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“Lin!” he said.

His personal bearer came loping toward him.

“Have you read that manual I gave you?”

Lin nodded. “Yes.”

Extrone pushed the table away. He smacked his lips wetly. “Very ludicrous, Lin. Have you noticed that I have two businessmen for guides? It occurred to me when I got up. They would have spat on me, twenty years ago, damn them.”

Lin waited.

“Now I can spit on them, which pleases me.”

“The farn beasts are dangerous, sir,” Lin said.

“Eh? Oh, yes. Those. What did the manual say about them?”

“I believe they’re carnivorous, sir.”

“An alien manual. That’s ludicrous, too. That we have the only information on our newly discovered fauna from an alien manual—and, of course, two businessmen.”

“They have very long, sharp fangs, and, when enraged, are capable of tearing a man—”

“An alien?” Extrone corrected.

“There’s not enough difference between us to matter, sir. Of tearing an alien to pieces, sir.”

Extrone laughed harshly. “It’s ‘sir’ whenever you contradict me?”

Lin’s face remained impassive. “I guess it seems that way. Sir.”