“Okay, back to business,” I started. “I have found something while I was surveying the belt. I think this could be worthwhile to salvage.”

“What have you found?”

I was hesitant to tell him about the ship. “Nevermind that right now. Right now I need to have some information about salvage operations. From what I found out, I need to register the operation with the local government and then they either deny the request or charge me a boat load of cash for it based on what they expect I will find.”

He simply nodded.

“So what I need to know is how can I prevent that from happening while still getting my hands on whatever I want to salvage.”

Ralgau eyed me thoughtfully while scratching his chin. “Hm, I guess you don’t want to do a black salvage?”

“And end up serving drinks for the rest of my life? No thank you. I am trying to improve my situation.”

“I mean I am no legal advisor but forget it. It’s either black or registered. There is simply no other option. Where did you find your salvage object?”

“What do you mean where did I find it?”

“I mean, is it floating in space or sitting on one of the rocks out there?”

“Actually I think it is sitting inside of one of the rocks.”

Again, chin scratching. This time a lot longer. “You know, there might be a different way to go about it. You are thinking in terms of salvage. How about thinking of it in terms of mining?”

“Huh? In terms of mining? What do you mean?”

“Well, you can buy asteroids from the LoGov here. Price is estimated by estimated ore content. You pay, it is yours. And everything in or on it, is yours too.”

What? Buy an asteroid? I mean it made sense what he said but I couldn’t even think about what this would mean in terms of expenditure. “And how much will that cost me?”

“Probably too much. Do you know the size and ore density of the asteroid?”

“Hm. Kind of egg shaped, maybe 20 km wide and 60 km long? Something like that. And 11% Endrite density. Couldn’t survey for more valuable stuff at that time.”

Ralgau’s eyes unfocused. I assumed he had just connected to the sysnet to run some calculations. Which reminded me again that I really needed to get a connector. I felt like an invalid without the ability to tap into the net. 

“Yeah, forget about that,” he chuckled. “Unless you have a way bigger account than I think, there is no way. Super rough estimate? About 400 trillion ICU.”

I whistled. Yeah, there was no way. Which brought on another, more flippant thought: Maybe I should just occupy a start system and sell Asteroids. That would be a good money making option. Oh, wait. I was lacking a ship to even get out of this system and however I looked at it, it seemed there was no way to get my hands on the one in the rock unless I went criminal. And occupying a star system with Rustbucket… yeah, moving on.

“Wait, there is another option. Not sure if you like that one any better or if you have the skills to make anything of it.”

“Do tell.”

“Well, there is the option to stake a claim. Basically you would be renting the claim from LoGov for 1000 units Tier 1 ore per day. Anything else you mine is yours to keep.”

“Woah, that doesn’t sound too bad. Why would that not be an option for me? I mean I fly around out there mining random asteroids as it is. So why would a claim not be an option.”

He pinched his thumb and index finger together in the manner that I associated with grabbing information by now and flicked it in my direction. I pulled up the information and quickly read through it.

While you were allowed to mine any asteroid wild and trade the ore to the local government for a fraction of the base price, a claim was different. By the way, when I would take a corporation mining contract, they would also buy the ore from LoGov at the same price I would sell it to them for. Now a claim established a semi permanent operation which came with a bunch of responsibilities. The main thing was that one was not allowed to mine a claim from a ship. You needed to set up a ground based mining operation. Which was a whole different thing and my guess was that my Basic Space Mining skill would do me absolutely no good. Further, as Ralgau said, you had to provide 1000 units of tier 1 ore per asteroid per day to LoGov for the operation. And you would be completely  responsible for security because it was treated as a ground operation that was outside of system security purview.

Now the benefits were that you temporarily owned the claim once established. This meant that you could do whatever you wanted in or on it. Which meant creating a salvage operation would be no problem. 

“Okay, that does not sound too bad. I see what you mean about the skill but at the same time I think this should be possible. Why don’t people establish more claims?”

“Oh, they do. I know of at least eight or nine claims here. But it is a hard life and to really profit from it, miners create co-ops. Which means they group up and then move out to an asteroid together. If you have 5 miners working the same claim, then each one only needs to put aside about 200 ore and the rest is for profit. If you have 10, you cut the rent in half once again. Don’t get me wrong, the bigger the operation, the bigger the cost associated with it. Temporary structures need to be bigger, you need better life support, energy needs increase, security needs increase and so on. So you have to find a sweet spot.

“The benefit is space. You can set up a collection station, possibly a refinery and maybe even some kind of processing or industrial facilities. But all of that costs lots and lots of money. One of the claim crews I know has been saving the last for years for a base level refinery. To be fair it is only a family of four people and one of them is a kid that doesn’t contribute much to the mining.”

I nodded. As expected. Everything you wanted to do cost money. 

“Still, this sounds like the best option. Thank you Ralgau! I would never have figured this out.”

He simply nodded. “You are welcome.” Then he added with a grin: “You are paying for the food after all.”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t even want to know how much this food experience would set me back. But then again, it was enjoyable and had me brought much closer to my goal of getting my hands on the ship. Now for the difficult part. And I didn’t really know how to present this after his story. I ex’ed my beer, waved to the waiter to bring us another round and then looked at Ralgau. 

“Listen, I know you have had your share of bad luck in the past. And I also know that we haven’t known each other for long. But my gut tells me that I can trust you and you sharing your story only cemented that. If not for you helping me out, I would have been lost with my lost memory and all. So I appreciate all you have done for me.”

Now it was his turn to watch me intently. I guess he was wondering where all of this was going. And to be honest, so was I. Not sure what to expect. 

“I initially had a different proposition for you but now that the whole claim thing is out there, I am thinking this might actually work out much better. So here it is. I need more people with me. Me alone… there is only so much I can do. But more people and everything we can do is multiplied. You know, a team is bigger than the sum of its parts and all that.

“So I am thinking that I can do another two or three mining runs and then pay off your fine. Then you could leave the station and get you out onto the claim. In the meantime you find me a few more people that are trustworthy and want to join in on it. We deliver the rent, make some money and get your tug back. You can then either keep working with me or pay me back… let’s say half of the fine. 

“If you stay, we will start the salvage operation while maintaining viability of the claim. If you go I will hopefully have figured out how to do it by myself by then. What do you say?”

Ralgau sat there for a while and just stared at me. His face was all serious. And for all I prided myself in being able to read people, I had no idea if he was going to laugh, to punch me, to get up and walk away or agree to my proposal. So I did the only appropriate thing in this situation and sat in silence with him, watching him right back. 

“Why?”

“Because... ,” I trailed off. I had wanted to shoot a rapid answer out. But suddenly my gut reminded me to play straight with him. I learned long ago that when you are not just honest but transparent and vulnerable you got a lot further with people. Yes, when you tell that to someone they will always ask how you avoid people taking advantage of you with this mentality. Well, you don’t. But there are far fewer people out to get you than your imagination conjures up. 

“Because I have a feeling that I will need you in the future. You are the one person that has been helpful without really having a reason to. Yes, you took some money for it but you still had no reason to. Because of my circumstance I know way less about the universe and the people in it than I would like to. I need help to get anywhere, otherwise I am relegated to sit out there and mine my ass off until I can get anything better going. And even then I have no idea if it really is something better.

“What’s more, I have a feeling in my bones… ever since I found the thing to salvage in that asteroid, I know that I will leave a Mark on the universe. Not sure if for better or worse but I have a feeling that there is money to be made and adventures to be had. And while the first is a lot easier with other people involved, the latter could turn bad in a second without someone to have my back.”

I leaned forwards and extended my hand across the table. “So what do you say, you in?”

His stern expression softened at my words. Then he took my hand and squeezed it. “I will not form a company with you. I will not trust you with my money without double checking. I will watch you and at the first sign of betrayal I will crush you. And most of all, I will not owe you anything. I will find more people and will set up the claim where I will work until I can get my tug back and have paid you off.”

After this half scary oath like speech his face lit up and we started chuckling with each other which then turned into a moment of silence where we finished our drinks and ordered more. And then we got into making plans. 

I felt the anticipation of adventures unfolding. I love the feeling of sitting with someone and making plans, hashing things out, figuring out the next steps and the bigger goals. Yes, I have done my little to-do lists so far. But that is nothing compared to the energy you feel when you sit with someone and you have the feeling that you are pulling for the same goal.

So after a few more hours of that, I left the Tower in high spirits which, as it turned out, came not entirely from the conversation but also from the ale we consumed. When we left I passed the waiter and waved my arm over his station to pay for our meal and then Ralgau walked and I swayed out of there and straight to Rustbucket. Where I made my way through the airlock and then immediately crashed out.