Chapter 29: 6 pm

Far beneath the waterline, in a deck that’s only reachable from the atrium’s second elevator, the auction takes place.

The elevator itself is large enough for 10 people to take it at once and is dimly illuminated with a peaceful dark blue light that reminds the passengers they’re diving in the deep sea.

After waiting half a minute, its gates open to a dark blue staircase and silver railing, spotted with myriads of sparkling green, white and red dots, like walking on stars in the night sky.

Walking down a few steps more, and the eager passengers finally enter the heart of this swimming fortress.

And what a grandiose heart it is.

Entire human shaped statues made of light blue and silver jewels welcome their guests further, with their arms pointing toward the center.

But the second notable thing isn’t exactly where the statues are guiding, but the transparent glass floor and walls.

The soft light is so dim that after a few minutes of exposition, it becomes possible to see the beautiful colors of the bands of fish, hammerhead sharks or manta rays, swimming along the vessel like in a ballet.

Sometimes a bright red jellyfish appears and fade out in the abyss like a distress signal that ran out of energy.

Because of the dim lighting and the glass walls, it’s very hard to give an estimation of the deck’s full size without walking all around it, but it’s definitely as large as the main hall of a grand museum.

And it deserves that much since before being an auction, the Sea of Stars is an exhibition.

Just like in a museum, the jewels are displayed in showcases of two kinds, those that are eligible for auction and those that are not.

Some may wonder where the auction exactly takes place since there is nothing like a scene or an auditorium with chairs to perform the traditional showdown, but that’s because this company, taking pride in its modernity decided that the auction won’t take place on a stage, but online.

Thanks to a secured mobile software that the Crowned Shogun’s tech crew built specifically for this auction, bidders will link their account with their cabin key and add a certain amount of money on the app that they will be able to spend at will.

With major update at every sailing, one cannot possibly use a previously cracked version of the app for their current auction without risking getting banned from bidding or even further legal consequences.

The auction’s advancement, news and important information are all transmitted by an announcer through the deck’s speakers that otherwise play a gentle bossa nova.

While the “normal” passengers can only participate in the auction by paying a fee and have a bidding limit, the VIPs have neither of those obligations.

Before entering the deck 0 for the first time, a staff member checks the passenger’s app and cabin keys and will update the app if needed. That’s what happened to us since we became VIP after stepping on the ship.

After having updated the app, it’s my turn to send it to Abhi who will crack it. He’ll find a way to give us infinite money and will send it back to me. We buy two or three of the most expensive one and then we fly away.

A software of this caliber should be difficult to crack but Abhi is a genius and has 2 nights before it ends to send it back to us.

The app is updated with VIP privilege, so we can use a lot more money than was expected before. That should give Abhi an easier time finding weaknesses in the code. We would have made it even without being VIP, but we will probably secure more expensive jewels that we expected now, and we also don’t have to pay for the entrance fee.

As I transfer the APK to Abhi, I see DIANA and Francesco running around, excited.

The deck isn’t as crowded as I expected so they will grab attention instantly.

The connoisseurs are aware that the most valuable pieces are only exhibited the last day so they probably don’t trouble themselves to come the first minute.

I catch them poking on the glass floor with their shoes, trying to grab the attention of a silver fish.

“Stop running around.” I sigh.

“Look Boobies! Isn’t that one beautiful!” Answers DIANA, pointing at it.

“I bet it would taste good too…” Francesco adds.

“I think the weirder a fish looks like the worse it would taste.”

“You’ve clearly never tried octopus, there are few things as weird and delicious as that.” He retorts.

“Octopuses aren’t fish…” I sigh again.

“Of course, octopuses aren’t fish, it’s common knowledge, you dumbass.” DIANA slaps him on the forehead with the back of her hand.

I grab it and pull her toward the exhibitions.

“How about we look at the jewels and find interesting ones?”

I still feel awkward about DIANA acting so casually with someone I just met.

“Hey, look at this.” I tell her, pointing at the weird minerals lying inside a showcase.

It’s a strange white silky rock with long strides that almost seems like hair.

“Damn, I want to touch it…” She awes.

“Me too, it looks so soft…”

“Ohohoh, that’s epsomite! Cute, isn’t it?”

An old lady with long blonde hair, a long black dress and a black fan sneaked behind us before I noticed.

I give a look behind to smile at her and then a male voice rises from the other side of the showcase.

“Epsomite! But it’s soluble in water, so where did they find it?”

When I turn my head, an old man with short brown hair, a black suit and a white bow tie, winks at me.

“Ah, grandma and grandpa, you’re here too?” DIANA smiles.

“Grandma? Grandpa? Who are they??” I say, confused.

“I met them when going to Francesco’s cabin.”

“Oh, it’s the beautiful lady! Is that the person you were talking about?” The woman speaks behind her opened fan.

“Yeah…”

“Oh my, how fantastic! I’m so glad to meet you!” Says the man who walked all the way around the showcase to shake my hand.

“You spoke about me??”

I give DIANA the darkest look I can.

“Ehhh, don’t worry, I didn’t say anything weird!”

“Truly, this precious flower didn’t say anything suspicious!”

“That’s even more suspicious!”

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Looking left and right, I notice Francesco isn’t around here anymore.

“No, no, don’t worry my wife didn’t give her any weird idea…” The old man says with a smirk.

I’m going to beat somebody, but DIANA stops me by asking them a question.

“Did you find the holy grail?”

“Ah, no, not yet, we’re still looking, but this one is promising!” The woman says, pointing at the showcase on the left.

There’s a pale, dark and iridescent cube-shaped metallic rock that seems to come directly from space.

The old man smirks. “Pyrite, with the right lighting it will look exactly like gold.”

Absorbed by its luster, I can’t take my eyes out of it for long seconds. Looking at the pale white reflections and black shadows feel like finding light in the abyss.

“How do you know what the rocks are?”

The old woman tilts her head and hits her with the fan, frowning.

“Beautiful lady, that’s not a rock, it’s a mineral!”

“W-what’s the difference?!”

The old man approaches another showcase where different kinds of rocks… uh, minerals are exposed.

“Look a mineral is defined by mainly two things, can you guess what?”

“Color!” DIANA shouts.

“Shape…” I want to play too…

“Bzzz, not the color. You see a lot of different minerals can have similar colors even though they aren’t made with the same atoms!”

The old woman continues. “The shape is a better indicator. Even though there are also many different minerals with similar shapes, there are some minerals that CAN’T have some shapes, and that makes it easier to guess which is what.”

The old man finishes. “Nevertheless, the main way to define a mineral is a chemical formula and their crystal structure, whereas a rock is just a huge block that may have some different minerals stuck within. A mineral is essentially one thing, the purer it is, the most precious it is.”

I look at the minerals in the showcase and I notice some of them seem to be surrounded by another stone.

“What’s that around them? Another mineral?”

“Great eyes you have, Miss.” The old woman is speaking now. “This is what we call a matrix. It’s just rocks.”

So, there are rocks in the end…

“So, how do you know all that?!” Asks DIANA again.

The old man and woman look at each other and laugh. “Oh, we used to work in mines.”

“Yeah, like super hard mining work!”

“And we were gold diggers.”

“We dug gold yes, and looked in the rivers in America.”

I frown.

I’m pretty sure the gold rush was two centuries ago, they can’t possibly be THAT old… Or they were doing it for fun?

Diana is bewildered, though, “Wow, did you get rich?”

“Hahaha, yes but not through that at all.”

“Yeah, we used to steal some, though.”

WHAT.

“But it’s past history, we don’t do that anymore, haha.”

“We certainly aren’t here to steal any jewels, no, no, no!”

“We wouldn’t dare anything of the sort.”

“Now if you may…”

And thus, they run away.

What the hell are they doing?

Before I have time to think of it through, the music stops, letting the announcer speak.

“The Sea of Stars auction is inaugurated by the purchase of a beautiful 200-gram gypsum for 1.73 million, please come to the counter behind the staircase to claim your new acquisition.”

Ah, there is a counter behind the staircase…

I walk back to notice there was, indeed, a continuation of the deck if you turned around after the staircase. But the statues and the lighting guide you to stay in your direction and not look behind.

I walk past the staircase and follow the way until I find a long counter, and Francesco laughing, his arms on it, claiming the gypsum piece before handing it to one of his minions.

He doesn’t notice me but turns around to wave to the old couple we were just talking to.

It seems they didn’t want to meet him here and try to run away again, but they are stopped by Francesco’s big friend.

“Oh, oh mister, you are definitely mistaken.” Says the old man.

“Definitely, we could not be acquainted!” Adds the woman.

Yet, Francesco walks past them and puts a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Hahaha, mi prendi per uno stolto, Camorra?”

“N-no hablo español!” Stutters the old woman before fainting.

How many more crazy people are there on this ship?!

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