The object I hold in my hand is ninety-four millimeters long, ninety wide, and nominally ten millimeters thick. Well, the left edge is actually twelve, and the right eight mm, and there is a bit of a bulge on the upper side as well - all features to make sure it can't be inserted with the wrong orientation into the drive. If you're an archeology buff, that makes it about the size of three 3.5 inch floppy disks staked together. Mostly, its made out of poly-carbonate material - light gray in this case - that can withstand small caliber bullets.
Its the thing that made the world go round. Its a container for a crystal that stores optical data for Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing. Micro-Fac Blueprints.
In a world of micro factories and nano integration, actual products are of fairly low value. Raw materials might be a problem, but if you can get the data, anything is possible.
Because of that quirk, no one was willing to just e-mail design schematics. They were pretty close lipped about all the software involved actually - you don't want someone to re-purpose a civilian lab to be putting out chemical weapons, assault rifles, or missile guidance systems.
I've had my legs broken at least three times by mafia type guys trying to get one of these. Occupational hazard of a threese - Three C - CAD/CAM/Currier for those who don't follow industry jargon.
Standard crystal media is a lot smaller, and akin to an old flash key rather than a disk.
But of course, you know that. And you know what having a functional factory can do for you little enclave. Meanwhile, I have this disk, and know where to find a few more.
The bids from the last place included a new truck, a Gauss rifle, twenty kilos of food, a couple of miscellaneous pieces of equipment, and two women. Can you do any better?
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