I turned the Blizter over in my hands, feeling its mass and the contour of its grips.
"I can't believe you managed to save this," I said to K'rth and he smiled. Somehow, the big Shaktar had been able to save both my Blitzer and me twice from annihilation in the same day, once with a drop off and the second when he was packing what was left of us into an escape pod. "I can't believe it."
"A warrior's weapons are part of his soul and I could no more leave them behind than I could you," he explained as he checked the condition of his short blade and the edge of his power disk. "Hmm, this unit's power is dead."
"Too bad my snubber didn't make it, but I'm thankful for the Blitzer and the MAC," I commented. "I'm not complaining."
"They busted my scope!" Nix growled angrily and pounced off the end of the table. "They busted my friggin scope!"
I wanted to suggest that it might have been damaged when we landed, but she would know better than anyone else. The Wraith is compulsive about checking her equipment, so what she said had to be true.
"Do you have everything else?" I asked, but she continued her ranting and pacing so I gave up. It's no use trying to talk to her when she's that bent out of shape.
Goya watched the proceedings carefully with amusement but didn't interfere until she saw Obie doing the same.
"Obie?" she asked and the 714 looked blankly down at her. "Are you missing any weapons?"
"He doesn't have any beyond what he climbed out of the vat with," I said, answering for him. "He doesn't need them anyway. We do need a new scope for Nix's FEN and a charger and batteries for some of our weapons and equipment. Can you get those?"
"It's going to cost you," she said in a particular tone that caught K'rth's attention but I managed to completely miss. I'll blame it on my state of mind from the situation rather than me just being totally obtuse.
"If we're working for Richardson, we're going to need the equipment to do the job. So either get us what we need or point me to someone who can."
"That's not what I meant Alex," she answered. This time I caught the weird tone of the voice and looked up. The uncomfortable feeling I had earlier was back and I had the urge to shove the Chagrin in front of me for protection. "I'll be happy to help, but you owe me one."
She left after that and I turned back to check my weapons until K'rth's stare and big goofy grin caught my attention. A goofy grin on a Shaktar's face is something that defies description.
"What?" I asked but he just kept grinning and silently laughing at me. It didn't help that both Obie and Nix were staring also and I felt the blood rising into my face. "WHAT?"
"She's in heat," Nix said as she sat down to fieldstrip her weapons and work on her cooling suit again.
"No shit," I said and turned back to my weapons. The last thing I needed was to have some nutcase infatuated with me, but there was nothing to be done about it. Lucky me.
Harper came to get us an hour or so later and led us from our quarters to the town again but things were a little happier for me this time. The mass of the Blitzer on my shoulder and the MAC on my hip was reassuring and our weapons had a visible effect with the way we were treated. The locals suddenly seemed much less interested in showing us theirs this time, so maybe it's okay to browbeat aliens and strangers as long as they aren't heavily armed. Right now, we were as well equipped as nearly anyone we had seen and it made all of us much happier.
"So Harper," I asked. "What exactly does Richardson want us to do?"
Harper seemed to be having a little trouble with the heat, but it might have just been the nerves. He did seem to be the nervous type and was kept looking around as he limped along through the dust clouds. The faster he went, the more trouble he had with his leg and he began to wheeze.
"I haven't heard but I'm about the only one," he said. "I do know that Schrader isn't happy about it, so you should watch yourselves for a while."
"Schrader? That's the Prop at the gate, right?" I asked. I'm not particularly great with names but was determined to do my best to keep track of everyone.
"Yes," he said as we passed through the first gate. "You should watch him. He doesn't like competition."
"Competition, huh?" I asked. "We aren't here for his job."
"Tell that to him."
We walked in silence until we were nearly at the street that the Props were guarding and I saw a smaller group than before spread out. About that time, Obie decided to get inquisitive and spoke up.
"Where you from?" he boomed but Harper didn't respond. I wasn't sure if the man simply didn't hear him or was being rude, but Obie doesn't take well to being ignored and grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. The reaction we got was a lot worse than I could have expected.
Harper let out a yelp like we had stabbed him and spun around a little too fast for his bum leg to keep up. It gave out and he went down in a heap where he brought his hands up to cover his face. For a few moments, nobody moved and each of us looked back and forth with the same surprised expression. Was this guy afraid of Stormers?
"Sorry," Obie said and held out his hand to help him up but Harper just stared at it and then got to his feet by himself. Once he had gotten his cane under him again, he was hobbling forward towards the waiting Props without looking back.
"What the hell?" Nix asked aloud and I shrugged, turning to pat the Chagrin on the arm to say "Don't worry about it." The fact is that I was fairly concerned. People in the World of Progress are so comfortable around Stormers that no one is really afraid of them, and the 714's are still so new that everyone thinks they're the same. That meant that either Harper had been on one's bad side at some point or he was afraid of all of them and probably a subversive by default. K'rth must have read my mind again as we began to follow.
"He seems to have a fear of biogenetics," he rasped. "I would like to know why and see what else he fears."
"Maybe he's a fugitive," Nix said with her best predatory grin. "Maybe there's a bounty or maybe a Hunter Sheet on him!"
I smiled as I tried to keep up with my longer legged or faster friends and couldn't help but laugh out loud at her enthusiasm. It came out as a dry bark and ended with me gagging up dust. Whenever a Wraith mentions hunting something down and either killing or torturing it, you can always expect there to be a maniacal gleam in her eyes and today was no different. Nevertheless, it felt good to laugh and I was glad to be here and alive in spite of our situation.
"No wonder these people are afraid of non-humans," I said. "You're either sadists or mercenaries."
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