After getting a general location it wasn’t difficult to spot Chet. He stood head and shoulders over most of the crowd. However, there was one element that gave Walker pause when he considered if the person was indeed Chet.
“Damn,” Walker announced.
Chet turned from the booth on the side of the street to rest his eyes on Walker, “I know right? I look like a goddamn ninety-nine-cent whore.” His left eye was swollen half shut and bruised black. That same quadrant of his face mirrored his eye: black and blue.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not doing much better myself,” Walker gestured to his body.
Chet motioned they sit on an available bench. They did so and discussed that night, swapping perspectives.
“I ate a-” Walker murmured.
“Mushroom, yeah,” Chet finished.
“And I-”
“Wacked me with my own stuff? Yeah.”
Each looked forward at the booth in front of them. Walker recognized it, the booth held a large crate filled with dull, round, rocks. Walker thoroughly rubbed his quadriceps; he knew he was avoiding the proverbial present under the tree.
“I don’t really remember what I was thinking then. Maybe I knew what I was doing, maybe not. What I do know though is that I was probably more than a few apples short of a bushel. In the mind I mean.”
Walker kept his eyes forward. He wasn’t afraid by the prospect of looking at Chet, the sides of his neck were feeling uncomfortably sore.
“We good?” Walker asked after a while.
Chet laughed, then winced, then winced because of that.
“Yeah, we’re fine. Just try to avoid going crazy, that didn’t work out for either of us.” And that was that. Chet stood up and approached the booth, and Walker followed.
“What’re these? I saw everyone buying this shit a few nights ago,” Walker asked.
Chet gawked at him, “You don’t know? These are meteorite chunks, each one of these could contain shards of Stardust.”
Walker peered at the rocks. There was a small mountain of stones, and a large part of him was thinking about what was circulating through him right now. The thought made him grow more aware of the state he was in. His heart thumped in his chest, and the aches pulsed through him with each beat. His anemic skin. How every time he tried to move, his limbs lagged to keep up. Something inside of him yearned for the stones. Most likely it was the surplus of money he had but acknowledging that fact didn’t sate his desire to get his hands on Stardust.
He inspected the area closely. The booth was a square, like what Walker would see at carnivals. It was fenced off at all sides so no customer could enter, the “attraction” was the cart filled with meteorite chunks, and a short man with a top hat ferried orders.
“Since I was eating sand and building with blocks these things go for millions, if not billions of dollars. And you’re telling me I can buy them in a booth that’s on the same street as ‘Pinky’s and Stinky’s Sex and Calender Shop’?”
“Hey, Pinky’s and Stinky’s is awesome, their flavored lube is unrivaled.” Chet leaned over the barrier, like several others. “But yeah, you can buy these for a chance to get them. The chunks are quite small, you can find them in quite a few places around the planet, I think. The most sought-after ones vary in size, rarity, and quality, ya know. Though there are tons of uses for even a shard.”
“How big would the shards even get, most of these aren’t bigger than my fist,” Walker said.
Chet scratched his head, “Umm, probably the size of the nail of your pinky finger.”
Walker called over the stout man running the booth and asked how much one of them costed.
Chet whistled, “A hundred-twenty a pound? They were only a hundred-and-five last month.”
“Thought you said these were found all over the world. There should be tons of competition to bring the prices down. You know how many gallons of milk I could buy with a hundred and twenty dollars?”
“Let me see…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Walker called for the stout man again, and after handing over a cardboard box filled with meteorite chunks to a customer, he did.
“Yes?” The stout man asked with an air of exasperation. Walker could tell the man that ran the booth thought he and Chet were going to jostle his jimmies without ever buying anything.
“Where were these meteorites found?”
With another sigh, the stout man grabbed a lengthy stick that leaned against the cart and tapped the sign that hung from the side adjacent to Chet, who stood to the right of Walker. He apologized to the man and rounded the corner.
Meteorites: Astran Mines
Something tickled the back of his mind, but he couldn’t put his dick on it. He returned to Chet who sported a smirk, “At least thirty-nine gallons of milk.”
“Did you add tax?” Walker asked.
“I don’t think the U.R taxes milk since that revolt.”
Walker wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could go for a glass of milk. He shook his head as if to shake away those urges.
Walker changed the subject, “What are the Astran Mines?”
Chet perked up, “Astra? You can’t take a shit without wiping your ass on a meteorite over there.”
“If that’s the case, these things have to be way cheaper than a hundred and twenty dollars a pound.” Walker paused to think. “Though I guess I have nothing to compare these prices to.”
Chet pulled Walker out of the earshot of the booth, which wasn’t very far due to the commotion.
“While you can find Stardust meteorites across the world, the highest concentration and quantity are usually the most fucked up places on the planet. Not many people want to go to these places, especially since countries like Astar have people that don’t appreciate the U.R coming onto their land.”
Walker smacked his forehead, “I remember hearing stories about Astar when I was a kid. Didn’t we send a bunch of soldiers there?”
Chet nodded, “Yup, not many returned that first time. We couldn’t even get many photos there because something made the tech fritz. My guess is magnetic poles. Anyway, none of the journalists that came back can talk about it.”
Walker glanced back at the mound of meteorites. “They must be doing alright then now.”
Chet followed Walker’s gaze, “Explains the rise in price though. There are rumors that U.R is paying high-ranking PIP people, mercenaries, and even prisoners to go over there and collect the Stardust meteorites. I guess the U.R is promising something too sexy to pass up.”
Walker filed away that snipped of information. He also promised himself to research this stuff on his own later.
“Are you going to buy any chunks?” Walker asked.
Chet pulled out his phone and tapped it a few times, “You know we got paid for the whole Welting frog thing? Half the reason I’m completing PIP tasks is to get the opportunity to buy shards. These things are pushing us into a new era, I plan to firmly penetrate myself to the forefront.”
A sentiment that Walker realized a small part of him mirrored.
“Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy Stardust as is? Without gambling on chunks?” He asked as they marched back to the booth.
Chet weighed his head from side to side, “I see what you’re saying. But Stardust shards seem to be an exception, quality, make, shape, and type all add to their price.”
He smiled, “Plus, these things are legitimately cool.”
Walker and Chet navigated through the small crowd around the booth. After about ten minutes of Chet taking pictures of certain rocks he liked, comparing them to ones he found online that were confirmed to hold Stardust, and a lot of muttering, he chose three meteorites of different shape, size, and weight.
Walker approached Chet after he purchased the meteorite chunks, “How much did you drop?”
Chet slid his PIP card back into the wallet. The light that hit the chrome, unfortunately, flashed into Walker’s eyes, making him grimace.
“Bout twelve hundred. No regrets though.” Chet flexed his left bicep while placing his right arm behind his head, creating an impressive stance.
“Are you getting one?” Chet asked hopefully, his eyes hungrily staring at the meteorites.
Walker circled the booth, scanning the meteorites. Unlike Chet, he did not check the internet for tips, though he did take into account what Chet chose. Instead, he let his mind wander and waited for a chunk to call to him.
Eventually, he settled on a meteorite near the top of the mound and called for the stout man to grab it for him.
“Hmm, interesting choice,” said the man.
He dropped it on a metallic scale that sat stationed on a stool in between the counter and the cart. Another booth operator, a stumpy woman, joined him in the booth and began dealing with the growing crowd.
“4.4 pounds on the dot. Price comes to 528. PIP card please.”
Walker glanced at Chet confused before returning his gaze back to the man, “Why would I need ID? I can’t just buy one without it?”
The stout man sighed, a recurring sound it seemed like, “No, U.R policy that all imported Meteorites that may contain Stardust can only be sold to someone, or company, aligned with the PIP.”
“It takes like five minutes to get signed up, seems like an odd requirement,” Walker said.
“Ask them if you want to know more, otherwise show me a PIP card if you want to continue with your purchase sir.”
Walker handed the PIP card to the man and informed him he’d like to use it for the purchase. The stout man grunted in response and dropped below the counter.
“I didn’t know you had to be a PIP member to buy something,” Walker told Chet as they walked down the street, cardboard boxes in hand.
Chet shrugged, “Lots of stuff is sold that way. To buy Stardust Meteorites you can be the lowest rank. But some stuff is sequestered to the higher ranks. Guess the government wants to know when you’re buying certain items.”
“How do we even tell whether ours have Stardust shards in them?” Walker asked. He was clutching the cardboard box hard enough that it bent in his grip. He was holding a third of his net worth after all. However, the excitement emanating from him was most likely the reason for the iron grip.
“Smash ‘em,” Chet said simply.
“Want to grab something to eat first?” Walker responded, his mouth quivering in hunger.
“Sure, we can go to my place after to break them. I also want to show you something.”