"What do you want with me?" I responded curtly to Volosa.
As gem merchants with valuable possessions in their hands, Deridians behaved curtly to strangers, out of wariness. You never knew if someone was about to rob them.
However, they acted overtly friendly if a business deal was coming their way.
My mind already mapped out the route for escape once the mall raised metal barriers.
The thought of three Perunians vs me in hand-to-hand combat almost felt like I was picking on children. They posed a threat only when they are piloting their warships, if they are anything like Zhiva.
My optical implant began scanning the bodies of Volosa and the other two Perunians for any hint of weakness for a fast takedown.
Volosa straightened his back and cleared his throat while walking towards me. My eyes turned to his two companions, who took no notice of us, still busying themselves with the tablets in their hands.
Perunians rarely picked fights with other species, nor do they approach strangers.
So what the heck did he want?
Volosa stopped at two arms' length away from me. Not likely a confrontation, but one cannot let their guard down.
[Warning: minute amounts of cosmic neutrino radiation detected on species type Perunian] popped into my vision.
Cosmic neutrino radiation?
Did the reckless idiot go around space, picking up stuff floating around which shouldn't be touched?
He is just lucky that cosmic neutrino radiation has no ionising properties to melt his pretty face into a sticky pile.
My optical scanner detected the frequency wavelengths of the radiation and narrowed the signal on a bulging pocket of Volosa's messenger bag.
"Just curious since you deal with gems…," Volosa said as his hand slipped into that same pocket.
Volosa pulled out an unrefined palm sized, dull purplish rock and offered it to me with an outstretched hand.
"Found near System 34," he said.
System 34 was near the former Inti system.
I raised my eyebrow at him and asked, "Why would you want to go near a destroyed system?"
In the aftermath of a planetary system's destruction, most ships will keep away from neighbouring vicinities.
The impact of the destruction resulted in immense cosmic radiation from both dark matter and dark energy, creating singularities in the radius of the affected region. Some singularities may cause ship-wide malfunctions and other odd space- time phenomenon.
I've heard of ships vanishing without a trace near the old Kamuy system.
Volosa looked sheepish, almost uneasy. Maybe he didn't pick up random junk in space.
Volosa belonged to either a Perunian salvage operations company or a scavenger associated with the space pirates.
Not really surprising since space pirates wander through the galactic quadrant, daring to venture into the most dangerous pockets in space.
Finding weird and wonderful objects fell within the space pirates' exploration capabilities. I had a feeling that space pirates are the ones involved with the dull rock in Volosa's hands.
A salvage operation company or the scavenger syndicate often acted as middle man for the pirates to look for information on the odd and mysterious objects in their possession.
Win-win for both parties in this symbiotic relationship. The space pirates avoided contact with authorities and the syndicates or companies took a cut by laundering of stolen or illegally begotten goods.
"Our client is one of the surviving Inti. He is trying to look for clues on why it happened to his home world and who did it."
Ah, so Volosa most likely belonged to a salvage operations company.
Good luck with his client then.
I ran around seeking information on the destruction of the Kamuy system for over five hundred galactic cycles, a time way longer than an Inti's natural lifespan.
"What is it?" He offered me the rock again, which I took to examine the surface with my eyes.
My optical scanner took to work and started generating the results.
[Detected metal: iron, nickel, pharium, astronium]
[Detected mineral: multiple, one unknown]
Unknown? That's odd.
[Detected radiation: neutrino radiation class 5, non ionizing]
[Grade: unable to determine due to multiple elements]
[Others: insubstantial qualities of multiple elements]
[Origin: 85% probability - planet or asteroid core. 15% unknown]
What's the other 15%? My optical scanner never failed to identify anything.
Still, I couldn't declare it as a possible core of the planet. Even Deridians needed their gem scanners, which I didn't have on me.
The Great Swirl Council species used scientists and advanced geoscience laboratories to identify planetary cores or asteroid cores.
"Can't say for sure," I replied. "If he is looking for a gem within the rock, it requires a gem scanner. I don't have one on me now."
"How about giving me your contact so I can contact you for an appointment?"
Right. Is he kidding with the persistence?
If Volosa worked with a salvage company, he should know that not anyone off the street can easily approach Deridian traders.
Most of the salvage companies held connections to the Gem Council of Deridia, which assigned specific Deridian traders with experience in salvage items.
"Try the Gem Council of Deridia. They can assign one to you. Much easier as I have my own clients."
Besides, I am not even a real Deridian.
Volosa leaned in and whispered in a hushed voice, "I can't. We… um… got this from a third party."
His mention of a third party referred to space pirates, given how uncomfortable he looked.
The official Gem Council of Deridia upheld a ruling ban on dealing with items originating from space pirates damned his route.
Well, space pirates loved to target Deridian ships for their gem stocks. It reminded me of the real Temari's case.
I can understand their outright refusal. Why help the enemy?
Then again, some will break rules, but giving him a direct referral to another Deridian is not even a possibility.
The known Deridian traders in my circle, who will bend or break the rules, knew me by a different identity. None of them knew my true identity.
"Attention all, we will lift the barriers now. Departures are still be delayed until further notice," the announcer interrupted us over the broadcast system, amidst the cheer of the crowds stuck in the mall.
"Try the Narakan system. Certain Deridian traders are there. Maybe they can help you out," I replied.
"I will pay 1200n in aurum," Volosa blurted out in his attempt to stop me.