Interstellar Online

2 - Job hunting

It is commonly said among mercenaries and traders that it is a cold day in hell when the mistress of fortune abandons you, not because the lack of fortune itself is a bad thing, but because such an ugly break-up often attracts the mistress of misfortune, the mistress of fortunes older, uglier and considerably more controlling sister.

"What was it again?... 'Your only remaining options are Jack and shit, and Jack just left town'."

After Mike's (brief) stint with the not-so-well-known mistress of rage-filled insanity, they had had an intense one night stand, but now Mike was so over her as he had found his true love: the mistress of sound reason-

"No, that's just stupid... What the fuck is going on here?"
Finding himself lightheaded, Mike realized he was still in a hard vacuum, having still not entered the station propper the limited amount of oxygen and build-up of carbon monoxide inside his suit was starting to cause issues.

(For fucks sake Mike, let's focus on not getting ourselves killed after all that trouble with the pirates.)

Finding an airlock Mike buzzed himself in, as the airlock pressurized sound from the outside started gradually returning along with the atmospheric pressure. As the airlock finished cycling a generic announcer welcomed Mike to the station, hoping he would enjoy his stay. Flipping a few switches on the neck of his vacuum suit, Mike twisted his helmet to unlock it as he got the first taste of the asteroid base's life support system.

"Ark, smells like charred meat and metal... But at least it is breathable."

Attaching his helmet to a hook which extended from the 'belt' part of his vacuum suit, as the inner door of the airlock finally opened Mike was greeted by densely packed shops catering to the meagre number of travellers who came through the station.

(Let's see... A bar, contraband shop, another bar and a brothel? Makes sense, although those kinds of establishments weren't modelled in-game for a very good reason.)

Making brief eye contact with one of the girls outside the brothel, Mike finally spotted the console he was looking for in the corner of his eye.

(There we are, but why did it have to be right next to that kind of establishment...)

Doing his best to ignore the girl's invitation, Tom walked over to the cartographers guild console where he sold off his exploration data for the grand total of 702 credits.

(... It seems like the prices here are a bit different compared to interstellar online, but 64 extra credits aren't going to make that much of a difference.)

"Hey mister, why don't you spend some time with little me?~"

As the girl approached Mike he did his best to put on a natural-looking expression, but it turned out to be nothing more than a wry smile.

"I'm sorry, I think you've radically overestimated my current liquid assets."

"Your what?"

Flashing his wrist-mounted display to the girl, her mood rapidly soured.

"Tch, don't go around wasting my time then."

Having rid himself of a temporary nuisance, Mike started seriously thinking about his future prospects. Even with an optimistic outlook, Mike's prospects were grim. He might be able to sell his vacuum suit and personal firearm for a shuttle to a more populated station, but doing so would wipe out all avenues to make credits so it would defeat the purpose. There was also no way Mike would ever earn enough credits to restart his life by becoming a dock worker or miner, those kinds of jobs paid minimum wage, and if anyone was even willing to hire an outsider Mike would most likely die in some sort of work accident within a few years.