Lightforge was not a talented negotiator. It had been obvious ever since he'd needed a conveniently timed robot spider attack to get a decent deal on his shop. He was fairly certain that it wouldn't come to that this time around, but it was hard to be sure. Luckily he did have one advantage this time around.

He was talking with Sam, the young woman who ran the Scrap Heap. And, somehow, she seemed to have even less interest in negotiating than he did. It had taken nearly ten minutes from the time they stepped inside to when she was finally willing to even consider anything business related. And when she did…

"You can't be serious."

She waved off his concerns as she fussed with a coffee machine that looked older than the two of them put together.

"Come on! It's a great idea. What's wrong with it? You get free parts, I get shiny new items to sell around here. It's wins all around."

"I have my own shop to sell things out of. I'm just looking for a supplier."

The coffee machine came to life and she finally looked at him, her eyes full of incredulity and dismissiveness.

"Your own shop? Just close it up and come work here! You don't have my connections or my sources for parts. Again, what's the problem?"

There was a vein starting to bulge on Lightforge's forehead, and he felt like he should have a splitting headache. He bit back his first response and calmed himself down. He went over the facts in his head and formulated his response.

"I have some sources of my own, and I sell more than just crafted items. Besides, if I started working out of here, you'd have to clear out some of your merchandise to make room for me."

"No I wouldn't. There's plenty of space here."

She motioned around the room, and Lighforge followed the motion with his eyes. The Scrap Heap had started life as an automotive shop, and those roots still showed if you knew where to look. Part of that was the relatively small office space. There was a counter and a few chairs for customers to wait in, but that was it. And, at the moment, all but one of the chairs was covered in random parts that didn't fit anywhere else.

Technically, he could probably work at the counter. It was almost as big as the workbench in his own shop, after all. But that would mean moving the seemingly random piles of paperwork that currently littered the surface. He didn't respond, but instead just stared blankly at the mess that surrounded the two of them. Finally Sam grunted and shook her head.

"Ok, fine. Maybe it's just a little bit too messy in here. But what kind of deal did you have in mind?""

"I honestly haven't thought about it much. I was only planning to buy parts when I cam over here. But now I don't think I can afford to pass up an opportunity like this."

"Well, at least you're not stupid. And since you already heard my idea, don't bother me until you've got one of your own."

"Wow. You're not very good at negotiating, are you? I mean, I'm also terrible at it, but you don't even seem to care."

"Why would I care? Like I said, I'm the only supplier in the area. Negotiating is for people with competition; I say what I want and other people can either hand it over or get out."

That sentiment explained an awful lot about the young woman. She didn't expect to have everyone agree with her, but she didn't care enough to work with those who wouldn't do things her way. In other words, she was stubborn and difficult to work with. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing?

No, it was. It definitely was. He could already tell that dealing with her was going to be much more of a headache than it needed to be. But he suspected that it would also make her stubbornly stick to her word once she actually agreed with something.

"How about this: you give me a discount when I come in here."

"I hate it already. No deal."

"At least let me finish! In return, I'll provide discounted services to you. On those rare occasions that you get something defective, I'll fix it for you."

Now the parts dealer looked thoughtful. He had her attention, but she clearly wasn't sold of the idea yet. She locked eyes with him.

"That's not terrible, but it's not that good. Like you said, I don't get defective parts very often."

On cue, something outside sparked and shattered itself, noisily falling down a pile of scrap for a comically long time. Lightforge was beginning to suspect that there was some kind of curse laid on the place to make Sam's assertions more entertaining to listen to. Or maybe it had been part of the game? It felt like the kind of joke that a bored programmer might add in their downtime.

If Sam noticed the minor detonation, she didn't give any sign. She just stared at the gadgeteer, daring him to sweeten the pot before she would be willing to make a deal. And given what he'd learned about her so far, he suspected that she would stare at him silently all day if she had to. He was not willing to do that.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Alright, fine. How about you encourage your customers to come to me for their maintenance and upgrade needs? If they mention that you referred them, I'll give you a percentage of what they spend."

"Now you have my attention. How much are we talking?"

"I don't know. Maybe like 10%?"

"10! That's just insulting. I thought we were going to be partners here? Wouldn't that imply at least a 50/50 split?"

"You can't be serious. 50% just for giving a referral? That's practically theft!"

"Not just for the referrals. As payback for your discount."

"I'm giving you a discount too. It's not the same."

"I can live without it. How about this: whatever percentage you pay me, that's how much your discount will be."

"You just had something blow up outside. You need me more than you care to admit. You want that discount too."

"I said I can live without it."

Lightforge waited a few moments and, sure enough, something else slid off a pile outside and went crashing to the concrete. He glared at the shopkeeper, daring her to ignore what was happening around her. For the first time, she actually looked a little nervous. Her eyes flickered back and forth as she hurriedly ran calculations and considered her options.

"Ok, maybe I could use the help. How about we keep this simple and go 50's across the board? 50% off on both sides and an even split?"

"Again, not going to happen. 15% for referrals."

She scowled at him, but he was unfazed. He might be great at business dealings, but he could recognize a blatantly unfair deal when he saw one. Usually.

“Alright, alright. Damn, you’re a tough sell. Let me tell you what. I give you a 40% discount, and you give me a 25% discount and 20% for referrals. Final offer, I’m tired of arguing.”

He considered it for a few moments and then smiled. He reached out a hand and they shook on the deal. It felt good to come out on top, or at least to come to an agreement that felt mostly fair. It was such a nice feeling that he was about to walk out the door when he remembered why he’d come to the shop in the first place.

“Oh, right. Hey, Sam, do you have any Personnel Scanners?”

“Huh? Let me check.”

She went to a computer terminal behind the counter and started typing away at the keyboard. Lightforge raised an eyebrow at her.

“You actually have everything outside cataloged?”

“What kind of idiot do you take me for? Of course I do!”

“How?”

It seemed like an impossible task. The piles of junk were all over the place, and they were constantly shifting and falling over. Even as they’d been negotiating, Lightforge had seen someone wander past and toss something onto one of the piles. He was staring at Sam, incredulous, but she just smiled.

“I have access to everything that comes through here. It’s only right that I keep a few goodies for myself.”

She pointed up and out the window, towards the high ceiling of the former garage. I followed her finger and saw what she was talking about. There was a bar stretching across the length of the ceiling, and it was covered in cameras and little LEDs that blinked in dozens of colors. He couldn’t but smile to himself as he realized what it was.

“You have built-in sensors for your shop? What kind?”

“You name it, I’ve got it. They keep track of all my inventory, even if I’m out on errands or asleep.”

“Wow. That must have been a huge pain to set all that up.”

“That’s nothing. The real pain in my [BLEEP] was back when I had to keep track of everything by hand. I almost lost my mind before I managed to get this place running and profitable. Aha! Here we go: Personnel Scanners.”

She was pointing triumphantly at the screen, a wide smile on her face.

“Looks like I’ve got four in stock right now. One of them’s completely undamaged, two have a few nicks and dings. The last one might turn to scrap if you breathe on it too hard. How many do you want?”

“How much are they going to cost me?”

“Are you kidding? You’ll practically be stealing from me at the rates I’m going to give you. Just tell me how many.”

He sighed and let his shoulders slump. He knew that he should argue, try to get some more details out of her before agreeing to anything. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have it in him to continue arguing and bargaining with the shopkeeper. He’d used up all his reserves getting the long term deal out of her.

“I’ll take the three damaged ones for now. How much is that going to cost?”

“Don’t you worry about that. You have your discount, and I’ll even make the three of them a package deal. In fact, if you want to pay for the undamaged one instead, I’ll throw in the scrap one for free. As it is, it’s just a waste of space.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one second.”

“And why not? Face it, only a gadgeteer can find any use for parts in that bad of a condition. Anyone else is better off paying a little extra for one that won’t break in a matter of days.”

“Oh. I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right! I don’t know how long you’ve been messing around with circuits and parts, but I’ve been in the business for a good while, and I know my business. Hell, you’re the only person that can sell junk parts in good conscience.”

“I guess that makes sense. But… wait. If I’m the only one you can sell junk parts to, then I think I might have made a bad deal for myself.”

The young woman spun to face away, but he still caught a glimpse of the grin that had snuck onto her face. She refused to face him.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. You can buy the junk for dirt cheap and sell them once they’re fixed. You’ll turn a tidy profit, I’m sure.”

But not as good as if he’d made their deal with that in mind. Suddenly he found himself questioning a lot of things about this entire experience. Had she been bluffing about her uncaring attitude towards bargaining? Had he just been playing into her hands the entire time? There really wasn’t any way for him to know.

In the end he said goodbye to Sam and left, feeling much less confident about the deal that he’d made. Luckily, the feeling didn’t haunt him for long. Even if it wasn’t ideal, the contract that he’d made with the other shopkeeper was going to pay dividends for a long time. And she’d been telling the truth about giving him a good deal on the scanners. He’d ended up paying less than a few hearty days worth of meals for all four of them.

All in all, it had been good to meet someone that he could rely on. And thanks to her, he would be able to spend the next day creating new sets of goggles to sell.

Or at least that was the plan.