"Oh,
she was overqualified," the brown-haired Vixen said lightly.
George
stared at her. "I don't get it."
"It
means that we'll have to pay her more," the taller Vixen
clarified.
"Wait,
then how much do I get paid?" George asked.
"Okay,
here's the deal," the tall Vixen began, "You help us on one
raid and we'll give you a quarter share of the loot."
"I
get a quarter of all the loot?"
"No,
you get a quarter share," the other woman told him, "all of
us get one share, you get a quarter."
"Huh?"
The
dark-skinned woman tried a different explanation, "Okay, look
at it this way. You get one share, the rest of us gets four shares
each."
George
did some maths - he was pretty good since it was a requirement in his
line of work as a gadget repairman. As he knew, there were four
Vixens. One was away. Each of the remaining three would receive four
shares and he would get one. That was a total of thirteen shares. So
he would get one thirteenth of all the loot.
Not a
bad deal for a highly-inexperienced young man, if the stories of all
the riches and wealth the Vixens looted were true. That was assuming
there were only three Vixens left.
"Weren't
there four of you?" George asked, "One you called Laura is
away so where's the fourth?"
"Io?"
the shorter Vixen uttered, "Oh, she's at the site."
"Okay,
Squirt, I'm Tricia Rosentine," the taller Vixen introduced
herself.
The
other woman put on a bright smile. "And I'm Mabel Hiddenhill."
"Oh,
erm, I'm..."
"Well,
it's nice to meet you, Squirt," Mabel interrupted him.
Was that
it? Were they going to call him Squirt all the time? It was
irritating to be called something that reminded him of his small
stature. It was already enough that Mabel was a little taller than he
was. But he did not want to offend his employers, not with the wealth
and the adventure that awaited him. Maybe a nickname was their way of
showing endearment.
"Okay,
Squirt," Tricia interrupted his thought, "We're going to
raid Madboy Keith's so-called Tower of Trials. Io's there at the
moment so we're going to meet up with her. It should be pretty
straightforward. There shouldn't be any complicated traps or such."
"Who's
this Madboy Keith anyway?" George asked.
"He's
some eccentric old man," Tricia explained, "Built that
tower up in the wasteland. Stuffed some treasure up at the top, then
challenged people to come get it. We haven't had the time to raid the
place. But with Laura away, we thought we'd do something easier than
our usual gig and finally check it out."
That was
the offer. An adventure with experienced treasure hunters and a small
share of the loot. It was what George had always dreamed of becoming
reality.
George
looked up to the tall woman. "So, what do I do?"
"First,
you need to grab your gear," Tricia said, "You need a
breathing mask, some rations and a water canteen. Also tough clothing
for the wasteland, an acidproof overcoat if you've got one. Don't
forget your tools."
"And
don't bring your parent's permission," Mabel added wisely.
George
drew himself up to his full height. Nope, he was still shorter than
Mabel. "I'm old enough to go without permission," he
declared. He was still going to tell his Papa anyway. The old man was
going to be excited.
"Meet
us in garage 263-D, level B-29 within the hour," Tricia told
him, "We're in a hurry. Squirt, what's your comm ID?"
George
gave the tall Vixen the ID number to his account with the city's
communications network. That would allow her to contact him anywhere
in Covenant. When he was done, he hurried off in the direction of
home.
He was
actually going on an adventure!
***
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