A Call to Arms by Robert Sheckley Page A

said. “I’ve seen them. So what?”
    Vlast said, “These were taken at a court ceremony on the planet Myost. You don’t know of it? No reason you should. You don’t look to me like a lady who has studied celestial geography. Pickpocketing 101 is perhaps more your speed, eh, my lady?
    “Myost was a small world, and it was in the path of the Shadows during the Great War. I was minister of finance in the government of the planet. Securing the planet’s treasure was my line’s hereditary task.”
    Vlast took a long drink of his beer, then resumed his tale.
    “In view of the menace, I recommended the evacuation of our Homeworld. It was already obvious that the Shadows would overrun us as they had done so many others. Our treasure, I told the king, should be used to buy us passage to some safe haven.
    “The king ignored my advice. He placed his trust in treaties, secret treaties with many fine clauses. Finally I was able to prevail upon him to let me take our national treasure off planet, to hide it on Babylon 5. Then, if anything went wrong, the treasures of our culture, at least, would not be lost.”
    Vlast took a final drink of his beer. “And now it is over. My people are gone. My planet is a dead world. Nothing remains of Myost but me and the treasure. That treasure is now on this station.”
    “So what do you need me for?”
    “I need help to reclaim what is rightfully mine.”
    “Yours? I thought it belonged to your people.”
    “So it did. I am the last survivor.”
    “Then why can’t you just walk in and take it?”
    “The storage company has, shall we say, arranged matters to make this all but impossible.”
    “The storage company?”
    “Their contract provides for a period of time after which, if the treasure is not removed, the company can claim the contents for itself. Therefore, they have good reason to make entry into their lockers as difficult and dangerous as possible. They alone reap the benefits of red tape and vague contracts.”
    Dureena thought about it. “Your tale of how the treasure got here has more than one inconsistency.”
    “Perhaps,” he replied. Then his eyes narrowed. “What do you care what the truth of the matter may be? Perhaps I stole the treasure and brought it to Babylon 5 myself, only to have it stolen from me. Or perhaps someone else did take it, and I killed him. What difference does it make? There’s a treasure here, and I’m offering to share it with you.”
    Dureena looked at him thoughtfully. Vlast might be a liar, but he might really know where something valuable was to be found. What did it matter to her how it had gotten there or to whom it really belonged?
    So she said, “Is any of that story true?”
    “Enough of it,” Vlast said.
    “I’m going to be very annoyed if the treasure isn’t where you say it is.”
    “And I,” Vlast said, “am going to be equally annoyed if you’re not up to the task of acquiring it for me. It’s here on Babylon 5, that much is the truth, and it’s not going to wait for us forever.”
     

Chapter 21
     
    Vlast led the way, about ten feet ahead of her, his black clothing flapping in the wind sent up by one of the ventilators. They were out of the main corridors now, moving quickly through some sort of structure that appeared to be composed of joined boxlike members.
    Suddenly Vlast came to a stop in front of an opening, approximately three yards across and five high, in the far end of the structure.
    “What’s the matter?” Dureena asked, glancing around for signs of trouble.
    “The next bit is a little tricky,” Vlast said. “I’d appreciate it if you’d go first.”
    Dureena studied the opening, vaguely visible in front of her by virtue of a faint glowlamp in the ceiling. She didn’t much like the look of it. And there was a faint odor, one which she couldn’t quite place...
    “Isn’t there a back way we can use?”
    “This is the back way. It’s the only way we can get to the lockers without setting