to kill something this big?”
Rory looked at the pieces and shrugged. He hadn’t really thought about how thick the snake pieces were at the time as he was still reflecting on his fight with the Rainbow snake. Either way, he kept dumping until both dismembered bodies and the two small ones were fully out of his ring and he had a majority of the space back in his vault.
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Fucking rich snobby brats these days. Nobody ever earns anything on their own anymore.”
The man marched out of the room and, having absolutely no idea what the guy was on about, Rory followed. The door slid shut behind them and the man, mumbling and swearing the whole time, went to the interface and tapped a few things. Rory heard some humming and a few flashing lights through the translumin windowed door.
A summary came up and the guy leaned forward and squinted at it. Then he turned and spat at Rory, “Get a real fucking commo vault or learn how to cut it up right. You wrecked it with your idiocy. You probably lost seventy percent of the value. There’s barely any profit off of this shit meat.”
Rory winced and looked at the screen ready for the bad news. He’d get a few pounds for it at least, right? Something had to be usable.
Value Assessment:
(Meat weight - Value per pound)
3.99 kg - £ 4.5
27.30 kg - £ 11.2
5.62 kg - £ 25.1
1.32 kg - £ 88.4
Total sale value: £ 1,281.44
Waste – 109.32 kg
Do you accept assessment? | Yes | No |
Rory’s mouth fell open. Over one thousand pounds? And that was with seventy percent of the value lost? Rory couldn’t even process all the thoughts that were going through his head. Was this why everything was so expensive here? Cause it was this easy to make money?
Sure he had almost died, but it was his first time and he had had no idea what he was doing. Now that he had GalNet and a little experience, he’d know the right things to do and it would be way easier.
The helper man had misinterpreted his face and said in a huff, “See how much waste you had there? Next time, don’t chop it up that bad. Get a real vault.”
To be fair, Rory figured a good portion of it was likely from poison contamination and not his poor slicing.
Shaking hand reached out, Rory touched the “Yes” button.
Unfortunately, the next message was not so great.
No banking information entered. £ 1,281.44 has been added to your business account until a transfer is available.
Rory looked at the guy. “I can’t just get paid now?” he asked.
The man looked surprised. “You mean in hard currency? Are you daft? We’re no bank. Just connect your account and use your commo like everyone else. Kids!” Then he shook his head. “Look, you’re set to do it yourself from now on. Unless you have more to sell, you can get out. And get a real fucking commo!” Following the rather aggressive lecture, the man turned and marched out, grumbling the whole time.
Blinking, Rory looked at the screen, pressed “transaction complete,” and left, tapping on his tablet the whole time.