"It doesn't matter, stick me in a pocket for now. We need to move. A Dodo landed and the hamsters have unloaded the cargo, it's being prepped for return to orbit. There are only twenty two Ruhar at this base right now, including the Dodo crew. I've locked twelve Ruhar in buildings where they can't get out, the Dodo controls are disabled, and I'm ghosting comms so the Ruhar in orbit think everything here is hunky-dory."

Hunky-dory? My grandparents used to say that. Where did Skippy pick up old human slang? "Weapons. Even my limited intelligence can figure that leaves plenty of hamsters I need to deal with."

There was another click, and a big double set of doors at the far end popped open. "Out that door, to the left, another left, and there is an armory with all the Ruhar rifles you could want. The firing controls on all other Ruhar weapons here have been fried, so nobody will be shooting at you."

I'd believe that when I saw it. Skippy was heavy for a beer can, he sat awkwardly in my right pants pocket. Running was impossible unless I held onto him through the fabric. He was telling the truth, we found an armory with racks of Ruhar rifles. "These all work?"

"Yes, yes, quickly now. Take four and I'll disable the rest. There are more weapons aboard the Dodo that I've temporarily disabled."

Ruhar rifles were shorter and heavier than our M-4s. I couldn't carry four of them, plus Skippy. Fortunately, being an armory, the room also contained backpacks. And the hamster type of zPhones, which I also took four of. I stuffed three rifles into a backpack, and Skippy in a side pocket, with his lid peeking out the top. "Safety is on the right side of the rifle, slide it to red for active. On the left side is a setting for stun, then two settings for particle beams, both single shot and rapid fire." He explained. "Ruhar body armor absorbs and dissipates the effect of stun beams, so aim for their heads. They can't shoot back, you should have plenty of time to aim."

"Stun setting, got it." There was no point killing hamsters. Killing would be counter-productive, as the humans staying behind on Paradise needed Ruhar help to survive. If Skippy's escape plan went south, I wanted to limit the blowback on UNEF. "Where next?"

"It would be advantageous for your three friends to help us, but first we need to get to the building where they are being held. Take a right, go straight down the hallway, last door on the left, three Ruhar eating breakfast there."

"They don't know anything is wrong?"

"Not until they try to use their weapons. The Dodo crew is running through preflight checks, they don't know their ship is disabled yet."

It went like Skippy promised. I paused outside the door, listening to squeaky hamster chatter, triple-checking my rifle was set on stun and the safety was off. I shrugged off the backpack and set it in the floor, took a deep breath, and dashed around the corner.