The spaceboards sprung into action again,
this time taking about 90 seconds to reach the next asteroid.
“A-122,” said Greeley, as the spaceboards began their cycle around the asteroid.
It was more of the same, another full planet, nothing worthwhile.
When the bidding started, however, several of the veterans got involved rather heavily.
“What did we miss?” asked Gina, perplexed.
“Well, whatever it is, more power to them for spotting something,” responded Astoria. Early on in her career as she was learning the ropes she decided to hop in on the bidding of an asteroid that others had spotted something she hadn’t. The result was winning an overpriced atrocity that crippled her purchasing powers for months. The other bidders had spotted something: a spaceship hidden under the rubble. But it was old and no longer functioning--not even worthy of chopping for parts. She quickly learned to only bid what she could personally quantify.
An elderly gentleman won the auction. He nodded, pleased with his purchase.
The spaceboards sprang into action again, and after two minutes of travel Greeley’s voice rang out, “A-340.”
This asteroid was immediately more appealing. The surface was fairly clean. Several buildings dotted the surface. While buildings were a great sign, it was still important to try and get some kind of read on them. With the actual contents hidden, other clues had to be gathered to try and determine how much would be worthwhile to bid. The more care put into building construction, the more likely the building housed something valuable. Smaller buildings near a main building were also a great sign--they sometimes contained entrances to tunnels.
At the same time, buildings were also a pain because they also had to be cleared off the asteroid. That meant demolition--hard work for people who couldn’t afford an Easy Demolition device. Still, the effort had a decent probability of paying off.
“Small building alert,” said Gina. “We might have a tunneler.”
“And the main building is very well constructed. Crisp, clean design and looks functional,” said Astoria, pleased. Decorative buildings looked appealing, but might contain items with only a sentimental value. Sentimental value buildings were popular because storage renters rarely wanted to simply dump off photos and family documents on the surface on an asteroid. A building that looked like a nice home or cottage gave an aesthetic connection to what they contained.
“So what do we want to bid?” asked Gina as the fly-by wrapped up.
“There are only two more asteroids after this one, and who knows what they’re like,” Astoria pondered out loud. “I would think we’d be doing well to put down half of our trip’s budget. So that’s about $30,000, right?”
As the spaceboards gathered in front of Greeley, Gina noted with pleasure the bored look on the first-timer’s faces. Even some of the veterans looked less-than-thrilled. There was still a decent-sized portion of treasure-hunters who didn’t trust bidding on anything they couldn’t see. There was a definite logic there, but Astoria knew that if you want to score big you have to gamble big.
“We’ll open the bidding for A-340 at $1,000,” said Greeley.
A square, balding man nodded.
“$1,500,” said Greeley without missing a beat.
“Aye,” said Gina.
“$2,000,” said Greeley.
A grunt came from a man dressed in a suit and tie.
“3,000,” said Greeley.
And on it went. Astoria anticipated that the bidding would start to slow around $20,000. She was hoping she could get it for around $23,000, though the square, balding man looked to have a lot of money. Plus, he had bid on the prior two auctions and had lost out on them--he might be feeling antsy to win something.
The price rose. Greeley was now spitting ever higher prices at a rapid fire, not even bothering to say “thousand” anymore. “Fifteen, seventeen-five, twenty.”
Astoria needed to put a halt to the bidding. One trick she had learned was to greatly jump the price with one bid and take the competition out of their groove.
“Twenty-two-five,” said Greeley.
“Twenty-seven-five,” quickly offered Astoria. She needed the trick to work because the price would soon escalate beyond what she could pay. Never get caught-up in a bidding war and pay more than you decided ahead of time. Sure, there was some leeway: if she decided upon $30,000 she could go a couple of thousand above that. More than that though and mistakes quickly added up.
The jump in price, however, had the intended effect. Everyone paused except Greeley.
“Thirty,” he said. “Thirty? Thirty?”
Everyone looked around uneasily.
“Sold for $27,500. Good purchase, m’am,” he said nodding.
“A-122,” said Greeley, as the spaceboards began their cycle around the asteroid.
It was more of the same, another full planet, nothing worthwhile.
When the bidding started, however, several of the veterans got involved rather heavily.
“What did we miss?” asked Gina, perplexed.
“Well, whatever it is, more power to them for spotting something,” responded Astoria. Early on in her career as she was learning the ropes she decided to hop in on the bidding of an asteroid that others had spotted something she hadn’t. The result was winning an overpriced atrocity that crippled her purchasing powers for months. The other bidders had spotted something: a spaceship hidden under the rubble. But it was old and no longer functioning--not even worthy of chopping for parts. She quickly learned to only bid what she could personally quantify.
An elderly gentleman won the auction. He nodded, pleased with his purchase.
The spaceboards sprang into action again, and after two minutes of travel Greeley’s voice rang out, “A-340.”
This asteroid was immediately more appealing. The surface was fairly clean. Several buildings dotted the surface. While buildings were a great sign, it was still important to try and get some kind of read on them. With the actual contents hidden, other clues had to be gathered to try and determine how much would be worthwhile to bid. The more care put into building construction, the more likely the building housed something valuable. Smaller buildings near a main building were also a great sign--they sometimes contained entrances to tunnels.
At the same time, buildings were also a pain because they also had to be cleared off the asteroid. That meant demolition--hard work for people who couldn’t afford an Easy Demolition device. Still, the effort had a decent probability of paying off.
“Small building alert,” said Gina. “We might have a tunneler.”
“And the main building is very well constructed. Crisp, clean design and looks functional,” said Astoria, pleased. Decorative buildings looked appealing, but might contain items with only a sentimental value. Sentimental value buildings were popular because storage renters rarely wanted to simply dump off photos and family documents on the surface on an asteroid. A building that looked like a nice home or cottage gave an aesthetic connection to what they contained.
“So what do we want to bid?” asked Gina as the fly-by wrapped up.
“There are only two more asteroids after this one, and who knows what they’re like,” Astoria pondered out loud. “I would think we’d be doing well to put down half of our trip’s budget. So that’s about $30,000, right?”
As the spaceboards gathered in front of Greeley, Gina noted with pleasure the bored look on the first-timer’s faces. Even some of the veterans looked less-than-thrilled. There was still a decent-sized portion of treasure-hunters who didn’t trust bidding on anything they couldn’t see. There was a definite logic there, but Astoria knew that if you want to score big you have to gamble big.
“We’ll open the bidding for A-340 at $1,000,” said Greeley.
A square, balding man nodded.
“$1,500,” said Greeley without missing a beat.
“Aye,” said Gina.
“$2,000,” said Greeley.
A grunt came from a man dressed in a suit and tie.
“3,000,” said Greeley.
And on it went. Astoria anticipated that the bidding would start to slow around $20,000. She was hoping she could get it for around $23,000, though the square, balding man looked to have a lot of money. Plus, he had bid on the prior two auctions and had lost out on them--he might be feeling antsy to win something.
The price rose. Greeley was now spitting ever higher prices at a rapid fire, not even bothering to say “thousand” anymore. “Fifteen, seventeen-five, twenty.”
Astoria needed to put a halt to the bidding. One trick she had learned was to greatly jump the price with one bid and take the competition out of their groove.
“Twenty-two-five,” said Greeley.
“Twenty-seven-five,” quickly offered Astoria. She needed the trick to work because the price would soon escalate beyond what she could pay. Never get caught-up in a bidding war and pay more than you decided ahead of time. Sure, there was some leeway: if she decided upon $30,000 she could go a couple of thousand above that. More than that though and mistakes quickly added up.
The jump in price, however, had the intended effect. Everyone paused except Greeley.
“Thirty,” he said. “Thirty? Thirty?”
Everyone looked around uneasily.
“Sold for $27,500. Good purchase, m’am,” he said nodding.
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