Finally tell Barry about the box

You and Barry relax in silence for a few moments. You selected no conversation with the Barbarian Experience, so Tia and Tamara sit silently feeding you grapes and wine, probably surfing the net on their biolense, yet still attentive to your desires. Despite you being very relaxed right now, you’re reminded of your uncle Martin, who on numerous occasions mentioned visiting the Pantheon was on his bucket list. Better not tell him you went, uncle Martin can be a hater.

You feel this a good time to fill Barry in, “Oh yea man, I forgot to tell you about all the BS i went through this morning,” you proceed to give Barry a recount of your morning.

“Interesting...,” Barry muses, you swear you can hear him rubbing his stubbled chin, “The United States Postal Service? If I remember my history, it went private when the United States finally merged into the Terran United Nations. Eventually it faded into obscurity and obsolescence”

“Well, whoever sent it to me knew about the Postal Service. What a weird name, what the hell does that even mean.”

“I don’t know the origin of the term,” Barry responded, still thinking, “but I have a feeling that package was sent a long time ago...”

“How long...” you ask, curiosity waxing.

“No idea, but it’s not like it was sent last week, and you said it was made from...real wood?” Barry tries to say the last part as low as possible, so low you almost can’t hear him.

“Don’t worry, the ladies have audio blocks on, your forgetting where your at, you have some pretty high rollers come in here regularly talking business.”

“Sorry, I guess real wood isn’t that valuable, but it’s still worth a lot and very rare.”

“Eh, I already looked at values for similar boxes, the problem is it’s so small. I could probably get enough at an online auction to get classes for a higher rating on my pilots certification, or pay half a years rent. Nothing to scoff at but it’s not enough to get my uncle’s panties in a twist, not like that.”

“Next obvious question John, what was in the box?”

“Pssht, nothing, a little slab of metal, Aluminum I think, so worthless, with some letters on it.”

“That’s weird. Get more specific...”

“Two lines, maybe 30 characters each, letters and numbers. It looks kinda cool how the letters are carved into the slab, all retro like. Whatever ship I serve on, I may stick it on the door to my cabin, I don’t know, use it as some kind of decoration.”

A good ten seconds of silence go by, you assume you’ve run the course of the topic and close your eyes, settling in even more comfortably to your pillow of woman flesh and signal Tia for more grapes and wine. A few seconds later you feel Tia shifting under you, but not to feed you. Opening your eyes you see Barry standing up ushering Tamara off.

“John we need to go,” Barry’s seriousness pours cold water on your mood, you get up rather quickly instinct thinking there’s a mortal threat. You’ve never seen Barry with this kind of look on his face.

He thanks Tia, sends her on her way and with a firm hand on your shoulder, ushers you to the door.

“We had another 20 minutes Barry, that you already paid for, what’s up man, your worrying me?”

Barry waits until you are both alone and the elevator is on it’s way down to the ground level.

Despite it being just the two of you Barry leans over and whispers in your ear, “I think those numbers are an original Bitcoin address and password.”

Your heart skips a beat, then another, your brain processing, not wanting to give in and believe Barry’s declaration, purely out of emotional survival if he turns out wrong.

“Dude are you sure...”

Barry is talking fast now, almost frantic thinking through the problem as he’s talking, “Almost positive, I’d have to see it of course. That wouldn’t make a difference I’ve just heard of this shit never seen one. Its like finding Spanish dabloons. Fuck!” You’re surprised because you barely hear Barry curse.

“I actually have it here, with me,” you say gravely, gingerly pulling the slab of metal out of your pocket.

You reverently hand it to Barry, his eyes darting over it madly for a split second.

“John, I think this is it, I really think this is it. Your fucking rich man, my god, you are fucking rich! Even just one Bitcoin could buy the Pantheon, fuck the Pantion, you could buy the MegaTower that houses the Pantheon!”

You feel like your floating outside yourself, the events of what’s happening not fully registering. Barry hands you the slab back, you still in a daze, and pulls you out of the elevator and onto the street.

He slaps you on the back to wake you from your silent trance. Your fevered mind tells you that you dare not speak, because if you do, fate will punish you for your arrogant assumption.

Stepping in front of you to make deliberate eye contact, Barry implores, “Stick with me, we need to get to a private terminal as fast as possible. You’re closer than me, we should go to your place John.”

You manage to agree and Barry hails an AI Taxi, directing it to your mega tower.