After that we were quickly back in routine. Mining continued. Stuffing rocks into the processor continued. Loading the processed ores into containers for pickup continued. But in the time between shifts, I chauffeured each one of our co-miners to the cave so they could have a look at the ship. First was Krn - as she overruled her husband and told me in no uncertain terms that she would be first or she would kick my ass. I had chuckled at the threat but since I had no idea about her level or skills, I decided not to chance it and took her first.

Similar to me and Ralgau, she was mesmerized. She also started to calculate the value of our find spinning all kinds of thoughts, theories and, what she called, preliminary estimates. I called it BS and in the end, she came to the conclusion that she could not estimate the value as it was an ‘inconceivable find’. The thing is that we knew too little about the ship or what state it was in. We didn’t even have a clue about the abilities. For all we knew it could be a scout ship that had no or very limited defensive and offensive capabilities. Although the fact that it didn’t show up in any database should raise the value significantly.

The next was Mrk as he was very worried about the claim and potential fallout with the Red Moon. He needed reassurance that we actually had more going than just some ore and that showing strength to the Red Moon was in our best interest.

Then Brelic went with me. And I have to say, I was getting better at piloting. Well, I felt I was getting better as piloting but I also got my skill up to level five and that meant that I had numbers to back up that feeling. It was actually something that I always appreciated about the game worlds.

You know, in real life when you learn a new skill and practice a lot, you know you get better. But it seems like it is not linear but instead like a stair. You learn something and take a step forward. Then you plateau for a while and it seems like you just can’t wrap your head around the next thing. And suddenly it clicks and you go: ‘Wow, that totally makes sense.’ You have taken the next step on the stair and then you plateau again for a while. The biggest problem is that when you learn in real life though is the fact that you generally always move forward. You don’t look back.

I remember when I learnt about shooting in the police. We started with the obvious safety instructions and stances and whatnot. Then moved to targets that were only a few meters away. Then further away, then further away again. And each time the targets moved farther back, it was hard to get the precision to crank up. And while by now the disassembly, assembly, cleaning, safety had become automatic you didn’t go back to think about it and how far you had come. No, you focused on the targets that were by now thirty or fourty meters away and mostly hidden behind cover.

But in the game worlds, you simply knew how far you had come. You saw the numbers. And sure, progression might not be linear either. It could follow a fibonacci sequence, it could be exponential and it would feel much like the step forward and plateau like IRL. But you could check the requirements to hit the next level and then work on it. It made progression more clear. And I loved it. And you never had to go back to five meter targets to realize how far you had come. You had the numbers.

Anyway, Brelic took a look over the ship, whistled, tossed a rock against the shield, grunted and got back on board Rustbucket.

“No comment?” I asked.

“Well, I’ll reserve a comment for when we get inside. It is quite a find and I did not think that there would be relics like that in this system. But finding and taking possession are two entirely different things. Just make sure not to get too many people killed in the process. Or at least make sure that they are the right people.”

“Well, I don’t plan on getting anybody killed.” I protested.

“Hm, let’s see what happens. I am sure that you already have the attention of one rather powerful entity and your only saving grace is that they don’t know about this and are rather focused on petty extortion. Bad enough but I am sure that if they find out about this, they come down on us like a wall of metal. And that is a half-legal, local entity. Imagine the power that local government, small as it is, could bring to bear. Or think about a multi-system corporation or even a truly intergalactic one. What do you think would happen if Ars Megatech, NExT or Beth Labs would get wind of this thing?

“These are organisations that always strive to get a leg up. Any chance to get a step ahead for them is a chance they have to take because if they don’t push forward they are falling behind. And you know how it goes, people with power don’t like losing that power, arbitrary as that power might be.

“And I am only talking about getting that ship. What do you think keeping it would take? Boy, I love the big ideas but you are ill prepared. You have what? Fifty skill points with most of them in mining? I can tell you when the big corporations get wind of this thing, they send people after you with tens of thousands of skill points. In battle ships.”

He sighed and plopped down on the floor of my small civilian mining ship looking at me through an untinted face plate. His eyes were focused but also tired. “You want to know what I truly think? Stay the fuck away from this thing. Good people will die that didn’t have to. And if you want to make a profit, sell the location of the find via anonymous auction, collect the ice and get as far away from here as possible.”

“Wow, you paint a bleak picture. You really think it is going to get as bad?” I asked with much reduced enthusiasm.

He nodded. “Or worse.”

Shit. Hearing him talk about this really put a different spin on it. I mean I already saw myself zipping across the universe in my new ship, daredevil style. But he had a really good point. What would happen if people learnt about this ship and the value it represented? Would they try to take it from me? Would people die for it? And he was right, when it came to my skills. I had no skills whatsoever and if there really were people with tens of thousands of skill points, what could I do? On top of that, I knew nothing about the universe, was ignorant in politics and didn’t know the players, small or big.

I knew that I wanted to make my mark on the universe but that meant I needed to grow. I needed to get better and get my skills together. It meant I needed money. I needed a proper plan of progression. I needed to start figuring out what I actually wanted to become and what my goals were in the mid term. So far I had simply run around trying to find my footing. And I had been so focused on getting the ship that I never considered what would happen down the line. Fuck, I hate when I have to figure out my goals.

When we landed on the claim and Brelic was about to step off Rustbucket, I placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look back at me. “Thanks for the honesty. I hate getting my dreams smashed but I needed to hear that. I am sure that Krn and Mrk had similar thoughts but they didn’t share them with me. I appreciate your honesty.”

And I really did. Over my next mining shift, I thought about my options, contemplated action and consequence chains, spun my wheels. Ralgau eventually snapped me out of it by throwing a mining laser my way that I managed to dodge just before it would have hit me square in the face plate. When I turned to shout at him and ask him if he is insane he just grinned and he told me to get my head out of my ass and focus on the next step instead of overthinking everything. I idly wondered which approach was the right one. Go with the flow, roll with the punches or plan and consider all potential angles and try to be three steps ahead? It was the difference between poker and chess. I wondered if there was a game that combined both skills.

The final person I brought over to see the ship was Ygglog. The insectoid Drak really was a hard worker but what he wasn't was social. Other than the strength comments he made here and there, you barely got three words out of him. But when he saw the ship, he stopped. And I mean stopped. It was like someone had pulled his plug. I was about to poke him and check if he was still alive or had some kind of stroke (do ants have strokes?) when he suddenly dropped his forelegs until his ‘upper body’ was lying on the floor, his arms stretched out in the direction of the ship.

I watched in complete astonishment. Then he started making some kind of screeching and clicking noises. Was he praying, dying, in pain? I couldn’t tell. I yelled into my com while I ran over to him, checking if he was okay. As I got closer, one of his legs hit me in the chest and made me fly across the cave ass over tea kettle.