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... an Organ Grinder, with four thirty-three repeating capacitor banks. So that works out to, what ... one hundred and thirty-two mini-ignitions? You do the math over again in your head to be sure. When it checks out, you let out a low whistle. It is hard to wrap your head around just how much damage something barely larger than a conventional hand gun is capable of - or at least up until you see one in action. Now, you still haven't made any decisions on if you are use these weapons to <span class="mu-i">buy</span> your freedom or to <span class="mu-i">take</span> it, but what you are certain of is that if it is going to be the latter, then this is definitely going to be your hand-lance. Unless, of course, you manage to find something better.
But it seems that this well has finally run dry. After searching through all of the stacks, you are only able to find nine more dummy filters. One has a brace of melee stunners, one has more of the same rifle rounds that you found earlier, and another has rifle barrels and assorted parts in what looks to be the same caliber ... and the rest are empty. It seems that there are no more hand-lances, hand-lance parts, or batteries left to find. Still, you cannot be disappointed with this haul - especially because now you get to pull the hedge apart. It is slow going, and surprisingly difficult work, but after nearly an hour of effort, you are able to net a total of two hundred and thirty eight cubits of immaculate conduit. More than that, you were actually able to find an atypically large filter, wrapped into one of the struts. Inside was a complete but disassembled man-catcher drone, with the operators headset and control console nestled between the stunning prongs. Jesus Christ - by itself, that thing is a Hell of a find. That isn't just a complete, presumably operable-out-of-box (or rather, operable-out-of-filter) drone - these units are exclusively made for the Peacekeepers. The last thing they would want is an intact unit getting out and being reverse-engineered.
Actually ... if you did decide to work something out with Boss Barone to get a new identity, then make the overseers aware of this find, there is nothing saying that you would have to turn everything over to them ... after all, how would they know if you were holding out on them? Now,. as valuable as hand-lances might be, they probably wouldn't be worth the risk to Barone- or to you, for that matter - to smuggle off of the <span class="mu-i">Commissioner</span>. But an intact, Peacekeeper-exclusive drone? That would be another story entirely. At the very least, it is something to consider for later. Alternatively, if you did decide to fight your way out, then a piece of hardware like this would be worth more than its weight in gold. So really, you are sitting soft and pretty either way. Very soft and pretty, considering that this haul alone puts you above the two-hundred cubits of conduit mark, meaning that you will be paid for recovering electronics. You do a quick mental tally of your haul.
