“Anything else?” I asked the others.
Beatrix was still spreading out treasure heaps with wild kicks, and Reaver looked like she was searching for hidden panels at the bottom of the emptied chests.
“Nothing here,” Reaver said. She rested a fist on her hip and raised her eyebrows. “To think that, back home, this treasure would be enough to retire on a hundred times… ”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “But, well, our retirement’s still a while away. And unless you want to carry all of this around in your pockets until that day… Anyway. let’s go check out the armory and barracks.”
Cries of joy and gratitude met us at the bottom of the stairs. Dozens of people were outside the open door to the tower. I figured they’d come from another exit that I didn’t know about.
“Thank you!” one bird-like alien said as it waved to me.
“May the Void Gods bless you, sir,” an old man with frighteningly large and yellow teeth said.
Several others were stretching, squirming, or extending eyestalks as they tried to catch a glimpse of me past the crowd.
“I can see him!” one said.
Dozens, maybe hundreds, behind the alien cheered. I hadn’t done it for the praise, but knowing they were grateful felt good.
Neb-Ka and Tila were having a tough time keeping them back while Timo-Ran tried to answer simple questions like whether there was any food, who was going to be in charge of the police, and if there would be trials for those who wronged so many. All administrative issues he’d need help with later, but as for the leadership part, I knew he could handle it.
Meanwhile, Skrew was standing behind them doing his best to look as intimidating as possible. And he was pulling it off, in spite of having Nyna crawling all over his mech as she fixed and adjusted parts.
We walked through the open doorway and headed downstairs. I kept my pistol in my hand, just in case there was a guard hiding in the barracks or armory, but put it away when it became apparent we were alone.
There were three rooms. The main chamber was the barracks proper. It was a rectangular room 50 yards long and half that wide. Large, metal-framed beds lined both walls. Between them were weapons racks, most of which were empty. The guards had thoughtfully brought their weapons with them, so we didn’t have to haul them up the stairs.
What I could see of the next room made my heart pound with excitement. Through the double-sized doorway, I could see several different types of weapons I recognized, and neat stacks of equipment I didn’t.
“You’d better go get Nyna,” I told Reaver. “I think we’re going to need her help with some of this stuff. Grab Timo-Ran too, And put Neb-Ka on the doorway. As the new mayor of Thaz’red, Timo-Ran should know what his resources are.”
As Reaver made off with a terse “Roger that,” Beatrix and I walked into the room and were greeted by the familiar scents of gun oil and ozone. Among the energy weapons, we spotted at least two partly assembled pieces of artillery and three heavy anti-armor missile launchers, along with crates of missiles, and enough power packs to keep the weapons killing for a long time.
“It’s exactly what they needed,” I breathed.
“It was kind of Tortengar to gather the equipment here,” Beatrix said as she looped an arm around my shoulders. “It will make them easier to disperse among the people.”
Two of her tentacles were gently stroking my neck while a third found its way down my shirt and stroked my chest. I found it amusing that she couldn’t keep her hands, or tentacles, off me. And I found it much more than that, too.
As we walked further into the armory, I spotted a third door. It was made of a silver-colored metal that had once been painted a dull shade of green. Most of the Neb-Ka had chipped off, though, and it appeared not to have been opened in quite some time.
The lock was the most interesting part. It was primitive in design, had thick rivets running through it into the door and frame.And it was, unreflectively, totally black: Void-tech. I’d found a key, and now, I’d found a lock.
“Wow, look at all this stuff!”
The voice dragged my eyes from the lock, to the back of the narrow room with racks of weapons on both sides and tables of equipment in the middle. Timo-Ran looked around with wide-open eyes, and Nyna had her arms stretched out to her sides like she was trying to keep her balance. Maybe she was, because her head swiveled back and forth, and her eyes rolled around like she was trying to look at everything at once.
“Wow, is that a vehicle-mounted plasma cannon?” she gasped. “It is! I could strap this baby to a hoverbike and turn it into a fast-attack ship. If we sacrificed a Fex for it, it would never run out of power. Not just like not now, but ever, you know?” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, but I nodded my understanding.
“Oooh,” she then said, picking up a three-foot-long studded rod. “This is a shock-stick. Guards use them to subdue people without killing them. I’ve heard that other people like to use them in the bedroom. They turn down the shock, of course. The material should be perfect. I mean, if you’re into that kind of thing.”
She gave me a long, curious look. I rolled my eyes, which made her giggle.
“Oh, this looks like battle armor,” she continued. “It’s only for people with two arms, so we and the Ish-Nul could use them. There’s got to be, wow, probably 50 of them.”
“These are different,” she continued as she help something up for Reaper. “I think they’re for breathing in space. See how they fit together? And the helmet is big enough to cover your whole head. And this part is clear, so you can look around.
