Sprite grabbed the handheld of the man next to her, scanning the listed specs of the A9 hub. The bid wasn’t very high yet. She had to bid on this item, but she needed a handheld of her own.

She returned the handheld to its user, ignoring his loud complaints and searched desperately for someone involved with the auction. She eyed the bidding. It was still going up, consistently but not in leaps and bounds. It was still within her price range.

Then Sprite spotted Mioko nearby, an old, small woman of Pacific Eastern descent who owned the bidding hall.