Theeve Station Black Market

I looked up at the featureless building in front of me that was supposedly where the black market was located.

All the windows were boarded up and a man who had practically half his body turned into implants was leaning against the entrance of the building.

"This is the place?" I asked Amber who had led me here.

"Hmm? Yep, that's the place. Might look like crap outside but this is the place."

I looked around the building, "How did you even sneak in there? I don't see anywhere that you might get in."

Amber smirked, "Oh, there's more than one way into a building aside from windows, Tera~"

"Like?"

"Try another direction other than up~"

"There's an underground passage?"

"Yep~ It's a pain to get through though so I really don't recommend it."

I blanched, "Don't tell me it's because you have to move through sewers or something?"

"Ewww, no, no, no. There's an underground passage that leads directly there. The only problem is that you'll need to walk pretty far just to get here so it's not really worth it in my opinion."

I blinked at her, "There's an underground passage that leads directly into the black market and no one bothered to seal it up or even guard it?"

She shrugged, "It's kind of like an open secret to everyone so no one really cares. And… I guess you actually need some skill to traverse the passage so not just anyone could go through it."

"What, is there like some kind of obstacle down there?"

"Sort of."

Now that just makes me more curious about it… But well, not curious enough for me to want to go and find out at least.

"So, we ready?" Amber asked.

"Umm… Just to be sure, we really don't need to cover our faces or anything?" I asked.

I had suggested that we use some kind of mask to hide our identities but Amber just giggled and called me cute for suggesting it.

"Ahaha~ There really isn't a need for that. This station really doesn't care that much, Tera. Maybe if we were in the inner circles of civilised space that might matter a bit more but not here at least."

Well… If she says so since she's the more experienced one here…

Putting that aside, we approached the front door to get into the building and the guy that was standing guard there immediately moved to block our way.

The top left quarter of his head was completely metallic including his eye that was replaced with a circular, red eyepiece that seemed to scan us as we got close.

"Hmm… Never seen you two before. What are you doing here?"

I tapped on my Codex and brought up the recommendation that I managed to get from Yirfa to show it to him.

He squinted his one organic eye before nodding, "Looks good. First time here?"

The both of us nodded even though that wasn't true for Amber.

"Right, there's only one simple rule here: No fighting. If you want to fight, go outside and fight. Last thing we want is getting attention here so if you get caught fighting inside, you'll be tossed out and banned. Got that?"

We nodded again.

He then stepped aside and resumed his pose of leaning against the wall, "Go inside, take the lift to the fifth floor. Welcome to the market."

We entered the building and found the lift in question right away.

"That went easier than I thought," I whispered after we stepped inside the lift.

They had even covered all the possible buttons with a board and only left the fifth button open to be pressed.

Amber raised an eyebrow at me just as the lift began to ascend, "Why wouldn't it be easy? Were you expecting the recommendation to be a fake?"

"Not really, I was expecting him to question who we got it from and what we were here for."

"Pfft, as if a doorman like him cares about that. Nah, they're careful about who gets to come in but they aren't that strict about it," She assured me.

Alright, guess the lines I rehearsed about making contact with Yirfa and helping her out was all unneeded.

Hey, it doesn't hurt to be careful, ok?

As the lift came to a stop on the fifth floor, the doors opened to reveal a large hall that had been turned into what looked like a market.

There were quite a number of people who were sitting or standing beside tables and floor mats that were filled with stuff and a few who were using a screen to project what they were selling to the people walking around the place.

As we moved down the corridor, I kept my eyes peeled to spy what was on sale around us.

Hmm…

Used, stolen panties, five hundred Credits each.

Voyuer photos, two hundred Credits each.

Cybergirl bathwater, one thousand credits per bottle.

Gravure photos of lewd hologirls, one hundred credits per photo

What the fuck is this?

Is there anything normal around here?!

I gave Amber a pointed look and she smirked, "Don't worry, the more normal stuff is inside."

Right…

We went deeper inside and sure enough, the things that were on display changed to more normal stuff.

Or at least… As normal as a black market can get I guess?

Overclocked energy blaster with burst fire mod, eighty thousand Credits.

Modded energy sword, four hundred thousand Credits.

Human organs, eight hundred Credits per capsule.

Bio waste, three hundred Credits per canister.

Recreational drugs, two hundred to one thousand Credits per syringe depending on drug.

Well, this is what I came for.

I took note of some of the stuff and their prices including the human organs one.

Hey, I already said I wasn't some kind of hero and this is all about money. If trafficking human organs gets me money, I'll do that. That's one of the easiest things you can sell to get money in the game too.

And if you see it another way, some people can't afford the hospitals and have to resort to procuring these organs from the black market which would be a cheaper alternative. So technically speaking, we're also saving lives in the process!

What about the original owners of these organs? Well… Too bad I guess?

Anyway… I spotted a few of the things that I would most probably trade in aside from the organs and the drugs.

There were also some other normal stuff being sold here like energy cells and even ship spare parts that were way cheaper than the ones being sold in the normal market probably due to them being stolen or something.

I decided that I might get a few of those for us since there's no reason to not take advantage of a good bargain.

The people selling this stuff don't even seem to question who they were selling to and simply completed all their transactions without any fuss.

Since I wasn't sure of the normal prices in the black markets in other stations for the organs and drugs, I refrained myself from purchasing them right now.

I don't want to be in a situation where I was stuck with them because I bought them for a high price and couldn't find anywhere to sell them.

"Oh right, how do I sell something here? Do I have to set up a stall like them?" I whispered.

Amber grinned, "That's easy. Come with me."

She took me to another corner of the building where a small machine had been set up with multiple screens on them. Some of the screens were currently being used by others but most of them were left empty.

Amber stepped up to one of the screens and tapped on it, prompting it to come to life.

"Those people out there are the small-time, independent traders. Most likely they were thieves or maybe even thugs who managed to get their hands on something unusual that they wanted to sell off or even leave no trace on the net. But if you want the bigger trades, all black markets have this machine right here which is basically a bastardised version of the Trader Union's trade network. Unfortunately, you can only access this network inside the black markets and not on your personal terminal so we'll have to come here personally to buy and sell."

I peeked at the screen and sure enough, it did look like what she had described.

There was an entire list of things that were on sale and there was even a sell section for us to unload our goods on the black market if we want to.

"And how do we sell the stuff or even get the stuff that we buy?"

"If you buy from here, they piggyback off the Trader Union's network so they would still be delivered normally to your ship and if you are selling… You just need to pack them up and leave them outside for someone to collect."

"People won't just steal it?"

"That's a possibility actually, so you need to make sure the person who comes to collect is from the black market."

Well… At least it's convenient enough…

Although just by looking at the list, I realised that some of the stuff being sold here were also being sold at the stalls outside albeit at a higher price. I guess when you only want a small number of the items, you'll buy from the independent traders to save money.

But when you want to trade in bulk like me, I'll have to rely on this one.

Well, I learned a lot from this~ Now all I need to do is research the market a bit more and we'll be trading in the black market in no time!