The Level 1 Middle trading hub soon opened up, revealing the same technology sectors to choose from.
Since he decided to browse the Energy sector on the basic level hub, he decided to follow the flow and do the same with the middle level hub.
[First Generation Commercial Fusion reactor (Deuterium-tritium).
[Offer Price: 25,000 credits per item, or 8,000,000 credits for the technology.]
[Space based Solar panel (99% energy conversion)]
[Offer Price: 50 credits per batch of 10 units, or 15,000 for the technology.]
[Lithium Air Battery]
[Offer Price: 25 credits per batch of 10 units, or 10,000 credits for the technology.]
[…]
"Holy. Sh*t."
Ludo couldn't decide whether to be over the moon at the options presented to him, or deeply disappointed by their extremely high prices.
But one thing that was for certain was that he had hit the jackpot with the Galactic Terminal.
Right now, obtaining these high level technologies was completely out of his abilities, but in the future? What about the even higher level trading hubs…
Ludo could hardly even fathom what might be sold in the level 2 trading hubs… and he wasn't even able to access the higher levels of Level 1 yet.
For there to be a Basic and a Middle, there had to at least be a High to follow it.
Part of Ludo wondered, just what was the limit of the Galactic Terminal?
But that was something for him to worry about in the far future.
Right now, he had only browsed through the Energy sections of the trading hub, and there were still far more sections for him to peruse through.
Though he only took a brief glance through them, not delving too deep into them for the moment.
Ludo turned the ignition of his truck instead. He was still out in the wilderness, the rain was still pouring, thankfully at a much smaller scale than its peak; and the sky looked like it might get dark soon.
Before he started thinking about how to start his operations with the Galactic Terminal, he at least wanted to be within the safety of his own apartment before doing so.
Who knew if another meteor might fall on him if he stayed where he was…
Shivering at the thought, he promptly departed.
***
A few hours prior, in the dead of the night.
Elsewhere, inside a government monitoring station.
"Looks like the meteor landed somewhere in the more secluded areas just east of here."
A thirty something man leaned back in his chair, eyes flicking between several screens showing satellite feeds, thermal maps, and real time data streams.
Rain pattered the window behind him, with the faint sound bringing him comfort among the stressful environment.
Ethan rubbed his eyes. It was nearing two in the morning, and he'd barely even got a few hours of sleep before he was dragged back out of bed and into work by an unwelcome call from his superiors.
Across from him, his younger colleague Aron, also an analyst, hunched over his desk and tapped away with the sharp focus of someone still fresh out of grad school.
Aron's expression remained tightened into a frown, while Ethan still tried to get over the effects of his lack of sleep.
"I'm telling you…" Aron spoke up, breaking the tension in the atmosphere.
"Something about this meteor doesn't add up. A rock that size should've disintegrated in the atmosphere before it even made it past the upper layer."
Ethan, still half asleep, replied. "Yawn… Things like this happen all the time. Don't sweat it. We encounter all kinds of unexplainable things in this field, that's just the way science is. And it's our job as scientists to explain the unexplainable."
Aron gave him a look.
"But still…"
He frowned but didn't argue. He was still knew to the job — who was he to argue with someone clearly more experienced in the field than him.
His gaze returned to his screen, looking over the data and estimated landing location.
"Even so, it's not every day a meteor of that size hits this close to home… It's practically in our backyard."
That earned a chuckle from Ethan, with a slight eyebrow raise.
"Now that's the first interesting thing you've said all night."
He leaned forward, resting his creaky elbows on the desk.
"You know, our dear higher ups dragged us out of bed at one in the morning to log this thing while they stay cosied up in their luxury mansions. And from what I can tell, we're less than fifty miles from the site."
Aron blinked, surprise and intrigue flashing across his face.
"You're not suggesting…"
"Oh, I most definitely am." Ethan responded, already reaching for his coat.
"Cmon. You study this stuff for a living, and you're not even a little bit curious?"
Aron looked him up and down.
"Of course I am, but don't think I don't know about your ulterior motives. You just want to see if you can snatch up a fine piece to sell before the official retrieval teams get there…"
Ethan grinned, before raising a finger and responding righteously.
"I prefer the term 'private scientific acquisition'!"
Aron sighed, but a smile still tugged at his lips.
"You're unbelievable."
He stood up, reaching for his coat.
"Unbelievably dedicated to science." Ethan corrected with a grin, before returning to a serious state.
"Grab a field kit. If this thing's half as weird as you think, we might actually have something worth examining."