Opening the introduction screen for the…well, steel ball you could say?
It showed me a little description from good'ol Fred:
'Mysterious ball made of very strong metal, more compact than steel from observation but has not been confirmed. Strange drawings liter the ball horizontally with extremely great precision. Ball does not open and weighs 13kilos of weight. – Found 1km off search area of the shipwreck in odd spiral shaped cave formation that led to a center chamber where ball was the only thing in the middle of the room.'
"Weird indeed." I mumbled but started getting interested as this thing wasn't actually part of the shipwreck and has some weird markings on it. Potential for a good deal with an artifact collector, hehe.
I look into the pictures for a closer look and it really does look like steel and honestly, one of the other reasons why these things even get put on this auction site for such low prices is because no one pays to get them appraised and just sell them for the mystery and it turns into a whole game of shipwreck treasure gambling. ( think of rock gambling or the lottery for a better mental picture)
You get lucky, you make profit. You don't, well you lose some money. Simple.
Seeing as the engravings on the thing are quite odd and I can't just upload them into an image recognition software from this image, I look at the cave it was found in. Not that I even own or have access to an image recognition software but I enjoy bloating my ego thinking it's the images fault and not mine.
The entrance into the cave was a tunnel like entrance just enough for the diver and his air tank swimming sideways until he basically spiraled into a center chamber that was slightly bigger circular chamber where you had to crouch in to really fit and there it was the metal ball just sitting in the center of room, reflecting the light of the ball.
'From what I see, either someone was extremely accurate at aiming this little thing into a tunnel that just "SO HAPPENED" to swirl into a cave or it fell from the surface or was ejected from somewhere near the rocks and spiraled into and created this cave but then the little chamber at the end almost seem too smooth.' Lost in my thoughts, I start speculating what could have brought this little ball in there as my curiosity spikes.
Canon shell? No, too small. Ship part? 1km distance underwater with that much forced and it's a very specifically crafted ball? Nope…Unless, no…maybe?
I haven't really ruled it out but my most plausible answer to this little mystery is it got shot from space… now I know, really Jupiter? Space? Are you an idiot? Well, sometimes but that's got nothing to do with this fucking great hypothetical.
An odd ball with strange markings gets shot out from space falls into the ocean at some point in time and is sent with so much force it smashes into the rock wall and spiraled to due its circular shape in an inward motion losing momentum as it eventually settles down into the center chamber and with so much heat produced from a fucking space blasted sphere breaking the goddamn atmosphere and burning up! Enlarged the center room and its spiral trajectory to a slightly larger degree with massive amounts of heat!
CASE CLOSED FREDDY BOY!
Well not that I am going to share this great new hypothetical with him cause he sure as hell won't sell it to me at that point. Probably to NASA or the military… or, the worst of the bunch, a fucking museum! Freddy here isn't the brightest considering his reddit feed of " shipwreck treasures for sale", wouldn't trust him much on that.
In any case, I have to have this thing!
Looking at the initial price… 50$ , wow Fred…just wow. Whatever, better for me. Auction starting in a minute so I get ready to pay 55, low ball this so people think its junk. Genius right?
So I waited with my bid, auction starts, I go to press enter and… what!? Somebody bid 57$ Argghhh! Fine, let's go with 65$, right as I type in the number I see the bid shoot to 71$, FUCK! Who the fuck is playing with my things! Not that I own it yet but I goddamn will!
Losing my temper a little thinking this was the ball of the century, I just key in 200$ and placed the bid.
"…"
'Hahahaha, silent now? HUH? You pieces of shipwreck turds.' I throw a couple victory curses at my internet enemies while it slowly sinks in that this is not at ALL how you should be bidding in a freaking auction!
"arghhh…the pain… I could of probably saved 50$ considering these fools dropped it as soon as I reached 200 within the first 5 minutes." I grumble a little in disappoint at the loss but I can afford a slight % of failure buys with the accumulated wealth I built up over my 2 and a half years career in this type of work.
Feeling a little hopeful that I get to potentially play with space rock, I hum a tune to lessen the sadness while setting up a last minute buy alert, considering I already put up 200$, anyone who bids last minute will just face my last minute rebid.
And as expected the deal went off without a hitch and no one really wanted to spend 1/5 of a grand on scrap but I felt fairly confident in my ability to judge this one and it just might be one of my biggest scores if I am proven right hehe.
With the adrenaline wearing off from the excitement fit I just caused there with my mystery ball, I start considering options for a gym as adrenaline rushes from a small time auction might not be the healthiest signs of a healthy body. Considering my habits involve, sitting, reading, reading while sitting, eating and sleeping. Sigh… I really have become a little useless with the loss of interest in anything not pertaining to my immediate survival which explains the rush I get from my job. Whatever, life is short.
"Knowing Fred, the item should arrive in about a week through expedited pirate express, ha!" I giggle at my little pun.
I go back to lazing about my apartment and the basic requirements needed to live a sustained life. Mainly, eating, sleeping and checking the auction house for new things to sell while dedicating the rest of my precious time to video games and books.
Though I am a little depressed at how boring things are with my life, the bliss of a peaceful existence is by far still one of my precious little joys that I managed to keep hidden and shielded from the cruel throngs of fate and society.
Until one Thursday evening, I wake up slightly groggy in bed with the same bathrobe from last week, considering I have not gone out at all, only to hear knocking on the door. Wondering who, I walk up to open and I see that it's my favorite postman Ralf! The guy and me got pretty close after he got assigned to my area and we see each other almost every other day due to the nature of my job of mainly receiving and shipping. I smile with glee at whatever he brings me today.
"How's the morning treating ya Ralf?" I ask still warily shaking the smudge out of my eyes.
"Not too bad Jupiter, little late this morning on deliveries so got to make it quick, have anything for me to send?"
Not having had any major sales this week, I shook my head and simply signed off my package and wished him well. Not clearly remembering what was in my hands I throw it on the couch and go to make my morning coffee.
That is… until I had my morning coffee. I, with newfound realization, stampeded from my kitchen to the coffee table like a bull let loose in Madrid remembering this potential lottery ticket just sitting in my house.