"I feel undervalued. Then again, it's kind of ruthlessly capitalist to put a price on a person in the first place," Shin comments as he notices the appraisal information. "All right...Psyche, do you want to let Triplight in on what we're looking for here? Maybe h- uh, sh- er, maybe Andressa can help us out here."
Praetoria looks over at the listings after Horizon made his comment. She raised an eyebrow and asked ”Is...is that me? Why are they putting such a high value on me? And why are they putting values on us in the first place?”
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Andressa skipped out the vessel and La'huxti followed close, almost wrapped around them. They waved non-nonchalantly, "Well, it's sadly pretty standard practice here on Luz-7, everything has a price and I mean everything. You also never know when some slaver comes by, as for your values you could always ask the bots themselves if you're really that curious."
They spun around to look at the group, "And yeah it's alot easier to look around for things if ya know what your looking for. If it's someone we can head down to the 'lower' sections or something could be pretty much anywhere else on the station."
Psyche is reminded when she first met Isaiah and Inquiry and the learning curve required to get used to interpreting his thoughts since they were so alien. She's now encountering thousands of alien minds within her range, each different, each operating on a completely unique set of rules -- some of which she's not sure really <are> minds. She has to admit (to herself, if not to anyone else) that she'll never be able to keep up her veil except to the most humanlike minds and the smattering of minds that follow Inquiry's patterns.
So she is likely the 'automaton' on the list, given that Inquiry is probably the scout ship.
A tall, spindly alien with knobby knees that can bend in any direction lopes up to Praetoria. It's camel-shaped head, perched on a sinuous neck, cranes down to her eye level. It's braying sounds are translated into words that show up just underneath its chin. "GREETINGS TERRAN FEMALE. I AM Y'KOVTREN. ALLOW ME TO DO THE HONOR OF PURCHASING YOU. CURRENCY DELIVERED TO THE ENTITY OF YOUR CHOOSING."
Praetoria tried to hide her disgust, still not sure what these aliens “valued” in her and what they had planned. ”Uhm...what do you want to buy me for?”
Y'Kovtren pitches its head in what might be some manner of laugh. "STANDARD SERVICES, I ASSURE YOU. ENFORCEMENT. DEFENSE. YOUR PROFILE INDICATES YOU WOULD EXCEL AT THESE SERVICES."
”Uhm...thanks but no thanks,” Praetoria says with a wave of her hand. ”I’m...busy.”
The alien nods its head. "VERY WELL. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND, HERE'S MY CODE." It passes you a small object like a coin to you. "IF YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE AUTOMATON, WOULD YOU SELL IT? I WILL BE WILLING TO GO 10% OVER ESTIMATION FOR IT."
"She is not for sale." Shin was quick to speak up on this, staring up at the strange creature. "Please leave us alone."
The alien manages to look affronted. It snorts at Horizon. "ONE OF LESSER VALUE SHOULD NOT BE SPEAKING ABOUT THE SALE OF YOUR BETTERS." It gives Praetoria a knowing look, pointing at the coin in her hand. "TEN PERCENT OVER ESTIMATION. THINK ABOUT IT."
Other aliens are similarly interested in purchasing the Sentinels or sometimes only pieces of them. Inquiry's tanks of mana-based fuel are valued at 12,000 currency, Frostbite's blood is valued at 500 per pint, and Horizon gets an offer for his teeth for 50 each.
Kayla was just about to tell the alien where he could insert that coin when Shin spoke up in their defense. She remained quiet as the thing walked off, and she stepped over and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and said ”Thanks. You were nicer than I was about to be,” before she turns and resumes heading further into the “port,” a slight blush on her cheeks.
Once its passengers had disembarked, Inquiry collapsed its passenger compartment, compressed down, and slithered along after its companions. It ignored the vast majority of the incoming offers while sifting for something that it could easily manufacture out of scrap that would sell for a decent amount.
"Whew, got some slightly over-aggressive commercialism here. I mean, commerce stations are often a bit like this, but I'm used to ones with a bit more law and order... particularly anti-slavery laws. Though we might want to start asking if there's a distinction between asking to buy someone and wanting to hire them, because if we need the cash the latter would be a way to get some without having to sell bits of ourselves."
With the translators working for everyone, they can see the signs directing the "shoppers" to the various sections that focus on other forms of transactions besides wholesale purchases. Arrows pointing to lifts taking beings to "Services" direct the Sentinels to a different level.
As they move, there's a constant thrum of advisories informing all beings on Luz-7 about the stiff penalties for theft. Stealing anything (which does seem to incorporate kidnapping/slavery in a purely economic sense) will result in massive sanctions up to and including the worst apparent penalty -- the total devaluation of your worth.
The subtitle-based translators also have a function that will show the value of all the other beings you come across -- in fact, it seems the pecking order and status all depends on an individual's worth. The first alien that tried to buy Praetoria, for example, was worth millions of currency units. Most beings walking around Luz-7 were worth in the upper hundred thousands, though a few were much lower valued.
A surreptitious glance at Triplight shows something odd -- they're somehow worth 1.5 million, but La'huxti is only worth a hundred thousand.
That's because you managed to hack your value and swap your values, so you have much greater pull on Luz-7.
It will also point out that there are several reasons one should be careful about selling body parts, particularly if there are any practitioners of certain forms of magic around, but it does remain your right to do so if you wish. After all, the Iron Federation does include a few citizens who actually make a living selling rare body parts for more than it costs them to buy enough food to regrow them. Most notably a few dragons that turned out to be even more greedy than average.
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Andressa shooed away potential buyers, "Hey hey, they aren't for sale, move on move on!" They waved their arms in a way to accentuate their need to move through. They made themselves as imposing as a Terran Teenager in a futuristic space-suit with a dragon friend, with a decent stock value, could to try and ward away any more offers to 'purchase' the new arrivals. "Malakarish(Seems to roughly translate to a wide net term for those of lower standing) these Terrans and their vessel are under my protection, there will be no more offers on their being unless it goes through me first."
"Oh, yeah the majority of the universe is to the point where everything is a commodity. A little surprised that your lady friend is fetching such a high price though. I'd keep wary and keep together, don't want any of you getting snatched away, some hunters out here have tranqs that'll knock out Nylanthian Burrowers, though in fairness those would likely kill anything short. Oh I should also tell you i've got to offload this subspace ionizer before I'll have the credits to snatch up my parts. We can look for whatever it is you're here for while we wait, of course that would impart actually knowing what your after."
Rory takes the reckless act of selling a unit of his blood. The extraction is done right there on the street and a heavy coin is placed in his hand after the blood is drawn. The coin reads 500 when translated, though others notice his own value is reduced by the same amount.
Though Inquiry is understandably cautious about the magical harm that can be wreaked through various sympathetic magics, its scanners have detected no real magical auras anywhere except for what it's brought with them.
Triplight leads the Sentinels through the labyrinthine levels and strange environs until he finds his buyer: an oversized battle-mech with heavy limbs and a barrel chest. However, rather than a single pilot, the middle section is a tank containing hundreds of minuscule aquatic creatures that glow with a pale bioluminescence. The ponderous exoskeleton heaves its bulk towards the group, looming over everyone.
A speaker attached to the mech warbles a series of sounds that are quickly translated in subtitles. "GREETINGS SINGULAR TRIPLIGHT. WE ARE PLEASED TO SEE YOU BEFORE US. DO YOU HAVE THE DEVICE AS ARRANGED?"
What does he do??
"INDEED," reads the translation as the exoskeleton holds up a device similar to the credit chip given to Rory but designed for much greater sums. "THIRTY-SEVEN PERCENT OF US WISH TO KNOW IF YOU HAD ANY DIFFICULTY OBTAINING THE DEVICE. WE RECEIVED INFORMATION THAT THERE WAS ANOTHER BUYER AND ACQUISITIONER"
A strange swirling of the beings within the tank starts. Psyche's initial understanding of their mind suddenly takes a left turn as she senses a headache-inducing discord inside the tank.
Shin is avoiding anything that might want to purchase bits and pieces of himself, but keeps a look out for any sort of information regarding the sale of Terrans. He'll want to see if Psyche's body might be up for purchase just in case, even if the chances are slim.
While with the rest of the group, Shin continues to try to puzzle out Triplight's motivations as well as check to see how Psyche is doing here. He doesn't feel like things are weird with his powers yet like she must.
Hmm, no real magic users on the station, huh? That could be a useful opening, if necessary. There were things that could be done much easier and more efficiently with a handful of inscribed runes as opposed to a roomful of machinery.
Additionally, it meant minimal interference for other things. Having had its attention brought back to the matter, Inquiry fired up a basic sympathetic compass built with a few of Psyche's hairs to see if her original body was near.
Inquiry realizes that not only is he the only magic user on the commerce station, he might be the only source of magic on this station. His tanks of mana fuel are going to have to sustain him for the duration of the trip.
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"Oh yeah some Koverian null pirates, not sure who else was out there trying to snag it, but with some help from these Terrans it wasn't a big deal. Just a tiny sub-space tangle and some unlucky quantum entanglement."
Trip reaches out to trade the ionizer and the credit chit, "Sadly won't be enough to replace my ship, but it'll get me along until i can find that big haul. Thanks for the business Prosperous Wanderer. If you need anything else you know who to call."
Well, that could be awkward. Inquiry knew that there were ways to refine Mana from electricity or other energy sources... but it wasn't carrying any of them right now. At least its FTL drive was self-sustaining once started (it could hardly carry enough energy for it otherwise), but that still meant fuel rationing for everything else.
It could perhaps assemble a converter... but that would take parts. As would repairing the node. Inquiry's fabricator bay should provide sufficient tools, but it still needed raw material of the right kinds.
Still, Inquiry kept this mostly quiet, lest someone overhear. But it did know one method of communication that was likely to be private, given Triplight's statements about the local monopolization of telepathy.
Hey Psyche, we landed way off course. Your body won't be here anywhere, and I'm going to need to fix this gravitic node to go hopping again, unless our new friend's gizmo can substitute, which means shopping around for replacement parts. I figured I'd tell you so that you could relay it to the others, let them know our situation.
Shin was doing his best to not stare at the school of fish piloting a robot while listening in on Triplight's conversation. He was thankful his visor made it less apparent where his eyes were really looking. This new reality was leaps beyond how he felt arriving in future Halcyon.
That actually reminded him of something to ask. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know what the date is today on the Terran calendar, would you?" He asked Triplight. Admittedly, it was probably unimportant, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to know.
He leaned in and nudged Prae briefly. "I think that this place is a lot weirder than Halcyon, and you freeze your yogurt there. You think that we'll find a lead for Psyche here?" He whispered.
”Who knows what we will find? This place is definitely strange. First time I’ve been off world since...” she pauses, her eyes watering a bit before she lets out a breath and tries to change the subject. ”What’s wrong with frozen yogurt?”
This wasn't worth it. If I didn't know how to get us here safely and get all of us home, we shouldn't have come.
She carefully shunted that line of thought aside as she opened a tight channel to her teammates.
"The body won't be here anymore. Repairs have to be our priority instead. Selling off pieces of ourselves is probably not the way to go. If your value is diminishing whenever you do that, then it puts you in increasing danger of having very few rights at all from what I've been picking up. Or perhaps replenishable blood isn't the standard here...""
"It's not ice cream." Shin helpfully explains to Prae, before Psyche's channel makes him tilt his head.
All right, so what's the plan then? Wait for Isaiah to pick up on your body? Ask our new friend for help? Do we trust h...someone we don't know?
The muted sensation of a psychic shrug taps against Shin's mind. "We aren't where we intended to be. Before Isaiah can even pick up on the body, we need to reorient ourselves and make some repairs."
The buyer pauses as it considers Triplight's answer. The bioluminescence of the creatures in its tank shifts colors, some appearing as lavender while other are a deeper blue. The tinny voice somehow still manages to sound suspicious. "A QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT? WE ANTICIPATED PROPRIETARY RIGHTS. THIS IS HIGHLY IRREGULAR." The mech turns its sensors toward the node on Inquiry.
========
As Rory starts to feel better, the others notice his value start to tick back up. Apparently, injuries or significant blood loss can actually lower your value.
As Triplight was conducting his transaction, the others notice a large crowd gathered around an auction. A very beautiful if alien-looking woman, pink skin with iridescent scales dusting her shoulders and a vibrant neon purple hair. She is clad in a diaphanous gown, but also a collar chained to her neck and wrists. Her current price is 1.2 billion standard currency units, and the auctioneer is pointing out that buying her, Princess Ai'leyla Tey'vala Unitas, will also give you control over her entire world.
A series of very unsavory types -- big, misshapen or frightening-looking aliens -- start bidding on the princess.
What do you do???
Praetoria spots the hideous event taking place at the auction block. "They...they can't be serious about this..." she mumbles as she immediately starts studying the security around the auction...
Inquiry looks back at the fish mech. "Hey, I wasn't even trying to land here. Just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time."
It decided that after this moment, it should pull the node inside its hull until it was time to use it again. Drawing too much attention. And speaking of drawing attention, Inquiry was also not particularly pleased on seeing the auction. It didn't know the full story behind this princess, but was already seeing slavery, and there was the inference of planetary conquest underneath. Or planetary theft, or something. Regardless, it didn't look good, the takeover of planets and civilizations by forces beyond their ability to deal with was one of the few situations that the Federation would deploy armed intervention, and Inquiry knew full well that most of its passengers were unlikely to stand for this either. Of course, dealing with it was going to be horrendously messy.
Inquiry flexed its comm system, seeing if it could still reach home through the relay near the rift, to explain the situation, upload data, and request additional energy. A nice e-mail to Silver Shield might be in order as well.
Shin was not certain that they should be interfering with something like this. Making more waves was not conducive for finding Psyche's body.
And yet, Shin looked at the princess standing there while foul looking aliens bidded on her, and tried to see what her eyes were saying. He walked forward until he could look up at her where she could notice him.
Praetoria continued to seethe as she watched the auction progress. She remembered some threats Dr. Dread had made to her, about how once she was victorious she’d auction her powers off to the highest bidder, laughing all the while...
”Inquiry...get your jump drive ready. Quick...” before she flew up into the air and over to the auction block, standing in front of the woman protectively.
”That’s enough! I don’t know what kind of insane world this is, but this is WRONG!”
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Andressa nods to the fishy-mech, "I mean, the device is still under your ownership. I had it you bought it, so rights are transferred to you. The whole interference thing is all mine to deal with. So i'll see ya around yeah?"
They turned and saw the others looking off to the auction area. Seeing the outlandish price put on the being at the center of it all and frowning. They glanced past and started turning the gears on how they might resolve the situation and come out on top.
"That right there's a bit rich for my blood."
And then praetoria flew into the mix 'Oh Garblebunk' "That one really is a hot head isn't she?"
The shared outrage of most of the Sentinels draw their attention to the auction near Triplight's bargain -- which also seems to be hanging on by a thread.
Praetoria assesses the various aliens surrounding the subject of the auction, feeling out their relative power levels. Some -- based entirely on their value -- seem incredibly powerful and influential, and others just seem tough.
Inquiry utilizes some of its precious resources to contact its home dimension only to get a stern warning that the current dimension that it finds itself in is one of first contact and therefore the scout ship should only observe and report. The Iron Federation is insistent in a passive interaction at this point.
Horizon steps up and studies the princess on the auction block. She seems resigned to her fate, but his earnest face draws her attention. They make eye contact, and he sees a desperation in her eyes.
With Praetoria's patience at an end, she jumps up and interrupts the auction. She doesn't do much, however, as the auctioneer and the ones in the audience break into various alien forms of guffaws. They don't seem impressed, and bulky, tough-looking guards move in to remove her from the proceedings.
Triplight, in the midst of dealing with the imminent loss of their sale, suddenly sees one of their new companions jump up and interrupt a major auction. They do a quick assessment and figure that they might be able to smooth-talk the auctioneer and resolve this matter peacefully. The princess, however, is going to be of primo value unless there's some way to devalue her planet. Or, somehow devalue her (usually death is an easy way of dropping her value precipitously, though there might be some required compensation if it can be traced back to them). The best way to devalue her would be to find another heir to the planet and submit that she's not the legitimate heir.
What do you do??
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Trip turned to face the fish-mech again clearing their throat and speaking somewhat thrown off by the new happenings in the crowded auction. "Well you see there isn't anything wrong with this device it wasn't affected by any entanglement so it still belongs to you and only you after we trade, that was the deal after all. Don't mind the uh Terrans they don't quite know how things work around here... so i should probably go make sure that one doesn't do anything dumb."
They lean in making a point not to speak loudly enough for the others to hear(not knowing that Praetoria has super hearing) "First time on Luz so I should probably go fetch her before she breaks a station code."
They offer the device and try to trade it for the chit before dealing with the praetoria situation. Meanwhile La'hux'ti unravels itself from Trip and floats over to Isaiah and babbles to the superfluous metal-man in a mixture of chirps and celestial hymns that seemed to bypass even the translation software of the station beads. "There may be a way to assist this one, but acting rash will only make the situation worse. If we find a way to rapidly depreciate her value or massively increase our own, perhaps we could resolve this and still fall under station law. Perhaps a feesible lie about the state of her star home... or finding another heir and showing she is illegitimate, even if it simlly a ruse."
Praetoria holds up her hands half to placate their concerns she will be violent, half to protect this "princess." "People on my world know me as Praetoria. I am what they call a superhero, and I defend those who cannot defend themselves from being wronged, threatened, hurt, or killed. She," she points to the woman on the auction block behind her, "does not deserve to be treated like some sort of animal, sold to the highest bidder! She is a living soul, and deserves freedom just like the rest of you! Moreover, her whole planets and their people are not things you can just sell like some bauble in a shop window! How would you feel if it were you or your families, planets, or race that was being treated like this? Would you not want someone to stand up for you and protect that which you hold the most dear?"
Well, Inquiry couldn't really claim this *wasn't* first contact. Still, being passive and not doing *anything* were two different things.
Praetoria had given a solid entry line. And Triplight's ideas did have some merit as well. There might be one thing they could do...
Inquiry slithered forward slightly, not going out so far as Praetoria, but it did raise itself up to a noticeable height, where it could overlook and see all the proceedings... and was equally visible itself.
"I will not make nearly so great a claim. I am obligated to remain an observer here unless directly acted against... but I will say this; While I myself may not be of such great 'value', I am an eye for others who are not to be trifled with. All that I observe here will be relayed to them, and by your actions here you will be judged. Consider carefully how you want to be seen, and remember; do unto others as you would have done unto you."
Very few of the aliens assembled seem susceptible to Inquiry's words. For every one who seems to grow introspective, five or more either sneer or guffaw at the sentiments. Worse, the auctioneer, a multiple-tentacled alien with bulbous eyes, starts gurbling in a watery language about bringing charges for interference of commerce against Inquiry and Praetoria!
What do you do??
She wanted to tear the whole place down like Samson in the temple. I'd probably even survive it.
She might have been able to suspend the princess's -Ai'leyla's vitals. At the end of the day almost everything there was came down to motion on some level or another. But I've never done it before, and I don't know how her physiology works...
Fine. Subtlety.
"Hello? Princess Ai'leyla Tey'vala Unitas? My name is Psyche, and my friends and I are here to help. We need to cast doubt on this sale. If we produce someone who looks like you, or one of your people, can you give us the details we would need to make them believe that they might be the true heir?"
Well, he hadn't really thought that would work outright. But there was always plan B.
"Oh well, it's kind of disappointing watching those who are supposed to be this station's best, brightest, and most wealthy fall for such a painfully obvious scam, but on your own heads be it."
Inquiry slithered back slightly, watching. And waiting for the likely inevitable torrent of questions that should lead into the next part of this plan.
Psyche, just a thought - if you were to reveal the full extent of your powers, would that raise your economic worth far above and beyond what these mooks are looking for? Last case scenario, in case nothing else works.
Shin foe's along with Inquiry and suddenly speaks out, gasping and pointing at her. "I knew I recognized her! Isn't she that dancing girl from the burlesque show? What kind of shenanigans are we pulling here? You trying to screw us over, you cheapskate!?" He says as loudly as he can, hoping the princess goes along with it.
Psyche's contact with the princess mentally registers a shock. "Nuvoans? Why would you--? Huh. 'Psyche' does not sound like a Nuvoan name." There's a moment of strange resonance as her alien mind considers her proposal. "Hmm. My brother was exiled for piracy and robbery, though I would not be surprised if he did not proxy a buyer, assuming he has obtained the currency. He would otherwise be first in line for the throne. But you must--"
She is suddenly distracted by Horizon's bluff. She looks incredibly affronted. "I am no dancing girl! I am Princess Ai'leyla Tey'vala Unitas!" She scowls viciously at him for a few seconds more, and then realization dawns. "Oh. I mean," she sways back and forth in a very poor imitation of a sexy dance.
The auctioneer's attention turns to Shin and it leans towards him menacingly.
What do you do??
”Alright...this isn’t going anywhere...” Praetoria mumbles. She turns to the princess and says ”Hang on!” before picking her up and flying up into the sky as quickly as she can! Once they get some elevation, she lifts the woman up and onto her back and says ”Put your arms around my neck and hang on as hard as you can! Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me!”
The fish-tank people flicker with more pale colors behind the window. "THE ENTANGLED SUBSPACE IONIZER MUST BE CLEARED OF THE QUANTUM INTERFERENCE BEFORE ANY DEAL IS TO BE MADE. CREDITS WILL BE WITHHELD UNTIL ENTANGLEMENT IS RESOLVED."
Praetoria rockets into the air to the sudden distress and outrage of the various aliens. Alert klaxons sound on all sorts of frequencies and spectrums.
A warning message flashes in Praetoria's translator subtitles. "YOU ARE ARE GUILTY OF THREE ^5 ULTRA INFRACTIONS. YOUR VALUATION HAS BEEN PENALIZED BY 50%. CEASE YOUR ACTIVITY OR YOU WILL FORFEIT YOUR VALUATION ENTIRELY!"
Back at the auction, several of the aliens glower menacingly at Inquiry and Horizon. Psyche and Frostbite are hanging back, not really noticed yet.
What do you do??
Well, if we're just grabbing her and going, then I suppose foiling the auction is out of the question anyways.
"Isaiah, Shin, I'm trying to make you forgettable, so we can find Kayla without our own tails, but not everyone's mind works the same. Please do what you can to blend."