Chapter 29 - 29

Adam unzipped his backpack and started a more orderly organization for Chuck to see what he brought back. There were, of course, some things he planned on keeping. Most of the books for one, a few of the tools he had already added to his tool belt, the knife and holster, and he had yet to decide if he was keeping anything else yet, but for the things he was sure of he put back away inside his bag. What was left on the table was the modified body armor, the pipe pistol, the scattered .357 rounds, a pile of duct tape and wonderglue, a few sensor modules, a fission battery, a bottle of whiskey, two magazines, one book, a crate of 9 Nuka Cola bottles and 1 Nuka Cola Quantum, and one gold bar. Chuck takes a few minutes to look through everything and do some mental calculations. "Chuck, do you mind running me down on the value of some of this stuff again?" Adam asked, finding his advice from last time to be very helpful in steering what he should be looking for. Chuck just nodded and seemed to break himself out of his concentration. "Well…" He paused as he looked at everything again. "Let's start from left to right." He said pointing as he did. "The fission battery was a great find, they aren't quite as good as Fusion Cores but they do well for a number of other things, goin' rates about 75 caps, but imma buy it from you for 60." Chuck begins, same as last time he was telling Adam honestly what the rates were and what he was paying for them, Adam wouldn't complain, that was part of his deal, though he could say no if he chose not to sell. "Sensor modules sell for something like 30 caps a piece, you got three, i'll buy em for 75. The wonderglue and duct tape go for 20 and 12 respectively, you got a lot of those, quick count looks like 10 of each. I'll buy your whole lot for 250. The book is in decent condition, I'll buy it for 7. The magazines are decent, I'll give you 20 for each at goin' rate. The Whiskey is nice, i'll give you another 15 and probably will sell it for 20. The Armor is…" He paused as he got to the armor looking at it seriously. "Well… this certainly is quite an interesting find." He picked it up and held it aloft while he looked at it. "It ain't much to look at, looks like someone carved it up real good." He mused aloud. "Armor is armor so it's still usable but it's gonna be hard to find a buyer for this, i'll give you 10 caps for it." He then turned to the pipe pistol and sighed as he picked it up. "I hate these things." He held it in his hand as he looked at it. "But, a gun is a gun, so i'll buy it for you for 15, there's no goin' rate on these, always depend on how shoddy the make is. This seems acceptable, though I'd still much rather have a real gun at my side, but beggars can't be choosers." He shrugged and put it back down. "The .357 rounds I'll buy a cap a piece, so 6 caps total. As for these puppies." He smiled as he looked at the crate of Nuka Colas. "I gotta say findin' a whole crate of Nuka Cola is quite ascore, not to mention…" He pulled out the Nuka Cola Quantum and looked at it with a wide smile. "This alone is quite the treasure. These go for 50 caps each though imma be buyin' it from ya for 40." He put it back into the crate next to the others. "'Course you know a bottle of Nuka Cola is worth 20 caps each, i'll buy those at the goin' rate." Chuck continued before he finally reached the gold bar, which he had purposefully skipped over earlier since he wanted to save it for later. "Now where the hell did you find a gold gold bar?" Chuck said more impressed than anything. Adam just laughed. "In a safe owned by the Corvega Assembly plant manager, who… I think was a Chinese spy? But the jury is out on that one." Adam joked. "Well, Chinese or not this is not an insignificant find." He laughed himself as he placed it back down. "I'm no expert so I'm going to need to call in a buddy for this one." He said with a smile. "So let's put the gold bar aside for a minute, and deal with the rest, you selling everything here?" Adam took a moment to think. And then pulled the Locksmith's Reader off the counter along with one Nuka Cola. "I think besides these two things I'll be selling everything here." Chuck Nods and then begins to calculate. "Seems with everything here your total comes to 658 caps." He said after a moment, displaying a rather impressive mental arithmetic skill. "Out of curiosity, how much is this worth?" Adam asked as he put the laser pistol on the table. Chuck picked it up and examined it. "Well this one seems well preserved… I say I'd give you… 150 caps for it." Chuck said after a moment. Adam just nodded and then took the gun back. "I'm going to hang onto it for now but it's good to know it's worth something." He smiled. "So do we have a deal?" Chuck asked with a nod of his own. "Actually I was wondering If I could grab a few things." "Oh?" Chuck responded interested in lightening the caps burden he was going to shoulder by buying all of this stuff right now. "Well for starters I'd like binoculars if you have them, something with a strap so I can keep it around my neck when I'm not using them." Adam said, remembering his scouting issues from earlier when he tried to find a good and safe path to Naper from a high vantage point. There was simply only so much he could do with his eyes alone, even a small pair of binoculars would help a lot. Chuck seemed to muse for a moment before he put a single finger up in a 'wait' motion and then walked into the backroom for a bit. A minute later he came out with a black metal pair of binoculars with a strap attached. "This is a good pair of binoculars, but ill be honest with you, they've been sitting in my storage for a while so I'm willing to part with them for a discount." He paused to think. "Normally I'd sell this for 60, but if you take it off my hands i'll give it to you for 40, let me recoup some of my expenses on it." Adam nodded in response. "Yes, that works perfectly." He said as Chuck put it down on the counter. "I'd also like a respirator or gas mask, preferably one I can wear under my helmet or in addition to, I'd rather not sacrifice my helmet for being able to breathe." Chuck then, once more, went into the back and came out a minute later with a gas mask that perfectly fit Adam's description. It was fitted with straps so it could attach to the back of his head but it did not have a top to it so it could fit over his face while he kept his helmet on, exactly as he'd hoped. "Perfect." Adfam said with a smile. "I'll sell it to you for 15 caps." "Add it onto the pile." Adam said with a small laugh. "The last thing I need is some more ammo. I need more 10mm, maybe one or two fusion cells for the laser pistol if you got them and…" he paused as he looked at his hunting rifle inspecting it for a moment. ".308 rounds for my rifle." He said after a moment. Chuck reached below the counter and then pulled out a box of 10mm, a box of 308, and two fusion cells. "This enough for you?" He asked. "That's perfect. Throw em in the pile." "20 rounds in the 10mm box, at 2 each that's 40 caps, 20 rounds in the 308 box, at 3 a piece that's 60, and let's say 20 apiece for each fusion cell so another 40. So far, with everything im owing you… 463 caps." Chuck said, once more displaying impressive mental arithmetic. Adam just nodded, he wasn't dumb by any means and given a bit of time to calculate he could figure out the total number too but he trusted Chuck not to screw him over. "Also I was wondering if you had a holster for the laser pistol?" Adam asked, hoping to not have to keep the laser pistol on his backpack all the time. Though as he asked this he looked down at his waist. He had his toolbelt on, tilted slightly to his left side because he also had the 10mm holster he wanted easy access to. So unless he put the holster above his butt there was no more room… no… he couldn't do that because the backpack would get in the way, it would be able to sit there but not be easily drawable. The next thought was a chest holster, it could fit over top of his body armor, but that wasn't a good idea either, his rifle rested on his chest due to the backpack taking his backspace and it would bang into it constantly. Which honestly only left a leg holster. Damn, the ergonomics of balancing all his gear was becoming as much of a struggle as actually going out there. He really wished he had his gear from the army, it had so many more pockets. Or hell a mule would be nice, something to carry all his stuff when he didn't need it, but it was wishful thinking. "On second thought…" Adam began before Chuck began to move away. "Unless it's an ankle holster I think I don't have any more space." He laughed. "Well let me see what I can find, not even sure I have any laser pistol holsters in stock, you might have to custom order it." Chuck once more disappeared into the back for longer this time, only to return empty handed a few minutes later. "No such luck, I'm afraid." He said when he got back. "I don't have anything like that in stock, not too many laser pistols lying about for people to need holsters. There's a leatherworker at the Pier, so if you are ever up that way you can ask them to make you one, or if you stick around town long enough you can ask me to grab it for you when I head that way again." Chuck offered. "Alright that sounds good, I'll see about the holster in the future. For now that's all I need." Adam said before he added. "Well that and also selling the gold." He chuckled. "Well let's get this sorted first and then I can call in Devon." He smiled. "You still okay with vouchers?" "Yessir." Adam said back. "Happy to hear it. Let me just grab a few for you." Chuck then grabbed four 100 cap vouchers, one 50 cap voucher, and then gave Adam 13 caps, giving Adam a total of 622 caps in his possession. "Alright, wait here while I get my buddy in to check out the gold." Chuck said with a smile.