Chapter 98: Expo

Chapter 98: Expo

Once my little practical test on the Argus was finished, I pulled up my status on the drive back.

Status

Level:

21

EXP:

1450/2100

Musculoskeletal:

211

Neural Reflex:

65

Visuomotor Coordination:

87

Endurance:

59

Sensory Perception:

127

Upgrade Points:

0

Upgrades:

Stealth +7Hacking +5Cybernetic Engineering +10Stealth Technology +10Software Engineering +6Electrical Engineering +8

Enhancements:

SAID: Zenitech Sebastien v2

Bio-Coprocessor: SocialCorp Lightning II

Optics: Mirage Tech Clear-Sights mk.12

Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Cyberarm (Right): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Auditory: SocialCorp Echo IV

Vocal: SocialCorp Orator III

Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump 5

Additional Processing: Halls Corp Custom ST

Miscellaneous: Halls Corp HSU Custom Shade

“Umm, sir. How did I do?”

I nodded at his words while I dug up what I could on the names displayed. There wasn’t a lot of information publicly available, so I sent a quick message to my intelligence department to compile everything we had on them and be on the lookout.

I doubt it would uncover anything vital, as they all seemed to be from large corporations that could easily hide any information they see fit. It didn’t mean we wouldn’t do our due diligence, though.

The spaceship on the screen didn’t keep the audience in suspense for long as they swiftly closed the distance to the camera. Its growing size became more apparent as sections of the space station came into view and I could only imagine the costs associated with building such a behemoth.

“Well, I will have to depart to get ready for our panel, Rollo. Please feel free to visit if you would like,” Joey said as he stood up, buttoning his suit.

“Yes, I’ll be looking forward to it.”

I watched him disappear into the crowd of people, surrounded by his guards. It was a first for me to see such a crowd gather within the spaceport. Not everyone could set foot here, so it was a surprising sight to see so many people.

I finished off my drink and checked in on where Thorne and Claire were on the company tracking app before making my way toward the conventional hall area where the food expo was being held.

Several expos were going concurrently every day with a large range of industries it covered. The cybernetic one I was going to attend was going to take place the day after tomorrow, so we could take the chance to look around on the other days.

I waited off by the entrance with my guards for several more minutes before I spotted the arrival of my two trusted confidants.

Claire walked up to me with a spring to her steps. “I can’t believe we get to go to expos in person! I’ve followed the live streams of it every year until now. I’m so excited!”

Thorne followed closely behind her and gave her a skeptical look. “It’s just a marketing event between dirty corpos and gives them a chance to flex on their competitors.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact it’s a giant convention that showcases a lot of cool new stuff.” She shrugged.

“Let’s go before it gets even more packed,” I said and impatiently led the way.

We entered the convention halls that hosted the food expo and were thoroughly inspected again despite the careful examinations we had to endure on our way to the spaceport. Our guards also couldn’t proceed further with us, probably because it would only make it unnecessarily more crowded.

The staff at the entrance scanned our credentials, and we then received a link that led us to the expo website that had the schedule for every ongoing and upcoming panel listed.

“Which one do you guys want to go first?”

Claire closed her eyes and put on the most serious face I’d ever seen her wear, deep in thought, as if she was making a life-changing decision.

“Hmm...I have no idea. I can’t decide between the panel for Penny’s new chocolate bar, materialized sushi, or the latest auto cook.”

I took a look at the listed panels myself and found a majority of them were much simpler, going over the increased yields for existing fruits and crops. The few Claire picked up would likely be popular owing to the fact it introduced a breath of fresh air rather than reiterating the old.

“It’s all going to get crowded. Let’s head to the closest one. I would much rather have a seat.”

We navigated through the sea of corpos and soon entered a medium-sized room that could hold around three hundred people. The seats were already filling up, so we hurried to take ours before it was too late.

Once we were seated, I glanced around and had Kiri match the faces and logos on the clothing of the surrounding people to pull up a preliminary profile. I noticed that many of the people up front came from increasingly larger corporations. They all seemed to be less visibility augmented too, and could be easily mistaken for being entirely natural. Their optics looked entirely organic. Even the ones who were likely viewing something, as they were staring blankly ahead, didn’t have any glow in their eyes.

It was quite ironic considering the less fortunate people judged people’s wealth by their cybernetics, causing some to flaunt them around while the corpos tried to hide theirs as they went up the ladder. I guessed it was also fitting as survival in the streets relied on deterrence, while survival among corpos relied on scheming and hiding your aces.

The doors soon closed, and the lights dimmed, signaling the start of the panel.

“Thank you everyone for coming to our Penny Corporation panel. I’m sure you have all heard, our company plans to introduce a new product made with our authentic cacao beans. It has been several years since we established significant production facilities in space that have allowed us to grow a large and consistent supply of...”

As the presenter talked, I took note of how the entire presentation was set up. We would be doing a similar presentation in a few days, so I wanted to learn as much as I could while I still had the chance to fine-tune my own performance.

It was vital to make a good impression. There were only a few hundred people here, but they represented numerous companies in the industry who could be potential partners, whether it be in distribution, suppliers, retailers, and so forth. By giving a great presentation in these panels, you could kick start the interest in both your product and business, which may lead to additional business proposals.

The presentation wasn’t too long as they weren’t trying to bore their audience to death. Once they had a chance to elaborate on the selling points of their products, they swiftly proceeded to hand out samples to make a bigger impression.

While I was sampling the chocolate I received, I couldn’t help but think it was worth it to come to this panel, allowing me to get a feel of what was to come.

I can’t wait for the panel on pizza that grew from trees.