the question again?” Nerber asked
her.
“You a cop?”
Nerber muttered mostly to himself,
“ You in questioning tone. Cop? A feel does not
process. A copper? Not a metal but an officer with the law. Ah, am
I a police personage.” To Ipanema he said brightly, “No.”
She rolled her eyes but shrugged and thrust
out her bosom as she said, “You like?”
Nerber had no idea what this meant since he
wasn’t of a species with anything like mammary glands. With a shrug
he thrust out his own chest asking, “What is to like? Means to do
this?”
“You playin’ games wit’ me, Mac?”
Nerber looked around for this person Mac.
After a moment Ipanema realized why he was
confused. “Forget that, you lookin' to get physical or not?”
Nerber threw up his hands in delight and
called, “Wilburps, are we in full view and ready. I meet the
challenge right now.”
Now it was Ipanema’s turn to look around for
someone who had been mentioned by name but was not seen.
“Yes, be pleasing to have us get
physical together,” Nerber shouted eagerly. He stepped up
belly-to-belly with her, but then looked confused.
He took a step back and wiggled as if rubbing
bellies with her as he asked, “It will work with you in the
covering?”
Ipanema snorted out a guffaw. “We'd get
arrested for sure doing it here where people can see and you ain't
likely gonna pay me enough to make that worth my while. Which
brings us to the matter of making it worth my while before we do do
anything.”
Nerber was straining to make sense of this so
it took him a long moment to respond. “What will make it worth your
while?”
“Cold hard cash of course. This ain't a
charity event.”
Nerber listened to Wilburps's analysis, then
got it. “So, cash is your money. I get your money and give to you
and you give to me...”
“Hey, not my money, your money. Give me a
hundred big ones and I give you relief from the pressure.”
Nerber listened to the silent translation of
that. “Okay, I am now filled with understanding. Is a problem since
I have no amount of your kind of money. Could we maybe - is this a
right way to say this, take it out in trading?”
“That's what I'm doing, Doofus, but you ain't
offered me nothin' worth my while in trade. And now you tell me
you've been wastin' my time ‘cause you ain't got no money
anyway.”
“Is not good for you just to do it?” He made
the rubbing-our-bellies-together move again.
“Are you from Mars or something?”
Nerber looked around nervously. “Uh, Mars is
where, please?”
She waddled off down the street in heels too
high to walk in sensibly but that had the desired effect on her
backside since a passing driver tooted his horn at her and laughed.
“Weirdo aliens. Should run 'em all outta town,” she grumbled.
“Wilburps, did that go good? No, I thinked
not either. Oh well, back to the sketchening surface. There is so
much they did not tell me to prepare me for the challenges.”
“Things are not well in Glocca Morra,
whatever that is.”
“What have I done to twisting around an axis
things up? The talk-talk here can be so confusing even when
graphic.”
“It is not you, but it may affect you,”
Wilburps said. “Messages from the producers have been going on and
then not on again fritzerish for a short time. Some messages
are lost to me with no way to know if they were important.”
Nerber considered that, then looked worried
and gestured for Wilburps to levitate himself to Nerber’s head
level to make it easier to inspect his control signals.
Wilburps did not react. Instead he said,
“Caution. The indicated action will make me conspicuous to any
inhabitants able to visually inspect us. That might not be for the
best.”
Nerber’s response was to silently repeat his
gesture.
When Wilburps did as directed, Nerber stepped
close and touched several spots in sequence which returned the
zerpy’s exterior to the metallic-with-strange-markings
configuration. Then he looked
her.
“You a cop?”
Nerber muttered mostly to himself,
“ You in questioning tone. Cop? A feel does not
process. A copper? Not a metal but an officer with the law. Ah, am
I a police personage.” To Ipanema he said brightly, “No.”
She rolled her eyes but shrugged and thrust
out her bosom as she said, “You like?”
Nerber had no idea what this meant since he
wasn’t of a species with anything like mammary glands. With a shrug
he thrust out his own chest asking, “What is to like? Means to do
this?”
“You playin’ games wit’ me, Mac?”
Nerber looked around for this person Mac.
After a moment Ipanema realized why he was
confused. “Forget that, you lookin' to get physical or not?”
Nerber threw up his hands in delight and
called, “Wilburps, are we in full view and ready. I meet the
challenge right now.”
Now it was Ipanema’s turn to look around for
someone who had been mentioned by name but was not seen.
“Yes, be pleasing to have us get
physical together,” Nerber shouted eagerly. He stepped up
belly-to-belly with her, but then looked confused.
He took a step back and wiggled as if rubbing
bellies with her as he asked, “It will work with you in the
covering?”
Ipanema snorted out a guffaw. “We'd get
arrested for sure doing it here where people can see and you ain't
likely gonna pay me enough to make that worth my while. Which
brings us to the matter of making it worth my while before we do do
anything.”
Nerber was straining to make sense of this so
it took him a long moment to respond. “What will make it worth your
while?”
“Cold hard cash of course. This ain't a
charity event.”
Nerber listened to Wilburps's analysis, then
got it. “So, cash is your money. I get your money and give to you
and you give to me...”
“Hey, not my money, your money. Give me a
hundred big ones and I give you relief from the pressure.”
Nerber listened to the silent translation of
that. “Okay, I am now filled with understanding. Is a problem since
I have no amount of your kind of money. Could we maybe - is this a
right way to say this, take it out in trading?”
“That's what I'm doing, Doofus, but you ain't
offered me nothin' worth my while in trade. And now you tell me
you've been wastin' my time ‘cause you ain't got no money
anyway.”
“Is not good for you just to do it?” He made
the rubbing-our-bellies-together move again.
“Are you from Mars or something?”
Nerber looked around nervously. “Uh, Mars is
where, please?”
She waddled off down the street in heels too
high to walk in sensibly but that had the desired effect on her
backside since a passing driver tooted his horn at her and laughed.
“Weirdo aliens. Should run 'em all outta town,” she grumbled.
“Wilburps, did that go good? No, I thinked
not either. Oh well, back to the sketchening surface. There is so
much they did not tell me to prepare me for the challenges.”
“Things are not well in Glocca Morra,
whatever that is.”
“What have I done to twisting around an axis
things up? The talk-talk here can be so confusing even when
graphic.”
“It is not you, but it may affect you,”
Wilburps said. “Messages from the producers have been going on and
then not on again fritzerish for a short time. Some messages
are lost to me with no way to know if they were important.”
Nerber considered that, then looked worried
and gestured for Wilburps to levitate himself to Nerber’s head
level to make it easier to inspect his control signals.
Wilburps did not react. Instead he said,
“Caution. The indicated action will make me conspicuous to any
inhabitants able to visually inspect us. That might not be for the
best.”
Nerber’s response was to silently repeat his
gesture.
When Wilburps did as directed, Nerber stepped
close and touched several spots in sequence which returned the
zerpy’s exterior to the metallic-with-strange-markings
configuration. Then he looked
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