Back in Business

The war is over and I'm out mining again. I figured since we were both in Egyfe, we might as well put some time in the ice fields. I've opted for Maya to fly a Mackinaw and myself in a Hulk to try and see what kind of progress we make with me jetcanning it into her ship and she mining and hauling. I'm not sure if having extra lasers on the ice part time is better than having the Orca boosts. We've been in the belt a couple of hours and pulled in a little over two hundred ice blocks. Maybe tomorrow I will try the Orca with a hulk to see how that goes.

Maya still seems distracted as we worked. It's understandable since there's not much to do while ice mining. The cycles are long and the ice blocks are so large you rarely have to re-target anything. I've fallen asleep several times doing this. When this ice is gone, we might try ice mining in Nein, but it would be more to do there because it's a 0.5 system and I'm paranoid to I would actually use my directional scanner while I mine.

I also started manufacturing, yet it's a hard business to get into. When I found some items I would make a profit on, I started making them in bulk. The problem is, most of it is sitting in Hek waiting to be sold but no one is buying. Another lesson learned. Make sure people are buying what you want to make, and make sure you can make it for a profit. I've been sticking to frigate rigs and mining crystals to start, of course with dreams of building large freighters and Orca's in my future, but I seem to have issues with spending mountains of money on materials for building. While mining, the credits in my wallet simply increased as I offload pile after pile of minerals in Hek for sale, decreasing only a little when I bought things like crystals or new lasers. I understand that with manufacturing, you need to spend money to make money, but like losing ships, I have this irrational fear of failing and costing myself money that I could have in my pocket.

For once, I decided to open up a bit with my co-worker. We were in Maya's Captain's quarters this time. Again we were drinking, seemingly the only thing to do on this station while docked.

"Have you ever died, Maya?" I suddenly ask in the silence. She had the holo projector on the coffee table pulled over to her side of the couch, lying down and lazily swatting the hologram of her ship as it spun like a top in front of her. She stopped and the glowing Mackinaw spun to a stop, drifting above the table.

"Everyone has to die to become a capsuleer, Sain." she said. It was true, the process is quite jarring. You're initially scanned, uploaded to a computer, then your consciousness is transferred to your first clone equipped with the interfaces needed to operate a pod. The interfaces wasn't something that could be surgically implanted since they were so intricately interfaced with your own body, they had to be put in place and a clone grown around it. Therefore, the only way to become a capsuleer, was to transfer your consciousness to the new clone, and your old body was terminated in the process. The first time is the most eerie. You're leaving the body you were born in, only to be forcibly put into a new one identical to the old. You could have the new clone altered if you like, a new face, new bone structure. You could even change gender if you wanted. But once you begin life as a capsuleer, it costs a lot of money to change it. Dying to start a new life is one thing. Dying because someone else wanted to end your life intentionally, is another.

"Have you been podded, I mean?" I asked. Podded was just a term meaning to have your pod destroyed after your ship was. Pirates do this all the time if they manage to catch you after they destroy your ship.

"No." she replied after some thought, "Have you?"

"I can't remember, but I think so." I replied, "I have lost ships to gankers." Another capsuleer term meaning pirates who attack in high security space, trying to destroy you before CONCORD shows up to destroy them. They do this in cheap ships to try and kill you, to loot your expensive modules off your wrecked ship after they get another ship and come back. I added, "I've also survived a gank attempt."

"Your point?" She asked, swatting her hologram again, "That's normal for a Capsuleer."

"I know, but that's the one thing I'm afraid of; losing ships and dying." I said, "It's pointless because I know I'm immortal now and ships are just flying ISK, really. Everything is easy to replace. I don't understand why I'm so afraid to lose ships. Maybe because I feel attached to them? I don't know."

She giggled and spun her holographic ship again, "You're attached to your ships? You feel sad when they blow up? Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe because it sometimes feels like my own body with the interface, you know? Wouldn't you miss your arm if you lost it?"

"Not if I could buy a new arm identical to the old one." she retorted, going back to spinning her ship. I noticed a little counter appear underneath the image of the mackinaw and thought it interesting it was programmed to count the number of rotations if you got bored and decided to start spinning it...

Anyway...

"I suppose your right. I guess I haven't lost that many ships to be used to it." I huffed.

Maya sat up, "Listen, you're into manufacturing now, right? You have BPO's for nearly every frigate out there. Pick one, build a bunch, fit them, then fly out to low sec in an empty clone and don't come back until you've lost them all."

"I've been told to do that many times." I said.

"Then why haven't you?"

"I don't want to lower my security status and be locked out of High Security space." You still lose security status in low security space."

"Null sec?" she suggested.

"Too far away." I said, "Might not make it." We sat in silence for a while then she suddenly straightened up with a thought.

"Wormholes!" she said, "You could find a wormhole and fly around in one. I'm sure you could find a fight in one and learn about them while you're at it!" Now that wasn't a bad idea. I could jump into an empty clone and put my training on hold for a bit. Fly in a wormhole and look around. I haven't been in them because of the same reason I don't go to low sec. I didn't want to lose ships. But if i were trying to lose ships, that might be the way to go, since I wouldn't lose security status in unknown space as well. I also just trained up and bought a Crane as well, a cloaky version of the Badger for hauling during war time and maybe into low sec. I could try training for a stealth bomber of some kind and go for a wander around. But stealth bombers might be pricey to lose. I'd have to look into it.

"I will look into it." I tell her, then finish my drink.