Rude awakening

This evening, I woke up in my backup clone, with no recollection of the past two days. At first it didn't dawn on me that I had lost two days, I thought something had gone wrong while making a backup clone in preparation for my trip to Bersyrim.

The technicians and medic explained to me that nothing had gone wrong, on the contrary, everything had worked perfectly, and I had been gone for two, almost three days. 

There can be only one conclusion: I have died.

I am glad I keep a logbook, it is proving its usefulness now to reconstruct the previous days. This led me to believe it must have been something I ate at this restaurant or pub I was going to, The Four Stomachs. I do react very badly to spicy food, but I've never died from it before.

I contacted the authorities on Odra and notified them of my death. 

I contacted the authorities on Odra a second time after they hung up on me the first time, thinking it was a prank. They don't deal with capsuleers often.

They had not received any reports of a dead capsuleer, but would look into it and send someone to my hotel. To be honest, I think I've only been dead for an hour or so. The officer got a bit nervous when I mentioned I was going to The Four Stomachs to dine with the store manager of Tacky Parts. Perhaps this restaurant has a reputation of kitchen hygiene problems that the police officer is not allowed to tell about due to privacy regulations. But they were going to look into that as well.

Meanwhile I think I'll take the interbus to go back there, the Indigatrix II is still docked in Bersyrim.

Sights of Odra Capital

Odra Capital is a city that grew slowly and sequentially and with very little planning. And so, it is a bit of a maze. I like to wander about in such cities, to get a sense of the place, and I don't mind getting pleasantly lost. 

I did get lost. 

I was searching for the implants market, instead I ended up at a trade fair for agricultural machinery and ditto vehicles. The connectors on my neck revealed to any onlooker that I was a capsuleer, and since we are known as rich folk, I attracted a crowd of salespeople. I should not have mentioned our yaks in Mehatoor station. They did not let me go after that. I've been shown the newest models of agribots for milking and dung cleanup. I witnessed a demonstration of how cheap cattle TCMCs can help with herding and also read out the status of the cattle. I was explained that herding drones can also do that, and are equipped with scanners to detect sick cattle. I've received more brochures than I could carry, as well as a coffee mug that says "Udder Chaos Milking Corp", two pens (one has a small flashlight) and a miniature 3D puzzle of a argibot.

I'll give this to Aria on my return.

After a morning spent learning about the latest in cattle tech, I was finally able to find the cyber implants market in the afternoon. I put the hood of my robe over my head so that I would not be immediately spotted as a capsuleer this time around. 

The implants market is situated in and around a large square hall with a high glass-paneled ceiling decorated with wrought iron flowers and foliage. There's a central plaza bordered by colonnades, like a cloister, but three levels tall. The walkways under the colonnades give access to the shops, while the central plaza is for the market, with stalls and merchants arguing loudly about the offer of the day. I was surprised to see that most traders and visitors were armed.

It did not take much time to locate the source of Takmahl biodrone salvage. There's an outlet store for them! It's called "Tacky Parts" and private clients can't buy there, it is where manufacturers of implants would get rare parts. After I made a generous donation to the store manager's pension fund, he took me aside and promised me he'd reveal the source of his valuable stock. He couldn't do it in the store, but he agreed to meet me tonight, alone, in a pub called "The Four Stomachs".

I dread there will be more cattle stories.