“I’ll let you take one,” he said. “Any one you want. If
you’ll test my security device.”
She swallowed. Anti-burglar devices? “Do I have a
choice?”
Standback was ecstatic. “And right afterward,” Stand-
back burbled happily, “I’ll write up my test results and
submit them to the Committee. And then if they approve
my work – and I have no doubt they will – I’ll marry
Watchout.”
They strode down the tunnel together, their footsteps
setting off an uneasy rustling and flapping in the invisible
colony clinging to the walls and roof above them.
“They’re only bats,” Standback said reassuringly. “I
hope,” he added, less so.
They walked past a number of side tunnels, their
entrances half hidden by debris and hanging ropes and
cables. Mara, like a good thief, took note of the turns and
the fork back to the exit. “Where does the money come
from for weapons research?”
“I use only junk, spare parts. The main projects were
started on a grant from the Knights of Solamnia.”
“The knights?” Mara looked serious. “I hope you’re
not counting on them for support. They aren’t as rich as
they used to be, you know – ”
“This was a while back. They aren’t as frequent
visitors as they used to be, either,” Standback pointed out.
He screwed up his forehead. “In fact,” he said
thoughtfully, “I haven’t seen them since the last In-House
Weapons Test, several years ago. No, make that several
decades ago.”
“And you kept the project going?”
“It never lapsed, even before I took it over. A project,”
Standback said stiffly, “is a commitment. It’s as important
as a vow.”
“They paid in advance, didn’t they?” Mara asked
dryly.
“Well, yes. Quite a lot, in fact. Here we are.”
He pulled an elaborate key (four notches and a
combination lock) from a ring at his waist. He inserted the
key with some difficulty in a lock attached to a thick beam
door in the tunnel wall. After three tries, it opened easily.
“After you,” he said. “This room has my first anti-spy
device.”
Mara stepped in cautiously. “Shouldn’t your alarms
have sensed me?”
“It’s a proximity alarm,” the gnome said. “Once
testing is complete, I’ll put hundreds of them in any place
that needs monitoring. You can’t have too much
redundancy, you know.” He was scribbling another note
on his shirt. “Would you mind standing on that large black
X on the floor?” The X had a small bump at the cross-
point.
A gnome-size test dummy on wheels stood next to the
X. Mara rolled it almost onto the X and stood well off to
one side. “Let’s try it this way first.”
“I’ve done this many times,” Standback objected, “with
that very dummy.”
Mara said firmly, “Well, I haven’t seen it work yet.”
She noted that the dummy hadn’t a mark on it, though the
walls and floor of the room were dented and scraped.
Standback complained, with some justification, “You
promised. Is there no honor among thieves?”
“There was once,” Mara said. “Someone stole it.”
Then she sighed and moved the dummy off the X. “I warn
you, I’m leaving at the first sign of danger. What is it
we’re testing?”
“It’s called the Room Security Spybanger,” Standback
said impatiently. “Now will you step on the X?”
Mara tapped the X with her toe, leapt, tucked, and
rolled easily away, preparing to watch from a safe
distance.
She heard a TWANG. A stone mallet – its head the size
of her own – whistled above her close enough to ruffle her
hair. Mara ducked, heard a second TWANG and felt a
sudden sharp sting on her cheek as an elastic cord
attached to the mallet handle snapped taut against her
skin.
The mallet struck the far wall. A trap door popped
open beside it. The mallet whizzed back. Mara’s back flip
carried her just out of range. She dropped flat as a second
mallet spun out of the trap door and careened past her,
setting off a third mallet.
Soon six stone hammers were ricocheting and
thudding around the room. Mara rolled, leapt, ducked,
twisted, and at one point slid down a thrumming elastic