I'm sorry sir, but you must have me
confused with someone else. Let me introduce myself. My
name is Natika and I am here representing The D'ni
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Bahro's or
the DSPCB for short, I am looking for a Mr. Kestryll. I
was given this location to find him. Do you have any
information on his where abouts?
Embarrassed, Grizz rubs his beard. He
mumbles..."I coulda sworn she was...must be gettin'
old...dagnabbed glasses must be dirty..."
He
notices the pretty young lady watching him, and pulls
himself together.
"Uh...sorry. You sure look
like someone I know. Kestryll you say. Lemmee see. He
caters the egg room. You might check there. And he hangs
out at the pub in the city sometimes. Haven't seen him
just lately. 'f you want a cup of coffee and a Fig
Newton, come on down to the DISCO on the light garden
alley. Nice to have met you."
He taps his visor
in a salute, and goes off down the
stairs.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
Natika is sorry the
gentleman was embarrassed, he seemed like a very nice
person. She hopes to get to talk with him again,
especially because he must like pink too! But at the
moment she has to do her job. And that is to find Mr.
Kestryll. She heads off the find this Egg room that was
mentioned.
Slacker waited patiently for Elkae to come home. He was
so happy to see her he would have jumped for joy if he
could have. Being a stuffed animal has its
disadvantages.
Elkae carried two huge purses with
her when she linked in. "Women!" he thought. She brought
them into the hut and set them down on the rug.
She opened the first bag which was full of
animal care products: a comb, a brush, a bridle, a
bottle of "Burropoo", and a dozen vacuum-packed bags
marked "HRE" (Hay Ready to Eat). Slacker thought the bag
looked empty but, when Elkae turned it upside down and
shook it, something else fell out. He couldn't see what
it was, but she picked it up and put it in one of the
drawers in her armoir.
The second bag contained
other stuff: 7 thermos bottles, four fire marble
lanterns, a box of fire marbles, a baggie full of melted
truffles, a satellite phone, three or four batteries, a
scoop-thing and some other strange looking piece of
clay. But there was more.
Slacker could hardly
believe what came out of the bag next--several weird
feathered dolls. Elkae took the dolls and set them on
top of the armoir, but kept one back. She put it in her
other black bag and linked
out.
Veronica linked into the neighborhood by
the fountain, clean and tartan paint-free. She checked
her watch and was pleasantly surprised she was able to
keep her promise to return within the hour. She hurried
down the left staircase, nearly knocking over a lady in
pink. Not stopping, she rounded the corner and entered
the store, a bit out of
breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no longer
a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kestryll links into the Eggroom and
begins to restock the supplies. 'Busy morning,' he
mumbles to himself, 'the eggs are gone and only one
slice of bacon left.' He eats the bacon then begins
replacing the few pastries that are going
stale.
I
am from the DSPCB or the D'ni Society for the
Prenvention of Cruelty to Bahro, it's a long name, we
just use the letters. My name is Natika and I was sent
here to see if you can give me any information on a
Benny and Betty Bahro. Can you tell me if they are in
your employ?
Grizz is behind the counter. He has the
still dripping mop with the tartan paint in it in one
hand, and Veronica's note about Kestryll spilling the
paint in the other. He is shaking his
head.
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
Elkae links in and heads straight up the
stairs toward the classroom. When she arrives, she takes
her infamous black bag off her shoulder, removes a
thin-bladed letter opener and begins poking and prodding
at the classroom door.
Though her intentions are
honorable, as always, the letter opener slips and
shatters the blue crystal into a dozen or so
shards.
"Ooooops." She puts the letter opener
back in her black bag and sneaks next door to the Egg
Room for a cup of coffee. She hopes she can blend
in.
As Veronica entered the store, she saw
Grizz with the mop in his hand. When she is nervous, she
tends to talk rapidly. "Hi Grizz, did you have a nice
day off? Where did you go? Everything here was fine as
you can see, oh except for one minor mishap, but other
than that it was a quiet day, no problems at all, you
can leave me here alone at anytime, I can handle it as
you can see, so how did you spend your day and..." She
can't go on, she is completely out of
breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no longer
a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, actually Mr Kestryll, the Bahros'
have filed a complaint on you and your treatment of
them. Our organization has a duty to check in to all
claims of mistreatment. I know that you are a busy man,
could we set up an appointment maybe later in the day?
(Natika is actually late for another appointment but
doesn't want Mr. Kestryll to know this.)
Hm. Well, considering that I rarely have
them do anything except the occasional delivery when I
can't find someone else. They offered to run the winery
and it was just decided that the pub needed someone to
serve and since they're there any way I'd pay them more
to run that place as well. Now that it's basically shut
down any way they all just use it as a form of break
room. Don't know what you're talking about with this
complaint, but I suppose I could meet you at the pub
later.
Kestryll finally takes a deep breath
and gives the pink Natika the most puzzled expression
he's ever had.
Elkae sees that Kestryll is busy with
the hottie in pink so she decides to serve herself. As
she draws the coffee into the mug, she remarks to
herself how much the girl reminds her of
Cruiser.
"They are union, well they certainly did
not share that information on their cruelty claim. I
will have to investigate, if they truely are
organized... Well I am at a loss for words Mr. Kestryll.
I will get back to you later today, you say the pub?
Would that be your place of business Mr.
Kestryll?"
Grizz doesn't appear to notice
Veronica's nervousness. He keeps mumbling something
about Kestryll always being reliable...how he can't
understand how he could fail to list the spilled
paint..not like him. But every now and then he sneaks a
quick peek at Veronica, eyes twinkling. But the mess did
get cleaned up, except for the mop and pail, and the
only thing now wrong is that Veronica may be telling a
little fib. He'll have to work on that later.
In
the meantime, he has other things on his mind.
To
Veronica he says, "You've been workin' too hard. You
need a little relaxin' time. How 'bout you get on some
of those glad rags of yours and go out on the town
tonight? And you might look in the box on the cot. Maybe
you could use what's in it to help get all gussied up.
There's a nice little pub up at the A&C Hotel on the
surface. Why don't you get ready now, so you'll be all
prettified when all the folks get to meet ya? How's that
sound?"
_______________________________ Prop.
D'ni Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you
don't need it!"
Experimental Program
1
Slacker waited patiently for Elkae to come home. He was
so happy to see her he would have jumped for joy if he
could have. Being a stuffed animal has its
disadvantages.
Elkae: Burropoo?!
Do you wash your hair with it or use it as a garden
fertilizer?