Alan decided to stop by his parents’ home to borrow his mom’s tablet, and to see what she thought of the embargo. On the way, he listened to the news break on a popular radio program.

Hey all you Cosmos Gamers! News alert, your game is a SCAM! That’s right listeners! If you were wondering if you should hop on the Cosmos hype train, you just dodged a bullet. . From latest reports all that amazing rumored tech is now ‘unable to leave the game.’ Haven’t I been telling you all for weeks that this was a hoax! And for all those morons who didn’t listen, good luck getting a refund!

Alan smiled, as he’d remembered hearing similar broadcasts from the past. Walking inside, he found his mom sitting.

“Hi son, I’d thought you’d be in Cosmos?” She looked up from her laptop which sat next to the remnants of her breakfast.

“Hey Mom, I had some business to take care of.” He sat down next to her.

“Have you had breakfast?” He shook his head, as he’d been too preoccupied with today. “Well let me get you something.” She got up and went about making a breakfast sandwich for Alan. He’d partially hoped she would. It’s not that he didn’t or couldn’t do it himself. He just liked to have something made by mom.

“I just read up on all these changes going on for Cosmos. The embargo has a lot of people pretty upset. Some people say it's just another way for them to cheat players” She layered some egg and cheese on toasted bread.

“What do you think?” He asked cautiously.

“Well, shoot son!” Her hand smacked the counter for emphasis. “After the first day we all had a long talk, the whole family. Yes, we think it's real. Crazy.” She laughed “But real to be sure. Your brother was the most awestruck.” She turned to face him “He’s still not sure whether he should stay in school or become some sort of space doctor. Besides,” She gave him a huge grin. “It better be real.” She wielded the knife she’d been buttering bread with. “Do you know how many little items I was able to buy on our last trip? I might even have enough to make back 10 times the amount purchased! And all of it with your help.” She put down the knife and placed the sandwich on the table, looking at him as though she was feeding the golden goose. Her returned her smile. As it smelled delicious, he didn’t hesitate to dig in.

The sandwich quickly disappeared. She smiled at him, and placed a crisp manilla envelope next to him. “Look inside.”

Curiously he opened the envelope, and found a stack of nearly completed paperwork for him to run a business in Cosmos. His eyes widened in surprise.

“All they need is your signature.” She gave him a sly grin.

“Mom, how did you know?” Alan was slightly taken aback.

“Well, I figured after yesterday you must have had something in mind. Especially after purchasing a VE Generator and all. I checked some of the online chatter and there is no telling how much an intact one might sell for. The chat rooms are all a buzz about VE energy and how it’s pretty much needed for any of the future tech.” She looked at him proudly. “You may have the largest supply on earth, and my son couldn’t be so dense as to try and use it all himself. Besides who else will help you run the business.”

They both laughed at that.

“Alright Mom. I’m impressed, you figured it out.” He really did have to get her a lot of credit.

“Well, I’ve been keeping an eye on you pretty closely after you were willing to spend nearly a million dollars on the family.” She gave him a teasing smile. “How is that coming by the way?” Before he could answer that he hadn’t paid for the leased pods as of yet, she continued, “Your father and I have been thinking about selling the house just so we can buy at least 1 of the pods. We’ve heard you can sublease it and we could rotate every few days.”

Alan laughed. “Mom if my business plan works you won’t have to worry about it.”

They discussed a few details around the business and his plans for the future. Including the different roles of his family. They agreed to talk over the details with his Dad. He gave his mom a hug goodbye and swore her to secrecy except for Dad. He also asked to borrow her tablet, and downloaded as many books as he could on earth’s history and culture for 739.

It was nearing noon. His morning had been a whirlwind of going from one place to another, and he made it back in time to get access to his Pod. A timer ticked down as he was suddenly transported to the Terran virtual market place. What lay before him was a vast, nearly empty field, with a single building in the very center, and 8 dirt roads branching outward like a compass. The building itself was massive. The design an eclectic mix of earth architecture, parapets reaching to the sky like a fairytale castle, nearing the base however, were massive roman columns flanking the entrances, and its central structure brought images of a pagoda. It seemed as though tens if not hundreds of thousands could occupy its structure.

As Alan grew closer to the entrance, he noticed he wasn’t the only one, as a few other dozen or so ‘players’ had arrived.

He could overhear small groups of them talking to each other as he walked toward the central building.

“What is this thing?”

“What are they trying to pull now?”

As he drew near the central building a small crowd was beginning to form near a large posted sign, but the grumbling only grew louder.

“They can’t be serious?”

“This is a total scam! They get us to turn our money into credits, only now to try and offer virtual property!”

The building was up to the building a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

Welcome to the Terran Virtual Market! Your connection to everything Cosmos!

To help facilitate trade among players of Earth, we are providing players of Earth a virtual market. This market will give the opportunity for players to interchange goods from all over the Cosmos Universe!

Our primary goal is to provide an atmosphere to help develop Earth's Development!

Safety.

Openness.

Opportunity.

One of the Valkyries was speaking to the gathered masses sharing details.

“Players, as you may know you will no longer be allowed to bring new goods to the planet Earth. However, to be able to facilitate an exchange of goods we offer this area for a virtual market. Before you is the central location. This is not part of the general market, but acts as an auction house, event site, and administrative location, among other things.

“So how is this a market?” A passerby shouted.

“Great question sir! The market itself is player generated. Players may purchase plots of land and build a shop front.” She pointed out and across the vast empty space. “This entire area can be developed, after the purchase of land! You can build nearly anything you want. Please note that since you are the first to arrive, we will have the first sale starting at 1 o’clock.”

There was some grumbling at the thought of spending more on this marketplace.

“For those of you interested in purchasing a plot of land, please note that plots will be sold in phases, and the opportunity for purchasing a lot will be done by lottery. Those who wish to buy a plot of land will need to enter the lottery system. You will find more information inside at the terminals!”

As he proceeded inside, there were hundreds of terminals located in a large space, almost like a casino.

A top view display of the area was on the screen. It looked almost like a pie with 8 pieces. Zooming in one of the 8 slices highlighted bright pink. As he grew closer the point of this slice was broken into chunks. These were the plots of land being sold off first.

As he clicked on a plot of land a display was shown:

Size: 1/16 acre. Price: 2000 Credits. Do you wish to enter into the lottery? (5 credit for first entry) ***Please note land purchase must be made within 24 hours. If not, the chance to purchase will go to the next buyer.

The land he had checked was approximately 3 miles from the market center. Examining the land next to the central building, there was a big difference.

Size: 1/8 acre. Price: Minimum Bid 100,000 Credits. This land will be sold via auction, by special invitation only.

Alan considered what he had remembered from his past. There were 2 ways to get land; lottery or auction. For nearly everyone there was the chance in a lottery. Put your hat in the ring, and hope you win. If you were really wanting a spot, you could put in multiple entries. Your first entry was 5 credits, then 10, 20, 40 and so on doubling every time. The more entries you had, the higher chance you had to buy the property outright. But the costs were steeper. The Auctions, on the other hand, were for the rich. However, as he remembered from the past only less than 1% of players had earned, traded or found more than 2000 credits by this point in the game. And as far as the very wealthy buyers, they would be saving their money for the upcoming special auction. Alan had a window of opportunity, and that was to enter the lottery for price range outside of what most people could buy, while also avoiding competition from the rich, as they would want to save as much as possible for the special auction.

If no one entered the lottery, the plot of land would go up for auction. They were located less than a half mile from the auctioned off plots. In his last life, few people had even bothered to enter the lottery for these markets, some of these plots ended up being sold at a separate auction later, for a much higher price.

Size 1/16 acre. Price. 5000 credits. Do you wish to enter the lottery? (5 credits).

Alan went ahead and selected the plots he wanted, about 8 in total. Putting in at least 4 bids for each, 600 credits later he’d finished his entry. He wasn’t confident he’d get all 8, but if he could even purchase half of these, their value would skyrocket.

With his work completed, Alan made his way out of the building so he could log out and prepare for the upcoming auction. Passing by the entrance, he overheard a loud argument between a player and a Valkyrie. Out of curiosity he looked over and stopped in his tracks.

The man was waving his arms, while the Valkyrie continued to patiently respond. After a few moments the man's shoulders fell, and he walked away defeated and sat on a nearby bench. Alan approached the man that he’d recognized from the previous life.

“Wow that looked rough.” Alan offered sympathetically.

“Yeah well, what are you going to do? I already spent my credits on tools and now I can’t really use my character on Earth all that much.” The middle-aged man responded. He had a thinning hairline, and was stocky. He looked like a middle-aged cherub.

“So, what plans did you have?”

“I love cooking simulators. Always have, just never had the knack for doing it in real life. I’ve always been kind of a clutz.” He held up his pudgy fingers. “But I found out this game offers a chance to learn alien recipes, so I jumped at it. I even took genetic modifications to help make my fingers nimbler and my taste buds extra sensitive.”

“Sorry to hear that. My name’s Alan. What were you hoping to do?”

“I wanted to start a restaurant on Earth, you know the works! Occasionally go and buy ingredients in Cosmos, to make a little money on the side!” He gave a weak smile. “But with this embargo, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t have enough money to go into Cosmos all that often and being a cook isn’t going to make me that much in credits…” He trailed off.

“Wow, that is bummer.” Alan sounded as sincere as possible, pausing before continuing. “Have you thought about doing it here? Opening up a restaurant or something?”

“Hah! That's what I was arguing with the pretty lady over there about! Turns out I can’t open a restaurant without property and I can’t do that without credits.” His fists clenched. “They said I couldn’t open a ‘food stall’ without the permission of a property owner.” He sighed. “I’m Reardon by the way.”

Alan continued to listen for a while to Reardon and his plans. Reardon, in his past life, had been a literal celebrity chef for Cosmos cuisine. He’d started off with a food stall, before he’d been recognized for his talents and had been offered to start a restaurant. He was recognized as one of the best on Cosmos. Their conversation continued for a while when Alan decided to make an offer.

“Reardon, I’m pretty impressed with your passion. I’ve thought about opening a restaurant here, but don’t know the first thing about cooking. I’m wondering if you might come work for me sometime?”

Reardon’s eyes lit up, as if meeting someone who could pull him out of the pit. “Really?!” Alan only nodded. They exchanged some information at that point, and Alan told him an associate would contact him in the next few days.

Checking the time, he realized he still had a few hours before the Auction was going to commence.

For Alan he’d already known what was coming. The Market would eventually be a massive hub of trade for mankind, streamlining trades on Earth, to a central location for all Cosmos products. Of course, there were a few strings attached. First, anything sold in the market would be subject to all the tariff fees that Cosmos had just added. Secondly, you had to do your buying in person. You needed to come to the market and pick up your item on site. No ordering it online and having it delivered. That meant that the massive market could hold millions of visitors daily.