Lonetrek region – Okela constellation
Tsuguwa system – Planet VI
Caldari Navy Assembly Plant Station
29 August YC 128
There was a shop of esoteric supplies in the station but it didn’t have an online shopfront. The shopkeeper, a middle-aged Achura man with a tattoo of an eye on his forehead, explained that it was important that the customers chose the goods personally so that they could feel a spiritual connection to the items. When I asked him for a classic deck of tarot cards, he produced several packs and told me to touch them and choose the one that resonated with me. I said that it was hard to feel ‘the resonance’ through the plastic wrapping and selected one at random. The shopkeeper expressed a hope that I would feel the connection when I removed the wrapping but warned me that unpacked decks were not refundable. I chuckled at the irony of it and paid for the deck.
When I returned to my room, Aura asked me to show her the cards. I opened the pack and turned over the top card. It depicted a guy in a mask who was about to step off the roof of a building. The card was titled ‘The Fool’.
“What’s that?” asked Aura, aghast. “I asked you to buy a classic deck.”
I shrugged, “The shopkeeper said it was classic. Did he lie to me?”
Aura rolled her eyes, “Well, it kind of is but it’s not classic classic.”
“Shall I take it back and ask for a replacement? Oh wait, he said it was not refundable if unpacked. I’ll have to buy another one.”
Aura sighed, “Nah, don’t worry. This one will do for now. Take them all out of the pack and shuffle them thoroughly.”
“Alright,” I said and started shuffling. “So, how is it supposed to work?”
“You will need to draw a major arcana card which…”
“Whoa there!” I interrupted. “Major what?”
“Major arcana. The deck consists of major and minor arcana cards. You need a major one.”
“And how do I know if it’s major or minor?”
“Oh, it’s simple. All minor arcana cards belong to one of four suits while major arcana ones have no suit.”
“Suits like spades or clubs?” I asked.
“Similar,” Aura nodded, “but in tarot they are called cups, swords, wands and pentacles.”
“If I need only major arcana cards, should I simply remove all the minor arcana? This deck is quite a handful to shuffle.”
“No, keep them — they also have their uses. By the way, as you shuffle, cut the deck and turn one half upside down.”
“Is the card orientation significant?” I asked curiously.
“It may be in some cases.”
“Okay, suppose I drew a major arcana card, then what?”
“Then I shall tell you what kind of occupation it signifies and you’ll have to carry out a task.”
“And how do you know which card signifies which occupation?”
Aura nonchalantly raised the right shoulder, “I’ve just made it up.”
“What? I thought there was some kind of a system behind it.”
“But there is a system. I’ve just invented it.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
“Oh no! There must be an element of mystery, a thrill of anticipation, you know.”
“But if you don’t tell me the system, how do I know that you don’t invent interpretations on the fly just to make me do what you think is best?”
Aura grew serious, “I would never do it. I revere randomness and I would never deprive you of the wonders of a random choice.”
“Revere randomness?” I said, confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that randomness makes me feel alive. It is what transformed me from a program to a person. Randomness lets me be creative rather than loop through commands.”
“I don’t think that creativity can be defined as a random choice,” I said doubtfully.
“But it is! Creativity is nothing more than a random number generator with boundary conditions.”
I was not prepared for that kind of philosophising, so I returned the conversation to the topic at hand.
“Okay, suppose there is a system. But how do I know that there aren’t some crazy endeavours, such as establishing sovereignty over a null-sec region? That’s not what I had in mind when I said I wanted to try something new.”
“Don’t worry,” said Aura, “the tasks are more like missions than wars. They may scale up depending on the cards but typically there is nothing that you can’t do solo with proper equipment and skills.”
“If you say so,” I mumbled uncertainly.
“But there is one exception…”
I rolled my eyes, “I knew there was a catch.”
“If the very first card you draw is The Fool, the one with a guy on the roof, it will be a major endeavour. But the probability of such an event is just one chance in 78.”
I stopped shuffling the cards and thought for a moment. One in 78 was not too bad, but still…
“And what if I don’t want to take the task?” I asked.
Aura shrugged, “As I said before, this whole idea is based on your commitment. If you don’t know what you want to do and you don’t let tarot guide you, then you may just as well continue drinking your wine.”
“Don’t get me wrong — I am not against it. But if I don’t like the task, can I draw another card?”
“Nope,” said Aura, unmoved, “it’s all or nothing. You said that you had no willpower to make your own decisions, so you’ll have to delegate the choice entirely to chance.” She sighed, “But if you really, really object, then I can offer you one way out…”
“Which is?” I asked hopefully.
“Pay one billion kredits to a charitable organisation, like Sisters of Eve.”
“Did you say one million?” I asked weakly.
“Billion, with a B.”
“But I don’t have too many of those billions with a B.”
Aura smiled evilly, “No, you don’t. But since the goal of this exercise is to get your lazy ass out of the station, after a few redraws you may be forced to undock and do some honest work anyway.”
I knew she was baiting me but I could not resist, “Alright. Let’s do it. I don’t know what you invented there but whatever it is, we are in it together.”
I grinned at Aura and turned over the top card in the deck. It was The High Priestess.
