The Weapon Shop

Infobox short story |
name = The Weapon Shop
author = A. E. van Vogt
country = flag|USA
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction short story
published_in =
publication_type =
publisher =
media_type = Print (Magazine)
pub_date = 1942
followed_by =

"The Weapon Shop" is a science fiction short story by A. E. van Vogt originally published in 1942.

Plot summary

A small businessman named Fara faces mounting professional and personal troubles despite his fierce devotion to the Empress who rules the solar system. He is infuriated when a weapons shop which sells fantastic technology but which is not in control of the Empress materializes in his town. He fails in his efforts to have the shop expelled, and is soon further humiliated and impoverished when his son participates in a scam against him.

Nobody is willing to help him except, surprisingly, the operators of the weapons shop. Fara discovers that the size and power of their organization far surpass his initial understanding, and that they represent a bulwark against the otherwise total power of the Empress. He believes their claim that organizations owned by the Empress herself organized the theft of his money and store. The weapons shop organization restores his stolen property, and he quietly joins their resistance to the state.

"The Weapon Shop" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories of all time. As such, it was published in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964".