By the ti lunch finished, Eli had gotten a positive answer from the owner of the synthprinter, and a pickup ti of three in the afternoon.
He also had a comprehensive compilation of what would be useful knowledge for any Redlands player, from the incisive minds of forr testers, plus the comntary of a craftmaster and a couple of rabidly competitive gars, and three soon-to-be players who were determined to learn more.
A good haul.
Walking out the door, Zee looked like he wanted to talk to Eli.
Eli wanted to ask him a few questions that hadn't been addressed in depth, but Jori sent him a speaking Look and glanced pointedly away.
Eli followed the other's line of sight, then cursed inwardly. The loan office was visible from the angle of the bistro's windows.
Eli quickly pasted a smile on his face. "Thanks for lunch, great conversation, nice to et you both. Next ti, my treat. Bye!"
He was already jogging away by the last word.
"Wait, Eli?!"
Eli was fairly certain that the overprotective nerd only wanted to ask him why he was coming out of a loanshark office so soon after ostensibly recovering from sickness, and wanted nothing of that conversation.
What would he say? 'I was taking out a terrifyingly massive loan so I could sell refurbished old model NV-headsets as premium ones? Better performance than the premium ones even, so it's not like the custors would be disappointed!'
Nope.
Zee could be sneaky when he wanted to, but he was generally an upright person.
If he followed Zee's rules on this kind of thing and went full disclosure, he'd make smaller profits.
As for why Zee knew it was a loanshark office, the guy just knew the strangest things.
As soone whose many part-ti jobs were suggestions from Zee Ventre, Eli could confirm that the other was a trivia specialist, an information hoarder; you never knew what he knew.
As for why Jori knew the place was a loanshark office, Eli wouldn't be surprised if it was owned or operated by so relative or other.
After experiencing the massive brawl at old Mrs. Rigaton's birthday so months after moving here from across the city, it was frightening plausible for Mr. White-Haired-Serial-Killer to be working for the Rigatons.
Eli didn't stop jogging – though it slowed to semi-fast walking after a few minutes – until he reached his building. He really, really missed the company car and the unlimited taxicab card.
His eyes lit up when he noticed the delivery truck parked at his building.
The side of the truck was emblazoned with abstract bubbles and a logo that stated it belonged to Bubbling Harmony Laundry.
He stuck his head into the laundry shop, looked around to see if Marai was on duty today.
Most small laundry businesses had declined due to personal washing machines becoming more powerful and multipurpose. But this area of the district was full of young workers and students who preferred the service.
Not to ntion, the Kazan family were extrely tenacious people.
Marai was nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Mr. Kazan, can I borrow your delivery truck for the afternoon?"
Mr. Kazan ca out of the shop, tall and lean, and with kind eyes that were nothing like his niece Marai's glare.
"Eli? As long as it's back by five."
"Can I take it now?"
Mr. Kazan reached into the door of the truck, pressed his hand on the security panel, then tapped the starter twice before the truck rumbled alive.
"You're already on the driver access list, so it's good to go."
"I am?"
"You drove for a while a couple months ago, right?"
"Right." Oh yeah. He'd lost a bet to that pushy Marai and had to cover her delivery shifts for two weeks. Eli didn't think they'd keep his access until now, but nice. He boosted himself into the seat. "Thanks, I'll have it back in one piece."
He set his hand on the controls and started the car backing away from the parking space.
"Rember it can't get over forty-five!" the older man called.
Not over forty-five kmh? How old was the thing?
The paint was fresh, so he thought the vehicle wasn't older than two years. From the audible engine growl that could be heard, it might be closer to twenty years. Most cars these days were silent rides.
So Eli rumbled down the street in an old lazy truck, content that he didn't have to hire a mover.
He saw Marai walking with so blonde girl he didn't recognize at the sa ti as she caught sight of her family's truck.
Eli waved cheerfully as he and the truck rumbled past her. "I'm borrowing this!"
"You! Don't you dare!"
"I'll be back in a few hours!" he called back, then twisted the accelerator to near-limits. The truck shuddered a little, then bumped its speed up a little faster.
Eli twisted a bit more. It may have gone a bit faster. Then he twisted all the way. It didn't go faster.
He gave up.
"Forty-five?" he muttered direly. "Too optimistic, Uncle Kazan. This truck is so la, it could race a Torvian slug."
He didn't look back until several intersections were passed.
He was heading toward the one place in the city he could get MarkVIII headsets in bulk: the tech streets in Buson District.
He'd paged through the list of GatesTech sellers in the city for days before choosing several to visit.
A brandnew regular MarkVIII cost 2700 ecru per unit, what with the MarkIX coming out next month. A Premium cost 5500 ecru, and the new MarkIX was advertised at 7100 ecru MSRP.
Used regular MarkVIII sets were 800 to 1900 ecru in the market, with the Premium at 2200 to 4900 ecru.
His first stop was a franchiser in the warehouse area there selling MarkVIII headsets for 2300 ecru. It was the lowest price he could get in the city.
The margin was a bit steep to be comfortable but as long as he got 20,000 ecru over the loan of 100,000 before deadline, he'd be happy.
He stopped at the nearest ATM he saw, connected his account, then printed out ten cash bills. The material was transparent film and showed off the delicate inks making up the numbers and codes that proclaid each bill to be worth ten thousand ecru each.
The warehouse district was technically full of storage spaces, but there were a number of shops that sold wholesale and secondhand there.
He entered the large barnlike space, studying the mass of parts and boxes on the shelves, computer and gaming gear, dia and entertainnt system, screens showing various advertisents all over the place.
"Hey there, what're you here for?"
"GatesTech MarkVIIIs."
The teenager lifted a brow. "You know you can spend just a couple thousand more to get sothing that's loads better than that, right? The VIII's gone four years without GT doing a major overhaul on it, you sure you want to buy it?"
In this century where every decade presented a technology that revolutionized the world, tech items got obsolete nearly the mont they were presented to the public.
That the MarkVIII was still being bought four years on was testant to the potency of GatesTech products.
"Amazing staying power," Eli only comnted.
The teen grinned. "I'm with you. I still recomnd the AGU Rage Series if you're looking for a personal headset. Seeeeriously great potential there, if you know what I an."
Eli shook his head. "This is for…a project. If I buy more than ten, what's your wholesale price?"
The teenager lifted his other brow. "Wholesale ans at least twenty units, then 2050 per unit."
"New, right?"
"Brand new," the teen agreed. "You can scan them as we load, if you want."
That was a better price than he was expecting. "Thirty units then."
"Right. That's so project. Sixty-one kay ecru."
Tsk. That was ten thousand more than he'd initially allocated for the headsets.
Eli handed him seventy thousand in cash.
The teenager sighed, went to the counter, fed the bills into the till, tapping out the order. The till spat back the change, also in cash, and a receipt.
Thirty boxes half filled up the delivery truck's free space. Eli did indeed scan each box as they were loaded, verifying authenticity and pristine condition.
He locked the vehicle and started toward the shops on the parallel street. He needed a few more things from the techstores here.
"Send ssage, Joven Rigaton."
The phoneset beeped compliance.
>>Jori, do you have a location?>I'll et you there.
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