Alan looked at the generation and storage options.

“I’d also like to spend some money on storage and just raw VE energy.”

“Well, the energy is about 10 credits per unit. And no, it doesn’t go any lower. I can’t just make the stuff out of thin air. If, however, you happen to exchange some Nyamisium, I might be able to buy it off you directly.

Alan simply nodded. He wasn’t about to spend his hard-earned trophies from battle quite yet. He spent about 16000 credits on enough EV to fill his current storage batteries he’d made. 60 small batteries of 10 VEU, and 10 Medium at 100 VEU each for a total of 1600 VEU.

He then spent another 10,500 credits on another 1000 VEU capacity storage unit and filled it to the brim. Leaving him with a cool 70,500 left over, but now with 2600 VE.

The vendor looked surprised “Not often that you see a newbie like yourself have that kind of cash. But if you’ve got it I’ll take it.” He grinned, his teeth shining brightly.

Alan only nodded knowing what he had to ask next.

“So, Boss…” Alan began to speak to the dino-like alien.

“Call me Frank, you’re obviously a good customer, unlike those other maggots”

“Ok, Frank. I wanted to see about acquiring a VE exchange generator.”

His eyes narrowed before he began to laugh, a cross between a growl, yip and howl. Alan stood there silently, his mother on the other had seemed confused at the exchange.

“I thought you were different Hu-man. You may have money, but you don’t have that many credits.”

“I wasn’t planning on purchasing it with credits, I was thinking along the lines of an exchange.” Alan held up his ring, and it began to glow displaying an illusion and description of one of its contents. A round silver sphere appeared, hovering over his hand. Below it, it read: Unknown piece of Astral Technology.

This was his gambit. A major reason he chose Kragga, risked the bug hive, and came to Mairkness for the trade. All for this little piece of Astral Technology. Frank's eyes widened slightly. His mother looked at Alan seriously and leaned in whispering. “How did you get a piece of Astral tech?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Frank spoke up. “So this is a piece of unknown Astral tech you’ve picked up eh? And it’s yet to be identified? How do I know that this isn’t some sort of fancy piece of cookware and you're trying to take me for what I’m worth?”

“Frank, you know as well as I do, that if it says unknown it’s unknown. Cosmos doesn’t say it’s unknown after it’s been identified.” He didn’t have to add that it might say, ‘stolen, hidden, non-disclosed, etc.’ Unknown meant just that, it was a mystery box, that finding out what it was required researchers to evaluate and identify it. Once it was known, the label would carry over with, even if it just read as ‘hidden’ to someone like a primitive. “And as far as its value goes, well that's half the fun. But the way I look at it, VE generation exchange is fairly common astral tech. Yeah, it’s astronomically expensive for someone like me to purchase. But you are looking at unknown astral tech. On a good day at auction, you’d probably be able to sell it for the cost of 1 VE generation unit for just the ‘unknown label’ alone.”

Frank grunted acknowledging the point. “Yeah, but I would be the one taking the risk. Besides, why sell to me, you know its value. Why are you trading it to me?” His eyes did not leave the image of the unknown tech.

Alan chose his words carefully. “Frank, I’m wanting to move quickly. Earth just started in Cosmos, and VE energy generation seems to be one of the most useful techs there is. It’s used everywhere. I want a leg up. I’m not interested in spending weeks or months, not to mention credits, getting this thing identified, and I can’t predict what an auction is going to do. You're a local, have more knowledge of the markets and how to best get a great price.” As he spoke, he could tell that Frank's resistance to the exchange began to slip, perhaps understanding Alan’s words more deeply than his now very befuddled mother. He could tell it was time to seal the deal. “And if this turns out to be a rare piece of astral tech, then you’ll make a hundred times our little exchange.”

That washed away any hesitation. “All right Hu-man, it’s a deal 1 VE generation exchange unit for your little unknown astral tech.” His eyes failed to conceal his greed any longer.

Alan smiled, “Wonderful, I can see you’re a wise boss, let’s talk details.” After Frank's agreement to the deal, Alan insisted Frank be responsible for delivery, and would only pay after the goods were received. Frank however, said Alan could come by and get it whenever he wanted. Franks, wanting the unknown tech as soon as possible agreed to provide a 100 Cubic yard ring for transport. Alan had made the suggestion casually, secretly hoping for such a resolution. The ring would solve his storage needs for quite some time, and save him a good 30 or so thousand credits. Frank invited them for lunch, which Alan declined due to their schedule.

“Alan, if this turns out well, then you will be a brother to me and my clan.” Alan smiled at the remark, he didn’t have to be told what would happen if the deal went sour.

Alan and his Mom left the complex after his new acquisition. They stopped briefly at a food stand, which sold portions of meat wrapped in overly sized flower petals. The scent and taste were spicy and savory all at once. “Well son, it seems that you’ve got a lot more secrets than just money and metal. Not every day you see pieces of Astral tech being bandied around like that.”

“Yeah, I got lucky in my other world. It is the main reason I decided to transfer today. Couldn’t do much with it on my previous”

“Sure, I guess that makes sense. What I don’t get is why not just sell or identify it directly?”

“Mom, I just have other things I want to get to sooner rather than wait.” Alan explained

“And you don’t know if this thing is valuable or not?” She seemed skeptical.

“Mom, chances are pretty good it’s value is at least equivalent. Or he wouldn’t have taken the chance.” Truthfully, Alan knew exactly its value. It was a piece of rare medical equipment. Great for species which had traits like canines. If he sold it to the right party, he’d easily make back for what traded for it. Just the deadline was coming up tomorrow, there was literally no time to authenticate it.

She looked at him seriously, “Anything else you're holding out on me?”

Alan tried to reassure her, but she didn’t look too convinced. Hoping to distract her with some more mundane tasks they proceeded to a droid dealer. After pulling out the battered droid from ‘The Brick’ and paying a sum of 5000 for parts and same day repairs. He only could grimace at the cost, clearly being taken advantage of because of his time. His Mother had a different reaction, as being surprised at the ‘system level’ of technology of the droid. Just one below the astral.

“Son, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m still very new to all of this, and you’ve seemed to have gotten the hang of things very quickly. But technology goes from primitive to planetary, to system and then astral?”

“Pretty much Mom, from what I gathered it has to do with the tech level needed to travel with relative ease. Primitive gets us into space, planetary moves us from planets in a solar system, the system level can move people from star to star, and Astral moves us along easily across a galaxy.” As each level of tech took upwards of hundreds if not thousands of years to develop, having anything beyond the primitive level was exceptional. There were exceptions of course. The Pods to get into Cosmos were rumored to be above the Astral tech level, but it was unknown. And VE tech was as ubiquitous as anything, most lower techs now relying on it. But those techs had become so common they seemed unremarkable. It was like using a laser pointer on an ancient crossbow. It might seem amazing at first, until you realize that all it does is point a speck of light far away. No one tells you all the physics involved in its development.

“And there are techs after that?” His mother asked.

“Yeah, I’d guess so, there's a lot more space between galaxies and the universe, which takes pretty advanced tech…” He trailed off when he noticed 5 humans moving down the street toward the direction of the VE Storage and Generation complex. Making a quick decision he turned to his mother.

“Hey Mom, I wanted to give you something for all your help today.” He quickly transferred 5000 credits to her. “I know it’s expensive for you to come out here, so if it’s ok with you why don’t we split for a bit for some shopping, cover more ground, and I’ll meet you for dinner.”

Her face brightened at the thought of the unexpected shopping spree, “Uh sure son.” A little caught off guard from the quick turn of the conversation “Do you need....”

“Nah. I’ve got it mom.” They set a time and place to meet before he caught a transport in the direction.

When he arrived back at the energy district, the group was standing next to a building just outside of the comply. Carefully, he positioned himself next to the building, out of site, but within earshot.

“Look, I get the boss is paying through the nose to get us here, but I don’t see the point of us running around trading good gold for credits.” One of the groups complained.

“It’s not our job to ask. Mr. Tenson has been good enough to get us here, along with all the benefits.” He flexed an arm covered in hard reptilian scales, “Why should we care about what he spends his fortune on as long as we get the perks.”

“It’s all fine and dandy, I just don’t see the rush. I mean It’s not like this place is going anywhere.” A third person spoke up.

“That's true.” The reptilian man agreed. “I’d like a chance to use some of these perks. Here or at home.” He smiled maliciously.

“Enough” The final member of the group spoke. “Mr. Tenson paid more in credits then we’d make in multiple lifetimes for our current intel. We need to move quickly on the information as we no longer have access to our informant.”

One of the members shivered with sudden recognition. “So that guy before he was a... “He left the sentence hanging after being given a stern gaze. “Yeah, I don’t know if any amount of money is worth it after what happened to him.”

The final member ignored the comment, “Mr. Tenson can’t afford to lose this opportunity.”

“I get it...” The first man spoke up. “Hopefully, that prehistoric relic will accept a larger down payment this time. These idiotic aliens don’t know the first thing about finance and the money they could be making.” There was a grunt of approval from others. Alan breathed in sharply, Clark Tenson, traitor to mankind, was trying to get a VE generator just like him. Alan had always wondered how he’d been so far of everyone else in his past life. He must have met a squealer. A player willing to go through Cosmos hell for sharing about the upcoming changes. Cosmos didn’t like cheaters. He shivered at the thought. Tenson must have spent a fortune to get his hands on the info. And even more than a fortune to get that many credits in Cosmos so quickly.

Alan tensed as he saw the 5th man exiting the complex, looking frustrated. Clark Tenson was a power house in the past. He’d had a virtual monopoly on advanced weapon manufacturing and was rumored to have a secret cache of energy.

Alan decided to act.